In the Realm of the Theoretical
I am bored of all my music. What are you guys listening to at the moment?
Music aside, here's an important announcement:
stellarmeadow compiled a Top Ten Danny/Steve list as well, and here it is: Ten Best McDanno Moments. (She also wrote a lovely, lovely story set during Ep1x23 that rings very true to Steve's character. And I have a lot more recs, theoretically, but by the time I put them together, everyone will have read them already...)
Okay, okay! Important announcement over. Now this post will take a swan dive into speculative waters as I try to make sense of the finale ("try" being the operative word, here).
So, I think we can all agree that they handled the Danny/Rachel quite badly. For one, it made both of them look like assholes - cheating, leaving Hawaii without pressing reasons (because “It's Stan's home, not mine” is not a good reason), jerking Grace out of an environment she's grown used to without second thought, and also, what? A baby? Just how long has that affair been going on?! Since the episode with Matt, as drusillas_rain suggests?
Anyway. It was badly handled, clumsy and rushed. I refuse to believe that Danny would be this blasé about leaving Hawaii and 5-0 - he'd be willing to follow Rachel and Grace, sure, but not simply because Rachel's moving back to New Jersey on a whim. Even overjoyed at having his family back, the Danny I have come to know and love in the course of the twenty-three previous episodes would not just get up and leave his friends, would not leave Steve at the edge of them investigating the Governor. And also? He would fucking tell Steve. (Okay, he might have tried, what with the beer and coming over. But he didn't try very hard, did he? Unless he's being a coward, which, well.)
Apologies for the rant, but that really, really irritated me when I thought the rest of the finale was pretty great, if heart-breaking and frustrating for leaving us hanging like that. So, I have theories to deal with the Danny/Rachel mess.
Theory 1:
Wo Fat made Rachel do it. Maybe he threatened to harm Grace if she didn't lure Danny away from Hawaii, maybe he even made her lie about being pregnant. It's possible, but somehow, it doesn't strike me as Wo Fat's style. Hence:
Theory 2:
The plane with Rachel and Grace (which was also supposed to have Danny on board) goes boom. This wouldn't explain why Rachel and Danny behaved like assholes, mind you, but it would explain why the writers rushed this storyline so much. Imagine the drama and the implications when Danny learns, say, at the end of 2x01 that Wo Fat killed Rachel and Grace, and that they're dead only because Wo Fat meant to kill Danny and they were collateral damage. Accidental targets. Danny would blame himself for their deaths, and he'd go crazy seeking revenge.
What do you think, the lengths Danny would go to? Yeah, precisely; Steve would be restrained compared to Danny thirsting for revenge.
Theory 3:
It was simply bad writing.
Personally, I consider Theory 2 the most likely right now. And I don't want it to happen (Rachel!Grace!!!), but at the same time, I can see how it might make for a very, very good plot. Also, it would bring Danny and Steve that much closer, both of them having lost someone very important to them due to Wo Fat, either directly or indirectly. (Because Hesse was working for Wo Fat, no?) So that might be fascinating to watch. And wasn't there something about the original Danno's girlfriend being killed by Wo Fat in the old series?
This entry was cross-posted to Dreamwidth.