Sam's Crumpled Note on Gault's Espionage

Sam's pen gouges NSA's verdict—Daniel Gault's Soviet betrayal—onto the scrap in Communications Office heat; frustration explodes, fingers crush it into a ragged fistful, then swallow it into his pocket, edges frayed by disillusionment's grip as pardon illusions shatter.

2 appearances

Purpose

Recording details of urgent NSA call confirming Daniel Gault's Soviet espionage

Significance

Devastating clue that shatters Sam's pardon crusade for Gault, fueling raw frustration and moral fracture; its crumpling punctuates private turmoil, thrusting Sam into confrontation with Stephanie's exoneration plea amid empathy-betrayal clash.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S2E16 · Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail

Sam's Desperate Grasp for Unreliable OMB Projections

Sam scribbles notes—capturing the NSA's damning verdict of Daniel Gault's Soviet espionage—immediately after dismissing Bonnie's call alert, then crumples the paper in a visceral eruption of frustration and disillusionment, pocketing it to suppress the shattering truth that undermines his pardon crusade, narratively symbolizing buried betrayal amid compassion's collapse.

Before: Freshly written notes on paper, likely from the incoming call reference

After: Crumpled into a ragged fistful, concealed in Sam's pocket

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S2E16 · Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail

Sam Crumples Damning NSA Note as Donna Ushers in Stephanie

Sam scribbles the NSA's confirmation of Daniel Gault's Soviet espionage onto a scrap of paper during Bonnie's interrupted alert, then crushes it into a ragged ball in raw disillusionment before pocketing it—transforming irrefutable evidence of guilt into a concealed talisman of his shattered pardon illusion, pivoting the narrative from bureaucratic grind to moral collision.

Before: Blank scrap available on desk amid office clutter

After: Crumpled into a fistful and pocketed by Sam, hidden from view

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