Why I DON'T Despise Sam Manson: An Alternate Character Breakdown
Danny Phantom was one of many cartoons that I used to watch growing up. It had a cool premise with mostly solid writing, fun action sequences, and a good cast. Like almost any show, though, it wasn't without its flaws, and character development was one of them. During the show's three season run, there were only a select few characters besides the protagonist who got any significant development from their debut: Valerie, Jazz, and a little bit of Danielle, though she only appeared in two episodes. The rest of the cast remained mostly the same from start to finish, and nobody suffered from this lack of creative attention more than Sam Manson. As one of the lead supporting characters of the show, you wouldn't expect this to be the case, but somehow it feels like it was decided early on that she was already perfect and didn't need it, or they simply just didn't care/weren't interested. I can't think of any other reason why she was sidelined so severely, but it resulted in her being one of the most controversial characters among fans. Some like her, and some can't stand her.
Now if you are a fan of Danny Phantom and have access to YouTube, then you've probably seen the famous video from Shady Doorags, where he breaks down everything that was wrong with her character and why she's high up on his list of least favorite fictional characters overall. I understand all of his points, and I think most of us can all agree that she was handed the short end of the stick in terms of good writing. But that didn't stop me from liking her anyway. You might be wondering, "Why, though? How could anybody still like someone like her after what we saw in the show?" Well, underneath all those flaws, there were still some positive qualities to be found, and I feel like it's not talked about or acknowledged enough. Too often I've seen people only focus on what made her weak and unlikeable, so today I'm gonna flip the coin and talk about why I believe that even though she wasn't written well, she's not as bad as some make her out to be. I have a lot of thoughts and points to lay out, so this post will be a pretty long one. You have been warned. Now without further ado, let's go over some of my favorite traits from Sam throughout the series.
She is a loyal and protective friend
There are multiple instances where we see her stand up for Danny and Tucker. In Parental Bonding, she throws shade at Paulina for laughing at Danny when he tried to talk to her, only for his ghost powers to turn his pants intangible and fall down. Later on she actually tries to apologize by stating that she was just looking out for her friend, and this leads to Paulina revealing that she thought Danny and Sam were dating and only agreed to go to the dance with him to steal him from her as revenge for insulting her. She then takes off the cursed amulet she was wearing and puts it back on Sam, preparing to dump him in front of everyone. Using her friend like that infuriates Sam so much that it activates the amulet and turns her into a dragon that tries to attack her.
Another brief example can be seen at the start of episode 16, Lucky In Love, where it is thought that Paulina discovered Danny's secret. Sam, remembering their encounter at the dance and not trusting her at all, immediately jumps in with this line:
"Listen, you, I don't know what you think you saw, but if you do or say anything to hurt Danny-!"
There's also Double Cross My Heart, where Sam breaks things off with Gregor for insulting Tucker and wanting her to get rid of him. This shows that while Sam and Tucker have their differences as we have seen many times in the show, she still values him as a friend and is not willing to abandon him over a boy, nor will she tolerate any hostility thrown his or Danny's way. Her care for her friends runs so deep that she has risked her life to protect them without a second thought, going out of her way to learn her way around the Fenton's ghost hunting equipment so she and Tucker can support Danny during his ghost fights.
She has a strong sense of integrity, valuing real friendship over popularity
The A-Listers at Casper High, consisting of Dash, Paulina, Star, Kwan, and formerly Valerie, are among the wealthiest kids in school and have thus formed a tight clique, not allowing anyone else in their circle who isn't rich like them or meets their standard of popularity. In Attack Of The Killer Garage Sale, Sam is revealed to be part of a filthy rich family herself, possibly the richest out of all the A-Listers. This means she could have easily exploited her wealth to be a part of the popular crowd, but she kept it a secret instead because she wanted real friends who wouldn't just like her just for her money. She doesn't dress wealthy, opting for more basic, thrift-like clothes like plaid skirts and a simple crop top. She's even nice to the people she orders from, always greeting them with smiles, thanking them, and leaving modest tips.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Later on in Fanning The Flames, we see Sam develop a crush on Danny. When Ember put him under a love spell, she could have been selfish and made things easy for herself by letting him stay under it and not have to worry about confessing her feelings. Instead, she went out of her way to ensure the spell was broken, as it wouldn't have been fair to him and if he was gonna like her back she wanted it to be real and genuine. Unfortunately, she had to resort to kissing Dash in front of Danny, much to her utter disgust. Seeing how hurt he was, she was racked with guilt and tried to comfort him and explain herself.
Thankfully, Danny knew that Ember was the one behind all this and doesn't hold anything against Sam, as she did what she needed to do to bring him back to his senses.
She's encouraged others to be true to themselves
This is showcased the most in two episodes: 13 from season 1 and Beauty Marked from season 2. In 13, Tucker is sick of being called a techno geek by his classmates and attempts to make a new name for himself, only for them to start calling him "Bad Luck Tuck" instead after walking under a latter and into Dash's fist, followed by a series of other unfortunate mishaps. Sam then talks him into changing his image to combat his bad luck status and proceeds to make him a goth just like her. Now, if you happen to dislike Sam by this point in the show, it's easy to look at what she's doing and think, "Here we go again, she's forcing her lifestyle on to others." After all, she keeps adding more and more to his look even though he's clearly uncomfortable with it and doesn't feel like himself. He finally cracks when she suggests giving him body piercings, which then leads to this exchange:
"Okay, that's it!"
"So maybe your first thing was your best thing, huh?"
"Yeah....Hey! You never really wanted me to go goth, did you?"
"Duh! Goth's my thing. And I believe this is yours *hands him his PDA*."
So it turns out that whole time, she was trying to make him realize that it's not worth pretending to be someone you're not in order to fit in or impress others. And instead of just telling him why he shouldn't change, she formed a plan that would let him realize it for himself.
Then we have Beauty Marked, where Sam is abducted by a ghost named Dora whose brother, Prince Aragon, is looking for a human bride (and a child bride at that, yuck). During some time alone with Dora, Sam expresses her disgust towards Aragon's mistreatment of women, prompting Dora to explain that that is how things work in her brother's lair, where time has stopped to that of the dark ages. Having witnessed how poorly her brother treats her, Sam questions why she hasn't stood up to him, concluding that since they are siblings, she must be every bit as powerful and capable as him. This makes Dora realize that she let herself be pushed around for so long that she forgot her own worth. She takes off the tiara that was binding Sam to the cursed lair and starts fighting her brother, and together, along with Danny and Tucker, they take him down and make time move forward again.
Though stubborn, there have at least been some occasions where she expresses regret when things get out of hand
Memory Blank is the strongest example of this. Here, Danny and Sam have a fight when he calls her out on her past actions like changing the school menu and releasing an endangered Gorilla from the zoo. Angered and unwilling to admit any fault, Sam storms off and shouts, "Danny, I swear, there are days I wish I had never even met you!" Unbeknownst to her, the wish-granting ghost Desiree was nearby and takes the opportunity to make her outburst-driven wish a reality. The next time she sees Danny, he doesn't recognize her at all, and to make matters worse, he no longer has his ghost powers. We soon learn that this is due to Sam being the one responsible for him getting his powers in the first place. When she realizes this, she is horrified and instantly regretful. Desperate to restore his powers and have him back in her life, she goes out of her way to try and get him to remember her and who he is, even going as far as wearing an outfit she hates in order to get his attention. This is also the part where another ghost appears, and upon remembering that Danny can't fight it, she takes it on herself using his equipment. It's here we see that despite not having powers herself, Sam can hold her own in a ghost fight pretty well, which I thought was a really cool touch. I realize it's still an issue that the things Sam did were never brought up again and the lack of accountability is still there, but at the very least, she did regret their fight and knew it was up to her to undo the effects.
She would have backed off if Danny and Valerie stayed together
In Flirting With Disaster, Danny and Valerie start dating for a brief period. Sam is not happy about this at all and spies on them at the carnival, both out of jealousy and concern for Danny's safety as Valerie had been actively hunting his ghost half without knowing they were the same person. However, we never see her take things any farther than that. Despite how jealous she was, not once did she try to sabotage their relationship and break them up like we've seen Vlad attempt over and over with Jack and Maddie. She even told Valerie to her face that, "If Danny likes you and you like Danny, then the least we can do is give you a chance." Now yes, I know she said that in an attempt to cover up her, Danny, and Tucker's ghost-related discussion from just moments prior so she wouldn't be suspicious after realizing she was listening in, but I have enough reason to believe that as much as it stung her to see Danny take interest in other girls, she never would have taken any real action to get between them and was willing to at least try to be happy for him.
Looping back to Lucky In Love, it was no different when he hooked up with "Paulina." Sam was bothered then, too, of course, but nowhere in the episode did she even so much as think about trying to split them up. It's one thing to be jealous, and it's another thing to try and take the one you want for yourself with no regard for the other person. Sam never stooped to that level at any point in the series, and for that she deserves some credit.
The potential was there, just underutilized by everyone involved
Had the show never been cancelled and went on for at least 2 more seasons, I don't know if things would have gotten worse for Sam or better, even if Steve Marmel stuck around. He was a very talented writer and his absence in season 3 can be felt immediately, but I can't help but wonder if his continued presence would have made any difference regarding Sam's character. He was clearly more interested in Valerie and further developing her relationship with Danny. That's fine and all, but knowing that Danny and Sam were meant to be the endgame couple from the very start, I don't get why he, or anyone else for that matter, didn't spend any time exploring their dynamic as well, or even just their friendship. And even if it's true that he wanted Danny and Valerie to be endgame instead, that doesn't change the fact that Sam was designed to be one of the core trio during the show's conception, not Valerie. So leaving her on the back burner for so long just isn't the way to go, no matter what you're trying to do. Someone could have at least given her an arc that explores her independently as a character and have her grow and evolve from that. Perhaps they did have plans for her later down the line, but they should have been executed sooner if that's the case. And just to be clear, I don't mean to be too hard on Steve or Valerie as a character, I'm just frustrated that she got much more attention than Sam did even though she was just as deserving of it and needed it way more anyway.
Closing Thoughts
All my writing nitpicks aside, I know that none of the good stuff I went over changes the fact that she was a poorly written character overall, but I do feel like it's unfair to not at least give her some credit or take into consideration the positive traits she did have, even if they didn't outshine the bad for many people. All of this to say, I believe that Sam was a good character at her core who unfortunately fell into the wrong hands, as well as bad circumstances (i.e., the show's premature cancellation and rushed conclusion). Despite all her flaws, though, there was still good to be found in her character, and if you look deep enough, you can start to see what kind of person she was really meant to be: A voice of reason for Danny, a caring and loyal friend, and an activist with strong moral and ethical principles. Her heart was clearly in the right place, but I feel like the writers tried too hard to make her fit with common trends and stereotypes that revolved around teenagers in the early 2000s, so the Sam that we got was kind of all over the place. So yeah, she can be a mess. But she's my mess, and I stand by my belief that even though she had her problems, she was humble and kind-hearted underneath it all, and with proper writing, she could easily become a common favorite and I wouldn't have to be making this post, but alas. All I can do now is choose to make the best of what good we do have. Not to mention I'm just a sucker for animated characters who don't make you want to cover your ears as soon as they start talking. Grey DeLisle is good at that, and Sam is one of my favorite voices from her 💜.
If you've made it to the end, thank you for your time and I hope I was able to express my thoughts in a clear and concise manner. I don't expect to change a single person's mind from any of this, but I hope I've at least provided some good reasons as to why I feel that while people's criticism of her character is perfectly valid, she's also overhated a lot of the time and it's undeserved. I'm open to any additional thoughts, so feel free to chime in if I missed anything.
