Line #40 Recap/QuantumLeapS5E13Liberation


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5	'''''Series/QuantumLeap'''''\
6	'''Season 5, Episode 13:'''
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8	!Liberation
9
10	Written by Chris Abbott and Deborah Pratt
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12	Directed by Bob Hulme
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14	Airdate: January 12, 1993
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16	------------
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18	October 16, 1968
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20	Sam leaps into housewife Margaret Sanders, and finds himself in the middle of the women's liberation movement. He must save the lives of Margaret's daughter, a women's rights activist, and a policeman, while also working to save Margaret's marriage.
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22	!Tropes
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24	* BookEnds: The conflict of the episode starts in the same matter how the ''climax'' of the episode starts: Officer Tipton roughhousing Diana (who decides to take a swing at him), and a member of the Sanders family taking matters into their own hands. The only significant difference is that while Sam just opted to shove him away, [[OhCrap Suzanne grabs his gun]].
25	* BrokenMasquerade: Downplayed: At one point, Sam decides to make griddle cakes for breakfast, "à la Beckett".
26	-->'''Suzanne''': Beckett, Dad. [[OneSteveLimit He's a famous playwright.]] Creator/SamuelBeckett.
27	-->'''Sam''': Actually, I was thinking of ''Mom'' Beckett, the famous cook.
28	* BrickJoke: When Sam arrives at the Addison Men's Club in order to talk to Chief Tipton, right as he has arrived to break up the sit-in, Al gives Sam one piece of advice: [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten "Don't hit him."]]
29	* DoubleStandard: [[invoked]] While Sam has had to deal with the struggles of being a woman in previous leaps, the double whammy of being a housewife [[StayInTheKitchen smack dab in the middle of the Women's Lib movement]] is ''really'' trying his patience:
30	-->'''Sam''': (''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness pissed]]''; to Al) Can you believe that? Can you believe that ''man''? I hate the way he orders me around- ''[[VerbalBackspace Margaret]]'' around like that. "Little sweetie pie"... It's demeaning!
31	-->'''Al''': Well, actually, you know, it's the only way he knows how to say "I love you".
32	-->'''Sam''': (disgusted) Oh, ''please''...
33	-->'''Al''': Yes. George is from a generation that was taught that women have a "place", and men have a "place", and never the twain shall meet.
34	-->'''Sam''': Yeah, well, if that's the system, take it from somebody on this side, in a dress, okay? It's your crash and burn.
35	* DoubleTake: When it comes time for George to announce he's moving out, Al tells Sam to prevent it. [[NotWhatItLooksLike When Sam initially tells him to go ahead]], it takes Al a second to register what Sam said.
36	* GenderBender: Sam leaps into Margaret Sanders. Also, at the end of the episode, Sam leaps Dr. Ruth Westheimer. This is a tease for the next episode, "[[Recap/QuantumLeapS5E14DrRuth Dr Ruth]]".
37	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: It took almost five seasons, but the show ''finally'' found an opportunity to hang a big ol' lampshade over the fact that their main character shares his name with [[Creator/SamuelBeckett a certain other "Sam Beckett"]].
38	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: While being held in a jail cell along with everyone else involved in the bra burning, Sam notices a police officer, Donald Tipton, roughly grabbing at Diana. In response, Sam shoves him away. And, as Al learns through Ziggy, [[ButterflyOfDoom that one act]] ''[[ButterflyOfDoom immediately]]'' [[ButterflyOfDoom complicated the leap]]. Not only does it cause George and Margaret's marriage to become strained to the point where there's a risk of him leaving, and ruining the family as a result, but in regards to Diana specifically:
39	-->'''Al''': Well, Diana St. Cloud is planning a protest march tonight, and, uh, because of [[SarcasmMode your heroic gesture,]] the police chief Tipton there, your friend, he gets a little more aggressive than he normally would. [[SuicideByCop He pulls out his gun.]]
40	* NotWhatItLooksLike: When George is telling "Margaret" he's moving out, Sam... just goes "If that's what you have to do." But then, just before George can leave the club, Sam [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech makes it clear that George is taking the easy way out]].
41	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: At the end of the episode, as George is about to follow through on his threat of moving out of the house, Sam basically all but ''dares'' him to, openly pointing out how ''he'' is at fault for "their" marriage no longer working:
42	-->'''Sam''': Let me ask you one question: [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Do you think you've had a good marriage all these years?]]
43	-->'''George''': You know the answer to that.
44	-->'''Sam''': [[ArmorPiercingResponse No, I don't.]]
45	-->'''George''': I think we've had a ''great'' marriage. That's why I don't understand why [[NeverMyFault you're]] throwing it all away like this.
46	-->'''Sam''': Well, it seems to me like ''you're'' the one who's throwing it all away.
47	-->'''George''': I don't know what to do. [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore All of a sudden, you're not my Margaret anymore.]] Who am I supposed to be if you're not you?
48	-->'''Sam''': Maybe you could stop trying to make me into ''your'' Margaret, and try finding out who I really am. And you could start that by respecting me for ''my'' thoughts and ''my'' ideas, even if they're different from ''yours''.
49	** YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Once it's clear Sam is getting through to George, he changes tacts:
50	--->'''George''': I'm too old to change who I am.
51	--->'''Sam''': Only if you think you are. And only if you don't love your wife and children enough to try.
52	--->'''George''': I do love you very much, Margaret.
53	--->'''Sam''': Then ''try''. That's all anybody can ask.
54	* StayInTheKitchen: Margaret's husband George is keen to have his wife and daughter be good and obedient, to the point where he threatens ''moving out'' if his "wife" doesn't stop acting up.
55	* StrawFeminist: Diana is the scariest of them, as she is ready to go just a little too far in her activism.
56	* VerySpecialEpisode: Given how this episode is set ''squarely'' into the middle of the Women's Lib movement, and Sam is forced to experience the inherent sexism involved at full force, it is safe to consider this episode such.
57	-->'''Sam''': (narrating) For some reason, all my Swiss cheese brain could remember about the women's movement was something that my mom once said; that it was probably a good thing... for ''other'' women. But, I had an understanding that no other man on the face of the Earth could have. I ''[[GenderBender was]]'' a woman, ''[[ContinuityNod had been]]'' a woman, on a number of leaps, [[LiteralTransformativeExperience and it was an eye-opening experience.]]
58	* WavingSignsAround: There is a demonstration and later a sit-in.
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Context Recap / QuantumLeapS5E13Liberation