I'm late to the party! But I've got plenty to say.
Before I do though, let me drop one more reminder in: criticizing the actors--in this case, Carmine--professionally is fine, but let's not get personal. Making assumptions about his character or speculating that he might be on anti-depressants (discussing Danny on Prozac is fine, but not the actor) are out of line. I don't care what you know/think you know--this forum isn't the place for it. Thanks.
I gotta say, I think "Past Imperfect" was the breaking point for me with regards to Danny. Seeing him stand there impassively when he knew Jesse fatally poisoned his brother while Jesse stood there crying about it made me brace myself for some true Messer vitriol. Surely Danny was going to let loose on the guy! How could he possibly feel compassion for someone who killed his own brother and then acted like Danny shouldn't be hauling him off to jail?
But Danny didn't yell at the guy. He didn't work himself into a fury and unleash a healthy dose of righteous indignation on him. No, all Danny did was passively regard Jesse and then grand him ten more minutes--with the brother he'd killed!
And I just sat back and wondered what happened to the
real Danny Messer?
It didn't happen overnight though, as many of you have pointed out. Time after time this season, we've seen Danny shoved in the background or worse, only given prominent screentime to advance a juvenile and shoddily written (and acted) romantic storyline. I doubt there's anything that could make me a fan of the "Dindsay" pairing, but I'd certainly find it more palatable if it hadn't been used to strip away everything that was interesting and unique about Danny's character.
Like
MrsG, I thought the low point had to be when Danny was begging Lindsay to go get a slice of pizza with him. Well, I was proved wrong in that very episode--surely the low point had to be when he called after her that he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk after she'd shot him down and as she was walking away from him. No? How about when she manipulated him into dealing with an ugly part of the job on her behalf in "Oedipus Hex." Oh, wait...then he flew to Montana to support her after all that. For any character that would be downright pathetic.
What makes it doubly sad is that that list about sums up Danny's character development for the season. Yes, he had some nice moments in Hung Out to Dry and Raising Shane--brief glimpses into the old Danny, but those are two episodes, out of the 21 that have aired. Not so great.
As for Carmine, yes, he doesn't seem to be projecting that spark he had in the first two seasons into this one, but I can't bring myself to lay much of the blame at his feet. Imagine building up a truly great character for two seasons of a show, working hard to make that character three-dimensional and interesting and complex and deep and real--and then seeing all that work torn down in the course of a season. Save for a moment in HotD and RS, where has he really had the chance to shine? I guess he could have put more into the romance storyline, but it's so poorly written and the actress he's opposite is such an inferior performer that it seems uncharitable to hold the lifelessness of the pairing against him.
I know there were complaints during season one and two from people who didn't like the character as much as some of us do that he got too much screentime and too many storylines. I'm all for a better balance--certainly I think it's an ensemble show and each player should have a chance to shine. But stripping away all that's interesting and compelling about Danny was a huge mistake.