Grade "Epilogue"

[symbeline]

Originally Posted by symbeline:
Well, they know more about this type of injury that Lindsay does. Plus, they are her friends, or at least colleagues. Why would she go? I dunno, maybe to have another opinion? To know what to expect and how to act? To confide her fears in somebody familiar?

That's not real life, it's drama, so it's good to see some drama. And Lindsay would have something else to do, other than be with Danny in every scene.

While I agree it would help to see Lindsay interact with someone other than Danny in a scene, ...I still have to say that Sid and/or Hawkes couldn't have helped much. As far as detecting Danny's lie, neither would've been in a better position than Lindsay: if Danny told her (and possibly by extension, them) that his doctor said he had a 60% chance of walking, what reason would either Sid or Hawkes have had to refute that diagnosis? Danny's doctor most likely has a stronger background in the subject than they do.

I was going to reply buy Fay did a better job than I. That's exactly what I wanted to say:

I haven't been keeping track of the conversation, but I just caught a few things as I was skimming down the page...

Sid and Hawkes are both doctors - Hawkes worked in an emergency room before becoming a pathologist, so it's not like all he has experience with is dead bodies. And while it's true that Danny's doctor will know a heck of a lot more about what he's going through and his healing process, let's not forget that Danny lied to Lindsay about the chances of him walking again - which implies that she didn't know all of the details, even as his wife. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine her being curious if a doctor could give her some kind of insight into the situation or advice about anything. I'm supposed to believe that Lindsay has an infant and a husband who just found himself in a wheelchair and she has no doubt about anything and is holding up so perfectly under pressure that she can just smile and give on-the-spot pep talks about meteorology? I don't know, it's all just too neat.

It's not about knowing if Danny has lied or if his supposedly 60% chance is a reason to be optimistic. It's about trying to understand what is he going trough and how she can help because with a baby at home, Lindsay can't possibly devote herself to Danny. Even with a nanny -and perhaps also Danny's parents- a newborn has a lot of needs and I think it's realistic that Lindsay will need advice and help.

Originally Posted by symbeline:
Also, Lindsay doesn't react too well under stress, remember season 3? It's difficult to change the way you react to things. You can train yourself to avoid some situations and some reactions, but it's not something you can completely control, so if this situation worsens -which I hope for the sake of the show- Lindsay would reach her breaking point. She can only pretend that she's that strong for a while, even if she feels that the love she has for her family is what gives her strength. Stress is a very powerful emotion. It wouldn't be realistic that she acted like Superman. Well, Superwoman in her case :lol:

And realistically speaking, first time moms tend to be very emotional and get stressed very easily --I don't have kids so I'm just speaking from what I've heard from friends and family-- so Lindsay can't possibly go on like this forever. She needs help or at least talk with somebody.

Yeah, it would be unrealistic for her to keep going like Superwoman without ever reaching a breaking point...but I'm afraid I don't see what your point is? If they handle this storyline right, then she'll obviously be breaking down (or preferably, turning to someone to vent) somewhere along the line. I fully expect to see that, and she'll have every reason to. I just don't see why they'd have to show her doing that right off the bat. Her eventually caving under pressure has little to do with her caring about Danny; and to me that seemed to what this episode was all about (at least, for both Lindsay and Mac). Additionally, it's obvious she's trying to do the right thing right now, even if later she caves under pressure.

You know, maybe she's acting happy and perky again because she thinks that's the best way to deal with Danny, but IMO she's not dealing with how the situation is affecting her, she's just going through the motion. But if the writers decide that we'll never see how Lindsay is coping, just her new positive and cheerful personality, then it's really fruitless to discuss it.
I guess for some people it's easier to accept that Lindsay is going to be the perfect wife and mother forever and ever and ignore how their relationship was before the shooting, but for me this will mean that Lindsay will never be more than that, Danny's loving and supportive wife.

 

[Maya316]

Originally Posted by symbeline:
It's not about knowing if Danny has lied or if his supposedly 60% chance is a reason to be optimistic. It's about trying to understand what is he going trough and how she can help because with a baby at home, Lindsay can't possibly devote herself to Danny. Even with a nanny -and perhaps also Danny's parents- a newborn has a lot of needs and I think it's realistic that Lindsay will need advice and help.

Yeah, I agree. Problem is, this episode was written by the same people who gave us Sid's-Biggest-Fan-Even-Though-She's-Never-Met-Him!Angell. A lot of the time, we're supposed to assume that all these little personal moments happened behind the scenes, even if we're not shown them.
I think there's very little realistic chance that Lindsay would've been able to say just the right words to Danny without having gotten at least a little help or advice from someone (likely Hawkes, possibly Stella), and I'm more than a little pissed that the scene where she must have gotten that advice was either cut or left unwritten in favour of DL scenes. But in the writers' defense, as much as showing this scene would've made that "optimism" DL scene more realistic later, I can see how it might pale in comparison to showing that Lindsay at least wants to help Danny, even with a baby at home. That was the important factor in that scene, IMO, not what she was actually saying.

You know, maybe she's acting happy and perky again because she thinks that's the best way to deal with Danny, but IMO she's not dealing with how the situation is affecting her, she's just going through the motion. But if the writers decide that we'll never see how Lindsay is coping, just her new positive and cheerful personality, then it's really fruitless to discuss it.
I guess for some people it's easier to accept that Lindsay is going to be the perfect wife and mother forever and ever and ignore how their relationship was before the shooting, but for me this will mean that Lindsay will never be more than that, Danny's loving and supportive wife.

Only I can't just accept that the writers aren't ever going to show how she's coping, or they're only going to show her being the perfect wife. (At least, not without loudly complaining to CBS :shifty And I'm not ready to assume that's all they're going to give us based on two aired episodes -- only one of which DL, or even Lindsay's issues, was featured in. I can give them time to show Lindsay's issues (especially since the 6.04 spoiler where Hawkes picks Danny up from therapy kind of hints that Lindsay might be on the verge of cracking, finally). Unlike with the Ruben arc in S4, they've already shown the important thing: that Lindsay wants to support Danny, and this time around she let him know it. They can, and they'd better, show how the situation affects her later...wouldn't she have been making it "All About Her" if they'd shown that right from the first episode of the storyline?