Sam Leaps Into:
Joe Thurlow, an aspiring 25 year-old actor living with his 50 year-old girlfriend.
Objective:
Win a part for himself and encourage his girlfriend to try and make it as a singer.
Date:
9-9-69
Location:
New York, New York
Memorable Quote:
What are you complaining about? You should be proud. That audience was riveted! It was like they were watching...a car wreck, like it was horrible but you were too fascinated to look away. ~Al
What are you complaining about? You should be proud. That audience was riveted! It was like they were watching...a car wreck, like it was horrible but you were too fascinated to look away. ~Al
Highlight:
Hilarious moment when the audience sees the nude actors for the first time. I must say I wasn't expecting that plot development.
At one Al mentions the play "Oh Calcutta," and I remember a story where my grandparents were in New York and went to see it because someone recommended it to them as a "new musical," but they were very surprised when it turned out to be a "nude musical."
Hilarious moment when the audience sees the nude actors for the first time. I must say I wasn't expecting that plot development.
At one Al mentions the play "Oh Calcutta," and I remember a story where my grandparents were in New York and went to see it because someone recommended it to them as a "new musical," but they were very surprised when it turned out to be a "nude musical."
Lowlight:
The Ted character seemed underdeveloped and/or unnecessary. He just shows up out of nowhere to compete for Jane's affection and we don't have a good sense of what his history with Jane is or why he cares about her.
Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:
- The leap in moment is a lot of fun when Sam is grateful to God for allowing him to settle into a comfy bed, but he doesn't yet see the older woman lying next to him.
- The actor who plays Ted is Robert Pine who appeared in MacGyver's Jerico Games as Ralph Jerico. He's also the father of actor Chris Pine.
- 13:14 mark: a shot across the bow at Cleveland! It hasn't always been good times for the "Mistake by the Lake," but its fortunes at least sports wise are turning with Lebron and the Cavaliers winning the NBA title and with the baseball team two wins away from the AL Pennant.
- Previously Sam called his Carmen Miranda performance in Miss Deep South the most humiliating experience of his life, but that was before he had to play Hamlet in the nude.
Final Analysis:
No major or obvious lowlights, but overall it's a pretty slow and mundane episode for my tastes. Ranking it 48 out of 62.
This was pretty slow but I kind of liked the story I guess. Jane's son was played by Daniel Roebuck, who like Robert Pine, are both character actors who've been on pretty much everything over the last 25 years and were already great in their respective roles here. It was unclear to the viewer whether the real Joe was sincere in his feelings towards Jane, because it seemed a little unlikely that he would be, but Sam took it upon himself nicely to be sincere in his treatment of Jane. I will say, however, that this was another episode where the stakes didn't seem particularly high, despite the hysterical response by Al and Sam that she would "end up in Cleveland". Ultimately, Cleveland was more of a national joke back in 1969 due to the pollution and all, but the population was a lot larger and they hadn't lost its industrial base the way it has now.
ReplyDeleteUltimately though, despite Sam's faith in Jane's singing skills, her son was ultimately correct. She was decent but not great enough to be a 50-year-old rookie who succeeds in New York. And the fact that history was changed for her to only get a few singing jobs but be happy with Joe was pretty ho-hum. I'll rank this one a little better than you but not too much between "Freedom" and "The Americanization of Machiko".
Also interesting is that this episode aired January 8, 1992, making it the first "Quantum Leap" episode to air chronologically after "MacGyver" was pulled from the weekly schedule on December 30, 1991.