That is a truth sometimes we may never know our limits and actually it is scary when we see that from normal people you can make really bad guys under wrong leaders and as we call brain wash. I can understand that Mike decided to kill Bridget and that was only a way out because she was not his old Bridget and who know what we will do in his place when situations comes up. Interesting to read and discover the characters.
Yes. In a way this story is an illustration of narcissism at work. The sensistive part of us is our sense of who we are. When that gets compromised terrible things can follow.