In Defense of Lindsay Monroe, An Opinion
I never realized how much Lindsay is hated as a character. Fundamentally, I understand why that is and that speaks to personal taste (as it is with every character) but for me most of the problems with Lindsay’s character stem not from her personality but from her under-utilization on the writers’ parts.
First I want to address the long standing accusation that Anna Belknap can’t act. While it’s true she doesn’t quite have the range of Carmine or Melina, to say she can’t act is a gross overstatement. Most actors have real positives and negatives when it comes to their abilities. Anna is a delightful comedic actress, something not highlighted enough on this show. She’s down right wonderful with light-hearted material. That’s something that is way too often overlooked by fans of any show. Being able to show emotional depth is impressive but should not be the great determiner of acting ability. It speaks more to strengths and weaknesses. I offer young Degrassi actress, Jessica Tyler as a counter example. Jessica is fabulous in emotional scenes but in light scenes she often comes off as fake. Anna is the opposite, never coming off as fake when we see Lindsay excited, or joking, or sharing a tender moment with a co-worker. Her light, humorous scenes are the times we seem to understand Lindsay the best. I also think it’s pretty sad to write off Anna as an actress who completely lacks emotional depth. Instead I offer The Box and especially Dead Reckoning as examples of how given the right material Anna can in fact do magical things with emotional scenes.
Which really leads me to my next point, Lindsay simply doesn’t get the deep storylines that other characters do. Stealing Home and Vigilante stand out so much simply because they’re probably the only two episodes that allowed us to explore Lindsay in a non-superficial way without other characters being heavily involved. And both episodes highlighted what has been at the core of Lindsay’s character since the beginning: her passion for her job. Here is where I think the writers have done a disservice to Lindsay. There’s just so much more they could have done with that aspect of her personality. The end of Stealing Home is chilling not because we’re presented with the unanswered question of why a killer chose his victim, but because Lindsay’s need to answer that question was so unnervingly desperate. I agree with the review CSI Files did for that episode- we saw something slightly dark in Lindsay during that final moment. For once we weren’t seeing a good girl with a dark past, or an evil person. No, we were seeing someone who wants to do good so badly that maybe they’re willing to go to a dark place in order to accomplish their goal. That’s a wonderfully complex concept especially for a procedural show like the CSI franchise. In fact it was really that moment that solidified me as a Lindsay fan and it’s unfortunate that we haven’t seen more of it since. How awesome would it be to see Lindsay so deeply obsessed with a case that she takes her job to some disturbing extremes? That would be a great storyline in line with the material the other characters have had over the years.
But alas, Lindsay’s role has continued to be that of a supporting one and her character has suffered because of it. And I think because Lindsay is more of a supporting character, people don’t see any reason to give her the same measure of leeway the other characters have gotten. Has Lindsay acted unprofessional at times? Yeah. But so haven’t several other characters, namely fan favorites Danny and Stella. Yet it always seems as though Lindsay is held to some higher standard of humanhood. That I don’t understand.
I also think that Anna and Lindsay doesn’t get a fare shake at exploring the moments when they are at their best. Why do we get so many Danny/Flack scenes? Because Carmine and Eddie have build a fabulous connection between their characters. Their individual charisma really shines when they are together because of their natural chemistry. What’s less obvious is that Anna has a similar chemistry with Gary. Maybe it’s because Lindsay and Mac have similar personalities or maybe Anna and Gary just click as actors but either way there’s something really beautiful there. They stand out in their scenes together. And yet for whatever reason they don’t get to have that many of those scenes. Personal moments tend to fall into the Lindsay/Danny and Mac/Stella or Mac/Jo roles. Which is massively unfortunate in my opinion. Since Mac is the central figure of the show this effects him a lot less than it effects Lindsay who I honestly believe suffers for it. Or maybe it’s Anna who actually suffers from it. Maybe both.
I just think Lindsay Monroe hasn’t had a fair shake of it. Maybe because she “replaced” the much beloved Aiden. But as an Aiden fan myself I think that’s wildly unfair. Vanessa chose to leave the show and it’s not as though Lindsay tried to “fill” Aiden’s role. Maybe it’s just because she was never meant to be more than a supporting figure. Even Aiden was almost exclusively a supporting figure, it could be that they simply wanted their secondary female detective to stay, well, secondary. In any event, I am a Lindsay fan and that’s the way it’s gonna stay.
