Was Danny abused as a child?

Great post, elamae! Good examples from the eps and good points. Danny focuses a lot on innocence and youth...maybe because he was hurt himself when he was young and innocent?
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Danny Messer... innocent???? hehe sorry, couldn't resist...
 
That's what I'm wondering, too. If it wasn't Daddy Messer who abused him, what if it was another relative? And if Danny was put in the care of a relative who abused him because Daddy Messer was put away for a crime, then it would make total sense for Danny to look at crime through the eyes of a child. He knows how crime ruins children's lives. If Daddy Messer went away for a crime and that put Danny in the care of someone who abused him, then yeah, he'd definitely associate the two things. It's only natural
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with a father figure being ripped away from him in such a fashon, i think that he might have gone down a different road other than to become a cop..
 
Here's a thought - Mac does something that Danny interprets as a threat and flinches. Mac realizes what it means, but is so surprised that he doesn't say anything. Later, Daddy Messer shows up and Mac sees how Danny reacts to him and realizes that this is Danny's abuser. Mac gets between them to protect Danny and sends Daddy Messer on his way. I think that Gary and Carmine could pull this whole thing off quite well.
 
That sounds like a good scenario, JediCSI72. I think Gary and Carmine could pull it off too. I'd like to see Mac kick Danny's abuser's butt. And then Danny could learn to trust someone again.
 
There is also the comment that Danny makes to Flack in on the Job. He says i know what its like when the system gets you in there sight and I wont let that happen again. Maybe Danny saw his father kill his mother and the person who looked after him when his father was sent to jail was the abuser. Maybe Daddy Messer could show up in the lab after getting paroled.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking it's going to take something big on Mac's part to get Danny to realize he can trust him. Mac being (or nearly being) physical with his abuser would go a long way towards getting Danny to realize that he can trust someone.
 
i just can't get around Mac actually getting physical... maybe if he tried and was knocked down, that Danny would chip in and face his abuser himself...

Messer doesn't strike me as the type of guy that lets others fight his battles for him... at least partly...
 
Yeah, I agree with that, if just because I don't think the writers would want to go there. I can only think of one instance where serious sexual abuse of a main character was an issue, in Homicide: Life on the Street. It turned out Bayliss had been molested/raped by his uncle when he was a child. But that's heavy stuff, and I don't know that the writers want to go there.
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Well they did have Nick abused by his babysitter so it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities.
Not that the physical abuse wouldn't be heavy enough. I do wonder Mac et. al could get Danny to trust them if he's been through that.
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I suppose it's a case of whether the logical, intelligent adult mind can overcome the childhood trauma. Although he has problems with his emotions, Danny isn't such a complete wreck that he hasn't been able to achieve anything in his life. Afterall, he has managed to get through college and the police academy and has been a CSI for 3 or 5 years. If he faced his past, and with support from the team, I think he does have the strength of mind to be able to deal with his issues.

I was wondering Top41, when you said Danny's cowering immediately stood out to you, what do you think Mac's view of it was? Was he so angry that he thought that was actually the right posture Danny should have when being told off or did he just not really notice?
 
i just can't get around Mac actually getting physical... maybe if he tried and was knocked down, that Danny would chip in and face his abuser himself...
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Mac is no push over. Remember how he dealt with that guy who jumped out of the dumpster in 'Supply and Demand'? He probably wouldn't throw the first punch, but if the person was like "mind your business" and hit out at Mac he wouldn't just stand there and take it. I'm confident he could take the person down no problem.

Messer doesn't strike me as the type of guy that lets others fight his battles for him... at least partly...
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Maybe not normally, but he might not be in his usual state of mind when confronting someone who had power over him as a child. He might freeze out of habit or shock, or not fight back because he thinks he deserves it. He is more talk than action.
 
^Yeah, I could easily see Danny freezing up or shutting down in this situation. This isn't a normal, run of the mill situation. As we saw in "On the Job" and in other eps, Danny has no problem chasing perps/getting into the fray of things. But if it comes down to facing someone who had a big psychological hold over him during his formative years and mistreated him...that could be a situation he wouldn't deal with so well.

I was wondering Top41, when you said Danny's cowering immediately stood out to you, what do you think Mac's view of it was? Was he so angry that he thought that was actually the right posture Danny should have when being told off or did he just not really notice?
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That's a really good question. I'm not really sure what Mac noticed. He's probably used to intimadating people physically...Mac's a tough guy and we've seen him do it before. He may have interpreted Danny shrinking away from him as just a normal reaction. It looked pretty clear to me, as an outside observer, that Danny was reacting physically as if he was afraid he was going to be hit (probably a subconscious reaction, but it stood out to me). To Mac, who was facing him down, it may have just looked like Danny was backing off/ceding the point.

Mac did watch Danny walk away. Mac always looks at Danny after these confrontations like he's trying to admonish him and also figure him out. I think Mac doesn't know what's wrong with Danny, but I think he's starting to suspect something is. Now that he's got that psych report in his hands, maybe he can start to figure it out.
 
I was rewatching A Man A Mile and I could be seeing something that is not there but I noticed something in the scene where Mac and Danny are at the hospital questioning the brother. If you watch closely in the corner of the screen you can see Danny figiting (not sure of the spelling), Also he doesnt seem to be able to look Pete in the face. He keeps dropping his gaze to the floor. Did anyone else notice this.
 
^I'll have to rewatch, but I wonder what it means. Danny is figity, but if he was abused, maybe seeing someone beat up and in the hospital hit too close to home?
 
Great post, elamae! Good examples from the eps and good points. Danny focuses a lot on innocence and youth...maybe because he was hurt himself when he was young and innocent?
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Thank you - was quite nervous there :)


It would make for a powerful visual, wouldn't it? And much of it would be non-verbal. Mac would make a move that Danny interprets as threatening, Danny flinches away from him, and Mac realizes what Danny's reaction means. It would be a great moment. And Gary and Carmine could really pull it off.
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I have absolutely no doubt that Carmine and Gary could pull it off. They seem to have worked very well off each other this season and it's made watching the development of this relationship between them riviting.
 
with a father figure being ripped away from him in such a fashon, i think that he might have gone down a different road other than to become a cop..
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Good point, but I suppose it might have one of those times where he could go to either extreme. One side of the law or the other. Become the villan and the mobster or the law enforcer and cop. Maybe it was because of what he experienced that actually prevented him from wanting to inflict that on others and instead protect. Maybe he's just a good guy. :)

adder574 I also noticed that diner scene when he says about the system and being caught in it's sights. I was aware of Danny saying that before I saw the ep (possibly from this thread!) and found it mighty interesting. It does get a little covered up by Flack at the end and I wonder how important it was for the writers. It does seem to be very suggestive by it's use of 'again'. It's another reason why I think Danny's had experience of the law/social services at some point and from all the signals that have been discussed here most likely when he was much younger.

Maybe Danny saw his father kill his mother and the person who looked after him when his father was sent to jail was the abuser.
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I'm not sure they would do this as isn't that what they've done in LV with Sara and her mother? (Not the abuse part). It would have been a good senario though I do agree.
 
^Yeah, I don't think they'd have one parent kill the other because that's exactly what LV did. And it's a good point that he might not have gone into law enforcement if his dad was put away. Still, he may have chosen to go into law enforcement as a reaction to his father's/family's crimes...maybe he's always wanted justice. Maybe he's trying to prevent what happened to him from happening to other children. That could explain his focus on how children are affected by crime.
 
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