Joey Drew is Gay and there's no way around it (Pt 4)
After Henry was gone, Joey moved forward building the studio, expanding slowly and snatching up any poor hapless bisexuals he could trick. This brings us to Sammy.
There are a lot of moving parts in the "Sammy Chapter", but they all work together to paint a...not very straight picture.
Joey approaches him at a party and they start up a conversation. Sammy recognizes him because he always sat in the front row of the Grand Cinema where he played, and the conversation then turns to Joey recruiting Sammy.
Joey wasn't even thinking about the music department before he ran into Sammy, only knowing that he needed "some musicians."
Of course, Sammy was undoubtedly talented, but I find it VERY interesting that Joey was so quickly inspired to get him on board. Hell, Sammy insists on seeing the studio right after meeting him, and he has to quickly pretend to have his shit together long enough to keep him interested.
It's worth noting that, given the way Joey (likely) felt about Henry, he's very quick to slide in a "look at my special new super talented and AWESOME (boy)friend that you could never be!!" whenever he gets the chance.
See, Joey actually goes on a very bitter tangent about Henry in the middle of talking about Sammy, and IMMEDIATELY follows it up with "Sammy Lawrence was one of my best decisions." (which...???????)
Joey reminisces quite a lot (and with a certain romantic charge) about Sammy, how great he was to have at the studio and how talented he was (sprinkled in with the occasional weirdly specific comments on things like his hair.
Please get back on track sir, you have the attention span of a gnat.)
And to cap off the "Sammy Chapter", we see a very strange but endearing interaction between Joey and Sammy.
Cut to a couple pages later, and we're hit with this line,
Not only did Sammy inspire him to start the music department, he also fed into an unhealthy god complex in Joey, which I'm sure will pan out just fine.
Sammy doesn't have to exert any effort for Joey to take a very keen interest in him. Joey even mentions how he was so enthralled when Sammy performed at the Grand that he wasn't even watching the damn movie. Our favorite banjo man seems to have this odd, almost siren-y effect on Joey that not even Henry had.
Oh, don't forget Sammy also defended Joey Drew to the press when the studio was facing allegations, as told by the Employee Handbook;
On top of the aforementioned, there are some minor details as well, both from the original game and the books.
Firstly, a note from Joey's apartment, which seems to be written by him based on the handwriting and the content. In which case, he literally drew the equivalent of hearts around his crush's name. I'm disappearing.
Tucked in Illusion of Living, where Joey details his day-to-day schedule, lies the Joey Drew and Sammy Lawrence math problem- a window of 10 minutes where Joey and Sammy are alone in a room together every day at the studio.
And finally, the classic "Joey's Lunchbreak", where Sammy is slotted in conveniently fifteen minutes beforehand. I'm not saying Joey wanted his lunchbreaks private for any particular reason, but...
He seems to not want to be disturbed regardless!
Besides Sammy, Sinclair, and Henry, there is still a huge male presence surrounding Joey. Donaldson and Eckhart, his military friends. Nathan Arch, his best friend and confidant. Bertrum Piedmont, both a friend and business partner. Joey's own father, who inspired his boundless, mischievous imagination. Men have influenced, befriended and inspired him at about every turn in his life.
So, you may be wondering, what about the women?
Well, if you can believe it, there are some women in Joey's life!
