I agree with a lot of what's been posted in here already.
"Is it too soon?" For the stakes they chose? For the time alloted and manner in which it was depicted, from cliff-hanger to physical resolution? Yes. It is.
Still, I voted "I don't care" for lack of other options, like 'Carmine Wuz Robbed' :lol:
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It felt like a foregone conclusion to me that Messer would be the one injured, and so the cliff-hanger wasn't even much of a cliff-hanger. And once I had him pretty much pegged, I suspected it would all be very predictably done up, complete to recovery. I was lacking faith in how it would be handled, and so for that reason actually hoped for a quick resolution rather than have it dragged out poorly. Perhaps it was inevitable that how things played out would be anti-climactic for me, but, there was also every opportunity to surprise me. They certainly haven't.
Regardless, I was still expecting that it would be written up to give Carmine more to do within it. Looks like he hasn't been stretched. I think for me that
that's ultimately been the most disappointing aspect. That even if ya know what's likely to come, that how ya get there could still be a good ride. I suppose I really feel that Carmine's been shortchanged in what should have been a really substantial opportunity for him and his character, and that the storyline feels like it's received mis-focused attention, and was indeed quite predictable.
I can understand the show not wanting to have "increased focus on the characters" equate with jumping into a longer path to recovery, though it could have been interesting. Nor do I think doing so would have thwarted more casual viewers from getting the gist of things at various points. I guess for the producers, a quarter-way thru the season seemed a scary enough allotment of time.
I think the producers coulda made things far easier to swallow had they
not had Danny's injury be such that it threatened permanent paralysyis, and just had it as something that incapacitated him for a time. Instead, they just had to try and up the stakes. What a disappointing, eye-rolling load of malarkey has trickled onto screens since.
I don't really care that Danny is walking with a cane already, rather I should say I'm not surprised he is. It just feels a cop out to have gone for those stakes without going a little further in-depth with his road to recovery. That's what I meant by Stakes vs. Time & Manner. For what we've gotten for it, they could have had similar struggles from a scenario that didn't require Betting Odds, a Meteorologist with a divining rod, and a Miracle Mental Chiropractic Cure from ol' Doc Hawkes.
Had the show stepped it back even one notch, it still could have been interesting, and would have been a lot easier to take.
Flack's storyline feels far more contemplative, while Danny's feels all but superficially glossed over. It is hard to see why the show would bother.
The one who's come out roses for it is Lindsay, really, and if that was a factor in the writing of the scenario, (and it's becoming increasingly hard to think it wasn't, given what she's gotten from it versus him), then Danny's more of a prop than his cane and crutches :lol:. Jaysus freakin murphy.
It was a storyline with huge stakes that was resolved, at least on the physical side, with minimal impact on the team and in a lickedy-split manner. TPTB could produce their own quantum calculations that rationlize the timeline. Part of me doesn't care if they've meant his recovery to have taken place over six months or whatever. They chose the stakes. Then they chose how to depict it and how much time to spend. It came out about how I thought they'd manage it.
Maybe there will be an emotional component for Danny that will drag out or recur somehow. But I hold out little hope for that. Stella seems untroubled by shooting Frankie nor by Prof. P's death in her arms, Flack seems untroubled by being ripped apart by a bomb. Why should things be any different for Danny, when the show seems very keen to put the whole matter behind it.
