Wow... good stuff, here.

I love Television Without Pity. Even for shows I've seen, I often find some interesting insight into the show's story in those recaps--and even when I don't, they're often funny as hell, since the recappers almost always like the show even though they mock it mercilessly.

Reading a recap of the Doctor Who episode "Boom Town," I found this little gem by the recapper, Jacob:

: It's Sam's prerogative to hate Gollum; he's there to protect Frodo, and that's like his entire function. Gollum's the Slitheen*: he's there to show Frodo what happens if you're not careful, and what his future looks like, and why that's scary. But hating Gollum is not Frodo's responsibility: loving him is. And no matter how many times Frodo tries to explain this, people look at him like he's crazy, but that's Gollum to Frodo: how easy he could have been like that. How Gollum's a sign of the potential inside Frodo, growing stronger every day. And the quickest way to hurry that transition up is to ignore the truth of that fact -- pushing Gollum off a mountainside like Sam wants to do is just another way of praying for a blank slate, and Frodo's too strong for that, and that's why I love The Two Towers. Gollum stays Gollum; he's not redeemed -- the snake is still a snake no matter whose pocket it's in -- but that isn't the point. The point is that Frodo knows better, and couldn't tell you why, because he's the special one that can do the job, because he's visited by grace.

That's one of the best summations of the Frodo/Sam/Gollum triad I've ever seen.

*Slitheen: Villain in that episode of Doctor Who