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darth_stitchGod bless the internets. I can catch up to the show when my local cable channel doesn't.
So. Reactions:
1. I really, honestly, do not see the point of Danny arguing with Chin over his decision to go over to HPD. Show, please to remember that despite his disastrous romantic choices, Danny Williams has a FUCKING BRAIN. We did not need that discussion. It would have been better to simply show that Danny knew what was up.
2. No, James Marsters, I love you, especially when you were Spike and I was rooting for you and Buffy. But your Irish accent sucks. Honest to God, it does. But DA-YUM - dude, we're going to miss you.
3. The amount of lampshading this show does is ridiculous. Okay? Steve attacked two EMTs and a cop trying to do their jobs. Could we have some regret? Please? Really? Or maybe this calls for fan fic writers to fix it somewhere?
4. KONO KALAKAUA ILU - "You guys are my back-up!" Steve is so proud. See, Show? This is how you take a female character and make her rock. Kthnxbai.
5. About the Danny/Rachel fiasco:
The best explanation I've heard so far is that the writers back-tracked when they realized the fan reaction was generally outraged to these two getting together and cheating on Stan the Wuss. I would be interested to know if they are going to keep Rachel portrayed as a complete and total flake-out, because right now, she IS and the character assassination is something that I'm sure is driving people up the wall. Or, if they will lay out, in succeeding episodes or even the finale, that Rachel was threatened, hence the sudden last minute decision of "Let's go back to Jersey, Danny and live happily ever after with Grace and new baby!"
As it stands, there are a few things that do make me think badly of Rachel - this is not a character bash, by the way. But it does amp my dislike of her as a character, even before the whole Danny/Rachel thing happened.
The evidence: she is the one who ended the first marriage, not Danny. I'm sure Danny was not blameless here and he's no saint . But it's also evident that he did not want the marriage to end and was more than likely willing to work things out. It would be interesting to note that perhaps Rachel may have realized that Danny may no longer be invested in her emotionally but will want to stay together with her because he loves Grace. And we know that's not a good idea to keep a marriage together.
Picture her choices - she marries a rich man, she moves the daughter away, she makes an obvious effort to show Danny that HE cannot provide for his daughter as well as Stan does and Stan more or less abets her in this and she has been so crazy about Danny's visiting and custody arrangements that Danny is reduced to begging at the gate to get his time with Grace. It took the Governor talking to Stan to make Rachel quit it. Come on, woman - your ex may have been a shit husband to you but YOU KNOW he is a good father to your daughter! Why keep them apart? We see Rachel doing these things BEFORE we see her on screen and it's only later that we see more dimensions to her character, so much so that fans began to warm up to her.
Still, I always kept those facts in the back of my head. I know we're biased by Danny's point of view on things but those facts were very clear - Rachel WOULD call Danny at the worst possible moments. Rachel WOULD NOT understand that Danny's not always able to drop everything to get to Grace. Rachel DID try to restrict Danny's access to Grace. The possibility of flakiness was there. If we're not seeing the "threatened by Wo Fat" angle, then please for the love of Ceiling Cat, I'd like to see a better resolution than this. I don't need to see Danny/Rachel and I'd really rather not have that at all but the characters would be better serviced if they finally set the crazy aside and settled down to be decent co-parents.
Also, that would make the eventual introduction of Danny's supposed new love interest easier to take. Frankly, he's just gonna be all kinds of a dick if he jumps into some other woman's arms AFTER the Rachel fiasco. UGH.
6. OH GOD MAX BERGMAN ILU. Reasons why:
- He is a FAN HERETIC LIKE ME. He loves Star Wars AND Star Trek.
- The Enterprise on his keychain
- Warp 9 on his license plate. OH LMAO.
- KERMIT.
- Driving Danny's CAMARO FTW!!!!
- Roommate? Really? Max, I never knew you had it in you. :P We would like to see this Roommate who happens to be similar to Steve's size. Cue the crossover fan fics!
7. OH GOD DANNY POUTING IN A CORNER. STEVE AND DANNY - THEIR LOVE IS SO EPIC I CAN'T EVEN.
8. THE CARGUMENT IN MAX'S CAR. THE LOOKS OF LONGING. See, this is what I was hearing at that point:
DANNY: I'm sorry I was a dick and I screwed around with my ex after telling you I love you in front of God and Everyone. I will never cheat on you again.
STEVE: Your apology has been heard. Acceptance is pending.
AND THEN STEVE GIVES HIS PATENTED KICKED-PUPPY LOOK FTW.
And then after I mentally rewrite those lines, Danny ACTUALLY SAYS THIS: ""Stop looking at me like that."
Oh Danny - can't you see that Steve's the one who really loves you? Oh Show is reading my mind.
9. I love the Pearl Harbor connection because that part of history is really interesting to me. Hell, we were directly affected by that - after the Japanese bombed the hell out of Pearl, they landed in Baguio and made life hell for us. But for sheer luck and the protection of Almighty God, my Grandmothers may have well joined the thousands of Filipino women they raped. Thank God both of my Grandmothers escaped that fate.
So I'd love to know the history of the Old Japanese Pilot and John McGarrett. Good job show.
10. JENNA IN CAHOOTS WITH WO FAT- WHAT. THE. FUCK. JENNA. WHAT THE FUCK.
ETA TO ADD:
11. MCGARRETT IN A COP UNIFORM. OMG. THIS MAN AND UNIFORMS. SRSLY. I REALLY, REALLY WOULD LIKE TO SEEPRON FAN FIC WHERE DANNY SEES STEVE IN A COP UNIFORM. BECAUSE. ADFRWERWLKJSPE9R0QERJLDSKJFA FUCKING HOT, PEOPLE.
So. Reactions:
1. I really, honestly, do not see the point of Danny arguing with Chin over his decision to go over to HPD. Show, please to remember that despite his disastrous romantic choices, Danny Williams has a FUCKING BRAIN. We did not need that discussion. It would have been better to simply show that Danny knew what was up.
2. No, James Marsters, I love you, especially when you were Spike and I was rooting for you and Buffy. But your Irish accent sucks. Honest to God, it does. But DA-YUM - dude, we're going to miss you.
3. The amount of lampshading this show does is ridiculous. Okay? Steve attacked two EMTs and a cop trying to do their jobs. Could we have some regret? Please? Really? Or maybe this calls for fan fic writers to fix it somewhere?
4. KONO KALAKAUA ILU - "You guys are my back-up!" Steve is so proud. See, Show? This is how you take a female character and make her rock. Kthnxbai.
5. About the Danny/Rachel fiasco:
The best explanation I've heard so far is that the writers back-tracked when they realized the fan reaction was generally outraged to these two getting together and cheating on Stan the Wuss. I would be interested to know if they are going to keep Rachel portrayed as a complete and total flake-out, because right now, she IS and the character assassination is something that I'm sure is driving people up the wall. Or, if they will lay out, in succeeding episodes or even the finale, that Rachel was threatened, hence the sudden last minute decision of "Let's go back to Jersey, Danny and live happily ever after with Grace and new baby!"
As it stands, there are a few things that do make me think badly of Rachel - this is not a character bash, by the way. But it does amp my dislike of her as a character, even before the whole Danny/Rachel thing happened.
The evidence: she is the one who ended the first marriage, not Danny. I'm sure Danny was not blameless here and he's no saint . But it's also evident that he did not want the marriage to end and was more than likely willing to work things out. It would be interesting to note that perhaps Rachel may have realized that Danny may no longer be invested in her emotionally but will want to stay together with her because he loves Grace. And we know that's not a good idea to keep a marriage together.
Picture her choices - she marries a rich man, she moves the daughter away, she makes an obvious effort to show Danny that HE cannot provide for his daughter as well as Stan does and Stan more or less abets her in this and she has been so crazy about Danny's visiting and custody arrangements that Danny is reduced to begging at the gate to get his time with Grace. It took the Governor talking to Stan to make Rachel quit it. Come on, woman - your ex may have been a shit husband to you but YOU KNOW he is a good father to your daughter! Why keep them apart? We see Rachel doing these things BEFORE we see her on screen and it's only later that we see more dimensions to her character, so much so that fans began to warm up to her.
Still, I always kept those facts in the back of my head. I know we're biased by Danny's point of view on things but those facts were very clear - Rachel WOULD call Danny at the worst possible moments. Rachel WOULD NOT understand that Danny's not always able to drop everything to get to Grace. Rachel DID try to restrict Danny's access to Grace. The possibility of flakiness was there. If we're not seeing the "threatened by Wo Fat" angle, then please for the love of Ceiling Cat, I'd like to see a better resolution than this. I don't need to see Danny/Rachel and I'd really rather not have that at all but the characters would be better serviced if they finally set the crazy aside and settled down to be decent co-parents.
Also, that would make the eventual introduction of Danny's supposed new love interest easier to take. Frankly, he's just gonna be all kinds of a dick if he jumps into some other woman's arms AFTER the Rachel fiasco. UGH.
6. OH GOD MAX BERGMAN ILU. Reasons why:
- He is a FAN HERETIC LIKE ME. He loves Star Wars AND Star Trek.
- The Enterprise on his keychain
- Warp 9 on his license plate. OH LMAO.
- KERMIT.
- Driving Danny's CAMARO FTW!!!!
- Roommate? Really? Max, I never knew you had it in you. :P We would like to see this Roommate who happens to be similar to Steve's size. Cue the crossover fan fics!
7. OH GOD DANNY POUTING IN A CORNER. STEVE AND DANNY - THEIR LOVE IS SO EPIC I CAN'T EVEN.
8. THE CARGUMENT IN MAX'S CAR. THE LOOKS OF LONGING. See, this is what I was hearing at that point:
DANNY: I'm sorry I was a dick and I screwed around with my ex after telling you I love you in front of God and Everyone. I will never cheat on you again.
STEVE: Your apology has been heard. Acceptance is pending.
AND THEN STEVE GIVES HIS PATENTED KICKED-PUPPY LOOK FTW.
And then after I mentally rewrite those lines, Danny ACTUALLY SAYS THIS: ""Stop looking at me like that."
Oh Danny - can't you see that Steve's the one who really loves you? Oh Show is reading my mind.
9. I love the Pearl Harbor connection because that part of history is really interesting to me. Hell, we were directly affected by that - after the Japanese bombed the hell out of Pearl, they landed in Baguio and made life hell for us. But for sheer luck and the protection of Almighty God, my Grandmothers may have well joined the thousands of Filipino women they raped. Thank God both of my Grandmothers escaped that fate.
So I'd love to know the history of the Old Japanese Pilot and John McGarrett. Good job show.
10. JENNA IN CAHOOTS WITH WO FAT- WHAT. THE. FUCK. JENNA. WHAT THE FUCK.
ETA TO ADD:
11. MCGARRETT IN A COP UNIFORM. OMG. THIS MAN AND UNIFORMS. SRSLY. I REALLY, REALLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 09:34 pm (UTC)DANNY: I'm sorry I was a dick and I screwed around with my ex after telling you I love you in front of God and Everyone. I will never cheat on you again.
STEVE: Your apology has been heard. Acceptance is pending.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 09:37 pm (UTC)"...the McG and Danno bro-marriage."
OMG THEIR LOVE IS EPIC AND AMAZING AND YES SO, SO MARRIED....
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 10:28 pm (UTC)If you look at this from the point that this is a tv show, there was no other reasonable way to resolve the Danny/Rachel thing. The show is a reboot of the old H5-O and Danny Williams was/is an integral part so they couldn't have him move to Jersey and write him out of the show -- not to mention that the actors have contracts; frankly, even if Scott wants out (and I'm not saying he does at all just using it as a hypothetical to make my point), he's made a commitment, likely for five years with two more single year options (that's the standard Hollywood model for tv series). Five-0 in any incarnation revolves around the characters of McGarrett and Danno.
Now, back to Rachel and Danny as tv characters, TPTB also couldn't have Rachel and Grace stay in Jersey as it would gut our Danny and take the character in directions they likely don't want to go, especially with the daddy/daughter dynamic they did develop and that people have responded so well to. Which means that to keep the basic formula of the show, Grace had to return.
In having Grace return, they couldn't kill off Rachel, as Danny could not be a single father raising a daughter and still be a part of 5-0. Nor would they be likely to bring Rachel and Grace back with Rachel struggling as the single mom, as that would split Danny's focus and make him a liability to the team. Same with keeping Danny and Rachel together, but back in Hawaii, Danny would still have the split focus and the crappy relationship, since he's always going to do the job first as his way of putting his family first in keeping them safe. (The troubled marriage cop trope is even more overdone than the divorced cop, and it makes for boring backstory with no good resolution over the long haul.) They would basically be writing the character into a closed situation that limits the kind of stories they could tell for Danny.
Yes, they could have made happy families, but that's already out of the bag in how they set the characters up in the first place and, again, a closed character without much potential for change and growth, which I do think from interviews with Scott, would not interest him at all.
(And I am not saying here that single parents in real life can't raise their children well *and* do their jobs, even dangerous jobs, but that's a show idea in itself, not something to wedge in part-time with a theoretically ensemble cast.)
So the only way they could have done this differently to reach the same goal of the overall season arc, would have not had the storyline at all with Rachel and Danny getting back together however temporary. But then they would have had to come up with some other hook to have Danny distracted when Steve needed him most, something that would have taken episodes to set up and not be completely out of the blue and trite (consider how wtf the Rachel and Danny thing felt, when they did work to set up however briefly and mostly off camera), which in turn would have taken away time from the real set up and focus of the entire season, which is Steve versus Wo Fat.
It might have not been good storytelling, but they're selling ads, not books, and it did service the overall arc of the season as they needed it too, including leaving openings and outs for the new season instead of cutting off Danny's character. It might not be *satisfying* to our type of fan, but you also have to look at it all remembering that most television viewers do not watch (and wait) counting the days between episodes, but catch it only now and again. Any individual episode, then, has to be broad enough that the casual view can still follow along and get hooked for another hour, instead of turning away because there's too much going on that they don't know anything about. It is a very hard juggling act and as well received as Lost was, there are many people who never bother to watch (or gave up on it at some point) because of the tight continuity and having to play catch up if they ever wanted to understand what was going on. I certainly can imagine the writers (or CBS) being a little gunshy to emulate that formula again, especially for what's basically categorized as a procedural.
Sorry I got a little rambly and didn't necessarily address the question you were really asking, but I imagine most of the fic writers out there are going to answer it in their own ways over and over, and at least now it's back to being easier in writing Danny with Steve (or Chin or Kono or ...) without having to completely destroy continuity or commit character assassinations.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 10:44 pm (UTC)Honestly, I don't question the fact that Danny and Rachel would be back together at some point during the show. I kinda expected it was going there and they WERE hinting at it. Plus, it gives Danny Plausible Deniability for the HoYay, 'cause there is no way in hell we'd see canon McDanno and I accept that. I also didn't expect them to stay together either.
I honestly and truly believe that the show writers and producers are watching the blogs and the slashers more closely than we think. We may be making up more of the viewer contingent than we expect and I'm seeing hints of that in the reviews that have come out, that openly talk about the McDanno "bro-marriage." So I fully expect Steve and Danny to have throwaway love interests, just for the sake of plausible deniability but nothing permanent - because it keeps the characters' dramatic arc interesting AND it feeds the bromance.
Still, they did do a good job of fleshing out Rachel as more than a Flakehead Evil Ex and what I do question is how she was suddenly rebooted to that at the last minute, without a better explanation. Then again, it's only the first episode of the new season - we were surprised before and we will be surprised again. It's a lot to cram in 43 minutes so maybe we'll find out what was really up with Rachel in later episodes.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 10:48 pm (UTC)I'm new to dreamwidth but not to LJ - I like having new DW peeps to squee with! :)