Sam Leaps Into:
Peter Langly, an FBI Agent.
Objective:
Save the life of a woman in the Witness Protection Program.
Date:
9-26-73
Location:
Massachusetts
Memorable Quote:
Cute guy. Nice eyes. Kind I always thought I could fall in love with. ~Dana
The professor's or the student's? ~Sam
What difference does it make? I'm not going to live long enough to fall in love with either of them. ~Dana
Cute guy. Nice eyes. Kind I always thought I could fall in love with. ~Dana
The professor's or the student's? ~Sam
What difference does it make? I'm not going to live long enough to fall in love with either of them. ~Dana
Highlight:
Great ending when Sam's professor walks in and Sam breaks character to tell him that their string theory worked.
Great ending when Sam's professor walks in and Sam breaks character to tell him that their string theory worked.
Lowlight:
The villains in this episode had potential but could have been stronger. For starters, shooting at the neighbors houses was not the hallmark of a professional. And why are they shooting at Sam in the car if he's supposed to be in on the plan? And the brother was a weak character who didn't add much.
Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
- I like Dana -- spunky gal and can take care of herself. And I like how Sam alternates between being attracted to her and wanting to strangle her.
- When I saw Nick I thought it was the guy from The Black Corsage and The Visitor, but it's a different actor. It must have been the slicked back hair that tripped me up.
- Given his swiss cheese memory, how could Sam possibly remember how to get to the lakeside cabin?
- Dana is very lucky that Nick stopped to reload at the moment that she swung open the back door of the delivery truck. And shouldn't Sam and Dana be wondering how it was that they were found so quickly?
- Wow, Sam's bringing some heat at the end. His first kill of the series if memory serves me correctly.
Final Analysis:
There's some good action and drama in this one, and I like the lakeside cabin setting. I remembered this one a little bit, and while Sam being in on the hit makes for a good twist, the overall plot is not as well executed or as crisp as I remembered. It still makes for a decently entertaining episode, though, and I'm ranking it 11 out of 23.
I only have a vague recollection of this one - and it wasn't that long ago that I watched it. Either I was really distracted or it didn't catch my interest, b/c I remember almost nothing of this one.
ReplyDeleteAt one level I was happy to see a more conventional action-oriented episode of "Quantum Leap" and there were some fun moments but for the all the reasons you said this came off as unnecessarily hammy. The "MacGyver Project" guys who nitpick about absolutely everything on that series would have a field day with some of the scenes here. And what's with the slow-motion film speed for the drive-by shooting? That ended up just looking cheap. Donald Bellisario did fine production work with the 80s detective show classic "Magnum, PI" but this isn't the first time an action-oriented story misfired on this show. And as you said, what on Earth would compel Sam to tell Dana to open up the back of the truck to throw laundry out, putting herself right in the line of fire?!?!?
ReplyDeleteI did like the hook at the end though where Peter Langley ended up being part of the hit. I knew the phone number on that matchbox foreshadowed something. But that wasn't enough to save the awkward love relationship Sam/Peter was developing with Dana despite her bitterness. I did not like this character at all because she was a supersized version of Joe Henderson from "Bushmaster", grumbling, groaning, and moaning every step of the way while someone is busting their butt to save her life. This character had two strikes against her from the starting gate with the name Dana, putting her in the company of my most serious ex-girlfriend who played me like a $10 banjo off and on for nearly nine years. With that said, I think I'd even take my Dana over Sam's Dana. At the very least, I'd have fewer migraine headaches with less bickering. This is definitely bottom half for me....I'll have to check my rankings to know for sure but somewhere around 18-20 I would guess.
"The MacGyver Project guys who nitpick about absolutely everything on that series" -- that hurts!
DeleteHa...obviously meant the Phoenix Foundation podcast guys.
DeleteDid you think the bad guy looked like the guy from Black Corsage/Visitor?
Delete