Introduction: All Final Edition Episodes Now Complete
Note: This post contains spoilers. Please watch up to Episode 10 if you do not want to be spoiled.
At long last, the final/definitive edition of Episode 10, titled “Samantha’s Quest: Isles of Galerock (Episode 10)“, has now been released. This means that every original episode of Samantha’s Quest has now been updated to its final version, and the series can continue with brand new episodes.
It’s been just over a year since I released the original version of Episode 10 (which is called “Part 10”) on 14 September 2025. Although it’s taken a long time, I’m glad that I went back through every episode to bring out their full potential. Because of this, I feel like I can continue making more episodes with a greater sense of confidence.
Where the Idea of Episode 10 Came from
At this point, I thought I’d briefly mention how I came up with the idea of Episode 10. Back in Episode 7, when Clara gets kidnapped by the Armoured Man and taken into the portal, Sammy is staring worriedly into the portal and then remembers something from the past. She remembers the time when Clara said to her:
“Hey, Sammy? I just wanted to say… thank you. Thank you for coming into my life when you did and for accepting me… even when I was just a sad, lonely girl back then who stayed away from everyone.” — Clara
Clara goes on to say that while she enjoys spending time with a few people, Sammy is her only true friend in life, and the only one who truly understands her. Shortly after this, Sammy strengthens her resolve, reflecting on Clara’s words that she is Clara’s only true friend, and then rushes into the portal to rescue Clara.
While this certainly shows that Sammy is an amazing friend to Clara, there was still the missing gap for why Clara came to value Sammy so much in the first place. Since Clara is rescued and back home at the end of Episode 9, and since I also needed time to brainstorm more ideas for the continuation of the plot, I felt that Episode 10 was the ideal place to go back and explain why Clara is so attached to Sammy, and how their friendship began.
The Story of Two Flowers
Most of Episode 10 takes place three years prior to the current story of Episodes 1–9. In the current story, Sammy, Clara, and Lucinda are 18 years old and have recently graduated high school. In Episode 10, they are 15 years old and are in Year 10 at Plainford State High School.
Since Episode 10 is mostly a flashback episode, I felt it would be appropriate to have parts of it narrated by Clara herself, which I think also made it feel more personal. Since Episode 10 is also quite different in style from the previous episodes, I also felt it would be nice to add symbols that point to Clara and Sammy’s friendship.
I noticed from other series and writings that symbols can really help to enrich a story. For example, in the Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] trilogy, Sakura Matou is symbolised as a lost butterfly—a fragile, kind, and gentle girl who desperately wants to escape her horrible fate. This was, to a degree, a source of inspiration for me.
In addition, beforehand I had read through Thérèse of Lisieux’s autobiography, “Story of a Soul”, and I noticed how fond Thérèse was of flowers, gardens, and nature in general. In fact, Thérèse herself is known as the “Little Flower”, or sometimes the “Little Flower of Jesus”, which made me think of the flower that Sammy almost always has clipped in her hair.
So, I eventually thought to myself: why don’t I use flowers to symbolise Sammy and Clara’s friendship? For Sammy, I chose a white daisy to represent her, since that’s the flower that is clipped in her hair, and it suits Sammy’s pureness of heart, kindness, and her almost angelic presence. For Clara, I chose a dark blue flower to represent her, since it matches the colour of her dress that she normally wears, and it suits Clara’s shy, gentle, reserved, and fragile—but increasingly resilient—nature.
From there, the names of the flowers came naturally: Sammy as the Radiant Flower, and Clara as the Fragile Flower. Furthermore, between this imagery, and the title of Thérèse’s book, “Story of a Soul”, I was inspired to call Episode 10 “The Story of Two Flowers”.
Towards the end of the episode, I specifically included a camera shot of the top of Clara’s drawers. On the drawers is a flowerpot with two flowers in it: a dark blue flower on the left, and a white daisy on the right. Next to it is a framed portrait of Sammy’s sketch that she drew for Clara three years ago, with Clara on the left and Sammy on the right.
Symbolically, this shows three things. First, it shows that although Clara rejected Sammy’s picture at first, we now see that Clara accepted it, and treasures it so much that she framed it and put it in her room. Second, the arrangement of the flowers shows that while Clara is the Fragile Flower on the left, Sammy is the Radiant Flower on the right. Third, it shows that just as the two flowers in the pot will not separate from each other, so too will Sammy and Clara remain together.
Sammy’s Kindness: A Call-back to Episode 8
Episode 10 does something else that’s important for Sammy and Clara’s relationship. In Episode 8, Clara is at her lowest point, and has essentially lost the will to live. But Sammy rescues her, signs something to Clara, and Clara correctly interprets it as:
“Sammy… you heard what I just said before? And you’re saying that… you would miss me?” — Clara
Sammy nods and embraces Clara, prompting Clara to ask: “Why… why are you always so kind to me? What have I ever done for you?” This scene is important, because this was essentially how Sammy and Clara first became friends three years earlier.
On the first two days that Sammy approaches Clara to befriend her, first by waving and then by showing her a sketch that she drew of herself and Clara, Clara dismisses Sammy. But on the third day, when Sammy brings Clara sandwiches that she made, after realising Clara was hungry at school, Clara is taken aback by this and asks Sammy almost the same question she would ask her three years later: “… Why are you being so kind to me?”
When Sammy gesticulates and Clara correctly interprets it as “Because… I matter, you say?”, they share a quiet moment as Clara sobs, before she embraces Sammy. In this way, while Episode 10 shows that Sammy treated Clara with kindness in the beginning, Episode 8 shows that Sammy continued treating Clara with kindness throughout their friendship.
Sammy’s Christ-like Persistence
One final reflection I have of Episode 10 is on Sammy’s persistence in continuing to return to Clara, even after Clara rejects her twice at first, and then begins rejecting her the third time Sammy comes back.
The point of this scene is that it would have been easy for Sammy to just walk away after Clara dismissed her and not come back. But Sammy refuses to take the easy way out. She continues coming back to Clara gently, even while knowing she may get rejected again, because Sammy wants to help Clara, and to let her know that she matters.
In Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep, there is a shepherd leading 100 sheep through the wilderness. When he finds out that one has gone missing, he leaves the 99 in the open country to find that one sheep that is lost, and when he finds it, he carries it on his shoulders, and brings it back home, rejoicing (Luke 15:3–7).
When taken with Jesus’ Sermon on the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–18), we see that Jesus is the Shepherd of that Parable, who continues to seek us, who are like lost sheep, until he brings us to salvation through faith in him (Luke 19:10). In this way, Sammy’s gentle persistence in continually returning to Clara resembles Christ’s own gentle persistence in continually seeking us, even when we dismiss or reject him.
The sad thing is that because Clara was bullied and neglected both at school and in her own home, she thought that Sammy would just leave her like everyone else. Both this fear and Clara’s own low self-esteem help explain why Clara was rude toward Sammy in the first place.
But because Sammy persisted in showing kindness toward Clara, not only did Clara find someone who truly values her in life, but Sammy also discovered, shortly after giving her the sandwiches, that Clara was actually afraid that Sammy would leave her and not come back. In life, sometimes people are very guarded not because they want to be, but because of trauma; sometimes showing persistent kindness is the very thing that allows such people to feel safe enough to open up.
I ended the episode with Jesus’ words from Matthew 25:34–40, in which he says, in essence, that when we give to the hungry, we are not only giving to them, but also to Christ himself. I chose this passage because this was the very thing that Sammy did for Clara—in feeding Clara, she was feeding Christ. I hope viewers understand from this that, ultimately, no good deed goes unnoticed by God, and that showing kindness is always worth it, even when it’s difficult to do so.
Conclusion: Choosing Kindness Is Always Worth It
In sum, Episode 10 is the story of how Sammy and Clara met, and why they share such a powerful bond. It is the Story of Two Flowers—the Radiant Flower and the Fragile Flower, and how the Radiant Flower planted herself beside the Fragile Flower, so that they may grow and bloom together. It is a story of how one girl’s small kindness toward a girl in need reflects Christ’s huge kindness toward all of humanity.
Finally, it is a story which shows that we never know what someone might be going through in their private life, and that showing a few small acts of kindness, even when it’s not easy, can make such a huge difference in someone’s life. Ultimately, Episode 10: The Story of Two Flowers shows that choosing kindness is always worth it no matter what.
I made Episode 10 to be the most emotional episode of Samantha’s Quest so far, and I hope that it resonates with viewers as much as it resonates with me. Thank you for reading this far, and God willing, I look forward to bringing you the next instalment of Samantha’s Quest: Isles of Galerock in the near future.
“Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.” — Jesus Christ (Luke 15:6–7, NIVUK)
All praise and glory be to Jesus Christ, to whom I am forever indebted for saving me.
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