MovieChat Forums > Burn Notice (2007) Discussion > Question about the final episode

Question about the final episode

posted 10 years ago by anon-14
10 replies | jump to latest

I just rewatched the entire series, and in the final episode Michael shoots James, but he's not dead. James says he has rigged explosives and he has a dead man's switch. So why in the world didn't Michael kill James before he could hit that switch? He had a gun pointed at him the entire time, and had time to kill him, but he didn't. Surely in those few seconds Michael was only thinking about survival and not that an explosion would be a good way for him and Fiona to fake their deaths, so I'm not sure why he didn't just kill James.

[–] akashic85 10 years ago

Just watched this ep for the first time so I might be shakey on the details but wasn't it Fiona that said it was a dead man's switch after James had pressed it?

[–] anon-14 10 years ago

It was Fiona who said it was a dead man's switch, but she said it before James pressed it. He was holding it for a few seconds, at least, before he hit it, and Michael had a gun on him the entire time and could have killed him and prevented the explosion. And, with James's body, he would have had proof for the CIA that he had completed his mission.

After James hit the switch, I'm pretty sure no one said anything - Michael and Fiona just ran.

[–] paulo-grcabrita 10 years ago

Michael didn't really want to kill him, at least like that. If Fiona had the gun, she'd kill him right away.

[–] Fusty_7 10 years ago

The way a dead man's switch works is that you need to keep it depressed or it activates. The idea - from the bomber's point of view - is that if they are killed, they will naturally relax pressure on the switch in death and, BOOM. So, Michael couldn't kill James without the bombs exploding.

[–] paulo-grcabrita 10 years ago

Of course. We know that. But that is not what happened in Michael's mind. If you remember well, he didn't want to kill James. As you know, he could've killed him easy peasy, but he does not shoot to kill. And as far as I remember, he even put his own gun down because he wanted to just turn James in.

[–] ih8tt 10 years ago

but he does not shoot to kill.

he shot James twice in the chest, while he didn't die immediately, I'm pretty sure that qualifies as "shoot to kill"

[–] anon-14 10 years ago

I didn't know that, I thought he switched it to make it go off. Ok, now it makes some sense to me, although I'm still thinking Michael could shoot James and then jump in and keep pressure on the switch to prevent the explosion? Far-fetched, maybe, but not more than anything else on the show, IMO. The explosion seemed unnecessary.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] centrd 10 years ago

You can't "jump in". It's activated like a grenade. Except that after the plug is pulled a switch is held down to prevent activation until released. The very instant pressure is released on a "dead man's switch" it detonates whatever it's controlling. The man holding it is effectively dead along with everyone else, hence the name. In this case, the only reason everyone didn't die instantly is because the bombs were some distance away from the detonator so Michael & Fi had a little time to run as the bombs started going off sequentially downstairs. But there's no jumping in and stopping anything once the trigger has been released. Just like a grenade, you can't turn it back off.

People use dead men's switch as a last desperate measure or in any situation where they're willing to die. James knew he was dead with the shots he'd taken, or at the very least his organization was done. In fact that was the only thing I had a hard time believing, that he was still alive and able to locate and detonate the switch. Seems like he should have already been dead with those shots to the chest.

[–] noofy311 10 years ago

In fact that was the only thing I had a hard time believing, that he was still alive and able to locate and detonate the switch. Seems like he should have already been dead with those shots to the chest.

It's not that surprising, really. TV and movies have conditioned us to believe that people die instantaneously from gunshot wounds, but that is rarely, if ever the case. It is possible to linger for quite some time, and holding a small remote is not a great effort, especially to a highly trained and conditioned operative.

(I've personally dealt with more GSW victims than I care to discuss here, but firsthand experience proves that even someone who is fatally wounded can remain conscious far longer that you'd think.)

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