| “ | Drive, easy lover, drive! | ” |
–Sam to Phil Collins | ||
Sam Losco (played by Sam Tarasco) is a former veterinarian and an on-again-off-again resident of the Sunnyvale Trailer Park and is often perceived to be a general nuisance, particularly to Jim Lahey, Julian, Ricky and Bubbles. Sam Losco is widely regarded by a large number of people to be a caveman, much to his chagrin, which often only serves to add onto his caveman perception.
Background
Sam's first appearance in the show was as a veterinarian that Levi referred Ricky and Julian to when Mrs. Peterson's dog ate a plate of weed brownies. He ended up losing his license to practice because of this referral, since he also operated on Ricky to remove bullets from two different gunshot wound incidents. ("Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up", "Jim Lahey Is A Drunk Bastard")
After losing his clinic, he moved into the trailer park with his camper and decided to run for Trailer Park Supervisor in season two, against Jim Lahey, the incumbent. He had a lot of backing and support, since Jim was drunk most of the time and let the park go, but Sam was ultimately thwarted by Ricky and Julian. They both felt that they were better off with Lahey in charge (since he was drunk and they could get away with more things with him in that state) and so they conspired to spike Sam's food with magic mushrooms just before his campaign speech. He flubbed it, started uttering gibberish and was booed off the stage. ("Jim Lahey Is A Drunk Bastard")
Living Arrangements
Sam lives in his camper, which he can move from place to place. According to Jim Lahey, this makes hm inferior, implying that a trailer is better than a camper. ("Jim Lahey Is A Drunk Bastard", "A Dope Trailer Is No Place For A Kitty") However after the fiasco between him and Cyrus he was left penniless and homeless and was forced to live in a cave in the woods. People who saw him in the forrest mistakenly assumed he was a sasquatch(or “Samsquamptch” as quoted by Bubbles) as he was incredibly hairy and living naked. Bubbles pointed out after finding Sam in a cave that "the metamorphosis is complete: Sam is an actual caveman." At the end of season 9 he is last seen being lured out of his cave by a suspended chicken thigh and tranquilized by park rangers, mistaking him for a bear.
Love Life
In season two, Sam falls in love with Barb Lahey and proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. But when Sam is conned into performing in a porno, J-Roc's "The Bare Pimp Project", by Julian, they sell him out by giving a copy to Barb, and she calls it off immediately. ("The Bare Pimp Project")
That is not the end of the courtship however -- Sam woos her again in season seven, by leaving her special gifts and flowers as a secret admirer, and she mistakenly assumes that it is Randy, and then Julian. Sam reveals his love for her in a public setting later, and invites her to a motel, which she accepts, leaving Jim and Randy behind, and the two were together for a while. ("Jump The Cheeseburger"; "Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys") However is Season 8 because Sam is working with Cyrus to buy the park from her it can be assumed that the two broke up for some reason.
Criminal Activity
Other than operating on humans outside of his license, Sam has also taken hostages on two occasions. While employed by East Coast Paving, he kidnapped Randy after Ricky called in a fake order to pave the trailer park during the Cheeseburger Picnic. The service call resulted in Sam being liable to his employer for expenses, and he took Randy hostage until a ransom was paid. Ricky eventually stepped forward at the behest of Jim to take responsibility for the prank and trade $200 and a volume of dope to make things right and save Randy.
The second incident was in season seven when he took Phil Collins hostage in the Dirty Burger trailer (which Phil was renting from Sam) because Phil wouldn't pay him the $75 rental. Officer Jim Lahey had to step in at one point when the trailer wouldn't start, but eventually the situation was quelled when Barb entered the area, which is when Sam left the trailer and ran away with her.
Characterization
Sam is often called a caveman by the park residents, due to him having long arms and a bit of a pronounced forehead. Even though he takes offense to this, he refers to himself as a caveman in some episodes.
He wears glasses or shades most of the time, and loud patterned button-up shirts.
He has an unusual affinity for hot dogs, often trying many different brands, cooking them on his barbecue and taste-testing them.
It is worth mentioning that his appearance deteriorates throughout the series; he appears significantly dirtier, smellier and more irritable later in the series, mostly because of his interactions with the residents of Sunnyvale. This culminates in his appearance on Season 9, where he is found literally living in a cave covered in dirt, having become an actual caveman.