For some reason the only thing that rang through my mind while Danny was scraping the bottom of the barrel is what Danny said to Michelle when she refused him, yet again, and he found himself turning into something he promised himself he would never become. He'd never become another Mick, crude, lowlife, forcing Michelle to do something she didn't want to do. But here he is, without Michelle, turning into that which he cannot stand. I don't think Danny looks in the mirror and sees a man he's proud of any longer. I think he sees the man that follows in Mick's footsteps.

Think about it, think about everything he's lost in the last few weeks, with Michelle being the primary focus of his life. How did these two meet? Him sent to kill her. And suddenly his life took on another direction, suddenly he had a wife whom he loved, a different center from the life that revolves around the family and only the family. Michelle is not like his family, that much is plainly obvious, his interactions with her forced him into a role he wasn't used to, that of a husband first and foremost.

Not a son to Carmen, not a brother to Mick and Pilar, not a mob prince waiting to inherit his throne. Danny the husband was a Danny striking out on his own, laying claim to his own piece of the world, having to change his focus to that world. And in quick succession his wife betrays him, his mother betrays him, he thinks his wife didn't really betray him, but she did and he has to relive that all over again, he loses his marriage, he makes a lousy mistake with a one night stand that meant nothing to him, that he regretted ten minutes after it happened, his wife refuses to let him out of this marriage that he thinks is sending him out of control, easily, and for the life of him can't figure out why she's being so insistent when he believes she can't stand him. Needless to say, his month hasn't been going well.

And more and more, we see him seeking comfort in a bottle of liquor, threatening his mother left and right, giving up on his family, giving up on Michelle. More and more Danny is the picture of self-hatred required to become what he never wanted to be, in the first place. But Danny tried to be the respectable husband of the respectable Bauer girl. He tried the love thing, for a girl who didn't return his feelings. He tried the striking out on his own, using his new direction as justification for moving away from the family, by making uncharacteristic moves against them. And none of them worked, he still wound up with a mother who hated his wife more than she cared to see him happy, and a wife who hated his mother/family more than she cared to try and make their marriage work.

I see Danny at this low point, this point where it doesn't matter anymore. He's tried the nice, but hard route, why not try the easy, sloppy, scum of the earth routine, it certainly couldn't get him any worse results than his previous efforts. Why not turn into a Mick-wannabe, after all that really is all he was bred to be, all he was good for, all that fooling himself into thinking he could have something different, be something different, were just fool's dreams. I think he's had just about enough of playing the fool. If Mama wants a mob son, like she wanted her precious Mick then he's going to be a mob son, the likes of which she isn't prepared for, so maybe she'll stay out of his way, too much for her to handle. Michelle really won't want this version of him, after all he never really deserved her anyway. He wasn't worthy enough for her to pay any serious attention to, even with all of his nice suits, his nice attempts at being open with her, and his nice attempts at being different from everyone else in his family.

But if Danny was filled with a fool's dreams that were dashed while with Michelle, he's filled with a coward's desires without her. At least a fool still dreams, cowards don't even bother trying. And Daniel my dear, you're acting like nothing but a coward, hiding behind this false bravado, and sleaze routine.

It wasn't Michelle that turned him into something he didn't want to become, it was him, and I think that realization scares the hell out of him.

Tracee