With regards to Lindsay's interference in the first scene with IAB, I have to throw this out there: would anyone have issues with the scene if the positions had been reversed? If Lindsay had been clocked in the head and had her gun used in a shooting and then IAB had come after her to question her, I'd fully expect Danny to be protective and step in. I don't think Lindsay was babying or mommying him--she was being a protective spouse. I don't think anyone would have blinked an eye if the positions were reversed and Danny stepped in to defend her, and I don't think because she's a woman and he's a man that it makes him a wimp or her a harridan. Just throwing that out there...
It's a fair question, but my response doesn't change much.
I don't like Lindsay, but that's rather beside the point. I didn't like the episode, nor Lindsay and Danny as devices in service of the story NY decided to tell - which I also didn't like. The first scene was just the first symptom of what came to fruition.
I think it was fine & entirely appropriate for Lindsay to be supportive, and had roles been inverse, I expect support would have been shown by Danny for Lindsay as well.
To be more specific: Had the situation been reversed, and had Danny demonstrated his support in a manner similar to how Lindsay did in that scene, I would have equally read it as him stomping heavily on toes and being a bit of a dick, despite understanding what his best intentions and emotions were, and the heightened stress coloring things. My take on the scenario certainly would go both ways.
I didn't enjoy how that support was shown by Lindsay, nor what it signaled for the episode & Messer's character, and I think the latter is my main beef. Her actions and motivations were understandable, sure. How they came across (IMO): a controlling personality not at all trusting Messer not to make things worse by opening his mouth.
Either he has grown and progressed, or he hasn't. He's either still an impetuous hothead wearing his heart on his sleeve, being restrained by his more level headed spouse & colleague, or he is in fact as responsible as the show repeatedly made a point of telling us he now is, and he's capable of speaking for himself. Mac seemed to think he was; Lindsay did not (although I expect it was supposed to read that Lindsay was scared for him & therefore protective in the extreme; it unfortunately also read that she's still holding onto his cojones for safe keeping, and that he either doesn't mind, or doesn't know).
Separate again from not enjoying the timbre of Lindsay's demonstrated support was that I didn't like how Danny seemed to do so little to support himself. Considering the calm defiance of the rookies, that he was superior to, in that same first sequence, let alone Lindsay, made for an unpalatable contrast, and sinking hopes for Messer within the arc supposedly about him. That scene also seemed to take focus and a sense of participation or outright
presence from Messer and gave it to Lindsay instead. It never really returned to Danny, despite his later scenes.
I also think Lindsay was given several opportunities to demonstrate her support for Danny thru the episode. So, yet again, I don't really see it as an issue of what was "better" for her character. The problem I have is that the arc didn't do as much as I'd hoped for that of Danny. He
lost ground in this arc, and I'm utterly perplexed.
The scene was frustrating because it was the first suggestion that the last episode of Messer being a sergeant was really not going to involve him much. It could have been Lindsay speaking to Danny directly, "it's better not to say anything," rather than by-passing him completely. They could have given him that much, while still giving Lindsay that moment of support and authority.
It was also frustrating because it indicated from the get-go that the story & resolution would rely primarily on DL, whereas I had still held some hope it might reach beyond the insular focus of a canon ship. This episode essentially began and ended with DL. I was intensely disappointed in how NY wrote all this. I didn't think it was possible for Danny to actually fade
further as a character on this damned show.
So, no, I'm not saying Lindsay should not have been involved. I believe I would comment on any scenario indicating that others were speaking on her behalf while she was denied the opportunity to do the same, should she somehow not be treated with equal consideration. Lindsay typically gets reaffirmation, however, rather than denigration, within episodes. She did again in this one, complete to Adler commenting on her.
Messer the utility guy has always been the screw up, but he usually has something to say about his circumstances one way or another. The contrast of boldness for Lindsay and impotence of Messer so sapped a lot of the undercurrent energy that should have been present for me as well.
I'm saying I at least wanted to see more of Danny thru this, more of his old fire, more of his journey, or hell, anything at all. Shutting down his involvement so early in that scene effectively nullified anticipating anything of substance for the remainder of the episode. Not a good way to keep this wee little viewer interested.
Little moment, big, integrated impact; it was the first sign of things to come, which were ultimately borne out.