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Raising a child is no easy feat. The physical and emotional toil required to provide them with the essentials is only one part of the equation. Good parenting demands a big heart and an open mind; instilling morals and values in them, but simultaneously coming to terms with them becoming their own person and making the deliberate decision to love and care for them regardless.
And in Daniel Matthews’ case, it takes a village.
As tempting criticizing Eric Matthews for his flawed character was, Officer Rigg still cared for him—and by extension his family—deeply; after all, he and Eric’s only child shared a name. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and Rigg would always be Daniel’s favorite uncle-by-choice. Rigg may have often let his emotion get the better of him, but at his core, he was kind-hearted, and this became apparent through his demeanor towards his godson. Even when Daniel began to act out and commit petty crimes following this parents’ divorce, Rigg never once chastised him for it. Instead, he made a conscious effort to spend as much time with him as possible. One autumn afternoon, as Eric was going over records, Rigg retrieved a catcher’s baseball glove from his file cabinet and handed it to him. ‘I’ll take care of the rest,’ Rigg said, ‘You go practice with Daniel. He has his big game at the end of the month, remember?’. Thanks to Rigg’s efforts, Daniel got to spend the evening with his dad; and for once, no arguments ensued between father and son.
Daniel’s feelings on Detective Kerry were tumultuous to say the least; at best, she was one of his father’s more capable coworkers, and, at worst, she was a homewrecker. Yet, when Allison stopped by Eric’s apartment to drop off some work-related documents—coincidentally while Eric was absent—Daniel would be faced with a decision; either remain in his father’s sparsely furnished and barely decorated apartment for the rest of the weekend or beg Allison to take him with her. Although perplexed at first, she agreed, and the two of them ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the food court of a local mall. As much as he did not want to admit it, Allison was a surprisingly good conversationalist; she seemed genuinely interested in what Daniel had to say, and even seemed to have retained more about his interests than his own father ever had, such as his favorite bands. In reality, all Daniel needed was someone to talk to that wasn’t his overworked mother or emotionally unavailable father, and Allison happened to be the most suitable candidate. Their outing came to an abrupt end when Eric phoned Daniel and demanded he return to the apartment, which he did, but not before he slipped the palm-sized plushie that was mistakenly included with Allison’s order into his backpack. Despite his everchanging sentiments towards her, Daniel never had the heart to throw the toy out.
Detective Hoffman had always been an intimidating guy in Daniel’s eyes. He never spoke more than necessary, and when he did, his icy gaze and gravelly tone left no room for sympathies. The loss of his sister seemed to have cause something to shift within him though, and while that would ultimately be for the worst, for a brief moment in time it brought the two of them together. It all began when Mark overheard a heated conversation between Daniel and his father as he walked by the latter’s office; turns out, one of Daniel’s classes that semester required him to construct a battlefield diorama. Mark was able to diffuse the situation between the two by offering to drive Daniel to the nearest craft supplies store during his break. As the two of them paced up and down the aisles, Daniel couldn’t help but wonder how Mark’s extensive knowledge on maquette creation came about. ‘A man’s gotta have a hobby’ was all he offered as an explanation. Over the following weeks, Daniel and Mark would meet at the station’s break room every Friday and diligently work on the project. While their collaborative efforts were initially silent, Mark managed to get the younger Matthews to come out of his teenage angst-coated shell; in a bittersweet way, Daniel’s tangents were incredibly reminiscent of Angelina. Daniel couldn’t help but ultimately resent the submission date, as it signaled their joined efforts coming to an end. Only after he’d returned home from school did he notice that a soldier figurine had mysteriously found its way into one of his jacket pockets.
Agent Perez was the newest addition to the team. Truth be told, her and Daniel had met in person no more than a couple of times, yet Lindsey still managed to make a good impression. She seemed incredibly intelligent and devoted to her work, yet compassionate and understanding when the situation required it, at least in comparison to her borderline neurotic partner. Besides, Allison seemed to grow increasingly fond of the young FBI agent, and thus, so did Daniel by association. When Daniel dropped by the station donning his very own painstakingly handcrafted cut-off, Lindsey had taken notice almost immediately; or so Daniel assumed, since the following week, Allison handed him a fist-sized pouch on Lindsey’s behalf. To his delight, Daniel discovered it was filled to the brim with weathered pins and handmade patches bearing the logos of several of his favorite bands. The two of them couldn’t help but have a lighthearted laugh about how unassuming Lindsey appeared initially, at least in comparison to what her younger counterpart must have dressed like. That same evening, Daniel spent hours meticulously planning out the perfect arrangement of his new vest collectibles.
Following the McDonald’s incident, Allison chewed Eric out for his abhorrent behavior towards his own son for the entire department to witness. And as humiliated and infuriated Eric may have been at the time, he could not deny that his detractors were in the right; Eric Matthews was an emotionally distant and primarily absent father that was often too consumed with his own life to truly care about Daniel’s well-being. The state of his post-divorce residence only made things worse. His apartment was filthy, furniture was sparse, and décor was nearly nonexistent, not to mention that the fridge was rarely stocked with even so much as the essentials. Most importantly, Eric never seemed to make a conscious effort to spend quality time with his own flesh and blood. That same weekend, as Daniel is dropped off by his mother, Eric greets him with a hug. Albeit bewildered and incredibly hesitant at first, Daniel couldn’t help but breathe out a sigh of relief. The two of them spend the remainder of the evening seated side by side on the carpeted floor—which felt surprisingly plush under Daniel’s fingertips for a change—munching on takeout as they re-watched the only somewhat decent film included Eric’s dusted covered VHS collection, ‘Happy Gilmore’. Father and son were able to put their differences aside and spend genuine quality time together once more. Regrettably, while this would’ve been one of Daniel’s last memories of his dad, at the very least it was a good one.
Because when all was said and done, the only ones left behind to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Jigsaw’s carnage were Daniel, his mementos, and the ever-fading memories of those who cared about him the most.