_{CHARACTERS/ACTORS GUIDE}

Blair Sandburg

When I sat down to analyze Blair's character I found it hard to do without someone to trigger my thoughts. Then I thought - why not just put together all the thouughts about the guy that I shared with Elly in our letters (and boy, do we have lots of those). So here are our thoughts about the guy for those of you interested in the view of two kindred spirits.

The Sentinel by Blair Sandbyrg -

I think that most people see Blair as kind of a fragile person that never fights back and always takes whatever is thrown his way with no resistance; In my opinion, these assumptions are wrong.

I guess that when we compare Blair to Jim, he does look as if he's more emotionally fragile. But I don't think that is the case. Sure, Blair does show his feelings and doesn't hold them back, that is one of the reasons that we all love him so much. But that doesn't mean that he's more vulnerable. He knows how to fight back and when he feels passionate enough about it, that is exactly what he does. We saw it in some of the episodes ('Night Shift' for example; when Jim was mean to him, and Blair didn't give up on what he thought was right). So yes, Jim was mean to him in TSbyBS (believe me, I hated Jim after seeing the episode for the first time), but I do think that Blair didn't just give up on his "life". First of all, He did made a mistake. No matter how we look at it, he was the reason that Jim's secret went public. Like Jim said, he was the one that put his name all over the paper. And I think that for that reason he stayed with Jim and didn't "fight" with him about that, because he knew that Jim was right in a tiny miny way. And secondly, like he told his mom, in the end, he got what he wanted all along; after years of not belonging to anyone and making it on his own, he finally got a family. He knew how much Jim and all the other guys (and one girl) care for him, and he realized that that was what he wanted all along. It's more important than some piece of paper that says that you're "smart". In the end he chose to do what he saw as the right thing and what he felt complete with in his heart.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it wasn't easy for him. It probably tore his heart out to have his life work seen as a fraud. But I doubt that he could've just gone on with it and see his friend shot down like what Jim would have to face if it was all proven true.

Besides, if you ask me, when he went in front of those cameras and said all that he did, he proved everybody how strong he really is. With all do respect for Jim (that we also love very much), all those years since he discovered that he's a sentinel, he didn't want to face his friends and the people that know him and tell them the truth about what he really is. He was probably too afraid of their reaction. But Blair just went up there and proved that he is strong enough and "noble" enough to take the risks and do what he believes is the right thing to do.

But then the Question still stands - did Blair really wrote the thesis with the thought in his mind to publish it, knowing full well what it would do to Jim? Why did he "put Jim's name all over the paper"? Well, I think that he just wanted to write it down, to see his life work on paper, to prove to himself that he did it, and then decide what to do with it. It didn't matter if no one else saw it - as long as Blair knew and had it in his hands. So yes, maybe he did made a mistake when he left it out there and didn't lock it in an iron vault, but you can hardly blame the guy - he had no idea that his mom will do what she did. He truly didn't think that anyone would see it unless he gave it to them to see.

So now the truth is out there and well, even though Blair went and did that press conference, I doubt it that the people who know him will believe what he said there. To me, Blair might be disgraced by the academic community (he's already seen how shallow they are in 'Murder 101'), but he'll always have the other guys. I refuse to believe that they would think Blair is a fraud. If they know him and Jim well enough, they would know the truth - that Jim is a sentinel and Blair is the guy who sacrificed everything for Jim. Come on, it's not like they're stupid and won't understand that Blair's thesis was the truth, after working with Jim for so long and seeing the things that he did. And you know what, even if I was one of Blair's students (now that's a thought) I would know that Blair's the real thing. He has been a great teacher all this while, how could he be a fraud? There must be something.

As hard as it was for Blair to do that press conference, it was also in a way a good thing for him. Blair wasn't really himself During the entire episode, from the moment that he got that call (I don't want to think about the feeling the filled Blair when that Sid guy called him for the first time and he realized that the secret was out), until after the conference and the talk that he had with Jim in the hospital. He was serious, constantly analyzing all that has happened and trying to find a way out of it. It's only after he and Jim return to the office, after their talk, that we see the old Blair back. It's like the burden is finally lifted off his shoulders and he's back to his old happy self.

And the future to come? Jim said himself that he knows the drill and doesn't need Blair's help. It looks like in the last episodes, Blair's roll in Jim's life isn't of a guide for his senses, but more of a true friend, a partner. No more, No less. Senses or no senses. And I do believe that that is the future of Jim and Blair's partnership.

Murder 101 -

Danny and Paul said in an interview that this episode is like what "Vendetta" was for Jim, this time for Blair. I really like that concept and I love the idea and the fact that this episode surrounds Blair instead of Jim. This is the only episode that does that; it was always about Jim even if Blair had a big part of it. This time Blair takes the lead.

We finally see more about Blair and about how he lives his daily life when he's not with Jim. And you have to admit that he's a lot different from when it all began. He was always the one with the blind faith in people. And no matter how bad the situation - he always welcomed it with a smile and a hopeful heart. But here he's faced, maybe for the first time, with the ugliness of the world that he always cherished so much - the academic world. And instead of the smiley Blair - we see the angry Blair; the Blair that has worked with the police force for the past three and half years and saw things that made him tougher and less optimistic - more realistic in a way. No wonder he lost his cool.

So we're now faced with a new Blair - A more realistic, down to earth, grown up Blair. But not all hope is lost :) The little chat that he and Jim has in the end of the episode signs us that the smiley Blair that we love so much is still in there, waiting for things to cool down so he can come out again.