I must ask your thoughts on David 👀
(im @charrytree! this is my main!!)
Short answer: he skrunkly <3
Long answer: This is a David Sinclair defense blog
So, for those keeping up with Sen Crunches the Numb3rs, you'll notice that we're almost done with season 1 (I've been trying to schedule 1x13 for a week but the universe keeps interrupting me), and we haven't really discussed David in depth. This is because he's barely on screen outside of the case exposition scenes. This is due to two reasons: 1. racism (probably) and 2. the show was setting up Terry as Don's endgame love interest very hard, so they put a lot of focus on her instead of him. Once Terry vanishes from the season (1x12 and 1x13), David gets some time to shine, and he's fantastic! Alimi Ballard is a wonderful actor with a great sense of timing (comedic and dramatic), who is able to deliver the expositional dialogue with the grace and natural sound that I've only seen in a few other actors. He has great chemistry with just about every other actor, especially Diane Farr and Dylan Bruno, but also works well off of David Krumholtz and Peter MacNicol. There's a reason Alimi (and David) survived the jump from unaired to aired pilot!
Season 2 and onwards, we get more time with David, and it's always a pleasure. He has a few focus episodes here and there (2x12, 3x16, and 4x14 off the top of my head), and of course, his rollercoaster romance relationship with Colby, as well as we get tiny bits and pieces of his character sprinkled throughout - he appreciates comic books, has a sister named Linda, grew up in the Bronx, lives in Venice, went to Cornell, says adorable shit like "wolf tickets", just to name a few. He is the by-the-books, straight-laced, level-headed boy next door (with a hidden dorky side) that's usually paired up with a more hot headed or rebellious or even comedic character for the "opposites attract" dynamic. He has a mischievous side, of course, it just has to be the right place and time. Or the right person (Colby)! One could make the argument that David is "boring" because of the character archetype he fills, but I think this is an unfair assessment. David's arc of going from Guy the Director Stuck on Don's Team to Spy on Him to Don's Second in Command/Team Leader, along with...whatever he and Granger got going on, is really heartwarming and gratifying to watch!
If I had to have a complaint, I'd say it's that I want to know more about David. We know a lot of cool facts, but I've always felt like we're missing something. I can't put my finger on what, though. His past, maybe? His family life? His relationships with characters outside of Colby and Don? Idk. There's a hole here that the writers should've filled in, but I can't pinpoint it. Though, I suppose, if my biggest complaint about a character is "I want more", that's a good problem to have!
There's also a whole conversation to be had about David and representation for African Americans in media. As someone who is whiter than bleached mayonnaise, I think I'm both unequipped and unqualified to have opinions on this, but I would be really interested to know how Black audiences feel about David, both at the time of airing and retrospectively. If anyone knows of any resources, or has any thoughts, on this, I'd love to see them!
I haven't mentioned this yet, but Numb3rs got me writing again. I've done about 7k words into a fic that's pretty Charlie/Ian focused… But after spending some time thinking about it, it'd be nice to try my hand at writing David. Lord knows any one-shot I write balloons into a full blown AU with multiple-novels worth of ideas that becomes too unwieldly for my ADHD-rotted brain to finish (Butterfly Dreams of a Plastic Heart was 50,000 words before I abandoned it 1/10th of the way through), but I think I can get David in there. And if not that one, in another fanfic. I have way too many ideas.
It only occurs to me now after spending 2 hours typing all of this that you might've been asking for headcanons. I can get those, too, but I wanted to answer your ask before I forgot. I hope this is satisfactory! Thank you for the ask, Juud!
P.S. David and Colby should've kissed with tongue on screen.
