History Awesome / QuantumLeap

** Al's own PapaWolf moment when he sits next to the terrified and tearful boy and does his best to assure him, even though he can't see or hear him. When one of the kidnappers begins advancing towards the kid with an incredibly creepy look on his face, Al snarls, "You lay one hand on this kid, you slimebag, and I'll kill you. I don't know how, but ''I'll kill you''".

* "Memphis Melody" on a meta-level has Creator/ScottBakula doing a '''great''' impression of Music/ElvisPresley, singing a classic from Elvis' Sun Records days, "Baby Let's Play House." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCEyaHoUWOI God bless Scott Bakula.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:General]]
* The cast as a whole. Creator/ScottBakula for being able to wear dresses with a straight face (the handful of times he leaped into women) and the remainder of the cast for being able to react to this 6-foot tall white guy as though he were a woman, a black man, even a chimpanzee, with nary an indication that they saw him as otherwise, not to mention act completely unaware of Al's presence, even as he snarks at them.

* Sam sees what seemed to be just a crusty prospector help save his friends, [[http://www.quantumleap-alsplace.com/img/episodeimages/mirrorimage/39.jpg then vanish in a blue light]]. Sam realizes that the old man was a Leaper, and the bartender (God) tells him that that's what ''guardian angels'' do.

** Al's own PapaWolf moment when he sits next to the terrified and tearful boy and does his best to assure him, even though he can't see or hear him. When one of the kidnappers begins advancing towards the kid with an incredibly creepy look on his face, Al snarls, "You touch this kid and I'll kill you. I don't know how, but ''I'll kill you''".

* The HalloweenEpisode was mostly just NightmareFuel, but the climax is, when you think about it, pure awesome. Turns out that the "Al" we saw throughout the episode was [[DevilInDisguise actually the Devil]], and he's decided that it's time to off TheHero, and sets to strangling Sam. Sam Beckett, however, decides that he's not going to have that, and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu chokes the devil into oblivion]]. Repeat, ''[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Sam strangles Satan]]''.

** And we get a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} right afterwards, when the girl's family comes out and sees what happened. The father incredulously asks "You did all this?", to which Sam responds "Well, I ''am'' a [=McBain=]." [[note]]Although the new history is never revealed, it can be presumed that the [[=McBain=]] family has its name restored and that Katie, coming to terms with what happened, is able to live out a reasonably good future, while Kevin, disgraced as his true character is finally exposed, lives his life out in a persistent vegetative state, never again able to attack a woman and his goals dashed because of his criminal behavior.[[/note]]

* "Lee Harvey Oswald"'s climax sees Sam leaping out of Oswald and into a Secret Service agent, thus saving the person he was meant to save... ''Jackie'' Kennedy.

** But that's not the only reason people remember this episode. Sam and Al think that they're there to see to the prosecution of her rapist, only to have him acquitted because he's the mayor's son and all-American football hero. As Sam is sitting on the porch lamenting the turn of events, the rapist shows up and proceeds [[WouldHitAGirl to punch her/him]] [[KickTheDog and attempt to rape them again.]] Sam -- after [[GroinAttack kicking the rapist in the groin]] to stun him -- tells Al, [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "I think I know the reason I'm here"]], then proceeds to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat the punk within an inch of his life.]]
-->'''Sam:''' So things got a little out of control, huh?! So you ''[PUNCH]'' SLAPPED her! But that wasn't enough! So you had to ''[PUNCH]'' HIT her! And then you ''[PUNCH]'' HIT her again! ''[PUNCH] [PUNCH]'' You son of a ''[PUNCH]'' BITCH! ''[PUNCH] [PUNCH]''
** Sam's so utterly furious with this piece of human garbage that he lets out this primal growl while punching the guy. It is ''chilling'' to see do-gooder NiceGuy Sam Beckett [[BewareTheNiceOnes that pissed off with someone.]]

* In "Killin' Time," Sam leaps into Leon Styles, a serial murderer, who escapes from the Waiting Room (and the project as a whole). Eventually, he makes his way back to the project compound-- and runs into Gushie, who's a rather timid, meek guy by nature. Styles demands that Gushie send him back to his own time, to which Gushie replies that it's not possible. Styles response is to point a gun at the base of Gushie's throat and tells him to send him back to his own time or he'll kill him. To which Gushie calmly replies, "Well, you're just gonna have to kill me then."

** To start with, at this point in the episode, Sam has decided to screw the leap: Sam had been tricked into thinking that Nicole (his old piano teacher that he still had feelings for) had slept with John, the lead of the "Man of La Mancha" production. Sam[[note]]who, keep in mind, leapt in as John's understudy[[/note]] was informed earlier in the episode that he was there to save his life that night (as he would wind up drunkenly falling off the set and injuring himself); but because of what he assumed happened the previous life, Sam implicitly decides that "[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness [he's] not saving that arrogant ass]]", and actually [[KickTheDog tells John to]] [[DeadlyEuphemism "break a leg"]]. And sure enough, John begins his trek down the set's giant staircase as Sam watches bitterly... and he stumbles... and then he slips and falls... [[ChronicHeroSyndrome into Sam's arms as he rushes onto the set]].

* In the season two premiere, "Honeymoon Express," Al has to defend the importance of Sam's leaping to a government committee, or their funding will be cut off and even if Sam keeps leaping, it'll be without Al's help. He's convinced their only chance is for Sam to create a change in history far bigger than the single lives he's helped, and at the time he's at now, the best chance is to stop the 1960 U2 Incident. Sam ultimately fails, but then corrects the leapee's love interest, Dianne, on a practice question for getting a law degree, and she realizes that one mistake would have affected so many answers that she would have failed the exam without his help. Suddenly, Al's hearing changes from the announcement that the project is being shut down, to Dianne saying it'll be kept running.

* In the season two premiere, "Honeymoon Express," Al has to defend the importance of Sam's leaping to a government committee, or their funding will be cut off and even if Sam keeps leaping, it'll be without Al's help. He's convinced their only chance is for Sam to create a change in history far bigger than the single lives he's helped, and at the time he's at now, the best chance is to stop the 1960 U2 Incident. Sam ultimately fails, but then corrects the leapee's love interest on a practice question for getting a law degree, and she realizes that one mistake would have affected so many answers that she would have failed the exam without his help. Suddenly, Al's hearing changes from the announcement that the project is being shut down, to the woman saying it'll be kept running.

*** And then Sam and the rest of the frat ''slingshot'' the bomb out of the science room. And then "Wild Thing" plays in celebration.

* The HalloweenEpisode was mostly just NightmareFuel, but the climax is, when you think about it, pure awesome. Turns out [[spoiler:that the "Al" we saw throughout the episode was [[DevilInDisguise actually the Devil]], and he's decided that it's time to off TheHero, and sets to strangling Sam. Sam Beckett, however, decides that he's not going to have that, and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu chokes the devil into oblivion]]]]. Repeat, [[spoiler:''[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Sam strangles Satan]]'']].

* In the season two premiere, "Honeymoon Express," Al has to defend the importance of Sam's leaping to a government committee, or their funding will be cut off and even if Sam keeps leaping, it'll be without Al's help. He's convinced their only chance is for Sam to create a change in history far bigger than the single lives he's helped, and at the time he's at now, the best chance is to stop the 1960 U2 Incident. Sam ultimately fails, but then [[spoiler:corrects the leapee's love interest on a practice question for getting a law degree, and she realizes that one mistake would have affected so many answers that she would have failed the exam without his help. Suddenly, Al's hearing changes from the announcement that the project is being shut down, to the woman saying it'll be kept running.]]

-->'''Sam''': Thirty seconds, Duck. You ready to die?!

--> "Are you ready to die tonight, Duck?"

* "Lee Harvey Oswald" - [[spoiler:leaping out of Oswald and into a Secret Service agent, thus saving the person he was meant to save - ''Jackie'' Kennedy.]]

** And we get a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming right afterwards, when the girl's family comes out and sees what happened. The father incredulously asks "You did all this?", to which Sam responds "Well, I ''am'' a [=McBain=]." [[note]]Although the new history is never revealed, it can be presumed that the [[=McBain=]] family has its name restored and that Katie, coming to terms with what happened, is able to live out a reasonably good future, while Kevin, disgraced as his true character is finally exposed, lives his life out in a persistent vegetative state, never again able to attack a woman and his goals dashed because of his criminal behavior.[[/note]]