Sam’s re-appearance was inevitable. Even though he was given a sound goodbye, he had to be brought back after the major revelation at the beginning of season 4 out of necessity. Though the episode had its problems I always felt like it was one that was needed.
Sam, Paige’s biological father, returns in ‘Sam I Am’ when she is unknowingly appointed as his whitelighter by the elders. Cole teams up with a darklighter in order to entice the sisters into ending his anguish once and for all.
Sam’s return was one of the things that we all knew would happen after Paige’s introduction. Despite the fact that he had a sad and heroic send-off in season 2’s ‘P3 H2O’ he had to come into the show again at some point. I wished he didn’t in some ways, because it ruined that ending for me. Still, it’s something that really couldn’t be avoided in a show that can bring dead characters back to life at the drop of a hat (if they aren’t played by Shannen Doherty that is).
Though the episode didn’t pack as much of a punch as I would have liked, given the significance of what was happening, it did do is provide Paige with the opportunity to finally get to say all that she needed to since her story with her parents was so open ended, especially seeing as how she was given the opportunity to meet her birth mother who’s dead.
The darklighter was obviously brought in to pack more of a punch with all the whitelighters floating around during this episode. As forced as it was, it helped add another layer to the drama of the Paige/Sam reunion with him being forced to realize that he had been brought back to do good. It’s cheesy, but it was sweet that it took seeing his daughter and feeling the love he had for her to bring him back from the dark place he ended up.
Despite the fact that I still firmly believe that the perfect end to his character was 'Long Live the Queen', Cole’s plot to get himself killed here is one of the things I actually liked about his story this season. His desire to end things after Phoebe rejects him shows just how much he really did love her, as flawed as his sense of love is at this point. He couldn’t go on, and he’s too powerful to get just anyone to kill him so he has to face the Charmed Ones, people who were his ally for so long.
Julian obviously has a lot of fun playing the deranged crazy guy, but it’s sad seeing him end up like this, especially considering the big role he had played in their group for so long. The attempted vanquishing scene was filled with enough emotion to make it one of the best parts of the episode, despite all the other long lost child drama elsewhere.
‘Sam I Am’ is a flawed, but necessary episode that ties up some loose ends while getting the Cole arc to where it needed to be at this point.
7.5/10
I agree about Sam's return and his exit in P3 H20. While I liked his interaction with Paige, that ending in season two was so great for him, as well as Patty. But I guess it was kind of brushed under the carpet. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time concentrating on the story line. I kept beind distracted by the weird looking black and white top Paige was wearing. Usually the wardrobe choices are stylish, but that was a complete miss.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time concentrating on the story line. I kept beind distracted by the weird looking black and white top Paige was wearing. Usually the wardrobe choices are stylish, but that was a complete miss.
ReplyDelete