Quantum Leap
Season 5, Episode 5:
Killin' Time
Leon: People don't just jump into other people's lives!
Al: Well, my friend does, and I'll prove it to you.
Al: Well, my friend does, and I'll prove it to you.
Written by Tommy Thompson
Directed by Michael W. Watkins
Airdate: October 20, 1992.
June 18, 1958
Sam finds himself as Leon Stiles (Cameron Dye), an illiterate serial killer who has just recently killed a deputy, and has taken a divorced single mother and her daughter hostage.
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.
Tropes:
- Absent-Minded Professor: 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.
- All There in the Script: The script explains how Stiles got a gun in the Waiting Room — he knocked out a Marine guard and stole his sidearm.
- As You Know: Al has to remind Gushie that they can't get law enforcement involved because PQL is top-secret.
- Broken Masquerade: 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.
- Bulletproof Vest: Al wears one when he goes to recover Stiles.
- Butt-Monkey: 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.
- Cassandra Truth: 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.
- Disposable Sex Worker: 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.
- Embarrassing Pyjamas: Or Embarrassing Fermi suit. When the hooker says that she likes Stiles' "pajamas," he tries covering himself with Gushie's coat.
- Extremely Short Timespan: 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.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: 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."
- Family-Friendly Stripper: 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.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: In a reversal of Sam's situation, Stiles escapes the Project and gets blindsided by the culture shock of being in 1999.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: This episode breaks with the norm by showing what would happen when a leapee escapes the Project.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- 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.
- 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.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Invoked by Carol at the end, when she tells Sheriff Hoyt that even though Stiles is a cold-blooded killer, Hoyt isn't.
- Hidden Depths: 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.
- Holding the Floor: Sam has to stall for time while Al recovers Stiles back in the future.
- Hologram Projection Imperfection: 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.
- Hostage Situation: Sam leaps into one, and Al and Gushie briefly end up in one themselves.
- Ignore the Fanservice: 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.
- It's Personal: Stiles killed Sheriff Hoyt's daughter and a deputy right before Sam leaped in, and Hoyt kills Stiles in the original timeline.Sheriff Hoyt: That man in there killed my daughter. I fully intend to return the favor.
- Kirk Summation: 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 Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Locked Out of the Loop: 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.
- Meanwhile, in the Future…: Half of this episode is spent in 1999 as Al and Gushie deal with Stiles' escape.
- No Name Given: The hooker in 1999 isn't named.
- Plot Hole:
- 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.
- 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.
- Further than that, it's not explained how Leon was able to break back into the top-secret government project.
- Precision F-Strike: From Gushie of all people: "Time and space can be a bitch."
- Prisoner Exchange: 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.
- Rage Against the Reflection: 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.
- San Dimas Time: 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.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: 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.
- Serial Killer: 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.
- Terminator Twosome: The episode plays with a type of 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.
- That's an Order!: Al barks this at Corporal McLaughlin, who has drawn his sidearm and is prepared to shoot Stiles.Al: If you kill him, Dr. Beckett can never get back. Put your gun away. THAT'S AN ORDER, CORPORAL!
- Trust Password: Sam decides to drop The Masquerade, telling Carol and Becky that he's a doctor from the future stuck in a Time Travel 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.
- Unproblematic Prostitution: 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.
- Visual Innuendo: When the hooker tells Stiles that her body paint is edible, she puts her finger into her mouth quite suggestively.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: 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.
- You Need a Breath Mint: 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.
- Zeerust: We get a deeper look at the year 1999 outside of Project Quantum Leap. There's a lot of lenticular signs and neon lights, there are semi-subterranean roadways, electromagnetic vehicles, light up clothes, edible body paint, legal prostitution, and voice-controlled appliances.
