The Rustle of the Sheets . . .
Essay #50

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"Discomfort, Not Fear"
(Written after the Hands-'Massaging'-Michelle's-Neck Confrontation Episode)

By kristi -- posted on the Mannyac Board.

I'm forwarding here my reply-post on the Mediadomain board to someone who argued that "the constant threat of violence is there, just under the surface" with Manny referring to this controversial episode. I've posted my rambling thoughts about it on this board a while ago but arguing with the opposite side made me dig deeper and actually crystallized them. They became clearer as I wrote that post. This is why we need opposing views in debates.

What was interesting in that scene however (and I do believe the hands-on-the-neck part was carefully planned -- I do not think we were not supposed to fear for Michelle's life at that point, even for a fraction of a second) and which I haven't seen many people discuss was Michelle's reaction (not just the discomfort), and what came after the HOTN part. She was at first puzzled, then had a look of discomfort on her (obviously suffocating at some point), then put her hand on him to tug at his (not two, but one -- she wasn't trying to force his hands apart out of fear, she was trying to remove them out of discomfort, there's a difference) while growing agitated, not by what he was doing to her, but by what he was saying ("I had no idea you were so scared [of my mother].").

In other words, she was completely oblivious to the threat that the omniscient viewers (we know he plans to kill her) reacted to. And the entire atmosphere changed, even though Danny never removed his hand away, the moment Michelle voiced out loud her fear of his mother ("She hates me, Danny, she hates me, it doesn't matter what I do!"). It changed from an atmosphere ripe with death threat to one heavy with desperation, with two people begging each other for trust. And all this time, they never broke away from the physical connection that began with the HOTN, they actually kept seeking it out, as if they needed it to communicate to the other what they couldn't voice out loud. Michelle did break off the connection, but not out of a physical fear -- out of her own failure to make him see her point and also to trust him.

Michelle does feel threatened constantly -- but not by Danny, otherwise she wouldn't have been so oblivious to what was going on. His mother, the world he lives in, yes, but not Danny himself. There's a difference.

kristi