Directed by Holly Dale
Written by Joanna Lovinger
Samantha "Sam" Randall supposedly drowned herself in a pond in 1963. The case is reopened after a witness confesses that he heard her body be thrown from a car.
Tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Janey, one of Sam's classmates, was this in her youth, as she makes fun of Sam for behaving like a boy and spreads the news around school that Sam kissed Dom.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Sam is treated as a very tomboyish girl and doesn't resist female pronouns, but feels very strongly about wanting to wear boys' clothes, being allowed to follow her masculine interests and not being called "Samantha". Dom seems to think of Sam as a boy, as following a kiss, he yells at her, asking "do you think I'm gay?" It's never fully revealed how exactly Sam felt about herself, possibly because being trans wasn't a concept widely-known or talked-about at the time.
- Ambiguously Bi: It’s never confirmed if Dom was completely straight, or just keeping his liking-boys half in the closet. All we know is that when a practically catatonic Sam asked if she “looked pretty” and for him to "make [her] free", Dom tearfully wiped off her lipstick and kissed her passionately and remorsefully, before he did her Mercy Kill.
- Big Jerk on Campus: Red Buckley, Janey’s then-boyfriend. Unlike her, he didn’t seem to grow out of it.
- Bittersweet Ending: Dom is arrested for mercy killing Sam and Sam's father will have to live with the consequences of committing his child to death. However, Sam's spirit is now free, and she already forgave Dom.
- Dean Bitterman: The school principal hated Sam for her non-conformity, to the degree that when he caught Red and his friends assaulting Sam and smearing her with lipstick, he decides to expel Sam instead of punishing Red.
- Electroconvulsive Therapy Is Torture: One of Sam's fellow patients in the asylum is shown to be like a zombie with marks on the sides of his head. When Sam herself is put through it, she is left half-dead, foggy-eyed and practically catatonic.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The entire asylum which turns patients catatonic and half-dead through electroconvulsive therapy, many for simply refusing to conform to social norms. The head of the asylum got off scot-free, having passed away years earlier.
- Incompatible Orientation: Sam suffered from an Unrequited Love for her closest friend, heterosexual and cisgender male Dom.
- Karma Houdini:
- The head of the asylum, Dr. Russell Kearns, died of cancer 20 years before the case was reopened, and thus never faced punishment for his experiments on Sam and many other girls.
- Red also got away with sexually harassing Sam and even assaulting her twice.
- The principal also didn't face any consequences for unfairly expelling Sam, which led her to be committed.
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Sam disliked being called by her full name Samantha. Red is also a nickname.
- Lady in Red: A dark version, because Sam was found dead wearing a red dress.
- Mercy Kill: Sam is so psychologically traumatized by the time Dom rescues her that she begs him to end her life. Dom tearfully obliges.
- Missing Mom: Sam's mother is absent, having been dead for some years now at the time of the murder.
- Reformed Bully: Present-day Janey is this, running a women's studies class and even having queer students. She even lampshades how much she’s changed, calling herself a "bitch on wheels" during her high school years.
- Wham Line:Sam: "Don't I look pretty?"
- "I like you".
- Useless Bystander Parent: Sam's father spent his life regretting leaving his daughter in the asylum, despite her pleas to ask him to take her back and promises to listen to him.
