User blog comment:The Sam Puckett/iLost My Mind did not need a kiss/@comment-4196911-20110817011417

I disagree in many areas, here.

I think it's clear from both iKiss and iTTK that Freddie not only was the first one to come up with the idea of kissing Sam (though Sam was thinking it, too), but he definitely enjoyed kissing her, and was very reluctant to tell Carly (or anyone else) that he enjoyed it. Also, the gesture in iReunite with Missy CAN be interpreted as platonic caring, but it can also be interpreted as more than that. Not only did Freddie do something for Sam that was incredibly selfless, but he wanted it kept a secret. When Dan talks about Freddie and Sam playing a "game", it's important to realize Freddie is playing it too, and he's not just an unwilling and unwitting victim to Sam's antics. He goes along with her games and schemes even though they mostly turn out badly for him, and he screams in an over-the-top, overreacting manner when she physically "assaults" him. He actually tells her point blank that he doesn't want her to stop messing with him, because if she stops it'll be "weird." Huh? Why would he say something so bizarre?...

All this points in the direction of him having buried romantic feelings for her, that are only kept buried because of the way she is, and his belief that if he ever acted on those feelings she'd humiliate and make fun of him. That's been her pattern - he has no reason to expect otherwise. A real relationship with Sam can't ever happen, well, because she's Sam. She's not a "real" girl that's in the pool of potential girlfriends for Freddie. Despite their friendship growing closer and less combative overall since the show began.

Only when Sam unexpectedly reveals her feelings for him in iOMG does the light go on in his head and he begins to understand his complex relationship with her and what it actually means. When Sam is missing, he has three days-plus to think about what he feels and what he wants to do when she surfaces again. He knows he has feelings for her. Why do I suspect this? When Carly asks him if he likes her, he totally deflects the question and changes the subject by asking her about fruit(?).

He's not completely, rock-solid certain about what Sam is feeling at first because he tells Carly, "even I'm not sure what it means". But once he talks to Sam in her hospital room and she tells him point-blank that she likes him, he knows for sure.

Yes, Dan wanted Freddie kissing her to be somewhat of a surprise, but I think Freddie's hand was forced when Carly tried scheming using the webshow to get fans to tell Sam she's not crazy. I think he wanted to get Sam out of the hospital first, then tell her what he was feeling later in a more private setting. The webshow thing forced him to act a bit quicker.

The general rule in screenwriting is "Show, don't tell", and I think Dan has a history of showing these somewhat subtle hints and expecting people to draw what he thinks are obvious conclusions. I remember after iSpeed Date, Dan was very exasperated on his blog that he had to actually explain to some fans that the obvious conclusion was that Sam had feelings for Freddie. Some people weren't getting it, and Dan was facepalming. That's one example.