User blog comment:WildJackal/Sam beating Freddie a sign that she loves him?/@comment-1876796-20110719053542

I don't view Sam's violence as "proof of hidden love." It's a defense mechanism to cover up feelings she'd rather not confront; the "game" if you will.

On a related matter, they're are only two times that Dan wanted to show that Freddie was hurt. One was iKiss, where Freddie was embarrassed about not kissing anybody. The other was iSYL, when he got hit by the taco truck. In both instances, the other characters reacted accordingly to someone being physically or emotionally hurt. In any other instance where Freddie was a victim of Sam's harrassment or "violence", the other characters did not react accordingly to someone who was emotionally or physically hurt. Therefore, the writers' intent was to convey that those instances were for comedic purposes only. Carly, Mrs. Benson, and others did not take these things seriously, so neither should we.