I have had a recurring thought over the last few days, including this morning in the shower, that David Rose became, annoyingly and almost exclusively, a dependent, bitchy character, and in my mind I place that development when David and Stevie become no longer friends with benefits, which coincides precisely with David and Patrick becoming a couple. David was really funny around Stevie, his mannerisms tickled Stevie and she dryly zinged him, which, after a pause, tickled David too. Before getting back to David the Negative, I have made these observations on David and Stevie.
There was obvious chemistry between the two. Eugene Levy has said that the David-Stevie chemistry was a revelation on set.
The chemistry was first acknowledged between the characters fairly early on, when David and Stevie were sitting outside the cafe and David was soliciting Stevie's input on a function, I forget the det...Oh! It was Games Night; Alexis had foisted a Games Night at the motel on David and he was stuck with going along and was meeting with Stevie to keep it on the rails. "Games are not really my thing," Stevie. "Our personalities are too similar for that to be true," David. David never repeats that but Stevie never forgets it and does repeat it to David. Stevie fell in love, or "like", as she finally confessed, with David, with all of his charming quirks and mannerisms, with his looks. When Johnny thinks he has sold the town the Rose's begin packing and David asks Stevie to come live with him in New York City. Stevie is open-mouthed in surprised joy. He "likes" me too! David continues that they will live together in a charming "two bedroom in the East Village." Two-bedroom. Stevie is heartbroken, that is when she confessed and she backs out. There follows the ugly, weird "Finding David" episode. David steals Roland's truck, packs it up with his stuff and drives away. In the truck (these cameramen do some of their best work in vehicles) David wears a look of anguished panic.He drives until he runs out of gas and lives with an Amish family for several days. That is just bizarre. I disliked that episode so intensely that I have not rewatched it entirely to see if there were subtle meanings that I missed, however, I don't think I mis-read the look on David's face as he began to drive away. He seemed to be thinking that he had made a mistake in passing on "white wine," Stevie.
I put myself in the writers' minds on that. They had to acknowledge the onset chemistry between the characters. Stevie was the one who encouraged David to go ahead with Rose Apothecary; they had had sex twice already, maybe more, the screenplay is unclear, but, I have thought, the screenwriters found themselves at a crossroads. Fine, David as pansexual, red wine and white wine, but the series, the David Rose character, and Daniel Levy himself had by that time become the LGBT community's show. It would have been unthinkable betrayal for the writers to "cure" David--and Daniel, who is gay--by having David fall in love with, and perhaps marry, Stevie.
It seems to me the writers' made two mistakes. One drunken, sexual episode, fine. Who amongst us? But the second; and then the kiss at the "sketchy" bar? I think the writers bird pumped on that. Their second mistake is mis-writing Stevie. Stevie is every bit as promiscuous, albeit with only "red wine" as David is with everybody. Stevie and David both know that about the other. So why write Stevie falling in "like" with David and nixing relocation to New York City because they would not be living together as husband-and-wife? The writers wrote Stevie as "wanting a commitment" from David, stereotypically as every woman does. No. No. God no. That is not remotely correct. It seems to me the writers played the David-Stevie relationship a step or two too far. They now had to untangle and "Finding David" was...what they came up with.
Now, circling back to the beginning of this post. I started to re-watch the series about an hour--two hours now-- ago and am on S4 E7, "The Barbecue." Johnny, Moira, Alexis, and Stevie want to have one and they all together pitch it to David in his and Alexis' bedroom and want David to, of course, invite Patrick. David's response is mean, negative, and bitchy: "...I would rather not subject him to eating charred meat with this group of carnies." Moira delivers the coup de grace:
"David, could you just once embrace joy?"
It's true. David lost his capacity for joy and optimism and became a stereotypical bitchy, gay sub when he lost Stevie. And that is weird to me.
There was obvious chemistry between the two. Eugene Levy has said that the David-Stevie chemistry was a revelation on set.
The chemistry was first acknowledged between the characters fairly early on, when David and Stevie were sitting outside the cafe and David was soliciting Stevie's input on a function, I forget the det...Oh! It was Games Night; Alexis had foisted a Games Night at the motel on David and he was stuck with going along and was meeting with Stevie to keep it on the rails. "Games are not really my thing," Stevie. "Our personalities are too similar for that to be true," David. David never repeats that but Stevie never forgets it and does repeat it to David. Stevie fell in love, or "like", as she finally confessed, with David, with all of his charming quirks and mannerisms, with his looks. When Johnny thinks he has sold the town the Rose's begin packing and David asks Stevie to come live with him in New York City. Stevie is open-mouthed in surprised joy. He "likes" me too! David continues that they will live together in a charming "two bedroom in the East Village." Two-bedroom. Stevie is heartbroken, that is when she confessed and she backs out. There follows the ugly, weird "Finding David" episode. David steals Roland's truck, packs it up with his stuff and drives away. In the truck (these cameramen do some of their best work in vehicles) David wears a look of anguished panic.He drives until he runs out of gas and lives with an Amish family for several days. That is just bizarre. I disliked that episode so intensely that I have not rewatched it entirely to see if there were subtle meanings that I missed, however, I don't think I mis-read the look on David's face as he began to drive away. He seemed to be thinking that he had made a mistake in passing on "white wine," Stevie.
I put myself in the writers' minds on that. They had to acknowledge the onset chemistry between the characters. Stevie was the one who encouraged David to go ahead with Rose Apothecary; they had had sex twice already, maybe more, the screenplay is unclear, but, I have thought, the screenwriters found themselves at a crossroads. Fine, David as pansexual, red wine and white wine, but the series, the David Rose character, and Daniel Levy himself had by that time become the LGBT community's show. It would have been unthinkable betrayal for the writers to "cure" David--and Daniel, who is gay--by having David fall in love with, and perhaps marry, Stevie.
It seems to me the writers' made two mistakes. One drunken, sexual episode, fine. Who amongst us? But the second; and then the kiss at the "sketchy" bar? I think the writers bird pumped on that. Their second mistake is mis-writing Stevie. Stevie is every bit as promiscuous, albeit with only "red wine" as David is with everybody. Stevie and David both know that about the other. So why write Stevie falling in "like" with David and nixing relocation to New York City because they would not be living together as husband-and-wife? The writers wrote Stevie as "wanting a commitment" from David, stereotypically as every woman does. No. No. God no. That is not remotely correct. It seems to me the writers played the David-Stevie relationship a step or two too far. They now had to untangle and "Finding David" was...what they came up with.
Now, circling back to the beginning of this post. I started to re-watch the series about an hour--two hours now-- ago and am on S4 E7, "The Barbecue." Johnny, Moira, Alexis, and Stevie want to have one and they all together pitch it to David in his and Alexis' bedroom and want David to, of course, invite Patrick. David's response is mean, negative, and bitchy: "...I would rather not subject him to eating charred meat with this group of carnies." Moira delivers the coup de grace:
"David, could you just once embrace joy?"
It's true. David lost his capacity for joy and optimism and became a stereotypical bitchy, gay sub when he lost Stevie. And that is weird to me.
