I’m not sure why we are equating Danny’s newly subdued emotion and often emotionless behaviour with maturation. Danny’s emotional volatility wasn’t the aspect of his character that I equated with childish behaviour, in fact, to me it showed a depth and a passion, it displayed the type of conviction you usually find in adults. Children’s causes and passions are typically fleeting, and exist within the moment, not to mention children are usually compelled by selfish and self-centered reasons, Danny is many things but when it comes to his job selfish is not one of them.
When Danny feels, he truly feels and to borrow a cliché is like a dog with a bone and it is this quality which makes him an excellent CSI. He truly comprehends the idea of being the last earthly advocate for the wronged, he wants the perpetrators of those crimes to answer for what they’ve done. He wants them to feel the full extent of his fury. Has Danny’s behaviour veered towards the infantile at times, certainly it has, you see it most often in his neediness where Mac is concerned.
He desperately wants Mac’s almost fatherly approval, he’s awaiting that pat on the head, the moment when his father figure heaps accolades upon him. You see the man-child when Danny bows his head in the wake of Mac’s fury or disappointment. I would like to see Danny emerge from that need, but there must have been years of damage done to create an almost crippling fear of disappointing those he looks to for approval.
These conflicting natures are what made Danny so compelling, his tenacity, which often leads him down the wrong or even destructive path, coupled with his need for approval and praise. All of this is what I suspect, but what I know is that whatever it was it is long gone and with it, a character that constantly fascinated me, a character that riveted me to the television screen.
As far as the notion of Danny changing for or because of Lindsay, well, I think it is very sweet to believe that people change for someone else but in the end that type of change simply doesn’t last. In fact, molding yourself to make someone love you or to make yourself desirable to someone else is a sign of immaturity. It’s what people do in high school, hiding that which they really are to make themselves more appealing. In adolescents it may be acceptable, but in adults in runs towards the pathetic.
Danny was a fully formed character and while you can anticipate some growth, what you don’t anticipate is the eradication of everything that came before.
