Mike on the wagon

Showtime brought us three seasons of this strong television drama, featuring large weekly doses of Jason Isaacs! Find articles, reviews, and viewer comments about Brotherhood--and add your own!

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Hilary the Touched
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Mike on the wagon

Post by Hilary the Touched » Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:45 am

Char reminded me that Michael's not a drinker, and I couldn't remember if that had ever been explicitly discussed--like, did he ever say, "I don't drink"?
Did he ever drink on the show (I mean, maybe when he first arrived in Season 1)?? Obviously it's not cool to mix alcohol and prescription medication, but it's also not cool to shoot people in the head or have sex with random prostitutes, especially when you're supposed to be committed to a woman with small children, so we've already established that Mike is not always motivated by rationality.
Anyway, I was curious--was this an aspect of his life that did get talked about? Was it something that JI himself just threw out there, an additional complication for us to mull over?

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Post by grannybear » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:31 pm

In the Thanksgiving episode in season 2 Tommy invites Michael to have a drink with him and gets mad when Michael refuses. Michael explains he doesn't drink and Tommy says you drink when you want to. Michael does not reply.
Everyplace else in the series when people are drinking alcohol Michael is drinking water. So it goes without further saying that he does not drink.
I wouldn't doubt that this was JI's idea.

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thunder
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Post by thunder » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:48 pm

Didn't he answer that he almost never drink in the Thanksgiving episode? Maybe I remember wrong.

MINOR SPOILER FROM SEASON 3?


I can't remember seeing Michael drink anything but water or coffee, but in one episode in the 3rd season (can't remember which one) he was at a resturant with his famlily. Nozolli (not sure how to spell it :oops: ) was there and bought them the cheapest Champagne on the menu. When the waiter poured Michael a glass, it looked like Mike wanted to stop him. But I don't know if that was because he doesn't drink alcohol or if it was because he was offended by Nozolli. Maybe both...?

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Post by Chari910 » Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:30 pm

He was carrying orange juice at the wedding. Mike never drank or smoked on the show.

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kjshd05
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Post by kjshd05 » Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:36 pm

from the Thanksgiving episode, Michael said he didn't drink, because it wasn't good for him....in Season 3, episode 4, the big italian guys wife
said that Michael was very drunk when she had sex with him in high
school....the orange juice Michael was carrying in the last episode of Season One, was Mamosa, for his Ma....

he either drank water, in a glass, or bottle. He had coffee cups along
the way, too...

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Post by Gillian » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:23 pm

I wouldn't doubt that this was JI's idea.
He doesn't drink in real life so perhaps he managed to incorporate that into Michael's character.

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:14 pm

He doesn't drink in real life so perhaps he managed to incorporate that into Michael's character.
Uh, as far as I'm aware (not that he's my new best friend or anything), Jason Isaacs doesn't pop random pharmaceuticals while driving, throw drug dealers off roofs, handle grenades, or cover himself with tattoos . . . what, he just drew a line??

Ah well . . . prolly another one of those things we'll never know, like where Michael was for seven years, and what was the deal with the wrist tattoo, and how he got the scar.

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kjshd05
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Post by kjshd05 » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:46 am

he told Molly he didn't remember how/when he got his scar...

the wrist tattoo was from being in the irish gang, growing up...

Michael went to New Mexico...maybe that's where he was during the
lost 7 years...

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Post by Helen8 » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:47 am

Jason Isaacs doesn't pop random pharmaceuticals while driving, throw drug dealers off roofs, handle grenades, or cover himself with tattoos


No, huh? Hmmm.


The writers did say "New Mexico" in response to where Michael was for 7 years.

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Post by marilaine » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:36 pm

The wrist tattoo, I thought that had to do with "the Brotherhood of Union Laborers", cuz doesn't Freddie have the same tat?
It's true about Michael not drinking, but, wasn't he drinking a beer after that game/brawl between Mulligan's bar and the Irish joint Freddie owns?
Or was that a Perrier? And the thanksgiving episode from Season 2, when he tells Tommy "I don't drink cuz it's not good for me." Maybe he realized
how liquor affects him. (He must remember how drunk he was when he was with that tough guy's wife. It wasn't Nazolli's wife, though. It was Bill what's-his-name. Big,burly,tough, but not the brightest guy. Kind of makes you wonder how she ended up with him and not Michael. :???: )
God, I miss this show like crazy. *sighingsadly*
~M'L(C) :-(

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Post by fruitbat » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:23 pm

I tried to post but everything went wacky. Fingers crossed....

I remember that Michael never seemed to drink in season 1. He got people drunk, topping up their glasses, without ever drinking any from his own glass. Sneaky bu**er.
I remember seeing an ad for season 2 (please don't tell me that I imagined it) which had the whole family ranged around the dining room table. I swear that Michael had his hand on a glass of red wine. I remember thinking "Ooo, maybe Michael wiil turn to drink in season2!"

As for the tattoo, doesn't Tommy have one too? So, it's not fully explained?
Nor is Michael's seven year absence? sigh

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Post by kjshd05 » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:36 pm

Tommy, Michael and Freddie all have the wrist tattoos...it was for the local, Irish gang they were in growing up....

I figured if Michael went to New Mexico, maybe that's where he was for
the 7 years....

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Post by Gillian » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:57 pm

Uh, as far as I'm aware (not that he's my new best friend or anything), Jason Isaacs doesn't pop random pharmaceuticals while driving, throw drug dealers off roofs, handle grenades, or cover himself with tattoos
Good bloody thing, too. :D

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Post by grannybear » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:17 pm

Maybe Bill's wife said Michael was drunk when he had sex with her to pacify him. Make him think that Michael couldn't do it and that Bill was the better mn. Some women will say anything to make their man happy.

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Post by Hilary the Touched » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:49 pm

. . . especially if said man is built like the proverbial brick shithouse.

(Though honestly, I did think Michael's response--or complete lack of one--was a little out of character. And even allowing the above, why would Wife-of-Bill bring it up in the first place??)

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