Kylara Ingress (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kylaraingress) wrote2024-10-08 01:21 pm
kylaraingress) wrote2024-10-08 01:21 pm
Entry tags:
Quantum Leap (1989) Re-watch - S2, E1
As previously mentioned, I'm doing a re-watch of Quantum Leap (1989) now that I've fallen back into writing slash for it. And as I watched, decided to write up my off-the-cuff/stream of consciousness thoughts as I watch them. (I'm also doing this on my Tumblr.)
Season 2, Episode 1: "Honeymoon Express"
Date of Leap: April 27, 1960
Written by: Donald P. Bellisario
Oh, yeah - this is the first time (outside of the pilot) we don't start with the leap-in, and that we see the 'other side' of the Imaging Chamber. And I think the ONLY time we don't start with a leap-in?
I love Al's facial expression as he says it's God leaping Sam around. You can tell he knows they're not gonna buy it.
Another 'canon? what canon?' moment - I thought Weitzman looked like Lincoln! ("Tall skinny guy with a stovepipe hat.") Of course, they never actually IDENTIFY him as Weitzman.
43 BILLION? With a B??? Even in 1989 that was a lot! (I looked it up: 189 government budget was $991.1 billion, and if we go with the assumption that Al's actually in 'the future' of 1995, it was $1,351.80 billion.)
"Physical contact? No. I can see and hear him, and he can see and hear me, but we can't interact physically." And enter the angst.
And if it IS Weitzman up there, he should already KNOW all this about how the project works because of what happened in "Star-Crossed" when Al was being monitored! (Canon? What canon?)
And it costs $2.4 billion a year. Nice.
"Even one as highly respected and decorated as yourself." Don't get me wrong: I am SO glad they made Al an admiral (him in those dress whites {fans self}), but you have to wonder how the scallywag we've been seeing throughout season 1 got to be an Admiral without at LEAST one sexual harassment case - even in '89.
"Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but if you kill this project, you will end one of the greatest adventures mankind has ever undertaken." Something tells me this was what TPTB told NBC/Universal when asking for a second season! :-)
Ah, yes - the saving of the cat leap. Proof that a) Sam has leaps we DON'T see on camera, and b) that he sometimes has fairly uneventful ones.
Also - glad he hasn't remembered his fear of heights here! ;-) (Canon? What canon?)
Yay - it's official! We now have an ongoing 'Oh, boy!' at each leap-in.
Wow - Sam's personality regarding women (and kissing them) has done a COMPLETE 180 here. ;-) The beginnings of choirboy!Sam.
"White folks!" Amen, dude. A-men.
Yay for stock footage!
God, Scott plays shy SO DAMN WELL.
Enter Chekhov's Gun. And ANOTHER 'Oh, boy!'
"Why would a cop bring his gun and handcuffs on his honeymoon?" {looks out at Diana stretching} "I'm thinking like Al!" Yeah, baby. Nice to know Sam (and potentially Al) is into bondage! :-)
And Sam's yet another Tom. (What is it with Bellisario and characters named 'Tom'?)
Al's cough and "Do you want me to come back later?" LOVE IT. And the EYEBROW raise!
And a THIRD "Oh, boy!" (Man, I might have to start counting these.)
"Al, that woman is a complete stranger to me!" (That's never bothered you before! Of course, this is also the first time they really leaned into the idea that God was leaping Sam around.)
Al's look up and "Why are you wasting this on HIM?" Al Calavicci: I love you. And then Sam's "Come on. Come on. Come on. Here, boy." with the WHISTLE. Oh, my stars and garters they are so good together.
"They're going to shoot down the U2." / "The rock group?" Had to look it up: U2 has been around since 1976??? (And "reinvented themselves in the 1990s." according to Wikipedia. Huh.)
Damn, Al's a good liar. ;-) No wonder we headcanon that half his sex tales are made up. (Then again: {nodding} "Not entirely." Man can't lie to Sam even for his own good!)
Still the flat black handlink. Curious when the gummybear version pops up.
And Al in that outfit! Love the ... neck thingy. (Blanking on the name.) Considering Dean's background in the hippy movement, I kinda wonder if it's his own.
YAY! He SMACKS the handlink! (No wonder Ziggy doesn't like him!)
Al's 'describing' what Sam should do with Diane is HILARIOUS. (Also holds up that in one scene in the PWP I'm writing, I have him describing how he'd go down on Tina while making it with Sam.)
"He had the eyes of a man who could kill." OH SAM BABY! This is his first time he kills someone. Amazing how much that used to mean in television.
Just dawned on me - if the leapee doesn't remember what Sam did (see "Double Identity"), then Tom actually doesn't know that Diane's been married before! (I know, I know. "It's just a show, I should really just relax.")
"And go quietly into the sea of retirement?" Nice to know the retirement threat came this early in the show. ;-)
I know he's a genius and all, but HE REMEMBERS SOMETHING HE DID WHEN HE WAS TWO???
"She would give me a book to read." / "At two?" And we get a background dump of Sam from Al. ... hold on: "at ten, he could beat a computer at chess" - he was born in 1953, meaning Al's referring to 1963. Had to look it up: "In 1962 the first MIT chess program was written. It was the first chess program that played regular chess credibly. It was written by Alan Kotok for his B.S. thesis project, assisted by John McCarthy of Stanford. The program ran on an IBM 7090, looking at 1100 positions per second."
Which time to make the obligatory note about what Al's wearing THIS time. Three shades of red and it looks FABULOUS on him. AND THE LITTLE SUNGLASSES TIE-CLIP!
"Not the men's room again? I'm starting to feel like a pervert." Am impressed Sam didn't say "STARTING TO?"
Al talking about how he spent his honeymoon on the train to Niagara Falls with his first wife. ... and his third wife. ... And his fourth wife-- Or was it the fifth?" (Also: "The fourth was-- What was her name? Sharon. She wore pink baby dolls. Maxine was the fifth one. She didn't wear anything at all." Dear lord - I'm gonna have to put Sam and Al on a train to Niagara Falls, aren't I?) ALSO ALSO: Sam/Scott's look of utter frustration while Dean/Al says all this is PRICELESS! I have a feeling Sam turns around because Scott couldn't keep a straight face.
"You know, sometimes I feel like nobody back there gives a damn." / "I do." DAW.
"It's not morally right to sleep with a woman you don't love!" / "I agree." / "You agree?" / "I have loved every woman I ever slept with... at the time I slept with them." I LOVE THIS EXCHANGE!
"What do you mean 'yet'?" Jealous, Al? He was fine with it up until Sam brought in LOVE.
"It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it." Al Calavicci - never ever change!
Another "Oh boy!" (Man - they're really laying them thick now, aren't they.)
I forgot that Sam tells Diane his real name. Knowing how it ends, makes you wonder what 'Senator' McBride thought when the initial request for PQL crossed her desk and she saw the name Sam Beckett on the roster. {Later: Oh, they DID have her make a reference. I obviously forgot that!}
His fantasy is being Tom McBride, "with the most beautiful woman I've ever known." Trying to decide if they just FORGOT about Donna (canon? what canon?) or didn't care. (Also - I know Al's a horndog, but surely he would've been a LITTLE concerned about Sam 'cheating' on Donna, right? RIGHT?)
Man - even *I* saw that lift of the gun.
Al's eyebrow reaction to the story Roget tells about his mother. I know this is before we find out Al's mom wasn't exactly mother of the year, but still....
"Take him, Sam." Well, now - THAT gives me some hurt/comfort ideas.
Oh, the slashiest of slashy scenes: when Sam finally realizes what it would mean if the Project gets shut down. Al's "This is our last contact." WITH THE SAD MUSIC SWELLING. And then Sam's admission "I don't think I can make it without you, Al." AND THEN THE REACH TO HUG ONLY TO REALIZE HE CAN'T. Oh, God, this scene is what sells the relationship to me, I think. Scott is just SO. DAMN. GOOD. at being sad!
You hear the clothing drop and then Sam just BLUSHES and looks down. Dear lord, Scott is cute when he blushes.
Knife to the gut! "Next time, it'll be easier." Oh, SAM! My poor baby!
And we have canon that Al 'notices'/remembers timeline shifts - at least for a while.
Final Thoughts: When I think of what makes Quantum Leap Quantum Leap, this is one of the episodes I think of. It just sums up the series (and Sam and Al's characters) so well. I am impressed it still holds up as well as it does. Yeah, there are plot holes - but this is 1989 television: they didn't really WORRY about that stuff back then. And poor Sammy killing for the first time. (I could've SWORN he used the gun, not a knife. But it HAS been twenty-ish years since I last saw these.)
You can tell they were still struggling for an audience, and this was an attempt to introduce new people to the show. Gave you a basic idea of how the project worked, how Al was a hologram, and included the crisis of potentially leaving Sam alone in time. And for 1989, they do it very well, without introducing "Mr. Exposition" TOO much. (Al gets a bit of it when talking to the committee, but ....)
I enjoyed re-watching it.
Season 2, Episode 1: "Honeymoon Express"
Date of Leap: April 27, 1960
Written by: Donald P. Bellisario
Oh, yeah - this is the first time (outside of the pilot) we don't start with the leap-in, and that we see the 'other side' of the Imaging Chamber. And I think the ONLY time we don't start with a leap-in?
I love Al's facial expression as he says it's God leaping Sam around. You can tell he knows they're not gonna buy it.
Another 'canon? what canon?' moment - I thought Weitzman looked like Lincoln! ("Tall skinny guy with a stovepipe hat.") Of course, they never actually IDENTIFY him as Weitzman.
43 BILLION? With a B??? Even in 1989 that was a lot! (I looked it up: 189 government budget was $991.1 billion, and if we go with the assumption that Al's actually in 'the future' of 1995, it was $1,351.80 billion.)
"Physical contact? No. I can see and hear him, and he can see and hear me, but we can't interact physically." And enter the angst.
And if it IS Weitzman up there, he should already KNOW all this about how the project works because of what happened in "Star-Crossed" when Al was being monitored! (Canon? What canon?)
And it costs $2.4 billion a year. Nice.
"Even one as highly respected and decorated as yourself." Don't get me wrong: I am SO glad they made Al an admiral (him in those dress whites {fans self}), but you have to wonder how the scallywag we've been seeing throughout season 1 got to be an Admiral without at LEAST one sexual harassment case - even in '89.
"Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but if you kill this project, you will end one of the greatest adventures mankind has ever undertaken." Something tells me this was what TPTB told NBC/Universal when asking for a second season! :-)
Ah, yes - the saving of the cat leap. Proof that a) Sam has leaps we DON'T see on camera, and b) that he sometimes has fairly uneventful ones.
Also - glad he hasn't remembered his fear of heights here! ;-) (Canon? What canon?)
Yay - it's official! We now have an ongoing 'Oh, boy!' at each leap-in.
Wow - Sam's personality regarding women (and kissing them) has done a COMPLETE 180 here. ;-) The beginnings of choirboy!Sam.
"White folks!" Amen, dude. A-men.
Yay for stock footage!
God, Scott plays shy SO DAMN WELL.
Enter Chekhov's Gun. And ANOTHER 'Oh, boy!'
"Why would a cop bring his gun and handcuffs on his honeymoon?" {looks out at Diana stretching} "I'm thinking like Al!" Yeah, baby. Nice to know Sam (and potentially Al) is into bondage! :-)
And Sam's yet another Tom. (What is it with Bellisario and characters named 'Tom'?)
Al's cough and "Do you want me to come back later?" LOVE IT. And the EYEBROW raise!
And a THIRD "Oh, boy!" (Man, I might have to start counting these.)
"Al, that woman is a complete stranger to me!" (That's never bothered you before! Of course, this is also the first time they really leaned into the idea that God was leaping Sam around.)
Al's look up and "Why are you wasting this on HIM?" Al Calavicci: I love you. And then Sam's "Come on. Come on. Come on. Here, boy." with the WHISTLE. Oh, my stars and garters they are so good together.
"They're going to shoot down the U2." / "The rock group?" Had to look it up: U2 has been around since 1976??? (And "reinvented themselves in the 1990s." according to Wikipedia. Huh.)
Damn, Al's a good liar. ;-) No wonder we headcanon that half his sex tales are made up. (Then again: {nodding} "Not entirely." Man can't lie to Sam even for his own good!)
Still the flat black handlink. Curious when the gummybear version pops up.
And Al in that outfit! Love the ... neck thingy. (Blanking on the name.) Considering Dean's background in the hippy movement, I kinda wonder if it's his own.
YAY! He SMACKS the handlink! (No wonder Ziggy doesn't like him!)
Al's 'describing' what Sam should do with Diane is HILARIOUS. (Also holds up that in one scene in the PWP I'm writing, I have him describing how he'd go down on Tina while making it with Sam.)
"He had the eyes of a man who could kill." OH SAM BABY! This is his first time he kills someone. Amazing how much that used to mean in television.
Just dawned on me - if the leapee doesn't remember what Sam did (see "Double Identity"), then Tom actually doesn't know that Diane's been married before! (I know, I know. "It's just a show, I should really just relax.")
"And go quietly into the sea of retirement?" Nice to know the retirement threat came this early in the show. ;-)
I know he's a genius and all, but HE REMEMBERS SOMETHING HE DID WHEN HE WAS TWO???
"She would give me a book to read." / "At two?" And we get a background dump of Sam from Al. ... hold on: "at ten, he could beat a computer at chess" - he was born in 1953, meaning Al's referring to 1963. Had to look it up: "In 1962 the first MIT chess program was written. It was the first chess program that played regular chess credibly. It was written by Alan Kotok for his B.S. thesis project, assisted by John McCarthy of Stanford. The program ran on an IBM 7090, looking at 1100 positions per second."
Which time to make the obligatory note about what Al's wearing THIS time. Three shades of red and it looks FABULOUS on him. AND THE LITTLE SUNGLASSES TIE-CLIP!
"Not the men's room again? I'm starting to feel like a pervert." Am impressed Sam didn't say "STARTING TO?"
Al talking about how he spent his honeymoon on the train to Niagara Falls with his first wife. ... and his third wife. ... And his fourth wife-- Or was it the fifth?" (Also: "The fourth was-- What was her name? Sharon. She wore pink baby dolls. Maxine was the fifth one. She didn't wear anything at all." Dear lord - I'm gonna have to put Sam and Al on a train to Niagara Falls, aren't I?) ALSO ALSO: Sam/Scott's look of utter frustration while Dean/Al says all this is PRICELESS! I have a feeling Sam turns around because Scott couldn't keep a straight face.
"You know, sometimes I feel like nobody back there gives a damn." / "I do." DAW.
"It's not morally right to sleep with a woman you don't love!" / "I agree." / "You agree?" / "I have loved every woman I ever slept with... at the time I slept with them." I LOVE THIS EXCHANGE!
"What do you mean 'yet'?" Jealous, Al? He was fine with it up until Sam brought in LOVE.
"It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it." Al Calavicci - never ever change!
Another "Oh boy!" (Man - they're really laying them thick now, aren't they.)
I forgot that Sam tells Diane his real name. Knowing how it ends, makes you wonder what 'Senator' McBride thought when the initial request for PQL crossed her desk and she saw the name Sam Beckett on the roster. {Later: Oh, they DID have her make a reference. I obviously forgot that!}
His fantasy is being Tom McBride, "with the most beautiful woman I've ever known." Trying to decide if they just FORGOT about Donna (canon? what canon?) or didn't care. (Also - I know Al's a horndog, but surely he would've been a LITTLE concerned about Sam 'cheating' on Donna, right? RIGHT?)
Man - even *I* saw that lift of the gun.
Al's eyebrow reaction to the story Roget tells about his mother. I know this is before we find out Al's mom wasn't exactly mother of the year, but still....
"Take him, Sam." Well, now - THAT gives me some hurt/comfort ideas.
Oh, the slashiest of slashy scenes: when Sam finally realizes what it would mean if the Project gets shut down. Al's "This is our last contact." WITH THE SAD MUSIC SWELLING. And then Sam's admission "I don't think I can make it without you, Al." AND THEN THE REACH TO HUG ONLY TO REALIZE HE CAN'T. Oh, God, this scene is what sells the relationship to me, I think. Scott is just SO. DAMN. GOOD. at being sad!
You hear the clothing drop and then Sam just BLUSHES and looks down. Dear lord, Scott is cute when he blushes.
Knife to the gut! "Next time, it'll be easier." Oh, SAM! My poor baby!
And we have canon that Al 'notices'/remembers timeline shifts - at least for a while.
Final Thoughts: When I think of what makes Quantum Leap Quantum Leap, this is one of the episodes I think of. It just sums up the series (and Sam and Al's characters) so well. I am impressed it still holds up as well as it does. Yeah, there are plot holes - but this is 1989 television: they didn't really WORRY about that stuff back then. And poor Sammy killing for the first time. (I could've SWORN he used the gun, not a knife. But it HAS been twenty-ish years since I last saw these.)
You can tell they were still struggling for an audience, and this was an attempt to introduce new people to the show. Gave you a basic idea of how the project worked, how Al was a hologram, and included the crisis of potentially leaving Sam alone in time. And for 1989, they do it very well, without introducing "Mr. Exposition" TOO much. (Al gets a bit of it when talking to the committee, but ....)
I enjoyed re-watching it.