The Ever-Declining Danny: Hot Or Not?

The romance would have take off so much more if there was chemistry, it wasn't with a main character and it actually was built on the basis it was going somewhere!
TPTB messed up but they obviously still think they are onto a winner! They need to wise up to the fact that the majority of the people who watch CSI, watch it for the crimes, characters and science. Not for a silly love story that's been plucked from the school playground!

I hate to say it and many of the posts here have said it, so i guess i am just adding my name to that list.

I think its the romance that viewers/fans feel has let the character of Danny down. I think this is because its been rammed down our throats and also the total lack of chemistry there is between the two players.

Here in the UK we have just seen Obsession, Danny was nearly back. I watched it and for the first time the season (barring a few scenes in HOTD and RS) did i feel that Danny Messer was here. He was confused, bewildered, a little smart mouthed and jokey. You got the feeling he actually felt for the poor guy who's trolley those people had stolen, i know i did.
Danny didn't have a romantic scene in the whole show, unless you think being propositioned by a dominatrix is romantic (hey whatever butters your bagel). He laughed, he joked, he was all sweetness and light. His scene with Hawkes and Sid, regarding the one legged, female, kung-fu expert, his face, his bemusement, in trying to fathom it out. I felt Danny had come back.

Obviously from the posts here, the performance i have just watched won't last long and that is a shame. But part of me feels that its the romance that is bogging the character of Danny down and making him a one trick pony. The writing hasn't helped, and perhaps the performances of the actor himself are sometimes a little ... half arsed... but we've seen a glimmer of the old Danny when the writing for him isn't centred around a certain someone. There isn't much else i can say to that apart from, i hope that, that part of it is lost somewhere along the way to next season.

yes...there was a lack of chemistry and it affected our view of the relationship and characters...all i hope is that the writters smarten up and give us some interesting Danny material

I know this has been mentioned before, but the bottom line is that if Zuiker likes the romance, Anna's "jaw dropping" performance and the ratings continue to be favorable; they won't fix what they don't think is broke. And that sucks out loud for the people who want Lindsay gone and the real Danny back.

i still that that danny is hot but sometimes i get lost looking at flack's baby blues

It just baffles me as to why Zuiker likes the romance! The praise he received last year concering Carmine must have done something! RS,RD is still one of my fave episodes and Danny is just explosive in it. We just need more of that. Not every week but once in a while! Apart from RS and HOTD, Danny has become a background character this season and it needs to be remedied quickly!

Nah, there's still something really attractive about Danny. Maybe he has lost something from the first season, but not enough to make me look elsewhere. I'd get bored if he was constantly antagonising Mac all the time. If anything, the drama needs to be somewhere else. I want him to prove himself as an investigator that he can be mature and is good at his job. I agree that we need to see him more, he needs to be a more major character in the episodes. At times it is like he's just a lab tech.

As for DL, well, I like it. I'm probably the only one but there you go. I agree that they've not got amazing sexual chemistry but there's something kind of sweet about them as a couple that I really like. At least they don't make me feel slightly queasy every time I see them together *cough* Grissom and Sara *cough*.

I have found that the writers lately have been spending too much time developing Lindsay as a character. For the most part, since she has been back from her maternity leave, she has been a principal player in all the storylines and Danny has been left with the scraps. I think Danny is (or was) a way more interesting character, with a WAY more interesting background. There is so much more they could do with him (in the first two seasons they were on the right track). I saw a glimpse of the old Danny in the episodes when Anna was away having her baby. They still have time to redeem themselves, if they give a certain female character the punt.......I think Danny's balls may drop back down.

I have gona back and watched Season 1 and 2 epi's and compared them with those of Season 3. I pretty much agree with everyone ya'll are saying.

In the first two season, Danny was great fun to watch and I never got sick of him, but now, everytime I see him around Lindsay, I am tempted to turn off the TV because I just do not like what they have done with his character since Lindsay came to the lab.

I think that they will have to pull something great in these last couple of epi's just to let us know that Danny is still the same Danny we know from Season 1 and 2.

~~Ally

Sammy11 said:
Here in the UK we have just seen Obsession, Danny was nearly back. I watched it and for the first time the season (barring a few scenes in HOTD and RS) did i feel that Danny Messer was here. He was confused, bewildered, a little smart mouthed and jokey. You got the feeling he actually felt for the poor guy who's trolley those people had stolen, i know i did.
Danny didn't have a romantic scene in the whole show, unless you think being propositioned by a dominatrix is romantic (hey whatever butters your bagel). He laughed, he joked, he was all sweetness and light. His scene with Hawkes and Sid, regarding the one legged, female, kung-fu expert, his face, his bemusement, in trying to fathom it out. I felt Danny had come back.

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I agree with you, Sammy11. After watching last night's episode I felt like some of the old spark had been re-lighted. And I certainly think that it was no coincedence that D/L was nowhere to be seen(L had the tiniest role, hiding her baby bump under a desk). I've already said before that I felt that their flirting in Season 2 was harmless and at times funny, but she's not fun enough for his character. He needs someone like me LOL who understands his humour and is a little bit quirky like Aiden. But don't get me wrong I don't think that romance between him & Aiden would have worked either, but at least they had more chemistry.

I'm late to the party! But I've got plenty to say. Before I do though, let me drop one more reminder in: criticizing the actors--in this case, Carmine--professionally is fine, but let's not get personal. Making assumptions about his character or speculating that he might be on anti-depressants (discussing Danny on Prozac is fine, but not the actor) are out of line. I don't care what you know/think you know--this forum isn't the place for it. Thanks.

I gotta say, I think "Past Imperfect" was the breaking point for me with regards to Danny. Seeing him stand there impassively when he knew Jesse fatally poisoned his brother while Jesse stood there crying about it made me brace myself for some true Messer vitriol. Surely Danny was going to let loose on the guy! How could he possibly feel compassion for someone who killed his own brother and then acted like Danny shouldn't be hauling him off to jail?

But Danny didn't yell at the guy. He didn't work himself into a fury and unleash a healthy dose of righteous indignation on him. No, all Danny did was passively regard Jesse and then grand him ten more minutes--with the brother he'd killed! And I just sat back and wondered what happened to the real Danny Messer?

It didn't happen overnight though, as many of you have pointed out. Time after time this season, we've seen Danny shoved in the background or worse, only given prominent screentime to advance a juvenile and shoddily written (and acted) romantic storyline. I doubt there's anything that could make me a fan of the "Dindsay" pairing, but I'd certainly find it more palatable if it hadn't been used to strip away everything that was interesting and unique about Danny's character.

Like MrsG, I thought the low point had to be when Danny was begging Lindsay to go get a slice of pizza with him. Well, I was proved wrong in that very episode--surely the low point had to be when he called after her that he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk after she'd shot him down and as she was walking away from him. No? How about when she manipulated him into dealing with an ugly part of the job on her behalf in "Oedipus Hex." Oh, wait...then he flew to Montana to support her after all that. For any character that would be downright pathetic.

What makes it doubly sad is that that list about sums up Danny's character development for the season. Yes, he had some nice moments in Hung Out to Dry and Raising Shane--brief glimpses into the old Danny, but those are two episodes, out of the 21 that have aired. Not so great.

As for Carmine, yes, he doesn't seem to be projecting that spark he had in the first two seasons into this one, but I can't bring myself to lay much of the blame at his feet. Imagine building up a truly great character for two seasons of a show, working hard to make that character three-dimensional and interesting and complex and deep and real--and then seeing all that work torn down in the course of a season. Save for a moment in HotD and RS, where has he really had the chance to shine? I guess he could have put more into the romance storyline, but it's so poorly written and the actress he's opposite is such an inferior performer that it seems uncharitable to hold the lifelessness of the pairing against him.

I know there were complaints during season one and two from people who didn't like the character as much as some of us do that he got too much screentime and too many storylines. I'm all for a better balance--certainly I think it's an ensemble show and each player should have a chance to shine. But stripping away all that's interesting and compelling about Danny was a huge mistake.

I agree that Danny's back story is much more interesting than Lindsey's. In the UK, we recently had the episode Silent Night and she annoyed me no end. I was so frustrated with her, it was just like 'stop frigging whining'. I know that she's supposed to have survived this awful crime, but I couldn't bring myself to actually be interested. From that stand point I can see where you're coming from. She's not the most interesting character, but I still like her and Danny together.

Top I agree with 100% *applauds*
The writers wrote Danny as a guy who liked female attention and was never short of someone flirting or giving him the eye.
Season 3 we have him begging and time after time running after Lindsay, like she's his master. What went wrong!
In season 1 and 2 he flirted with Maka, Aiden the two girls in Risk. All of them very attractive ladies. Lindsay just doesn't seem his type. I can see the attraction on her part, but what's his attraction. It's odd. I know people change in a relationship, when they like someone, but the way Danny has changed is just plain ridiculous!
Sure he could have changed what with everything that has happened, Aiden, Louie, Stella and Flack but in previous seasons Danny under stress is a recipe for angst, drama and anger.

Yes, I agree with you too Top - well expressed, thank you

In the Wowow interview which Dorka has posted Carmine talks about his character's development and how Danny's trying to become more like Mac, less passionate and more rational. Well can he just stop that right now please 'cos its not doing it for me. I've already got one Mac on my TV thank-you very much, I don't need another one....

So how recent is this Wowow interview? Somebody mentioned that it was conducted in February, right?

And huh, Danny wants to be Mac No.2? Why does the show need two Macs? One is more than enough!

But seriously, I gotta say, I thought it was really adorable that Carmine spoke so much about Danny and Mac and his friendship with Gary Sinise. (I bet all you Danny/Mac fans must be loving the interview loads. ) I don't think he meant that Danny wanted to be Mac but rather, Danny wants to have the same experience and wisdom that Mac does, with time. It's possible for Danny to have that and still be his passionate self, isn't it?