They kissed, slept together, went bowling together, went dining together. It's understandable why Niko was upset and hurt, they were really a cute couple.
@@SavertonJr yeah, and she was one of the first person he is close to in Liberty City, probably the first one if you don’t count Roman and his future wife.
it's funny, because while i was playing gta 4, i never got a call from roman about bowling, it got me so annoyed that i just called him to go bowling because i wanted to bowl with him basically, i pulled off a thanos "fine... i'll do it myself"
I’d also like to point out that Michelle’s personal car is the Declasse Merit, the civilian version of the Police Patrol, possibly alluding to the fact that she’s affiliated with law enforcement.
I beg to differ. I don't think clothing is a topic worth of attention on of itself. Rather, because it's the most apparent thing to be noticed. If you take the big picture, she might not be interested in his outfit per se, tho the mic theory is still plausible. *I'm just a random viewer btw. Haven't play any GTA game, almost. So when I say I haven't played the game, what I'm saying is I'm not qualified to deem the theory invalid. Maybe, the game does have minor details that give credence to the mic theory.* People have their guards. On a 3-month relationship, who would you think be most likely you would loosen your guard, i.e., open up about your life and gradually your secrets. Is it the picky, slightly nudge-y and on your nerves? Or the cool, accepting, too friendly person? Being too friendly is a red flag in any situation, dating or customer-type, especially if developed in a quick short term.
You forgot one hidden sign, if you get drunk with Michelle and drive a car while Michelle is with you the police will not chase you. This doesn't happen with the other friends and girlfriends only with Michelle cause she is an undercover government agent. I actually noticed this at my very first play through and got suspicious. I was like "How come with Roman I get the police if I drive while drunk but with Michelle I can pass by the cops while driving in a drunken state without them chasing me?" And then I found out she was an undercover agent and it all made sense.
Very astute observation, I bet not many made the same prediction from that fact. For me the reveal wasn’t overly surprising, she just seemed like an oddly stuffy character to be into Niko
@@roddydykes7053 partly I thought maybe it was a gameplay feature done to not make her scared and not make you lose progresses with her while she hangs out with you, but I was suspicious cause some of the conversations with her are weird and also she never gets drunk with Niko and Niko questions why and she never answers. There's also a dialogue where Niko asks her what's the point of all her questions about his job and she doesn't answer.
She’s also sober if I’m not mistaken possibly for two reasons. One is to not get drunk and foolishly reveal her cover and two is probably BC she’s technically on duty so she’s not allowed to drink.
It kinda sucks how the government thinks they’re the heroes and hire criminals like Niko, Micheal, Franklin, Trevor and the GTAO player to do their dirty work and clean up their messes
They're an evil, incompetent criminal gang masquerading as only thing preventing society from breaking down while in reality causing most of the problems in it, just like in real life.
if yall break it down, goverment is just a more sophisticated aristocracy of a tribe, humans will aways be tribalistic in nature. a nation or warband makes no difference, just diferent scales.
Kind of hypocritical of them to complain about Niko wearing the same clothes given they have the same attire at all times. Also, reason 6: If you "try your luck" with Michelle, you hear her yell out "tell me interesting things!"
And the way she yells your full name lmao. When she started asking was Roman involved with some bad people, I'm like " how/why she would ask that? She gotta be a nark lol " Mallorie dont seem like a woman who would run her mouth about roman situations, hence why she was messing around with Vlad, trying to protect him.
I love how in 4 she is nice and sweet and in 5 she is mean and aggressive. It's the opposite of both games.It's hard to find gta lore videos besides professional. I did not know that Roman does not go bowling all the time.
I think we can see her real personality in Gta V. In Gta IV she just hided her agressive side. Or maybe she was just a beginner at 2008(it makes sense because her cover was so weak, she didn't know how to hide herself well). And by 2013 she get stressed and pissed off because of the bad things she had to do in order to be successfull in this kind of job, that's why se became more agressive.
@@matepusztai5713 Exactly, again she just got cocky as she advanced in the agency and likely in her skillset. I mean she went from collecting intel on small time immigrant criminals to literally torturing people for intel lol
If you actually "try your luck" with Michelle you'll get to that generic camera angle that shows only the outside of the house, but Michelle keeps telling Niko to speak louder while they are having sex, to me that was the biggest tell that her house was actually under monitering / wired. SUS as fuck
Given Rockstar'e propensity for having integral characters betray the main protagonist at plot-centric points, I'm just glad they decided to NOT have Jacob be a turncoat in this game. I don't think I could take it if ma bredren flipped on me..
To be honest, Michelle actually helped niko because without her niko would have never known who Paper was, so he would have never found darkov because paper found darkov for niko.
I don’t think that’s true, ULP could of gotten someone else to check on Niko but he just used a female to manipulate his feelings more. ULP has a high position in the IAA and had been keeping his eye on Niko ever since he stepped foot in Liberty City.
These early signs actually shows how much detailed GTA IV's storyline is... Rockstar just nailed on everything in the story, even such small stuffs. They makes us wonder "Whoa! How could I miss that?", "What? I could have figured it out!" and other stuffs when we play the story more for the second time.
Yeah dude when me and my sister played GTA IV, for the first time we thought she was a thief because on their first date on her apartment the couch and furniture was new and had tags on it and she always avoided telling niko her job and always asked about him & roman and crime & drugs as was mentioned by our guy Mr. Professional. That's me and my sister's theory we thought she was a thief well it was actually the exact opposite 😂
When people talk about how Karen was nicer and gta 4 and now more meaner and more aggressive in 5. I kinda agree with them. Most of them forget that Karen actually got to know Niko. She showed feelings toward him and actually seems to liked him or at least have some respect for him. While in GTAO, she has no affiliation to the player or background information. Their just hired guns to her. But yes to be honest she is more of a husk than what she was before
I mean, Karen acts exactly the way you would expect a veteran government agent to act while in an important interrogation or while in front of four well known criminals she doesn't know. Especially after the FIB crashed the code meeting. She acts just like Stabler does in SVU towards people who he knows vs people he doesn't. 🤷🏻♂️
I think she had some genuine feelings towards Niko too. When he called her a fucking bitch you can see the shock and hurt in her eyes. You could also hear the regret in her voice when she reveals herself.
And she will yell "Tell me more" or "Tell me interesting things" when you "Have coffee" with her which at first I thought she wanted to know how it was in the war or sum then I found out that she was an undercover cop/agent
@@hasogon i get it bro me, who is not a native english speaker, took me a long time to decode what was jacob speaking :p Cool tho, i like Jamaican culture in general and it's people :D
I think since niko is not a native English speaker and is from another country he probably just thought to himself " oh i guess this is just how American women act" also if you were in his position would you really think that there is government agents spying on you only a few days after you got off the boat? I sure as hell wouldn't
@@MIKE2111ful I agree with both points lol, Niko probably should’ve been suspicious, but it was a woman working against him this time, not a junky army buddy
As I said in my previous comment. They were honestly pretty ridiculous. He'd have to assume both that Americans have some pretty warped legal procedure and probably that Karen is really bad at her job.
Well with the drink spiking he does - he just throws it out because he's drunk He grows to actually care for her and that leads him to let his guard down even when he notices things
@@roddydykes7053 Like everyone in LC isn't a creep. Even Karen admitted it later. Niko has a whole lot of problems happening nonstop to be able to notice everything.
Also....whenever you go into her apartment for “coffee” Michelle tells Niko to talk louder and to tell her stories. Her apartment is bugged, Michelle doesn’t want her handlers to hear her cheeks getting clapped but she also wants Niko to slip and say something.
I really love how Niko never talks. She never gets Niko to talk about stuff, he always says "I don't know about that" or something. And even not saying anything, he still didn't knew that she was a cop.
my #1 tip off that she was an undercover cop was her car. Michelle's (Karen's) Merit is the exact same car, (though it be the 'unmarked' stripped out civilian verison) as the LCPD "Police Patrol" car. the vehicle choice was just too coincidental... the vehicle was probably given to her by the police or the IAA or whathave you.
Yeah Michelle/Karen definitely wouldn't be able to deceive a serious gangster. I'm wondering how Niko didn't get suspicious, because he seems to be a sharp minded guy anyway.
@@matepusztai5713 Precisely bro! He came from the army, he escaped almost certain death countless times due to his bravery and intelligence. He's been stabbed in the back countless times, been in jail back in Europe, knows the criminal life well, and yet can't spot when Karen is misleading him, even through she literally throws these signs *verbally* in his face. That's a part of the Niko-Michelle plot I'll never really understand
@@AndreRQL maybe because Niko didn't wanted to think that way anymore. That's one of the reasons why he moved to Liberty in the first place and I know that he was also looking for that someone special but I think Niko was mostly trying to move on from that criminal/war life of his.
I played gta iv for the first time when i was 7 too, but i never did missions i remember i putted some random point in bohan and i always went there because i thought it was a mission
I knew there was something wrong with her, but expecting her to work for a government didn't came to my head , I though she work for Dimitri ( that was my mind back then , she was just confusing me )
When Michelle said "I like things clean",it kinda reminds me the same line that Big Smoke said in Reuniting The Families mission in GTA San Andreas when he went through the car wash🤣
I think Niko had a suspicion about her as well. Notice how every time she would try and incriminate Niko through his affiliations, he always deflected her passive-aggressive statements by not self-incriminating himself.
Number 1 should really be Michelle's loud "conversations" while Niko is enjoying, uh, hot coffee at her place. "OH! OH! THAT'S GREAT- YOU'RE GREAT, NIKO BELLIC! TELL ME MORE! TELL ME INTERESTING THINGS!!!" My headcanon has Niko playing dumb and pretending to be surprised and upset by the big "reveal" after the Snowstorm mission. For a guy who practically had to swim through dozens of corpses he created to collect Elizabeta's coke just minutes earlier, he seemed pretty chill having just "learned" Michelle was a government agent. Its obvious Karen got made the moment he entered her apartment before their first date. Luckily for her, after getting off the boat he was desperate for some company and was happy to waste her time. Remember that Niko was always careful never to mention anything incriminating about himself or others, in stark contrast to his dates with Kate. As a bonus, she also happened to have a surplus of clean furniture to sleep on. The alternative was to share the only bed with Roman (and cockroaches) in his filthy apartment. Besides, Karen is so inept at her spycraft, it's actually kind of adorable. Can you really blame him?
Remember Niko is a war veteran and a criminal with a conscience, so having someone to trust (even if he didn´t really tell her stuff) is a big thing so perhaps he still wanted to believe she was just a silly curious person. I mean even Niko´s real Love-meet profile say he want someone to trust
I suspected Michelle was someone suspicious, simply because the game's forcing me to interact with her, despite her being completely normal and mundane. That said, I originally thought she was an undercover cop, not a government spook.
@@drank__4077 ICE doesn't really do undercover ops, from what I can tell. Maybe if she was asking him how he got in the country it would make sense. Like I said in my standalone comment, my brother said the same thing, but on the face of it, it doesn't really make any sense. You're literally right off the boat when you're introduced to her, you haven't even really had time to commit many crimes. But all of a sudden this one person takes an interest in _you_ and _your_ criminal lifestyle, like you're some kind of bigshot who has connections. My brother really emphasized the new things in her apartment as the really obvious retro-active proof, and I thought "That's dumb, why would you buy new crap for your decoy house anyway?" Recently I saw a review where this guy said "Don't poor shame me" because the game makes you buy new clothes to "impress Michelle" - so yeah, it actually would have made more sense if she was actually a clean freak, rather than a law enforcement agent. Then again she's not a law enforcement agent
Even though she was a fed, kinda did Niko a favor. She was a big part how Niko ended up settling in the city. She may be a bitch but she actually cared about Niko. She's miles better than Kate and that creep Kiki
There's also the fact she says "You can talk to me about it, I'm a great listener" after something bad happens, for example, when Niko's apartment and Roman's depot gets burned down.
What is so strange for me is the fact that Michelle has started dating with Niko, when Niko was a nobody and at that time he didn't do any serious crime in Liberty City. At least he haven't done anything serious, that would make the government begin to have an interest about him. Plus Michelle must had a friendly relationship with Mallorie and Roman even before Niko's arrival... So, the government agency started to watching Niko even before he sailed to the U.S(because he worked for Bulgarin, who is a very dangerous international crime boss) or what is the explanation that Michelle appeared in that early part of the story? Or it is just a plot hole/development oversight?
Niko and Roman had been mailing letters back and forth and they were probably watching Bulgarians activities overseas as UL paper is IAA (GTAs CIA) so those letters were probably intercepted and they knew Niko was coming and thus planted Michelle into Roman and mallories life. Also Roman was connected to the Russian mob due to his ties to Vladimir, and the Russian mob was becoming a problem, So Roman was probably under a bit of surveillance too.
My theory is that she dated him at first to spy on Mallorie because Mallorie is friend with her (Michelle/Karen) real target, Elizabeta Torres. But as time goes on, seeing Niko working with a lot of criminal and seeing how effective he was, she contact the ULP and tell them that they can use Niko to do their dirty work
No, the plot is deeper - they wanted to use Niko to infiltrate the troublesome criminal underground. They kept their mouths shut when he was doing their dirty work without realizing, don't forget the part with Paper taking him to meet with one of the largest crime lords in LC - the government and the mob have a wide connection in the West in real life. Most of the crime reality in GTA series is based on real life. GTA III and Liberty City stories will get way creepier this way.
"Even Roman doesn't want to go bowling all the time" Truly a top 10 anime betrayals moment Also, good job on giving the outro background music a fade-in.
When someone is asking a lot of questions and then they catch on to what you are doing you can tell that they are an undercover cop or government agent.
The clothing listening device makes sense, I never even thought about that. Also if you take her bowling again she'll comment about how mobsters use bowling alley background noise to cover up conversations about crime.
The first hint I got during my first playthrough of the game was that during a date with Niko, she asks him where she can get some cocaine from, adding that it's 'for her cousin.' Knowing the twist after my initial playthrough makes me glad that Niko wasn't dumb enough to divulge any information - even if he had believed her.
In that first encounter, she doesn't just lie and deflect - she makes a denial ("no, it's not new") and then later edits her story when it doesn't hold water ("when things get dirty, I throw them away and buy new ones"). Classic sign of lying
I somehow fell for it because of her almost completely obvious nature of asking, which I thought it's intentional for her characterisation, considering the satirical elements of the Grand Theft Auto series. GTA IV weaponised that particular knowledge and broke that rule by having her *actually* did what she implied, thus screwing the players over. It's surprisingly effective.
Me too, and she sucked at making herself inconspicuous and just like Pro said, she was being way too friendly, never complaining about the same places or even what Niko does something bad to her. I remember when I accidentally wrecked her car on the first date and she asked Niko literally if he's involved with criminals in Hove Beach. I mean, who asks something like this on their first date and especially to someone who is new to the city?
you right it's really odd and she's to organized but I don't blame Niko for dating her because she seemed like a nice person and she's not and I noticed that she get a little bit creeped out when Niko approached her
@@badreedinedjellali1328 And I think that she actually loved Niko because she looked upset when she revealed herself. No wonder she ended so brutal and angry like in GTA V
nah I don't think she dose honestly I think she don't really care about anyone and only use people like in gta 5 when she tourterd the poor man that was the real Michelle
I already knew she was a government agent the first time I played it because it's kind of obvious. "So does Roman get into trouble alot, is he involved in any criminal stuff?" Along with all of the other hints, I immediately got suspicions about her.
18:45 - but Michelle will also comment positively on different clothes... I believe this is just her liking everything Niko does to get closer to him and get more info 24:30 - is also a possible reference to Niko being able to sell drugs (a cut side mission/activity)
On the first playthrough I kind of had a feeling something was off about her. When she appeared in the mission ‘The Snowstorm’, I was like:” I knew it.” On my second playthrough I realised that the car you drive her to the carnival with on the first date, is the same car model as the police cars. An unmarked police car, undercover. This only made it more obvious, since the unmarked, normal version of the car is really rare to see.
Michelle: My name is Karen and I'm just use Michelle as my fake name and I works with Government Me: *"IT'S DOESN'T MATTER WHAT'S YOUR NAME IS AND WHAT YOU DO"*
All of y’all forgot about something. If you go to tw@ while early in the game or early when you’re still dating Michelle or during the time her and Niko are still in contact, if you go lovemeet, you’ll see a post for someone that says “UndercoverLover”. Every time on my playthrough I would notice that when Michelle is out of the picture, that ad disappears. It’s up the whole time she’s in the storyline, but then when there’s no more contact, it’s gone. It’s a very small detail since I’m assuming no one caught it but it’s also a way to find out she’s a government agent.
I find it funny that the first time I played IV after the first date I just went "Ha, she is weird... she is undercover cop or something" jokingly... but planted the seed of doubt on myself
I loved these details! Makes me want to play the game and pay close attention to the story. Usually, when I play games I find it hard to concentrate on the story, and tend to get bored and skip cutscenes to get to the action. Thanks for the video!
Michelle has a personal car in the first mission you are required to use, and it's way too convenient that it's an unmarked grey Declasse Merit, the same sedan the police use.
Hey Professional, I wanted to ask if you can please do a Lore Video on Niko's past prior to Liberty City (ie. Smuggling, the war etc.) as it is one of the aspects of GTA IV that still puzzles me to this day; I understand a bit but not how it all ties together. I love your videos - keep up the good work!!
One of the signs that should've been more obvious to me was how often she would ask about the "interesting people" Niko's met. And how often she jumps to illegal activities, unprovoked, whenever Niko is vague about really anything.
Dude, I played this when I was 9 years old, now I'm 20, seeing things about GTA IV after so many years feels so different and I didn't noticed these subtle things when I first played it as a kid
The main one for me is for your first date when you dont pick her up to help roman. She automatically ask without you even detailing the situation . It was something like “what happend, are you involved with some bad people?” Hmm thats a weird thing to say.
I don't know why exactly, but I still shipping Niko and Michelle/Karen. Probably because despite that Karen lied to Niko since the beginning, being an IAA/CIA agent in order to spy his illegal actions in the story, she ended up having some authentic feelings for Niko. She even had some regrets in her face and voice tone, when she ask Niko for the coke. Because if it wasn't the case, Karen would probably threat Niko and Jacob with a gun to obtaine the coke, if Karen really didn't had feelings with Niko. Also I still believe that Karen helped Niko to get rid of most of his charges against him, for the crimes that he commited in Liberty City and even during the Bosnian war. And if Kate is officially death, I don't see the rest of Niko's girlfriends as a definitive ship for Niko like Kate or even Karen, unless that Alejandra (the girl from the cafe Internet) or even Ilyena (Faustin's wife) ended up as new alternative girlfriends for Niko after the events of GTA IV. But honestly, as much I want it to believe that Karen compensated Niko somehow, after lied to him, being a couple again but now in secret, away from the IAA's eyes, I know that wasn't officially the case thanks to GTA V. Karen was still loyal with the IAA, turning herself into a more rudeless agent, while she was torturing Mr. K with a flashlight.
or just dont ship niko with anyone because, he doesnt really have feelings for people. Yes, he gets along with kate and karen but i wouldn’t tell he has so many expressions or feelings for people he “dated”. People dont actually need partners to complete their lifes, so thats how i see niko…
The government used Niko - Karen didn't help dropping the charges, he indeed betrayed him. As Niko showed he can get things done they saved him from the cops to use him when they needed someone with his skills. Shame on Karen, yes - he is ruining herself as a human and didn't think much on it, but the real villains are the government using people like this, as they are in fact larger criminals than most of the mobster Niko met. If Paper taking you to meet one of the greatest mob bosses in LC wasn't telling something.
When I first played _Grand Theft Auto 4_ , I thought Michelle (Karen) was an undercover cop at the most; I never really thought of her as a fed. Then again, since _GTA: San Andreas_ , the gangster antihero protagonist crossing paths (and lines) with federal agents for better or worse has become inevitable. Great video.
If Phil Bell was a close ally to Niko right in the beginning of the game, he would have sure made Niko more prepared of rats and spies. Phil would have known Michelle is an undercover agent right away and have warned Niko on the side. In fact, he would have told Niko stories about feds infiltrating criminal organizations.
I only forgave her because she was the most beautiful girlfriend in GTA IV. And because she didn't end up getting Niko locked up. Rockstar's so good with those small details.
There's a tiny detail in the scene in her appartement that most probably missed. She asks where Niko wants to take her. When Niko answers he steps a bit closer and gestures with his hands in a way that looks kind of like he's reaching for her. She backs away a little. She knows that Niko can be dangerous, so she might have felt threatened. This also explains the awkward pause before she answers.
The hints of her being a narc were right there from the first time Niko ever met her, the first text she ever sends him is asking if he's involved with bad people and on their first date asks if Roman is involved in criminal stuff.