MichelleD said:
And Donna did say something to the effect that he'd never done anything to betray their love...Which would probably either make her very forgiving or totally unrealistic.
Exactly and my viewpoint is the unrealistic one considering her abandonment issues with men which Sam made hypocrisy off when he stepped into that accelerator regardless of the fact that it was unintentional as he wasn't expecting to end up stuck. One reunion with her father couldn't have done the full 180 on those feelings. Just look at Al. He'd married five times yet the scarring from Beth remained as strong as ever.
As I discuss relating factors with you folks, my eyes are opening more to the fact that their relationship in general is not believable. There aren't any references or backstories which that tell us that Donna is the love of Sam's life and that he'd considered her above all else as we get with Al's feelings for Beth. Even in the span of ONE episode (MIA), we get a stronger sense of that relationship than of Sam and Donna's in the span of two.
Consider
Good Morning Peoria for a moment.
"It's like I've been given a license to play!"
We're given the impression that this is Sam learning for the very first time to allow himself to be silly and have some fun. Which is heavily suggestive of a focused, workaholic ethic in his pre-leap life both in marriage and not since this takes place after he'd made the change which resulted in his being married.
Then looking at two other episodes:
1.) In
Future Boy we learn that he'd been wanting to time travel since the age of four.
2.) In
Promised Land we find out that Sam couldn't tear himself away from M.I.T for his own father's funeral and the there is emotion in
Future Boy which also suggests this. For ages I'd somehow thought that was the episode it was revealed in.
Given these points, despite that he's clearly also a romantic, one must wonder how much he'd really satisfied Donna.
So when he asks her in
The Leap Back if he'd ever made her feel betrayed and
Catch a Falling Star instantly jumps out at the viewer (or at least at me) which was personal not in any way related to the leap, one must lift an eyebrow at her response. The probability that she knew better than to fault him for his memory loss and her own role in that as well as a possibility that she didn't want to put that guilt on him doesn't make much of a difference. The line still doesn't come across believably anymore than their relationship in general does.
If there was another criticism I've got about
The Leap Back, it's her line
"I don't care" in regards to Al's peril. That gave her a contradicting selfishness that is understandably maddening to some folks, even myself. The same could be said of
"It isn't fair Sam".
If I could go back and get involved with the writing of that script I'd have that scene re-thought out.
The portrayals we see in both the novels
Mirror's Edge and
Prelude are very well thought out in this respect.
Prelude's author Ashley McConnell never uses Donna in her novels so here we are in the original timeline before he'd changed the circumstances under which she'd left him and Tom is still killed in Vietnam but we still get a very raw and heart wrenching portrayal of how estranged he'd become from his sister and mother. There is a small reference to Sam having spoken to them over the phone where you can feel that it has an atmosphere if one of those stranger in a phone booth calls.
In
Mirror's Edge both Donna and Tom are in the equation but we still have a Sam who's head was always at the project even when he was physically in a room with his family. There'd be no interaction or engagement from him. There is then a flashback where he'd refused a direct request from Donna for sex in favor of working though not for a lack of interest or so he claimed.
What's more is that Carol Davis did something extremely smart here with the hypocrisy of the marriage. Upon remembering her Sam does have guilt over the fact that he'd left her and even expresses to her that she deserved better, someone who'd actually be there for her. This was excellent!
There was clearly a lack of interesting in developing Donna which as I'd explained before is reflected in Pratt's dislike of her.
For once I'm seeing past my mush factor which can tend to cloud my vision, something that isn't easy if I'm a fan of the characters, to the unrealistic nature of the relationship. In English terms, I'm not buying it so much anymore. I've always loved Tamlyn but now I think she's ascending above Donna.