kristi wrote: So why didn't he kill Michelle the "second time," when he realized she had indeed informed the F.B.I.? What has changed from the first set of circumstances? Why is there no more reason to kill Michelle? Is it because she trusted him this time? Trusted him enough to confess? This is something I'll be grappling with in the coming days and throughout next week. I definitely do not think it was because he felt guilty about his one-night stand with Drew. That was too meaningless to be a factor in this kind of decision.

I've also been thinking about the same question, and agree that it has nothing to do with his guilt over the Drew thing, nor with Michelle's trust. I'll address the latter. First, as someone pointed out in another post, Michelle's confession had more to do with her Bauer honesty than trust or any other feelings she might have towards Danny. Second, even if "Michelle's trust" is there, it has not sunk into him yet, and after the wild knife-wielding scene yesterday (a realization of Michelle's fear, whether conscious or subconscious), Michelle's trust in Danny is far from complete.

No, I think it goes back to what is described as "The Family Code." In the first set of circumstances (the first time Danny learned of Michelle's betrayal), the family/Carmen knew of Michelle's "sin". In the second situation, when Michelle finally confessed to him, he alone knows of that betrayal. There is much going on, and I don't know if I can clearly explain what's running around in my mind, but here goes ....

We know that he loves her. At the same time he has to operate within the family code, but Danny has that basic "goodness" inside of him, and as long as the family/business is out of the loop and is not really the issue, he acts from his own moral code, not the family code. Remember what Grandma Santos said to him. He knows, deep down, that the test was not about the family, not about the business. It was about him and Michelle. Once Carmen found out, the family and business became an issue. So in the first set of circumstances, the family "knew" of Michelle's sin (granted, they also knew they set her up), and so the family code had to be enforced. If Michelle had confessed when he was begging her to, the situation would have turned around to parallel the Mick incident (kinda like self-defense, and Danny would have continued protecting her from the family).

In the second case, only Danny knows, and in his own moral code, Michelle betrayed him and his trust. This is what I'm just finding to be ironic. In Michelle's frame, her betrayal was about Carmen and the family, and that is why she was so afraid and hence waving that knife around. In Danny's frame, her betrayal was personal. This time, Carmen and the family are completely out of the loop. He cannot, does not and will not kill her.

So once again, we have an example of two people operating within different frames and purposes, and I say to the writers, Paul Anthony Stewart and Joie Lenz -- just brilliant! (I can hardly wait to see when their frames finally intersect.) I truly enjoy a good story, and TPTB continue to amaze me with their great story-telling (so far, in the Manny tale), and I hope they won't disappoint down the road.

Melissa