I had some new thoughts on the Danny abuse scenario prompted by a reviewing of "Recycling" the notion that Danny attempts to force people into a confrontation, and the whole Oedipus thing he has going on with Mac. Now bear with me - We know Danny's mother is deceased, but we don't know how old he was when she died, now most of my theory stems from the idea that Danny's father was emotionally abusive and at some point turned to or added physical abuse into the mix. I think the physical abuse followed the emotional abuse, and I think Danny's mother took the brunt of the abuse until her death. Now, her death coupled with the gypsy cab incident (which I believe is important because the writers shaped an entire case around that part of Danny's history) sent Danny's father into a downward spiral and his abuse escalated. Now here comes a huge piece of conjecture, I think Danny is the oldest child,and he protected his siblings from their father. What if Danny drew attention to himself, egging his father on, to keep the abuse away from his younger siblings; something his mother may have done while she was alive.
It's an interesting possibility. I could sort of see it, though I'm not sure Danny has the older sibling vibe. Aiden and he have a kind of brother/sister relationship, and she seems to be looking out for him more than vice versa. Of course, Aiden is a more stable person, so maybe Danny doesn't see any need to be proctective. I guess I have this image of him as an only child. I'd love to know one way or another.
EDIT: I do think that the idea of Danny provoking his father is a really interesting one. I could see him do that as a way of rebellion, even if it would make things worse for him. Danny seems to like to push the envelope. That could have been his way of maintaining some sort of control--showing his father that the abuse wasn't going to cow him.
Did anyone else notice that Danny was gnawing on the inside of his jaw while confronting the pedophile in "Recycling?" I don't think Danny was sexually abused, but it seems like someone close to him was.
See, I thought his behavior in this scene was really weird. He was confrontational, but not in the way he was in say, "The Dove Commission" once they got the killer, or in "Hush" when confronting the husband. It was strange. He was putting himself in front of the guy and taunting him. Which is what led me to believe that Danny might have been sexually abused...he was almost trying to provoke a reaction.
His question to the molester, "What, am I too old for you?" That was weird. It was challenging the guy to look at Danny in a sexual way. There's something off with that, especially coming from a guy.
Like I said before, I kind of doubt they'd go the sexual abuse route with Danny (though it's not impossible), I don't see Danny's issues with abuse coming from observing bad things happening to other children. I think whatever has given him a complex is something that happened directly to him, not something he observed happening to someone else.
