Quantum Leap
Season 1, Episode 6:
Double Identity
Sam: Look, God or time or whoever the hell it is leaping me around from one year to another... is gonna do it again as soon as I change whatever happened in Frankie's life in '65, or someone around him, right?
Al: Correct.
Sam: Wouldn't it be nice to know what that is?
Written by Donald P. Bellisario
Directed by Aaron Lipstadt
Airdate: April 21, 1989
November 8, 1965
Sam leaps into a mafia hit-man who may not live long since he is romancing the Godfather's girlfriend. Also an attempt to bring Sam home causes the 1965 east coast blackout.
Tropes:
- Been There, Shaped History: Ziggy's plan to rescue Sam causes the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
- Bilingual Bonus: Many of the support characters speak un-subtitled Italian.
- Body Surf: During the climax of the episode, Sam is knocked out of Frankie's body into Don Geno's.
- Catchphrase: Teresa repeatedly says "If I'm lyin', I'm dyin.'"
- Dangerously Close Shave: Don Geno starts to shave Sam as Frankie, threatening to slit his throat if he doesn't answer Geno's questions.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Sam as Frankie nearly gets himself killed when he tries to guess an appropriate response to the increasingly irrate Don Geno who is menacing him Italian, which Sam doesn't speak.
- Distracted by My Own Sexy: Frankie is the first leap host that Sam considers better looking than himself. He spends a few minutes mugging in the mirror in his new host body, remarking that Frankie makes his tuxedo look really good.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode isn't called "Double Identity" because of the Mafia dealings going on, nor is it because of Frankie seeing Teresa behind Don Geno's back. It's also a major tip-off to the stunt Sam pulls in the climax of the episode.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Outside of "The Leap Back", this is the last time the Project tries to outright use the retrieval process on Sam.
- Sam worrying he'll have to spend 40 years being Don Geno indirectly implies the present day at the Project is in 2005. It isn't until "The Leap Back" where the present is set in the late 90s.
- Foreshadowing:
- After checking Frankie out in the mirror, Sam remarks "Let's get to it, killer."
- When Sam and Al are discussing him being in 1965, Sam remarks that the Vietnam War is going on.
- Before parting ways with Sam after Don Geno almost sliced his throat, Tony makes a point to remind him to take Nonna to Bingo.
- False Reassurance: Before he outright reveals what Sam has to do as Don Genonote , Al assuages his concern that he'll be stuck pretending to be a Mafia boss until the present day... by revealing Don Geno gets offed come April.
- Faux Fluency: Used in-universe. Al helps Sam piece together a reply in Italian to appease Don Geno. His choppy reply is waved off as stuttering out of fear.
- Hypocrite: Don Geno is upset about his girlfriend, Teresa, cheating on him with Frankie, particularly with them going at it in his house.Don Geno: In my attic? My wife is there, my daughter...
- Implied Death Threat: Don Geno to Tony when he sees Frankie with Teresa in the beauty shopDon Geno: My condolences on the loss of your oldest son, paison.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: As Al off-handedly reveals, Don Geno ultimately gets killed by the Carluccis sometime in April '66.
- Lady Land: Sam as Frankie decides to go in Teresa's beauty shop to ask for a haircut so he can spend time with her. It's only when he sees the beauticians and patrons staring at him in wide-eyed shock that he realizes that beauty and barber shops were still very rigidly segregated on opposite sides of the traditional gender line.
- Language Barrier: Sam is dismayed to find out that his leap host is fluent in Italian. People often speak to him in Italian when they need to tell or ask him something really important. He spends several scenes stuck on the other side of the language barrier, having to puzzle out how to respond to keep from alerting anyone that something is wrong. His aunts chew him out, he's asked to sing at his brother's wedding, and Don Geno threatens his life, all in Italian. At one point, Al has to walk him through a response in Italian, syllable by syllable, to keep him from getting whacked.
- Let the Bully Win: Teresa points out that everyone is letting Geno win because they're afraid of crossing him
- The Mafia: A major driving force of the episode if you couldn't tell by now.
- Missing Time: Frankie experiences this when Sam leaps out of him, questioning why it is suddenly night and then learning that an entire day has passed. Teresa assumes that he has a concussion. This is actually the only time that the show addresses a leapee's experience.
- Open Secret: When Sam as Don Geno asks the Catholic Priest to declare that Frankie and Teresa will be married, the reaction of the crowd demonstrates that unlike Don Geno, they were already aware that Frankie and Teresa were romantically involved.Catholic Priest: I have an announcement to make: Don Geno Frescotti wishes it to be known that Frankie La Palma and Teresa Pacci...(the eyes of the women in the crowd go wide and they all begin to make the sign of the cross)Catholic Priest: ...are to be married. With his blessing!(women gasp in relief and begin applauding)
- Sex Dressed: When Sam leaps in, Frankie still has his pants around his ankles and Teresa is straightening her dress after a clandestine quickie in the attic of Don Geno's house.
- Sleeping with the Boss's Wife: Sam finds out that Frankie's life is in danger because he's sleeping with Don Geno's girlfriend.
- A Spy at the Spa: Tony invokes this trope to try to explain to Don Geno why Frankie is in the beauty shop letting Teresa style his hair.
- Suddenly Bilingual: Averted. While Frankie La Palma may speak fluent Italian, Sam Beckett definitely does not.
- Wedding Episode: The episode starts with Frankie's brother's wedding reception and ends with Sam as Don Geno announcing that Frankie and Teresa will be getting married.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: "Oh God, now I'm Don Geno..."
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Even after abruptly leaping into Don Geno, Sam doesn't leap out after resolving the situation with Frankie and Teresa. As it turns out, the real reason he had leapt in was to make sure Nonna won at Bingo.
