What was Michael's mental state at the end of II?

I ask because I feel I relate to him as of late.

No one is trusted. No one is immune from being talked very harshly to at even the slighest sign of disrespect. I'm blunt to the point of painfulness with almost everyone. I could literally cut anyone off and replace them, or if not totally replace them, find a reasonable enough substitute. I think of other people and I just see the things I don't like about them.

So I'm curious as such, what is Michael's mindset at the end of II?

I would use the word "bewilderment." Who's the smartest guy in the room? He is. What decisions would he change? None. So why is he sitting there all by himself?

Pete, I agree with you somewhat.

Michael has Vito's intelligence, courage, and violence. However, he does not know how to blend them as Vito knew and did. So, I conclude that, to a large extent, he simply mimics Vito.

As he sits on his estate during the last scene of II, he contemplates (of course, we don't know) what he has done and also, perhaps, his future. Vito would never do that.

Michael can never escape the sin of fratricide. In III, that fratricide comes crashing down on him. That crashing is beginning to happen at the end of II.

That's a really interesting question, Don Alfonso.

I've always felt that his memory of Pop's birthday is really poignant.

Look at the people in that scene: Michael has had three of them killed. Another was murdered by the Family's enemies. Connie and Tom are still around but haven't exactly had close relationships with Michael.

Michael might be regretting how things turned out. Or lamenting what could have been. But maybe not.



It's striking to me that he's sitting alone at the end of BOTH scenes. I think he may be reflecting on how not much has changed, regardless of whether he was surrounded by family in New York or isolated in the "Sierra mountains."

He's a much different man in GFIII. I wonder if that scene's realization - that he's always been a man apart - was the root of his attempted transformation.

Michael looks contemplative of the future, as in, "What do I do next?" He's eliminated his enemies and stands at the top, alone. But, "alone" also means he's lost his parents, had his brother killed, and lost Kay. He has his children, but I think he saw them as possessions, not as the jewels of his life. I also don't infer any regret in Michael's looks--perhaps melancholy.

Like Woltz, I don't think that the flashback scene that follows is a coincidence. Perhaps Michael is contemplating the idealistic youth who signed up for the Marines on Pearl Harbor day with his current self. Again, I don't infer any regret from the cold hearted bastard.

I mean in the scene with Tom, etc going over killing Roth. That way he cuts down Tom verbally. That he assigns one of his guys to a suicide mission without so much as a second thought. That he coldly slams the door on Kay's face. THAT Michael. What is going through his head in that point of time? Not in that exact moment; I mean overall. The Michael feels "I don't need to wipe out everyone. Just my enemies." When he also kind of implies everyone is his potential enemy.

I think that most of it is about Fredo. The taboo on killing your brother is an old, big thing. There's no mental gymnastics that Michael can use to justify it, so his mind is turbulent.