Shawn Christian on the Big Reveal
There have been a lot of revelations recently in Daniel's life, most notably that he is the father of Carly's baby, the one she had to give up to protect from Lawrence. As Shawn told us, "always expect the unexpected! It is completely uncharted territory, certainly for Daniel. I think that's what's interesting. He is not your quintessential father and he's not Father Knows Best, certainly, by the way he's led his life. I think what's interesting is this girl, who had a father, has to somehow acclimate to a guy who's trying to understand himself how to be a father. He can only do it on a visceral level, just go with his gut. And certainly he knows that she was abused in the past and I think above all is trying to protect his little baby girl. That supersedes any logic, which can be," Shawn laughed, "a blessing and a curse."
Carly blew Daniel out of the water with this little bit of news not long after he and Chloe learned that she will probably never be able to have children, and after she suffered from a hysterical pregnancy. So not only is Daniel not "equipped to know what it means to be a father, to someone who is not a baby. To an older girl, a young lady. Who's now married! And he missed the wedding and he wasn't able to give her away! All of these pieces of the past he wasn't able to do and now he's got to somehow jump into her life," he's got to do all that while "trying to put his own personal life together with Chloe. He's trying to figure out how he can hang on or carry on with Chloe." And, of course, "Chloe has had all of this dropped into her lap as well." She's learned her soon-to-be-husband already has a child, albeit a full-grown one. It's got to be just as hard on her as it is on him.
Shawn, for one, likes the idea that his character has a full-grown child. "There are plenty of wonderful fathers on the show who are dealing with babies or young children," Shawn told us. "This is a different color for the show, to have a daughter who has been given a father who she never knew who potentially could have changed her life completely instead of being with the guy who pimped her out. What her life could have been as opposed to what it was. And you have a father who's now asked to, to some degree, still raise a young lady and turn her into a young woman. How do you do that? How does that happen?"
And what about those scenes in which Daniel found out the truth, in which Carly dropped the bomb that he's a father? We thought they were pretty powerful, touching and emotional. Shawn, however, told us that he is "a pretty harsh critic" of himself, so he is rarely "completely satisfied. I think when you've got someone who's as talented as Crystal is," he continued, "you just hang on for the ride. You get all of this information dumped on you, it's like a hurricane. You have to stand in the eye of a hurricane and suck it up and take it and absorb it and try to survive. And figure out what you're going to do with this. I love what was written; I loved what they created. I just hope that I did that moment justice. For anybody who has experienced … fatherhood. That's really what you hope to capture. Everyone experiences it differently, but, it felt honest, so … I was grateful to have been given it. I'll say that."
Ever since Melanie learned the truth, she has certainly expressed – very strongly – that she does not understand what Carly did, that she can never forgive her for giving her up as a baby. What about Daniel? "He's trying to understand," Shawn said. "He's coping with the idea that, you know what? The idea that Carly had to protect Melanie, her daughter, resonates with him. Beyond that, I don't know if he's going to be able to comprehend it. I think he has to put that aside and continue to protect her, because you've got Vivian who's spinning her web." Shawn continued, explaining how Daniel knows that Vivian wants to do away with Melanie, with Carly, and maybe even with him, but "that ain't gonna happen on Daniel's watch!"
One interesting side note is that, for a man who arrived in Salem knowing no one save Victor Kiriakis, Daniel now has a lot of ties. But, as Shawn explained it, "he still feels like he lives on the outside. I think that's a common denominator with Carly, who exists on the outside... They don't have the quintessential family here. And Daniel for sure doesn't exactly know what family means. To try to put that together, with a woman he wants to create a family with, and she wants as well, and they can't have a baby … It's tragic on many levels."
So, when Carly first showed up on the scene, did they give Shawn any hint about what was coming up in story? Uh, no. But, as Shawn said, "I'll confess this and I actually appreciate it, the way it was done. In a sadistic way! Maybe it was my first or second scene with Crystal and we rehearsed it. Then somebody came up to me, one of the producers, and goes 'by the way, you guys have slept together. Action!' Wha-at?! It had nothing to do with the scene. But to plant that seed, it creates another dynamic. And that's how I was told." It's a good thing he did appreciate it. "What do they call those?" Shawn continued. "It was a delicious surprise."
Delicious, indeed, and getting better every day. 
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