“Lee Harvey Oswald,” Quantum Leap Season 5 Episodes 1 and 2. You can’t really get away with this in non-science fiction shows. The twist in this particular story was similar to many other episodes of the show - Sam isn’t really there to save who he thinks he’s there to save - but, the twist relies on a change of context rather than a story turn. This is easily the most over-the-top example of the way a Quantum Leap storyline can go, but it’s a great way to think about the series. After several red herrings, the ultimate solution is (spoiler alert!) that Sam is there to prevent the death of Jackie Kennedy, who, in the alternate universe everyone is apparently living in, was also shot along with JFK. In the first part of this episode, Sam grapples with his mind being taken over by Oswald, as well as the idea that perhaps he wasn’t sent to this time period to prevent anything, but instead to figure out if Oswald really was the lone gunman. The best example of this is probably contained in the show’s most proactive episode, “Lee Harvey Oswald,” a two-parter in which Sam leaps into, you guessed it, Lee Harvey Oswald. Al frequently only has just enough data to get help Sam figure out what he’s maybe supposed to “fix,” but not enough info to tell him how to do it. This notion is loosely defined, which is narratively super-convenient. Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell - the greatest sci-fi TV duo.ever? NBCĮach episode of Quantum Leap creates a ticking clock plotline in which Sam is supposed to correct something that was previously wrong with the timeline. His essential mission - which is ill-defined - is to “set right what once went wrong” - but what that means exactly is relatively opaque until the end of each episode. Despite the fact that Al is assisted by a super-computer named “Ziggy,” there’s never a clear path for what Sam is supposed to do. Every episode begins with Sam trying to acclimate to his new body, while Al tells him the stakes. Once Sam shows up in one of these bodies, a holographic projection from his associate Al (Dean Stockwell) advises him on what he’s supposed to accomplish in whatever historical period he’s found himself in.īasically, Quantum Leap is a paint-by-numbers science fiction drama. As stated in the voice-over, Sam Beckett “stepped into the quantum leap accelerator and vanished.” The premise of the series is that his consciousness is transferred into various people’s bodies - regardless of gender - throughout time. Trying to figure out the actual sci-fi rules of Quantum Leap is a bad idea.
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