Ironically, in the last comment where I was talking about Sam and Gene's scene in 2x01, I forgot to use the icon I made out of that scene. *g* It's kinda blurry, though. I need to see if I can get it better.
And then the ep I just watched proved that Sam hasn't just been changing the people around him - he's changing, too. And it's not as simple as changing for the better or changing for the worse.
Oh yes! I love that! They're just so real. Re-watching the first episode, I was really struck by how different Sam was in his own time -- his breakup with Maya, and her capture by the serial killer, was basically because she was following her instincts and Sam refused to acknowledge his own emotions, either his emotions for the case itself or for her. He's changed a lot, and it hasn't necessarily been 100% positive, but he's definitely a different kind of cop than he was at the beginning. Like you pointed out elsewhere in the comment, Gene has basically humanized Sam's policing -- Sam acts as Gene's conscience in some ways, but without Gene, he's a lot colder.
And I was almost a little surprised that he's not a judo champion or something - they didn't go the easy way and give him future!powers. He's just too stubborn to lose a fight.
I hadn't quite thought about it in those terms, but you're right! :D And I think that's perhaps Sam's most appealing quality - the way he absolutely will not give up, even when the deck is completely stacked against him, even when he has every reason to give in. It's really what makes his relationship with Gene work, because Gene would have completely dominated him if Sam had let him, but Sam's just too much of a plucky, stubborn little bastard to allow it. ♥
I was absolutely blown away with how they handled having Sam, a grown man, deal with the abandonment issues of a 4-year old. Of having him be both a police officer and the doting son of a man he remembers with the intense love of a tiny child.
That was just amazingly done. His emotions were so well played, and even though there was a lot of "Oh, Sam, no!" you never thought "Why is he doing that?" or "I don't believe that!" -- the way that all of his suppressed emotion and trauma came spilling out.
And I almost need to re-watch the ep to be sure, but to me it felt like Vic had picked up Sam's weird dad-fixation, and was playing along with it,
He was definitely playing on Sam's emotions, even though I don't think he quite understood why Sam had that emotional attachment to him. But he recognized that the attachment was there, and he was totally using that (IMHO).
It's not creepy midnight spooky lights, it's deceptively friendly, happy lights - and for some reason that just makes the whole thing that much more frightening to me.
I actually hadn't picked up on that! *goes back to look at show* It is a really lovely show to look at, though. It's an incredibly viddable show -- there are so many dramatic shots and they do so much with camera angles and lighting and so forth. By the way, speaking of vids, this is a really nice one with season 1 footage (no S2 spoilers).
The show does such a wonderful job of keeping you guessing, because he really does act certifiably insane at times.
YES! Especially when other people pick up on it!
... which, actually, says a lot about how much his co-workers in 1973 obviously do value Sam, because in spite of the fact that his behavior must seem completely lunatic to them at times, they don't seem to hold it against him. Even having a total breakdown in 1x08 and pulling a gun on Gene -- at the end, it was basically back to business as usual.
Re: Only had time to make the one icon...
And then the ep I just watched proved that Sam hasn't just been changing the people around him - he's changing, too. And it's not as simple as changing for the better or changing for the worse.
Oh yes! I love that! They're just so real. Re-watching the first episode, I was really struck by how different Sam was in his own time -- his breakup with Maya, and her capture by the serial killer, was basically because she was following her instincts and Sam refused to acknowledge his own emotions, either his emotions for the case itself or for her. He's changed a lot, and it hasn't necessarily been 100% positive, but he's definitely a different kind of cop than he was at the beginning. Like you pointed out elsewhere in the comment, Gene has basically humanized Sam's policing -- Sam acts as Gene's conscience in some ways, but without Gene, he's a lot colder.
And I was almost a little surprised that he's not a judo champion or something - they didn't go the easy way and give him future!powers. He's just too stubborn to lose a fight.
I hadn't quite thought about it in those terms, but you're right! :D And I think that's perhaps Sam's most appealing quality - the way he absolutely will not give up, even when the deck is completely stacked against him, even when he has every reason to give in. It's really what makes his relationship with Gene work, because Gene would have completely dominated him if Sam had let him, but Sam's just too much of a plucky, stubborn little bastard to allow it. ♥
I was absolutely blown away with how they handled having Sam, a grown man, deal with the abandonment issues of a 4-year old. Of having him be both a police officer and the doting son of a man he remembers with the intense love of a tiny child.
That was just amazingly done. His emotions were so well played, and even though there was a lot of "Oh, Sam, no!" you never thought "Why is he doing that?" or "I don't believe that!" -- the way that all of his suppressed emotion and trauma came spilling out.
And I almost need to re-watch the ep to be sure, but to me it felt like Vic had picked up Sam's weird dad-fixation, and was playing along with it,
He was definitely playing on Sam's emotions, even though I don't think he quite understood why Sam had that emotional attachment to him. But he recognized that the attachment was there, and he was totally using that (IMHO).
It's not creepy midnight spooky lights, it's deceptively friendly, happy lights - and for some reason that just makes the whole thing that much more frightening to me.
I actually hadn't picked up on that! *goes back to look at show* It is a really lovely show to look at, though. It's an incredibly viddable show -- there are so many dramatic shots and they do so much with camera angles and lighting and so forth. By the way, speaking of vids, this is a really nice one with season 1 footage (no S2 spoilers).
The show does such a wonderful job of keeping you guessing, because he really does act certifiably insane at times.
YES! Especially when other people pick up on it!
... which, actually, says a lot about how much his co-workers in 1973 obviously do value Sam, because in spite of the fact that his behavior must seem completely lunatic to them at times, they don't seem to hold it against him. Even having a total breakdown in 1x08 and pulling a gun on Gene -- at the end, it was basically back to business as usual.