‘Necessary Roughness’ Preview: Who Should Dr. Dani Choose?

Necessary Roughness is back tonight with the final five episodes of its second season, and they’re buzzworthy. Things are heating up for the fictional New York Hawks football squad. The show is set to tackle several issues that are hot-button topics in the sport, including the existence of a bounty system – for which the New Orleans Saints were penalized heavily this season – and the reveal of a gay player on the Hawks roster.

But the burning question on fans’ minds is about action off the field: who will Dr. Dani Santino (series star Callie Thorne) choose? Although Dr. Dani seemed meant for team trainer turned assistant general manager Matt (Marc Blucas), the season finale saw her kissing Nico (Scott Cohen). Further complicating things, Matt had a fling with reporter Nicole (Michaela McManus).

Picking up 28 days after that, the midseason premiere shows that things are still awkward between all parties, with Matt suspecting that there’s something between Dr. Dani and Nico. While there’s no immediate answer as to who she wants to end up with, it’s clear that Dani should end up with Matt. The show has gotten audiences to root for their relationship pretty much since the beginning, and they’ve come as far as Matt proposing earlier this season. All that buildup would go to waste if she ended up with anyone else.

That’s not to say that she can’t get together with Nico in the short term – after all, most TV romances have at least one diversion along the way, such as in the case of Shawn and Juliet from USA’s own Psych – but eventually, she ought to return to the man she, and the audience, first fell for. The bigger question is, how long will it take and what will they have to go through first?

But Dani’s love life isn’t all that’s worth talking about in the remaining episodes. Meanwhile, T.K. (Mehcad Brooks) is back from rehab and determined to reclaim his place on the Hawks, while owner Marshall Pittman’s death leaves the franchise in the hands of his daughter (Danielle Panabaker), who quickly declares her intention to sell the team.

In addition, there are a number of interesting guest stars ahead, including Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban, who might just buy the team. Others include Will Chase (who recently played Michael Swift in the first season of NBC’s Smash), Peter MacNicol (CBS’s Numb3rs), and Jeffrey Nordling (ABC’s Body of Proof, and Larry Moss in the seventh season of FOX’s 24).

These final five episodes will certainly leave you excited for season three (the show was renewed earlier this month).

Necessary Roughness returns tonight at 10 PM ET/PT on USA.

For more from Brittany Frederick, visit my official website and follow me on Twitter (@tvbrittanyf).

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick. Appears at Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.