Quantum Leap
Season 2, Episode 22:
M.I.A.
Al: (shocked) Sam, you're here to stop a woman from... making the mistake of her lifetime.
Sam: What woman?
Al: Her name is Beth. And her husband's an M.I.A....
Sam: What woman?
Al: Her name is Beth. And her husband's an M.I.A....
Written by Donald P. Bellisario
Directed by Aaron Lipstadt
Airdate: May 9, 1990
April 1, 1969
Sam is an undercover cop named Jake on April 1, 1969. Al tells him that he is here to stop a woman named Beth from remarrying as her husband is a POW in Vietnam, not dead as she believes. Al feels a personal connection since he was a POW himself, and his first wife remarried in his absence. She was the only woman he truly loved, which is why his four subsequent marriages failed.
Jake's partner Skaggs tells Sam about his own tour in Vietnam: he once saw a baby sitting in the middle of the road. Though he knew it was an ambush, he couldn't stop staring at the baby, and was only saved in the nick of time by his comrade. He tells Sam that you only get to freeze up and live to tell the tale once. Unbeknownst to them, two men Skaggs arrested are planning revenge on him.
Beth gets a flat tire and meets her future husband, a lawyer named Dirk. Though Sam is able to stop them from hitting it off, repeated chance meetings between them convince Sam that their relationship might be meant to be. Al is adamant that Sam help Beth by buying her flowers and playing her music that will remind her of her husband. Sam sees a picture of Beth's husband and realizes that Beth is Al's first wife. Sam realizes that he can't help Beth and demands Al reveal the real reason he leaped.
Skaggs has been lured to a bar by a supposed informant: a young woman with a baby. As he looks at the baby, he realizes he has been set up again and freezes, but Sam bursts in at the last moment and kills Skaggs' would-be assassins. Though Sam has seemingly finished his work here, Al is given a moment to say goodbye to Beth. Though he knows she can't hear him, he begs her to wait for him. For a moment it seems she can sense his presence, and as Sam and Al leap away, she cries out his name.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When it becomes clear that Sam ain't buying his lies any more about the leap, Al practically all but pleads to Sam to stop Beth from leaving him.
- Amoral Attorney: Borderline defied: Outside of being a mild jerk to Sam, there is no outward indication that Dirk is actually an asshole. The only bad thing to his name is that Beth left Al for him.
- April Fools' Day: After Sam leaps in on the date, the entire episode involves Al's emotional spiral as he desperately tries to preserve his marriage to Beth.
- Bad Liar: Once Sam learns the truth about Beth's husband, and races out to confront Al, Al lamely tries to insist that Ziggy's projecting "real good odds" that Sam is supposed to save his marriage. Understandably, this falls apart once Sam insists on seeing them.
- Bait-and-Switch: Sam finds himself leaping into an alley in a dress and heels, smoking a cigarette, making him think he's once again a woman. Then he hears someone talking through a walkie talkie in his purse, calling him Jake and saying "[t]hey're on their way out"; immediately after, two armed guys speed into the alley. Sam had actually leapt into an undercover cop.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Literally: Sam shows up at the bar with a shotgun in order to save Skaggs' life.
- Big Damn Heroes: Skaggs is frozen in shock at the bar, and is seconds away from getting gunned down by the two criminals. Cue Sam making his presence known with a shotgun click.
- Blatant Lies: When Skaggs checks over Sam's gun under the belief he didn't use it because it jammed, he notices the safety was on. When another officer asks what happened, Skaggs (now believing Sam had actually frozen up in shock because of those two criminals getting the jump on him) claims it jamming was what really happened.
- Broken Ace: Downplayed: Skaggs is said to have the best arrest record in San Diego. But at the same time, he's dealing with left over PTSD due to his time serving in Vietnam; seeing the baby at the bar freezes him up, and almost costs him his life.
- Cutting the Knot:
- When it becomes assumed Sam's gun had just jammed on him, another cop tells him to just use a revolver.
- When Sam is having trouble taking off his bra back in the police station's locker room, Al tells him to just spin it around so he can get at the clasp easier.
- Disguised in Drag: At the start, Sam leaps into an undercover cop dressed as a woman for a case. (He initially thought he had again leapt into a woman and was rather annoyed.)
- What should have tipped him (and the audience) was the fake boobs. Whenever Sam leapt into a woman, he just wore the clothes naturally. In this case, the detective was dressed up "to enhance enticement."
- Downer Ending: While Sam managing to prevent Skaggs' death at the last minute would push this episode into a Bittersweet Ending, it's the final scene that firmly pushes it into here. Samnote assumes that the reason he hadn't leapt yet is because Al still needs to say goodbye to Beth. And, as you can imagine, this is practically torture for Al: Not only does he try in vain to get Beth to notice him, but as a final stab to the gut, she plays "Georgia On My Mind". And so, as Al has one final "dance" with her, he tries in vain to get her to hold on and wait for him to get back from Vietnam, goes to kiss her forehead... and vanishes once Sam leaps out. And to make matters worse? That Beth is able to notice.
- Foreshadowing:
- Skaggs' story to Sam about his time in Vietnam is almost point for point how the climax plays out: He unknowingly wandered into an ambush, stumbled across a baby, he locked up in shock, was completely unaware that he was about to get gunned down by a group behind him, and was only saved at the last minute by a partner.
- Unlike prior leaps, Al somehow has all of the details about why Sam has leapt in right at the top. And he's insistent it has to do with this woman, Beth...
- At one point, Al rants about his own time in Vietnam, where he was a POW and took so long to get back home, his wife left him for another guy, explaining why he wants to prevent the same thing from happening to Beth's husband.
- Get Out!: Discussed: Once he learns that Al was lying to him all this time, Sam storms out of Beth's house just in time to see Al about to exit the Imaging Chamber. As he runs over to him, Sam issues an ultimatum:
- Hope Spot: When Al (tearfully) is having his final conversation with Beth, just for a brief moment, it seems like she could hear him:Al: (as Beth sits and smokes) It's been such a long time... 25 years. Of course, you haven't changed, but I have. I'm an admiral now. Me, the ensign that said that anyone with a rank... above lieutenant was a horse's ass.Beth: (chuckles)Al: (practically pleading) Beth, you didn't hear me, did you? Oh, Beth, tell me you can hear me.
- Kick the Dog:
- Indirectly: Because Al was so determined to try and get Sam to save his marriage to Beth, Sam learns almost too late that he has to prevent Skaggs' murder.
- During his final moment with Beth, Al briefly hopes she was able to hear him. Not only did she not, but she then proceeds to get up from the couch, and wanders over to her record player, which is finishing playing "Unchained Melody". Not only does Al try in vain to hug her... but then she changes the record:Al: ("Georgia On My Mind" is cued up; turns, heartbroken, to see Beth start to dance) ...look at me, Beth... ...oh, Sam, why did you make me do this?
- Motivational Lie: All throughout the leap, Al makes it clear to Sam that he needs to prevent Beth from giving up on her husband and moving on with Dirk, not only making it clear that this would ruin her husband's life once he gets back from Vietnam, but also drawing a parallel to his own time in Vietnam.
- Oh, Crap!: Sam was so fixated on the fact that he seemingly leapt into another woman that, by the time it started to become clear who he actually leapt into, two armed criminals cross his path, ready to open fire.
- The One That Got Away: Al tells Sam that Beth was his one and only marriage that ever worked, that she was the one he wanted to spend his entire life with.Al: (broken) Aw, Sam... God, I love her... Beth is the only woman I really ever loved. She's the only one I ever wanted to grow old with. That's why all my marriages never worked after that. Sam, if you're lucky, life is gonna give you one shot... at true love. And Beth was mine.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: When Sam leaps in, he cowers in the middle of the gunfight he's caught up in. When it's revealed that he's a male cop in drag and not a woman, his partner asks him if his pistol jammed again. One of the other cops tells him "Get a revolver, Jake. You'll live longer."
- Sadistic Choice: Once Al realizes Sam learned the truth, he begins to leave the Imaging Chamber. But once Sam makes it clear he never wants to see Al again if he leaves, Al (after hesitating) stays.
- Sanity Slippage: Downplayed: Once it's clear to him that Sam has the chance of fixing his marriage, Al becomes obsessed. He doesn't leave the Imaging Chamber at all, he keeps hanging around Beth's house, and he outright states that the Devil is responsible for his misfortunes in life.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: After he gets the drop on the two criminals and has them arrested, Skaggs assumes Sam didn't use his gun because he merely froze up in the action; in reality, Sam didn't realize he had a gun until after the fact.
- Wham Shot: Towards the end of the episode, Sam steals a glance at one of the photos Beth has in her house... and it's of a younger Al.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: A retroactive example: Not only is Sam insistent that he isn't actually there to save Al's marriage to Beth, but he assumes the reason why he hadn't leapt yet was because Al needed to say goodbye. Come the time of the series finale, Sam realizes that he should have helped Al.
- You Can See Me?: All throughout his final meeting with her, Al tries in vain to get Beth to notice him. Depressingly, it's only when he goes to kiss her as he's forced to leave once Sam leaps that Beth does sense him.
