Quantum Leap
Season 5, Episode 15:
Blood Moon
Sam: [narrating] Leaping in and out of new situations has taught me to be prepared for the unusual. But I suddenly had the feeling that I'd left "unusual" and landed smack-dab in the middle of "bizarre."
Written by Tommy Thompson
Directed by Alan J. Levi
Airdate: February 9, 1993.
March 10, 1975
Sam leaps into Lord Nigel Corrington, an artist who lives an eccentric gothic lifestyle, on the night of the blood moon — a night with a ceremony that honors the world's earliest vampires. He's there to save Nigel's wife Lady Alexandra from dying a grisly death by having her blood drained, while trying to convince Al that Lord Nigel isn't a vampire.
Tropes:
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Up to this point, Sam has encountered psychics, a ghost, angels, and mummies, but apparently vampires are a step too far for him. Though in fairness he doesn't remember the angel and his swiss cheese memory might mean he has forgotten the others.
- Artistic License – Space:
- Blood moons, or lunar eclipses, don't occur every 10 years like Al claims, but rather every six months or so.
- There wasn't a total lunar eclipse seen from the UK in March 1975. The UK actually saw a partial lunar eclipse in May of that year, followed by a full one in November.
- As You Know: Alexandra gives Sam a monologue about her upbringing as an abandoned orphan. It helps Sam understand her better, but there's not really a reason for her to do this since she's speaking to who she thinks is her husband.
- Blood Magic: The blood moon ceremony involves draining sacrifices of their blood, apparently to honor Count Bathory, and (as Victor says) "to bridge the gap between the living and the dead." Lord Nigel had apparently planned to do this with livestock, but in the original history Victor and Claudia did so with Alexandra, and very nearly included Sam.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Sam tells Alexandra to leave, sell the dagger, and never come back, as he knows that she would be unsafe around Corrington or other followers of Bathory once he leaps out. Al says that she becomes a missionary.
- Creepy Housekeeper: Boris the butler, who has absolutely zero reaction to "Lord Nigel" acting disoriented, who comes and goes very ominously, and who speaks in a Creepy Monotone. He makes Lurch seem downright cuddly by comparison. However, he does manage to rescue Sam and alert the police.
- Deus ex Machina: Sam doesn't save Alexandra from Victor at the end, a bolt of lightning does.
- Disney Villain Death: Victor gets struck by lightning and falls off of the tower.
- Doing In the Wizard: Sam spends the episode working to disprove that there's anything supernatural going on. Sure enough, Victor and Claudia are seen to be wearing fake vampire teeth, and Lady Alexandra's violent murder has a very non-supernatural cause.
- Dramatic Irony: Lady Alexandra begs Sam not to let her die alone. Sam knows from Ziggy that Alexandra is fated to die alone in the woods.
- Dramatic Thunder: Multiple times over the course of the episode, including once when Al tells Sam the circumstances of Lady Alexandra's murder.
- The Ending Changes Everything: Right before leaping out, Sam sees his reflection — or lack thereof — and realizes that Corrington wasn't just some wacky eccentric, but an actual vampire.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: It's an episode of Quantum Leap with a Twist Ending about a vampire.
- Genre Savvy: Al immediately recognizes all the standard vampire tropes after he meets Lord Nigel in the Waiting Room. He's so freaked out that he forgets to have Ziggy run a mission analysis.Al: Wait a minute, you should see this guy Corrington, Sam! He's a first-class flesh-eater! He's got all the classic signs: he's got the pale complexion, the beady eyes, the lustful stare...
Sam: Al. You just described yourself. - Genre Throwback: To 70s-era Hammer Horror films.
- Gothic Horror: The intended tone of the episode, although there's also much humor derived from the fact that Sam and Al are each freaked out in their own ways.
- Great Big Book of Everything: Instead of consulting Ziggy on vampires, the blood moon, and Bathory, Al brings a gigantic book about vampires, How to Spot a Vampire by Dr. Laszlo Fang, into the Imaging Chamber.
- Halloween Episode: Averted to drive home the point that this is a really weird situation. Sam asks Al if he's leaped into Halloween, but Al confirms that it's March. The episode itself aired in February.
- Historical Gender Flip: This episode talks about Count Bathory, who was apparently one of the first vampires, who took the blood from so many virgins to give himself immortality, whose dagger is gifted to Corrington by Victor. This is a gender flipped version of Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
- Identical Grandson: Al tells Sam that his leapee looks like the guy in the portrait over the mantle. Sam says that it's his leapee's ancestor who has been dead for three hundred years. Al then surmises that the "ancestor" thing is a cover, and the two are actually one and the same.
- Idiot Ball: Sam is suspicious of Victor and Claudia, but he has absolutely no qualms about accepting a drink from them even though they're the only two suspects in Alexandra's murder. Of course, this leads to him and Alexandra being drugged.
- Magic Versus Science: Even though he's clearly weirded out, Sam is a scientist first and foremost, and refuses to accept that he's leaped into a vampire. He tells Al that the coffin thing must be a part of some kind of marketing ploy to make Corrington's art much more valuable, and he surmises that Alexandra's death is part of some bizarre cult ritual. He's correct about the latter point.
- Make-Out Kids: During the scene with the dagger, Claudia cannot stop sensually caressing and smooching Victor's face. And this continues during the "ceremony."
- Missing Reflection: Al says that there aren't any mirrors around because Corrington must be a vampire. Sure enough, this is proved by the twist at the end.
- Mock Millionaire: A variation in that Sam's leapee is old money English aristocracy, while Sam isn't anywhere close to that. Sam is just so weirded out by the goings-on that he doesn't even pretend to be an aristocrat, and his "gee golly" American farm upbringing breaks through multiple times.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Used quite often as the background music, to play up the spookiness.
- Omniscient Database: Subverted. Ziggy knows details about Lady Alexandra's cause of death, but has to download additional data about the leap from the UK's databases.
- Our Vampires Are Different: A group of eccentric people in England call themselves vampires and make human sacrifices (and drink their blood) to the "Blood Moon" and wear false, vampire teeth. Although it turns out at least some real vampires may exist, as Sam cannot see a reflection in a shiny plate at the end.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Lady Alexandra comments on "Lord Nigel" not acting like himself, saying that he clearly must be very excited by the blood moon ceremony. It later gets him into trouble with the Drakes, who decide that he's unworthy after he calls off the ceremony.
- The Poorly Chosen One: Since "Lord Nigel" is acting like a nervous wreck and decides to call off the ceremony, the Drakes figure that he's probably not as mystical as he claimed, and decide to sacrifice him as well.
- Real After All: Claudia and Victor weren't actually vampires, but to Sam's shock, Lord Nigel was. Then he leaps.
- Sex Magic: Claudia invites "Lord Nigel" to partake in some sexy times because of his reputation, and Victor is okay with this. Sam politely turns her down, naturally.Claudia: I want to bathe in your power.
- Sham Supernatural: Sam is able to figure out that the group are simply vampire wannabes who have rigged the castle to make themselves appear supernatural, but they are planning to kill and drink Alexandra's blood. Fortunately Sam is able to stop the Drakes and get the police involved. But when Sam finally has a moment, right before he leaps, to look at himself (using a polished plate as a mirror), he finds he has no reflection.
- Shrouded in Myth: Lord Nigel, at least according to Victor. "Your name, sir, is legendary among the followers."
- Slipping a Mickey: Victor and Claudia slip roofies into Sam's and Alexandra's drinks.
- Stock Sound Effects: Castle Thunder is heard quite a bit, which further helps the episode's "spooky" flair.
- This Is Reality: As Sam says to Claudia, "This is not some gothic novel! This is real life! And unless you untie me, innocent people are going to die!"
- Tomato in the Mirror: Turns out that vampires actually exist in the Quantum Leap universe, and Sam's leapee actually was one.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Variation: the previous episode's end leaping sequence was shown within the Waiting Room, and ended with Lord Nigel Breaking the Fourth Wall and hissing while baring his fangs. The fact that he leaped with his fangs immediately proves that they're real and he's really a vampire, since fake fangs (like the Drakes') very likely would've stayed with Sam.
- Twist Ending: You'd never know it from reading about this episode, but the fact that Sam leaped into an actual honest-to-goodness vampire — confirmed by him having no reflection — is a major twist at the very end of the episode. Before that he spends the entire time trying to convince Al (and himself) that Lord Nigel is just a rich eccentric with a flair for the gothic.
- Uptown Girl: Alexandra was homeless and orphaned when Lord Nigel met her and married her. Their marriage apparently caused a stir in aristocratic circles, and is why Victor has absolutely no problems with sacrificing her.
- Vampire Episode: Lord Nigel certainly has the characteristics of a vampire, so much so that Sam comments that everything — the coffin, the castle, the thunderstorm, the blood moon ceremony — is too on the nose, and must be some kind of joke. Al, on the other hand, is completely freaked out by it all.
- Vampires Are Rich: Lord Nigel is "London's most eccentric and expensive artist" who lives in a castle that has been in his family for five generations. And he's actually a vampire.
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: Al invokes this when he says that Corrington has a "lusty stare," and uses the Drakes' horniness as evidence that they're vampires, too.Al: [Reading from a tome about vampires] "Vampires are not merely blood-seekers..."
Sam: Oh no.
Al: "...They are sexually obsessed. And many of them possess insatiable carnal urges beyond the grave." Now what does that tell you?
Sam: It tells me that vampires and holograms have a lot in common. - Vampires Hate Garlic: Invoked by Al, who wears a garlic bulb in the Imaging Chamber after learning how Lady Alexandra dies.
- Vampires Sleep in Coffins: Sam leaps into Lord Nigel as he wakes up from sleeping in a coffin. It's one of the many things that makes Al believe that Lord Nigel is a vampire.Sam: [sotto voce] I'm just glad you didn't show up when I was in the coffin...
Al: AHA! AHA! Y'see?! That's it! You're a bloodsucking ghoul from hell! - Vampiric Draining: According to a very frightened Al, Lady Alexandra will be found murdered and all her blood drained.
- Virgin Sacrifice: Al tells Sam about Count Bathory, who apparently used blood from virgins to grant himself immortality.
- Wham Shot: At the very end, when Sam looks into a reflective plate, there's no reflection.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Victor is dead, Claudia is presumably arrested, and (according to Al) Alexandra becomes a missionary. We don't learn about what happens to Corrington, which — given that he's actually a vampire — is worrying.
