DT, you omitted my favorite Frankie-ism, his redundant placing of Lake Tahoe in the "Sierra Mountains."
I don't think he really changes all that much. He's just flawed, and the flaws happen to manifest themselves more at the beginning - when he's a bit out of his depth - than at the end, when he's been defeated.
"A man in my position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous!"
