I never understood that finale scene. What was
the significance of that picture and
why did it flash blue at the end.

It's a recap from an earlier episode, where Sam has to save a San Diego cop, but Al tries to get him to keep his (Al's) wife from marrying someone else (while Al is POW in 'Nam).

The final leap, Sam comes back to Al's wife, and convinces her Al is coming home. Hence, the trailer line about Al's 27'th anniversary.

This creates a new nit, of course, in the Pilot, Al is hanging out with some bimbo (as well as in most of the series :-)). What happens to all that?

All of it just vanished, the same way that Al himself vanished when he was convicted of murder and replaced by Roddy McDowell. Project Quantum Leap isn't immune to the changes Sam brings about--take the sudden appearance of Sam's daughter after he saves her mother in the past. Presumably, Al never went down the "drinking, wenching" road.

Thanks. I never saw the first few years. I
only started watching QL during season 4..
I think. I'm glad that Space is going to
be showing QL five times a week. I'll finally
get to see the first three years of QL.
I enjoyed that show and was sad to see it end.
I did buy the pilot episode on video. It was
pretty good.

My favorite line from the whole series:

"Oy Vey! I'm the rabbi!" (From season 1)

Did you know that the network stuck in those cards at the end? Hence the misspelling of Sam's name.

I remember a post on a BBS a few years back where one guy claimed that the entire Quantum Project disappeared as a result of Sam telling Al's wife to wait for him. The guy's premise was that Sam and Al would have never met and without Al's help the quantum leap project would have never existed.
Now I never saw the first few episodes so I don't the back story between the two characters personally. Would Al have made that much of a difference in getting funding for the project and would Al not going through a series of drinking binges and women caused him not to meet Sam?

I don't think so. When Al was convicted of murder as a young man (and Roddy McDowall replaced him), the project still existed.

That's right. I forgot about that. Thanks for bringing that up.

Yes, but Al had connections. Many people believe that his influence savedthe project many times. But then.....

It has been nearly half a decade since I last caught this particular episode of Quantum Leap, but I have been recently juggling notions around in my mind. For instance, I believe one of the pub attendants consumes an alcoholic beverage and has his reflection conspicuously present a younger version of that same pub attendant. Could this be the bartender, who is implied as being a humanly substantial form of "God," indicating how these individuals were once young? To put it another way, Dr. Samuel Becket could have been observing a "reflection of their lives." Also, was each and every individual whose life Dr. Samuel Becket rectified present at this alleged pub? If so, then there ought to have been quite an amount of females as well.
I always found the concept of RADM Albert Cavalicci communicating with and consulting Dr. Samuel Becket somewhat incontingent, considering Dr. Samuel Becket would be altering time during the course of his leap. And here is something else to cogitate. If Dr. Samuel Becket were to successfully return to his own body, then would you not think he would have instantaneously returned to it immediately following his descension into the past? Allow me to explain. All time periods Dr. Samuel Becket has visited are nuances of the past--the past of his present. Along with the alterations to the time line, Dr. Samuel Becket ought to have returned to his own body after he had initially leapt, presuming he was successful in this attempt.
There were also episodes that introduced the Time Loop Theory. For those of you who are not aware of the Time Loop Theory, which was stated by Albert Einstein, it functions as follows: I give you a watch, which you gave me when arriving in the past, to give to me after you have journeyed into the past that was given to you by me from you, etc., etc. The movies 12 Monkeys and Somewhere in Time are prime examples of the Time Loop Theory. As far as I know, they have emphasized how the time line is susceptible to alterations. However, they then turn right around and imply that Dr. Samuel Becket's sporadic involvements in the past had already occurred. For example, he emancipated his great, great, great, great grandfather's wife-to-be's slave who in turn became Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s grandfather. In fact, this same slave endowed himself with the last name King. Another example is when Dr. Samuel Becket is prior to leaping and states the name Peggy Sue, if I am not mistaken, which inspires a nearby neighbor, or little brother of the individual whose body Dr. Samuel Becket was inhabiting, to conceive the song "Peggy Sue." This nearby neighbor's name, as circumstance would have it, was Buddy Hollie or Billy Holiday. I am not knowledgeable when it comes to past musicians and their corresponding songs. Although no scientific claims come to mind and I attempt to remain open-minded, it is rather contradictory to have time-travel conform to both the Time Loop Theory and the Time Alterability Theory. I intend to add more as time permits. Please feel free to share your own theories, perspectives, etc.

I had many problems w/ this final episode.
It was just plain weird.
Sam leaps into himself & has I.D. on him.
He sees familiar faces in the bar.
Al, the bartender, knows things.
Sam saw Stopah leap & disappear.
Al, the hologram, is worried that noone replaced Sam at the Project, however, when the series began Al reported days went by while Sam was in Leap Limbo.
Al, the hologram, claims never to have seen Sam leap. Refer to the episode where Sam was a DJ: Al was glowing & thought he was leaping. Refer to "Lee Harvey Oswald": Al watched as Sam leaped out of Oswald.
And lastly, the leap effect from Als picture. I understand that Sam changed Als future, but why an effect from a picture?
Just plain weird.

A response to D. Stuart.

During the show in which Sam leaped into Lee Harvey Oswald, and then the Secret Service agent, it was revealed that he saved Jackie Kennedy-something that hadn't happened in the original timeline. The way I saw the two episodes that you talk about:

The Peggy Sue line: In the original reality, the vet told him that Peggy Sue would be a great song name-when Sam leaped in and changed history for the farmhand, he had to fix that little "hiccup" in history.
The episode with MLK jr's grandfather: Perhaps the civil rights movement in the previous timeline didn't have a MLK jr to help it. There are two theories in history-the Great Man and the Event theories. The Great Man states that at times, people are born who will alter the world, and the Event theory states that the event will put someone into the place to affect the world. Maybe that is what happened in the pre-leap world. Without a MLK jr, one of the other leaders in the civil rights movement came into the forefront, and changed history.

To Christopher Q: Well, to explain that, it depends on whether you think the mind or the body leaps. Some people think that MI proves his body does, but it really doesn't. There could be other reasons for why he's gone.

The limbo, if you believe in mind, could be explained by a state of time where the body is not occupied by a soul, thereforeit's only kept alive by machines. Brain dead, so to speak. But then, that would mean when he returned, his mind would be warped..

It's all very confusing. All this has made many fans resort to the philosphy(?!:) ) of whatever's needed, mind or body, is what happens. Because of many conflicts the show presented to us.

Was the fact that Al, the bartender, was being played by an actor who appeared in the series premiere supposed to signify something? Or was it just coincidence? It's been so long since I watched either.

Fans of time travel movies may also remember that actor as Commander Matuszak in Timecop.

I don't think telling Al's wife he'll be back, hindered Al's involvment in the QL project. The end of the episode says the Sam never leaped home. I think it would effect many of the leaps, sense Al, alot of the time, played a big part in helping Sam.

Would Al's wife have accepted Al spending that
much time helping Sam?

The most irritating thing about the last episode
is that Sam doesn't come home. Was that really
necessary? What happened to Sam after he altered
history for Al? Did he remain in the past? Did
he continue leaping? The series finale should have
ended with Sam coming home.

Ah, that's when the series of novels began . . .

Concerning the question of whether just the mind leaps or the whole body:
There are several cases, this episode included, that indicate that Sam's body is going back in time and is only perceived by others as being the body of the person he has leaped into. There was the episode in which he was a Vietnam vet with no legs. He was able to stand on his own feet, therby making the evil orderly think that this vet is capable of levitating. The other case that comes immediately to mind is when he is the NASA chimp and starts administering kung-fu kicks to the bad guys' heads. A two-foot-tall chimp wouldn't have that kind of reach, but a six-foot-tall Sam Beckett would. And, of course, there's this episode, in which nobody shows up in the Waiting Room, and Sam has his ID on him. But then, I doubt he had his ID with him when he leaped out of 1999, so maybe that's too nitworthy an example for my argument.

Another nit: When Sam sees his own reflection and marvels at how much he's aged, he tells the bartender it's been a long time since he's seen himself in a mirror. It hasn't been that long since The Leap Back. Was he too busy to glance at a mirror while he was there? Of course his swiss-cheesed memory probably erased his memory of how he looked then. Between the Swiss-cheesed memory and the fact that he changes history every episode, it is kinda hard to come up with a nit (an inter-episode continuity nit, anyway)that can't be explained by these two convenient devices.

Rick B., you forgot the one where Sam was a pregnant teen about to have the baby and Al was freaking out because it was Sam's body!

The novels don't start after the end of the series, any novel after it isn't allowed because Don Bellisario wants that open for himself. I know this because I have a friend who wrote a novel (Very good one, on the net, want me to give you guys the addresse?) which was GREAT, but they didn't accept it because it was after the series. All the novels are set during the series. Hey, did you guys know someone wrote a QL movie that they're submitting to Don and all those guys? That's on the net too, though it shouldn't be, cuz she was asking the archivist to take it off,I think....

So how many times does this make now that Sam has gone into and fixed Al's life?

If the novels don't take place after the series, then when do they take place? There's no time for them to take place during the series, because each leap from one episode goes immediately to the next for every episode of the series (at least that's what we're led to believe).

No true...there's many episodes where
we don't see the leap at the end. For
example, in "The Leap Back", we don't see
where Sam leaped, but Al gives a description
of the leap....a leap that's very different
from the one of the next episode. At the
end of Lee Harvey Oswald, again, we don't
see the next leap. There could have been many
leaps between that episode and the next one.

After watching "The Leap Back" again, I have
conclusion that the creator of QL sucks for
writting this episode. Sam should have returned
home...he earned it.

Rene, I think he wanted to wrap things up but yet leave things open for a movie, spin-off, etc. I agree he could have found a better way to do it. Sam could leap home and still continue time travel with a good retrieval program.

Wow. I didn't realize there was this much debate over the signifigance of the finale. I thought it was pretty clear that though, yes, he does have the power to go home and could have at any time, and yes, he deserves it, the "strange force" that keeps leaping him around is his own sense of purpose and nobility.

Nobody suggests that Sam does not deserve to go home. The creators were not saying he wasn't allowed to go home. The point of the whole thing was that he CHOSE to keep leaping despite his homesickness and world-weary-ness.

Well, I will finally see the finale for the first
time in six year. I can't wait.

I have to ask again...why the heck did we get
a leap effect from a picture of Al? I really
hope they plan to make a movie or a tv movie that
explains this episode.

A Siclaire...where is this story that is set
after "Mirror Image"?

Does anyone else feel that "Mirror Image" feels like part 1 of 2 except they forgot to write part 2?

Sam claims he doesn't know what it looks like to leap...but in "Revenge", he saw Alia leap.

How could I forget another episode illustrating an allusion to the Time Loop Theory? Recall the episode in which Dr. Samuel Becket leaps into the body of a co-star on a show displaying the journeys and tribulations of two time-travellers, one of whom was an elderly character convinced he was going to ascend forward into the future and had nearly succeeded? At one point Dr. Samuel Becket describes his theory of time-travel to the elderly character and proceeds to rectify the past. Consequently, the elderly character reiterates Dr. Samuel Becket's theory to Dr. Samuel Becket himself. That is, Dr. Samuel Becket's past counterpart, who was during this era still a young boy. If this conveyance of knowledge had in fact inspired Dr. Samuel Becket to pursue the matter and influentially titivated his already emerging research, would this not implicitly declare that the series ought to abide by the Time Loop Theory?

With all due respect, did you all not pay attention in English class and thus cannot recognize metaphors? The photograph of RADM Albert Cavalicci was a metaphor of Dr. Samuel Becket's revolutionizing and perhaps ultimate leap. As apparent by the reassurance Dr. Samuel Becket delivers to RADM Albert Cavalicci's wife and receives from the wife accordingly, RADM Albert Cavalicci's life had been successfully altered. With that being said, the scintillating light was an adequate method of fading into black and allowing us the viewers to envision what would substantially occur. For example, Dr. Samuel Becket leaps into the body of an investigator presented with the alleged onstage death of a magician identified as Lord of Illusions and leads him into the cult-based and cult-executed plan of resurrecting a satanic magician. Then, he leaps into the body of a minor league baseball team's manager who seeks and intends to mold an eclectic team consisting of a surfer dude turned fast-ball pitcher, Hispanic twins, an erudite, chivalrous bloke who pitches slowly, a six foot five inch tall Voodoo/Buddhist African-American home-run hitter, an athletically proficient oriental fiduciary to the aforementioned home-run hitter, a semi-mentally incapacitated farm boy, a former male ballet dancer, and a Caucasian home-run hitter who bears an immense, erumpent white smile all into a legitimate and professional baseball team that later capably trounces a more prominent major league baseball team--more specifically the Minnesota Twins. Obviously, those two examples are facetious references to movies thespian Scott Bakula (Dr. Samuel Becket) appeared in beyond his Quantum Leap years.

...envision what would substantially occur. = ...envision what would [sequentially] occur. Typo.

"Mirror Image" was supposed to be a cliffhanger that would restart in the year six season premiere. This is the script excerpt form the alternate ending, when they though the show would go on...
It is from
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8974/frames.html

Warning: It is more than a little weird, and changes some of the "rules" of Leaping...

It starts right after Sam tells Beth that Al is coming home.


130A CLOSE ON BETH

She catches her breath and tears flood her eyes as we move to....


131A SILVER FRAMED PHOTO OF YOUNG AL

sitting on the mantle. We hold for a beat and pull back past another photo. This one is of Al, Beth and four older children. our move takes us past other family photos of Beth and Al and their children. We continue until we reveal that we are in....

132A AL’S DEN

in his home at Project Quantum Leap. It is the year 2000 but this room is a classic den with leather and wood and a warm, comfortable look. Our move continues until we find....

133A THE OBSERVER AND BETH

sitting in an overstuffed chair. He's smoking a cigar and staring at a silver framed photo in his hand. She's sitting half on the chair and half on him. Beth's older and her hair is streaked with gray, but she's still a radiant beauty ... especially when she smiles.

OBSERVER
Wherever he's leaped, Sam’s still himself.

BETH
Because no one's in the Waiting Room?

OBSERVER
There's no other explanation.
(beat)
Ziggy’s starting a nanosecond search in the morning but I got a feeling Sam’s leaped beyond his lifetime?

BETH
Into the past or future?

OBSERVER
(firmly)
The future. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.
(beat)
He's in the future, way in the future... far beyond his lifetime.

BETH
How’d he get there?

OBSERVER
The bartender sent him.

BETH
The bartender?

OBSERVER
Why not? Anyone who has the power to leap Sam through time can be anyone he wants to be ... a bartender, a train conductor ... a steambath attendant.

Beth takes a second to absorb that, then looks down at Al.

BETH
He’d know where Sam was in the future.

OBSERVER
How do I ask him? As a hologram, he couldn't hear me.

BETH
If he's God, I think he'll hear you.

OBSERVER
Good. But without Sam in that bar, I can't get there.

BETH
You could if you leaped.

134A CLOSER ON BOTH

The Observer looks slowly up to Beth, realizing she's hit on the solution.

OBSERVER
I might not come back.

BETH
You'll come back. Anyone who came back from Vietnam can come back from anywhere.

OBSERVER
Thirty five years and you still amaze me.

He pulls her into his arms and passionately kisses her. Then, he's out of the chair and gone.

135A CLOSE ON BETH

watching him go.

BETH
(to herself)
So do you.

Over her face, we hear the....

ANNOUNCER’S VOICE
Here's the windup and the pitch.

CUT TO

136A INT. AL’S PLACE - NIGHT - CLOSE ON RADIO

The dial glows yellow from this old Philco model set in the backroom of the bar. We hear the crack of a bat and the roar of a crowd as the announcer Rosey Rosewell supplies the color. We pull back from the radio.

ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
It's a long fly ball to left field.
(excited)
Open the window Aunt Minnie, here she comes!

our pull back reveals Ghee standing next to the Philco. The miners at the bar stop their raucous celebration and turn to the radio to hear the crash of broken glass that's Rosey's sound effect for a Pirate home run. The miners cheer as the Rosey continues.

GHEE
Do you believe this!
(beat)
They trade Kiner and now half the team’s hitting home runs.

137A ANGLE ON THE BAR - SFX

Al smiles and slides a draft to Miner Ziggy and then picks up Mutta’s glass to refill it.

MINER ZIGGY
Nobody on the Pirates will ever break as many window canes as Ralph Kiner did.

MUTTA
Panes not canes. Window Panes.

MINER ZIGGY
I said panes.

MUTTA
You said canes.

A blue light materializes next to Miner Ziggy, coalesces with electric, arcing into Al and dissipates. Mutta and Ziggy seem oblivious to Al’s sudden appearance and speak to him as if held been there all along.

MUTTA
(to Observer)
Didn't Ziggy-say canes? Window canes?

OBSERVER
(swiss cheesed)
I don't remember what she said?

MUTTA
She?

OBSERVER
Ziggy.

MINER ZIGGY
You must be a friend of Sam’s.
(explaining to Mutta)
Sam knows a Ziggy who's a woman, an ugly woman.

Ghee joins them.

GHEE
He must have seen you in your dress at the Beer Barrel Reunion.

OBSERVER
You cross-dress?

MINER ZIGGY
Cross-dress?

OBSERVER
Dress like the opposite sex.

GHEE
My Aunt Anna does that.

OBSERVER
Dresses like a man?

GHEE
No, like a woman.

Ghee slaps the bar and, laughing at having put one over on the Observer, moves off with Mutta and Miner Ziggy.

138A FEATURING AL

He wipes the counter in front of the observer who is now slightly isolated from-the miners.

AL
What'll it be?

OBSERVER
Information.

Al shoves the punchboard to him.

AL
Twenty-five cents a punch. Hit the jackpot and I'll answer your question.

OBSERVER
I got to gamble to get info from God?

AL
Who said I was God?

OBSERVER
Sam did. He said you were God or Time or Fate.

AL
(laughs)
Why not an alien while you're at it.

OBSERVER
(stunned)
Oh, my God....

AL
What?

OBSERVER
We didn't think of that!
(realizing)
It makes sense. You could be a higher intelligence from the outer reaches of the universe!

AL
I'm afraid the only alien here is you, Al.

OBSERVER
Why me?

AL
Because you're the only one who doesn't belong here.

OBSERVER
What about Sam?

AL
He's not here anymore ... he's on the job.

OBSERVER
In the future, right?

AL
Right.

OBSERVER
(pissed)
Without me!

AL
I didn't think you were needed.

OBSERVER
(incredulous)
You didn't think I was needed!
(beat)
Who flew the X-2? Me! Who taught him Elvis' moves? Me! Who showed him how to box, shoot pool, draw a six-gun ... kiss the girl!

AL
(amused)
You.

OBSERVER
You're •••• right, me!
(quickly adds)
If you're God, excuse the language.

AL
If I'm God, you're excused.

OBSERVER
Sam wouldn't have righted a single wrong if it wasn't for me.

AL
Well....

OBSERVER
Okay. Maybe one or two, but he needs me. And more important... I need him.

139A CLOSER ON BOTH

Al thinks this over for a moment before speaking.

AL
The past has been mere prologue. Where Sam has gone, there is great danger.

OBSERVER
Cut the Star Wars dialogue! Are you going to send me with him or not?

AL
You'd no longer enjoy the safety of a hologram.

OBSERVER
I was kinda hoping that would continue.

AL
You'd be a Leaper, like Sam, with all the inherent risks.

OBSERVER
I still want to join him.

AL
That's all it takes.

OBSERVER
What do you mean?

AL
You just have to want to do it.

Al steps aside and the Observer looks into the mirror.

140A THE OBSERVER’S POV - THE MIRROR

Everything has changed. The bar, the miners, all have leaped far into the future and are space warriors enjoying a night at a space station bar. But the biggest shock of all is the observer ... he's a future version of a blonde bombshell.

141A ON THE OBSERVER

He spins around on the stool to find himself in the space station bar. Ghee, wearing the uniform of space pilot, leans in next to him with a leacherous grin on his face.

GHEE’S VOICE
I've been in a hundred rec bars from here to the Magellic Clouds and believe me, you've got the greatest set of cassabas I've ever targeted.

OBSERVER
Oh, boy.

TO BE CONTINUED

Ummm...

Would the script ever refer to our Al as "The Observer?" Seems like he'd be Al and the other Al would be Bartender, or something like that.

This sounds like an interesting bit of fanfic to me.

The only comment I have is that the Internet Movie Database confirms an "alternate version" that shows the leap effect on the photo in Beth's house as it changes into a photo of Al, Beth, and children. It doesn't mention the rest of this, tho'.

I thourght the end caption was a bit disappointing, Sam coming home would have been great & an open ending would have been OK. I would rank this with The Fugative, The Prisoner & Blake's 7 for having the weirdest end.

The Fugitive? What was "weird" about how it ended? Happy, happy, joy, joy ending.

the last show blew!! poor sam spends all this time saving everyone and changing lives, and some bartender tells him he can't go home. plus, he had a hot wife back home! oh, and then how does it happen, because he saves al's marriage, so al never saves sam's butt in the past (HUH??)

This part was definitely part of the alternate ending, although I can not confirm the rest in my previous post:


Silver Framed Photo of Young Al
sitting on the mantle. We hold for a beat and pull back past another photo. This one is of Al, Beth, and four older children. Our move takes us past other family photos of Beth and Al and their children. We continue until we reveal that we are in ....

Al's Den
in his home at Project Quantum Leap. It is the year 2000, but this room is a classic den with leather and wood and a warm, comfortable look. Our move continues until we find....

The Observer and Beth
sitting in an overstuffed chair. He's smoking a cigar and staring at a silver framed photo in his hand. She's sitting half on the chair and half on him. Beth's older and her hair is streaked with gray, but she's still the radiant beauty...especially when she smiles.

Observer:
Where ever he's leaped, Sam's still himself.

Beth:
Because no one's in the waiting room?

Observer:
(nods)
We're staring a nano-second search in the morning but it will take months and by then, Sam will probably have leaped again.

Beth:
Why months? It didn't take you months to find him.

Observer:
I made a lucky guess.

Beth:
Luck, Admiral Calavicchi, had nothing to do with it. The two of you are so close, it makes me envious.
(beat)
You'll find him.

Observer:
How can you be so •••• sure?

On Beth, as she looks at the photo in Al's hands.

Close on the Photo
...of Sam and Al

Beth's voice
Because that's what friends are for.

Freeze frame"

For the record, the cards stuck in by NBC said:

Grr. S-T-U-P-I-D ending!

Blame NBC, since it was THEIR idea to cancel the show and THEIR idea to stick in the cards with the epilogue AND THEIR cards, period.

Sigh. Oh well...I won't let that ending ruin my opinion of the series in general....A great series with two great actors

Maybe, if/when the show gets released on DVD, they can edit out that ending, and we can pretend it never happened. It works for Highlander 2.

Nothing works for Highlander 2.

Sam DOES leap into the future as Captain Archer of the Starship Enterprise!

So how come Donna wasn't in Mirror image? Is it possible that Sam Changed history again and Donna is not his wife? Or did see find out about Sam having a daughter with another woman and decided that was it and left the project?

By Lee Jamilkowski (Ljamilkowski) on Monday, March 19, 2001 - 03:53 pm


For the record, the cards stuck in by NBC said:

[deleted]

Dr. Sam Beckett


never returned home.}

No, they said "Dr. Sam Becket".

darn! Should have looked at the preview first!

Hi, I'm new here. Can someone state some reasons for thinking his body leapt. I always assumed it was just his mind leaping into someone else's body (without significant alteration men can not give birth.) I think I missed something.

Remember the episode where he leapt into the pregnant girl, just as she was giving birth?

Or how about the times we saw the leapee in the Waiting Room.

Or how about, "Stepped into the accelerator and vanished" (emphasis mine).

Cool, Thanks ScottN.

and the legless guy from vietnam who walked around

And the blind pianist.

I just wanted to add a thought about the last episode. I was in middle school when this show was on, and always made a rule never to miss it. I thought (both back then and now) that the last episode was amazing and really summed up the whole point of the series. It wasn’t until I stumbled across this board that I found out anyone didn’t think so. But, let me describe how I saw it.

I thought it completely had to do with the whole magic/spirituality thing versus science/technology. I think that is one of the really neat and not yet overused sci-fi (siffy to the politically correct) angles. Basically I think the point of the last episode was that the Quantum Leap Project didn’t work.

Remember the opening sequence. It said something like “Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding…” Sam was trying to finish the project in a hurry and just went for it. His machine (technology) never worked at all, but he wanted it so bad that “God” or his own mental powers allowed him to jump through time. Basically, I think he defined his own reality.

All the “leaping” rules were Sam trying to scientifically explain what was going on, and he pretty much kept himself stuck to those rules because he refused to believe he couldn’t break them. Just like he refused to believe he couldn’t travel through time without the quantum leap accelerator except for that instant when he was about to lose all his funding he let himself believe he could just do it out of desperation, and that mental barrier was lifted.

So, he leaps from person to person helping all these people because deep down, he thinks that’s the right thing to do. He basically turned himself into an angel so to speak. He keeps contact with Al through an almost telepathic link, again because he lets himself believe it’s possible. They find scientific reasons to explain why all of this is happening. It never occurs to any of them that the project could never work, because they are all scientists and do not believe in magic, only in what can be explained scientifically.

In the last episode, “God” sits Sam down and pretty much sets him straight. The machine isn’t making Sam leap, Sam is making himself leap. There aren’t any hard fast science rules about it. It’s almost like the Matrix. Remember when Keanu Reaves just decides not to die in the end? He took that leap from limiting himself to the world he believed was true to the world where he can do anything. In a sense the episode finally sets Sam free to do what he wants. He is basically enlightened and no longer had to follow any rules (like the ‘in his own lifetime’ thing.)

When I saw this it all made sense. When I watched the show, my biggest problem with it was, “Why in the hell would you invent a time machine that put you in other people’s bodies? That doesn’t even make sense.” Also, I got really caught up in all the science and stuff, just like the characters in the show (and many of you on this board) trying to explain why Sam kept jumping and how do we get him home. But, then we see the science had nothing to do with it, and Sam leapt into people because he wanted to help them, not become rich off inventing a time machine.

The last episode was a catharsis for me. It was saying, “Don’t be silly. Do you think you’ll invent some giant machine more powerful then the human mind? Do you think you even understand 1/1000 of what the human mind/spirit/soul can do? None of you have even scratched the surface yet.” It made me think of people who claim to have “ESP” or things like why do I keep my fingers crossed if I am waiting for good news? I’m not saying these things are real, but it’s interesting to think they have some basis in reality…and isn’t that the entire point of sci-fi?

This may sound overly simplistic, but that’s what I thought they were trying to say when I was fifteen, and that really neat idea (That we define our own reality) always stayed with me. So for that alone, I think it was an amazing show.

What do you think, Sirs?

Hey! where are all of the season 5 episodes?

After watching this episode again after a long while and I still don’t see why folk hate this episode. OK, I agree it would have been nice to see Sam get home, but what happens in the end leaves me with allot of respect for what Sam did. He gave up his own chance (or not, see below for my beliefs on the whole thing) at happiness to help out Al rather than live with the guilt that he's obviously carried since that episode (I forget the title). For me at least…

It explains everything, in fact, the posting that made about how Sam was held to his own "idea" of the rules sharpens what I already thought about the whole subject of the Leaps after seeing this ep. There's only two things that are /not/ explained in my mind.
1) Who exactly is Al the Barman? I don’t believe he is/was God…but he's close to it
2) Does the town exist or it is/was, to borrow The Matrix terminology, a construct where Sam can understand things (Think the various ways the Q Continuum has been "explained" in Star Trek)
However, as these aren't exactly essential to the plot they don't detract a great deal from the ending.

The whole episode is really about giving Sam a breather and this is something I think others haven't thought of yet. In my mind it IS Sam himself who leaps himself around, however Al the Barman (whoever he is) can ALSO control Sam’s leaping but chooses not to interfere in Sam's good work. Al's been watching Sam all this time, perhaps the reason why Sam began leaping in the first place but has let Sam control it after the first initial pull, decided he deserves a few answers and has brought him there to give him a breather and answer a few of his questions. I still believe it is Sam that is the one who is controlling his leaps and it /is/ possible for him to go home whenever he wants to but that Al made a mistake in judgement (and as such is why I don’t think he's God) by bringing Sam to this bar to convince Sam that it's him that's controlling the leaping. All he’s done is convince Sam that it ISN'T him that's controlling the leaps and this is why Sam never returns home at the end, because he cannot believe after seeing Al, that it's himself that’s leaping him about due to his own moral centre and deep desire to put right the wrongs of the world.

I'm not sure I made a whole lot of sense there…it's hard to put into words exactly what I mean but I hope people get an idea of what it is from reading that.

That episode you are refering to has the title
"M.I.A."

Just watched this again on the UK Gold channel and spotted an actual nit!

Near the beginning the Old Gushie (sp?) comes in and sets money (I think, its not clear) infront of Bartender Al, Al then fills a shot glass, Gushie swallows it and then walks out...the next shot of Sam and Al shows the glass is still full!

Interesting proposition that I never thought about but was put forward by one of my friends in a recent viewing of this episode.

The reason for Sam never leaping home in the end is that he changed the history of the QL project by saving Al's relationship with Beth. Al never joined QL and therefor Sam never had his help when leaping through time. Because of this the "History" (i.e. the episodes that make up Ql) didn't pan out in the same way and Sam was lost in history.

I always wondered about that one myself. Remember, in the pilot, Al's out with one of his bimboes when Sam fires up QL.

I agree that this was definitely what they were going for with the ending. I think the Al-is-integral-to-the-QL-project was mentioned in the episode where Al tries to convince Sam to talk to Beth.

But in the episode where Sam leaps into a younger Al, there's a momment when the probability of Sam's failure is 100% and Al is replaced by a different Observer, indicating that Al wasn't as vital as originally suggested.

Yep .... Season 5 was ridiculous. Fun at times, but the writing was on the wall.