Jamie Sheridan Character Analysis

Park’s father Jamie, a military man, is a mess of contradictions. Straight-laced and strict, Jamie expects a lot of his sons—but seems to genuinely want to help them become good people and succeed. Jamie is deeply in love with his wife Mindy, and Park and Josh are regularly grossed out by their parents’ over-the-top displays of affection. Park and Jamie often clash over Park’s desire to get his driver’s license—a milestone Jamie is determined to keep him from reaching until he learns to drive a manual transmission. Park believes his father is trying to hold him back, unable to see the ways in which Jamie is trying to better prepare him for the world. Jamie is not a perfect parent—he’s sometimes verbally and even physically abusive—but in the end, he proves himself to be on Park’s team when he supports his son in driving Eleanor out of the state and away from the home of her abusive stepfather, Richie, whom Jamie has known since his own youth.