Burned Commentary: Chapters 6-10

 

Just a heads up, most of these chapters didn't have any major revisions from the original to the remastered versions.  Just my thoughts on the chapters.

Chapter 6:  A very important chapter in the series.  It's DJ's Birthday party and it is the first time that Jackson has attended in 12 years (obviously).  During the setup, The Fuller Boys are complaining about their brother and Ramona inadvertently lets it slip that Jackson does more than nothing during his day.

Jackson's activities aren't detailed until later (ch 8).

Jessica and Brandon accompany Jackson to the party and he introduces them to his family.  While the pair are close nothing romantic has happened (yet).

Jessica and Rocki talk and Rocki comes to learn about the Heartbreaker and his role in her life.  She confronts Jackson about this and while Jackson does know that Rocki was going to be used against him in one-way shape or form (it was in the Heartbreakers orders) the fact is that she could have handled the breakup better.

Of course, during their heated argument sparks fly and the two make love.  Rocki is ultimately satisfied with the results of this encounter but Jackson is less so due to the state his life is in.

Chapter 7: Picking up shortly after the end of the last chapter Jackson has thrown a monkey wrench into his life even further.  We go back to the aftermath of the last chapter and DJ discovers Jackson and Rocki in bed.  The two decide just to play things by ear as Jackson still has to deal with the burn notice.

Then Valentines Day happens.  To be fair to our protagonist, he really was just trying to be a good friend to Jessica.  The young woman rarely goes out, doesn't have many friends, and has had zero relations after being wreaked by the Heartbreaker.  Jackson tries to fill a large part of this void.  All goes according to plan until the powers that be (in this case, me) puts them in an adult situation.  

I thought it was important to also allow Rocki to explain that she allowed the seduction to happen as she was scared of Jackson proposing to her.  Despite the fact that Jackson has just been with Rocki, he allows his better judgment to leave him and sleeps with Jessica.  This was necessary to put some conflict in the potential reunion between Jackson and Rocki.

Chapter 8: This chapter is about the Director pressuring the Fuller family and thus Jackson fights back.  Of course, Jackson being the tactical genius that he is knows what will be coming so he has to send his entire family into hiding.  Max is less than thrilled about this but Jackson has arranged for Rose to go with him to soften the blow.

Rocki and Ramona show the family the incident that Ramona eluded to in Ch 6.

After sending his family away Jackson and Rocki have their heart to heart and Jackson asks her if she wants to go or wants to stay.

Chapter 9:  The director sends his assassin to deal with his problems.  Jackson and Rocki are lying low in the middle of nowhere.  Originally I had other names but when I wrote the remastered version I changed them to Michale and Fiona Weston, the names of the protagonists of Burn Notice (just because).

Jackson heads back to San Francisco to collect his grandmother's ring in preparation to give it to Rocki.  When he is spotted by feds using outdated info a red flag is sent to the assassin.  Jackson then has to use his smarts to stay alive.

Chapter 10:  Season 1 Cliffhanger.  The director is going to court and thinks that he knows how the game is played.  Unfortunately, he didn't count on the fact that one of his key operatives is testifying against him. This causes the need for his immediate extraction.

Jessica's father is eliminated in retribution for the problems he caused the Director.  As the Director can not find Jackson and all of his family are in hiding he is forced to dig and that brings him to Chloe Donovan, Jackson's ex-fiance.  Logistically she was the only person besides Ramona and Michelle Tanner. Those two however are far away and under armed guards.  Of course, as three months have passed Chloe was now married and in her new happy home.  The Assassin kills her husband and takes Chloe hostage.

This leads to the director's showdown with Jackson.  Jackson uses his smarts to level the playing field against his former boss.  The Director does not know Jackson has completely decrypted his files, thus has leverage over him by threatening to release all of his resources to the public.  The Director does threaten to turn those resources on the Fullers so Jackson does not kill his boss or his assistant.  The assassin however is expendable.  The remastered changes the showdown between the two to make it more exciting.  Also, I added the fact that Jasmine told Chloe precisely what happened during the half-hour she was out of her apartment.  That is covered in Chapter 1 of Operation Afterburn.

Jackson's rescue goes according to plan but his extraction does not.  He is picked up by an unnamed government agency and they want him to do a job for them.

Originally the Reunion story was going to be the finale but I wanted a more action-oriented finale as opposed to the exposition-heavy chapter.