Accepting Change
Accepting change is a life-long pursuit. Change makes people uncomfortable because it reminds us that life itself doesn't last. For Michael, change feels like it's stalking him. Everywhere he looks he's aware of how different his world is. Most of friends are dead, from AIDS or drugs or some other cause. More importantly, the sexual revolution that they were a part of succeeded and is now a distant memory. Although Michael celebrates this, he can't help but miss the days when his very identity was a symbol of something meaningful beyond the ordinary. Much of his time is spent reminiscing with Brian or on his own, just trying to learn where he fits with these new changes.
Testing Boundaries
Michael is placed in a rather precarious position between his family and his friends. While his family was not a large part of his life for many years because they couldn't accept him or his lifestyle, they're all older now and seeking kinship and reconciliation. This is fine, but they approach these moments through a lens of loyalty that is incompatible with Michael's allegiance. His friends and loved ones like Anna were the ones who saw him through some real dark years, so he owes them loyalty. In his attempt to assuage both sides, Michael is forced to test some boundaries and has his own boundaries tested, much of which shows up in his conflicts with Irwin.
Iconoclasm
Along with his struggle to adapt to change, Michael faces a push of iconoclasm in his environment. People younger than him, like Ben and Jake, exist in a seemingly different world. They don't value the same things that Michael has valued all his life. More importantly, they benefit from so many privileges that he didn't have when he was their age, and Michael struggles with jealousy. Ben doesn't understand why his partner wants to run the business so strictly, but for Michael the answer is deeply rooted in a past which Ben couldn't understand unless he lived it. In a sense their partnership is defined by iconoclasm but only in that they belong to two different worlds. Ben is not so much intent upon destroying the past as he is ignorant of the past and its significance to Michael.
