I’m doing bullet points here to try and keep this short(-ish).
-Sam meets Michael mid-suicide attempt. She convinces him (a complete stranger) to not follow through, and he makes her promise not to tell anyone. Then he disappears from school for a couple of weeks, and she doesn’t tell anyone. Highly irresponsible but okay – they don’t really know each other; Sam is incredibly introverted and alone and doesn’t know who she should tell. I guess this is understandable.
-Michael admits to Sam that since his father’s death, his mother has become withdrawn and dependent on alcohol, often lashing out at him – both verbally and physically. He attends school with new cuts and bruises weekly, if not daily. It’s hard enough to believe that the school never steps in to even ask about these injuries, but Sam is once again asked to keep it a secret. Even as the injuries escalate and it becomes more apparent that Michael is not safe in his own home, no one of importance is looped into the discussion.
-Michael realises that Sam is harming herself but tries to wait for her to feel comfortable enough with him to tell him herself. I do think this could be the right choice – Sam is easily spooked and isolated. If Michael confronted Sam from the beginning, I doubt she would have ever opened up to him. However, when she continues to self-harm, he asks her to listen to music instead and – are you sensing a theme? – doesn’t. tell. anyone.
-Sam ‘accidentally’ goes too far and ends up in the hospital – I’m definitely not blaming Michael, but he is the only person who knew Sam was self-harming, so he was the only one who could have told someone. Sam was lucky enough to survive and to have a supportive family who basically forces her into therapy (though I found her mother’s take on antidepressants to be a little medieval). Despite this experience, Sam doesn’t seem to sense the irony in keeping Michael’s dangerous secrets moving forward.
-Michael’s mother escalates. Michael calls Sam, clearly afraid for his life, which leads to an attempted murder-suicide. Not only does Michael’s mother die, but Sam’s college-aged brother risks his own life to save Michael’s, adding another person to the list of those traumatised by these events.
-We are talking about serious abuse, addiction, and mental illness here. I don’t think there are any easy solutions, but I do wish O’Flaherty had chosen to model more responsible behaviour rather than suggesting that teenagers should be taking all of this on by themselves. It’s hard to know what could have happened differently if Sam or Michael had reached out for help at any time, but it’s hard to believe that things could have ended worse.