Quantum Leap
Season 1, Episode 3:
The Right Hand of God
Sam: I'm on the take, I wear polyester clothes and I live above a bar in an apartment decorated like a gym. If I have a roommate, he probably has cauliflower ears.
Written by John Hill
Directed by Gilbert M. Shilton
Airdate: April 7, 1989.
October 24, 1974
Sam steps into the ring as Clarence “Kid” Cody, a boxer on the take from a sleazy bookkeeper. As Cody, Sam must fight to legitimately claim the heavyweight title and help the nuns who own his contract get the money to build a mission for the poor.
Tropes:
- The Boxing Episode: Duh.
- Brick Joke: After entering Kid Cody's apartment for the first time (and before he meets Angela), Sam assumes he has a roommate with "cauliflower ears". Later on, when Sam makes it clear to Jake that he won't take a dive in the upcoming fight, Jake asks if he has cauliflower in his ears.
- Broken Pedestal: Cody has a reputation for taking dives in fixed fights. Angela takes it pretty hard when she learns the truth.Angela: I thought that God sent me a champion, but He sent me a cheat.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Al tries to convince Sam into letting him train him on how to box, Sam instantly shuts that down by having Al punch his hand, reminding him he's a hologram. This winds up being the key thing Sam and Al use to help Sam win the State Championship, when Al helps direct Sam on where to punch.
- Continuity Nod: While hanging out with Kid Cody's trainer at the bar, Sam notices a TV report about Nixon being pardoned over the Watergate incident.
- Family-Friendly Stripper: Cody’s girlfriend, Dixie, is as friendly and wholesome a stripper as can be.
- Foreshadowing:
- Al mentions that Ziggy had predicted that Sam would wind up leaping into Texas in the mid 1950s, only for both him and Sam to acknowledge she was way off. Cue the next episode.
- After being pulled aside by the crooked boxing promoter, Jake Edwards, Sam tries to get out of fighting in the championship by expressing a desire of retiring, referencing On the Waterfront in the process. In case you forgot, Marlon Brando's character coulda been a contender had he not thrown the fight.
- Freudian Excuse: Angela's entire family was killed in a house fire. She wondered why she was spared, as she was bounced around and left homeless. She was later taken in by a nun and turned her life around—renewing her faith in God and making her want to build a chapel to help the needy.
- Friendship Moment: Implied: After Sam wins the championship match, we cut to a shot from outside the ring, where he seemingly hugs himself while talking to thin air.note
- Hollywood Nuns: Kid Cody is under ownership of a couple, and Angela is a textbook example of one.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: Sam references the line directly when talking to Jake Edwards.
- Pre-emptive Declaration: When Roscoe shows up to get paid, Dixie threatens to break his nose the next time he "come[s] between [her and Cody] and a jelly-filled, sugar-glazed and sprinkles on top one more time". After getting the money thrown at him, he bends down to pick it up... as Dixie slams the door shut.Roscoe: (in pain) Oh! Damn it... Oh, you broke my nose.
- Pursue the Dream Job: Cody and Dixie’s dream is to open their own donut shop.
- Streaking: Sam convinces Dixie to streak at the State Heavyweight Championship to distract his opponent. It doesn’t work as well as Sam was hoping.
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Suspiciously Similar Song: The music that plays during Sam's first Training Montage is close enough to being the Rocky theme that they can get away with it. - Take That!: In-universe: Sam makes the assumption in his opening narration that him leaping into Kid Cody seconds prior to getting punching in the face in a boxing ring was "the big guy upstairs"' response to him directly breaking his own rules by helping Donna.Sam: (narrating; over footage of Star-Crossed) You know, this leaping about in time has its advantages. Like being able to reunite the love of my life with her father. And even though I wasn't supposed to affect anyone in my personal future, I figured the big guy upstairs would understand.(Sam leaps out; leaps into a boxing ring; is promptly punched in the face and collapses)Sam: (narrating) Then again, maybe he didn't.
- Throwing the Fight: Jake orders Cody to throw the State Championship. Sam is there to change that.
