The Sheila Variations

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 "Doc" Daniel Young, a vet on a huge Texas ranch in the 1950s. He leaps into a muddy moment in a corral, where he is in the midst of wrestling with a squealing unhappy piglet.

(Had to break this one up into a two-parter! Here's part 1! Part 2 is below this post)

EPISODE 4: HOW THE TESS WAS WON - Part 1

As with any hour-long television show (especially one such as Quantum Leap - which is not really cumulative, and each episode has its own world and story and characters) - the writing has to be really efficient. Get to it. Don't dilly-dally. Who - what - where - why - when. GO. "How the Tess Was Won" starts, as I said, with Sam holding a squealing pig in a muddy paddock. Naturally he doesn't know who he is, where he is ... so every episode is a game of catch-up, for him (the script of this episode addresses explicitly some of the questions I've always had - like: how does he know where his character lives? What do you do when a character who obviously knows you, and knows you well, does not reveal his name to you? How do you get him to say it? Or someone else to say it? How do you "act like" you are this guy and you know your way around your own life?) But on a larger level, the writers of Quantum Leap, I think, were truly expert in this regard - because, in a way, we all, as viewers, were Sam - with each episode. He's our way in. We are as baffled as he is. We look around us at the new landscape - just 2 seconds ago we were in a boxing ring in Sacramento ... and now ... well, this ain't Sacramento no more. The writers waste no time in helping us out. It's efficient - but rarely simplistic! Quantum Leap was different from other series in that every episode needed a tiny bit of exposition. We almost start from scratch, each time. There aren't the same old characters that we can get comfortable with ... no. We are introduced to a new batch of people each time.

In "How The Tess Was Won", we become immediately aware that an argument is going on between a man and a woman on the outskirts of the muddy area Sam is in. We get their names: Tess. Chance. But then Chance says something about, "Your mother, God rest her soul ... she would have raised you right ..." and you realize that Chance is her father. She just calls him by his first name (which is so hysterical and perfect once you get to know Tess better. Of course she wouldn't call him "Dad", which would imply that, in some way, he was better than her ... because HE WAS A MAN!) In this short exchange we learn everything: Tess is played by the spunky and not-quite-beautiful-but-awful-darn-cute Kari Lizer. She's got wild blonde hair, she wears no makeup, chaps, denim shirts, and when she gets dressed up for church later, she looks like an alien in human clothing. Tess wearing a sun hat and a pretty Sunday dress? No. She's a fierce tomboy. Perfectly cast. (She's an interesting actress. She's become a successful television producer as well, nominated for 4 Emmys for Will & Grace).

So in the first 30 seconds of this episode we learn that:

-- Tess is the owner of Riata - a 50,000 acre ranch in Texas. Or - she's an heiress, let's say that. When Chance dies, it will go to her.

-- Tess refuses to get married. Chance pleads with her. She is ornery. He is afraid that the ranch will be too much for her on her own. She bristles at that. She's yelling and carrying on. Chance is patient, reasonable - in the face of her freak-out.

-- Tess hates even the IDEA that she has to be married in order to be a legitimate ranch owner. It certainly wouldn't be the case if she were a MAN. So no. She will not act "like a mare" ... she will live her life as though she was a man. "I never was much for sashaying and swooning," she declares.

-- Chance says the line about Tess' mother. Says, "She'd have made a woman out of you, and not a cowboy." Tess fires back, "Why can't I be both?" Chance roars, "It ain't natural!"

-- Besides - who would she marry? She waves her hands at all the staring cowhands - and by the tone of her voice, we can tell that while they may be good cowboys, they are no great shakes as potential husbands. She says to Chance, "Any man I marry has to be more of a man than I am." She is convinced that no one on the ranch can out-ride, out-brand, out-rope, out-anything her. And you know what? She's probably right. Then she makes her fateful statement to Chance, "If there's one man on this ranch who can keep up with me for a week, I'll marry him." Uh-oh, Tess. You can't go back on that now! A REAL man can't take back a promise! Chance takes her up on the challenge and tells her to pick a man for the contest. Just to be ornery probably, because she doesn't really want to get married (although, at the end, there's a bit of a twist in our understanding of her emotional life - which is really nice, handled really well) - she points her finger at poor bewildered muddy Sam, still holding the pig, and states, "Doc."

This causes a brou-haha. There's one particular cowboy who seems bummed about it (he's played by the wonderful and handsome Marshall Teague - still working constantly - he's fantastic) - but you know, they're all cowboys. They play their cards close to the chest.

Sam, not quite realizing yet what he has gotten himself into, remains oblivious and, well, frightened of the pigs around him. He's NOT a vet. He doesn't know what the hell he is supposed to be doing with these pigs. It becomes obvious that Doc is treated with bemused tolerance by the cowboys. He's a creature of fun to them, but they aren't mean. I'm reading the Master & Commander series now - and it reminds me a bit of the way Dr. Maturin is treated by the sailors - when he asks questions, or how he climbs the ladder into the boat - it totally reveals that he doesn't know anything about sea life - and they laugh at him, and condescend to him, but they also have great fondness for him. They love him. It's a similar dynamic here.

Sam, who always has that dual struggle going on (how do I "act like" I'm this man - whoever he is, and also "what am I here to do so I can just DO IT and then LEAP") - agrees to the contest, without really understanding what he is agreeing to. He's afraid to make any big moves, or (to use improv terminology) "say No" to anything - he's in the middle of a perpetual improv game, where he must always "say Yes" (Mick Napier notwithstanding) and then figure it out later.

Sam agrees to the ridiculous contest and then gets into the nearby jeep (how does he know it's his??) and drives off. Now, regardless of whether or not we ask the question: How does he know which way to drive?? - I just have to point out (for the 100th time in this Quantum Leap series) - the superior quality of the production design and the cinematography. This is high-end stuff, the series looks really high-end to me - like a mini-movie every week. The cinematographer and the director had Sam get into his rickety jeep and drive off, through this spectacular pioneer wilderness - and we get a long shot of the jeep, with the dust rising behind it - and suddenly, like a miracle, a flock of birds rises, something we had not discerned before (there were birds there?) - and their launching into flight, as one, is just a beautiful effect - accidental, of course, to some degree (one cannot control a flock of birds) - and I don't know how they "planned" that accident to happen - but however it occurred, I am truly glad it did. Because look at it. It's just beautiful.

Moments like that is what elevated this series into something quite special. The acting of the two leads did so as well, but their work was greatly served by the specificity and beauty of the design around them. All hands on deck for a big round of applause. Television is a collaboration. Shots like that are the result.

Now comes the bit where we get, really, the first voiceover from Sam where he tells us what it is like for him, during these leaps - how does he find his way home? In this case, he has remembered his last name, and that he is a vet, and so he sees a mailbox labeled Young DVM - and he knows - Okay. I live here.

When he arrives at his house, there's a young man, maybe 15 or 16 years old, sitting on his front porch, strumming a guitar. I have to say, he looks vaguely familiar. This is the set-up for one of the most famous "Kisses with History" that Quantum Leap had - and, for my taste, the most successful. In my experience, many of the brushes with actual historical events in Quantum Leap, take away from the actual STORY. I'm not wacky about a lot of them. They seem unnecessary. I can see how it would be hard to resist - but many times, you don't need it. The fact that Sam has jumped in time is enough weirdness, you don't need to add to it - by having him inadvertently cause the Watergate break-in by leaving a door unlocked (and etc. etc.) The "Kisses With History" did evolve, as the show went on - "How the Tess Was Won" was in the first season, after all, when they were still finding their way ... and many of the later episodes in later seasons either have no Kisses With History - or they go right for the jugular, like having Sam leap into Lee Harvey Oswald - which is FAR more compelling, I think. I mean, how many of us haven't thought: Man, if I ran into Mohammad Atta in a dark alley on Sept. 10, 2001, and I knew what he was going to do the next day ... would I kill him?? Or: If I met a lonely Viennese painter named Adolf Hitler in the 1920s and I knew what he was going to do - would I have the courage to just stab him in his sleep? And etc. So that particular Quantum Leap episode (which is a two-parter, if I recall correctly), dives straight into those very human questions - and looks at it, struggles with it, ponders it. That, to me, was very effective. Many of the other "Kisses With History" just felt like tricks. Cheap, in a sense.

But - to make myself clear - I REALLY like the one in "How The Tess Was Won". It's set up as an ongoing joke through the entire episode: what the heck is the name of that boy with the coke-bottle glasses who plays guitar on my porch every day? Why doesn't anyone tell me HIS NAME? And so the payoff at the end is fantastic. It really works.

The kid on the porch is not playing a song we recognize. He's just messing around - and the joke is made clear from the first scene: he sings about whatever he sees at that moment. A chicken walks by, the chicken makes it into the song, etc. He's not really writing songs yet - and again, this will pay off hugely in the last moment of the episode.

Sam gets out of the jeep, muddy, holding the little pig that he is supposed to somehow diagnose - and struggles up the steps, feeling awkward because the kid is talking to him ("I watered the animals - what's wrong with that pig?") - and he doesn't know the kid's name. The kid gets up to leave - and Sam stands there, like a dope, saying, 'So long" - knowing it's awkward that he wouldn't say "So long ________ [whatever your name is, kid"]. As the kid drives off, poor Sam looks up at the sky and says, "Couldn't you provide people with name tags?" A jokey reference to God - (or "fate, or time, or whatever" - they openly acknowledge from the first episode of this series that Sam is NOT in charge of his own leaping - that Al and Ziggy have no idea where he will go next - and that "someone else" seems to be in charge. And you'd have to have seen the entire series all the way to the last episode to get the TRUE payoff of this ongoing theme. That last episode is killer - and it's particularly strange becuase they didn't know it was going to be the last episode when they filmed it. But God, what a perfect perfect way to end this series! But I'll get to that episode when I get to it. In about 2011, at the rate I'm going.)

Al makes his appearance at this moment. He appears on the porch beside Sam, and instead of getting right to business - instead of talking about the leap, and where Sam is, and what Sam is here to do - Al seems more concerned with talking about Tina's tattoo (his girlfriend) - and he has an odd, almost suspicious, air to him. He wants to know if Sam ever saw Tina's tattoo. "But no, you wouldn't have, would you. Because it's on a very private part of her anatomy." Al still seems concerned, though. His main question here is: "Sam. Did you ever see Tina's tattoo???" Which is just so hysterical. Who CARES, Al? You're in the middle of one of the greatest experiments that man has ever known - your friend is leaping through time - and whenever you show up, you start babbling about your personal life back in the future. It is SO funny. And, to my taste, it is THE key to the success of this series. There are many other elements that went in to making it a success - but Al's general vibe of.... irritation at being interrupted from his complicated and eternal domestic dramas ... is such a nice touch. And they kept it going, without making it too much of "a bit". Al is not a do-gooder. Sam is way more of a do-gooder than Al is (although we will find out more about Al as the series goes on). If Al showed up as a passionate do-gooder, the series would have been insufferable. It wouldn't have had the humor it did. And Sam's constant frustration with his friend - like: why on earth is he grilling me about Tina's tattoo when there are other more important issues at hand: like: WHO AM I? WHERE AM I? WHAT WAS THAT KID'S NAME? WHAT IS THIS CONTEST I'VE AGREED TO? - is so funny. The series, in its essence, is about the relationship between these two men. And thank God for it. It grounds the entire enterprise. Aren't the two of them just so watchable together? They have a great dynamic. So back to our episode. Al stands there, as Sam gets out of his muddy pants - on the porch - and Al is acting very strange. (Or, stranger than usual). He seems to feel that Sam has somehow moved in on Tina. Which is totally retarded because Sam is trapped in the past - how on earth could he have made a move on Tina and seen her intimate tattoo? But Al is obsessed. Sam is exasperated and tells Sam that he barely remembers Tina at all - remember that whole "swiss cheese" brain thing? Al relents a bit and then confesses - and there is this funny exchange - which might not seem funny in just the lines themselves - but watch how these two actors play it!!:

Sam: Tina's cheating on you?
Al: Can you believe it?
Sam: It boggles the mind.

Sounds pretty straightforward - but Dean Stockwell and Scott Bakula add layers upon layers to each of their lines - it's a comedy slam-dunk. Al, as usual, is obviously not faithful to Tina (the girlfriend) - which he confesses openly. "At the Christmas party when I took Samantha into the stockroom ....... to .... exchange Christmas presents ...... someone made a move on Tina ..." So, you know, Al doesn't really have a leg to stand on. (Once we know Al's backstory, about the wife he lost, all of these romantic dramas take on a totally poignant aspect - which is rather phenomenal if you think about it. The man is a dog. A DOG. He leads with his cock. But what might be behind that behavior? What is really going on with Al? But I'm already quantum-leaping ahead of myself. All we know now, in Episode 4, is that Al is lecherous, and also kind of has a double-standard: HE can cheat ... but Tina? How DARE she cheat on him?? He's kind of a fragile personality, for all his tough cigar-chomping military-hero brou-haha. I love him. He's totally lovable.)

Sam wanders around Doc's house (oh, and let's notice that there is NOT a "mirror moment" - at least not when we expect there to be one - usually Sam rushes right to a mirror to see what he looks like as this new character - this doesn't happen in "How the Tess Was Won" - Sam is too consumed with trying to cure the pig, and trying to gear up for this cowboy contest thing that's going to happen ... When the mirror moment comes, at the very end, it packs a really nice punch - but I'll talk about that when I get to it.)

There's an office to the side - filled with caged animals - raccoons, bunnies, whatever - Sam goes to the desk (still holding the baby pig, let's remember) and starts trying to diagnose the animal. Al, in his ridiculous spats-like shoes, strolls around the cages, and all of the animals can see him - it is clear, from their responses to him. So animals perceive him. We learn in later episodes that very young children can see him, too. A nice touch, a nice comment on the open-ness and accessibility of children - they don't question it, they see a hologram and think, "Whatever. Who is that nice man with the cigar?"

A quick thing about this scene: Sam rummages around in the fridge, and takes out a baby bottle full of milk - asks Al, over his shoulder, "Do pigs like milk?" Al answers immediately, "They adore it!" Then in a couple of seconds, Sam says, "I wonder what's the matter with him" (meaning: the pig), and Al says, browsing thru the animal cages, "That's a girl pig, Sam." Sam starts to peek between the pig's legs and Al says, exasperated, "Would you please just trust me, Sam?"

Okay, so all of this just makes me laugh. I love how, in this series, Al knows a little bit about everything. You know, pigs like milk. Also, that's obviously a girl pig. But it comes up again and again. Sam shows up in some unfamiliar situation, and Al begins to pontificate, "Yeah, I spent a summer with the circus ... so here's how it works ..." It's a kind of a "bit", not completely realistic - how could one man have had so many different experiences?? - but it totally works. Don't you know people like that? (People who AREN'T obnoxious know-it-alls, I mean - which Al definitely is not). Some people who know "a little bit about everything" like to lord it over other people, and pass themselves off as experts. I can think of some bloggers who fit into this category! But Al isn't like that. He's a man who's lived a full and a diverse life - but even more than that (and this is why, I think, Al is such a sympathetic character - who we don't just admire, but love): there is nothing on earth that Al is not curious about. NOTHING. He may have a skeptical manner, he may get easily distracted by tits and ass, he may have closed off great sections of himself because of the losses he has sustained - but he still remains curious about all of the wonderful and scary and interesting things that life has to offer. It's an awesome quality. Reminds me of the comment Sylvia Beach made about James Joyce: "He told me he had never met a bore." Now it takes a really open mind to look at the rest of the human race that way, to truly experience other people as real, and fascinating (even if they're assholes. Realize that James Joyce did not say "he had never met an asshole". No. He said "he had never met a bore". Even ASSHOLES are interesting). One of my pet peeves in life are people who are "over it". People who are perpetually bored - because they have "been there, done that, seen that". I have cut such people out of my life - because I know a couple - I cannot bear that attitude. I experience it as actually toxic, or harmful to my own equilibrium. Anyway, that's neither here nor there - I'm just expressing what it is about Al that I find so admirable, and lovable. His inability to be UN-interested in things. Even when he's not interested in the leap in question, he's always interested in his own personal life. He is always engaged. And that, my God, is a quality I wish I could bottle, and sell to others. Beautiful, isn't it? Dean Stockwell embodies it perfectly.

Sam tries to get Al to focus. And you can tell that Al hasn't even thought about the leap. He hasn't run any numbers. He hasn't pondered why Sam has landed in Texas, and not somewhere else. Al has shown up here basically to confide in Sam his fears about Tina's infidelity. hahahaha So Sam, feeding the pig milk, asks, "Why am I here, Al?" Al snaps back to business, "Oh ... right ... uhm ... let me look at the numbers ..." Al says that there is a 72% chance that Sam is here to cure the pig. Sam doesn't think that's it. He says, "I thought I was here to marry Tess." Al looks confused - who the heck is Tess? How can I be expected to keep all these characters straight when my own personal life is so all-consuming?? Al hasn't even run any numbers on Tess. So he starts to do so - with his trusty hand-set thing (I love how he has to give it a good whack on the side on occasion, in order to jolt it back into commission).

Sam, sitting at the desk, comes across a huge scrapbook, and starts to look through it. He is stunned at what he finds. It's a scrapbook devoted to Tess. Pictures, clippings, piles of memorabilia. There's a notebook, too - a diary. Sam wrestles with himself a bit about whether or not to read it - it seems like an invasion of privacy. But Al says, "You ARE Doc, Sam ... read the diary." So it turns out that Doc Young has been pouring out his heart into his diary for years - about his love for Tess. He has loved her for years, ever since the first moment he saw her. He confides in the diary that he is "still dumbstruck by her presence". Al, re-checking the numbers as Sam reads out loud, says that there is now a 97% chance that "someone who's been sending her love letters will marry her". Sam is nervous about the prospect of having a romance, you can tell - it's too much pressure - so he says, "Well, that's good, right? This is a diary - not love letters!" Al says, with conviction, "Sam. You are here to marry this cowboy. Boy-girl. Cowgirl. Girl."

Now please. When you watch the episode, please just watch how Dean Stockwell manages that ridiculous line. It's SO funny and SO real. He doesn't know WHAT to call Tess - so he goes through every single variation - until finally just landing on "Girl". Well done, sir. That's not an easy line to make not only real but also funny.

So the next day, poor Sam shows up for the first day of the week-long contest between himself and Tess. He is apprehensive ... and he also isn't sure of what the outcome here should be. Should he try to win? Is that the right thing? Is Doc supposed to marry Tess? Has Doc been writing and sending her love letters? Is he "the one"? Or not? But then there's the flat-out fact that Sam is not a cowboy, never has been a cowboy, has never roped a calf, has never ridden a bucking bronco, and has no idea what he's doing. So the prospect of him winning is slim in any case. But Sam is still rather grim and serious when he shows up at the corral the next day. Tess is also grim, but that's because she's a tough mo-fo, and is not in the mood to be generous. She's a competitor. Will Doc keep up with her or no?

The first contest is riding a notorious wild horse - whose name, portentously, is Widow-Maker. Tess is the only rider on the ranch who can handle Widow-Maker. And now Sam has to climb on and try to stay on. He can't even get the bridle in the horse's mouth - it's too difficult - so Wayne, in a seemingly generous gesture, comes over and helps Sam with the bridle. A nervous voiceover commences as Sam gently gets on the horse - he is trying to recall all of the things his father had taught him about horses (remember: Sam did grow up on a farm ... he probably doesn't remember all of that himself, due to the swiss-cheesing ... but some of it is coming back) ... He thinks he'll be okay if he keeps his father's advice in his mind. Look the horse in the eye. Let the horse know who's boss. Get on gently. Blah blah blah. Of course the second Sam settles onto the horse - the horse goes absolutely apeshit. All the cowboys have crowded around to watch, along with Tess and Chance - and they stand back, laughing hysterically, watching the horse buck and rear and fling itself about - with poor "Doc" hanging on for dear life. Finally, the inevitable happens.

Now - Wayne, the cowboy I mentioned earlier, treats Doc with the requisite kindness - helps him bridle the horse, etc. - but gradually, over the first brutal day of this contest - we start to realize that something else might be going on with him. He never steps up and says, "I love Tess, you jagoff". Maybe he has too much pride for that. Maybe he's afraid of Tess a little bit (aren't they all?) Maybe he thinks: "Hey, man, if she didn't choose ME for this contest, then she can HAVE the stupid Doc if she wants him ..." But at the same time, during the next challenges (roping, branding) - Wayne gives Sam some advice about roping - and it comes off as totally helpful - "Okay, so here's what you need to do ..." Off Sam goes, keeping Wayne's words in mind - but it turns out that Wayne left a very important bit of information out of his instructions - and Sam nearly breaks his thumb. Tess starts to see which way the wind is blowing - even though she's been laughing at Doc's struggles all day - and she rides over to Wayne and yells at him. "Wayne - didn't you tell him to so and so?" Wayne, sullen, says, "I guess I forgot to mention that part." Tess is nothing if not FAIR. She wants this contest to be FAIR and she doesn't want to have any "help" given to either side. She's as good as a man - and she can win the contest on her own steam. That seems to be the main thing that is pissing her off about Wayne's subtle interference - what, he doesn't think she can win it all on her own? Because Tess is a bit of a moron (and I mean that in the most loving way) - she doesn't see the undercurrent of what is going on with Wayne. She remains oblivious. She has no experience in matters of the heart, so she can't pick up on the signals. (Funny thing is - by the end of the episode, you can tell that Wayne - handsome and studly though he may be - is ALSO a newbie to this whole love thing ... and, for that matter, so is "Doc". They're all a bunch of love newbies! No wonder why they are all acting like lunatics)

Sam eventually, though, with Chance's help - gets the idea of roping, and he successfully ropes a calf. Not only that but he "punks" Wayne - and does the whole "look at how my thumb is broken" trick - only to show that no, it's not broken at all. All of the cowboys (except Wayne) roar with laughter - it's great to see Doc step up to the plate like this, and everyone loves a good ball-busting joke. Tess loves it, too. It's manly of Doc. She doesn't want a weak man. She wants (and needs) an ALPHA, Goddammit! So it's great to see Doc best Wayne in a moment like that. Wayne doesn't see the humor. And Tess (because she's such a newbie at love) doesn't discern that Wayne is actually the alpha to end all alphas - and in his quiet relentless way, he is ALSO participating in the contest (which supposedly is only between Doc and Tess). He is quiet about it, he's kind of a moron about his own feelings (as we will see later) - but his back is up here, boy ... he can't allow himself to seem TOTALLY mean to Doc, because true alphas aren't mean to those who are weaker ... that's the real mark of an alpha male, by the way. They're so alpha that they can afford to be kind and gentle and fair to those who can't compete at that level. But Wayne is just acting on instinct here. Sam starts to see what's going on before Tess does. And Sam, who is also alpha in his own way (even though Doc might not be) - starts to get his competitive spirit on. He will not let this dumb cowboy run him out of the race.

However. His day of roping and branding and riding has left him battered and filthy. They ride back to the corral through the gathering twilight. Here's another shot - where you gotta give the props to the cinematographer. Bravo. You don't see much on television that looks quite that good.

Once they return to the stable, Tess comes up to Sam - who can barely wait to get home and sink into a hot bath. She tells him that she and Chance and Wayne are heading into town for an important meeting (at a bar, of course) with a potential buyer (a bigwig) of their prize-winning bull. Sam is dismayed. Does he have to come with them before he even takes a bath? Tess is inexorable. "Yup. You have to come now." If you want to get married to me, you better start to learn how the business is run. Sam realizes that the contest is still on, that it will be 24/7 type of contest.

At the bar in town, they sit around a table with the buyer. Now of course business is a subtle thing. You don't get right to the point, you hold your cards close to your chest, you bargain, you bluff. So instead of talking business, they play poker, and drink.

A couple things going on in this scene: you watch how Tess handles the buyer, pouring him a shot, making him feel comfortable, but also letting him know that she is nobody's fool (even though she's a woman). You see that Tess not only can hold her own in ranching matters - but she can drink with the men, too. She drinks, but she doesn't get drunk. She remains cool and clear. There's also a sense of growing tension between Wayne and Sam. Sam doesn't want to drink. Wayne basically tells him to "man up" and pours him the drink anyway. Sam pushes the shot glass away, like: "I said NO." Things are heading for an impasse.

Tess deals the cards. She's getting pissed. Pissed at Wayne and Doc for acting like children. She's also in a scolding mood, saying to Sam, "I ain't marrying no man who can't beat me at poker."

Al appears at this moment. Sam certainly could use Al's help in regards to winning the damn poker game. But Al appears and immediately begins to ruminate nostalgically about how he met Tina "over a poker table in Vegas". Like Sam gives a shit about any of that right now!

Now, a word about Stockwell:

Here is his line here:

"Tina and I met over a poker table in Vegas. I had a flush. She had a pair."

Now that is such a cheap joke - and Stockwell, bless him, goes right for it. (I love cheap jokes.) He says the line in a nostalgic fond tone, as THOUGH he is quoting Rick from Casablanca: "We met in Paris. The Germans wore grey. You wore blue." But no, he's actually saying, "I had a flush. She had a pair." It's so stupid and so funny - Stockwell makes his voice go deep and guttural on 'she had a pair' - and he goes for that double entendre with everything he's worth. It's hilarious. Poor Sam, concentrating on his poker game, surrounded by tough cowboys, is pissed at the distraction - like: "Could you give me a little help here, please?" - but he can't say it out loud because the cowboys will wonder what the hell he is babbling about. Al has figured out that Tina is cheating on him with Gushie - one of the Quantum Leap project leaders. The running joke about Gushie (which lasts throughout the entire series) is what horrendous halitosis he has. They never ever give up on the joke - and pretty much every time Gushie is mentioned, so is his breath. So Al is amazed that Tina would cheat on him - HIM - with that dude with "jock-strap breath". Al has another funny stupid line, and it's just a joy to watch Stockwell say it: "She took my second favorite organ and stomped on it with her four inch heels." Dumb, yes - but Stockwell means every word. And Al is not embarrassed about any of this, which is why he's so endearing. He is not embarrassed that he is not focusing on, you know, his JOB. He is not embarrassed that he cheats on Tina and then is hurt that she cheats on him. He's not embarrassed by anything, and you just gotta love a guy like that.

Sam, however, is caught up in his problems. He loses it for a second, and says out loud, "Gushie??" Chance is baffled. "Gushie?" Sam catches himself and babbles, "Yeah. Gushie. That's Navajo for ... your turn." Tess is giving Sam weird looks like, "Why are you acting like such a jackass in front of our buyer? We don't want him to think we're a bunch of buffoons." And Wayne, who's working his own thing, is laughing at it all ... loving the fact that Doc is losing it, and acting a bit crazy in front of Tess. It's perfect, as far as he is concerned! But that smile eventually is wiped off his face when Sam (on the advice of Al, who can see all the cards) accuses Wayne of cheating. Al says, "He's got all aces and 8s." Now. This is a moment that could have ended in a duel, Hamilton-Burr style. To accuse a man of cheating is a serious offense. You had BETTER be right, and you had BETTER back up your claim. Wayne will not let it stand. He insists he is not cheating. Chance looks on, concerned, in his Marlboro Man way. Wayne has, by this point, stood up. Furious. He puts his cards down, to show what he has - and oh shit, he DOESN'T have aces and 8s. Sam is busted. He took advice from Al - and now look what happened. Al is furious - he SWORE Wayne was cheating - he had aces and 8s, dammit - so while Sam is trying to bluff his way out of his false accusation, you can see Stockwell behind him, trying to figure out what happened - dealing the cards (or, miming it) - trying to track where those aces and 8s went ... Its very funny, Stockwell's behavior in the background - while Sam tries to get out of the mess he's in. Finally, Tess - who has had it with both of them - stands up and drags Wayne away to have a talk with him.

She has finally caught on to the fact that Wayne is trying to sabotage Doc's chances. (Like I mentioned, Tess might be smart about ranching - but she's kind of slow about relationships and men). Tess is PISSED. She thinks that Wayne thinks she can't win the contest all on her own and is trying to 'help' her. She doesn't see that, duh, Wayne wants to win the damn contest, even though he wasn't chosen to compete at all.

Meanwhile, back at the table - Al is still obsessed with how on earth he could have messed up the cards so badly - and Chance and the buyer have gone off to talk about bulls, and Al asks Sam to turn over Tess' cards - because he thinks he's figured it out. Sam does so - and there they are: aces and 8s. Wayne, who had been dealing the cards, dealt those cards specifically to Tess - so that she would beat Doc, no matter what. Now Sam really knows what he's dealing with, in terms of competition for Tess. Wayne will play dirty.

Now a quick note about Scott Bakula and what he's "working on" here as an actor, and how it all makes sense, once you know the ending of the episode:

-- all along Sam has been saying that he doesn't want to marry Tess - not that he doesn't like her, or whatever - but that it makes the leap a whole lot more complicated if that is his task - his first comment is, "Well, if it's someone who's writing her love letters who will marry her - then that's great - because Doc is only writing a Diary!" It's like Sam doesn't want to deal with all that messy love stuff, and would rather just focus on curing the pig. Wouldn't it be great if a leap could be that easy? Figure out what's wrong with the pig, and off you go to your next destination in the space/time continuum. But looks like it's not going to be that easy. So far, Sam's only experience of Tess has been her fierce no-nonsense inexorable competitor side. She is, quite frankly, exasperating. But ... but ... (and it's not clear at this point in the episode, but it will be soon - so I figured I'd bring it up now) ... he finds himself getting attached. He can't help it. In competing for her, in trying to do his best to out-cowboy her ... he starts to become attached to the result. He wants to win. Not just because then he will "leap out" but because ... because he starts to want it. Her, I mean. Now Sam has not really put all of this together for himself yet - and a lot of his own behavior is baffling to him: like, why is he being a dick to Wayne? Why is he obsessing so hard on the "tally" in the contest - like: what is going on here?

This, naturally, will come up again and again and again in the series as a while: Sam getting involved - despite himself. Despite his desire to just get out of the project altogether and go home to his "real life" ... he still can't help but get involved. It's Sam's greatest blessing and his greatest curse. He might be a happier man if he didn't allow himself to get personally involved in strangers' lives. But then, of course, if he didn't get involved - he wouldn't be Sam Becket. And if you watched the series to the end, you know his final leap, you know what happens. And it makes total sense. Of course. Of course Sam would make such a choice. That's the kind of man he is. That's the kind of character he is.

But that final episode would not have the "oomph" that it did if Scott Bakula hadn't been playing that tormented in-out either-or struggle - throughout the series, from the very beginning. Sam wants to leap OUT, but ... something ... something ... what is it?? ... keeps him here, keeps him leaping ... and why? But maybe ours is not to reason why. Sam, of course, can't help but asking why ... it's his most human quality.... and here, in Episode 4, so early on ... they weren't sure if Quantum Leap would last a year, let alone 5 - but here Bakula is, playing that struggle, that struggle that will be so essential to our understanding of the entire series. Sam resists committing to the leap, because he knows it will take a lot out of him. What will it do to a man to let himself fall in love with Tess - with whoever ... KNOWING that he will have to leave her eventually? How do you let yourself "go there" when it is understood that none of it will last? What will that do to a man, in a cumulative sense? But isn't that how life is, for all of us? Quantum leap or no? Isn't it about leaping, regardless of the outcome? Love, courage, commitment ... all of it must be experienced without being attached to the result. I have not learned that lesson, and I know very few people who have learned that lesson - but if you watch Quantum Leap in that light, and watch Sam's eternal struggle, in episode after episode - to not get attached - and then fail and get attached anyway ... you see a character directly engaging in that fight, over and over. I love Bakula for understanding, instinctively, that part of the character of Sam. It's what makes actors great story-tellers - not just great ciphers of stories ... Scott Bakula, in his innate story-telling talent, understood what the real story was here, what the real point was. And whether or not Quantum Leap got picked up again for another season ... is irrelevant. What matters is the moment ... and you go back and watch that first season, and you can see Scott Bakula setting us up for the last episode of the entire series - which hasn't even been written or thought of yet. That's talent.

In our next scene, Tess and Sam, are out in a hot hilly field driving posts into the ground. Sam has his shirt off. He is a hunk and a half, let me tell you. Stud. It's not too much, either - it's not so sculpted that it looks like a coin would bounce off his abs. It's a human body, albeit a great body - the body of an athlete, your basic jock in his 30s. You can tell by her behavior that Tess is starting to fade. Maybe it's too hot. Maybe she won't take a break. Who knows. But something is going on with her in this scene. She's pounding at the posts, and shoveling dirt - drenched in sweat - and Sam, his doctor self coming through his swiss-cheesed brain - starts to tell her to slow down, or at least drink some water, or have some salt tablets. She's getting heat stroke. She's dehydrated.

Tess is ornery, though. She thinks Doc is condescending to her. Like she thinks he thinks she's somehow weaker than a man or something. She shouts down the hill at him, "I don't need no help!" Sam, trudging up the hill towards her with the canteen, groans, "Oh, man, women's lib is gonna love you." Tess, hacking at the dirt with her shovel, swaying on her feet - says, "What's that?" Sam doesn't even get into it. Just hands her the canteen. She brushes him off. Sam is starting to get angry. What is her problem? He says, "Look, there are some things that a man is better at - that's all. It doesn't mean men are better than women, though. There are plenty of things women are better at - like having babies." His comment, obviously, does not go over well. But Sam is speaking more as a doctor here, he is truly concerned about her condition. Tess fights him all the way, until eventually she straightens up too quickly, and immediately collapses in a faint. This has been coming all along, from the beginning of the scene - she probably was dizzy throughout.

Sam scoops her up in his arms and races down the hill with her to take her back to his house. It's an urgent matter - dehydration is nothing to sneeze at. As Sam peels off across the meadow, the camera pulls back - and we see that someone has been watching from a nearby hilltop ... a horse stands there, with a rider. And we just know, somehow, that it is Wayne.

A storm is gathering on the horizon, a big one - lightning forks from the sky, clouds are gathering. Sam races the jeep back to Doc's house, trying to beat the storm - knowing that he has to cool Tess off, or there might be some serious repercussions. It's an emergency. He arrives back at his house, and - naturally - the kid is there, on the porch, playing his guitar. Sam, too involved with Tess (who is still in a faint), doesn't have time to worry about the fact that he still doesn't know the kid's name. The kid stands up, alarmed - as Sam races into the house, carrying Tess over his shoulders. Sam gives orders - go get some water, put some salt in it.

NOW ... Scott Bakula is marvelous in this next scene. Just watch him - watch how he is doing 20 things at once, not just physical things - but emotional things as well. He's in an emergency situation - so he puts Tess on the couch and immediately starts pulling off her clothes. He's calling out to the kid his instructions - telling him to hurry - "fetch me some water ..." then Sam catches himself, mutters, "Fetch? I'm talking like them now ..." but it's just a quick aside - he's still busy with Tess ... It's just a wonderful example of an actor doing his thing, playing the scene - everything that needs to be played.

The kid comes rushing back in, and stops - horrified and embarrassed at the sight of Tess lying on the couch in her bra and panties. (I love, too, that her underwear is not sexy ... it's time-and-place appropriate: a big white bra, and old-fashioned white "drawers", basically ... I love that they didn't make her into a sexpot underneath her clothes. Of course she wouldn't be. Tess is too practical for that). Sam grabs the water from the kid - wets a cloth and starts to cool Tess down - tells the kid to go get a fan - quick. The kid runs off.

Sam starts to force Tess to drink, even though she's groggy and out of it - she winces at the taste of the salt water. Sam doesn't care. Drink. She drinks ... and starts to revive ... and then discerns that, OH MY GOD I'M NAKED ... and she sits up and punches Sam in the face. A sharp hook to the jaw - and he flips back and off the couch, spilling the water all over him.

Again, Scott Bakula is just great in this scene. He's feeling tenderness towards Tess, but it's pretty hard to feel tender towards a woman who punches you in the face when you're trying to help her. He's in an internal struggle. Tess hurries to cover herself up with the afghan, and Sam says, defeated, "Great. You have heat stroke and you cover yourself up with a blanket." He shakes his head and walks away. By now the storm has broken - rain pounds against the windows. The kid, still awkward because of the whole "I just saw a woman in her bra" thing, says he's going home before he gets caught in the storm. There's yet another moment where it seems like Tess is going to say the kid's name ... and Sam gets all excited, and anticipatory - but nope. She stops before the name comes out. Sam is disgusted. Glances up at God/Fate/Time: "Can't you give me a little help here?"

(But again ... that's the whole essence of the series. What it "means", if you will. And I don't mean to over-think this - and make Quantum Leap seem ponderous or overly serious. It's not. But without that deeper level ... of Sam struggling to find his way, struggling to find what God wants him to do ... and then also realizing that no, there is no help ... you have to help yourself in this world, no matter your era or place or time ... the series would not be half as effective. It would just be an everlasting gimmick - and I don't think it would have lasted as long if it didn't have that deeper level.)

As the storm rages, Sam goes into the office - where the piglet still lies in a drawer of the desk, still sick - and Sam sits and reads a medical book, while Tess recovers in the other room. Eventually, Tess appears at the doorway, wearing what is obviously Doc's clothes. She has a different energy now. Softer. Still. Maybe troubled. Curious. Not so certain. And definitely not ornery. She's looking in at Sam at his desk, with an expression on her face that shows maybe she's grateful to him, maybe she's aware that she's been behaving horribly. Also, any time there's a crash of thunder, she winces. Tess? Afraid of thunder? Well, yes.

There's a very very nice scene now - between Tess and Sam. The lights are low, the rain is falling hard - and they talk. Sam asks her if she wants to dance. She says she doesn't know how to dance. He says that's fine. He turns on the radio on his desk (shout-out to the production design: all of the interiors in this series could not be better - the details - I mean, look at what's on the walls, on the shelves, the things on the desk, the horse-calendar on the wall ... it's all so specific and real. It doesn't look like a set. It looks like: Yes, of course. That is where Doc lives.) Tess and Sam dance. They don't speak. She stares up at him, wonderingly. Is this what it feels like to be in love? She's not sure.

She's not used to allowing any softness in her personality. Of course not - she runs a ranch. She will not be respected if she's seen as "just a girl". It's not pleasant to allow softness when you are not used to it. (Yeah, whatever, I speak from experience.)

Sam then makes the mistake (but he can't help it ... he's not trying to "leap out" now, he's starting to accept his own reality - he's not "acting" ... he's succumbing) of trying to kiss Tess. Tess goes apeshit. Pushes him away. Shouting, "I ain't gonna lose in here what I won out there!" Sam has finally had it. Says, "Can't you ever give it a rest?"

Tess, in her desperate moment, goes right back into the contest - saying that she is obviously winning - and Sam can't let it slide. He's competitive too. He tallies it up: "I won in this ... and I won in this ..." and (my favorite moment, I think in the episode) is how he says, "Don't forget poker. I'm thinkin' I beat you at poker", giving her a stern look. Tess, in her tally, thinks that Doc lost. Sam, in his tally, sees that it's a tie - so he demands a tie-breaker. Tess considers this, and says, in a fearfully quiet voice, almost mournful because she knows Doc will lose this one: "You want to marry me, Doc? All right then. Ride Widowmaker tomorrow." Sam, remembering his first try at Widow-maker, hesitates, and Tess shakes her head sadly, and says, "That's what I thought," and walks out, leaving Sam alone with Piggy.

Something's up with Sam. He sits down, stroking the baby pig in the drawer, which squeals and squirms around with pleasure. Sam says, in a quiet voice (and it's real hard to make a "talking to yourself" moment seem real and true - but that's exactly what Bakula does here), "I like you too, Piggy. Funny thing is, until we danced, I didn't realize how much I liked her."

Well played.

"How the Tess Was Won" - part 2

Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 4: "How the Tess Was Won" - part 2

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?

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? 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. Maybe 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.

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). There'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? She 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? Tess 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.

But 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.

Now 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.

Sam 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 ...

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.

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 ...

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. 2: Star-Crossed - part 1 of re-cap

Season 1, Ep. 2: Star-Crossed - part 2 of re-cap

Season 1, Ep. 3: The Right Hand Of God

Tommy's posts:
Quantum Leap: an overview

Episode 1: Genesis

Episode 2: Star-crossed

In keeping with the general air of shallow elitism in this joint:

I'll be posting my next Quantum Leap re-cap tomorrow. Season 1, Episode 4: How the Tess Was Won.

Here are the other re-caps, for those of you who are into this whole re-cap thing!

And here's a shot of Al, from Episode 4 - when he's having a particularly rough moment, full of suspicion, envy and anxiety.

hahahahaha Look at his face. I love acting that is like that - it's almost like a mask labeled "Suspicious". Brill. Love him.

Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 3: "The Right Hand of God"

Okay. I am determined to keep this going. Tommy, I'm sorry I dropped the ball on our project! The past autumn was seriously a rough time for me. Couldn't do shit. But I really want to keep going with our Quantum Leap re-caps!

LEAP INTO: October 24, 1974

Al: Who does she remind you of?
Sam: Ingrid Bergman.
Al: No. You and me both - back in the old days when we were trying to raise money for the imaging chamber. We were poring over the blueprints. That was our dream, our chapel. Remember?

Sam Beckett leaps out of the lecherous professor Dr. Gerald Bryant, having (perhaps) saved the love of his life Donna from future misery. He hopes. And of course, because Quantum Leap glories in plopping poor Sam Beckett down into the middle of the action, as opposed to, you know, him waking up in the morning, having some toast, whatever, having time to figure it out ... Sam Beckett finds himself in the middle of a boxing ring, staring at a huge fist coming at his face. Pow. And down he goes.

EPISODE 3: THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

Episode 3 pulls out every boxing cliche in the book. It's an homage to every boxing film you can think of (how much fun the producers and art directors must have had, putting together these episodes - where not one repeats itself, the period changes, the costumes, even the FEEL of each episode changes.) So we open on a boxing ring, cigar smoke in the air - it's kind of seedy. This is not Madison Square Garden. It's a direct reference to the first scene of Rocky - even the LOOK of it. Fun! Poor Sam has been knocked out. He has no idea who he is, where he is, WHEN he is - and he's in the middle of a boxing match. A guy is shouting at him from the crowd - "GET UP GET UP" ... so ... yeah ... that must be my coach? Why is he yelling at me?? Sam also gets a glimpse of a big fat-cat sitting there, looking displeased and grumpy. This character (Jake Edwards) will be important later in the episode. He's also important because he's Guy Stockwell, Dean's older brother. But for now, Sam is confused, hurt, and has no idea what is going on. Remember, it's only his third leap! It takes him a while to get the hang of things. It's always a bit of a start, to find yourself in the middle of a murder taking place, or something frightening - but Sam isn't as "swiss-cheesed" as the series progresses. He knows: Okay. Calm down. Keep your eyes peeled for clues.

Later, in the locker room, things start to become clear for Sam. He's a boxer. Obviously. His name is "Kid Cody". He gets a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and it's that classic old-school barrel-chested boxer body - not the six-pack-ab bodies of today. You can just tell the guy is down on his luck (a la Rocky Balboa). More clues come. His coach Gomez (played by Alex Colon) thinks maybe Kid has a concussion or something, he seems so out of it. He says to him, "You almost lost our last fight together, kid." Okay, so that's important information. This was their last fight together as a team. There's a kind of Burgess Meredith in Rocky thing going on here. You know, the crusty guy who believes in you more than you believe in yourself. The one who won't let you get away with second best - who tells you the truth, etc. Kid Cody (Sam) had actually gone on to win the fight, with a wildly thrown punch that landed his opponent onto the floor. Won by a knockout. The fat-cat comes into the locker room, and you immediately get a bad sense from him, the swagger, the proprietary way he talks to Sam. And let me just say, for the 100th time. how great and specific the art direction of this series was. Every "set" built is so detailed, it feels so right - whether it's a soda-pop fountain in the 50s or a grimy locker room. To me, nothing ever felt kitschy on this show, the way other "period" shows can feel - where the clothes always look like costumes, etc. Quantum Leap leaps around in time, but I always felt that each episode (even the silly ones) were grounded in some sense of reality. It wasn't a sickening nostalgia-fest. Where girls wear poodle skirts, but you just know she's got a belly-ring on underneath, and is openly psyched to play 'dress up'. You know the kind of acting I'm talking about. Quantum Leap had very little of that. It didn't condescend to other eras.

Then - what the hell - a flock of nuns come running into the locker room, all excited that he won his fight, congratulating him, and raving about the "knockout". They're in full habit. Sam, with his natural modesty (I love that about him - he's this big huge hunk with a body to DIE for - but he's quite shy about it) - tries to cover himself up, baffled, and just striving to keep up with the conversation. Who are they?? It becomes clear that Kid Cody's boxing contract had been left to the church of St. Mary's, as part of some kind of estate ... so the nuns have a vested interest in his success, since much of his winning proceeds will go to building a special chapel that will do outreach in the community. This comes out later. For the time being, Sam is being polite to the nuns, trying to figure out his situation - and more than that: why he is here. There's a Mother Superior type, and then a younger nun - whose name is Sister Angela (played beautifully by Michelle Joyner). She is overflowing with enthusiasm and excitement about boxing. You love her.

It's a lot to process. But naturally, Sam has no time to process anything. The next scene shows him outside with Sister Angela in what looks like a vacant lot in a dingy part of town. They're in Sacramento. Sister Angela, a lovely plucky person (but - as we see later, not at all a cliche - she comes from somewhere, her faith in God comes from a deep personal place, she's got a past, the stakes are REALLY high for here too) - is marking out in the dirt where the chapel will go. It has always been her dream to build a chapel, that will be open 24 hours a day, so that if someone should need help, or guidance, or prayer - in the middle of the night - it will be there for them. Sam, in dreadful plaid pants that make him look HYSTERICAL, tries to tamp down her enthusiasm, once he realizes that the chapel will only come to fruition if he wins his next fight. He's not a boxer. He won't win! He says to her, "Just don't count on me too much." She looks at him with incomprehension. She doesn't judge, she's not snotty, and her faith is not a blind smiley-face kind of faith. It's stronger and deeper than that, and much of it has to do with faith in the goodness of her fellow man. So when he talks down about himself, she really does not understand him. She says simply, "But we're all counting on you. All the sisters at St. Mary's are." To quote Sam, oh boy.

This isn't the first time that the series directly brings God into the picture. "He", or "the big guy", or "fate, or time or the universe" (they call him all different things) enters the conversation pretty early on in the series - and it is a great credit to the writers and producers and directors of the show that they rarely played it on the nose - because that way leads to Touched By An Angel malarkey, and we can't have THAT. The show always had a healthy dose of cynicism in it, which is appealing and is where much of its humor comes from - and also: there's a mystery at the heart of it. (The very last episode of the series brings it home like gangbusters - because, after all that, you STILL can't really say: So HE is in control. It's still unknown. Great stuff.) But that's part of why the show works. It's not about do-gooders leaping through time, setting right what was wrong. I mean, yes, they DO do good ... but their main purpose at first was scientific, to time-travel. Then they realize very early on (the first episode) that ... something went "ka ka" - and what could it be? And why can't they pull Sam out of it and correct the error? Maybe it's becomes someone ELSE is in charge. You know. Like God. So ... okay. Sam's journey then becomes (again, without becoming preachy) trying to figure out what God wants. Or "time or fate or whatever". Why is he here? It is the most existential of television series. Because it's quite practical, that question: Am I here to win the next fight? Am I here to help Sister Angela regain her faith? Those questions, yes. But there's always a deeper level - the REAL meaning of the question: Why am I here? In the case of Sam Beckett, and how the series ends up going - and if you remember how it all ends - it turns out that he is not "here" for little do-gooding tasks through the 20th century, helping all of humanity get a bit closer to happiness. He's here for something that could not be more personal. And when he realizes it ... when the realization falls over his face in that last episode (sorry, leaping ahead!) - it is one of the most moving moments I can think of in a network television series. It's KILLER. He knows. A gear shifts into place. THE gear. Finally. THAT is why I'm here. And his sacrifice will be tremendous. The ultimate sacrifice. But it is the right thing to do. So here, in "The Right Hand of God", being surrounded by hopeful nuns who believe in him, that faith in himself is tested overtly. They don't expect him to be a believer. They do not try to convert him. What they need from him is to win his next fight.

No pressure or anything.

While Sister Angela and Sam are talking, Al Calavicci shows up. He is wearing the most ridiculous metallic jacket and metallic shoes known to man. I love this character. He's such a dandy. But ... his style is his own, man. The shoes kill me. Stockwell laughs at the fact that the character's wardrobe was never addressed, nobody ever found out why he dressed like that - it was never mentioned, or questioned ... which is just so brilliant, if you think about it. He shows up in the most bizarre get-ups and it is just accepted that this is how Al Calavicci dresses. He listens to Sister Angela talking, with his customary expression of cynicism, patience, humor, and kindness. I don't know how Stockwell gets all of that onto his face at the same time, but he does - constantly!! He also does his "gesture". The gesture that has been with him since he was a 6 year old.

Exhibit A and Exhibit B, C

He cups his hand on his cheek, hooking his finger up over his nose. It's the most adorable gesture, it's compulsive for him - it shows up everywhere. His thoughtful gesture. I saw him do it repeatedly in Taos, and nearly had a heart attack.

Sister Angela finally leaves, and the two are now free to talk. So Sam, in his plaid-panted glory, begins to freak out that he will have to box, and not just box - but win. No way, this is never gonna happen. Meanwhile Al is kind of not paying attention to the issues at hand (one of his greatest charms). First of all, he is apologetic - because Ziggy thought that Sam would be closer to home by now - "Ziggy messed up the calculations ..." Big time. But also, Al has some personal problems (what else is new). A new guy has moved in next door and he works on his car all night, vrooming at a deafening roar all thru the wee hours. Al has not had a good night's sleep in a week, and he is beside himself. He is cranky, distracted - and kind of couldn't care less about Kid Cody and the chapel and Sister Angela. As a matter of fact, as Sam is telling him the situation, Al blatantly lies down on the ground, and tries to fall asleep. Hahahaha Imagine that your own hope for getting "back home" was behaving in this manner! The dynamic between the two men is the best thing about this show. I personally think it could have gone on. The strength of their dynamic just got stronger and better as the series went on.

The next scene we see Sam climbing a rickety staircase - he's obviously going home. I always wonder about that: how does he know where to go? Does he look at the dude's license? As he climbs the stairs, a shiny car pulls up - and Sam (Kid Cody) is called to come and talk to "Mr. Edwards", the gangster from before. Sam is reluctant. Not sure what he's getting into. But he obeys. And now we move into On the Waterfront references (Sam even tries to make a joke about it, it's that obvious - the joke does not go over well). Kid Cody is in the hands of some pretty shady characters, who want him to throw his next fight. They don't just want him to, they expect him to. He is on their payroll. The 10 fights Kid Cody had won up to that point had been set-ups, apparently - Mr. Edwards tells him that in his next fight: "I'll tell you the round later ..." meaning, the round he will go down. So the fight today - that Kid Cody won - threw a loop in Mr. Edwards' plans. He needs to put the pressure onto this kid. He will do as he is told. Oh, and as they are talking - talks of other fights going on come up, and putting money down on this or that person - and the Foreman/Ali fight is mentioned - which, of course, was coming up the next week - October 30, 1974 - in Zaire. But of course it hadn't happened yet. It was expected that Ali would lose. Naturally, we know now he won - but it was all uncertain then. Sam has insider information from the future. But he doesn't use it yet. Mr. Edwards tells Kid Cody that he will bet MORE on his fight than on the Ali/Foreman fight. This will become important later. Sam feels the pressure. The sisters expect him to win - he's already emotionally involved there, he can't help it - that's the kind of person Sam Beckett is. But these guys mean business. They're mad, they have guns, they threaten to shoot him in the kneecaps if he doesn't cooperate.

Oh, and another detail: in order to save money on expenses, the sisters of St. Mary's have asked him to move out of his apartment and into the church basement - where he can train in peace, and not have to pay rent, etc. We don't know Kid Cody's situation. Sam doesn't know it. He walks into his apartment - which is above a bar (and must mention again, and sorry - but it won't be the last time - the beauty of the set decoration and art direction of this series). You can almost SMELL that apartment. You know how when you go into Rocky's shitty apartment, it's like you can get a whiff of the stale cooking smells, the nasty bathroom smells, the roach motels, the mold, the dust - all of it ... it emanates off the screen. Kid Cody's apartment is spare, cheap, but there are signs of a female presence there - you can see them if you look closely, although it's not apparent at first that he has a girlfriend. There's a boxing bag hanging from the ceiling. Things look random, you know like furniture dragged off the street. It's not a dump, it's clean - as clean as it can be - but you know that Kid Cody is living on the edge of some pretty serious hard times.

And suddenly - he is confronted by what must be his girlfriend - coming at him to kiss him and babble at him about her job, and tell him she's cooking his favorite meal. She is wearing a pink silk bathrobe. And she is absolutely stunning. I wonder if this actress got any work as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator - because it's truly uncanny, the likeness. I'll talk about her a bit later - her name is Teri Copley - and it looks like she doesn't work anymore. I hope she's happy with whatever she is doing. I LOVE her. She's got a little breathy baby voice, the platinum hair, the Marilyn Monroe look in her eyes - but somehow, she manages to create a real woman here. Not a caricature, not a stereotype. You just love her. She's a type of woman that I have met before: the girl who, for various reasons, works in a strip club - but has serious plans for the future. She puts money away. And she's a one-man woman. Monogamous to an almost pathological level. She makes her money dancing naked for the drooling masses, but at heart, she's a traditional girl. Old-fashioned. I know girls like that. That's who Dixie is. She establishes her character within 2 seconds - we know just who she is from how she greets "Kid Cody" - totally supportive, excited, and then - dismayed because he is going to move into the church. She doesn't like that. They have a "nest egg" of money - which they keep in a pocket in one of her pillows - and they are saving up to buy a donut shop. That is their dream, as a couple. Sam is just playing catch-up here through this scene, trying to get information, and not "let on" that he's basically a messenger from the future, NOT her boyfriend. He's also shy about sex (as we learn time and time again) - so to have this beautiful half-dressed woman kissing him passionately throws him for a loop. He kisses her back, but still. In later episodes the sex thing becomes a moral issue for Sam. He doesn't think you should sleep with someone unless you love that person. So ... how does he justify sleeping with these women, if he happens to be their husband - or boyfriend? Al, naturally, has a different take on such "problems". He's like: Who CARES if you love her?? A beautiful woman is ALREADY in your bed and you are ALREADY married to her - so what's the problem?? This is the first time, though, that we see Sam in something like that situation - a man who is part of a couple. How do you handle it? Sam Beckett is old-fashioned. He knows Dixie loves him (Kid Cody) - but still: he's NOT Kid Cody. I love him for having those dilemmas. And I love Al for NOT having those dilemmas. It gives the series a real spark. Great stuff.

A dude shows up at the door - and you get the hint that they know him and that Dixie doesn't like him. He must be a bookie - and he's collecting money from them? Can't remember. Anyway, Dixie is NOT having any of it. "Roscoe," she says to him, "you come between us and the jelly-glazed with sprinkles on top one more time, and I'll bust your nose."

Next scene we see Sam moving himself into the church basement. There's a gym over to the side, some stained glass windows, a single bed ... and you can hear someone singing "Amazing Grace" in the building. It's a bit much, as far as I'm concerned. Too obvious, too on the nose. Also, I don't know - I have nuns in my family, I grew up around nuns - "Amazing Grace" isn't a real convent-type song, although now, of course, some Catholic nitpicker will show up and give me the history of the song, and inform me that it was composed in 1425 by a roving band of Benedictine nuns, or something. I have been going to Catholic Church for my whole life, never heard "Amazing Grace" during mass. Not once. So maybe it's Sister Angela singing it by herself, just as a ruminative type thing. I still think it's a bit too much. The scene would have been better without it.

Sam lies down on the narrow cot, listening to the singing ... and suddenly realizes that someone is snoring - and loudly - beside him. He glances off the bed and sees poor sleep-deprived Al Calavicci, curled up on the floor, snoring. That's another question I have. In later episodes, we actually see the imaging chamber - and what it's like - what the process is like for those back in the present. It's not like you can just zap into the imaging chamber from anywhere - you have to be at the headquarters, and be buzzed in, and blah blah blah ... so maybe Al has a room in the back of the office where he tries to catch some sleep - and so that's how he is able to roll into the imaging chamber in his pajamas, on occasion? I never heard anything about Al having a PRIVATE imaging chamber in his house so that he could "visit" Sam whenever ... it all seemed a bit more formal than that, like it happens during the working hours, etc. Anyway, just a question I have. So Al steps into the imaging chamber, and maybe as he waits to get quantum-leaped to Sam, he falls asleep? So when he is transported, he is in a sleeping state when he arrives? This is where my mind goes. Of course it's also just a funny bit - that the guy who is in CHARGE of your project, who is in charge of getting you HOME eventually - shows up in a deep snoring REM state. You know, what a vote of confidence there, Al! Also, just to add to the ba-dum-ching nature of the moment, Al is talking in his sleep - and he's obviously embroiled in some adulterous brou-haha, he's cheating on Tina, his girlfriend - and imploring some other woman to hide in the closet. Sam is rather judgmental about all of this (he always has been, he rolls his eyes at Al's lecherous-ness, and his apparent lack of morals) - Al finally wakes up and Sam scolds him about monogamy. Al couldn't care less. He is a desperate man - because Muffler Man next door has still been tormenting him. It is ruining his life. He can't sleep! He is at his wit's end!! Sam tries to get Al to FOCUS. Not on his romantic life, but on the issues in this particular "leap". How on earth is he going to learn how to box? This won't work! It's amazing that this particular quality of the show did not get tedious - because it so could have! Sam has to learn how to split the atom! Be a ballerina! Have a baby! Build a nuclear warhead! How will he figure it out??? Instead of being tedious, it is usually quite funny - and Sam has to be very resourceful, and really commit to this other person's life - rather than his own. He doesn't WANT to train to be a fighter ... he wants to go HOME ... but ... oh well, this is the nature of quantum leaping, so here goes! Sam Beckett is a wonderful character. Al reveals that he was a boxing champion when he was a kid (of course he was! That's one of the running jokes of the show - as Al reveals more and more about his life - he was in the circus! He was a POW! He was an actor! He can speak Italian - you realize: who the hell is this guy? And it's not really realistic, but it works anyway. Stockwell makes it work. He keeps Al's cards close to his chest. Al isn't a guy who lets people in easily, even though it seems like he's an open book. The guy has depth. Secrets. Hidden pain. Al says HE will train Sam - but of course that won't work, because when sparring, Sam would punch right through the hologram that is Al. Sam decides okay, he needs to take this seriously - he'll talk to his coach, and see if he will train him - even though they are no longer working together, strictly.

There's an interesting moment at the end of this scene. Sam goes back to his bed, and Al is left in the shadowy gym, lights off - and he dances around by himself, throwing punches - then it's like he remembers his age. He stops, kind of sucks his belly in a bit - and pats his paunch - there's a bit of regret there, in the gesture - it's simple, beautifully played - then he says to himself, "I was good, too."

And that, folks, is an actor. It says it all. It's quiet, private, simple - not overdone ... but his whole life is in that moment. And we're only in the third episode of the series! But he's all there already. Stockwell didn't need time to build that character. He didn't need to develop him over the course of the series. He was THERE, from the beginning. Bakula said that at the audition, Stockwell came in "complete". Al Calavicci was alive, already.

The next scene has Sam and Gomez sitting in a bar. Gomez says he doesn't want to get into the training racket again. "I'm tired of training fighters who take a dive," says Gomez. There's a very Rocky-esque feel to this scene: the trainer with failed dreams himself, who once was a fighter himself, of great promise. And Kid Cody is a good fighter. But he's in with the wrong crowd - the gangsters - he doesn't really want to win - he is willing to take a dive if the price is right. But the scene ends with Gomez saying what the hell, let's go to it. He agrees to train Cody.

First day of training, Kid Cody gets into the ring at the church with Father Muldooney, the priest at the church who also has done some boxing himself. The ring is surrounded by cheering nuns, holding towels, throwing punches. It's hysterical. Sister Angela is beside herself with excitement and has to be told to get out of the ring, please. In the first couple of seconds of the fight, Father Muldooney knocks Sam out. Everyone crowds around, scared. A bucket of water is thrown on Sam's face. The nuns all look disappointed. Nervous. It looks like their guy is a loser.

And now we have the Rocky montage, complete with music (not exactly the Rocky theme, but close enough). The montage at first shows Sam not doing well, really struggling - unable to punch the punching bag in that flowing way that professional boxers have ... struggling with pullups, drenched in sweat, Sister Angela hovering nearby, supportive. Then comes my favorite scene in the episode. Sister Angela rides her bike, and Sam runs along beside her holding two bricks in his hands (a la Rocky Balboa). Sister Angela means business, she is a tough taskmaster. She pushes Sam to keep going - they're going up a hill, and Sam is DYING. He begs for a rest. Just a couple minutes! She relents. As they stand there, he asks her why the chapel is so important to her. She tells her story. It's not a happy one. A little all-night chapel was there for her when she needed it most - she had been living on the streets, she was an orphan ... and it saved her life. God saved her life. She wants to create a place like that for others. Now - it's a cliched story, and I certainly could have watched it being utterly unmoved. Seen it all before. But the way she plays it is just lovely. The emotion that comes up in her feels organic, as though the story (even though well-known to her, since she lived it) still has the capability of taking her by surprise. She does not weep and wail, she does not go for the drama - she just turns her back on Sam, to get some privacy, and quietly tells him what happened to her. It is the LEAST condescending type of acting imaginable - and the supporting actors on this show that come in for guest spots like this are universally excellent in that regard. I love her performance. It could have been over-the-top cheesy. It is not at all.

It is essential we understand the stakes for her, and how specific they are. It's not just a generalized "I love God, I want to share that love with others" thing. When, later in the episode, we see that her faith has been shaken - we really GET what that means for her. This is a girl who has had a tough life. She feels betrayed all over again. Life is a wilderness without God. God came into her life and saved her. And now ... she can't believe anymore. Without that quiet scene where she tells her story to Sam, the impact wouldn't be as great. We really get what all of this means for HER (another reason why the show works so well: EVERYONE has high stakes. On all different levels. We all want something. We all have needs. These needs conflict. That makes for interesting drama, if it's done well. Sister Angela's journey with her faith is part of the whole - it's NOT just about Kid Cody winning the fight. We're all connected, everything is interwoven with everything else. None of us are an island.)

Then we get a second montage. Sam has been training hard now - so he's doing better. This is the SECOND Rocky montage, when Rocky makes it up the steps of the museum, and leaps around in triumph at the top. Sam is in the zone now. Doing situps, pullups, punching ... there's a hysterical moment where we see Sam punching the little punching bag, and he's going so fast it's a blur - and the music is pounding - and as the camera pulls around, we see Al standing there right next to him, in a blazing white suit, smoking a cigar, and kind of dancing (hard to explain - but it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it) to the beat of the punches on the bag. He's "cool" about it, he's not gyrating around - just watching Sam's fist fly, and kind of twitching his body back and forth, in time. hahahaha Well, it's really a visual joke - so if you have the DVD or plan on getting it, keep an eye out for it.

Sam and Al have a conversation in the ring. Sam has been so involved in training that his focus has been elsewhere - and it's interesting, you can see that Al feels a little bit left out. There's a strange distance between the two friends now, and Al ... hm. Well, I think Al - even with his crusty hard-nosed personality - needs to feel needed. That is his whole THING. And he doesn't feel needed here. None of this is spoken. It's not in the script. It's all in Stockwell's acting. He's kind of cranky. Probably because of the sleep-deprivation problem, but also ... because Sam seems more focused on the training than on HIM. He needs Sam to step out of that for a moment and listen to him! He tells Sam that in the real history, Kid Cody was knocked out in the first round of the fight coming up - on October 29, 1974. He lost. And so Sister Angela never got her chapel. There is not a chapel in Sacramento in the present-day like the one Sister Angela dreamt of. You can see Sam's dismay at hearing this. How can that be? Now that he has gotten to know Sister Angela a bit, and been welcomed by all the nuns - you can see that their dream has now become, in part, his. He is not BLASE about them. "Oh well. They didn't get their chapel. What am I supposed to do about it?" No. Sam is into it now. He's turned the corner.

The fight approaches. Gomez and Sam sit in the same bar from before - and they're watching the news. We can see a report going on on the upcoming fight of Foreman/Ali in Zaire. Mr. Edwards comes up to Sam in a menacing way and says, "Nick says you're training for real." This is not part of the deal. Kid Cody is supposed to LOSE, not win. Why is he training? Mr. Edwards has it all planned: he needs to be knocked out in the first round. Sam, feeling stronger now, more able, stands up to Mr. Edwards and refuses. There's a standoff. Inspired by the news report on TV, Sam challenges Mr. Edwards to a bet: 20 to 1 on what round the Ali/Foreman fight will be over.

Sam has to then break the news to Dixie about the bet - they might lose everything - and she flips. Of course Sam knows that this is a GOOD bet, since he knows how it will turn out ... but she can't see that. The jelly glazed dream is even more unattainable now! She's already upset, because he's hanging out with Sister Angela all the time. It seems like the nuns have more say in his life than she, his girlfriend, does. I like this one exchange - it makes me like Sam Beckett even more. She refers to herself as a "tramp" - and he gently takes hold of her arms, stares down at her, and says, "Dixie, you're not a tramp. You're a stripper. That's a profession." I just love him for that.

After the confrontation with Dixie, Sam goes back to the church and finds Sister Angela praying by herself, near a bank of candles. He tries to talk to her, and he can tell immediately that something is dreadfully wrong. She is near tears, yes - but there's something else. A coldness, a hardness. He is alarmed. She was his greatest champion. What's going on? He tries to talk with her. She can't even look at him. She tells him that "a Mr. Edwards" stopped by, and left a message for him: "He thought it over. He wants to call the rounds, not you. Take a dive in the first." She is devastated. Sam isn't too happy either. He has a plan (which he hasn't revealed yet) to get around Mr. Edwards ... but it has to be a secret. Sister Angela believes the worst of him. He can't defend himself. And she, being who she is, with her struggles, her life story behind her, does not take such things casually. Life has not been kind to Sister Angela. There's a fragility there. She says, "I thought God sent me a champion, but he sent me a cheat." She says, "I don't think I can believe in anything anymore." (Now this actress says that potentially cheesy line with utter reality. I've said stuff like that before, and I've meant it. I said it the other night, come to think of it. And I haven't moaned it like Oedipus on a massive Greek stage. I've said it simply, and meant every word. That's how she says it.) And Sam, sensing this in her, her faith being shaken ... is torn up. He needs her belief. It's selfish, yes - but her belief in him helped him get through this training period. To be believed in like that makes all the difference. They are left unresolved. She is crushed. He is scared. Scared that he had hurt her, that he cannot defend himself, and also scared about the upcoming fight. How will he get through it without Sister Angela cheering like a maniac? He knows the stakes are high: the chapel did NOT happen ... he is here to MAKE it happen, to change history.

Now comes the fight. Sister Angela, knowing of the treachery of Kid Cody, is suspicious, waiting for something bad to happen. If he takes a dive in the first round, then she will know he is a cheat. She waits. Sam keeps glancing over at her, worried ... the fact that she's not "in his corner" emotionally is just wrong, for him. He misses her. He's also looking for Al. Where the hell is Al? Because of that strange distance between the two men in the last scene ... we wonder at the slight cooling-off between them. Sam had asked Al, "You coming?" And Al had been kind of diffident, shrugging his shoulders. So that's another issue for Sam. He's all alone out there.

And we have shots of Mr. Edwards, sitting in the stands - with a transistor radio to his ear. I put it together later - he's listening to the Foreman/Ali fight at the same time. It's a big day for Mr. Edwards. Sitting near Mr. Edwards is Dixie, all dressed up and dizzyingly excited for her baby up there in that ring. (If you see the episode a couple times, you might notice some of the things I missed: that there's a fragment of a news program shown in one of the scenes where the "streaking fad" is being discussed. Then, during the argument with Dixie - we come into the middle of it, and she says something like "I bet you wouldn't ask Sister Angela to streak!" But I didn't really put it together - I'm slow like that. Obviously, Sam has a plan - a way that he think he can get around his "promise" to Mr. Edwards that he would take a dive in the first round.) Anyway, Dixie sits out there - in a green trench coat, and seriously - LOOK at the woman. Is there a more supportive face on the planet? Don't you love her? You can see Mr. Edwards in the background, hovering over his transistor radio.

Then comes the dreaded moment: Sam gets knocked out in the first round. Sister Angela, already beside herself, just sits there, shaking her head to herself. So. It was true. Kid Cody was a cheat. He lies on the floor, face crushed into the ring ... disoriented ... all he can see is Sister Angela's disappointed sad face. He can't take it - and starts to struggle up to his feet. Mr. Edwards is distracted by the radio broadcast, but he is aware that something is going up there in the ring ... Sam gets to his feet, not steadily, but he's there - then he looks over at Dixie, and gives her a nod. She stands up, drops the trenchcoat, and streaks naked through the stands, causing an enormous commotion. Mr. Edwards is totally distracted, watching her go by - turning all the way around to see her naked little booty running off - and in that moment, Sam punches his opponent in the nose - and down he goes. POW! It is at this auspicious moment that Al decides to show up. He is wearing bright red trousers, red suspenders, and a little red hat. He looks like a lunatic. He chomps on a cigar, relishing in the moment. Obviously he has gotten a good night's sleep finally! No more cranky Al! He loves the fights. He's here to have a good time, and to help Sam win. Tiger Joe (Sam's opponent) staggers up to his feet, and you can tell by the rage on his face that Sam is not out of the woods yet. Tiger Joe is PISSED. The fight that follows is intense. Sam has to pull all of his training (yeah, from his ONE WEEK of intensive training) out in order to just survive the assault. And Al the hologram helps too - shoving his hand through Tiger Joe - telling Sam where to place his punches, etc. It's a team sport, apparently! It takes two!

And finally .. finally ... Sam lands the punch that knocks Tiger Joe out for good. I love how Al stands there, right beside the action, watching him fall, with a huge grin on his face. The win is very exciting. There's a funny shot of Sam hugging Al - only we see it from the nun's perspective - so it looks like Sam is embracing nothing, throwing his arms around AIR. But it's a big moment, lots of celebration. Nuns screaming, clapping, jumping up and down, everyone going nuts, Al dancing around in his ridiculous outfit, it's a huge triumph.

Back in the locker room, Dixie - now covered up - runs in, all excited - to tell him that Ali won! They had put everything they owned, their whole nest egg, on Ali knocking out Foreman in the 8th round. And Ali just did it. And so they are owed a ton of money (20 to 1 type money) from Mr. Edwards. Enough to buy an entire chain of donut shops. She's going to run off and get their money - and just before she reaches the door - Sam says, impulsively - "Dixie!" She stops. Turns.

And look at her. God. LOOK at this woman.

She loves him so much. And it's a great little moment because I think Sam has fallen in love with her a little bit, too (I mean, who wouldn't? She streaked through a rowdy boxing crowd for HIM) - but it's a great moment because I think Sam knows it's over, he's going to leap any moment. Obviously he won the match, the sisters are going to get their chapel, and everything has worked out. His time "here" is limited, now - maybe he has a minute or so ... so he probably won't see her again. This is it. So he can't just let her fly out of the room without one last moment between them. But he doesn't even have anything to say to her. Not really. All he can manage is, "Hurry back." And Dixie, with eyes full of love, and that Marilyn Monroe glamour girl smile - nods happily and click-clacks off. Leaving Sam alone.

Sister Angela comes in. She is overwhelmed. She is filled with shame that she had doubted him. And that she had doubted God, too. How could that have happened? She thanks him, Kid Cody, for winning ... for getting them their chapel ... but most of all, for giving her her faith in God again.

They shake hands - and as they do so - you can see Sam start to grin, ruefully - to himself. The leap is here. He shivers into blue lightning ... and vanishes ...

Only to find himself ... wearing muddy overalls and galoshes - wrestling with a filthy screaming pig in a paddock ....

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. 2: Star-Crossed - part 1 of re-cap
Season 1, Ep. 2: Star-Crossed - part 2 of re-cap

Tommy's posts:
Quantum Leap: an overview

Episode 1: Genesis

Episode 2: Star-crossed

Quantum Leap: Season 1, Ep. 2: "Star-Crossed"

LEAP INTO: June 15 - 17, 1972 - Part 2 of re-cap!

Part 1

EPISODE 2: STAR-CROSSED

The next time we see Sam, he is fully ensconced in Dr. Bryant's digs - even down to wearing a silk kimono and a white scarf. He appears to be reading a book of poetry ... and what's on the television gives us a clue as to where and when we are. Sam comments in the voiceover that he used to care about politics ... but right now, all he can do is think about Donna. And what might have been. And what might still be to come. Sadly, he's going to have to wait a bit longer because Jamie Lee shows up at his window, dressed up as Guenivere, spouting romantic nonsense. At the same moment, Al appears. As Sam tries to diffuse Guenivere's passion, Al snarks off to the side, "You brought this one on yourself, Sam" - because instead of rejecting her firmly in the earlier scene he had said something along the lines of, "I'll see you again when the moon crests the towers of Camelot." hahahahahaha So here she is and it's payback time. She is all a flutter, twirling through the room in her dress and her crown. Al just stands back and watches. You can hear his inward chuckle. Like: would you get a load of this crazy broad? Jamie Lee wants to "play" Guenivere and Lancelot - and whaddya know - Dr. Bryant has an entire closet full of costumes just for the occasion. Jamie Lee brings out some chain mail - and Al is intrigued by what he can't see in the closet - so he strolls in. Through the rest of the exchange between an increasingly nervous Sam and an increasingly worked up Jamie Lee - we can hear Dean Stockwell's amazed voice emanating from out of the closet. "Sam! You gotta see this! There's some really kinky stuff in here! He's got rubber stuff in here!"

Sam tries to veer Jamie Lee off the track, tries to get her to think about Oscar, her boyfriend. Jamie Lee is SO not into Oscar, the meathead. He has no poetry in his soul!!! My favorite moment in this little scene is Stockwell's. He emerges from the kinky closet and stands between Sam and Jamie Lee. He has no lines, but he is completely involved - going back and forth between them like a tennis match. He takes a very cynical view of the whole thing. Jamie Lee is nuts, the professor is a letch ... isn't this all so entertaining?? Nothing is too serious. He's not like, earnest, or pleading with Sam to do better. He's an audience member. And Jamie Lee has one line in response to Sam's - Sam says, "But what about Oscar?" Jamie Lee moans, scornfully, "But he's so stiff!" And you can see Al's face light up hopefully in the background - like: stiff? Well, THAT'S promising! A completely dirty rendering of her innocent line - and Sam, without even looking at Al, holds up a finger at him, in reproach, like: do not even go there. Beautiful moment of their dynamic - very funny, they already, at this early stage in the series, have found a groove with one another. You can tell. Bellisario has said you could see, over the first season, how their friendship actually formed and developed (they are good friends to this day) ... and it's moments like that where it really becomes concrete.

Sam finally (again) gets rid of Jamie Lee and he and Al then get to it. Sam thinks he knows a solution to his problem. Donna has father problems. If they can orchestrate a reunion with her father ... then maybe he can change history? Al: No, Sam, NO. Sam lets loose with a little bit of information (enough for Al to run with) - that her father was career military - No, Sam, no!

But obviously, judging from what happens next - Al goes back to the present day and secretly pulls up information on Donna's father to somehow convey back to Sam, against the advice of everyone. He could lose his job. But Al, crusty tough Al, understands - to some degree - matters of the heart. This is the true key to the character. This is why the show works, if I may be so bold. If Al showed up in every situation, and snarked about it ... we would lose sympathy with him. But that he can show up, randomly, and find compassion for a rape victim, or a floundering trapeze artist, or a blundering TV reporter ... he writes NOBODY off. Nobody is "lost". Let's get in here and do what we can do to make their lives better. Everybody is worth saving. It's a truly beautiful aspect of Al Calavicci - the show would not have worked without it. He never becomes a sappy guardian angel - he always maintains a level of snarky distance from the event - it's a fine tightrope wire to walk and Dean Stockwell does so brilliantly. It was the role he was born to play. He gets to exhibit ALL of the qualities that those of us who are fans value most in him. He is tough. Check. He is no-nonsense. Check. But he's also the guy you want to have around in a pinch. Check. He has sympathy (as opposed to contempt) for the "weaker" sex. He thinks they should be protected. But he doesn't think women are weak. To the contrary. H