See, my experiences with MS have been positive. The first time I saw him he ran a little late and things were rushed, but he was nice. at that time, I didn't know he had a history of doing that, but it didn't matter since I had fun.

And then last year was even better. No rushing. No bad anything. No drinking. Nothing. He even stayed some extra time at the dessert thing to talk to people. It was a really great experience.

So, I'm not as jaded as you. I've had really good experiences with him. He's always been alert and nice the times I've seen him.

I would have liked to see him again, but since I've already seen him before and had really good experiences to walk away with, I don't really mind as much.

Luckily, I am one of the people that can put enough distance between myself and the actor. I know there are a lot of people that can't. I'm sure you know what I mean.

I do believe that you're right. I think MS got bored and stopped caring. I do believe he's back to being a little more invested in the character this season as I have seen a lot of classic Daniel returning to the series. But I seem to be the minority in that opinion. Ten years is an awful long time to play the same character. An actor should always be on their game, though, and I don't believe that has been true for RDA, MS, and even AT to a lesser extent. They all got very comfortable and for some maybe even lazy. It's my hope that tackling other projects will rejuvenate them so if/when they come back for the movies, they'll be more focused.

I think I'm a bit odd in that I don't like the "new" Daniel and I don't like "dumb" Jack, but I still am invested in the characters, if that makes sense. But it might only be because I write fanfic in my spare time. If I didn't write fanfic and I didn't use what I see and them interpret it in my own way, maybe I would see the characters differently. Who knows.