I wanted to post this before the new episode, but I lost track of time :lol:
I've been thinking about the last three episodes --yeah, I know, thinking too much only means trouble-- and my problem with the show. As someone else said, it's really heartbreaking to realize that maybe the time has come and I have to stop watching the show. I don't want to and if I do, it won't be an easy decision as it was with LV --the characters that remained in the show after s8 weren't my favorites and the new ones didn't attract my attention, so I lost interest very soon, even though the real "falling-out-of-love" process had begun 3 season earlier-- because I care about this characters so much that I sometimes wonder if I'm back to the 90's where dramas and procedural shows had better acting and better scripts and didn't rely in editing/camera angles/FX. You know, when audiences weren't just a demographic and the action was as important as the personal angle.
NY brought this magic again, made me believe in TV shows again, and even though it pales in comparison with older shows and the writing is normally just average IMO, the actors have inhabited the characters with such a passion, that I actually root for them instead of watching the episode for the science or the crime and the occasional eye-candy. I'm rooting for Danny, Flack, Hawkes, Adam, Sid and -occasionally- Stella. I wanna know when the case is affecting them, when they are having a bad day, when they feel like Superman. I want more tidbits of information about their personal lives outside work. I wan't Danny/Flack scenes at work and outside work, I want Stella and Mac having a coffee or a beer and discussing things at the lab as friends --only please, no romantic feelings involved. I want more personal moments for Hawkes, Adam and Sid. I don't even care if this means that I'm going to be subjected to more Lindsay and Mac, as long as the characters take the main focus again.
After the debacle that was S5, I guess I need to reconcile with the characters, specially the most affected by the ill conceived storylines, Danny and Stella. Danny because he's tied forever not to a wheelchair, but to a dead weight in the form of a wife. And Stella because after the laughably cheesy end to her major plotline, I need her to be Stella again, a supportive and encouraging but also firm friend. The fact that so far she isn't reaching to Danny and Flack, for whom she's been there before, is more than disappointing.
Now onto DL. Let me say it again: I'm totally and utterly sorry that I asked for this, for a stepford Lindsay. I should've known better
. I'm just going to outline the most important problems I'm seeing this season with DL as I don't wanna bore the rest of the forum with long dissertations:
- From what I see, Danny is being used AGAIN to prop Lindsay. The wheelchair storyline only seems to exist to make Lindsay seem useful and positive and have her doing something else than being pregnant, giving birth and reciting lab results. She's now a likeable character because she's being extremely supportive to Danny. The operative word being "Danny". She's a lost cause. I wouldn't mind if she trips and falls into the Black Hole of Continuity because frankly, she's better there. Her screentime could be used to give other characters more chances, even --I can't believe I'm saying this
-- Haylen.
- Lindsay is nothing more than Danny better half --the
better part is debatable--, so any tiny bit of development she has, is because she's Danny's insert-relationship-here. That's what I call an expendable character and I've actually lost any faith in the writers. They had their golden opportunity to show something more about Lindsay and they took the easiest way: paint her in a positive light and made the audience forget about her past flaws. Everybody should be happy now, since she's only bringing the positive. Those that were fed up of Lindsay thanks to S4 and partly S5, have no reason to dislike her now, since her presence is everything but conflicting. And those that have always liked her, have even more reasons now. Case closed.
- Lindsay is now the voice of reason, she didn't want to marry Danny because she didn't trust him --probably not
him, but his judgement--, but eventually she gave him an opportunity. How generous and considerate of her, that she still loves him after all he has put her through --I know so many Lindsay fans that believe that even though Danny didn't technically cheat on her, he's still at fault for misleading her at least, hell even my boyfriend who doesn't like Lindsay sides with her. So basically Lindsay is a saint. She was in s5 when she agreed to marry Danny against all odds, and she's now when she's at his side and her own problems and doubts have disappeared forever, so she can focus on being the perfect wife. My only problem with this scenario --and I've already commented on this so much that I'm beginning to get bored with myself-- is that the transition has been so smooth and so neat that it feels like the writers gave up on Lindsay and decided that from now on she won't have any conflict or drama. I was hoping that at least they could drop some hints so we could see the pain behind the brave front she's putting on, but either Anna can't convey this subtlety or the writers don't give a damn. I think it's a mixture of both.
I hope after tonight's episode I'm feeling a little more optimistic, because as of now, I'm beginning to think that Danny is never going to be the vibrant character that made me watch the show in the first place.
Edit:
- I can't believe that I dread every time I see Danny in screen, because I know Lindsay will be there and we'll be subjected to another nauseating all-is-well-in-Messer-land moment. The same Danny that I was anxious to see every episode, just until the last part of S5. If that's not character assassination, I don't know what it is.
Edit 2:
- And don't forget something that's been widely debated here and in other forums: her pregnancy was almost always seen through Danny's eyes --except for the exchange with Stella in the hospital-- so she was even deprived of such an important change and storyline for a character. Talk about faith in the actress/character.
- I don't usually believe in Jump The Shark moments, as shows tend to deflate when a main character leaves or a major change is imposed, and this isn't something that the writers could've known or prevent, so it's not really their fault that a show suffers from such a change. But when a bad storyline is written without being necessary or if the outcome could cause more damage than good, like Lindsay's pregnancy did, I'm afraid this could be a JTS moment in the long term, and even though I've been hoping since "The Box" that the writers could actually salvage that one, this season so far is proving that I wasn't wrong in my assessment. They've just changed the show forever and assassinated the most fascinating character with a simple decision that was easily prevented. And to be fair, they also ended any chance that Lindsay had to be on her own. Two birds, one stone. Sad, so sad.
