Charmed

Sam I Am was superb episode of Charmed and I really enjoyed watching because the story was awesome, engaging and full of character development. It was great to see Paige finally meet Sam, her father, and to find some closure with her own issues with him to a degree. Meanwhile it was fun watching Piper try to find a magical nanny and Phoebe dealing with Cole who is basically invincible these days. It was great to meet the Avatars and learn of their offer to Cole. I certainly look forward to watching the next episode!!!!!!!

And Charmed's stretch of episodes rated 9 or better continues in this marvelous and gripping tale of redemption and desperation.



Paige and Cole, heading in opposite directions, completely dominate and carry this episode, as they do through much of this great Season 5 run. Paige gets her first charge, and it happens to be her father, Sam, the whitelighter played excellently once again by Scott Jaeck. Jaeck portrays inner torture as well as anyone, and so again, we are easily pulled into his redemption story. Rose is back to the straight hair and is gorgeous this episode; her orange-red hair, pale skin and luminous black eyes are just enchanting. Actually, Holly in her black blouse and jeans is looking great too. After dying in consecutive episodes (or just about), Paige's life hangs in the balance again. Fortunately, her father comes through for her.



Cole's time as a good guy or a sympathetic figure is over. The opening scene in the bar is very reminiscent of "Just Harried" (same bar), which can only be a good thing. Cole may have committed no great evil there, but he is clearly losing the fight with madness as he embarks on a Joker-like, convoluted plan to maneuver the sisters into vanquishing him. The scene where Sam morphs into Cole and has the darklighter attack is one of the better Charmed scenes, and I absolutely love the look of hatred that Phoebe gives Cole after Paige collapses in her arms.



At the end, the Paige-Sam story is neatly wrapped up (too bad he doesn't return until Season 8). And the threat that is Cole begins to materialize and escalate. Tremendous.

Sam I Am-Paige gets to know the whitelighter in her, when she meets her first charge, a man named Sam. Unbeknownst to her, Sam is actually her real father. Meanwhile, Cole rashly tries to get himself vanquished by the Charmed Ones. Piper and Leo have problems in finding a magical creature that does the babysitting part. Things go bad to worse when they're poisoned by a darklighter, leaving Sam as the only one who can save them. I have always felt "Sam I Am" was one of Charmed's most undderated episode. It definately has that classic Charmed feel with one of the sister's dealing with family issues mixed in with some dark story elements involving a solid villain of the week. While many found the father-daughter reunion between Sam and Paige to be a boring plot, I always thought it was well written. For once the writers skip over the cliche with Paige being overdramatic and blaming her father for abandoning her or Sam desperately trying to ask for her forgiveness. Both Paige and Sam are given time to absorb the info, get down to business and ultimately come to terms with the relationship they never had. Rose McGowan and Scott Jaeck gave great performances, not once over playing the melodrama of the situation.



I'm glad all bets were off between Cole and Phoebe in this episode. The constant dancing around between whether they're on good or bad terms was getting so annoying. Not to mention, when Phoebe gets up in Cole's face again, I'm glad Cole was dishing out insults as well. I loved the line "I can't be good and I won't be evil, what do you want from me?" It's about time! It seems Phoebe doesn't know what she wants out of Cole another more and is more obsessed with him at this point than he is with her. Cole is suffering and it's not his demonic powers that our driving him insane, it's everyone (espeically Phoebe) calling him evil and pushing him away that's driving him insane. I honestly hate this Cole arc because the character is keeps being branded evil when he has only been soon to want to genuinely help. Phoebe is just being written poorly at this point and just comes off as a bitter, b!tchy ex wife. Anyway, Cole's manipulation of everyone in this episode was pretty sad, maybe even tragic. It does kinda make the sisters seem a bit naive for not seeing the big picture until the very last moment, but we did get some great moments out of it like Sam fake-out with Cole and the cool sequence of the darklighter shooting three arrows at Paige, Leo and Piper's baby (who now has made mom in SuperPiper, awesome!) Honestly, the fact that Cole wants to kill himself should show that the sisters should be trying to find a way to cure his demonic powers instead of Phoebe stressing about it like a loser. Bad writing there! Despite that, this was a strong episode, not only sad but tragic for Cole and emotionally rewarding for Sam and Paige. Oh and the whole business with the supernatural nannies...and elf....lame!

Paige wasnt happy that she met her real dad for first time. Because her dad never raised her as family. Paige do have right to emotion. Sam is retired whitelighter and homeless. Paige have to save her dad from evil. It is really hard for Paige to accept that her real parents cant raise her cuz of Elders. Elders can take Paige as baby away permenant. Paige understood. In the ending of this episode, Paige finally accepted Sam as her real father and Sam loves Paige as long lost daughter. It is so cool to reveal by Elders and Leo cuz they sent Paige to meet a new charge.

Paige reunites with her long lost father in an episode that sees Cole's subplot eclipse the wihitelighter-witch's limelight. While Phoebe's distrust and hatred of Cole is justified by his actions here from her POV, his powers are driving him up the wall and suicide seems to be the only viable solution. As with many episodes this season involving Cole, it's difficult to really back Phoebe up when Cole has done so much good with his powers. It was the right move having Cole kill two humans this week, but to be fair, if Cole were Human when they riddled him with bullets, he'd be a goner. Fight fire with fireballs, I say. The hour suffers from some notable lag factor in Paige's story, I just wasn't all that interested in Sam falling off the whitelighter wagon. Although I have to admit the misdirection and surprise reveal of Cole-as-Sam was a cracking moment, followed by an awesome bullet-time sequence that reveals Cole isn't the only invincible character on this show. All in all, it's a decent, if somewhat forgettable hour, which boasts some cool FX sequences and decent-ish dialogue.

Paige gets to meet her birth father, the Avatars make their first appearance and Cole tries to get himself vanquished. If this sounds a bit of a mish-mash that's because it is. Still, it could have been a lot worse.



Although it's nice to see Paige centre stage for once, nothing really comes of her story. She and Sam just don't muster the energy we saw with Victor and Prue, although fair play to the writers for bringing back Sam after so long. I liked the idea of a wayward whitelighter even if it was slightly obvious he would get his wings back at the end.



Poor Cole really is losing it. I know the official line is that his powers are overwhelming him but the sisters know how to strip them so why don't they? Phoebe must really hate him. Still, clever idea to have him use the Charmed Ones to kill him and an excellent performance from Julian once again.



We get our first taste of the Avatars this week. Didn't realise they appeared this early. Like the Angel of Death, they seem to be beyond the world of witches and demons. I thought they were fittingly mysterious.



Pregnancy-subplot-of-the-week involves Piper and Leo looking for a childminder. Why can't they just join a witchy babysitting circle? There seems to be a witch on every street in San Francisco. That elf nanny was embarrassing.



Overall, some good strands but the story didn't quite hang together for me. Not quite a "Nothing Happened" episode but heading that way.

Paige found her father!! A whitelighter, whose name is Sam. Sam becomes Paige's charges, her first charges. Wow!! Paige tried to save her father from a darklighter, which she failed. Later on, Paige find out he is actually her father, her biological father. Isn't it hard to take that? After twenty years, you found your biological father and you have no idea he is also a whitelighter? It go to be hard...Cole tried to commit suicide by ordering darklighters to attack Leo and Paige. Leaving Sam the only one who can save them. Cole is an idiot, isn't he? Why did he want to commit suicide? However, this is one good episode. Not great, but good. Phoebe is smart enough to know Cole's plan. Good episode, I love it.

I don't know, I don't know... I would say that I like this episode but I cannot ignore the fact that is kinda boring. Nothing happened at all, at least in the demon storyline. The idea was great and they knew how to make the story a combination. Paige story should be in the second plane so it is not so important anyway the episode manages to bond that second story with the first one. Cole storyline was in fact really pointless despite that the story was original. I don't know, maybe they should have killed the tracer or something like that. Anyway, the action and the effects in this episode are great. I loved the vanquish and the three arrows scene. Anyway I don't know exacly how qualificate this episode. I usually make bigger reviews than this one... but with this episode I don't know what to say. It is a really "pointless" episode that doesn't have a strong wicca storyline but has a great sisters storyline. You know what? I think that what I would say that Phoebe is the most anoying character ever... "We gotta kill Cole!!!" Besides she gotta be the light point! I hated the two times that his sisters are talking and she start talking about Cole ignoring them. She is so ****. And I don't like the whole "It is our only chance" .. so why don't you call the elders or another witheligther.

As Piper and Leo get ready to interview magical nannies for their little Charmed One, the elders give Paige her first charge as a white lighter. Phoebe and Piper soon discover that the charge is Sam, Paige's white lighter father, that has turned into a drunk. While the girls try to help Sam after a surprise attack by a dark lighter, Cole decides to use the situation to commit suicide - by forcing the girls to vanquish him for good.

Cole kills two robbers at a bar. the next day two Avatars appear to Cole trying to convince him to join them. Instead cole decides to go after the Charmed Ones in an attempt that they will vanquish him. But they find out that cole can not be vanquished. And the Avatars still want cole to join them in their quest. It is understandable that they would want cole since he is actually indistructable. They don't go any further though in developing the avatars. They just say that they exsist in a world without good or evil. I wonder they show them any more.

I thought this episode was pretty good... Cole was pretty creepy though... I really don't get him... I felt so bad for Pheobe though, when she had to vanquish him, and how he was using them just so he could die.



The one nanny was kind of funny... Wish we had seen more.



The thing with Paige's dad was okay I thought. I missed Paige's first few episodes so I didn't know exactly how she was a Charmed one, so this cleared some things up for me. It was a good story line, and I liked this episode, but I can't exactly put my finger on why...

Paige discovers her Whitelighter skills and meets her birth father in the process. Actually, she was set-up by the Elders; they knew about the relationship between Paige and her new Charge, and so did Leo -- but he was sworn to secrecy.



According to X5452jalba, in her review, there is a conflict regarding Sam, and how he came to be a Whitelighter. As I recall, in episode #30, P3 H20, Sam was very much alive when Leo, Piper, Phoebe and Prue found him. He didn't die until he and Prue confronted the water demon, the one that killed Patti. After Sam and Patti went off together in immortal bliss, he became a whitelighter. Sometime later, he lost his wings because he couldn't stop thinking about Patti. I guess the Elders, in their infinite wisdom, decided it was time for Sam to be a Whitelighter again, and therein lies our plot - Paige as HIS Whitelighter/teacher.



Piage developes nicely as she refuses to give up on Sam, even after he's given up on himself. It's the Halliwell stubborness at work.



As for Cole, he is so miserable without Phoebe that he figures death is better than living without her. But, as we find out, he becomes invincible -- even the strongest potion can't hurt him. How is this possible? Courtesy of the Avatars.

I really didn\'t like this episode. First of all Scott Jaeck as Sam is just wrong. I mean his looks don\'t fit in the family.



Patti fell for Victor and than Sam? No way. He\'s way older than she is and he always has something dirty about him. I already found him annoying in P3 H2O but did they really have to bring him back?



And what for anyway? So that Paige could feel a little bad about herself seeing that her father\'s a drunk? Or helping him move on without even knowing the slightest thing about him? What is it with everybody trying to suck Paige into this family? She had one, she loved it and that\'s it. Why does everybody expect her to be glad to get to know her birthfamily. They could have looked for her while Prue was alive and they were keeping the demons busy. But now they all want her to love them. It\'s annoying.



Plus how did he resurrect from the dead? Yeah that\'s right they made him a whitelighter again. Why on earth would they punish him after the sacrifice he made?

Recap: He lost his wings because he couldn\'t think about anything else than Patti\'s death. He then died while vanquishing the demon that killed her years ago. Last thing we saw of him was leaving with Patti. Into eternity. Listen to this. Eternity with the love of his life!!!!



But that\'s right the Elders made him a whitelighter again. Nobody bothers to explain why. Plus Leo said last season that upon dying he was asked if he wanted to become a whitelighter. So why on earth would Sam choose to be a whitelighter again? Apart from Patti knowing that the decision of giving up Paige would haunt him with no one to comfort him?



This major Plothole makes despise this episode. Useless, boring and annoying. To bad they filmed it.

An emotional episode which sees Paige taking center stage and meeting the father she never knew, whitelighter Sam, who was last seen in season two's P3 H20.



Sam I Am sees Paige discovering she must protect her first whitelighter charge. Unknown to her, the charge is none other than her father Sam, who has "lost his way". Meanwhile, Cole is visited by two mystical Avatars who tell him that he'll soon be invincible.



Rose McGowan is pretty good throughout the episode, and teaming up with Scott Jaeck always seems to bring out the best in her. Despite some good acting from both parties, the storyline never really comes together and there are some instances which are, dare I say it, sorta corny.



Cole's appearance in the storyline seems slightly pointless and appears to be nothing more than the writers throwing him into a story purely to make Julian McMahon part of each episode until the 100th. At least his subplot is slightly more interesting. But, it does seem repetitive, with Cole thinking up some way of getting himself vanquished and the sisters not going through with it for whatever reason.



The "searching for a magical nanny" subplot doesn't really go anywhere. Though it does create some laughs, it's mostly pointless and the elf nanny is just plain embarrassing.



Sam I Am is mostly watchable but, on closer inspection, it could have been a hell of a lot better. It's a shame, as Paige's reunion with her father could have been perfect in the hands of a better team of writers.



Director: Joel J Feigenbaum

Writers: Allison Schapker, Monica Breen

Rating: C+

a nice episode with serious character development for Paige. She gets to meet her dad, get to know him a bit more and she faces the fact that she has the fear of running away because she doesn't want to get hurt again.



A nice episode overall... Weird that Sam was back when he was killed in P3 H20 but they at least explained it in the episode, and somehow it made sense too. :P



In the meantime Cole tries to get himself killed by getting on the Charmed Ones' bad sides by sending a darklighter after Paige, Leo and Sam as well but Phoebe sees through his plan and tells him she's not going to do this. When Cole throws the last potion at himself, it seems that he's still standing there, completely unharmed. It seems that our little demon can't be beaten...



So good episode, :)

This whole episode is about Page meeting her father, but in episode 30 (P3 H2O) Sam dies killing the demon that killed thier mother. (Which I don't see how he could die if whitelighters are imortal, anyway...) If he died in that episode, how is he alive for this episode? Also, if somehow he were still alive, wouldn't he remember the great sacrifice he made (...his life) in order to save the girls? But, if you forget about what happened in episode 30, then this episode was very good! We see that page is finally getting a grip on her powers as a white lighter AND a charmed one. She kinda has closure with her father and any abandonment issues.