Jane Moriarty's

at our first real glimpse of sarah, in the fair play mission, when she’s passing out beers to everyone, she jokes with tommy, obviously in a flirting manner, but she’s more in control over that conversation than tommy is. sarah isn’t scared to be the only woman in a crowd. she’s not scared to be on her own. she KNOWS she can hold her own. she even calls the bar HERS. sarah knows, on many levels, what the bar does, it couldn’t do without her.

in the sarah mission, it’s easy to write it off as the protag saving the woman that later becomes his wife but listen. tommy telling luigi that sarah doesn’t need an escort, and even luigi agrees. he says the only reason he’s asking tommy to do this is so the other men respect her. because he KNOWS she’ll fight her way out of it, maybe say things she shouldn’t, that she’s not trained to fight, she doesn’t carry a gun, and he’s worried she may get hurt. not that she couldn’t defend herself, because she could. (and of course maybe also because he’s trying to let tommy know he’s okay with him pursuing her—)

even in the mission, we hear her rag on tommy’s flirting. sarah’s not at all scared to let every man she comes across know that she sees herself as their equal, and won’t settle for less. i think you can see this in the way she even calls her father by his name sometimes. and the way she jokes about having hid the bodies of men who had wanted her previously…. I Think There Is Some Truth There Actually.

we see her defend herself, talk shit in her own way, she’s not scared to fight, she’s not scared to see tommy fight. she doesn’t flinch at blood. she carefully stitches up tommy, and while she does, she talks, cool and evenly. she gives tommy a strong drink, tells him not to pretend it doesn’t hurt. that he doesn’t need to be a tough guy around her. she’s not stupid.

when tommy comes back to her after a trip to the country, covered in blood and semi-catatonic, she keeps her cool, doesn’t say anything, doesn’t pry, doesn’t ask. she takes his coat off, comforts him, she doesn’t think twice about the blood on her hands. sarah has seen more, DONE more, been more, then we could ever know. which even paulie, who has been around longer, who KNOWS what sarah’s done before, hints at. just to see what tommy knows.

sarah won’t ever make a liar of tommy, but has tommy made a liar out of sarah? hm. Thinking. Considering. Obsessing Over The Thought.

and of course an honorable mention moment— sarah reading about that politician dying in the papers, and she mentions that he fought to pass the 18th amendment. and how she votes. even calling tommy an idiot for not knowing that, like everyone should know it. like ok first wave feminist sarah angelo !!!!

anyway. to wrap this up because that’s about the only times sarah’s in the game.. the glimpses we get of sarah allude to so much more than she’s been given. she’s powerful, funny (“i’ve been thinkin’…” “oh yeah? i’ll call the papers.”), intelligent, strong.. she’s quick to hold her own. she doesn’t need tommy, she wants him.