#poor lady

In the fifth Epsilon mission, Michael comments that his mentor in the cult, Marnie, “seems like a nice girl,” even though he recognizes that she’s a lieutenant within a high control church in the same breath. Though he seems to genuinely listen to Marnie’s teachings, adopting all the Epsilon jargon even when he’s alone, he doesn’t view Marnie herself as an authority figure, or her involvement in the cult as a good thing. He just thinks she’s inexperienced and misguided, much like Franklin. Michael tries to talk her out of the program by telling her she “needs help,” despite the fact that he’s already dumped thousands of dollars into Epsilon, and is about to drop another 25 K at her behest.

Apparently Marnie was born in the Midwest, like Michael was, and originally wanted to become an actress, similar to Michael’s desire to make movies. And she spent part of her life as a petty thief, addict and sex worker before getting back on her feet. Like Michael, she’s ostensibly living above board in Los Santos - but the cult she credits with saving her is actually sexually exploiting her, and compelling her to abuse others as a high ranking member.

Now I certainly don’t think that Michael ever had any desire or intention to recreate the exploitative power dynamic that Marnie is suffering under between the two of them. Regardless of his early lines about “running whores” and all that, he seems to lean towards altruism and some amount of emotionality when he puts himself in this position: Franklin, Trevor, Amanda, etc.

But at the risk of sounding too cynical? I do think that he was trying to sleep with her. Or more realistically, that he was trying to take her out of the Epsilon program, while subconsciously predicting that their relationship would turn physical after she left. He probably picked up on the fact that they were alike to some extent, maybe she reminded him of Amanda in their early days, and he knew he could make himself feel like a better man by helping her - at the same time, getting to have a relationship with someone who understood the lifestyle he was so desperate to remain connected to.

I bring you another flagged post and my response of course.

Poor lady is having an existential crisis (probably) because of a 19th century alpha (probably). Give her a break my good dudes.

Great expectations at 19th century balls often result in tears. UGH. SHE WASN'T THE DIAMOND OF THE SEASON - see what I did there.