In the early game, he’ll be hiding in his car around the corner from his house, or sitting on a park bench in the small patch of greenery left in Los Santos.
Most indicative of Michael’s plight, however, are the various CPU-dictated vignettes that occur when you switch back to him from another character – and how the player responds to them. From the first trailer it’s been obvious that the money is all for show, and Michael is really just an interloper in a world he thinks is his. GTA 5’s narrative – and its marketing – has striven to make this plain, of course. Instead, he’s usually to be found sitting in an alley, head against the steering wheel, or gazing listlessly out onto the horizon.
The chandelier’s lights are always on, but Michael is rarely home, both figuratively and literally. Look past the mansion, the suits and the cars, and you’ll see a man confused by his own master plan. Michael De Santa is a millionaire loser, the oxymoronic end result of an American Dream turned night-terror.