julian

For me, everything that we learn about henry is parallel to sam. The parts where one achieves the other underachieves, this is the MOST evident in the script where henry is almost really jealous of the fact that sam can get along with henrys dad more than he can and they talk about his accomplishments and career and love life.

i have my own hcs on sam that individualize him from henry, like in my opinion sam didnt grow up with a family he had his grandma and he had to kind of become the sole male figure pretty quick in his life to not just take care of his grandma but also to work on compassion because perhaps he felt powerful when faced with mentally ill people and felt personal pleasure when they trusted him.

In the script hes much more tender and masculine twords lila but with henry theres MUCH underlying tension thats gritty and terrifying but it honestly gives off a vibe that this was the most fun hes had in a long time and hes tired of lila ignoring the strange and unusual and will do whatever it takes to save henry, that being his priority over breaking the cycle. Its all a reverse ideology where their dynamics flip and mirror eachother and its almost cute that where one thinks theyre flawed the other fits in just like a puzzle piece and together they feel like they found their real selves in the mess.

the most basic summary is

henry is stressed in passive calm situations, because he becomes disoriented

henry is happy when theres chaos but SOMETHING is being done

Sam is happy in passive calm situations, because atleast he knows where he is

Sam is stressed when theres chaos and he CANT control the situation.

Henry is predator

Sam is prey

do it with sam hes the one that has them in the script

okay yes

it kinda started off on a whim cause me and my best friend doodle a LOT so i fucked around and tried to draw sam and henry kissing but eventually it kinda looked like sam was in pain so i thought itd be fitting to give henry some sort of intimidating but also affectionate body language.....

once i really thought about it, it SO makes sense because henrys obsessed with the idea of hell and repenting on all his sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, pride ect. and perhaps he believes in some sort of ancient figure executed near the brooklyn bridge and plans to organize a mass suicide in order to fufill a spot for himself in heaven.

i think maybe along the way his self harming techniques that were akin to maybe a lent or to show his god hes humble and can be blemished,, got him landed in a er due to bakers law and thats where sam comes in.

later on henry increasingly gets more angry and vengeful towards outsiders trying to stop his plot and sam doesnt want to get on that side so he eventually starts to submit to henry and lowkey starts to forget his anchor traits and loses himself in henrys religion and flesh itself.