The BEST Episodes of Burn Notice
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Mar 18, 2021
Network: USA Network
Covert intelligence operative Michael Westen has been punched, kicked, choked and shot. And now he's received a "burn notice", blacklisting him from the intelligence community and compromising his very identity. He must track down a faceless nemesis without getting himself killed while doubling as a private investigator on the dangerous streets of Miami in order to survive.
#1 - Game Change
Season 6 - Episode 18 - Aired Dec 20, 2012
Michael is nearly killed when a powerful enemy sends a crew of cartel assassins after his entire team. Michael realizes that in order to protect the ones closest to him, he must eliminate the threat once and for all.
8.20 
#2 - Reckoning
Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired Sep 12, 2013
Michael must regain the trust of those closest to him in order to finish what he started.
8.15 
#3 - You Can Run...
Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired Dec 20, 2012
Michael attempts to leave the country, but when the escape is ambushed, Sam and Jesse are taken captive. Racing against the clock to save Sam, Michael must also figure out how to rescue Jesse before time runs out.
8.08 
#4 - Guilty as Charged
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired Aug 26, 2010
Fiona attempts to find Jesse and convince him to meet with Michael. Meanwhile, Michael helps a criminal defense attorney rescue his daughter after she is kidnapped by one of his clients.
8.02 
#5 - Lesser Evil
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired Mar 5, 2009
Michael gets to know Victor's motivation and his connection to Carla after capturing him. When the truth about Carla's organization is revealed, everyone is put in danger.
8.01 
#6 - Last Stand
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired Dec 16, 2010
Michael, Fiona, and Jessie try to keep the NOC list away from Vaughn and his strike team. Meanwhile Sam and Madeline try to convince Congressman Cowley to pass the list higher up.
7.96 
#7 - Loose Ends
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired Sep 20, 2007
Michael must rescue Sam from heroin smugglers, who happen to be ex-Special Forces, while also evading agents who are out to get him.
7.93 
#8 - Shock Wave
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired Jul 26, 2012
Michael and the CIA get closer to discovering Anson's location, allowing them to release Fiona from prison. However, an MI6 agent attempts to put the operation to a stop in favor of bringing Fiona into British custody. Elsewhere, an assassin traps Sam and Barry in a secluded beach house.
7.92 
#9 - Sea Change
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired Sep 5, 2013
Michael must expose his identity to James and Sonya. Meanwhile, Fiona, Sam and Jesse form a plan to retrieve Michael.
7.90 
#10 - Fail Safe
Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired Dec 15, 2011
As the team reaches a breaking point with Anson and his sinister plans, Pearce puts Michael in charge of his biggest CIA mission yet.
7.90 
#11 - Tipping Point
Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired Aug 22, 2013
As Michael becomes ever more conflicted with his mission, he travels to Mexico with Sonya in order to help James with an important job. Anxious to finish the operation, Strong hires freelance mercenaries to extract James on site... but brings along an unexpected guest.
7.87 
#12 - Enemy of My Enemy
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired Jul 28, 2011
The CIA abandons Sam after he goes undercover with a heroin dealer while trying to recover a weapon. Meanwhile, Pearce continues searching for Max's killer.
7.86 
#13 - Dead to Rights
Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired Sep 8, 2011
With convincing from Sam and Jesse, Pearce begrudgingly lets Michael take drastic measures attempting to clear himself of Max's murder. Meanwhile, Larry returns, having kidnapped a government psychiatrist, and insists that Michael help him with a job.
7.85 
#14 - Bad Breaks
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired Feb 12, 2009
A federal agent with a knack for giving Michael trouble returns to Miami to force Michael to hand over blackmail materials; the two enemies must work together during a bank robbery.
7.85 
#15 - Dead Drop
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired Sep 20, 2007
Sam takes on a case for a woman named Gillian, who is being blackmailed into using her security clearance to help smuggle heroin into the United States. Meanwhile, Michael is busy trying to arrange a meeting with Philip Cowan.
7.84 
#16 - Desperate Times
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired Aug 23, 2012
The gang travel to Panama to take down an assassin, but their target discovers their plans and sets up a trap of his own. Elsewhere, Madeline grills Card for answers.
7.83 
#17 - Hard Time
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired Aug 12, 2010
Michael infiltrates a high-security prison in order to protect an inmate (a good friend of Sam’s) who is marked for death by a fellow prisoner. Elsewhere, Michael interrogates Simon in order to gain more information on the cipher he found
7.83 
#18 - Means & Ends
Season 6 - Episode 12 - Aired Nov 8, 2012
Fiona is surprised by a visit from a smuggler she met in prison who needs her help bringing down a corrupt Miami detective. Meanwhile, Michael teams up with a former adversary in order to turn the tables on a more treacherous foe.
7.82 
#19 - Over the Line
Season 6 - Episode 13 - Aired Nov 15, 2012
Michael becomes the target of a CIA task force after he’s accused of a crime at a local hotel. Meanwhile, senior officer Olivia Riley brings Sam in for questioning, and attempts to use him to find Michael’s whereabouts.
7.81 
#20 - Official Business
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired Aug 16, 2012
The CIA recruits Fiona to break into a guarded safe after a civilian asset winds up in over her head with a black market entrepreneur. Meanwhile, Sam and Jesse visit a mercenary training camp in hopes of finding the whereabouts of an exceptionally skilled sniper.
7.80 
#21 - Last Rites
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired Jun 28, 2012
When Agent Pearce learns the identity of her fiancée's killer, she enlists Michael's help to seek revenge. Things get complicated, however, when they discover the man is under protection as a CIA asset. Meanwhile, Fiona seeks out a well-connected prison smuggler to find out who was behind an attempt on her life.
7.80 
#22 - Desperate Measures
Season 6 - Episode 11 - Aired Nov 8, 2012
After finding themselves stranded in Panama, Michael and the team are forced to hijack a plane in order to get home. Before they can leave, however, Michael must first escape the clutches of a sadistic Panamanian drug-runner.
7.80 
#23 - Under the Gun
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired Jul 12, 2012
Michael, Sam and Jesse head down to the Everglades to track a lead, but things go horribly wrong when Sam is kidnapped by an unexpected foe. In prison, Fiona finds herself in hot water with a pair of dangerous inmates. An ally offers to help, in exchange for a dangerous favor.
7.80 
#24 - Scorched Earth
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired Jun 14, 2012
Refusing to let Anson get away, Michael races against the clock to find him... But time may not be his only obstacle. Meanwhile, Fiona is taken into federal custody after her surrender, where she's interrogated by an old nemesis.
7.79 
#25 - Psychological Warfare
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired Jul 25, 2013
Michael finally meets with the head of the organization he’s been assigned to dismantle, but things get dicey when the leader drugs him at gunpoint in order to learn his deepest secrets. In danger of exposing his cover, Michael soon realizes that in order to protect his future... he'll have to face his past first.
7.78