Sadie conceives Both Sides the night Sam goes missing, reflecting on how alternate choices create parallel lives. She recalls a friend’s death and the peril of games, resolving to make a game that lets players experience two realities—the lived life and the unlived one.

Reunited, Sadie pitches the concept through Colossal Cave Adventure’s Xyzzy: not teleporting places but switching worlds. She and Sam map complementary styles and mechanics—one modern, first-person 3D; the other retro, third-person—centered on a girl with hardship who is a hero in the other world.

After an all-nighter, Sam returns home from a grinding promotion tour, where his worsening foot finally bleeds through his shoe. A metal rod has shifted, piercing his skin. Marx discovers the damage and forces a doctor visit. The orthopedist treats an infection, realigns what she can, and warns that amputation is inevitable and delay risks sepsis.

Sam refuses immediate surgery, insisting he must make the new game first and asking Marx not to tell Sadie. Marx argues timing and logistics, but Sam remains adamant, saying he lacks bandwidth for recovery during winter in Massachusetts.

Marx confides in Zoe, who proposes moving the company to Los Angeles to ease Sam’s recovery and give Sadie an exit from Dov. Marx tells Sadie about Sam’s condition; she agrees relocation makes sense. He then pitches L.A. to Sam, adding that Sadie wants to go. Sam agrees for Sadie’s sake. Marx also recalls noticing Sadie’s bruises on a prior trip, which she framed as consensual bondage with Dov, underscoring the strain of that relationship.