Quantum Leap
Season 3, Episode 11:
Runaway
Written by Paul Brown
Directed by Michael Katleman
Airdate: January 4, 1991
July 4, 1964
Sam Leaps into 13 year old Butchie Rickett, On a road trip across the US with his family, entering Wyoming and entering Colorado, continuously tortured by his 14 year old sister. He must find a way to stop their mother from leaving the family to find herself.
Tropes
- Are We There Yet?: We have the typical family road trip stuff, beginning with Butchie having to go to the bathroom. "You just went." Next, it's car sickness.
- Big Brother Bully: Make that "Big Sister Bully". Alexandra physically tortures poor Butchie with wedgies and nuggies all the time.
- Continuity Snarl: At the end of this episode when it originally aired, Sam leaps into Linda Bruckner from "Another Mother", an episode which had already aired the previous season. This represents a continuity error, and the ending leap should have been into Billie Jean Crockett from "8 1/2 Months". This was later fixed in syndication.
- Gender Bender: The end of the episode has Sam leaping into a woman.
- Jerkass: Alexandra harasses Sam throughout the episode and gets a smug grin whenever he gets into trouble (usually her fault). After resolving the main issue of the episode, Sam doesn't leap out until he threatens the girl into being nicer to her brother (by dangling her over an old well).
- Shotgun Wedding: It turns out Butchie's parents, Hank and Emma, had to get married because she was pregnant with Alexandra.
