Hal Sanders

Hal Sanders
Portrayed by	Graham Beckel
First appearance	Six Months Ago
In-story stats
Gender
Children	Niki Sanders, Jessica Sanders

Hal Sanders is the father of Nicole and Jessica Sanders, and the grandfather of Micah Sanders.

Character History

Six Months Ago

Hal tracks down his daughter Niki at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Afterwards, he expresses his desire to re-enter Niki and Micah's lives; it is implied that he was a derelict father for a number of years.

Later, Hal comes to visit Niki and D.L. at their house. Hal gives Micah a new laptop as a gift. Niki and D.L. discuss finances, specifically how Micah could use a private education.

Afterwards, Hal goes into Micah's room. There he finds that Micah has taken the case off of the laptop and is poking at its internals. Hal yells at Micah for "breaking" it, telling him it cost $2,000. He gives a blank check to Niki, saying, "I have no business being here ... I owe you more than an apology can ever do". He then storms out of the house.

Later, at his hotel room, Hal lets Niki into his room, but it is soon apparent that her alter-ego Jessica has taken control. Jessica throws Hal against the dresser, bloodying his nose and accusing him of accidentally killing Niki's real-life sister Jessica. Jessica tells Hal that for all the years that Hal has abused her, Niki's personality was never aware; Jessica's personality took all of the hits, and bottled all of the rage. She throws him down on the bed, shoves his gift cheque into his mouth, and leaves.

Trivia

• When Jessica visits Hal in his hotel room, Hal is reading The Sirens of Titan [1] by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. One of the main themes of the book is that "life is governed by accidents rather than the will of divinity; that the concept of "hell" is hideous and wrong; that humans are capable both of great kindness and great depravity; that irony seems to rule the universe with an iron fist." [2] Of particular note is that the book incorporates Tralfamadorians, who utilize time travel.