A common rebuttal among the McDanno detractors is “But they’re not gay!” But does it matter? Even Alfred Kinsey, the sex researcher who refined use of the terms “homosexual”, “heterosexual” and “bisexual”, believed that sexual orientation is more complex than a peel-and-stick label. His team devised the Kinsey Scale, which ranks people by how often they reported feeling sexual attraction for members of the same or opposite sex. As he wrote in Sexuality in the Human Male, “Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. . . The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects.”
In other words, there’s no reason two straight dudes can’t discover they feel a little more than they usually do with their other male friends without having to accept the arbitrary label. They say going to one bar mitzvah doesn’t make you Jewish, how does falling for one man suddenly make you a “career queer?” It’s not as simple as viewing McDanno on the macro level (Are they heterosexual or homosexual?) The focus is specifically on the nature of their relationship with each other. Drilling down (heh, drilling) even further, both men would have a varying degree of comfort and/or interest in acts that are intimate, affectionate, or even sexual with the other, and they express each in vastly different ways.
For example, the conflict (and thus entertainment value) in many of their so-called “Carguments” arises from their differing personalities. Danny tends to cope with personal threats and the prospect of failure by turning inward for reflection, only sharing his problems with Steve when prodded, the mark of the textbook introvert. Steve, the extrovert, craves contact when sorting out a problem. When he learns his Mother has not really left O’ahu to return to Witness Protection, he turns to each of his Five-0 team in turn for assistance. Click the Link above to read on...
“Cath, I need a favor. I think my Mom’s a supervillain and I need you to risk your job and compromise national security for me so I can confirm it.”
“Ok, McGarrett, I’ll do it. But I’m gonna need dinner at Roy’s and at least 20 minutes of oral.”
“Make it dinner at Zippy’s, and you know I can only hold my breath for 10 minutes.”
