Quantum Leap
Season 5, Episode 13:
Liberation
Written by Chris Abbott and Deborah Pratt
Directed by Bob Hulme
Airdate: January 12, 1993
October 16, 1968
Sam leaps into housewife Margaret Sanders, and finds himself in the middle of the women's liberation movement. He must save the lives of Margaret's daughter, a women's rights activist, and a policeman, while also working to save Margaret's marriage.
Tropes
- Book Ends: The conflict of the episode starts in the same matter how the climax of the episode starts: Officer Tipton roughhousing Diana (who decides to take a swing at him), and a member of the Sanders family taking matters into their own hands. The only significant difference is that while Sam just opted to shove him away, Suzanne grabs his gun.
- Broken Masquerade: Downplayed: At one point, Sam decides to make griddle cakes for breakfast, "à la Beckett".Suzanne: Beckett, Dad. He's a famous playwright. Samuel Beckett.Sam: Actually, I was thinking of Mom Beckett, the famous cook.
- Brick Joke: When Sam arrives at the Addison Men's Club in order to talk to Chief Tipton, right as he has arrived to break up the sit-in, Al gives Sam one piece of advice: "Don't hit him."
- Double Standard: While Sam has had to deal with the struggles of being a woman in previous leaps, the double whammy of being a housewife smack dab in the middle of the Women's Lib movement is really trying his patience:Sam: (pissed; to Al) Can you believe that? Can you believe that man? I hate the way he orders me around- Margaret around like that. "Little sweetie pie"... It's demeaning!Al: Well, actually, you know, it's the only way he knows how to say "I love you".Sam: (disgusted) Oh, please...Al: Yes. George is from a generation that was taught that women have a "place", and men have a "place", and never the twain shall meet.Sam: Yeah, well, if that's the system, take it from somebody on this side, in a dress, okay? It's your crash and burn.
- Double Take: When it comes time for George to announce he's moving out, Al tells Sam to prevent it. When Sam initially tells him to go ahead, it takes Al a second to register what Sam said.
- Gender Bender: Sam leaps into Margaret Sanders. Also, at the end of the episode, Sam leaps Dr. Ruth Westheimer. This is a tease for the next episode, "Dr Ruth".
- Named After Somebody Famous: It took almost five seasons, but the show finally found an opportunity to hang a big ol' lampshade over the fact that their main character shares his name with a certain other "Sam Beckett".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While being held in a jail cell along with everyone else involved in the bra burning, Sam notices a police officer, Donald Tipton, roughly grabbing at Diana. In response, Sam shoves him away. And, as Al learns through Ziggy, that one act immediately complicated the leap. Not only does it cause George and Margaret's marriage to become strained to the point where there's a risk of him leaving, and ruining the family as a result, but in regards to Diana specifically:Al: Well, Diana St. Cloud is planning a protest march tonight, and, uh, because of your heroic gesture, the police chief Tipton there, your friend, he gets a little more aggressive than he normally would. He pulls out his gun.
- Not What It Looks Like: When George is telling "Margaret" he's moving out, Sam... just goes "If that's what you have to do." But then, just before George can leave the club, Sam makes it clear that George is taking the easy way out.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: At the end of the episode, as George is about to follow through on his threat of moving out of the house, Sam basically all but dares him to, openly pointing out how he is at fault for "their" marriage no longer working:Sam: Let me ask you one question: Do you think you've had a good marriage all these years?George: You know the answer to that.Sam: No, I don't.George: I think we've had a great marriage. That's why I don't understand why you're throwing it all away like this.Sam: Well, it seems to me like you're the one who's throwing it all away.George: I don't know what to do. All of a sudden, you're not my Margaret anymore. Who am I supposed to be if you're not you?Sam: Maybe you could stop trying to make me into your Margaret, and try finding out who I really am. And you could start that by respecting me for my thoughts and my ideas, even if they're different from yours.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Once it's clear Sam is getting through to George, he changes tacts:George: I'm too old to change who I am.Sam: Only if you think you are. And only if you don't love your wife and children enough to try.George: I do love you very much, Margaret.Sam: Then try. That's all anybody can ask.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Once it's clear Sam is getting through to George, he changes tacts:
- Stay in the Kitchen: Margaret's husband George is keen to have his wife and daughter be good and obedient, to the point where he threatens moving out if his "wife" doesn't stop acting up.
- Straw Feminist: Diana is the scariest of them, as she is ready to go just a little too far in her activism.
- Very Special Episode: Given how this episode is set squarely into the middle of the Women's Lib movement, and Sam is forced to experience the inherent sexism involved at full force, it is safe to consider this episode such.Sam: (narrating) For some reason, all my Swiss cheese brain could remember about the women's movement was something that my mom once said; that it was probably a good thing... for other women. But, I had an understanding that no other man on the face of the Earth could have. I was a woman, had been a woman, on a number of leaps, and it was an eye-opening experience.
- Waving Signs Around: There is a demonstration and later a sit-in.
