Thoughtful column, Mick.

Michael shows (for him) a remarkable bit of self-awareness when he tells Geary, "Senator, we're both part of the same hypocrisy." But then the awareness is subsumed by his never-ending obsession with legitimacy: "But never think that it applies to my family." But, in III, Michael, without a bit of irony, tells Kay that "I tried to protect my family from tthe horrors of this world," apparently unaware that the horrors he inflicted on his family were in the world he created through his own lust for power. Kay, assertive at last, trumps him: "But you became my horror."