Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 5: “How the Tess Was Won” – part 2

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LEAP INTO: August 5, 1956

Part 2: We left Sam at the moment he decided to ride Widow-Maker, the ferocious horse who threw him before.

EPISODE 4: HOW THE TESS WAS WON – part 2

Next morning. It’s Sunday. Dawn.

Look at the Andrew Wyeth beauty of this shot. Isn’t it gorgeous?

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Tess and her father are getting ready for church and they look out at the corral, and see Sam there … bringing out Widow-maker, in the early dawn light. Yup. He’s going to go for it. Again. Tess is alarmed. She thought she had won. She had no idea that Doc would take her up on her ridiculous tie-breaker. Meanwhile, Sam – who is full of apprehensions, this horse could kill him – walks into the corral, and finds that Al is there. Naturally, Al is not at all focused on the events at hand – he is still upset about his personal life, and how on earth Tina could leave him for Gushie. How could that happen??? Sam, already wrestling with the horse, has had it with Al. He’s not even listening.

The cowboys are starting to gather around to watch. Tess and Chance approach. Tess looks solemn. The horse isn’t called “widow-maker” for nothing. Sam is nervous. Al finally realizes that something is expected of him … and says, “Do you want me to control the horse?” “Yes, please!” Hilariously, Al leans right into the horse’s head – and starts to chant “Om” right at it. “Ommmmmmmmmmmmm” … “Ommmmmmmmm” … the poor horse stands there, staring right ahead, like: who is this lunatic and why is he moaning right at me? Can’t he back off? tess16.jpg Then comes the big joke of the scene – in the middle of Al’s “Om”s he starts talking to someone back in the future – who has obviously informed him that he has a phone call. At first Al is like, “Can’t you see I’m busy? Ommmmmmm–” But he’s interrupted again. “Take a message, I’m busy! Ommmmmmmmmm—” And finally, he straightens up – because of something he’s told – and says, “It’s who? It’s Tina?” And then, hemming and hawing, and apologizing lamely to Sam – he says, “Yeah … so … uhm … I have to take this call … and …” Sam cries, “Now? You’re taking a call NOW?” Al doesn’t care … “Yeah … uhm … I’ll be right back … just hang on tight, Sam … hang on to the horse … uhm ….” He rips open a door in the atmosphere and promptly disappears – back to his all-encompassing personal life, leaving Sam abandoned on top of the fierce Widow-Maker – who, now that the “Om”s have stopped, goes batshit crazy – bucking rearing, galloping, skidding, doing whatever he can to throw this stupid rider off of him.

The cowboys watching all shout encouragement, totally into it … but Tess stands there in her Sunday best, anxious. But this time, Sam isn’t thrown. He hangs on. tess17.jpgMaybe because now he’s invested, maybe because now – after their dance – he realizes that he likes her. He likes her enough to compete with a free and open spirit. He’s invested in it for Doc – because, after all, he’s read Doc’s diary and knows that Doc is in a serious state of unrequited love for this difficult woman. But he’s invested in it for himself, too. He has feelings for this woman. And he is damned if this stupid horse is going to stay in his way. And whaddya know, eventually – after the ride of his life – Widow-Maker calms down, and submits to Sam’s guidance. Widow-Maker gives up. “Okay. You the boss. I got it.” The cowboys watching all break into applause, cheering like crazy. All except for Wayne and Tess. This was the tie-breaker. Sam won. Wayne looks down and away, alone with his own thoughts. And Tess is ramrod straight, trembling with nervousness and strain. So. Okay. She will have to eat her own words now. And marry Doc. tess19.jpg

But then comes Sam’s best moment. Ahhhhh, it’s so satisfying!

He gets off the horse, and starts for his jeep. Chance intercepts him and holds out his hand, saying, “Welcome to the family, Doc.” Sam doesn’t shake Chance’s hand. Says, flatly, with great dignity, “No, thanks. I wanted to see if I could ride him. Not her.” And gets in the jeep and drives off. GO SAM! Now it wouldn’t be good if every woman were treated like that – but Tess needs to be taken down a peg. Otherwise she will make any man in her life totally miserable. (Like Spencer Tracy making that famous comment to Hepburn: “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll cut you down to size.” when she joked that she was taller than him. Hepburn was a Tess-like character (at least in the movies), almost like Widow-Maker in her wildness – someone needed to have the patience to tame her.) Sam’s action came as a surprise to me the first time I saw the episode. I didn’t see it coming. It throws everyone into a tizzy. Doc? Sweet submissive Doc? Saying “no”? Driving away? Wow. Tess is absolutely stunned. Humiliated.

Then comes a wonderful scene – between Tess and Chance (it’s my favorite scene in the episode). tess20.jpgThere’s a tenderness here – even though Tess is a grown woman, and a feisty woman – she’s also Chance’s daughter – and he takes the moment as an opportunity to teach her something. With gentleness and love. Tess is embarrassed that everyone is laughing at her. I love how Chance replies, “Nobody’s laughin’, Tess.” Love him for that. He tells her to go after him. She balks at this – how humiliating – to chase after a man. Chance is having none of her excuses. “Don’t you have to chase down calves to brand them? The chase is part of it, Tess – now go after him and fight for him.” I love the scene – it’s played beautifully by both actors.

Tess does go after Doc. She barges in on him. Finally, to explain himself – he hands over Doc’s diary, wondering if it’s the right choice – he’s not sure. He hopes Doc, the real Doc, will forgive him when the time comes.

This scene – this last scene between Tess and Doc – is perfectly written. You want to see a well-crafted television scene? A perfect example of what to do, and how to write? You’d do worse than to look at this particular scene. It’s where things are resolved, yes – which can often have a too-simplistic feel to it in your basic one-hour TV show … but here: the writer (Deborah Arakelian, by the way) stays in the world of the characters … it’s still about these two people, and how THEY will resolve. It’s just perfectly done, and perfectly played.

Sam is fed up with being treated like shit by her. He thinks Doc deserves better. Tess is scared. This is it, this is love. Is she ready? So when Sam finally just hands over the diary, it’s the end of the road for him. No going back from that choice. He turns away from her, and stares out the window – as she, quietly, in awe, almost fear, flips through the journal, reading, realizing … that Doc has loved her for years. How could she have missed it? tess21.jpgShe looks over at Doc as though she has never seen him before. Love is a new experience for her, she hasn’t recognized any of the signs.

Sam doesn’t turn around to look at her. And with his back to us, we get a voiceover. It tears at my heart, have to admit. Without naming “God”, you can tell who he is talking to. “This isn’t fair, you know. You can’t expect me to do this and not get involved. So if Tess falls in love with Doc, I’d appreciate it if you’d just leap me out of here as soon as possible.” Oh, Sam. No. It isn’t fair. You are right. He can’t bear it. If Tess chooses Doc, then that means he will leap – and not be able to experience what it would be like to be in the fullness of love with this woman – and that’s a thought he can’t stand. Sam Becket only gets to experience the struggle. He doesn’t ever get to stick around for the good stuff. And no. That is not fair. I feel ya, dawg.

Tess, having had her heart and eyes opened by Doc’s journal, asks if they can dance again. Sam accepts. It’s almost too much for him now, though. To touch her. Knowing that his time here is so short. Tess has other things on her mind. As they dance she says, “Riata’s in my blood. I can’t just give her up.” Sam says, “Nobody’s asking you to.” Tess protests, “If I marry you, all the men will look to you, after Chance is gone.” Sam asks, “Couldn’t we run it together?” Tess looks up at him as though he is now speaking a foreign language. “Together?” And now – Sam can’t help it – leans in to kiss her – and this time Tess accepts the kiss. It’s probably her first kiss. Her eyes remain open and vaguely alarmed the entire time. Ha. I love her character.

But then comes the final wrench into the entire leap.

From outside the house, we suddenly hear Wayne’s shouting voice, “ARE YOU GONNA MARRY DOC, TESS? I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE. ARE YOU GONNA MARRY HIM?” The kiss breaks up. What is happening now? tess22.jpgTess goes outside, and sees Wayne standing there – all dressed up now – bolo tie, hat, gleaming horse beside him – It is Wayne’s moment. His moment to (finally) declare himself. Tess is pissed – “What are you doing here, Wayne??” (She still doesn’t “get it”, does she.) Wayne, standing still and strong and stiff, confesses that he’s worked at Riata all these years (for shit wages) only because of her – and because “someday I hoped I’d rope you.”

It was in that particular moment when I first realized: You know what? It’s WAYNE who’s really her “mate”, her “one” – not Doc. Beautiful set-up of the entire episode, I think. You root for Doc, you think Wayne is the competition – but at the end, you switch … and you see what Tess hasn’t seen, what Sam hasn’t seen (because he was falling for Tess himself) – and you see Wayne, in all his awkward cowboy glory – and you see true love shining awkwardly out of his face. How could we have missed it? He can’t express himself well, so suddenly – he pulls out a packet of letters – and says, “I’ve been writing you letters all this time ….” Sam, standing on the porch, still hopeful that “he” will win, deflates visibly. The letters. The letters that Ziggy and Al told him about. Can’t fight fate. Tess takes the letters – and the expression on her face pretty much says it all. She doesn’t look at Wayne the way she looked at Doc – with a curious and almost wondrous look. No. She looks at Wayne like a high school girl psyched – PSYCHED – that her crush-boy has FINALLY asked her to dance. We’ve never seen Tess look like that. Sam knows he’s licked.

tess24.jpgBut Tess still wants to read the letters from Wayne – to compare and contrast them to Doc’s diary – so the three of them sit in Doc’s parlor (notice the set design – doesn’t it feel like such a REAL room??) Tess puts down the last letter. The air trembles between the three competitors. Tess stands and asks Doc if it would be all right if she danced with Wayne. She just wants to see what it would be like. Wayne is as awkward as Tess was in the first dancing scene – he says (and you just love him, suddenly): “I don’t know how to dance, Tess.” She puts her arms around him and says, in her guileless simple way, “That’s okay. I’ll lead.” Wayne nods – like that would be okay with him – and they awkwardly step touch step touch together – smiling shyly like two adolescents – and Sam steps back, watching, letting his heart break just a little bit. That’s all part of his job. He couldn’t do his job properly and not get involved. And I guess that’s true for all of us in life, although it’s sometimes hard to live by those rules. All that is really required of us while we are here on this planet is that we are involved. Bah. I can’t deal with that.

In the next scene, Sam is still Doc – he’s all dressed up – and feeding the small pig who, by now, is almost full-grown. We also learn that he is to be the best man at Tess and Wayne’s wedding – which is that day – So I am assuming that Tess and Wayne did not have a long engagement – right? Sam wouldn’t hang around for months? Or maybe he would. Al has now, at the 11th hour, shown up. Sam is still pissed at Al for abandoning him with Widow-maker and Al tries to defend himself, telling him he HAD to take that call – it was Tina telling him that she had only had an affair with Gushie to make Al jealous! So now, yay, Al was back together with Tina! He HAD to take that call. During this scene, you can hear the still-nameless kid with thick glasses playing his guitar out on the porch … and it starts, slowly, underneath the scene, to be a tune that we, finally, recognize.

Sam is pissed at Al for not being there. And Sam is also pissed because – the whole leap has gotten him down. He didn’t mean to fall for Tess, but like he said to God/fate/time – he did … and now he has to stand by and watch her marry another man, and that just sucks.

tess26.jpgNow comes the long-deferred mirror moment. I can’t think of another time in the series when a mirror-moment comes at the END of the episode as opposed to the beginning – but it packs such a nice punch here, for multiple reasons. First of all, Scott Bakula is a stud. He’s a tall, handsome guy with a great body, who is pretty much unambiguously male. A hunk. Things are different on this earth for the studs (whether they are nice people or not). The best thing about Sam Beckett is that he seems pretty much unaware of his studly qualities – it’s a lucky accident, and he has done a ton of work to develop his mind, etc. But still – Al knows that Sam is a “catch”, a guy who catches women’s eyes easily – Sam grew up with that. He might not even be aware of it. But the reality is – life is easier for Sam because of his lucky genetics. So Al gestures to Sam, “Come here … I want you to see something.” He points at the hall mirror, and slowly Sam walks over to look at his reflection. And for the first time, we see what Doc looks like. And he’s not a big strapping stud. He’s a lean scrawny fellow, with glasses, and when he takes off his hat, we see the bald back of his head and his thin hair. All through the episode, seeing Sam ride and rope and brand and pound posts – it has been vaguely plausible that he would succeed at all of these things, eventually – because we haven’t had the image of who Doc really is – we just see Scott Bakula. But to see scrawny nerd-man in the mirror, and to picture him braving Widow-Maker is a truly moving moment. Al says quietly (and bless Stockwell – he just knows how to play a moment), “You had a lot to overcome, Sam.” Sam’s demeanor changes when he sees the reflection. He grins at himself. He’s proud. Proud of Doc for “going for it” – even though he didn’t win.

tess27.jpgSam and Al stroll out onto the porch, into the sunlight. The nameless kid is still singing. The pig strolls by. The nameless kid sees it, and, naturally, incorporates it into the song – which, as I said, we are slowly starting to recognize. “Piggy Sue … oh, Piggy Sue …” Sam and Al don’t notice yet, they stroll into the yard – wondering when Sam will leap. They think it’s the ‘I do’ moment – that makes the most sense … but slowly, slowly, they start to hear the song come forward, and the nameless kid – who, up until this moment in the episode, has just been dawdling on the strings, nothing real emerging – starts to really sing, and really play. He’s onto something, he can feel it:

Piggy Sue, Piggy Sue,
Oh, how my heart yearns for you.
Oh, Piggy, my Piggy Sue,
Well, I love you girl.
Yes, I love you, Piggy Sue …

tess28.jpg Sam and Al are stopped in their tracks. Nobody moves. Nobody speaks. Slowly, the two men turn back to stare at the nameless kid on the porch, the kid who has always looked totally familiar. And now, naturally, we know where we have seen him before. But still. Nobody speaks. Al grins. A beautiful silent moment. Al glances at Sam and says, reading his friend’s mind, “Why don’t you give it a try?” Sam takes his final leap, and calls out to the kid, taking a chance, “Buddy?” Buddy Holly stops playing, glances up and says, “Yeah, Doc?” (Goosebump moment. Huge payoff.) Sam bumbles, a bit starstruck, you can tell – “Why don’t you try Peggy Sue, instead of Piggy Sue … I don’t know … I think it might sound better.” Buddy considers this a moment, likes the idea, says, “Okay, Doc!” and launches right back in, playing and singing now with certainty – the rock star is born in that moment.

Al and Sam stand back, watching, grinning, a bit stunned by the whole thing … and I just want to take a moment to revel in the two faces of these actors. Now I know a lot of good-looking interesting people, some of whom I think should be famous. But I look at these two, and I just feel glad – so so glad – that they “made it”, that this series exists – and that it worked out for them – because I think they’re both beautiful, and I love “visiting” the both of them whenever I want to, by popping in an episode of Quantum Leap.

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Aren’t they awesome?

Al, because he knows everything, realizes before Sam does – that it was THIS moment that God/Fate/Time/Whatever was waiting for … not the “I do” moment … Sam had one last thing to do here, and that was identifying Buddy Holly and giving him a crucial suggestion … and now, now … he will leap. Al turns to Sam and waves bye-bye – just as Sam shivers into blue lightning and disappears ….

… and wakes up, half naked, lying on his back in some dingy attic room … and a breathless woman is standing over him, hurriedly putting on her pumps, saying, in a thick Long Island accent, “Thanks, Frankie. That was terrific. If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’.” And she clacks out … leaving him alone … looking around him … he’s wearing a pink tuxedo shirt … and he’s obviously just had sex with that woman … Tess and the west of the 1950s is long gone … so … where is he now … what has he just done …

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Oh, boy!!!

Quantum Leap recaps
Overview
Season 1, Ep. 1: Genesis – part 1 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 1: Genesis – part 2 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 1: Genesis – part 3 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 3: Star-Crossed – part 1 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 3: Star-Crossed – part 2 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 4: The Right Hand Of God

Tommy’s posts:
Quantum Leap: an overview
Episode 1: Genesis
Episode 2: Star-crossed

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9 Responses to Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 5: “How the Tess Was Won” – part 2

  1. Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 4: “How the Tess Was Won” – Part 1

    LEAP INTO: August 5, 1956 Tess: If there’s a man on this ranch who can keep up with me for one week – I’ll marry him. Sam Beckett leaps out of boxer Kid Cody in the 1970s and into…

  2. nightfly says:

    You’ll think I’m lying, but I guessed “Buddy Holly” because of the glasses. Great recap as always!

  3. Cullen says:

    I so look forward to these. This was fantastic as always. This one of those episodes that I don’t remember very well. Guess they don’t reply it often on SciFi, but your recap really makes me want to see it again.

    And I’m with ‘Fly, I thought the kid was Buddy Holly as well. ‘Course, I’m probably just remembering it from when I first saw it.

  4. red says:

    I’m slow with stuff like that. It had a great payoff for me – because I didn’t guess. I suppose if I had guessed, it might have been a bit tiresome, the whole “what is that kid’s name” joke, etc.

    But when you hear him start to play – and Sam and Al turn back – it was so funny! Like: DUH, that’s who that kid is!!

    Glad you guys like!! As always, I have a lot of fun doing these – even though they take me forever!

  5. red says:

    Cullen – just out of curiosity, which episodes do they re-run a lot? Do they ever run them all, consecutively? Or are there a few favorites that they choose all the time? From later seasons, maybe – when things got a bit more intense?

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