... and a random, probably pointless White Collar observation

[sholio]

This journal is a Season 4.5 Spoiler Free Zone (TM), by the way! Please don't mention anything from unaired episodes, promos, etc. Thank you! :)

Anyone else notice that Sam/James doesn't drink?

I was rewatching bits of 4x10 and it jumped out at me particularly in the scene where he, Mozzie and Neal are gathered around the table in Neal's apartment -- Neal and Mozzie with glasses of wine, Sam with a glass of water. Which made me realize that the only thing we ever see him drink at all is water.

I have no idea if there's any actual significance to this, plot-wise or as a character detail, or if it's just a coincidence (after all, we haven't seen much of him yet). But it was something I had noticed on the rewatch, and it struck me as interesting.

(Someone -- not me, I don't remember who -- pointed out awhile back that there are two water glasses visible in the scene in which Neal rescues(??) Sam from the thug in the warehouse. A clue??? Or just an accident of the prop department?)

Comments

[veleda_k]

Sam James as an alcoholic would be really logical, given what little we know of his past: being disgraced as a cop, losing his family, etc. And addiction rates for law enforcement officers are high in general.

I think that's now my head cannon until proven otherwise.

[sholio]

I know! It fits so well! And it has fascinating implications for Neal -- character-wise, I mean, if this is something he didn't know about his family. Speaking as someone with a family history of alcoholism, it does affect how you look at your own life and behavior, and I am intrigued by the idea of Neal wrapping his head around this thing he didn't know about his dad.