Comments | lifein1973: Embarrassment squick ahoy?

chamekke in lifein1973

Embarrassment squick ahoy?

Jun 26, 2011 19:32

margo_kim mentioned recently that she finds some moments in Life on Mars almost painfully embarrassing. And it got me to thinking.

Poor Sam really is a fish out of water in 1973. He often finds himself in humiliating situations, even actively mocked by the people around him. And he's far from the only person in Life on Mars to be mortified in this way... ( Read more... )

questions, episode reactions

Comments 36

severinne June 27 2011, 02:54:15 UTC

Thankfully, my embarrassment squick doesn't run near as strong as some others I've heard of in this fandom *waves at Mikey* but even then I think it's impossible to get all the way through LoM without cringing at least a little for poor hapless Sam. The ones that still get me every time ( ... )

chamekke June 27 2011, 04:29:58 UTC

Actually, those first two are on my list as well! Especially that awful scene with Heather, with Sam being so needy that he apparently can't even perceive how off-the-wall crazy he sounds :-(

The Glen handshake is embarrassing, too, but it doesn't quite hit the exquisite curl-up-and-die button that Sam's pleading with Heather does.

fallingcandles June 27 2011, 05:18:58 UTC

Haha, so glad I'm not alone on this. Anytime Sam interacts with his parents, I cringe a bit. The same with Ashes to Ashes. I also cringe when they go poking around in their old homes, because that's really quite an invasive and creepy thing to do from other people's eyes.

talkingtothesky June 27 2011, 05:34:06 UTC

It's already been said, but...Auntie bloody Heather. "Remember little Sammy...he was your favourite...?" *headdesk* Sam, seriously, please don't.

mamishka June 27 2011, 05:40:00 UTC

I'm always really embarrassed and squirming in the scene where Sam tries to get Eve to set up Tony and then blabs all about the future at her. Squirmtastic! Great way to totally NOT convince her of anything other than the fact that you are COMPLETELY OFF YOUR NUT!

I was always surprised that she didn't come forward after Crane was taken away and expose the truth about Sam...

edzel2 August 3 2011, 13:21:16 UTC

Funnily enough I didn't find that scene embarrassing, though I'm not sure why. I think I was too busy empathising with Sam being so desperate to save his own skin in 2006 that I felt it was a fairly reasonable attempt to get through to her - even though he does, actually, sound like he's insane.

Re the last line in your comment; I wasn't aware of it until right this moment, but I'm surprised no one has written that fic yet... (or have they?) it would make a great AU story, wouldn't it?? If only I didn't have so much WIP already... *groans*

margo_kim June 27 2011, 07:45:34 UTC

The one I always remember the most is from 1x04 is in the office where Sam's already been drugged, raped (even if the canon's just like lol sex there is nothing problematic about this and it's nice to know I'm not still bitter about that or anything*), and handcuffed naked to his bed, only to be discovered by Gene and Annie. And then, when everyone is snickering at him, Sam tries to defend himself for taking Joni home by telling everyone that Warren raped her. There's just this moment when everyone knows why this is bullshit and Sam doesn't. Something about this moment gives me such strong second hand embarrassment that I feel like I've adopted Sam's humiliation as my own, that at some point someone's going to have to remind me that this never happened to me because every time I watch it, it's like getting punched in the gut ( ... )

violethamster June 27 2011, 23:05:01 UTC

Although I'd say both Joni and Sam are victims of sexual assault by Warren if she was made to fear for her life if she refused to participate in the assault on Sam.

margo_kim June 28 2011, 01:20:01 UTC

Very true. It's why Sam's complete forgiveness of her has never bothered me. It's a really crap position for the both of them.

chamekke June 28 2011, 02:21:33 UTC

I don't think of Sam as easily forgiving (not in the astonishing way that Gene is, at least)... but he is surprisingly so with Joni, given the circumstances.

I wonder if another factor is that Sam simply doesn't remember much about the assault, or that it was so hallucinatory that it's still unreal to him? Or perhaps that he's still in a state of shock and 'unnaturally' calm because of that. Or some combination of all of these.

But yes, absolutely, Joni is very much a victim herself. Plus I've always thought her apology in the bedsit, as Sam is about to go to sleep ("I'm sorry for all the trouble") was 100% sincere. I've never doubted that she felt a genuine pang or two in the face of Sam's kindness to her.