OK...I was puzzled as to how that scene in the bar with Dani (Sarah Shahi) fit in with everything else. She marches into a bar alone, eyes a man she likes specifically because he's married, and pounces. I couldn't see how it related to anything that came before or after in that episode.

Wives like to complain that men go into bars and take their wedding rings OFF. Sheesh...these days, wives should HOPE husbands take their rings off. Apparently, the men with rings are the ones worth going after. Or maybe that's just 'Hollywood being Hollywood.'

I think that scene was very telling...
Reese went into that bar after talking to Lt. Davis...who is trying to get Reese to betray Charlie.
Reese is starting to really like her new partner.
I think she doesn't want to betray him, but Lt. Davis keeps pressuring her.

Reese has seemed proud of the fact that she's been clean & sober for 21 months.
She walked into that bar because of Lt. Davis's pressure.
She wanted to get numb.
She picked out a married man....because she could use him and leave him, and a married man wouldn't be likely to try to keep the relationship going.
Reese only wanted a "Mr. Right for the night".

Interesting. I don't know if you watched Bionic Woman the night before, but in that episode she tackled a guy because instead of 'Mr. Right' she really only wanted 'Mr. Right Now.'

Cruise's character hooks up with a different person each episode. Why is his partner not allowed to do the same? I think its obvious she tries to hook up with married guys because she wants to avoid any emotional involvement with anyone.

Yes, they both have questionable morals.

Dani can eye me anytime she wants... It is Hollywood being Hollywood - it makes sense for the story but good luck if you are wearing your wedding band and someone that looks like Sarah Shahi comes looking your way... it doesn't happen.

i have a feeling that scene will play out more in a future episode. I think it was really just foreshadowing something...I can't figure out what it might be yet though.

Weither it is or not though Sarah looked hot in that scene and she right it doesn't matter if he knows her or not I defiantely would have bought her a drink

As a huge U2 fan, one of my favorite lyric bits comes from a song called 'Until The End of The World:' 'In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows; but my sorrows, they learned to swim.' Point is, I'm not one to drink to escape things. But if Dani Reese was in a bar, I'd probably consider walking in there too...with my wedding ring still on.

She didn't look like "herself" with that top open, the way she was walking, the look in her eyes, and then how she handled herself when she sat down.

Possibilities:

1. Split personality
2. She did some drugs beforehand
3. She was playing a role in an undercover operation
4. She was having a secret meeting with the guy and needed to fit in
5. It's hollywood, and we needed some T&A

I think it might be #2, since it came right after that shoot-out where Dani got 'dusted.' But I don't know about the 'split personality' thing. That's a cop-out (pun intended) to say it was the 'other me' who picked out a married man in a bar. People like to blame the 'other them' when they do something bad or unappealing. Too convenient for my liking.

I think this is just a random scene where the writer wants to exploit her personal life.

Didn't she used to be undercover? I think that's just her way of being someone she's not. Now when she's not on the job, she can play-act and be anyone she wants to be.

This is the 2nd anonymous encounter w/ another man -- remember the previous bedroom scene? I think she needs another outlet for her addictions -- instead of snorting cocaine, she goes out and finds an anonymous f___ to drown herself in.

As far as the OP. It's simple. She's an addict. Technically everyone is an addict the only difference is that she has a history of using illegal substances. Anonymous sex is the perfect legal substitute for her profession: No hangovers.

As for the choice of a married guy. Based on the comment of the first guy, it sounds like she learned her lesson and the rest of you clarified the ordeal pretty well.

Yeah, it's about time. What do we know about her?

Her father was a cop
She's 28 or older
She was undercover
She was an addict
She's maybe a sex addict.

Why?

Here is her bio from the Life home page:

I agree with your take on why Dani can't be Rachel. I'd like to add that I think she's Persian descent (either her mom or dad's side) since in the preview for ep. 7 she spoke and translated Farsi (Persian language). So with that in mind I'm pretty sure Rachel wasn't of Persian descent.

Anyways!
Danni... **** I love her character. She's flawed and sarcastic, a hard worker, funny, and just real. I think Sarah Shahi plays her character amazingly well (although I still kind of wish she was back on the L Word as Carmen).

I think because of her past with the boyfriend who turned her towards drugs and thus made her lose control of her life, she chooses to sleep with men and control them with her sexuality. I mean we all saw the scene where she was at the bar and got that guy to buy her a drink, she exudes sex appeal and knows how to work it.

I also think her dad has something to do with her drug issues as well. Don't exactly know how yet but there's got to be something there.

Anyways, Danni Reese, is just plain awesomeness.

i love dani reese's character. she kind of has that no nonsense way about her and when you pair her up with crews you know hilarity will follow. i like how we get little tid bits about her past, but we are never really told exactly what happened with her.

i think there is plenty of room for her character to evolve and sarah shahi does an excellent job portraying her. in the last episode she was flawless. there are not too many people who can pull off being drunk, but she did an excellent job.

i can't wait to see what will happen next with her and her father. i hope we get to see him soon and perhaps this will reveal even more about reese's character.

Another clue that I think they were throwing at us this past week, is that they kept saying it is always about drugs and/or money. Then when Charlie and Dani were at the bank, Charlie said to that boy that was there, that it was always about drugs and money and Dani agreed. Then he flashed her a look. So she may know something, I am pretty sure.

I'm uncertain whether or not she's Rachel Seybolt, but she knows something about the bank robbery given her reaction when Stark brought up the bank of L.A. shootout and the fact that Roman, the Russian gangster was referring to her when he said you should ask your partner what happened to all that money and greatest of all her father met and argued with Ames the day of his death. Her exact connection we'll have to wait and see.

I'm actually really interested to see how Dani reacts to finding out her father is crooked and responsible for the Seybolt murders. She seems to know that her father is crooked in serious control issues she did say she spent her childhood trying to figure out if her dad was mean or just bad and in the last episode she said she wanted to ask Charlie some questions, I assumed it was about her father. I wonder how it will complicate she and Charlie's relationship.

As far as I'm concerned Dani Reese = Awesomesauce (as Marshall would say). I love her character to little tiny bits, I love how competent and efficient and loyal she is, I love that no matter how screwed up her personal life is she doesn't let it affect her work.

I love that in this partnership, they turned the jaded/perky cop partnership on its head and its Reese who's cynical, gruff and jaded and it's Crews who's trying to chip away at her walls. I love that she has her own agency and story and that when the chips fall down she makes a choice to stick with her partner who she knows is a good man. And I love the varied faces she pulls whenever Crews does something really WTF worthy.

But most of all, I love that when Crews acts all crazy and reckless she calls him on it. They're a partnership of equals but they know each other's boundaries and defer to it. Plus? I really love that she shocks her partner with 900K volts of electricity to save his life and doesn't apologize. She's kinda awesome because of that.

Also, she can drink any loser pseudo-intellectual alcoholic rapist under the table and bash them across the head. Why? Because she is AWESOME.

Dani said she was 12 years old when the Bank of LA shooting happened. I think part of the reason she's emotionally messed up is because of her father. Like the Lt said, "It's all about drugs and money." Somewhere deep down she knows her father's crooked. I think in order for her character to evolve, and before she can develop a romantic involvement beyond random bar hook-ups, she needs to make peace with her father and reconcile her feelings about this important person in her life. She has been so numb to all feeling. She hides from her own feelings by working herself hard, for example, in Powerless, she seemed initially attracted to the AA guy but circled back to being another "case" since he was a rapist on the prowl. Again, back to workaholic mode.

Q: How will the show evolve if they put away Jack Reese in the first part of next season? I think they should tie in Roman somehow b/c that guy seemed to know EVERYTHING, like pulling the puppet strings.

As for Sarah Shahi playing Dani, she's doing an AWESOME job! You go girl.

Dani Reese is AWESOME.

I love how complex her character is and how well Sarah Shahi brings Reese to, pardon the pun, life.

Also agree with filnygirl about Reese hiding from her feelings, I think it was something she developed to protect herself, especially after cleaning up it's been both helpful and detrimental for her. It helped prop herself up the few months after active duty (I'm supposing) but it also helped her compartmentalize.

I don't think I've seen anyone on TV separate her work and private life so well.

I agree, but I can see where Dani is coming from based on her torment at whatever is eating her. Sorry about the late replay to this post, havn't read them all yet ... as for Charlie, he just hasn't been woth a woman for years, not that either is right and wrong, but look at the marvelous dynamics inherent with each character. It like they need each other ...

All I have to say is, Sarah Shahi has done a AMAZING job with Dani Reese.
Sarah's an amazing actress, I hope to see her in other things too.
GO SARAH! WOOOOO!
=]

B.J. Novak could soon be going from pushing paper to fighting Nazis.

"The Office" star is in talks to play one of the soldiers in "Inglorious Bastards," Quentin Tarantino's long-gestating film about a band of Jewish resisters in Vichy-era France.

Novak is expected to play PFC Utivich, described as a soldier of slight build who comes from New York.

Scheduling is less likely to be a problem for Novak than it might be for other television actors; he has had a less regular role on "The Office" since his character was promoted in the fourth season to run the Dunder Mifflin corporate office in New York.

Casting is being finalized on the Weinstein Co.-Universal "Bastards," which is expected to shoot in the fall in Europe and wrap in time for a potential Cannes debut in May. Brad Pitt is in talks to play the leader of the band of fighters.


source

I'm sorry, but I have to say this...

I'm getting an uneasy feeling that Dani's going to have "carnal knowledge" of the new captain this season. I can't EVEN fathom that intelligent, gorgeous Dani would let that greasy, smarmy, pig (no, not another name for a cop; I mean in the swine form!) of a male put his hands on her!! I understand that she's a recovering junkie/alcoholic, but please tell me she would have to be at rock bottom of a relapse to even entertain that thought. If not, I'm sure that liaison would certainly send her into a serious relapse.

Please, God, do not let this happen!

I feel the same way! I like Donal Logue, the actor, but his character sure is...gross.

We've only seen the character in 1 episode. My guess is that the writers are going to redeem him in some way. Possibly, the wife vs girlfriend comment is complete bravado (aka false). I sure hope so anyway. Otherwise, I agree with you both, no way a hook-up between Reese and the captain will be fun to watch.

I believe she's beginning to become more comfortable with Crews. She's alittle more open around him. Even though they are partners. Her character has change abit. But, she's still has/shows that attitude.
:]

Okay, as a woman with long hair, I cringe a bit when I see a woman with longish hair left loose on a cop show. Especially if she's out in the field. I can see wearing it loose around the office, but when she goes out to talk to witness or suspects, it should be up in a bun. (Like last season.) It's just way to easy for someone to grab it in a fight if it's loose.

Unless she's actually wearing a wig, which could be fun...

I do like Sarah Shahi's hair, it's very thick. Wish I had thick hair like that.

/
BEM

I think her haircut is really nice. She looks softer and more fem. Her personality is still really butch though, so they don't match as well.

Just as long as he gets "redeemed" with someone else besides Dani.

The more I hear about this possible hook up between reese and the captain the more I cringe. i get the fact that eventually dani is going to have to open up to someone. but this guy!!! really? whatever i just want more reese all the time!!!

Hopefully, she can open up to someone who'll be good to her and FOR her. The grease monkey doesn't fit that bill in my opinion. She deserves a top notch, stand-up person in her LIFE!!!

I think they are trying to make the captain 'like' her. Strung out been through some stuff, and this formula is dangerous for somone likle Dani who is looking for someone to believe in and has not had much success in that field. Her desperation and frustration may get the better of her when her father kicked her out from the party after she asked him 'if he sent a innocent man to jail?' A classic look of acknowledgement was pasted to her face when she left the house.

And in the parking lot, the truth hit her hard. The man she had been trying so hard to please for so long had let her down again. I think the captain is some sort of departmental plant designed to rin the LAPD of crews and watch Dani. I see her regressing and falling back into drugs if she is not careful, and falling into his sway if she falls deeper into her funk. I just, kinda, sort of, don't trust him.

I love the new Lt. He's rough, he's an *******, and he's dirty, but he doesn't seem to have an agenda. I can't say I'd be too surprised if he did end up doing something with Dani they'd both regret, but I don't see it as something the department set him up to. Just their own vices. Though I guess I could see someone higher up in the department arranging for him being there due to his vices.
Was there something obvious that led to that staffing (Davis I think to the new guy) change btw? I don't remember anything leading up to her demotion. Of course it has been a while since I've seen the end of S1. My guess is it's due to actress availability. IMDB shows her in 3 movies that are currently in Post Production, so who knows how her availability was when they were filming the first episodes of S2.

"I see her regressing and falling back into drugs if she is not careful, and falling into his sway if she falls deeper into her funk. I just, kinda, sort of, don't trust him."

Between her puke of a father and the "oil can", I can see her regressing, too. Crews will need to step up and be her rock if this occurs. I still say she needs beefier story lines and MORE face time on the show. I realize the show's about Crews, but he's found the girl and now begins the new conspiracy wall with the 6,5,4 bunch...I need a break from watching him eat fruit and chase his ex. It's time for Dani's "close-up".(and please, God, don't let it be with that grease ball).

Oil Can - I love that moniker!!!!!

Did you see Bruce Fretts's opinion of the Donal Logue casting in the most recent TV Guide?

I quote: "Jeers to Life for casting Donal Logue as Sarah Shahi's new love interest. In what universe are we supposed to believe the greasy-haired, sweat-stained Jimmy the Cab Driver from MTV and Tony Soprano's peyote-fantasy stripper would hook-up? ...Why would the captivating Dani Reese fall for the cloddish Captain Tidwell?"

Personally, I thought that he sizzled w/Robin Wiegert in their scenes together from last Friday. As far as for Dani, I'm not sure what the writers have in mind, but they have a long way to go before a relationship between these 2 characters would be believable.

Anyway, it's good that the folks @ TV Guide are paying attention to Life though.

Yeah, a casting Jeer is better than no attention at all.

There was an article in TVGuide about Sarah Shahi a few weeks ago.

Then I have a new HERO in Mr. Bruce Fretts!
"Why would the captivating Dani Reese fall for the cloddish Captain Tidwell?" Oh GOD! Don't tell me there was some of that peyote left over from The Sopranos and Dani got into it!! She'd HAVE to be under the influence of some type of wicked hallucinogenic to ever let that happen. I think the writers are the ones under the influence. They expect any sane person to believe Dani would touch the oil can, or let "it" touch her?? What do they take us for anyway??
The trailer for next week's show had the two in that "about to kiss" position.

>>>PUKE, PUKE, PUKE!!! <<<

Excuse me, but due to the subject matter I have to go and shower now...

oh I HOPE she doesn't kiss her boss... ewww.

Hi folks!!

I specifically joined this message board so that that I could find out what everyones thoughts were on this very issue!!

I personally detest the notion that Dani Reese could be paired with the new captain. It Would be the worst thing to happen to the show. I started watching life because it is on of the few shows out there that is written intelligently and consiously. Pairing Reese with the new guy would be grossly illogical (and quite frankly it would be plain gross!!!) So if the show dose take a turn for the worst, I have to say that I would quit watching.

Any how aside from my concern over Dani's possible pairing, I'm also a bit troubled about how Dani and Charle's relationship is being written. Watching the last two eppies , I felt as though there was a rift between Dani and Charlie. I personally believe that they are being written this way to make room for Charlies renewed "relationship' with his wife (and perhaps the Dani-Newguy pairing).
Last season there was a strong bond that developed between D&C, but now the intensity has fizzeled.
I'm sort of depressed because I was trully hopping for a Dani-Charlie pairing;not because it would be the obvious choice but because their is a very real chemistry between both the Characters and the actors. I believe that if written properly A D&C pairing could be really powerful and would be a wonderful way of show-casing both the actors'( Damian & Sarah) "Acting chops".

I sincerly hope that the writers don't ruin this gem of a show but contriving some "romance" between to highly unsuitable characters based on the idea that it would be a classic "opposites attract" situation.I frankly believe that Dani and Charlie are in many way opposites but I won't go in to that . All I will say is that I hope our fears are never realized on the TV screen.

Thanks for listening!!!!

Marsh

First of all, welcome to the message boards! Always nice to see a new "face" around here.

Second of all, I'd like to add a few thoughts of my own to your post. Let's start with your point about there being a rift between Charlie and Dani. There is indeed a rift, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with Charlie's relationship with his ex-wife. The rift is there because Dani is torn by her love for her father and the fact that he was somehow responsible for Crews being sent to prison, and the trust and respect that she has for Charlie. Crews wants to tell her about his suspicions, and he has made the attempt to broach the subject, but despite being an excellent detective Dani really does not want to know about it, because once she does know the facts she is afraid that she is going to have to make a choice between her father and her partner.

Despite her reluctance to involve herself, she's coming around to it because she wants to know what happened to her father after the Bank of L.A. shootout. Something happened that day to change him from a loving father to someone she barely knows, and this has had a profound effect on her life.

One thing I am certain of is that Dani blames herself for whatever happened between her and her father. What I believe is that up until the bank robbery, Jack Reese would fill his daughter's head with stories of the L.A.P.D., and just how wonderful it was to be a cop. But after the bank shootout his opinion of the L.A.P.D. changed dramatically, because so many of the conspirators were cops. He had no part in the planning or the actual heist, but he's guilty of being an accomplice after the fact because he helped the true guilty parties cover up the crime. He was paid for his "services" but he didn't keep the money. Instead he gave it to the "Blessed Sisters" charity...all $2.5 million. Deep down he's a good cop, and he accepted the blood money because not doing so would tell the bad guys that he couldn't be trusted.

Here's where the rift between father and daughter comes into play. After the bank shootout, the stories of the knights in shining armor would have stopped, and Jack would have ordered his daughter to forget about being a cop. Remember that she was 12 years old at the time, and loved her father enough to want to follow him into the service, which was absolutely the last thing he wanted for her to do. The fact that she defied him and became one anyway infuriated Jack, and created a rift between them. He's scared that she might find out about his part in the heist. And then disaster: Charlie is released from prison, and somehow Dani is made his partner. Talk about Jack's worst nightmare. And it only gets worse: with Kyle Hollis in jail, the conspirators know for certain that Crews is investigating the death of his friends. Jack, who had hoped that all of this was behind him, suddenly is back in the thick of things with the true guilty parties doing whatever it takes to protect themselves.

As to the relationship with the new captain, I don't see it as a particularly bad thing. First of all you have to keep in mind that Dani hates herself with a passion. This self-loathing has partly to do with her broken relationship with the singlemost important person in her life--her father--and partly to do with the junkie that she loved being killed during her first undercover assignment. In the first season we learned that she was an addict, but that the police department discovered her problem and forced her into the program. So with that form of self-flagellation denied to her, she instead turned to one-night stands with total strangers to fulfill her need for punishment, and make no mistake, that's exactly what she's doing; she's punishing herself. She masks her non-existent self-esteem with bravado and an abrasive personality, but deep down she feels that she's worthless, and seeks to prove it through meaningless affairs.

What Captain Tidwell brings to the table is experience. He's been through it all already, and knows exactly what she's going through. Yes, he's not the most attractive of characters, but he's made some inroads with her over the last couple of episodes, and I think it's enough to build on. If she were to sleep with him now it would merely be more self-flagellation as she punishes herself by sleeping with the scummiest cop she knows, but give it a few episodes as he slowly works past her guard and shows her that it's not all bad. Sure, it might be oily on the surface, but never forget that it's the depth of the waters that count.

Finally, as far as I'm concerned, the only truly bad romantic matchup in the series would be between Charlie and Dani. Charlie's feelings for Dani are more than professional, but only in that he feels extremely protective of her. It says a lot about his character that he disguises that protectiveness so well, and that he's more than willing to let her be the aggressor in so many of their cases. He doesn't feel the need to dominate their partnership, and that makes them true partners. Ironically, Dani's feelings for Charlie are exactly the same. It's not romantic in the slightest, but it's powerful nonetheless.

Blackfel

I dunno about a Crews/Reese pairing being so bad. You can see that there's some chemistry between their characters. I know it's been said before, but they strike me a lot as a possible Scully/Mulder type of pairing, and those two weren't the best of friends at first, either. They also were in a semi-sexual tension situation in the first episode, somewhat similar to the shower scene in Merit Badge. I'm not saying its written in stone, but its not outside of the realm of possibility, and as long as it's written well I wouldn't mind it.

I don't really hate how she and Tidwell interact, but I don't see them getting together. He's more that guy who keeps going for you, so you give him that one kiss or date so you can say, "See, we tried, didn't work. Now move on." After that, he'll disappear off the romantic interest radar, I'd bet.

Besides, grease ball or no, he's entertaining as all hell. I love his delivery.

I agree. I loved Lt. Davis, but Capt. Tidwell brings a deadpan humor to the series that I very much enjoy.

"And you played what instrument exactly?"

"Trombone. And I was good."

Sorry, but I'm DEAD-SET against Dani having anything to do with Tidwell other than work (and that is even questionable!).
She may be self loathing, but she's not insane!

I LOLed at your post but I have to say that I strongly agree!!!! Dani and Tidwell make no sense!!!
IMO but hey! to each his own!

Dani Reese deserves a better story line than this stupid 'romance' the show's been pushing. She's a complicated character with her own demons. One of the reasons I fell in love with her character is because she's tough, competent and as much as her personal life was a train wreck she never brought it to work.

I wanted to see more of how Reese deals with her father, with her addictions not see her being constantly harassed by her BOSS. Writers, I know you can do better, you gave us Powerless, I'd hate to see it all go to waste because you want to push this stupid storyline on us.