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3x19 "Last Dance Before an Execution" Leap Date: May 12, 1971 Episode
adopted by: Rebekka E. (2004) & Stacie Wilcox (2024) Synopsis: As he leaps in, Sam finds himself strapped in an electric chair for a murder his host may not have committed. But as he is granted a sudden 48-hour stay of execution, he must quickly dig through legal papers and barriers to find the truth before he goes back to the chair again.
TV
Guide Synopsis
Production # 66423
TV
Guide Synopsis:
Name
of the Person
Leaped Into:
Leap Date:
Broadcast Date:
He is convicted of the murder of Father Vincent Torelli Sept 9, 1969. The red phone rings. Governor Bowman has granted a 48 hour stay of execution. Moody tells the press this wouldn't happen if he was Governor. Sam is brought barefoot back to Jesus’s cell. His belongings are backed in boxes, as they didn't expect him to return. In the next cell is Jesus’s friend Raul. At Moody’s office we learn along with him that the stay is because of an appeal Ortega submitted indicating there is new evidence. His advisors think it must have just been a technicality they are reviewing, as the father IDed him on his deathbed and there were two other eye witnesses as well. Moody is worried this will cause a mistrial and cost him the election. Sam is pouring over the case notes when Al arrives. Sam is very upset with him for taking so long to get here. Al says it's sometimes hard to find him; it's not like he's lost in a mall. Al says Jesus is out cold in the waiting room and not talking. Beeks thinks that Jesus thinks he's already dead. In the OH, Jesus is executed in two days, followed by Raul. They confessed to robbing the church but not killing the priest. Sam is convinced by the evidence that they are guilty. Ziggy says there is a 83% probability that they are telling the truth - they robbed the church but did not kill the priest. Sam is brought to see Tearsa La Rea, who is an attorney that works for Moody. Of course, he doesn't know that she is helping Ortega or she'd lose her job. In the OH, Moody has Tearsa disbarred in 1972 for immoral conduct. She ends up spending the rest of her life working in an unemployment office. We learn from her that the ballistics test was inconclusive, and she thinks this will prove Jesus and Raul are innocent. Their public defender failed to point out that the ballistics test wasn't a match, and therefore their whole case was inaccurately based on that assumption. She also states that the eye witnesses places them at the robbery, not the murder. Al questions why Tearsa is helping them. She says Ortega's letters moved her to help her people. Al likes her. She tells Sam he is different than he was before. Raul talks to Sam, who tells him they have to go over everything again to look for anything they missed. He tells us his daughter was sick with a high fever. He went to Jesus’ apartment at 7 to ask for money for the medicine, then they decided to go to church. The priest was sorry, but he couldn't give any money to help because he thought they would use it for booze. Jesus broke the lock on the poor box and he stole the $6 inside in order to buy medicine. Raul laughs, they are going to die over $6. They left the church at quarter to 8, having just enough time for Raul to get his daughter to get to the pharmacy, where Julio Altuna, (a doctor from Cuba that couldn't get his license in the US so he swept floors at the pharmacy) stole the medicine for them since they didn't have enough money. Raul and Rosita were with Julio at the pharmacy when the priest was killed. He didn't come to the trial. Sam calls for the guard saying he needs to make a phone call, and is reluctantly allowed to do so. He talks to Tearsa, who says that Julio moved two days after the murder. And the original report about his questioning is missing. (None of this came up the 1st time around??) Al says they've been unable to locate what happened to Julio. Tearsa says she has to go, and Sam asks where she is; in Moody's office. (At 1st I was confused that Sam was shocked by this, didn't he call her here? But then I realized the distinction between being at the firm, and in Moody's personal office.) Al is able to tell Sam through the phone that Moody is coming so that he can warn Tearsa (I don't know if we had seen this type of communication before, but it is reflected in reverse in Leap Die Repeat when the hologram can hear what the leaper hears even when using headphones.) She asks Sam if he has an angel. Moody found out that someone from his office has been working with Ortega and gave information for the appeal. They don't know who it was, and insinuate there is info this person doesn't know. Sam meets with Tearsa, who says she's hired an investigative team to find Julio (with her own money, according to Al). Sam asks her about a through-and-through, questioning what happened to the 2nd bullet. Al very quickly suggests that if Tearsa is at the church, he can use her brain waves paired with the handlink like a metal detector to search for the bullet. (I don't feel like this makes a lot of sense, and I feel like the suggestion came way too easy, especially to Al who isn't a science guy. I like the solution in Ben Song for the Defense much better, that the evidence they were looking for was found years later and therefore knew where it would be now.) Tearsa doesn't think there is a chance she can find the bullet, but Sam convinced her to go there and reenact the shooting looking for it. Tearsa sits in a pew wondering why she is even here. Al says he has a heck of a time converting the hanklink but ultimately was successful. He turns on a blue light (a scene famously in the opening), and very easily finds the bullet behind a photo frame. (If it's detecting metal, it should have found every nail in the wall just as easily and it found the bullet.) Even if that part was too easy, figuring out how to make Tearsa actually find it, is harder. She pays for an answer, a way to help them. Al tells God (or gtfw, as we know how he feels about religion) he could use some help here. Suddenly a little girl asks Al if he is an angel. Tearsa thinks she is talking to her, and says no she is not. The girl points out that she is talking to Al. He asks her to help him communicate with the woman, and eventually gets her to listen. The child's mother/caregiver apologizes and tries taking the girl away, but after the girl mentions a bullet and Teresa says she was praying to find a bullet the woman thinks it's a miracle and let's it continue (if a stranger was talking to my kid about a bullet I'm not sure I'd let them keep talking). Tearsa finds the bullet, and Al tells the girl she has an angel who owes her a favor. Al tells Sam that he's out of here. He tells him about the bullet behind the photo. Tearsa is having the bullet tested against Jesus’ gun. They question why he hasn't leaped yet, and Al finds out the ballistics come back a positive match. Jesus is guilty, and Sam is going to die in the chair in 3 hours and 17 minutes. Tearsa scalds Sam for lying to him about his guilt. Sam tells her that he really thought Jesus Ortega was innocent, and he isn't that man. But he doesn't tell her the truth. Moody comes in, catching Tearsa working with him, and is ready to give punishment. Sam begs for him not to ruin Tearsa’s life. It doesn't work. Tearsa blames Sam/Jesus. Moody describes the last dance before an execution. Sam is asked if he'd like to make a final confession. Sam tells the priest that he has done everything asked of him, and he doesn't believe that God is going to let him die in that chair. Raul is brought past Sam to his cell, and he accuses Sam of going back and killing the priest after he left for the pharmacy. He begs Sam not to let them kill him. Sam is brought back to the chair. He calls out for Al, who appears and tells Sam to say he wants to confess. He says Jesus confesses to the murder of the priest, which Sam in turn does. But Raul was not there - he's not here to Sam Jesus but Raul. Al says he's also there to take down Moody. Sam includes a statement that Moody tampered with the witness and bribed him to leave the state. Antuna was given his medical license in NY under a different name in exchange for disappearing from Florida. Tearsa calls the number that Sam provides, and presumably confirms the story. Julio was told that his statement was being used to prove Raul’s innocence (but instead they buried it). Al gives the happy ending for Raul and Tearsa, as Sam gets prepped for execution. He leaps at the same time the lever is pulled. Synopsis by Stacie Wilcox Personal Review by Rebekka E.: I really like this one, because Sam almost dies and doesn’t "put right what once went wrong" until the very end! This is one of my favorite episodes.
Project
Trivia: The handlink can be converted so that it can detect a lead bullet in a hologram scenario. Sam can hear Al through a telephone call.
Sam Trivia: He says "Oh, God" instead of "Oh, boy" in this episode due to the circumstances of his leap-in. Sam once again tells someone (Tearsa) he is not who they think he is.
Al
Trivia:
Al’s
Outfits Worn in the Episode: The second outfit is blue jeans a purple and gold leather jacket, and a salmon colored shirt.
Miscellaneous
Trivia: The title and leap date shown at the beginning of the episode are shaky and faded over the stock footage of the prison. The rest of the credits are back to their normal quality. In the book, "Quantum Leap A to Z", the executioner is named Wahorsky.
Regular
Cast:
Guest Stars:
Jenny Gago as Tearsa Margerita Lorrea: Jenny Gago is one of Hollywood's most versatile and respected Latina actresses. Her powerful portrayal of the matriarch Maria Sanchez in Gregory Nava's hit film, My Family/Mi familia (1995), was a critically acclaimed contribution to what she describes as "an honorable and poignant script." Gago has starred in many feature films, including Coach Carter (2005) with Samuel L. Jackson, The Tie That Binds (1995), Blood In, Blood Out (1993), Under Fire (1983) and Nurse Betty (2000) with Renée Zellweger. She was honored with the Golden Eagle Award for her performance as Garduna in the film Old Gringo (1989) in which she starred with Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda. Her television films include Grand Avenue (1996), Nowhere to Hide (1994) and Sweet 15 (1990). Series regular roles include DEA (1990), Dangerous Minds (1996), Alien Nation (1989), and Freddie (2005). Gago was also a member of the esteemed cast of the recent Golden Globe-nominated mini-series, American Family (2002), on PBS. Some of her more recent guest starring roles include Crossing Jordan (2001), 24 (2001), The West Wing (1999), The Agency (2001), Alias (2001), Jack & Bobby (2004), Without a Trace (2002), and Lost (2004). Gago earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts from UCLA. She was then personally awarded a scholarship by Lee Strasberg to attend his Institute. Honored by such prestigious organizations as the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, the Image Awards, the National Council of La Raza, the TELACU Education Foundation, The Hispanic Women's Network of Texas, the BRAVO Awards and the Alma Awards, Gago has also received awards from the County of Los Angeles and El Centro. The U.S. House of Representatives recently acknowledged her for "her talents and portrayal of Latino characters in the film and television industry, as well as her dedication and drive to pursue nontraditional roles to pave the way for other Latinos." Gago's passion is her 13-year-old son, Sean. She loves family, friends, music and dancing (especially salsa), and believes in the spiritual evolution of man towards one human family on earth. She volunteers regularly in schools to support the importance of education.
Julio Oscar Mechoso as Raul Casta:
Julio Oscar Mechoso was born on May 31, 1955 in Florida, USA. He was an
actor, known for Planet Terror (2007), Jurassic Park III (2001) and
Blue Streak (1999). He died on November 25, 2017 in Burbank,
California, USA.
Say What? There were no executions performed between 1967 and 1977. The headline on the autopsy report reads, "Description of gunshot wound perforating the head" but the picture shows wounds to the stomach and left chest area. Sam can hear Al through the telephone? Raul had to have known what happened in all this. You can see the light pen Dean Stockwell is holding under the handlink when he is looking for the bullet fairly clearly.
Quotable
Quotes: "You can’t live with 2000 volts of electricity running through your body." "It’s hard to be loyal to the devil." "To make right, what the times have made wrong." It's not like
you're lost in a mall, you're lost in
time! Al:
Sam, you're going to die on May 14th. That's in two days.
Best Line:
Best Scene:
Theme by: Mike Post Panaflex ® Camera and Lenses by: Panavision ®
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