[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Boots Season 1.]
In Boots, Marine Sergeant Sullivan (Max Parker) seems to have it out for Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer) throughout boot camp. Cope, who’s already on edge keeping his sexuality a secret in the era before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” doesn’t understand Sullivan’s actions at first. Eventually, he comes to realize that the instructor is actually trying to help him: Sullivan is putting Cope through his paces to ensure that he has what it takes to be a Marine.
It isn’t until towards the end of Season 1 that viewers find out it’s because Sullivan sees his younger self in Cope.