Line #43 Recap/QuantumLeapS5E05KillinTime


1	[floatboxright:
2	Previous: Recap/QuantumLeapS5E04NowhereToRun\
3	Next: Recap/QuantumLeapS5E06StarLightStarBright]
4
5	'''''Series/QuantumLeap'''''\
6	'''Season 5, Episode 5:'''
7
8	!Killin' Time
9
10	->'''Leon:''' People don't just jump into other people's lives!\
11	'''Al:''' Well, my friend ''does'', and I'll prove it to you.
12
13	Written by Tommy Thompson
14
15	Directed by Michael W. Watkins
16
17	Airdate: October 20, 1992.
18
19	------------
20
21	June 18, 1958
22
23	Sam finds himself as Leon Stiles (Creator/CameronDye), an illiterate serial killer who has just recently killed a deputy, and has taken a divorced single mother and her daughter hostage.
24
25	Not helping things is that, back at the Project in 1999, Leon has obtained a gun and escaped the Waiting Room. Now, Sam ''can't'' leap unless they get Leon back.
26
27	!Tropes:
28
29	* AbsentMindedProfessor: When Gushie meets Leon Stiles, who is in the process of escaping from the Waiting Room, he casually greets him as "Dr. Beckett." You know, despite the fact that they're right outside the Waiting Room, and Gushie should be well aware of leapees after helping the rest of the project assist Sam for ''four years''.
30	* AllThereInTheScript: The script explains how Stiles got a gun in the Waiting Room -- he knocked out a Marine guard and stole his sidearm.
31	* AsYouKnow: Al has to remind Gushie that they can't get law enforcement involved because PQL is top-secret.
32	* BrokenMasquerade: Sam tells Carol and Becky his true identity and about Project Quantum Leap. Becky later tells Sheriff Hoyt about this, and he takes it as Stiles losing his marbles and makes the decision to storm the house.
33	* BulletproofVest: Al wears one when he goes to recover Stiles.
34	* ButtMonkey: Gushie. Stiles steals his car and jacket, and Sam is aghast when Al tells him that Gushie will be in charge of things back in the future.
35	* CassandraTruth: Naturally, Carol doesn't believe Sam when he tells her about quantum leaping and his true identity. When he learns that Stiles is illiterate, he has Carol -- who is a medical student -- quiz him on medical terminology, and his correct answers convince her.
36	* DisposableSexWorker: Stiles killed a few hookers in his killing spree prior to Sam leaping in. It's averted later with the hooker in 1999, who Al rescues.
37	* EmbarrassingPyjamas: Or Embarrassing Fermi suit. When the hooker says that she likes Stiles' "pajamas," he tries covering himself with Gushie's coat.
38	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The episode takes place over the span of about four hours. Sam leaps in shortly after 8 pm on June 18, and leaps out shortly after midnight.
39	* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: When Stiles demands that Gushie send him back or else get a bullet, Gushie calmly responds, "Well, you're just gonna have to kill me then."
40	* FamilyFriendlyStripper: All things considered, the hooker's room is pretty demure for being in a place called "Sex World." The "movie" that the hooker shows Stiles even features a woman dancing sensually while clothed.
41	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: In a reversal of Sam's situation, Stiles escapes the Project and gets blindsided by the culture shock of being in 1999.
42	* FormulaBreakingEpisode: This episode breaks with the norm by showing what would happen when a leapee escapes the Project.
43	* GodzillaThreshold:
44	** Given the severity of the situation he's found himself in, compounded with the severity of the situation back in 1999, Sam breaks one of the rules of quantum leaping and reveals his true identity to Carol and Becky.
45	** Al is willing to leave the Project in the middle of a leap, as Sam apparently can't leap unless Stiles is in the Waiting Room.
46	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Invoked by Carol at the end, when she tells Sheriff Hoyt that even though Stiles is a cold-blooded killer, Hoyt isn't.
47	* HiddenDepths: Gushie really shines in this episode. He is clever enough to jury rig the Imaging Chamber to talk to Sam in the past, and Al in the present. He also bravely and unflinchingly stands up to Stiles after Stiles returns to the Project and demands to be sent back.
48	* HoldingTheFloor: Sam has to stall for time while Al recovers Stiles back in the future.
49	* HologramProjectionImperfection: Gushie as a hologram. For Sam, he's glitchy, prone to fading in and out, and has a distorted voice. He doesn't even manifest visually for Al, who only gets his distorted voice.
50	* HostageSituation: Sam leaps into one, and Al and Gushie briefly end up in one themselves.
51	* IgnoreTheFanservice: Al says that he's tempted by the hooker's advances, but continues chasing after Stiles without another thought since Sam's life is in mortal peril.
52	* ItsPersonal: Stiles killed Sheriff Hoyt's daughter and a deputy right before Sam leaped in, and Hoyt kills Stiles in the original timeline.
53	-->'''Sheriff Hoyt:''' That man in there killed my daughter. I fully intend to return the favor.
54	* KirkSummation: Carol gives one to Sheriff Hoyt at the end, telling him that even though Leon Stiles is a killer, Sheriff Hoyt is not -- he's just a dad who misses his daughter. This gets Hoyt to snap out of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
55	* LockedOutOfTheLoop: When Al returns to Sam at the end, Sam talks to him in front of Carol. It takes Al a moment to realize that Sam broke protocol and told Carol the truth about his identity.
56	* MeanwhileInTheFuture: Half of this episode is spent in 1999 as Al and Gushie deal with Stiles' escape.
57	* NoNameGiven: The hooker in 1999 isn't named.
58	* PlotHole:
59	** The script says that Stiles steals his gun from a Marine. However, it's not explained why an armed guard is ever needed inside the Waiting Room, especially since Sam's survival is predicated on the leapee being alive.
60	** Further, it's not explained why someone couldn't just shut down the elevator to trap Stiles, or why no one notified the front gate that there was a hostile leapee escaping.
61	** Further than that, it's not explained how Leon was able to break ''back'' into the top-secret government project.
62	* PrecisionFStrike: From Gushie of all people: "Time and space can be a ''bitch.''"
63	* PrisonerExchange: Upon learning from Gushie that Becky dies in the crossfire in the altered history, Sam calls Hoyt and arranges to exchange Becky for assurances that Hoyt won't make a move on him.
64	* RageAgainstTheReflection: Stiles loses his shit when he looks into the hooker's mirror and sees Sam's reflection looking back at him, and fires his gun at the mirror and Al.
65	* SanDimasTime: Since the leaper in the past and the leapee in the future are synced, Al only has a limited amount of time to return Stiles to the Waiting Room so Sam can leap before Hoyt kills him.
66	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When Stiles learns that he's in 1999, gets an earful about how Sam's experiment functions, and sees that his reflection is Sam Beckett's, he hightails it back to the Project and ''demands'' that Gushie or someone send him back.
67	* SerialKiller: According to Ziggy's dossier, Leon Stiles went on a murdering spree in 1958, killing hookers across the south. Stiles resumes this in 1999, going to the city and picking up a hooker that he intends on murdering.
68	* TerminatorTwosome: The episode plays with a type of [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. After involuntarily leaping forward 41 years when Sam displaces him, Stiles escapes from the Project and comes very close to resuming his killing spree in the future. Al pursues Stiles in order to help Sam in the past, stop Stiles from harming others, and prevent Stiles from potentially getting harmed.
69	* ThatsAnOrder: Al barks this at Corporal [=McLaughlin=], who has drawn his sidearm and is prepared to shoot Stiles.
70	-->'''Al:''' If you kill him, Dr. Beckett can never get back. Put your gun away. THAT'S AN ORDER, CORPORAL!
71	* TrustPassword: Sam decides to drop TheMasquerade, telling Carol and Becky that he's a doctor from the future stuck in a TimeTravel experiment. Naturally, Carol doesn't believe him. Then he notices her medical textbook, and she reveals that she's in medical school. So he has her quiz him on medical stuff to prove that he's telling the truth.
72	* UnproblematicProstitution: The hooker wears a red and gold dress with polka dots that light up, wears edible paint on her face, acts really hammy, and takes Stiles to a place called "Sex World" that has really nice (and clean!) interior decor.
73	* VisualInnuendo: When the hooker tells Stiles that her body paint is edible, she puts her finger into her mouth quite suggestively.
74	* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Sam when he finds out that Al opened the Waiting Room door, and again when he finds out that Stiles escaped the complex, and again when he hears that ''Gushie'' is going to be in charge while Al is out chasing down Stiles.
75	* YouNeedABreathMint: When Gushie tells Al about the tracker in his car that's linked to the handlink, Al says that he could kiss Gushie if he didn't have bad breath.

Context Recap / QuantumLeapS5E05KillinTime