Fiona Glenanne
Encyclopedia
Fiona Glenanne is a fictional character
in the television series Burn Notice
, portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar
. According to Fiona's biography from USA Network
:
She currently is working with Michael Westen
, Sam Axe
and since season 4, Jesse Porter, doing odd jobs, as well as working as an unlicensed bounty hunter
. Fiona is shown to be an explosives expert, precision marksman
, and arguably the team's most skilled precision driver
.
, after he was stranded there when he was burned; and she has since helped him numerous times in his various jobs. Fiona and Michael met during an operation in Ireland, but Michael's cover was blown and he left without saying goodbye. Now that she has encountered Michael again, Fiona makes efforts to pressure Michael into a more substantial relationship. Fiona also keeps up with Michael's mother, Madeline Westen
.
In Season 3, Episode 8, Fiona has had enough with Michael and walks out. Refusing to appear at a monitoring job, she doesn't turn up for Michael for the first time in the series. The reason was over Michael's choice to get back into the Spy Game.
In the Season 3 summer finale, it is revealed that Fiona has five brothers, including an older one named Sean, and a younger sister named Claire, who was killed in The Troubles
.
Fiona has a tendency to shoot (or blow up) first and ask questions later. She is a brilliant strategist, but her preferred method is going in with guns blazing or IEDs exploding, and Michael frequently has to hold her back. Fiona becomes especially upset when someone abuses or endangers children.
Fiona also has a certain vixen complex, frequently using her sex appeal to acquire information.
Series creator Matt Nix
has said about the characters' relationship:
In the pilot episode
, she spoke with an Irish accent
; starting with "Identity
", she has consistently spoken with an American accent as part of her effort to fit in with the Miami scene.
They would later reconnect when Michael was dumped in Miami after he was burned. Fiona immediately began trying to maneuver him into another relationship; and, though Michael makes efforts to keep her at arms length, he reciprocates her feelings to a small degree. Fiona struck up a friendship with his mother, and she occasionally uses this as a means of spending more time with him. She also convinced Michael to give her a key to his apartment. They had sex in Season 1 after Fiona initiated a physical sparring match with Michael to relieve her frustration with him, though they were both somewhat hesitant around each other the next morning.
In Season 2, Fiona tried to distance herself from Michael after she realizes that he was making her his second priority, behind his desire to discover who burned him. She became involved in a frivolous relationship with a paramedic named Campbell, which caused Michael some slight twinges of jealousy...though not as much as Fiona would have liked. At this time, Michael began to stop taking her for granted as much; and they experienced some very emotionally charged moments. Her relationship with Campbell ended when he broke up with her, saying that Michael was her "real boyfriend". Soon thereafter, Michael becomes half-crazed with panic and grief after believing that Fiona died in a house fire while investigating a lead for him. He arrived back at his apartment to find Fiona alive and well, though her cell phone was destroyed as a result of the blaze. His relief at seeing her unharmed is so great that he embraces her and they had sex again.
In Season 3, Fiona begins to grow disenchanted with Michael and his obsession with getting back into the spy game. She eventually becomes so fed up with him that she plans to return to Ireland, and her brother Sean arrives to help her with relocating. Before she can leave, she is targeted by an old nemesis from her past, a vicious explosives-maker named O'Neill who abducts Fiona and plans to return her to Europe to auction her off to some of her "old associates", who will almost certainly torture and kill her. When Michael and Sam stage a rescue, she is shot in the arm and leaps into the ocean, where she lapses into unconsciousness. Michael pulls her out of the water; and, upon regaining her senses, she decides to remain in Miami, as Michael has proven his commitment to her by shooting the man who gave O'Neill her whereabouts (Strickler), the same man who was attempting to get Michael back into the intelligence community. They have another sexual encounter at a hotel later in the season.
In the season 4 fall finale, Fiona admits to Jesse that she loves Michael, for better or for worse, and would rather die with him than live without him.
In season 5, Michael told Fiona that he couldn't have completed many jobs without her and that he wants her to move in with him.
Though she and Sam will occasionally be rivals for Michael's attention, there is no real hostility between them anymore; and they now share a committed, if antagonistic, friendship. Though neither likes to admit it, they work well as a team, as Michael has pointed out. They have also demonstrated a willingness to risk life and limb for one another, as Fiona helped Michael rescue Sam from a vicious drug lord at the end of Season 1; and Sam likewise helped Michael save Fiona from O'Neill's clutches. Sam confessed that he felt sad when he thought Fiona would be returning to Ireland. The two of them will still trade barbs, though their verbal sparring now takes the form of playful teasing.
Fiona is torn between her loyalty to Michael and her hatred of the lies they are telling Jesse. There appears to be sexual tension whenever Fiona and Jesse are alone together. In the mid-season finale, the two share a lengthy kiss to cover their motives when they are discovered in her car spying on a shady legal team. She later tells Michael that she has definitely been feeling something for Jesse and that, despite the kiss being a ruse, there was real passion in it.
After Jesse finds out that Michael was the one who burned him, he confronts Fiona at Michael's place. Although hurt and disappointed finding out his friends burned and lied to him, it hurt him the most knowing that Fiona was in on it, since they were very close and he had feelings for her. Although he threatened to kill her, he couldn't bring himself to do it, and leaves instead. It leaves Fiona very heartbroken, knowing she hurt Jesse, who she grew to really care about. In the summer season 4 finale, she and Madeline try to mend things with Jesse, apologizing to him and ask him to help the team out in taking out Barrett.
keeps up a character blog
for Fiona—so far the majority of her entries have been about her helping other people take vengeance, even if they do not ask for her help. It has not been updated since June 28, 2007.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the television series Burn Notice
Burn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
, portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar
Gabrielle Anwar
Gabrielle Anwar is an English actress. She is known for her role as Margaret Tudor on The Tudors, for dancing the tango with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman and for her current role as Fiona Glenanne on USA's Burn Notice.- Early life :...
. According to Fiona's biography from USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
:
She currently is working with Michael Westen
Michael Westen
Michael Westen is a fictional character played by Jeffrey Donovan in the television series Burn Notice. Michael, a spy, was abruptly blacklisted while on an assignment. Forced to go back to his hometown of Miami, Florida, he finds himself cut off from the United States Intelligence Community...
, Sam Axe
Sam Axe
Commander Samuel "Sam" Axe, USN is a fictional character in the television series Burn Notice and TV movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, played by Bruce Campbell. He is the best friend of Michael Westen, the main character in Burn Notice.-Overview:Sam served several years as a U.S...
and since season 4, Jesse Porter, doing odd jobs, as well as working as an unlicensed bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
. Fiona is shown to be an explosives expert, precision marksman
Marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
, and arguably the team's most skilled precision driver
Stunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
.
Overview
Fiona picked up Michael Westen in Miami, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, after he was stranded there when he was burned; and she has since helped him numerous times in his various jobs. Fiona and Michael met during an operation in Ireland, but Michael's cover was blown and he left without saying goodbye. Now that she has encountered Michael again, Fiona makes efforts to pressure Michael into a more substantial relationship. Fiona also keeps up with Michael's mother, Madeline Westen
Madeline Westen
Madeline Westen is a fictional character in the television series Burn Notice portrayed by Sharon Gless. She is the main character Michael Westen's neurotic, chain-smoking, hypochondriac mother.-Overview:...
.
In Season 3, Episode 8, Fiona has had enough with Michael and walks out. Refusing to appear at a monitoring job, she doesn't turn up for Michael for the first time in the series. The reason was over Michael's choice to get back into the Spy Game.
In the Season 3 summer finale, it is revealed that Fiona has five brothers, including an older one named Sean, and a younger sister named Claire, who was killed in The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
.
Fiona has a tendency to shoot (or blow up) first and ask questions later. She is a brilliant strategist, but her preferred method is going in with guns blazing or IEDs exploding, and Michael frequently has to hold her back. Fiona becomes especially upset when someone abuses or endangers children.
Fiona also has a certain vixen complex, frequently using her sex appeal to acquire information.
Series creator Matt Nix
Matt Nix
Matthew E. "Matt" Nix is an American writer, producer, and director. He is best known for creating the USA Network television series Burn Notice and the now defunct cult favorite Fox series The Good Guys.-Biography:...
has said about the characters' relationship:
In the pilot episode
Pilot (Burn Notice)
Pilot is the first episode of Burn Notice, an American television drama series created for the USA Network.A spy kicked out of the agency is stuck in Miami, where he helps locals who can not rely on the police. In the opener, Michael Westen finds himself cut off from his contacts and his cash, so...
, she spoke with an Irish accent
Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English is the dialect of English written and spoken in Ireland .English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken throughout the rest of the country...
; starting with "Identity
Identity (Burn Notice)
Identity is the second episode of Burn Notice, an American television drama series created for the USA Network.Michael Westen agrees to help his mother, Madeline Westen recover the money of an elderly friend from a scammer in exchange for information about two mysterious men monitoring his mother's...
", she has consistently spoken with an American accent as part of her effort to fit in with the Miami scene.
Michael
Michael Westen is by far the most important person in Fiona's life. They met while Michael was working undercover in Dublin, Ireland, at which time Fiona was robbing banks for the IRA. They began a tumultuous relationship, one which Michael described as being "profoundly unhappy". In spite of the sometimes violent nature of their union, Fiona fell deeply in love with him; and he would later confess that he loved her as well. Their relationship ended when Michael's cover was blown, and he was forced to leave in the middle of the night, without explanation.They would later reconnect when Michael was dumped in Miami after he was burned. Fiona immediately began trying to maneuver him into another relationship; and, though Michael makes efforts to keep her at arms length, he reciprocates her feelings to a small degree. Fiona struck up a friendship with his mother, and she occasionally uses this as a means of spending more time with him. She also convinced Michael to give her a key to his apartment. They had sex in Season 1 after Fiona initiated a physical sparring match with Michael to relieve her frustration with him, though they were both somewhat hesitant around each other the next morning.
In Season 2, Fiona tried to distance herself from Michael after she realizes that he was making her his second priority, behind his desire to discover who burned him. She became involved in a frivolous relationship with a paramedic named Campbell, which caused Michael some slight twinges of jealousy...though not as much as Fiona would have liked. At this time, Michael began to stop taking her for granted as much; and they experienced some very emotionally charged moments. Her relationship with Campbell ended when he broke up with her, saying that Michael was her "real boyfriend". Soon thereafter, Michael becomes half-crazed with panic and grief after believing that Fiona died in a house fire while investigating a lead for him. He arrived back at his apartment to find Fiona alive and well, though her cell phone was destroyed as a result of the blaze. His relief at seeing her unharmed is so great that he embraces her and they had sex again.
In Season 3, Fiona begins to grow disenchanted with Michael and his obsession with getting back into the spy game. She eventually becomes so fed up with him that she plans to return to Ireland, and her brother Sean arrives to help her with relocating. Before she can leave, she is targeted by an old nemesis from her past, a vicious explosives-maker named O'Neill who abducts Fiona and plans to return her to Europe to auction her off to some of her "old associates", who will almost certainly torture and kill her. When Michael and Sam stage a rescue, she is shot in the arm and leaps into the ocean, where she lapses into unconsciousness. Michael pulls her out of the water; and, upon regaining her senses, she decides to remain in Miami, as Michael has proven his commitment to her by shooting the man who gave O'Neill her whereabouts (Strickler), the same man who was attempting to get Michael back into the intelligence community. They have another sexual encounter at a hotel later in the season.
In the season 4 fall finale, Fiona admits to Jesse that she loves Michael, for better or for worse, and would rather die with him than live without him.
In season 5, Michael told Fiona that he couldn't have completed many jobs without her and that he wants her to move in with him.
Sam
At some point in the past, Sam Axe foiled an attempt by Fiona to sell a large shipment of weapons to a Libyan arms dealer, costing her a considerable sum of money. Upon being reacquainted with him in Miami, she was at first (understandably) very hostile towards him, often making disparaging remarks about him and belittling him for being under the thumb of the Feds. After working together on several jobs, she began to mellow towards Sam and even admitted that she admired the loyalty that he displayed for his friends. Sam has been known to ask Fiona for advice regarding his relationships with women.Though she and Sam will occasionally be rivals for Michael's attention, there is no real hostility between them anymore; and they now share a committed, if antagonistic, friendship. Though neither likes to admit it, they work well as a team, as Michael has pointed out. They have also demonstrated a willingness to risk life and limb for one another, as Fiona helped Michael rescue Sam from a vicious drug lord at the end of Season 1; and Sam likewise helped Michael save Fiona from O'Neill's clutches. Sam confessed that he felt sad when he thought Fiona would be returning to Ireland. The two of them will still trade barbs, though their verbal sparring now takes the form of playful teasing.
Jesse Porter
In Season 4, Jesse Porter joins the team after being inadvertently burned by Michael. Fiona initially admires Jesse's flair for action and sense of personal morality. While not (at first) interested romantically, the two have begun to form a sibling bond. They have covered Michael's operations as a sniper-and-spotter-team and heavily modified a Ford pickup to carry heavy weapons only to take it out on a joy ride through Miami. The two took a working vacation together in the Bahamas and posed as a married couple, which cemented their professional relationship and built up Fiona's trust in Jesse. Because of Jesse's troubles in turning a blind eye toward people in trouble (even if the mission is in jeopardy), and his quick reactions in using violent force, the two often pair off to play devil's advocate with Michael's plans, which has forced him to become more open about his rationales.Fiona is torn between her loyalty to Michael and her hatred of the lies they are telling Jesse. There appears to be sexual tension whenever Fiona and Jesse are alone together. In the mid-season finale, the two share a lengthy kiss to cover their motives when they are discovered in her car spying on a shady legal team. She later tells Michael that she has definitely been feeling something for Jesse and that, despite the kiss being a ruse, there was real passion in it.
After Jesse finds out that Michael was the one who burned him, he confronts Fiona at Michael's place. Although hurt and disappointed finding out his friends burned and lied to him, it hurt him the most knowing that Fiona was in on it, since they were very close and he had feelings for her. Although he threatened to kill her, he couldn't bring himself to do it, and leaves instead. It leaves Fiona very heartbroken, knowing she hurt Jesse, who she grew to really care about. In the summer season 4 finale, she and Madeline try to mend things with Jesse, apologizing to him and ask him to help the team out in taking out Barrett.
Fiona's Blog
USA NetworkUSA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
keeps up a character blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
for Fiona—so far the majority of her entries have been about her helping other people take vengeance, even if they do not ask for her help. It has not been updated since June 28, 2007.