Line #25 Recap/QuantumLeapS2E16Freedom


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5	'''''Series/QuantumLeap'''''\
6	'''Season 2, Episode 16:'''
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8	!Freedom
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10
11	->'''Joseph''': Freedom is the greatest gift we're born with, and the hardest thing to hold on to.
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13	Written by Chris Ruppenthal
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15	Directed by Creator/AlanJLevi
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17	Airdate: February 14, 1990
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21	November 22, 1970
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23	Sam finds himself in the life of a young Shoshone man who is trying to get his grandfather home to the reservation before he dies. Complicating the matter is a bigoted sheriff out for blood.
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25	!Tropes:
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27	* AssholeVictim: Joseph openly states that Sheriff Taggart deserves to be scalped. And sure enough, Sam [[RageBreakingPoint almost does it]].
28	* BigotWithABadge: Sheriff Taggart hates Native Americans for reasons never really explained.
29	* BittersweetEnding: More on the "bitter" side of things, to the point of almost being an outright DownerEnding, but Sam managed to get Joseph back onto the reservation... right as he dies from getting shot by Sheriff Taggart.
30	* CallBack: Joseph paints handprints on his horse to signify men killed in battle, then instructs Sam to do the same. He puts two, one for [[Recap/QuantumLeapS2E01HoneymoonExpress Roget]] and the other for [[Recap/QuantumLeapS2E15HerCharm Nick Kochifos]]. [[note]]While Sam’s tackle of [[Recap/QuantumLeapS2E11APortraitForTroian Jimmy Giovanni]] into the lake did lead to his death, Sam did not intentionally kill him.[[/note]]
31	* ContinuitySnarl: At the end of the episode during its original airing, Sam leaps into Frankie La Palma in "[[Recap/QuantumLeapS1E06DoubleIdentity Double Identity]]", an episode which had already aired the previous season. This represents a continuity error, and the ending leap should have been into Melvin Spooner for the next episode, "[[Recap/QuantumLeapS2E17GoodNightDearHeart Good Night Dear Heart]]". This was later fixed in syndication.
32	* DirtyOldMan: When the trading post clerk asks if he can get him anything else, Joseph requests “[[BigBeautifulWoman a fat woman]] [[ChubbyChaser and a narrow bed]].”
33	* FaceDeathWithDignity / DyingAsYourself: Joseph is suffering from end-stage emphysema. He wants to die among nature on the Shosone Reservation rather than comatose in hospital bed.
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When trying to hammer it in Sam's head that he ''can't'' turn around and take Joseph to the hospital, Al mentions how Sheriff Taggart is going to shoot the both of them rather than let Sam get Joseph medical care.
35	* InsistentTerminology: Joseph emphasizes that the truck and the horses he and Sam use are borrowed, not stolen. His case isn't good since the rightful owners have no say in the matter.
36	** Joseph insists on using the words "Togo" and "Kenu", the Shoshone words for "grandson" and "grandfather", respectively.
37	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Played with – When the sheriff finds Sam missing from the cell, Joseph says he turned him into a raven and he flew away. In actuality, Sam was hidden inside his bunk mattress and knocks out the sheriff when he investigates. Later, Joseph plays at using magic to light a fire, complete with a chant and mysterious hand motions, before whipping out a lighter.
38	* MistakenForThief: While trying to find his wallet while at the general store, Sam pulls out his gun, causing the clerk to throw his arms up.
39	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Played with: Al talks Sam out of scalping Taggart at the last moment... but while he and Sam are distracted, Taggart gets up and gets a lucky shot off on Joseph.
40	* OneDialogueTwoConversations:
41	** Sam and Al have a conversation about general store candy. Al's side of the conversation is about using red licorice to do a SpaghettiKiss with a girl, while Sam's is about his dad's favorite candy being peppermint sticks. Joseph joins in, agreeing about how George's dad liked peppermint sticks, while Joseph preferred cinnamon.
42	** Joseph's advice about leaping, which means something completely different to Sam. Al even lampshades it; is he talking to George, or is he talking to ''Sam''?
43	* PocketProtector: Defied - Joseph is shot while charging his horse at the sheriff. After being hit, he cites that if he were in a movie, this trope would have kicked in.
44	* PoliceBrutality: Sam leaps into the middle of a beating at the hands of the sheriff.
45	* RacistGrandpa: Joseph doesn’t have a very high opinion of white men, including this chestnut upon discovering their truck’s radio doesn’t work:
46	-->'''Joseph''': Damn white men... can’t make anything except more white men.
47	* RageBreakingPoint: Towards the end, right when Sheriff Taggart catches up to Sam and Joseph before they can cross the river into the reservation, Sam beats the crap out of him and, as he admits, comes ''this close'' to outright scalping him.
48	* SnowMeansDeath: Variation: The woods where Joseph gets shot in are snow-covered.
49	* TemptingFate: Right before Sam and Joseph take off on their stolen horses, Al tries to assuage Sam's concerns about his health by remarking that Joseph could wind up outliving Sam. Sam is then promptly shot by Sheriff Taggart from the distance.[[note]]Granted, the bullet only grazed Sam, but it still hit him regardless.[[/note]]
50	* WhenIWasYourAge: Joseph talks about his youth fighting in WWI, and mentions his own father’s recount of the Plains Wars of the 1870s.
51	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We don't learn the fates of George, Suzanne, or Taggart before Sam leaps out.
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55	->'''Joseph''': All of life is a series of leaps, for us grasshoppers.
56	->'''Sam''': I guess you could say so.
57	->'''Joseph''': Sometimes we see where we are going, sometimes we don’t. Have you ever leaped, and not at least survived?
58	->'''Sam''': No.

Context Recap / QuantumLeapS2E16Freedom