Some thoughts about the Steve/Danny Relationshipt (Hawaii Five-0)

[bm_shipper]

Heya...

I thought a lot about "my new obsession" over the last days, especially about Steve/Danny and the "relationship" they are having and where the writers could have head to... and since I'm always "up for discussion", I thought, I could maybe share "my" opinion about this... especially because I REALLY don't know what to think about anymore... *lol* I thought I knew, but I'm not so sure anymore...

I have to admit: When I saw the first episode, I wasn't very thrilled at all... of course I noticed the "tension" between Steve an Danny, but becaues the show itself didn't hook me "immediately", I didn't think all too much about it... then there was the 2nd episode which I TOTALLY loved and adored and all of sudden I fell for the show...

and of course for Steve/Danny and whatever it is they are having...

But well, since I love this show, I'm now REALLY thinking about, which direction the writers will choose...

I'd like to compare it for example to "Bones" and the relationship between Booth and Bones... there always was some "tension" right from the start, and even if they are STILL not together or close to being together, it's more then obvious, that at SOME point they will be... maybe it will mean the end of the show, I don't know, but since they are really dragging it out for SOOOOO long, I think it will be the Season finale sooner or later... the wedding or something like that... them finally getting together...

but it's not as if there "never happened" anything between them... the writers are always throwing some bones... for example in Season 3 when they kissed underneath the mistle toe... or last season, with Booth REALLY wanting to "go for it"...

Now I'm asking myself, what the writers of "Hawaii Five-0" want... I mean, it's obvious that they want to show Steve and Danny as straight cool guys... I mean, why else would they bring "Catherine" into the game at all if not to prove that Steve is "oh so straight"...

but on the other hand they are "throwing bones" either, like in the last episode with the "Who are you talking to, your wife?" - "My partner" conversation... or the "You miss me, don't you?" thing...

It's as if the writers know EXACTLY what they are doing and that they really do this on purpose...

But I don't think they are REALLY heading into the direction of getting Steve and Danny together at some point, or do they?

I mean, I'm absolutely aware of the fact that the "main thing" of the show will be the "solving crimes" suspect, like it's always in "such shows"... It's in BONES too... or in for example 21 JUMP STREET and so on... but at some point, there IS some romance involved... mostly... even in "The Mentalist" we already HAD this kind of thing (and I haven't given up hope yet, that there will happen something again between 2 of the characters :P), so I'm asking myself, if at some point Steve and Danny will both hook up with girls or if they will stay single and have this "awkward kind of relationship"...

I mean, for ME it's always "more interesting" seeing something that "is not there" or better to say "something that they don't show"... I'm a slash whore like whoa, and the people who know me know this either, and I always had a thing for "pairings that don't really exist"... like in Prison Break Michael and Sucre or Lincoln and Alex and there is a loooooooooooong list of this... "my" pairings usually DON'T get together at all *lol*

Personally I don't think we will ever actually see Steve and Danny kissing, but on the other hand... if the writers REALLY wanna show how "straight" they are, why all this "hints" that they are not? Why all this comments about them "having something together"?

I'm a bit confused to be honest *lol*

and the other thing is: I don't know much about Alex or Scott... I mean, nothing "personal", like if they even would act something like that... I mean, I don't think they are homophobic at all, don't misunderstand me, but there ARE actors who prefer NOT to play a gay role or kiss people of the same sex, even for a movie or a tv-show... I don't know if Alex or Scott would actually "do it"... but I would love them if so *lol* =D

So well... what do YOU think? Do you think there WILL happen something at some point? Or are the writers just "playing" with the watcher's fantasies?

I mean, honestly... if they would actually be "brave" enough to go for something like that, that would be a first, would it? At least *I* have never seen something like that in a crime show... a lot of man/female main characters hooking up but never some male/male main characters hooking up =p I would love to see something like that for once =D

Comments

[emocezi.livejournal.com]

Personally I don't think we will ever actually see Steve and Danny kissing, but on the other hand... if the writers REALLY wanna show how "straight" they are, why all this "hints" that they are not? Why all this comments about them "having something together"?


You have to remember something. The network that hosts Hawaii Five-O is CBS.

They would light themselves on fire before they aired an open homosexual couple on a 'straight laced' cop show.

Give it a few months and some uptight stay-at-home mom will find something to complain about and they'll cancel the show, no matter how good the ratings are. That's just how CBS rolls.

[malicat.livejournal.com]

Bei Merlin ist es so ähnlich.Da kann man teilweise schon nicht mehr von 'subtext' zwischen Merlin und Arthur sprechen (z.B. wenn Arthur zu Merlin sagt 'Is your little bottom sore?') und es ist total offensichtlich,dass das extra ist :D Aber es ist auch klar,dass da natürlich nie was passieren wird. Ich denke,bei Hawaii 5-0 ist das so ähnlich. Die Autoren müssen sich bewusst sein,wie manche Szenen/Dialoge ankommen,von daher machen die das schon extra. Aber wirklich was passieren wird zwischen den beiden nicht. Wenn das jetzt HBO oder Showtime wäre,wäre das was anderes aber nicht bei CBS *sigh* Aber ehrlich gesagt brauch ich das auch gar nicht. Solange dieses Gekabbel zwischen den beiden nicht irgendwann aufhört,kann ich da ewig zuschauen *g*

[koronaphoenix.livejournal.com]

I actually posted an entry (http://koronaphoenix.livejournal.com/1145.html) in my journal a few days ago that included my thoughts on this very subject.

In a nutshell, I think that:

- Yes, the subtext is absolutely intentional. They are aware that there are people like us who enjoy the idea of two male characters together, and they give it to us without really giving it to us. Although I wouldn't go quite as far as to say that bigger networks would never let allow one of their shows to depict an openly gay relationship (because that's not the case), I am fairly certain that Hawaii 5-0 is one of the shows that will never go there. Not only because it is an action series that most likely attracts a large male demographic, but also because it is based on another series, and people would seriously freak out if Steve and Danny became romantically involved. Old fans are already freaking out over the fact that it's not the same exact show.

- I agree with you about Catherine. I read a review somewhere that essentially said that they needed to introduce Catherine as a love interest to Steve in order to balance out the "intensity" (i.e. gayness) of Steve and Danny's relationship. The relationship between Steve and Catherine seems pretty shallow and underdeveloped, so I tend to think this is exactly why they created her character. Aside from the convenience of having his "girlfriend" in Navy Intelligence, I mean.

- I think O'Loughlin and Caan are probably perfectly aware of how their dialogue could be interpreted. And of course, they probably get asked about their "great chemistry" or something to that effect in every interview. In response to a question like this, O'Loughlin actually said: "Oh yeah, we will be the bromance of the decade!" :) Most actors seem more receptive to playing gay roles than one might expect, so I wouldn't assume that either would refuse to play a gay character. But that's not really the issue here.

[purple-spock.livejournal.com]

I agree that unfortunately CBS isn't likely to do anything that deviates from the safe lands of heterosexuality in hopes of making their shows as universally popular as possible. However, to deal with your comment about would Alex and Scott be open to acting those scenes out, I don't know a lot about Alex, but it's my understanding that Scott Caan is a hard core method actor, implying that if he thinks his character would do it, he'd do it too. Also, when he was in Varsity Blues, there was a scene in which only the women were supposed to be nude (or partially nude, can't remember) and he felt that this was sexist so he got naked as well [yay]. This is my round about way of saying that as far as I'm aware he is a pretty liberal guy who brings liberal values to his work, so it by some miracle CBS did say "Screw you" to all the people who would protest such blatant homosexuality in a cop show and did write a scene between the two characters, then yes, I think that Scott Caan would do it.
I'm from Canada, that land where Queer as Folk was filmed and home to the like second largest Pride Parade in the world or something, so while there are still plenty of people who are anti-gay, it's a lot less accepted to voice any sort of opinion about it. A lot of the Canadian films and movies I watch are pretty casual with their portrayal of homosexuality and same sex relationships, so I think that if it was introduced into the show, up here people probably wouldn't freak out that much. I could be wrong though, and I'm not trying to say that Americans are really likely to freak out. I'm just trying to say (in my own round about way) that I don't think it would hugely effect the ratings up here, but I have a feeling that it might elsewhere, and as TV networks are ruled by the ratings, it sadly doesn't seem like a gamble CBS would take.
A final thought: Maybe the people who produce the show are blind to the innuendo and tension, and it's all the work of a few writers with a good sense of humour who want to see how married they can make the two of them before everyone notices.
Wow. This is super long. Didn't know I had that much to say.

[patchcat.livejournal.com]

*points to the other two* Yeah, what they said, unfortunately. Homosexuality is a very controversial topic in this country. Which I will never understand, but that's another rant for another day, really, and not very on topic for your post.

Honestly, while it's great to hear that the show's been picked up for another season (I mean really, YAY! I hadn't heard that until I read emocezi's comment.), I fully expect to see a lot of the UST that we've been seeing between our boys be toned down a lot, if it doesn't disappear completely. And it's just a matter of time before one or the other (or both) of them find a female interest. That's just how American TV is.

It's really annoying that most network TV is "sanitized for our protection." *rolls eyes*

Also, I have to ask WHAT show is that in your sidebar? The clips are very interesting. ^_^

[littleeva.livejournal.com]

but on the other hand they are "throwing bones" either, like in the last episode with the "Who are you talking to, your wife?" - "My partner" conversation... or the "You miss me, don't you?" thing...

It's like they don't want them to get together but they're teasing the audience. If you watch that scene again, when Steve says it's his "partner." The older man looks as if he wants to say, "you don't look gay" or something like that.

But CBS would NEVER have them get together, even though my mom who's 78 years old would love to see that!

[copper-on-mars.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think the writers are doing this intentionally. They fully realize there are slash fans and queer people who would appreciate occasional gay joke. They'll never actually have Danny and Steve have a romantic relationship (or be fuckbuddies, as Steve and Catherine are), but giving us innuendo and longing looks? They're not above this (grr, bigots!).

This aside, H50 is very good for ficwriters. Those *_* eyes Steve makes every time Danny starts ranting at him, his soft smiles... Honestly, I had my own moments of 'OMG the writers are totally going to have them be gay (bi) for each other!'

And wow, Austria is cool for being so gay-friendly. I remember only ONE gay character from a Russian soap opera, and he wasn't portrayed realistically (it was a bit insulting, even). No lesbian characters, no bi, no trans (though there was a show with male-to-female transformation, 'Margosha', but there was magic involved).

[cedara]

Am wahrscheinlichsten ist es, dass die genauso wie bei House die "Bromance-angle" fahren werden und dabei es reichlich ausnutzen, dass sich die beiden Schauspieler so gut verstehen. Für mehr ist die USA zu fundamentalistisch-konservativ - da ist Mainstream TV, der sich gut verkauft, viel wichtiger. Darauf kommt es denen sowieso am Meisten an - stimmen die Quoten oder nicht.

[iamrosalita.livejournal.com]

CBS will never portray Steve and Danny as gay. I'm surprised that they are being so blatant with the hoyay and I believe it is absolutely intentional. They knew we would slash them, so why not throw the ladies a bone (in their minds) while maintaining plausible deniability.

[cottontail.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about that whole Steve and Catherine relationship thing the writers threw in there and it occurred to me that maybe they not only threw that in there to show how Steve likes girls, but also because at some point she maybe will turn against Steve and help some bad guys out or something. In that case Steve would be all hurt and burned by a woman and the rest of the season (and hopefully any future seasons) would be just Steve, single-guy, and the ambiguously gay relationship between him and Danny.

[cmariad.livejournal.com]

With respect to what was said about the show being picked up for a second season already, it actually HASN'T been. In the US, a normal television season consists of at least 22 episodes of most drama or comedy shows, airing from September through around May. If a show is popular, however, or they need more episodes to fill holes in the program schedule, additional episodes beyond the normal 22 could be ordered as well.

But normally ONLY 13 episodes of any show--especially those on their 1st seasons-- are ordered & put into production to start with each season. Then the producers, ast & crew wait to see if the show gets its "midseason" pickup.

Once the show starts airing & the ratings start coming in (& are compared from week to week), then decisions are made--while the initial 13 episodes are airing--about whether or not to cancel the show during the 1st 13 episodes or continue production of the show for the entire at least 22 episode season. What was announced was actually that the "back 9" episodes of H50's 1st season were ordered, giving the show a full 22 episode order/commitment from CBS for THIS season (the 1st). Additionally, CBS ordered, at the same time as the "back 9" episodes of the 1st season, 2 more scripts for the show which COULD be turned into actual filmed & aired episodes, giving H50 a POSSIBLE 24 episode season instead of a 22 episode season.

We won't find out until early next year (priobably no earlier than February or March) if H50 gets an actual second season or not. But if the ratings stay as they have been, I'd say it looks pretty good for that happening.

[muzzy-olorea.livejournal.com]

I have to say that as a shipper I tend to be very canon in my ships. And with Hawaii Five-O that's the same. Since they haven't hinted at anything (like in Bones you know Brennan/Booth is going to be THE canon ship but there's nothing like that in Hawaii Five-O), I don't ship anyone whether it's Danny/Steve or Steve/Kono or whatever.

Since I mostly do canon ships, most of my ships happen to be straight because how often is slash actually canon? In the shows I watch there's only Callie/Arizona (who I love) and Kevin/Scott (Brothers & Sisters) who I like but don't actively obsess over.

Obviously it's all up to the viewers' interpretation and if you see it then good for you but I bet it will never be canon. It's like in House ... House/Wilson have the same kind of relationship where they openly joke about the slashiness but they will never ever become a couple because they're both straight and yet a lot of people ship them. I think the writers are so confident in their characters' sexuality that they can makes jokes about "partner/wife" thing whereas maybe if there was ~something~ it would be more silent, brooding UST looks.

Also, how many straight people in American TV have turned out to be gay? In my shows I can only think of Callie and Kerry (ER) and they are not main characters. The odds are against both Steve and Danny turning out to be gay, I'm afraid!

But like I said, the magic of fandom is that it's all open to interpretation so ship whatever you want hun!

[love-jackianto.livejournal.com]

As other people have said I doubt CBS will ever make Steve/Danno canon (CBS doesn't have a single gay main character on any of it's shows and the president of the network is a notorious homophobe) but I do think the writers know exactly what they're doing with all the subtext.