SSL security : end to end versus point to point

Question

Dear WCF experts.

I don't understand why SSL is said to be point to point secure, but not end to end insecure.
Why does it matter if there are intermediates if only the 2 ends do their handshake ?
How is that different from message security ?

Also, another newbie question. Very simple. Why do we need a transport layer ? Can't applications communicate direction with the message layer ?

A confused man