Questions for Tom

[maggiethecat]

Please give the reasons for your answers:

1. What is the character's best trait?

2. What is the character's worst trait?

3. What do you most wish that you knew about this character? (This would be not something that was revealed in the series.)

4. What would you have liked to see this character do just once in the series?

5. What did this character help Jim understand about himself?

[mlm828]

1. What is the character's best trait?
He wasn't too proud to learn from Jim.

2. What is the character's worst trait?
Letting Marty be the point man when (we now know) he agreed with Marty a lot of the time, and not speaking up when Marty went too far.

3. What do you most wish that you knew about this character? (This would be not something that was revealed in the series.)
Anything at all about his background and why he became a cop.

4. What would you have liked to see this character do just once in the series?
Tom and his girlfriend with Jim and Christie in pottery class! ;D

5. What did this character help Jim understand about himself?
That he hadn't lost his sense of humor when he lost his sight.

[hoosier]

1. What is the character's best trait? He was a calm and steadying presence in the squad. When Johnny called in Doggone, he thought on his feet and arranged a meet (holy limericks!) and they were able to snag one of the bad guys.

2. What is the character's worst trait? His gullibility. If Jim had pulled his leg one more time, it would have come off in his hand!


3. What do you most wish that you knew about this character? (This would be not something that was revealed in the series.) How he got picked to be the union representative.


4. What would you have liked to see this character do just once in the series? Tell Marty to shut up!


5. What did this character help Jim understand about himself? By coming up and shaking his hand he showed that there were people willing to give him a second chance.

[housemouse]

1. What is the character's best trait? His flexibility and humility.

2. What is the character's worst trait? He went along with Marty a bit too much at first.

3. What do you most wish that you knew about this character? (This would be not something that was revealed in the series.) How well do he and Marty really get along.

4. What would you have liked to see this character do just once in the series? I would have liked to see him do a bit more detective work, I think he was a good detective who got caught up in Marty's tale wind.

5. What did this character help Jim understand about himself? Jim was playful with Tom, more so than with anyone else. He busted Tom's chops. I think that helped Jim feel more like one of the guys and make him realize his new self wasn't all that far removed from his sighted self.

[maggiethecat]

1. What is the character's best trait?
His tongue-in-cheek sense of humor . . . and he's got a mean way with a stick of gum.

2. What is the character's worst trait?
I have to agree with Mouse on this one: too often he seemed like Marty's -- here's that awful phrase -- "bottom bitch."

3. What do you most wish that you knew about this character? (This would be not something that was revealed in the series.)
Did a blind man pick out your clothes? No, kidding here. The number of African-American detectives in the NYPD is nowhere near in proportion to the city's African-American population, and I'd love to know if Tom had a hard time working his way up the ladder -- or, perhaps even more interesting, if he'd been promoted because he was black.

4. What would you have liked to see this character do just once in the series?
Again, Mouse said it very well. More screen time for this guy would have been nice, in any capacity especially detecting. I think, for example, that he was a much more intuitive interrogator than Marty.

5. What did this character help Jim understand about himself?
Nothing new here, but I agree that Tom was very good at getting Jim to unbend through his gentle teasing, which, in the end, was all about Jim not having to be Bruno the Lead Dog all . . . day . . . long.