Originally aired May 3, 1995
Written by Dawn Prestwich & Nicole Yorkin
Directed by Vern Gillum
On a parallel world where traditional gender roles are reversed and women hold positions of power in society, Arturo becomes the first male candidate for Mayor of San Francisco.
Tropes present in the episode:
- All Periods Are PMS: Apparently this belief is alive and well even in a woman-dominated world, though there a woman on PMS is seen as being about as irrational as a man is all the time. Apparently in this world, men have a "cycle" every five minutes.
- Alternate History: Apparently back in the Crusades, women started taking a more active role in running society while all the men were out fighting.
- Artistic License – History: After the assassination attempt on Arturo, Wade snidely remarks that there've never been any female assassins before, which the other characters seem to tacitly acknowledge as being the truth. Even if we just assume she's talking about the U.S., this means that the Sliders prime universe is apparently one where neither Squeaky Fromme or Sara Jane Moore tried to assassinate Gerald Ford. Though it's possible she meant there haven't been any successful female assassins in the U.S..
- Given that the divergence point for this universe is somewhere in the Middle Ages, it is extremely unlikely it would have produced a 1995 that has such a close resemblance to ours for such an event would have dramatically impacted every major event throughout history. One notable event would have been the formation of the USA for if war is almost non-existent as claimed, then the British Empire and the ensuing Revolutionary War would have been vastly different if it even happened at all. And that's before we get into the thorny issue of what a world without Hitler and Lenin would have become.
- Conflict Ball: Wade's outspoken feelings of being undervalued and dismissed due to her sex come out of nowhere and never really come up again afterwards.
- Failed Future Forecast: Right at the end of the episode, it appears that Arturo lost to Mayor Ross; CNN even reported so. And yet, after the Sliders leave, it turns out CNN misreported the results. Arturo won.
- Kick the Dog: Not only is Arturo made to assume he lost the election (when only the audience finds out, after he leaves, that he won), but the episode ends by showing the Sliders wound up at a beach resort for a particularly long stay... and Arturo is forced to be the cabana boy.
- Men Don't Cry: Implied. One of Arturo's plans for losing the election is to storm out of a debate after claiming to have had his feelings hurt, certain that that will make the voters see him as weak. However, it instead causes the voters to see him as relatable and makes him go up in the polls.
- Oh, Crap!: Arturo, Quinn and Rembrandt are various levels of shocked to learn that Arturo's attempt at derailing his campaign by faking an emotional breakdown during a debate backfired so much that the insta-poll went spectacularly in his favor.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Hillary Clinton is President of the United States and Jane Pauley is the Pope.
- Springtime for Hitler: Arturo's plan is to run for office and lose, in order to give men the confidence for next time. However, his attempts to derail his own campaign end up garnering more support and he ends up winning the election.
- Straw Feminist: Wade embraces this incredibly sexist society 110%, going as far as to use a turnabout is fair play argument against Arturo (I felt like I was discriminated against for my sex back home therefore it is your turn). Ironically, given how it is the equal rights party led by the aforementioned Arturo that ends up getting elected in the end, a lot of people in this world would very much consider her to be in the wrong.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Wade repeatedly calls out Arturo on his misogyny in this episode, despite the fact that he has never shown any misogynistic tendencies up to this point in the series. note
- Women Are Wiser: Zigzagged. On the one hand, women in this world are every bit as selfish and arrogant as the most chauvinistic men from our own, but on the other, an all-female leadership has apparently led to world peace, and when Arturo's campaign is violently attacked it's by a man who is offended by the idea of a man getting elected.
