As the old adage goes, you can never go home again.
Wait…what’s that?
Oh, sorry.
Take two: As the old adage goes, you can sometimes go home again. Was that the moral message of this week’s episode Officer Involved? Or was it good will out? Or how about make some really dumb mistakes but get off scot-free? To tell you the truth I was left scratching my head. As an episode made up of spare parts from season’s passed—I got it! This episode is in direct correlation with season one’s On the Job. If the circumstances didn’t give it away then the constant reminders in the dialogue more than adequately spelled it out. I mean geez guys! Danny wasn’t the only one with head wound by the end of the episode!—it lacked the cohesiveness of a truly well crafted tale. It didn’t bring Danny’s story full circle so much as it drove half way around the block, stopped for some lemonade before crashing into a light pole.
Last week we had a moment where Danny confronted a rookie, then immediately doubted himself, ultimately apologized to said rookie, then went out drinking with his team. Officer Cooper called Danny an excellent boss. Mac said Danny was an excellent Sergeant. That’s not we’ve seen on screen. Here’s what I saw very well summarized by IAB Lt. Mitchell Adler (perfectly portrayed by Dean Norris), “Let’s review your choices: you went out drinking with your patrolmen, you brought a loaded weapon to a crowded bar, got into an altercation with a patron, ended up the night half unconscious on the pavement as one of you officers shot the patron to death with your own weapon. You seem capable Sergeant Messer. The things you did in that lab, way over my head. But as a boss, your way over yours.” I nearly had whiplash from Danny’s change in attitude. Two episodes ago we hear about how his heart is breaking over not getting to see his wife. Last week he is irate over having to be stuck with overtime due to missing his family. This week however he is perfectly content to spending “hours” at a bar, until what I can only assume was early in the morning since the sun is clearly up by the time they start processing the scene and taking statements. I don’t have an issue with him going out with his team, but a bit excessive there Sergeant.
And thank goodness I spent all that time actually believing that the writers were coming up with something original rather than the utterly clichéd “cheating” storyline…um, be careful I am actually dripping sarcasm here…I don’t want anyone to slip. Despite my love of Carmine Giovinazzo’s portrayal of indignant, emotional Danny (and let’s be clear, I do LOVE it) it wasn’t enough to make me feel connected to his character. I thought this was going to show how much Danny’s grown, but really it just showed that he wasn’t ready to lead a team. A point well emphasized by the fact that he voluntarily turned in his stripes. Why did he do that exactly? ‘Cause the other kids were mean to him? It was too hard? I’m not sure because one line from Danny about trust does not a convincing argument make. He’s back in the lab and I have a little less respect for his character than I did before.
As much as they bitch-slapped Danny, they solidified Lindsay’s strength. I originally thought this episode would inspire feelings of sympathy for Danny, but I was surprised to find Lindsay was the character I felt the most for. Her obvious concern for her spouse (which was never reciprocated) was perfectly portrayed. Her worries and fears were apparent in her mannerism, dialogue, and personified in her confrontation with Officer Cooper (Jeananne Goossen). There were times when I could see those emotions strongly in Anna Belknap’s face and eyes. Sadly, my favorite interaction of the entire episode was between Lindsay and Cooper. It was real, it was powerful, and it was believable. Goossen and Belknap found the perfect median between overly dramatic (As the CSINY Turns) and the hysterical (Jerry Springer style).
For me the episode lack a sense of balance between the intense and the quiet. In season two’s Trapped we have Danny stuck in a highly emotional, highly charged situation. Yet amidst that we have the small still moments as he thinks about the victim, or his own brother. There was none of that here. The dead body remains just that, the dead body. It was cold. In fact, IA corrects Danny at one point in reminding him that this guy was a victim. A big part of that also has to do with the true lack of interaction between Danny and Lindsay. If you’re curious, because I know I was, they spent 49 seconds together at the beginning of the episode—only 26 seconds of that were spent actually communicating with each other, and a total of 40 seconds at the end. That is a total of 89 seconds out of an episode that was nearly 45 minutes long (about 2700 seconds). The rest of the episode was Lindsay running around everywhere Danny wasn’t and Danny making no reference of any import to his wife. (I refuse to count his “I’m married” line, because I know how Danny would respond to a perp if he heard that regurgitated.) They missed a prime opportunity to really connect the season one episode. S1 Danny laments not having someone to watch his back, but S8 Danny clearly has a wife who is devoted to helping him and we get nothing from Danny. ZERO. Writer Christopher Silber needs to keep as far away from DL storylines as possible.
Actually, he can stay away from character stories period. Vigilante is the only episode he’s written where he was able to successfully include some character—which was also a strong Lindsay episode—but ultimately his strength lies is the cases. However, that wasn’t so much true with this episode either. Hawkes at one point tell Lindsay “there’s no empirical evidence IA is on a witch hunt” however, Cooper admits to having made the shot, but they are riding Danny. Then Cooper admits to lying, but only because Danny told her to, so IA goes after Danny. Danny knows how GRS works. He would know that the lab would figure out who actually shot or didn’t shoot the gun. Why would he tell Cooper to lie? Mac confronts IA, pressing for information on who is politically grinding an ax against Danny, because (and I agree) there’s no real reason why IA is busting his chops so hard. So is it a witch hunt or not? And who is this “man in black” who is always out to get Danny?
We got our weekly “Jo characteristic that emulates Lindsay” moment. We got Adam looking like an idiot and trying to talk about the case with Lindsay, just so the audience could be reminded that she couldn’t work the case. I hate it when they do it to Lindsay, and I hate it when they do it to Adam. There were several lines that actually didn’t make sense. At one point Jo says “Danny and the other two cops” confirmed the sketch of the Rockaway Killer as one of the guys they fought with that night. Except Danny makes no mention of seeing a friend with the victim and we know he was unconscious during the brawl. There are other such inconsistencies throughout the episode. Not to mention when one drinks absinth I thought they saw Kylie Minogue…am I wrong about that?
I appreciate the show’s attempt to give us something of substance, but it was too disjointed and uneven to actually reach a level of meaningfulness. It is interesting to see that in season one Danny was taken off the promotion grid following the circumstances surrounding Danny’s own “good shot” then voluntarily gives up his promotion following the circumstances of a “good shot.” A decent enough concept, just not well executed. It was a great episode for Lindsay, a terrible episode for Danny, and an “o.k.” episode for this viewer.
So, what do you think, did Danny return too soon to the lab or are you thinking "It's about damn time!"?
Next Week: The team must follow the writing on the wall! And watch out, Lindsay's gotta gun!
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