the unique thing about mcdanno is it's objectively mind-boggling even from an in-universe outsider's perspective
mrs tennenbaum, an outsider: so are they married or not?
h50 gang: well yes. except no. but also yes. definitely. maybe. who knows?
someone help her, guys, the poor lady is going to think she has dementia. the insane situationship steve and danny are in is bound to drive anyone mad. they are the ultimate schrödinger's ship because even fictional characters in their own universe aren't sure if they are 'canon' or not.
One of the almost obstacles to Mcdanno shipping that I very much ignore is Danny's at times overcompensating heterosexuality. Of all the male characters he's the one who will metaphorically drools over models, comments on how a woman looks or buys sexy underwear as a gift. Yet sometimes I get the impression Danny clings onto heterosexuality like a confort shield. You can see this in his canonical straight relationships.
Danny clearly grew up in a loving but very traditional family. His father went out to work at a dangerous job as a fire fighter whilst his mother mostly stayed home and raised the kids. We know Danny is fearful and can be overly anxious and has been since childhood. One of his coping mechanisms seems to have been the power he gave his family life. A seemingly happily married mother and father was his safe space. So it was he came to cling onto that to the point where that relationship of mother, father and child or children became his trinity. He began to believe that the union of marriage was the thing to make people happy and safe. Like him. But he built it up into an ideal reality and perhaps his own feelings were never going to match.
His relationship with Rachel epitomises this. They got married because that's what you did in Danny's mind. Marriage is a comfort. Yet we know that he started looking at his partner Grace differently he wasn’t fully invested in his marriage with Rachel until she became pregnant with their daughter at which point he'd got the perfect family ideal he'd invested in from being a nervous kid. Sure there were cracks but because the ultimate relationship was supposed to be married to a woman and with a kid Danny ignored the basic incompatibility of himself and Rachel because, well, family.
That's why he kept going back to Rachel because she represented family. In Danny's head family couldn't fail because that was the safe place. It's also why his other relationships with women never worked out because he had had children with Rachel and that family connection was so important to him. Danny had a family the thing he put on a pedestal no one else could compare and though he went through the motions of dating women how could he ever marry them or have kids with them when he failed once? He couldn't risk failing again when he cared so much and needed to create that perfect family. Danny's so caught up with this ideal he doesn't put further effort into relationships that would never measure up.
You see this too in his family relationships. He simply cannot have his mother leave his father because for decades that relationship has been the safe place and has influenced how Danny has gone about his own relationships with women. If that fails then his entire belief system and world view comes crashing down. He can't cope with that. So he pushes his parents back together. He's quite dismissive of his mother's feelings because he can't see what could be wrong in the marriage he sees as perfect. Of course his parents are okay and they love each other enough to work through their problems which of course then makes Danny think he and Rachel could do the same. Forgetting of course that his parents are different with a different history. He and Rachel may have split earlier if not for Grace which is different to decades of marriage.
His dismissivenes of his mother's feelings doesn't negate the fact that she went to him for support and ultimately he gave it.
But we can see his stubborn faith in heterosexuality and marriage again when his sister visits. Bridget is unhappy in her marriage feeling she's losing her own identity in the role of wife and mother but Danny struggles to understand because being in a marriage in his eyes is the ideal. Again his failed. If his sister's fails as well his worldview takes a beating once more.
What's also interesting is Stella. We don't know what happened to Eric's father. Stella must have had Eric young (Eric's age varies wildly across the series) but we don't know if she was married or what happened to Eric's Dad. Stella never fit into Danny's mythical ideal. Is that why we never see her? Danny and her have never interacted on screen that I can recall.
Danny's belief doesn't just affect his familial relationships either.
He's not a fan of Doris when she reappears because here is a woman that walked away from that perfect family life. The idea someone would choose to do that is totally baffling to Danny. He's therefore quite hostile toward her. Of course Doris clearly recognises Danny's belief and retorts along those lines. Danny is wrong footed because Doris recognises his belief and its weakness in a way Danny can't.
We see it to when Steve talks about proposing to Catherine. Already clearly a bad idea but Danny pushes his friend and encourages him. Again because marriage and children is obviously the ideal in Danny's head. He knows deep down it might not be the best idea (just like rekindling anything with Rachel) but he cannot let go of his heterosexual marriage and children comfort idea. Even for other people because he needs them to be happy and to safe and he misguidely thinks marriage and children provide that.
It's heartbreaking he can't see beyond it.
Ironically though it also gives him freedom with Steve. With Steve he can argue and bicker and know it won't lead to divorce. With Steve he can be accepted for who he is and it doesn't matter. He's not reaching for the mythical ideal with Steve and that means with Steve he has the most emotionally honest and supportive relationship. The relationship he has with Steve becomes the safe place he was searching for in his marriage and never found.
The marriage Danny wanted and needed was there in front of him all along.
Consider the slow burn of mcdanno. But consider how the floodgates open at each milestone:
• Once they start light touches, they can’t help it and keep reaching out for pats, light grabs for attention, linking arms, snuggling on a couch together…
• Use cute nicknames? Okay, ‘do it all the time, I like it.’
• others call them married so they shrug, embrace it, believe it and want all decisions made as a married couple because they will be spending the rest of their lives together and ALL decisions are important and affect the other.
• Once they have their first hug, they begin doing it all the time… longer and tighter.
• Once they say ‘I love you’ then you never stop hearing them say it to each other whether in passing, or because things might go terribly wrong and they NEED to say it as their last words.
• Once they realise they want to spend a lot of time together, they spend ALL their time together from random dates where no one knows where they are, to moving in together. And there's only one bed.
In later seasons, there were instances of them holding hands, but it feels like, in the final episode, a bigger deal was made of it because it was an unprompted/non-practical/non-humorous holding of hands… which feels like the floodgate moment. Steve gripped tight onto Danny’s hand, and only the slight movement of him finally letting go after HOURS is what prompted Danny to wake up from his medically induced, post-surgery sleep. It was the healing power of hand-holding, the reassurance of the other being there, their co-dependent need to literally latch on to the other to keep them safe or to not get away and do something stupid.
I am 100% convinced that it continues because it's a new facet to add to their relationship. Therefore had season 11 happened (with a full cast and fix it for the last ten minutes of season 10) then I fully expect that they’d show up at crime scenes hand-in-hand, be sitting at Kamekona’s with their hands joined together between them on the table, enjoy a leisurely stroll while out walking Eddie and their hands just swing comfortably between them, be sat side by side in therapy while still holding on to each other… be in the Governor’s office getting reprimanded for a stupid stunt and reaching to the other for a hand as they walk out feeling a modicum of guilt over the repair costs coming out of their budget.
They’d be doing it so much they wouldn’t even notice, despite the side-eye from Lou and the way Junior and Tani make fun of them by copying the same thing around the office.
* the way Grace asks where her mum or uncle Steve are - she knows if Danny was injured one of them would come for her, which says a lot about Steve's place in her life
* the way when Danny says that Grace is at a tennis lesson, Steve tells Chin which tennis place she's at - he knows which club she has her lessons at, but Chin is not expected to know this
* the way Steve is so visibly stressed when they realise Grace has been taken and he can't get a hold of Danny and he needs to make a decision about what they should do cos he's the boss, but he's visibly trying to pull himself together and focus and even when he manages to focus he's so emotional in a way he never is with cases. Like, he always cares, but this time he's rattled.
* the way Steve just yells Danny's name (multiple times) when they get to the park. He sends Kono and Chin to deal with the bad guy, and his focus is just on Danny.
* it's Steve there with Danny when they rescue Grace, right beside him, untying her, etc.
Not mcdanno but...
I can't comment on this ep without also commenting on how much I appreciate Stan in this episode.
When Danny says he needs to meet him, Stan's first thought is Grace.
When Danny says he needs to shoot him or some guy is going to kill Grace - Stan accepts it. He basically agrees to it. Because it's for Grace.
And I know in s1 he's set up as the 'bad guy' from Danny's POV because he gets time with Rachel and Grace, but I so wanted them to follow through on this moment here - where Danny and Stan are united in their desire to protect Grace and willing to do anything for her.
It would have made such a great starting point for them to start understanding each other, etc. They may never like each other but they both put Grace first.
And think that's also very telling about Stan. That he's okay with getting shot if it's for Grace. He loves her. He cares for her as a father. He's not just putting up with her so he can have Rachel - and I think that's very important to acknowledge.
(But the show was far too focused on making Danny and Stan rivals for Rachel's attention because don't we all know that Danny's straight? Here's proof. No, I'm not bitter about the comphet at all)
OKAY so with full respect and admiration to scott caan for wanting to be with his family more, I do have to admit I just watched an episode where I wanted danny to be involved SO BADLY it’s unreal.
episode 9x14, the h50 team come across annie, an lgbtq+ teen who’s trying to become emancipated from her parents so they don’t forcefully send her away to conversion therapy. and the whole team is so defensive and protective of her and rightfully shaming the parents and I was full on crying hearing all their affirming words. and all I could think of is that if mfing danny williams, father of two, was there in that room he would’ve read those parents to absolute FILTH. he would’ve dragged them so bad. especially with how we see him become extra upset with any cases involving kids being mistreated, like I think he would’ve been so goddamn PISSED. I can fully imagine a scene where those parents look at him in shock at how affected he is, asking how he’s allowed to talk to them that way, still being their stubborn bigoted selves, and even steve wouldn’t hold him back on this because they all agree those parents are absolute assholes. I was imagining a scene similar to lou’s where he questions how the hell someone could do this to their child, parent to parent.
and this isn’t even me wanting danny there in a mcdanno shipper way. it’s just purely me wanting to see the side of the character I love that would have spoken up so loudly for this girl just like he would with grace or charlie or anyone else. god the potential there would’ve been so MWAH CHEF’S KISS it’s crazyyyy.
anyways if you need me i’ll be in the ao3 tag praying there’s some fics like this 🙂↕️
Okay so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but -
I'm currently still watching season 5 - and while it has some of my favorite mcdanno episodes - the stakeout will forever live rent free in my brain but I digress-
I can't help but feel like there is overall a lot less Danny in this season?
Like I might be totally biased here because he's my favorite little guy-and there are a lot of new characters that rightfully get more screen time to flesh them out more and that's totally fine! I love Jerry and Lou and ellie (max isn't new but I think he deserve more screentime too) and I'm happy everytime they get a chance to explore what's going on in their lives!
I was just watching episode 19 were Steve has is little crazy adventure with the barber-lawyer character (I think his name is Odell?) and I loved it! I love the actor of Odell and I'm glad he got a chance to return! I'd even love to see him become another recurring character ! He has great banter with Steve and I wanna know more about his crazy path from lawyer to criminal to passionate barbershop owner! I also loved jerry's little side plot. Finding out that he and max had been hanging out together and chin being a supportive friend - but still I couldn't help feel Danny missing Idk
I don't think he needed to be in the episode but just a little nod to him being with grace or something would have been nice
Which maybe that's just nitpicking?
But Idk I just felt with Steve being off, having his own adventure, it might have been a good opportunity to have the entire team trying to help Jerry? Because I feel like while everyone is bonding fine with Steve and you have a pretty good idea how is relationship towards everyone looks like I don't really have an idea how the dynamics in the team have changed or not since the addition of Lou?
A trend I've noticed for a while now too is that Danny has been off a lot having his own adventures away from the team and even if he's there, his time is mostly spend with Steve?
Which don't get me wrong I love every little bit of mcdanno content I can get. I just feel like this episode was a missed opportunity to flesh out some more realationships between the team when Steve isn't around?
Maybe the next one will be just that and i'm just rambling over nothing here, but I would love to see what for example everyones relationship to lou is like now that they know each other better? Do Lou and Danny team up to tease Steve when he's being stubborn or do they sometimes share stories of what it's like to be a dad? What do kono and Lou talk about or Lou and chin? What do chin and kono do when they're off duty? Do they go surfing together or just hang out outside of work? Do chin and Lou still go fishing or was that a one time thing? What's Danny's realationships with kono like these days? And how did chin feel after he found out that they kinda sorta did chose Danny over him last episode?
Idk maybe some of this is still going to be answered it's just been a thing that was bugging me for a while now and I would love to hear other people's opinions on this!
