|
Sean
Angus (Sam) Mollay Although SAM appeared in only one episode, the series finale "The
Stringer," his introduction had a profound effect on MacGyver's life. |
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| MacGyver Online Forums > Characters > Sean A. (sam) Malloy |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 26 December 2007 - 08:49 PM | ||
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| Posted by: jackwabbit 27 December 2007 - 07:58 PM |
| I only gave poor SAM an average because of fic potential. On the show, he was simply abyssmal...and not the actor, etc...but the character...horrible idea...well, just the way they did it...Little Orphan Annie, much? I mean, it gave them a way to end the show, but still...wow... But maybe that's just me... And he sure is fun to play with in fic...lots of angst and struggle we can put poor Mac through on that one!  |
| Posted by: MacGyver 28 December 2007 - 05:34 PM |
| I liked SAM just fine. Dalton James was a great choice to portray him. And yes, there had been some long-lost children introduced for other characters previously, but I still didn't see that coming for MacGyver. It was a way to end the series alright. I just didn't like the way they introduced SAM's character. I don't see why he couldn't have been the long-lost son MacGyver never knew he had from his long-lost wife who died in China. And perhaps the whole scene in "The Gauntlet" and "Friends" (with Kate) went over my head as a child, but I don't think the show ever indicated that MacGyver was sleeping with women he wasn't married to during the show. MacGyver is a great role model in a lot of ways, but I was quite disappointed to see that he had commited adultery. Still, it's not an unforgiveable sin- it just shows that MacGyver has his flaws like everyone else. At least MacGyver did the right thing and took care of his son and became a real father to him after reuniting with him. But anyway, it would have been nice to see some further adventures with father and son in an 8th. Season or in some TV-movies or something. In fact, if the WB really wanted to make "Young MacGyver", I would definitely have watched it if they had used Dalton James as SAM- that would rock! |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 28 December 2007 - 05:37 PM | ||
So why did MacGyver look so horrified when he saw that Kate was pregnant? And why did she have to tell him that the baby was her husbands and not his if they hadn't slept together? |
| Posted by: jackwabbit 29 December 2007 - 07:10 AM |
| Well, I have to agree with Rock. And today, I'm feeling a bit more charitable towards SAM...but that's another story for another day. I believe that MacGyver eats red meat, that his mouth fits nicely around some curse words from time to time, and that he can be quite the ladies man, if you catch my drift. Mac isn't pure as the driven snow, but that's what makes him a real person and thus an interesting character to write about and read about and watch. |
| Posted by: jknnej 21 April 2008 - 04:30 PM |
| I am lost, for several reasons. First, he didn't sleep with the journalist, at least not according to the way they were speaking in "Friends." And, the picture Sam had of Kate Malloy was NOT the same woman in the first two episodes. She was blond and had straight hair. If they were referring to her, why not use a picture of her from the actual episodes? So, I always assumed it was a different Kate. How could it possibly be the same woman who played in the first and second season? |
| Posted by: MacBeth 21 April 2008 - 05:13 PM |
| The photojournalist in "The Gauntlet" was a brunette, and the character was named Kate Connelly. She and Mac did not know each other prior to meeting in that episode. Sam's mother, Kate Malloy, was Mac's girlfriend in his last year of college. There would have been a dozen years between the two relationships. I've never had a problem with Mac's having had physical relationships with either woman. They were all consenting adults, after all. I enjoyed the different style of the romantic subplots in both episodes. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 21 April 2008 - 05:18 PM | ||
I think the scene in friends was all about them not making Kates husband jealous. If they really hadn't slept together, she wouldn't have had to tell him the baby wasn't his would she. |
| Posted by: MacBeth 21 April 2008 - 05:27 PM |
| There's nothing in the dialogue in "Friends" that precludes their having been lovers. They're in an awkward situation with Kate's husband standing there -- which would not have been awkward if they hadn't spent the night together In "The Gauntlet". Compare the pick-up scene in "The Negotiator": the dialogue in that scene does not prove that Mac doesn't drink coffee. Yes, he says he doesn't -- under circumstances that make the statement unreliable. |
| Posted by: jknnej 22 April 2008 - 02:57 PM |
| Ok, that makes sense. So we never saw Kate Malloy on the show, right? She just got made up at the end? I was under the impression they did not sleep together, because I distinctly remember watching the episode when I was a kid and Mac says, "But we didn't...." and then she introduces her husband. |
| Posted by: Lothithil 22 April 2008 - 03:57 PM |
| Kate Connelly was the photo journalist that Mac met in 'The Gauntet' and 'Friends'. Kate Malloy was Sam's mother, and we never saw her in any episode, besides the photos of her in 'The Stringer'. I don't suppose it occurred to the folks making the TV show to take into consideration that it might be confusing to name all the female photo journalists in Mac's life 'Kate'! LOL  |
| Posted by: Liz1976 5 June 2008 - 04:13 AM |
| Mac knows a lot of Kate's and Lisa's throughout the show so I can see where the issues are. It was like the writers couldn't think up any other names that worked. I liked Sam as a character. I wish that Mac and Kate had been married, but Mac sort of explains that as does Sam. Kate was Mac's college sweetheart, but left on assignment (in Brazil) and never told Mac that she was pregnant. She was like Mac and was always "on the road to somewhere else". Still I feel that she should have given Mac the opportunity to decide, and to know that he was going to be father. Mac had that right. Maybe Kate thought that she would be a burden to Mac? Who knows? I agree that MacGyver's relationship history leaves a great deal to be desired. But that's a wonderful thing about fanfiction. If you want to design a female character to be the great love of Mac's life and have him get married and repent of his ways you can!  You can have him do almost anything in fanfiction. But I think that for a woman that "loved" him to leave him and not tell him about the baby is just wrong. I wonder what happened to Dalton James who played Sam and Lisa Savage who played Kate in the flashback sequences. Lisa Savage was in the movie Beaches. She played a blonde that Barbara Hershey's character's husband had an affair with. It's a chick movie I know. I apologize to all the guys. Sam is an interesting character both to end the series with, and in fanfiction. My favorite Sam scene in the dialogue between Mac and Sam at the loft where Sam is telling Mac about his childhood, his name, his mother's death and Mac is sitting there listening. Pondering his life and what might have been. Life is in a large part about the choices that we makes. "Every action has a reaction" --to quote Mac and physics. Every action has a consequence. You have sex with someone you love, but are not married to (and unprotected sex at that- which we can assume since it was the early 1970s-maybe not) and you can end up with a baby. It can happen to us married folks too-I know from experience. The water pressure MacGyverism is a little far fetched. And where is Mac's bullet wound? Issues that have with he episode have not only to do with the whole Mac/Sam/Kate thing. Sam is a good character to be the catalyst to make Mac want to leave LA and the Phoenix Foundation. How else would you have ended the show? Never ended it? RDA would hardly go for that. Killed off Mac? Noooooooo!!!! Then how? They needed closure. |
| Posted by: jknnej 20 June 2008 - 07:47 PM |
| I liked the idea of him having a son; I think it was a great way to end the show. Of course he would want to spend time with his son, and he is getting too old for the kind of work he does. So they left it pretty open as to what his future career would be like. I liked that. I do think it a bit farfetched that Kate wouldn't tell him about his child-that's a pretty low thing for a woman to do unless the man is a total loser, unlike MacGyver. He had a right to know. I know she died when he was young, but please, nine years is a long time to not tell a guy he has a child. Pretty unfair of her, I think, but what the hell? How else could he have a son he didn't know about? I liked Dalton James as Sam. I think the resemblance between him and Mac was good, and he did a nice job. Shame his career didn't do much except for a soap opera. As to Kate Connelly, I don't think she and Mac slept together. I think Mac was just nervous because her husband was standing there, big guy that he is. Somehow I doubt she would show up at his party if she had slept with him (even if he did save her life). How would you tell your husband that? I am married so I am imaginging this..... "Um honey, there's this party for this guy that saved my life. He's a great friend, and I only slept with him once, so you don't have to worry..." That would NEVER fly! LOL In reality I would imagine her sending a card. My husband would probably say, " Uh, well if he saved your life I guess you should go...but don't mind if I stay at home...." LOL |
| Posted by: John Litteral 4 December 2008 - 09:53 AM |
| I was satisfied with the ending, I only wish that he would have been in the other 2 Mac TV movies after the season ended. It is as if he lost ties with his own son, I wish they could have made the movies as them working together. But as for the character I thought he was just right as a son for Mac. |
| Posted by: Murdoc12 23 March 2009 - 03:46 PM |
| I thought S.A.M. was a pretty good character, though I think maybe they could have made him a little less smart just to add to the show. I mean just 'cause he's Mac's son doesn't mean he'd be so smart. He'd never even met Mac before. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 23 March 2009 - 06:11 PM | ||
I think you've missed the point a bit. SAM was smart because it's genetic intelligence. He has the MacGyverism chromosome. Thats what they where trying to get across. MacGyver was born that way. His brain is wired differently to most other people and thats a genetic thing he passed onto his son. As Pete said "he's a chip off the old block" |
| Posted by: Murdoc12 24 March 2009 - 11:45 AM | ||||
Yeah...Okay. That is just weird. Moving on...  |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 28 March 2009 - 02:35 PM | ||||||
How is it weird? |
| Posted by: jackwabbit 29 March 2009 - 06:40 AM |
| It gets into the whole nature-nurture thing. How much of who we are is genetic vs environmental? SAM comes off as beyond cheesy to me. The whole 'chip off the old block' thing was cliche to the point of nausea. (He had a locket, folks! A locket!) I agree with Murdoc. Just because he was Mac's son does not mean he'd be smart, and he certainly would not be that similar to his father. How many of us are that similar to our parents? I've seen The Stringer once. Not an ep I'd watch again. The only thing I get from this ep is the Mac angst about Kate not telling him. That makes for good fic fodder. But SAM? Ugh. Oh, except for the fact that I do NOT see Mac and SAM's future together as roses and rainbows. I see more angst...and we all know how I feel about angst. |
| Posted by: MacsChick 29 March 2009 - 07:38 AM |
| I'm with you on this one, Jackwabbit. I watched The Stringer only twice in my life--once when it first aired, and the second time was when I used it to research a fic I wrote where Sam wasn't Mac's son but someone posing as his son. I guess that shows you how I feel about the character, too. |
| Posted by: Beachbead 1 April 2009 - 07:15 AM |
| first and foremost I like alot of us did not expect to see MacGyver have a child more less a son. hes just no the type of guy you find sleeping with every woman, he has to fall deeply in love with the woman before he goes to that stage. |
| Posted by: macsgirl1 5 May 2009 - 09:34 PM |
I voted him average for the fact that, welll,he split up Mac and Pete. I only watched The Stringer when it first aired and that was it. I cried so hard I had a headache.  I think too that it was cold that Kate fifn't tell Mac about SAM He would have been an excellent daddy, but it kinda would have ruined the show.  Still could have ended better. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 5 May 2009 - 11:14 PM | ||
According to the back story provided in The Stringer. MacGyver didn't just jump into bed with SAMs mother. He was in love with her. I agree that the illegitimate/unknown child angle is a bit of a let down for the show. |
| Posted by: macann 6 May 2009 - 12:56 PM |
| Hi! I am a new here.  I love this young boy. He was good enough. And RDA is sad about the shots, he is talented actor. (Sorry, my English is not very good, but I wanna learn.  ) |
| Posted by: SMeeceymouse 6 May 2009 - 03:17 PM | ||||
I think a daughter would have been more of a shock then a son.  |
| Posted by: macsgirl1 6 May 2009 - 05:09 PM | ||
A daughter would have been an interesting challenge for Mac don't you think? |
| Posted by: macann 7 May 2009 - 01:01 AM |
But he had always got interesting challenge, and he always make up something.  |
| Posted by: SMeeceymouse 7 May 2009 - 12:57 PM | ||
He would have been the most over protective father in the world, but it would make for a interesting story line. To see a female version of Mac getting herself out of trouble using only what she had on hand.  |
| Posted by: macsgirl1 7 May 2009 - 01:02 PM |
 |
| Posted by: Pepino1309 7 August 2009 - 09:48 PM | ||
Hmmm...Mac's inability to commit to women is revisited often in the series. When I say "commit," I am referring to marriage. His character wasn't promiscuous, but his being married wouldn't have worked for the show. His character had a free spirit, full of wanderlust. Marriage (and children) would have killed his character. That is why SAM came at the end of the series. We get to remember Mac as he always was, without the alterations to his character that Fatherhood would have most definitely caused. |
| Posted by: Miasma 27 August 2009 - 08:01 AM | ||
Early on in the series, he seemed to be a lot more "active." Remember his conjugal visit with that woman in The Escape? You'd never see that later on in the series. In Season 1, it seemed to imply that he hooked up with a lot of the leading ladies. |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 27 August 2009 - 01:45 PM |
| Escape? you mean The Gauntlet? Kate the journalist? |
| Posted by: MacLovin 7 April 2010 - 08:39 AM |
Maybe SAM is really Murdoc in disguise, getting Mac to go on a road trip with him so he can get him out into the middle of nowhere and kill him. He did have a camera after all.  |
| Posted by: MacGyverOnline 7 April 2010 - 11:13 AM |
 Nice theory.  |
| Posted by: SHEILA 7 April 2010 - 09:57 PM |
| I always though that Mac really loved Kate .In the seen were he and Sam are talking Mac has a hard time saying the words that he loved her but Sam spoke up and said that Kate loved him too. I also though that Mac never really sleeped around but dated a lot. He did have a lot of girl frineds in college. I also was thinking that it was only a matter of time before a kid would show up. Things happen in life. But you never know. Season 7 was very bad in ways. You can really tell everyone was getting tired and the magic of the show seemed to be gone. There were mistakes. Also the writers really did not know what to come up with for a good epo in season 7. [url=http://www.macgyveronline.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2520=Any thoughs on this ? anyone[/url] |
| Posted by: MacsLegacyLiveForever 3 October 2011 - 04:23 AM | ||||
Yep lol I have always loved the idea that Mac would have a daughter too.  I have wondered that why she didn't ever told Mac that he had a son? Does anyone know? And I love Sam, and the actor was great choice, he looked just like he could be Mac's (or RDA) son lol  |
| Posted by: Makedde 3 October 2011 - 06:30 PM | ||
Probably because Mac moved around a lot, he was impossible to track down. Personally I think Mac moved around a lot to avoid the child support. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 3 October 2011 - 09:10 PM | ||
Who do you mean by she? Remember Sam's mother was killed in China when he was young. |
| Posted by: MacsLegacyLiveForever 3 October 2011 - 11:21 PM | ||||
Well of course I remember that, I just wondered why Sam's mom never told to Mac that he had a son before she died. I have wondered that whether she would have been able to find Mac through Phoenix Foundation? Or else she thought that because Mac always traveled a lot around the world....hmmm....but still Mac had right to know. I think it's really sad that she never told that to Mac, maybe they would have ended up together and she wouldn't have died in China who knows. I think Mac would have been shocked at first but he certainly would have had take care of them. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 4 October 2011 - 12:14 AM |
| Sam explains why when he's telling the story to MacGyver. I forget the exact wording but it was something to do with she thought MacGyver wasn't mature enough or ready to be a father. I think there's some discussion about it way back in the early pages of this topic. I think most comments were disagreeing with her decision. |
| Posted by: MacsLegacyLiveForever 4 October 2011 - 12:38 AM | ||
Thanks! She really should have had to tell Mac. I believe that Mac would have been great dad. |
| Posted by: Beachbead 4 October 2011 - 01:46 PM |
| I think if MacGyver found out he had a son, and would of had to drag him to place to place, or leave him with Pete or Niki would of made MacGyver's female fans not so happy with the show, the writers wrote Sam, in,in the last episode to tell his fans MacGyver finally grew up enough to take care of his son. In the movies we never once saw Sam with MacGyver, so the question is what happened to Sam did he marry, die thats the hot question on my mind. |
| Posted by: Makedde 4 October 2011 - 08:55 PM |
| How can they introduce Sam in the last episode as if to say Mac finally grew up enough to care for him when Mac was already the most grown up person on the show? Its a bit insulting to have the mother of your child say that she didn't think you were mature enough to man up and be a father. I can't remember exactly what Sam said about this either, so I am just going by what KiwiTek posted. |
| Posted by: MacsLegacyLiveForever 11 October 2011 - 12:54 AM | ||
You said it! |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 11 October 2011 - 08:12 AM |
| I just saw the scene on youtube its between the 19 and 21 minutes. Mac's looking at the pictures and talking with Sam about graduation day and the last time they were together. Than he mentions Kate went to cover a story in Brazil. Presumably she was already pregnant or found out about it during the covering of the story. In the meantime Mac moved around a lot. Don't forget this was during the early 70's considering Sam is like 19 or 20 when he meets Mac. So I wouldn't be so surprised Mac didn't know. I don't think it was so easy to keep track of everyone without cellphones or internet. She got pregnant and she didn't told him. Maybe that was her choice. Or maybe she loved him so much and loved his ideas of the future, like travelling and having adventures that she couldn't refuse him of not having that. I think that's also what she meant by introducing them to each other when they're both grown up. You have to go out, see the world, learn some new things before you start with children. I don't think somebody like Kate would accuse Mac of making her pregnant and than just leave like that. She just wanted Mac to have his life the way he wanted it. If Mac knew about it, he would've taken up his responsibility as a father even though he was very young at the time. She didn't tell him, he didn't know, she wen to Brazil, he moved around a lot, they've lost track of each other over the years. So Kate had no choice but to take Sam everywhere where she had to go for her job as a journalist. They end up in China where she gets killed. Sam was being taken care of by friends of her until he was old enough to take care of himself. A good question by Mac: 'Why didn't you try to find me?' and Sam answers 'I only had the picture of this locket.' He had no name and I think unless you went to the right peoples that tracks peoples down, it's no surprise it lasted so long. Sam could've used the press in order to find Mac, why didn't he than? Another plothole unless money was a problem. Mac's and Sam's meeting was coincidence. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 12 October 2011 - 02:35 AM | ||
How? I think the real plot hole is that Kate would have told someone who the father was, most probably one of her friends. And after her death someone in the circle of friends who looked after Sam would have known who his father was, they could have spread the word. They must have had mutual friends between them who would know someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew where Mac was. Or at least had a good idea of where to start looking for him. So from that point of view it's not a very well thought out plot. |
| Posted by: MacGyverGod 12 October 2011 - 11:23 AM |
| Like sending a message through the news or something. |
| Posted by: AussieMacFan 14 May 2013 - 03:03 AM |
| She said that she'd introduce them when they'd both grown up. |
| Posted by: Scwilson 7 August 2013 - 09:01 PM |
 It was a bit of a surprise to find out Mac had a son. Why not base the MacGyver feature film on this aspect. With Pete gone (death of Dana Elcar) RDA would act in the Mentor/ Phoenix boss role with his son carrying on into the next generation. Mac must have had mixed feelings finding out years later he had a son, who was now a young man. I wished they could have explored the father son relationship further. |
| Posted by: YopeGyver 13 October 2013 - 08:19 PM |
| Dalton James who played Sam told me that they had wanted to do a spin-off, but it never happened. Anybody else hear about this? I would've liked to have seen a spin off, personally. |
| Posted by: Jediferret 14 October 2013 - 07:05 AM |
| I know it's been speculated, but I don't think it was ever confirmed. I know some fans figured that was the reason for Sam's introduction, especially seeing as RDA was getting older, and obviously tired of the role (just from what I can gather from interviews). It's kinda a shame because I liked Sam as a character and would have loved to see more interactions between him and Mac. One can only imagine what kind of trouble those two got into. XD |
| Posted by: YopeGyver 14 October 2013 - 02:19 PM |
| Ditto! I liked Sam too. And speaking of what sort of trouble they could get into together, have you read Lauren MacFan's "Home for Christmas" on fanfiction.net? It's really great! I made it to chapter 11, but life got in the way and I've yet to finish. |
| Posted by: KiwiTek 14 October 2013 - 02:20 PM |
| Well there was the Young MacGyver spin-off that didn't get picked up. Maybe that grew from the original idea of a spin-off with his son, but somehow got turned into a nephew? Then again, maybe when Dalton says "they wanted to do a spin off" he really means someone threw the idea out there at some point just as a general suggestion and a couple of people responded "Yeah that might not be a bad idea." |
| Posted by: Grazer 26 October 2013 - 08:14 PM |
| Over all I quite liked Sam. He certainly had a similar thought process to MacGyver. I can't say I really liked the "long lost son" idea at all. It really didn't fit with the show and felt, to me, like it had been dreamed up by someone who knew nothing about the show. I think Sam might have been better to be a long lost half brother to a girlfriend his father had before meeting his mother. They could have split up with him moving to another state or something and then she found out she was pregnant and had no way of finding their father.... Or they could have gone with his father had an affair with someone who turned out to be a bit of a nut job and him being killed in a car crash maybe wasn't an accident at all!  |
| Posted by: Daisy8577 12 November 2013 - 05:32 AM |
| I like your thoughts. These ideas would be great for a fanfic! |
| Posted by: Elizabeth MacGyver 28 April 2015 - 02:33 PM |
| He is my second favorite character!!! |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 9 September 2016 - 03:10 PM |
| I think it's as obvious as can be that Mac did sleep with Kate C. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had that reaction to her pregnancy. Maybe he's bad at counting to 9 or maybe she looked further into her pregnancy than she really was. In a way, there's something to be said for the fact that the writers decided they should have sex. Do you remember the line from When Harry Met Sally about whether men and women could actually be platonic friends? And all the times we thought, yeah, Mac really can just be platonic friends with Penny and lots of other female characters? That's nice? Or is it just me who thought that was nice? In my opinion, it would be a bit of a let-down if it turned out that they were only platonic friends because Mac had no sexual interest in women (eg was gay or asexual or could only fall in love with inanimate objects or whatever). I think it makes things better if we realise he is sexually interested in some women, but is also interested in many women merely as friends. I liked the film When Harry Met Sally but I think it's a little sad that some people seriously don't think straight men and women can be friends with no sexual attraction. I realise that there is a flaw in my argument in that there are episodes where there is kissing going on - is kissing not proof of interest in women? I would argue that sometimes kissing is more about curiosity and/or pleasing the other person than attraction. Whereas actual sex makes the point clearer. As for the question of why Kate M didn't tell Mac she was pregnant, I can only assume that she was completely out of her mind. It would tie him down? Yeah, but it's okay for her to tie herself down? Except she didn't, apparently, get very tied down. Maybe she thought that if she told him, they would end up married and in dead end jobs and never leaving their home town. It's sad that she may have thought that. Me, over-thinking things? |
| Posted by: RadiantRose 9 September 2016 - 03:16 PM | ||
I don't know about tired of the role, but definitely tired. From what I read about US TV series, anyone would be tired after 7 years, even if they had less screen time and fewer stunts than RDA. If this had been a British series, with maybe 6 episodes per year or every couple of years, it would probably have gone on for 20 years ... |
