As someone who's been howling for Flack development for four seasons, I am thrilled to see this and hope it leads to some meaty material for both Eddie and Flack. It's about time we see a glimpse of the person he is when he's just Don and not Det. Flack, Big Damn Hero. I hope that Melanie isn't forgotten after the episode in which she appears, and cast into the plot chasm that swallows undesirable siblings, like poor Louie Messer, who had his brains scrambled for twenty minutes of angst and was never seen again.
Then again, if she, too, is pitched into the maw of Scrivener Incompeto, Eyeless Beast of Bulwer-Lytton, Eater of Writerly Competence, mayhap she and Louie will get together down there, do a little dance, make a little love. Can't you imagine the righteous indignation of the brothers on that score?
"What's your brother doing with my sister, Messer?"
"Maybe your sister there made the first move."
"She wouldn't do that."
"You sayin' she's too good for Louie, Flack?"
~fistfight~
Anyway, where was I?
Oh, yes. I hope Melanie doesn't become Melanie the Amazing Disappearing Sister. That being said, neither do I want her to become a prominent focal point. An appearance now and then, a mention. But please God, don't subject us to X seasons of Flack the Good Brother running interference for his irresponsible, Black Sheep Sister.
It's too early to draw any conclusions yet, so I'm going to reserve judgment until she appears. It could go either way or in a direction no one anticipates.
The addition of a sister and the revelation that his parents are alive does raise questions, however. If his siblings(brothers were mentioned in "Time's Up") and parents were alive, and the sister at least lives in the city, why were none mentioned or involved in COTP? Even if there were sibling tension between Don and Melanie, wouldn't it have been set aside temporarily after she learned he'd nearly died? Maybe the tension stems from her absence then, but that's a stretch. The writers have never been that subtle or creative. Melanie aside, wouldn't Mama Flack have come running?
And if his parents are alive, why can't he go home for corned beef hash? Gavin Moran asked after Flack Senior in S1, which presumes that Flack could still visit them from a geographic standpoint. So is Flack not visiting because he doesn't feel comfortable, or because he isn't permitted to do so because of a familial rift? If there is a rift, was it caused by his decision to join the police force? Did Senior resent it? Did Mama want "better" for him?
I don't know why I'm asking these questions because I'd bet my grocery money that Flack having siblings wasn't included in the original conception of the character. The writers probably brainstormed the idea over a hookah bong in talks for S4, and I'd wager Melanie was a product of a margarita chug during the strike. The writers have too long a history of inventing backstories only to change them on a whim to fit the plot of the moment.
Personally, I'm excited to see the storyline, and to meet a Flack family member.
