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Originally Posted by Misha Well, on one hand, I don't think Michael and Isabel ever had a chance. I bet Michael might have thought in the beginning they had because of his comment to Isabel in Max to the Max:
Quote:
ISABEL: Michael, this can’t be.
MICHAEL: I know. But why not?
But we know that Michael really wanted to believe and thought he had to follow everything that was on that book, whereas Max didn't. | Personally, I don't think Michael ever wanted to be with Isabel. I think he wanted stability, something he very much lacked in his childhood, and believed at the time that following his "destiny" would provide him with that stability. If he had a mission then all the confusing questions (Why am I here? Why did I end up with Hank while Max/Isabel ended up with the Evans?) that plagued him as a child would cease to be an issue. He would have the answers. It was all for an ultimate goal.
Plus, I think another part of the stability that Michael craved was having a real family. If he had his own family, he wouldn't be an outsider anymore like he was with Hank or the evans. So, he didn't want to be with Isabel but he did like the idea of the family she represented at that point in the story. The minute this possibility ended, he stopped entertaining the idea. It was dropped in favor of Maria who did understand his issues with stability because of her similar background.
Isabel, who didn't have any of these issues, never wanted to be with Michael. Having a child didn't represent stability to her but loss of control and solid proof of her alieness. This is the last thing that she wanted. Therefore, I think she was repulsed by the idea of being with Michael.
As you pointed out, much of this situation was reproduced in Max/Tess' relationship. However, I do think there was more to Max/Tess coming together than just Tess' pursuit of Max because by the time the first true spark of Max/Tess actually happening began to become a real possibility, Tess had largely given up on Max (she was ready to jump Kyle) and, if Liz hadn't changed the timeline, would've soon totally given up on Max.
So, Max had to want it too. The question then is: What changed in Max?
From the moment he saw her, Max was intensely attracted to Tess. (Conversely, Isabel/Michael never felt that attraction. They recognized each other as fellow podsters as children, but there was never anything romantic about that recognition. I would liken it to the instant affinity Isabel felt for Tess in the lunchroom scene.) There has been speculation that Tess mindwarped him into this attraction, but there was never any textual proof of that and in fact proof from FMax that the physical attraction he felt towards her was genuine.
So, Max thinks she's hot, but he has a GF and, as you said, he, just like Isabel, is afraid to explore the alieness that Tess symbolizes to him. He rejects her. I don't think he felt too badly about doing this either. FMax expressed remorse for his treatment of Tess, but I think that was more about his regretting that his actions led to the destruction of Earth than regretting the actions by themselves.
So, what changed?
Three things: As you said, his view of his alien side changed by becoming more real to him, but also his view of both his human life, as represented by Liz, and his view of Tess herself.
As of EOTW, the human life that Max had been pursuing with Liz came crashing down on him. She was supposed to support him, understand him. Rather, she walked away from him then betrayed him. (She had her reasons, but I'm just talking from Max's perspective right now.) Enter Tess. He's been fighting his attraction to her and rejecting her support up until now but the Liz situation makes him reconsider his former position. Maybe there's something to his alien life?
Then, he meets the Skins, the Dupes, the delegates from the summit, and starts his memory retrieval techniques. He remembers Ava. He remembers something of their life together.
Not only is his alien side/life becoming realer than ever to him, but Tess is becoming more human to him too. She has relationships with humans in Kyle and Jim. She starts wanting, or finally feels comfortable enough to express her desire for, "human" things like Christmas and the Prom. Plus, and this is to me the most important aspect of their relationship, he starts going to her to confide in like in CYN and she understand and supports him while his traditional support group (esp Liz and Isabel but Michael too) don't.
As for Tess, I don't believe in the NasedoPact (<begin mini-rant>it was a shoddy piece of writing that contradicted everything that had taken place before it was inserted into the storyline- Nasedo died at the hands of the Skins, Tess was taken and tortured twice by the Skins, she worked to destroy the Skins in Harvest and WO, and the angst she felt over Max (the scene with Kyle) when he would never see it and the joy she felt over being with Max expressed in those doodles on the prom invite and the newpaper was just a little too throrough for me to believe that it was all her plan to get preggers then kill him. </end mimi-rant>) so I do think she sincerely was in love with Max. You do bring up a good point about whether or not she really knew him though, but it's almost lunch here and I'm starving so I'll have to tackle it and the Zan/Ava element in my next post. __________________ That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment. -- Dorothy Parker
avi by corrodedsilence |