Tommy Sherman: Difference between revisions
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When he reappeared at Lawndale High, Tommy was tall, broad-shouldered, and muscular. He had light brown hair, a flattened nose, a T-shirt, and bluejeans. Personality-wise, Tommy can only be described as "a colossal jerk" ([[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria's]] phrasing). He was arrogant and rude to an extreme, having no concern for the feelings or needs of others, and he felt entitled to sex and attention at his every whim. One odd habit he had was referring to himself in the third person as a way of emphasizing his importance. He also tended to strut in a self-important manner. Given some comments he made, it is possible he was a [http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/quickstats/binge_drinking.htm binge drinker].
Tommy Sherman was about the same age as Trent Lane, who was a former classmate. Trent is noted to be 21 during the first season of <i>Daria</i>. Per [[Richard Lobinske]]’s [http://web.archive.org/web/20110906145106/http://www.outpost-daria.com/essay/rl_daria_temporal_analysis_project.html chronology of the <i>Daria</i> series], “The Misery Chick” probably took place in the fall of 1997, so the state championship was won in late November or early December 1994. Tommy thus graduated in spring 1995, give or take a year.
When he was a senior at Lawndale High, Tommy was the school's star football player. He was the quarterback of the [[Lawndale Lions]] when the team won the state championship. (This was three years before the time of "The Misery Chick.") Tommy was known for wanting to bring in the touchdowns himself, never passing to anyone else. He also had the habit of turning to wave at the crowd as he did so, often running into the goalpost head-first. He broke his nose twice and during the playoffs went into a coma for six days, an injury that nearly caused him to miss the championship game. He recovered without apparent harm to lead the team to victory the next day.
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:'''<i>Daria:</i>''' I know the whole school's turning itself inside out because of some egotistical football player, and I've seen you insult or proposition just about everyone you come across, so my guess is that you're the football player guy. Congratulations. You must have worked very hard to become such a colossal jerk so quickly.
As she speaks, Tommy looks taken aback. He replies in an aggressive tone:
:'''<i>Tommy:</i>''' You know what Tommy Sherman's going to do now? He's going to go out onto the field and check out his new goal post. He's going to read the plaque and think of all the people who admire him. But you wouldn't know anything about that. You're one of those misery chicks, always moping about what a cruel world it is, making a big deal about it so people won't notice that you're a loser.▼
▲:'''<i>Tommy:</i>''' You know what Tommy Sherman's going to do now? He's going to go out onto the field and check out his new goal post. He's going to read the plaque and think of all the people who admire him. But you wouldn't know anything about that. You're one of those misery chicks, always moping about what a cruel world it is, making a big deal about it so people won't notice that you're a ''loser''.
Tommy is clearly bothered that he's been dissed but how deeply do her specific words cut him? He doesn't care to address her points, he simply cuts her down and carries on as normal - this could be read as him merely angry he was talked back to and from his perspective, he's punished her for it. On the other hand, he's immediately going to go check out his goalpost and think of being admired: this implies his ego's taken a bit of a battering from the fact someone doesn't care who he is, and his comments are him lashing out to save himself.
His view on Daria is also up for debate, as later episodes would make it clear that Daria ''does'' deliberately try to keep people away and is more emotionally fragile than the S1 episodes had indicated; Tommy could be making an accurate judgement, making him very good at reading people when he wants to. However, Daria didn't show any sign of being bothered that Tommy was right - what bothered her was everyone viewed her like that when "I'm not miserable, I'm just not ''like them''." Tommy's comment itself was shrugged off until he was dead.▼
▲
Based on
(Thanks to the [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q7lqexyXjvrc0nWdP2IavYKBjaY6w3jr/view original script], we know the intention is Tommy is snapping because Daria's diss got a laugh - "Tommy's stunned. He looks at Jane. She snickers." - and "he walks off in a huff."
===What Happened to Tommy After Graduation?===
Not much, apparently. No one, including Tommy, said a word about where he’d been or what he’d done since he left high school. He was out of town, for certain, as Kevin said Tommy was “coming back to Lawndale.” It is possible Tommy went to college on a football scholarship, but if he skipped classes that seems unlikely. He probably passed classes the same way Kevin did, getting a bye (
===
Tommy Sherman has repeatedly been used in fanfic as a violent thug, an abuser, a rapist, or some other form of villain. In the episode, he's a massive jerk - but is he evil?
True, he viewed women only as potential sex partners and was crudely outspoken about this, and assumed ''they'' all wanted him. When Daria approaches him because he's on her locker, he has no interest in her or Jane sexually and has the nerve to laugh that he'd ''never'' talk to Daria, before telling Jane "maybe [with her], Like, four hours into a kegger". He ignores Brittany has a boyfriend until she repeats it and assumes she's asking about a cuckolding fetish (which he's willing to do), and yells abuse when she leaves - however, ''not'' about her slapping him, which he seems to shrug off and doesn't retaliate over.
Tommy also insulted and belittled [[Kevin]] and [[Mack]], but at first just in a breezy, jokey way about Kevin's height - just as Kevin is unwittingly rude about Daria. He only starts to get intentionally mean when he learned they were varsity footballer and Kevin had his old role - ''then'' he wants to insult Kevin's potential as a footballer. Tommy seems to want to make it clear ''he's'' still the big man. He also throws in a parting shot at Mack (renamed after his dad saw Michael Jordan play) to "make sure your father doesn't go to any Whoopi Goldberg movies", possibly the closest MTV would've allowed the show to get to an implied racial slur.
He was conceited, self-important, egotistical, and boorish; like [[Quinn Morgendorffer]], he esteemed himself more than anyone. (“Do you know who I am? Tommy Sherman?”) Even worse, Tommy was ''completely right'' that he was widely admired, though perhaps not by people who knew him very well. He was “unanimously voted most valuable player” by his teammates after the state championship win, and upon his return to Lawndale High was put up in a good hotel at LHS’s expense. A jerk he was, but he played to his strengths and was little hampered by his weaknesses. He was the worst kind of winner, but he was a winner nonetheless, and (almost) everyone loves a winner. The easygoing Trent had nothing bad to say about him, other than noting that Tommy didn't show up for classes often. "The guy was a hero," said Kevin. "A really good quarterback, everybody liked him, kinda hunky, you know." He even had a memorial tree (per "[[A Tree Grows in Lawndale]].")▼
He was conceited, self-important, egotistical, and boorish; like [[Quinn Morgendorffer]], he esteemed himself more than anyone. (“Do you know who I am? Tommy Sherman?”)
Finally, it appears Tommy had no notable criminal record, given the lack of mention of the same. He never physically harmed anyone (except himself, by hitting goalposts). He didn't even lie. As Daria observed, he was not a nice guy, but he did not deserve to die. Was he evil? Only barely. He could have been far, far worse.▼
▲
▲Finally, it appears Tommy had no notable criminal record, given the lack of mention of the same. He never physically harmed anyone (except himself, by hitting goalposts).
===The Coma Before the Championship Game===
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That’s irony for you on a lot of levels.
==Alternate Versions of Tommy Sherman==▼
===Regular Tommy===
*Teaching Tommy Sherman 'helps' turn DeMartino into the angry man we know in [[Kristen Bealer]]'s "[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3713594/1/Squandered-Potential Squandered Potential]"
▲===Alternate Versions of Tommy Sherman===
*In the [[John Lane]] fanfic series, Tommy assaulted Daria and John while visiting [[Lawndale High]]. This was caught on a security camera, resulting in Tommy's violation of parole (from an earlier offense), arrest, and loss of his football career. It is strongly insinuated that he would be sent to prison.
*In [[The Misery Chicks]] by [[NightGoblyn]], a younger Tommy Sherman raped Daria at [[Camp Grizzly]].
▲==Tommy Sherman-centred fanfics==
*In [[Daria 2007: The Girl From Hope]] by [[The Angst Guy]], Tommy Sherman joined the army after school and died in Iraq.
*In [[A Life of Bit Parts]] by The Angst Guy, Tommy Sherman was a part played by 'real life' bit-part actor Tommy Sheridan. Sheridan was known to be a nice, friendly man, and Sherman was his most famous role.
*In the [[God Save The Esteem]] fanfic series, while Tommy is still a massive, entitled jerk, he is also bitter that Lawndale High let him coast and never cared to tell him what damage this would do to his prospects after school. During his speech to the school, he lays into Li's regime. He later becomes the school's PE teacher.
===Tommy Sherman-centred fanfics===
* [http://www.theangstguy.com/fanfics/antisocial.htm "The Antisocial Climber"] by [[The Angst Guy]]
* "[[Dark of Hearts]]" by [[The Angst Guy]]
* [http://www.theangstguy.com/fanfics/lifebitparts.htm "A Life of Bit Parts"] by [[The Angst Guy]]
* "Letting Go"([http://www.thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=499714#p499714 Part 1], [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=499825#p499825 Part 2], [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=499842#p499842 Epilogue] by [[RX-87]], in which Tommy and [[Val]]'s ghosts bond
* [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=419631#p419631 "Run On, Tommy - Run On"] by [[OverlordMikey]]
* [http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31060 "Whatever happened to Tommy Sherman?"] by [[Chris Tucker]]
[[Category:Canon Characters|Sherman, Tommy]]
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