Iceman, you picked a very revealing bit of dialog when you cited the flashback at the end of II. A perfect indication of Tom's role in the family vs. Michael's controlling nature. That's the key to their relationship, IMO. Michael always wanted to be in charge. Tom was Vito's choice for consigliere, not Michael's. Tom was Sonny's choice for brother, not Michael's.

We have gone back and forth, many times, on this board about whether or not Tom could have done more to prevent Sonny's assassination. True, a charging bull elephant couldn't have stopped Sonny from getting in his car, and Tom did dispatch bodyguards after him. But Tom, IMO, should have foreseen that Carlo would want vengeance on Sonny for being publicly beaten and humiliated. In the novel, Tom blames himself for Sonny's death ("He knew now that he was no wartime consigliere...old Genco would have smelled a rat").

But I believe Tom was to blame for letting Michael fall into the Senate's perjury trap. After Michael realizes Pentangeli was alive, Tom says, "Our people with the NY detectives say he was scared, half-dead, talking out loud about how you betrayed him." Where were you, Tom, before you advised your only client to lie under oath? How come you only learned about Pentangeli's survival after Michael committed five acts of perjury?

ok I am late into this debate. As I argued recently I still think Michael and Tom had a brotherly relationship, given that it was not a life insurance to be Mike's brother. It was a strange relationship, not blood related but quite close.

Michael was really small when Tom got into the family (how small is depending on the timeline of the book or the movie) and also Tom was several times the teacher of Michael(we know at least about the time when he was to be educated to be a Don, but I am guessing earlier too). They were both smart and educated so they could probably connect on many levels(like Tom guessed Vito's and Michael's plan), but still they were not equals. Michael indicated a lot of times that Tom is not a Sicilian.

Anyway, my biggest evidence for that Michael did not really blame Tom for the death of Sonny and the injury of Vito is that he survived. Michael never tried to kill Tom, what is more made him Don in his absence and put him back as a consigliere to the family. Michael did not have reservations about killing undeserving family members or friends.

I sort of understand why Tom is not responsible for Vito or Sonny. The one thing I never logically understood why Tom did not get killed for was the abortion. That happened under his watch. I though Michael would have killed anyone for that (and that was the only thing that he could not ever forgive to Kay) .

I still think that this (and probably Michael's condone of other mistakes too) is a decision of the author and the director. For the narrative, in the book and especially in the movie part II when Micheal gets more aggressive we need Tom, and his acceptance and understanding of Michael's deeds.

One of the telling lines of all this is when he tells Kay that Tom is going to be named consigliere...when he does so he makes it a point to say that Tom is not a Sicilian, and he says it in a disparaging way. He even looks away from Kay when he says it. Implicitly he is saying he doesn't think Tom is the right choice, but instead is getting the job because of Tom's closeness to Vito.

I think he was giving Kay a tour de force on the family in that scene.

Slightly OT, but I thought it interesting that Vito brought Tom to the Commission meeting to make peace with Tattaglia. It would seem that Vito still had some confidence in him at that point.