Original geschrieben von: Turnbull
Original geschrieben von: The Last Woltz
Beyond being a terrible personal tragedy, the murder of Mary demonstrates Michael's hypocrisy and ultimate failure. He justifies everything by saying he needed to protect his family. But he's lost almost everyone and, in the process of trying to get them back, loses his most beloved family member forever.

It was put perfectly, and pithily at the beginning of III. Michael shouts at Kay, "I protected my family from the horrors of this world." And she replies, mildly but firmly, "But you became my horror."


Which is another reason why I didn't like GF3 that much. It spells everything out. Everything we know already. We know already by the end of GF that Kay understood that Michael has become the head of a crime organization. And in GF2 we see that he's losing his family by the way he is trying to protect them.
The scene where Michael is on his knees at the coffin of Don Tomassino is great acting, but in terms of storytelling - what do we get that we don't know already?