Quantum Leap is back! Now that the NBC reboot of the 1989 series has returned for a second season, let’s go back and revisit some of the best episodes from the original series.
“Blind Faith” – Season 2, Episode 5
In this early episode from Season 2, Sam finds himself in the body of a blind pianist in New York City in 1964. Of course, Sam is not blind, but he must still pretend that he is in order to uphold his Leapee’s life. (One of the best quirks of Quantum Leap is that children and animals can see Al, Sam’s best friend and hologram-companion, as well as Sam’s real face. Trying to convince the Leapee’s service dog that both men are, in fact, meant to be there for a while leads to many funny moments.) Sam is tasked with preventing the death of his Leapee’s girlfriend, a kind nurse who is targeted by a serial killer in the real timeline. The episode is made even more exciting by several very surprising twists!
“The Leap Home, Parts 1 & 2” – Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2
Part 1 of this duology is the highest rated Quantum Leap episode on IMDb of all 97 episodes of the original series—and with good reason. After years of traveling through time, putting right what once went wrong, Sam gets the rare chance to go home. He leaps into his own body at 16, and must win his high school basketball championship in order to better the future careers of his teammates. Sam is overwhelmed by the chance to see his father, who has been dead for many years, as well as his older brother Tom, who will die in Vietnam only a few months later. Without spoiling the duology, I will say that Part 2 is even more emotional and harrowing than Part 1. Sam leaps into the body of one of Tom’s SEAL team soldiers the day before Tom is killed. The episode is a heart-stopping tribute to the love between brothers—both biological and chosen. Have tissues ready.
“Killin’ Time” – Season 5, Episode 5
Have you ever wondered what happens to Sam Beckett’s real body while he is leaping? According to Quantum Leap, the consciousness of the Leapee is temporarily placed in Sam’s body back in a waiting room in the project’s facility. In “Killin’ Time,” Sam leaps into the body of a murderer who has escaped prison and is holding a woman and her daughter hostage in their home. It is Al, however, who must do the hard work in this episode. The real killer escapes the waiting room and ventures out into 1999 wearing Sam’s face. Al must track down the killer and ensure that no harm comes to him, despite the havoc and violence he begins to unleash on the modern world—because if the man is wounded or killed, it is Sam’s body that will suffer that fate. (Everyone say it with me: “Oh, boy!”)
“Shock Theater” – Season 3, Episode 22
This is my personal favorite episode of Quantum Leap. In the Season 3 finale, we find Sam leaping into the body of a man in a mental institution in 1954. Forced to undergo electroshock therapy, Sam immediately loses touch with his own reality. The shock therapy scrambles his brain waves, eroding his mental connection to Al and making him believe he truly is someone else—someone he has leaped into in the past. He quickly cycles through the personalities of past Leapees, leading the institution’s staff to believe he has a personality disorder. Al must figure out a way to rescue Sam and carry out Sam’s mission on his own. (This leads to a great interaction between Al and the hospital’s patients, who, as it turns out, can see and hear him!) The episode is a nail-biter all the way through, and the surprise ending will leave you desperate to watch Season 4.
What are your favorite episodes of Quantum Leap? Let us know! Fingers crossed that Season 2 of the reboot, which premiered October 4th, will give us episodes we’ll still be talking about 30 years from now.
