Tucker has a one-sided crush on Sam?
Hear me out as it’s something the show worked really hard not to acknowledge
It starts, as you might expect, in Parental Bonding where Tucker sees Sam in that dress and all his resentment toward Danny costing him a date with an attractive a-lister he never would have stood a chance with in any other situation just…vanishes. It’s not even that he’s no longer upset, he actually runs down the steps with Sam, just as excited as she is despite having lost his original date.
He’s also the one that springs that kiss on Sam in Life Lessons. Like yeah, it was an accident, but he hesitates after (”uhhhhh….”) and let’s Sam be the one to shut it down.
And in the episode where he becomes pharaoh, he dresses Sam as a queen (giving her a crown that matches his own) while Starr and Paulina, arguably two of the hottest girls in their grade according to the show, are dressed as simple hand maidens.
My friend pointed out too that in Memory Blank, when Tucker doesn’t remember her, Tucker flirts with Sam just as he does any other girl which means he 1) finds her attractive even in her unique persona and not the girly look she had to put on to catch Danny’s eye, and 2) he respects his friendship with her too much to casually flirt with her when he has his memories–not least because she’s clearly interested in someone else.
In the earlier eps, he’s shown to love his friendship with Danny, and despite a rocky start, they’re shown to fix this. And yet in Frightmare, Danny is a lowly janitor in Tucker’s dream. If they already fixed Tucker’s jealousy of Danny’s powers, what would change his view of his best friend so sharply except maybe his jealousy getting worse as Danny’s and Sam’s growing feelings get stronger? Vlad could potentially relate. (Tucker couldn’t dream about Sam in Starr’s place because dreaming about each other was supposed to be Sam and Danny’s thing in this ep, and that would be a lot to unpack so close to the finale)
And that hat thing in Torrent of Terror presents Danny with the images of five Paulinas running to make him excited but a vision of him picnicking with Sam to make him happy. The catch here is that Danny doesn’t wear a red beret. Tucker used it to influence Danny’s mood, but he had originally made it for himself. That vision with Sam to make the wearer happy was meant for Tucker.
And all of it, the crush and the silent pining, started in Parental Bonding when Tucker saw Sam like he just saw her for the first time but instead of dancing with her date, Sam chooses to dance with Danny. Tucker stands on the sideline and watches with a smile, just as he does for the rest of the series.
I’m not saying he deserved to hook up with Sam (she deserves to choose for herself and she chose Danny) or that his feelings for her are stronger than Danny’s, I just want to acknowledge what an awesome friend he is to both of them. He could have been bitter like Vlad but he’s not. He supports them.
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