Originally aired April 26, 1995
Teleplay by Scott Smith Miller
Story by Jacob Epstein & Scott Smith Miller
Directed by Timothy Bond
On a parallel Earth where intelligence is prized over athletics, Quinn replaces his missing double and competes in a sport dubbed "Mindgame," while Arturo tries to mend fences with the double of his ex-wife.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Armor-Piercing Response: As Arturo explains the details of the impending divorce and that he knew the woman in question back home. His answer stuns Wade and Rembrandt.Wade: Were you in love with her?
Arturo: She was my wife. - Benevolent Boss: Heading out, Arturo thanks his assistant Lydia for how helpful she was.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Almquist's view of his Quinn, saying the guy has the potential to stand alongside the greatest Mindgame players ever but slacks off and continually gets into trouble.
- Broken Pedestal: The FBI agents say that all the kids will be heartbroken when they see that Quinn, one of the best science-athletes in the world, is a crooked player who owes money to the mob.
- Classical Music Is Cool: Upon arriving, the group walks past a guy who's listening to "Trepak/Russian Dance" from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet. On a boombox. Arturo is impressed when Rembrandt names the composer.Rembrandt: Hey, I know all the long hairs, man. You wanna play the game, you gotta appreciate the greats.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: The divorce notice really rattles Arturo because his Christina died of a brain aneurysm a few years into their marriage.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Arturo is admittedly tempted to stay on this world to try to work things out with the double of his dead wife, but he agrees with Wade about how inappropriate that would be, as well as notes the host of complications involved in trying to explain who he really is. He instead tries to mend the marriage by appealing to Christina to delay the divorce proceedings and leaving his double a recorded message warning him about what really matters.
- Everyone Has Standards: The FBI agents are openly disgusted by the corrupt dealings Quinn's double was involved in.
- Fictional Sport: The Mindgame sport requires capturing cells similar to the board game Othello (place a piece, capture enemy pieces in a bracketed line). As it is a sport, it also requires avoiding being tagged by opponents. It's then kicked up a notch by requiring answering gameshow-like trivia questions before placing the ball (e.g. Mouthful of Pi). The only "odd" rule is selecting a starting player, where they answer a trivia question and aim for the top answer.
- Freudian Slip: When Arturo meets with Christina for lunch and tries to appeal to her, he briefly forgets he's not talking to the woman he actually knew and lost.Arturo: You were—you are the most important thing to me.
- Gratuitous Latin: So much of it is spoken in this episode.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Quinn's team and those in the bar watching when he manages to pull off a win.
- Hidden Depths:
- Rembrandt's aforementioned knowledge of classical music.
- Wade admits surprise over Arturo being such a romantic.
- High-Dive Escape: Used at the end, with the slide wormhole as the real exit. The mobsters and FBI look over the edge to see where he went, thinking it was a suicide jump.
- Hope Spot: Upon hearing that they have doubles who have apparently invented a sliding machine, Quinn says they can resync the timer and return home. However, they find that Quinn and Arturo's doubles are such unscrupulous individuals that it may have been a hoax and they've just disappeared themselves.
- Irony: Opening possession in the championship is decided by one of the captains getting the highest answer in a survey of scientists (in this case, "Name a common characteristic of string theory"). Quinn answers multiple dimensions, and he is rather irritated to find that's actually second to infinite density.
- Kick the Dog: Christina thinks she's telling off her adulterous husband, but it's really our Arturo on the receiving end.
- The Mafia: Seems Quinn's double owed them a million dollars. The guy in charge is a Mr. Fountain.
- Manipulative Bastard: Christina describes her Arturo as such.
- Noodle Incident:
- Almquist put up with a lot from his Quinn, saying there were days the guy "came in drunk or worse" and that he covered for him.
- Previous all-star Mindgame players over the years purportedly include Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan.
- Not So Above It All: Arturo notes how the team made the mistake of thinking that a world that reveres intellectuals so much would be a far more honest place. Instead, they realize this world is as corrupt and crime-filled as any other.Arturo: Intellectual refinement is one thing. Moral refinement is something else.
- Properly Paranoid: Rembrandt notes how odd it is that Quinn's double is strapped for cash despite numerous endorsements and popularity. We later learn the guy has a gambling problem and big debts to pay.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Coach Almquist, so much so that Quinn feels bad for trying to leave him in the lurch.
- Sadistic Choice: Fountain wants MIT to win the finals, so he tells Quinn his debt will be absolved if he either deliberately throws the game or just doesn't show up to play.Quinn: What if I say no?
Fountain: I would be very disappointed. [punches him in the gut] - Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- After being threatened by Joey, Quinn is prepared to leave and hide out somewhere. Subverted in that he's approached by the FBI before he can get anywhere and then works out a more useful plan.
- Arturo suspects that this is exactly what the doubles did and successfully, too. He believes his double is off somewhere with a mistress, while Quinn's is in hiding after being told by the Mob to not play in the championships competition.
- So Long, Suckers!: Before sliding out, Quinn says this in Latin to the assembled mobsters and FBI agents.
- Teacher/Student Romance: According to Christina, Arturo's double has charmed more than a few "starry-eyed co-eds" in his time.
- Too Dumb to Live:Wade: [to Rembrandt] You bet on a game that you don't understand? You're an idiot.
- Token Evil Teammate: Wilson, one of Quinn's Mindgame teammates, is a dirty player working for Fountain.
- Video Will: Arturo leaves a video recording for his double, telling him to not take his wife for granted.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Based on Christina's first scene, her Arturo would always come back from an affair acting all sad and remorseful to manipulate her into forgiving him. When our Arturo first tries to talk to her, she makes it clear she's done with this kind of game.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: When approached by the FBI, Quinn thinks up a way to take down Fountain, help Almquist win a championship, and make it for the slide.
- You Keep Telling Yourself That: After his first visit with Christina, Arturo says he deluded himself into thinking it was solely to learn more about the supposed sliding machine and not because he just wanted to see his dead wife again.
- You're Insane!: Wade over Arturo paying a visit to the double of his dead wife, saying he can't get mixed up in a Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest.
