Quantum Leap
Season 1, Episode 8:
Camikazi Kid
Sam: Oh my god, I'm a dork. A dork whose teeth can pick up radio transmisssions...
Written by Paul Brown
Directed by Alan J Levi
Airdate: May 10, 1989
June 6, 1961
Sam leaps into the body of a gawky teenager to keep the boy's older sister from marrying an abusive alcoholic. Taking advice from Al, Sam hopes to reveal the young man's true nature by challenging him to a drag race.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Given how "Another Mother" would reveal that children under 5 can see Sam and Al, it's not entirely clear if Michael asking who Sam was talking to in the bathroom was a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, or if he was directly asking about Al, and Sam just didn't clock that.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Bob tells Cheryl he won't go to Tonga in the Peace Corps with her unless she marries him first. Ziggy reveals that in the current timeline, Cheryl marries Bob and never makes it to the Peace Corps, meaning once they were married, he likely vetoed the program, and as a 1960s wife, Cheryl complied with his wishes.
- The Atoner: It's implied that Sam sees preventing Cheryl's Bad Future as making up for not being able to save his own sister from a similarly abusive marriage.
- Bad Future: Al tells Sam that he was sent to Cam to keep Cam's sister from marrying her boyfriend Bob who will turn into an abusive drunk who keeps her from achieving her dream of joining Peace Corps and exploring the world.
- Been There, Shaped History: Sam as Cam gets into a dance battle with a four year old in the men's room. Sam does several moves that look familiar and the boy imitates him. At the end, a slightly older boy comes and yells "Come on, Mike, we have to rehearse" and you realize that Sam just taught the moonwalk to the future King of Pop.
- The Big Race: Sam as Cam proposes a street race for pink slips (car titles) in a bid to make Bob lose his cool in front of Cheryl and reveal how abusive he can be when he's angry.
- Bully Magnet: Sam's leap host, seventeen-year-old Cam Wilson, is picked on for his braces, his uncool car, and just generally not being considered cool.
- Car Hood Sliding: After losing the street race, Bob tries to run over Cam only to crash into a concrete barrier as Sam as Cam dives out of the way. Cheryl is appalled and throws her engagement ring at him and proceeds to leave with her little brother. Bob grabs her to insist she stay and Sam as Cam slides across the hood of the car and punches Bob, knocking him to the ground. It looks very cool with 6' tall, 170-200 lb Scott Bakula, but one has to wonder what it actually looked like to the crowd who saw Cam who might be 5'5" and maybe 120 lbs at best.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: When Sam as Cam goes to help Cheryl with the top button on her wedding dress, he notices a bruise on the back of her neck that looks like someone had grabbed her or held her forcefully by the back of her neck. Cheryl doesn't want to admit that the bruise is from Bob.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The group of bullies that picks on Cam all wear gray windbreakers with white piping and red stitching.
- Cool Big Sis: Cheryl is very nice to Cameron and just wants him to be happy. The two get along surprisingly well for siblings who are at most four years apart in age, possibly because they are opposite gender, meaning they have different roles in the family.
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Dawson Casting: Inverted - 16-year-old Jill was played by 12-year-old Holly Fields. - Disproportionate Retribution: In revenge for Cam stopping them from bullying Jill, the gang beats Cam up, steals his glasses, strips him naked, and throws him in the dumpster behind the drive-in diner in front of huge crowd of teenagers he presumably attends school with.
- Down L.A. Drain: Sam and Bob have their climactic race in the Los Angeles River / storm drains.
- Dreaded Kids' Table: Despite being a teenager, this is where Cam gets seated for the wedding reception. Sam remarks this is a far worse humiliation than anything else he experienced while leaping.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bob's gang is fine with bullying Cam and other similar antics, but they express disgust with how Bob deliberately tried to run Sam over after losing the race.
- Go-Getter Girl: Cheryl is shown as a bright, intelligent, friendly, and charming girl. She did well in school, wants to join Peace Corp to help establish food banks in third world countries, and even worked on John F Kennedy's presidential campaign. She obviously has the potential to achieve a great deal, but according to Ziggy, none of it will happen if she marries Bob who will eventually settle for working at his dad's used car lot, drinking and driving, and beating on his wife.
- Going Commando: When the bullies pants Cameron, they discover he's not wearing underwear.
- Happily Married: In contrast to Bob's parents, Cam and Cheryl's parents are a happy and loving couple.
- Irony: While working on a car, Sam's narration acknowledges how his swiss-cheesed memory can be very selective. He instinctively knows that a particular sound relates to the camshaft, but he has absolutely no idea where it is, let alone how to remove it.
- It's All My Fault: Sam appears to have a good deal of guilt over how his sister eloped at 17 and ended up in an abusive marriage, saying there must've been something he could've done to help her. Al reminds him that he shouldn't feel responsible for a situation he didn't know about at the time, but Sam does, anyway.Sam: She was my sister; she is my sister. I should've known.
- Kick the Dog: After beating Cam, stealing his glasses and clothes, and dumping him naked in a dumpster, the lead bully throws the keys to Cam's car in behind him, meaning Cam will likely have to dig through a dumpster full of rotting food while naked in order to find his keys so he can get home.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Although Cam is the younger sibling, Sam as Cam tries to stand up to Bob and confront him about Cheryl's bruises.
- Like Father, Like Son: Bob's dad is shown to be crude and obnoxious, even showing up drunk to the wedding rehearsal and kissing Cheryl on the mouth. When Bob tells his dad that he's waiting til after the honeymoon to tell Cheryl they aren't going to the Peace Corps, his dad tells him that Bob's mom wanted to go to college, but he intentionally got her pregnant so she couldn't.
- Mood Whiplash: Sam as Cam goes to the bathroom to clean up after he has pudding thrown at him at the wedding rehearsal. He's bemoaning to Al that he can't convince Cheryl listen to him. Suddenly, a four year old boy exits a stall and asks Sam as Cam who he's talking to (since Al is invisible). Sam says he's an actor rehearsing a scene which somehow leads to Scott Bakula and a ridiculous cute four year old dance battling to Rockin' Robin.
- Mr. Fanservice: Although the bullying scene is cruel, it's lightened by the fact that we're seeing Scott Bakula rather than poor Cam. So when he sits up after being tossed in the dumpster, we see Sam's very fit body rather than a bruised, scrawny teenager.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Inverted. Although we see Sam's toned physique which makes it look like he should be able to beat up Bob and the bullies, he is limited to Cam's strength as a scrawny 17-year-old, resulting in him getting his ass handed to him multiple times.
- Nitro Boost: Sam and Jill rig up a nitro boost to win the drag race.
- The Peeping Tom: Al implies that he took advantage of the fact that no one can see him to watch Cheryl's bachelorette party and possibly watch her try on the lingerie she received. He even expresses a preference amongst the outfits. Sam is disgusted on behalf of his not-sister.
- Porn Stash: When Sam as Cameron is confronted about the Playboy magazine Cam had stashed in his room behind his hamper, Sam is so amused by a vintage Playboy magazine he reacts with bemused laughter rather than the embarrassment as Cam probably would have.Janie Wilson: Excuse me. What is this?
Sam: (chuckling nostalgically) An old Playboy magazine!
Janie Wilson: Old? Miss May looks pretty fresh to me.- Possibly not though. Cam's mother is more irritated that the staunchly Catholic cleaning lady who found it was so offended she quit than by the fact that her son had pornographic material.
- Pubescent Braces: Sam's first reaction post-leap is to bemoan that his leap host is a teenager with braces.
- She Cleans Up Nicely. In the final scene, Jill meets Sam as Cam at the bus station. She's dressed in a dress and heels with her hair in the popular style for that time period. She is just as pretty as Girly Girl Cheryl.
- Squick: Sam as Cam gives Jill her first kiss. In-universe, Sam is shown as a bit hesitant, but does it as Al insists he has to in order to finish the leap. Out of universe, it's weird because Scott Bakula was 34 and the actress playing Jill was 12. Thankfully, it's a fairly chaste peck on the lips with Sam leaping out as just as Jill tries to deepen the kiss.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Jill is introduced as a tomboy, wearing masculine jeans, t-shirt, flannel shirt, and a backwards ball cap, but is also carrying a purse and speaks with a normal-pitched voice. She cries fairly easily and admits to having a crush on Cam.
- Wrench Wench: Jill likes to tinker on cars and is shown to be very good at it.
- You Remind Me of X: When Sam hears about Cheryl's current predicted future, it reminds him of his own sister who married a man who became an abusive drunk. The similarity makes Sam determined to help Cheryl.
- You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Sam protests, "You can't pants a guy with glasses!" The bully replies, "What glasses?", takes the glasses and pantses him anyway.
