MovieChat Forums > Burn Notice (2007) Discussion > so, what exactly was Michael's assignmen...

so, what exactly was Michael's assignment in Ireland?

posted 10 years ago by ih8tt
5 replies | jump to latest

I get what he would've been doing in the Middle East or in Africa, but what would the CIA have been doing planting an agent in Ireland around the time of the IRA? It was none of our business. Was the IRA any threat to the US, or American interests in Britain? Wouldn't it be hypocritical for the US to work against people fighting to get out from under the British crown? **This is not, in any way, an endorsement of any action taken by the IRA, especially their killing of Shergar.**

Once he met Fiona, he seems to have tagged along on her missions, but not stopped any of them, so what exactly was he doing there? We know Card was still his boss at the time, was he supposed to infiltrate the IRA, just so the US could keep tabs on them (and probably pass any intel on to the Brits)?

I've also always been a little puzzled about the Michael Westen life timeline. It sure seems like he either got an awful lot done in a short period of time, or he never spent very much time doing any one thing, before going somewhere else. I know he left home at 17 to join the Army, ended up in the Rangers. Then went to work for the CIA, with Larry, then, I guess to Ireland, where he met Fiona, then later to the Middle East and Africa when we see him burned in the pilot. I don't know exactly how old the character is, but the actor was only about 40, so only around 20 years to have done all that?

[–] shuglife 10 years ago

They never went into great detail about Mike in Ireland, but there are reasonable answers, besides infiltrating the IRA etc.

Maybe a group there was acquiring weapons from the Soviet block?
An arms dealer selling guns in the US.

Those were two right off the top of my head.

His career did have a mythological standing. Russia trained specifically against him, and he was like the boogey man in Russia. But it is reasonable for him to accomplish a lot of his tasks in maybe 1 or 2 years, so he could finish a lot of missions in 20 years.
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Nobody knows what I do, until I don't do it.

[–] sannorahcharm 9 years ago

when he was "with" James, the conversation went sorta kinda like this, "you don't do that many missions in that short of space of time without getting better or being dead"...

so he must have been really busy. he did do a lot in 20 or so years, he was about 44 at series end, so.....

he was recruited while in the Rangers, and we don't really have a good time line for his service.

[–] ih8tt 9 years ago

he was recruited while in the Rangers, and we don't really have a good time line for his service.

we know he left home to join the Army at 17, because he needed a parent's signature, how long he was in the 'regular' Army before joining the Rangers, we don't know

[–] anon-14 10 years ago

I'm not sure what he did in Ireland, but Fiona was his asset, so it either had something to do with the IRA or involved an enemy of hers connected to something else entirely. They were in Dublin and Belfast together, and they also worked together in Germany (I think), so I'm guessing it was some random bad guy that Fiona happened to know.

[–] morgan_hamilton2001 9 years ago

I think that we, the general public, would be quite surprised by how intertwined all the different terrorist groups are. If it helps them why wouldn't they trade arms and info with each other? Or even borrow 'specialists' if needed. And we already know that official governments are quite capable of backing (or ignoring) various iffy people/groups if it will forward the gov't cause.

As for Fi, she started out as an asset. Probably for her weapons connections. And the higher she rose in the arms trade the more useful she'd become because the illegal arms dealers don't care who they sell to they just want their cash. She'd be a good 'in' to those who run guns in the area of Michael's speciality.