The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

The narrative circles back to 1989 in Dr. Fukomara’s, or “Dr. Snip It’s” (67), office. Deciding against the vasectomy, Sam leaves and drives back to his own office, where he works as an ophthalmologist at a practice he shares with his one of his best friends, Michaela “Mickie” Kennedy. When Sam’s father had a stroke, he could no longer work as a pharmacist, so Sam and Mickie purchased the pharmacy building to use as their office. Mickie and Sam have been friends for 18 years, and neither has had great success in their individual romantic relationships; Mickie is not married but has had a string of failed relationships, while Eva and Sam’s relationship lacks physical intimacy, and the two are growing distant from each other (Sam even has a cabin in Lake Tahoe where he goes to be alone sometimes).

Sam, who now wears colored contacts to mask his red irises, returns to the office to find a woman called Trina Crouch waiting to see him. The actual patient, Trina’s daughter Daniela, has lost sight in her eye, supposedly after a bike accident at her dad’s house. Realizing she looks familiar, Sam sees her last name is Bateman.