Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!!!)

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

I'm actually kind of split with this news...

I'm glad that Danny is going to be the main character in all of this. Clearly, he's had more development, better writing, and Carmine has done more with what he's been given (as well as doing it better) than Anna ever has. After dealing with Lindsay's deep dark secret storyline, I really don't want to have to see Lindsay emote anymore than we have to...Like Melina with the HIV and Frankie storyline, Carmine can make the most ill contrived or worst idea ever and pull a stellar performance out of it, and that does give me hope for the rest of the season, even though I don't like the pregnancy idea at all.

While it does give me some confidence that the episodes dealing with the pregnancy won't be nearly as horrendous as I thought they would, the fact that it is coming from Danny's eyes tells me a lot about how the writers feel about Anna's capability of handling it. An unplanned pregnancy, while it will effect the father in terms of having to support a new life, will effect the mother way more. She'll have to leave her job at least temporarily, she'll have to tell her family, she'll have to deal with the emotional and physical effects the pregnancy will have on her body and her life. With a character like Lindsay, who has had very little development outside of her love interest in Danny and her deep dark secret in s2, I would think the writers would want to pounce on this opportunity to develop her and show more or personality and development through this storyline. But they aren't--they are giving it all to Danny.

I don't communicate with the writers, so of course I can't say in fact that this is the reason they've given the main reins of this story to Danny...but to me, the only reason that this storyline would not go to the mother in the situation is because of Anna's lack of ability as an actress. Why else would the writers surrender the chance to give a character like Lindsay some development and her own storyline, other than they didn't think she could handle it?

Since they are going to be showing this from Danny's eyes, I really doubt we'll be able to ever get any Lindsay development that doesn't involve him from now on. I had hoped, if anything, that the pregnancy would force Lindsay to care about someone other than herself, and who knows, she still might. But from this news, I can only think that her part in this pregnancy is going to be reduced to "woman that has Danny's baby,", and nothing more.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

^ I agree with pretty much everything you and others have summarized cSiNyFrEaK30. But I just don't really hold anything but the most gritting acceptance of the whole thing.

Um, a) unenthusiastic, and b) equally disheartened, to be honest.

Phrases from the Executive Producer along the lines of "This is the beginning of the Tough Kid's change of character" do not inspire me with any confidence at all.

I agree with the implication that TPTB are at least aware of Belknap's glaring weaknesses. I hope they are, and if so that does placate me somewhat, in that they're obviously gonna try to address it to keep it from affecting the show too adversely. How successful they will be is yet to be determined. That they're still spouting this kind of nonsense while towing the expected party line does little to generate any credit or respect in the face of it. It must be a horrible position to be in, actually. WTF do you do. Except avoid contrived sounding statements like that.

Do I think Carmine can do well with this material? Sure, yes I do. But there is a distinction between do I think he can do well with it and do I want to see him obliged to. I don't. And wouldn't have whether it was Rikki instead of Lindsay either. But DL does make it worse.

Did TPTB really think long and hard about this? I hope so. What choices have they made in light of it all, based on the little we know? They decided to write Anna's pregancy into the show. They decided to make Danny the father of Lindsay's child. (They didn't have to. That was a choice between staying with their alleged original intent to have a different direction in mind for both of them this season, and reverting to DL). They decided that in the episode where this information is grandly first revealed, the focus is not on the mother, but the father. That is unsual, and what everyone's gonna talk about are possible reasons why that choice was made. That's what we have spoilers regarding. What we do not have any information about is whether or not DL will stay together, and whether there will be equal focus given to Lindsay in episodes further into the season. My worst dread is that TPTB still turns this into some Lindserella kinda thing, even if the initial focus is on Danny instead.

I think some of the implications of ep 101 are interesting. In a find a stick and poke it curiously kind of way.

Pretty much everybody who follows the show knows Anna's pregnant. And I doubt there's anyone but the most casual viewer who hasn't heard Lindsay's pregnant, even if they don't know the RL impetus why. So, no drama in that news. Watching her character realize something that's already a given doesn't provide any suspense, only the opportunity for another subpar performance. The only possible drama lies in dropping the 'bombshell' on the father, regardless of whether it's done with the intentional bonus of having Carmine prop Anna up or not.

Other possible reasons for a Danny focus: Most people already empathize with Danny. There is a long history of mixed feelings about Lindsay. Danny typically already gets more screentime than Lindsay. How much screentime is the show expected to give up to this anyways? Sorry Carmine. You lose out again. Anna's track record for playing dramatic moments is unimpressive. Carmine's track record for the same is solid and consistently well done. If/when Anna takes maternity leave from the show, it's no biggie to have the storyline continue thru Danny's eyes .

I'm not keen on any of this, even if danny gets the focus. I think DL was a sinking ship. I think TPTB realized this and had new plans to have each character branch out in new directions. With the revelation of Anna's pregnancy they ultimately decided to take advantage of the past canon hook up and implied relationship as a way to manage Anna's continued involvement in the show. I think they didn't have to revert to DL to do so. But they did. There were whispers of being so close to moving on from it all, but now we're right back into the middle of it again. My hope, heart, stomach, and interest in sitting thru a DL pregnancy in order to continue to watch the rest of the show are plummeting accordingly.

There's a lot that I really like about the show, so I find all this honestly :brickwall:

I don't want to see any character's screentime traded for this. This is not an 'exciting new development' for me, no matter who's eyes we see it thru.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

You shouldn't generalize IMO, how do you know how the fans feel, whom they are invested in? Unless you have done a survey of the whole 15 million viewers, there is no way you could know that. The few fans here and on the internet in general, isn't really enough to base anything on.

If Danny had not have done what he did last season in regards to Lindsay, then maybe I would agree with you about why they are doing it this way. But fact of the matter is, he did do it. He was selfish and he was callous, he became self destructive not caring whom he hurt in the process and he pushed her/others away. I think that this in part is why Lindsay didn't tell him she was pregnant. Yes she loves him, but what he did to her last season would be playing in the back of her mind. Trust isn't something you get back overnight, it takes time to fully trust someone again after this kind of thing. Anyone that has been through a similar situation and worked through it, would know that. If this had of happened last season, before the whole Rueben thing, I dont think Lindsay would have hesitated in telling Danny, and they would have played it differently.

I believe that Lindsay expects nothing from Danny except for him to leave her to deal with the baby by herself, because thats what he did last season, when faced with a difficult situation, so she tells him she doesn't expect anything from him, thus causing another level of realization in his head, that just over a year ago, she wouldn't have doubted him, his motives and his abilities to cope with a different situaiton. I think Danny will see her saying that as another side effect of his selfish and self destructive behavior. That IMO is why we are seeing it from Danny's perspective, not because TPTB think Carmine is the better actor or that fans are more invested in Danny than Lindsay.

Sort of makes sense of Pam Veaseys "What happens is told through Danny's eyes," " This is the beginning of the tough kid's change of character" This time I think we will see from Danny's perspective what his self destructive behaviour has done to the mutual trust he and Lindsay once shared , how it affects *others* and how it affected his and Lindsay relationship.(afterall he was the one that screwed up ,not Lindsay.) Then in turn we will see him deal with this situation in a different way, a stark contrast to last season.(thats character development) Danny is really going to have to show Lindsay and us he does love her. I think he thinks she should just assume it because he is with her. He is going to have to learn to be more open with her and others about things and let people in, let them help him, because he seems to just try and deal with things on his own. He also needs to learn how to communicate what he is feeling more, he seems to keep everything bottled up, which is what triggers his self destructive behaviour. He is also going to have to earn back Lindsay's trust fully, before things can go back to how they used to be, before the whole Ruben thing happened. And I think gradually, the things I mentioned, we will see happen, from this episode onwards. Having a child makes you put things into perspective

I do think we will see Lindsay having to learn how to be more open and learn how to comminuate her feelings as well, but I think in part why she is why she is, has something to do with her upbringing and her family, which I think we will see and learn closer to AB's maternity leave. That IMO is when we will see things from Lindsay's perspective.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

Seeing as Danny has been given more storylines than almost any other character on the show and has more screen time than many of the other characters, I think its a correct assumption to make that the writers realize he's a very popular character, and thus invest more time in him. We do know more about him than any other character to date, and i don't think thats just a coincedence.

I still don't get exactly what he did to Lindsay. The only thing I can canonly see that he did was not go to her for comfort about his grief over Ruben. She doesn't know about Rikki, and that would be the only thing i could really think of that would count.

Lindsay never approached him about his grief over Ruben, so how can you say he pushed her away? Who are the "others" he pushed away, anyway? He spoke to Mac, Rikki, Flack, and even Angell offered him kind words in Happily Never After. Lindsay however never approached Danny about anything.

That would be good logic, if Danny had a history of abandoning people in tough situations. He flew to Montana to be with Lindsay at her trial, even though she pushed him away continually that season. What makes you think, or what would make Lindsay think, that he would abandon her now, especially when the child is his?

Again, what exactly did Danny do that "screwed up" his trust with Lindsay???? Again, all he did was not go to her when he was upset about Ruben...I fail to see how that would "screw up" trust issues between them.

It was never stated that he does love her...

Danny does seem to deal with things on his own a lot, I'll agree with you there. He ran off on his own to chase down Rikki when she went after Ollie, he went to the DA himself when he was accused of killing Minhas in On the Job.

But keep in mind, in the first season episode, he called Flack because he needed someone to talk to, and had no problem talking to him about what was bothering him. In RSRD, he went to Mac with the knowledge that his DNA was involved in a murder case, instead of trying to run off by himself. With Rikki, he went to her with his grief about Ruben and they mutually tried to help each other through it (albiet not in the healthiest way, but still both made the effort). He also allowed Flack to help him chase down Rikki, even though he pushed him away at first, and let his defenses down at Flack's office when Flack pushed him enough.

It seems to me that Danny is perfectly able to let people in that he trusts and who make enough effort to be there for him. Lindsay has never seemed to be that person; most often its Flack or occasionally Mac.

Again, he's talked to Flack, Rikki, Mac, Angell, etc. about his grief over Ruben, and other traumatic events he's been through the past five seasons. Honestly, it seems like the only character he is not capable of going to with problems is Lindsay--and I don't see any reason he should be going to her, with how she's acted towards him this past season.

The only way he "lost" Lindsay's trust was by not immeadiatley running to her when he had a problem. And if things are going to be back to where they used to be--limited interaction between the two and little to no evidence of any relationship between them? How exactly did that show trust between them?

I do hope the pregnancy makes Lindsay rethink a few things and rethink the way she does things. I do imagine a scene where Lindsay has to tell her family about her pregnancy, and it will be interesting at least to see her family and how it plays into her development (or complete lack-thereof). Honestly, I think Lindsay needs this pregnancy more than Danny does for character development. Danny is already a rich, complex, and satisfying character without D/L or a baby to drag along, while Lindsay has little outside being a glorified lab tech and Danny's girlfriend (and now babymomma). If anything can come out of this pregnancy, I would hope it would be some actual character development for Lindsay. Seeing as how the majority of it is through Danny's eyes though, I doubt we will get anything outside of "oh woe as me, i'm pregnant and you're the baby daddy."

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

Hey now, Adam might take offense to that. Being a lab tech is kind of glorious in its own way, you know.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

I don't like the idea of a DL baby, and it's nothing to do with the characters involved. I watch CSI NY/LV for the crimes, the mysteries, not for emotional drama with the characters. For a start, it's not, IMO, something the writers do well.
I stopped watching NY during season 4, it just didn't grab me as much. Instead I became hooked on Criminal Minds, a programme that never fails to be superb, manages to divulge enough about the characters' personal lives to give them depth, but stays focused on what it's meant to be about - finding killers.
The fact that TPTB ar introducing a baby makes me cringe. Okay, I want some of the characters personal lives (Hodge's family life in CM is done wonderfully) as I need the crimes that they deal with to affect them, but I don't need the show to become all about relationships/babies - if I want that, I'll watch something else.
The only saving grace I can see come of this story line is that Lindsay will take extended maternity leave and then possibly decide that Montana is a much nicer place to bring up a child, then both she and Danny will disappear into the sunset, probably riding a white horse.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

Haha true, true. But no one pulls it off like Adam does

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

Well I certainly wouldn't mind Lindsay leaving...but I'd really hate to lose Danny. Thats what really bugs me about this storyline (multiple things bug me about it, i guess)--they are now permenently attached to each other. When Belknap decides to leave the show, or vice versa even, whats the other going to do? Unless the other half of D/L gets killed off, they would most likely have to go with them...

Why oh why couldn't the baby have been the handsome new man's that was supposed to catch Lindsay's eye??

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

Danny and Lindsay both leaving wouldn't be the end of my world to be honest, although I do think that perhaps Danny leaving would be detrimental to the show.

However, I would personally never have thought of them both leaving (even if one of them did decide to depart the show). Can't they just split up like normal TV couples? They don't ultimately need to have a happy ending together? If Anna or Carmine decided to leave then I really don't imagine that the other one would have to go as well. I can totally imagine Lindsay going home to Montana with the child, but I simply can't imagine Danny leaving New York.

That is of course all in the future, maybe, if that decision ever needs to be made. A couple of years down the line, who knows? Could it really still be Danny and Lindsay happy with a baby? What a dull show that would be. :lol: Maybe a handsome new man will catch Lindsay's eye, just not yet? Firstly, the happy families, then the fall out...

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

I don't think one of them leaving needs to be a problem at all. Yes, they could break up, or one of them could be killed off. It's also possible to have their relationship continue off screen if one of the actors leaves the show, be it a romantic relationship or just that of parents.

 

Re: Your Thoughts on the upcoming Danny/Lindsay development (SPOILERS!

I agree that we see more of the story through Danny's eyes and therefore he's the more sympathetic character. It's what, almost four years in with Lindsay, and what do we know about her? She's from Montana, she witnessed a serious trauma when she was a teenager, and she's apparently got problems relating to other people/forming attachments and especially dealing with people on an emotional level.

Danny, we know a whole lot of things about him, so it seems like almost by default more people identify and sympathize with him. Lindsay, not as much. I don't know if that's because we don't know as much about her or the fact the story is shown so much from Danny's point of view.


I'd definitely think it has something to do with Anna Belknap's acting. I liked her in Season 2 when she had light and funny storylines. Once she started getting the heavier stuff in Season 3, which was probably the only time we saw something through her eyes, she kind of lost me, mostly due to the fact that she seemed out of her league with the dramatic stuff.

Then in Season 4 with the whole Ruben storyline and her Monologue of Doom, I really began to dislike her character. Mainly because I felt she made it about her, instead of a man who was feeling responsible for the death of a child in his care. That's why she came across as selfish....There was no "You're shutting everyone out and I'm concerned for you." it was "You're ignoring me and I will not be ignored!"

About the only thing that she did for him was in "All in the Family" when he didn't show up for work, and she called on Flack to handle it, all the while looking very put out that she "had to" cover for him.

I'm a bit more mollified that the story will be told through Danny's eyes, but if that's the case, how can they do it well if they're not going to revisit the Ruben storyline. That storyline had a ton of repercussions for Danny, and if he's going to become a dad, I think that the only effective way to explore and deal with that is to revisit the Ruben storyline. However, given TPTB's track record with continuity, IE Louie, Aiden, and other people and storylines, I'm not optimistic.