Poll: If Sam knew... & If Sam had saved the POWs...

Term180

Term180

Project QL Intern
Oct 23, 2007
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www.angelfire.com
I don't know if this question has been asked before (I apologize in advance if it has)
I was just wondering..
If Dr. Samuel Beckett was aware that he, himself had a female companion waiting back at the base, do you think he still would've sacrified his freedom for Al?

I think he would've, because Al sacrified HIS freedom for Sam- in the second part of the Leap Home (aka "the 'nam episode") Al at first urges Sam to rescue some P.O.Ws, Al among them, and then instead helps Sam find the traitor before she kills Sam's brother Tom, thus condemning Al to lose those years of his life as an American P.O.W. - if he had instead rescued Al and the other P.O.Ws, Sam's brother would've most likely died, but Al's marriage would never have ended, as Al wouldn't have been M.I.A.; Beth would've had no reason to remarry.

Sam's ultimatum in Mirror Image would've changed from going home or fixing Al's marriage, to going home or saving his brother (who would've died as a result of saving Al from being a P.O.W.) unless he somehow managed to save his brother AND the P.O.Ws, then Sam would've had the one choice, to go home-the perfect ending.
 
term180 said:
If Dr. Samuel Beckett was aware that he, himself had a female companion waiting back at the base, do you think he still would've sacrified his freedom for Al?
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I am sorry but I don't understand this. What does Donna waiting for him at home have to do with the POW issue? if thats what you even meant but a female companion back at base.
 
Oh, what I meant was would Sam have still chosen to fix Al's marriage, if he knew that by not choosing to instead go home, he would be abandoning HIS wife, who was awaiting his return (Sam's wife was awaiting his return just as much as Beth awaiting Al's, if Sam'd known about Donna he might've thought twice)

The other part about the POWs, was just my opinion on why I think he still would've helped Al, since Al sacrified HIS marriage for Sam- he could've told Sam "I'm among the POWs you could be saving right now", but instead allowed Sam to save his brother Tom from the traitorous (yet beautiful) Tia Carrere, thus leaving Al (and the other POWs, as seen in the last pictures taken by the photojournalist, I believe her name was Maggie) to remain a POW, and thus be presumed dead by his wife Beth.

It's more likely that Sam could've fixed Al's marriage simply by saving Al from remaining a POW, than if he had gone against the rules, and tried to explain to Beth that Al was alive in M.I.A.

But what I meant by the question, is really, if it had been explained to Sam as such, that Sam would be forfeitting his own marriage to save Al's, not just the concept of home but leaving behind a woman whom he'd promised that he'd return to, to prevent Beth from remarrying, would he; 'cause either way (unless you take my theory in the previous post about him saving Al from being a POW, and still saving his brother as well, leaving only the option to go home in "Mirror Image") whether it be Sam's or Al's- someone's marriage had to be sacrified, and unfortunately for Sam it was his.
 
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Term180 said:
The other part about the POWs, was just my opinion on why I think he still would've helped Al, since Al sacrified HIS marriage for Sam- he could've told Sam "I'm among the POWs you could be saving right now", but instead allowed Sam to save his brother Tom from the traitorous (yet beautiful) Tia Carrere, thus leaving Al (and the other POWs, as seen in the last pictures taken by the photojournalist, I believe her name was Maggie) to remain a POW, and thus be presumed dead by his wife Beth..
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The timeline doesn't quite work for this though. By the time Sam was in Vietnam in "Leap Home, Vietnam," Beth was already married to Dirk. So Sam couldn't have saved Al's marriage that way.

Term180 said:
But what I meant by the question, is really, if it had been explained to Sam as such, that Sam would be forfeitting his own marriage to save Al's, [snip] would he; 'cause either way [snip] whether it be Sam's or Al's- someone's marriage had to be sacrified, and unfortunately for Sam it was his.
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That's a tough one. Since he felt he had done the wrong thing in MIA, he might feel that he has to put Al first. Any ordinary mortal could say "Al's survived all these years without Beth, and I have no right to leave Donna this way" and gone home to her. But Sam may look at the situation in an ethical way.
 
term180 said:
Oh, what I meant was would Sam have still chosen to fix Al's marriage, if he knew that by not choosing to instead go home, he would be abandoning HIS wife, who was awaiting his return (Sam's wife was awaiting his return just as much as Beth awaiting Al's, if Sam'd known about Donna he might've thought twice)
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Oh I see. Got it.
Ok, my theory is that if he knew his beloved wife was waiting for him, he now knows thanks to Al(bartender) that he can control his leaps and proved it to himself when he went to Beth. So with Donna in mind he could have leaped over to Beth told her to wait and then leaped home from there.

term180 said:
The other part about the POWs, was just my opinion on why I think he still would've helped Al, since Al sacrified HIS marriage for Sam- he could've told Sam "I'm among the POWs you could be saving right now", but instead allowed Sam to save his brother Tom from the traitorous (yet beautiful) Tia Carrere, thus leaving Al (and the other POWs, as seen in the last pictures taken by the photojournalist, I believe her name was Maggie) to remain a POW, and thus be presumed dead by his wife Beth..
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That would have been a very selfish thing of him to say especially with the knowledge of how badly Sam wants to save his brother. In MIA Al approaching the leap in a slightly selfish manner makes more sense because it's about his wife not himself and Sam tried and succeeded in changing his own wife's history so it's only fair and even that Al get to try changing his Wife's past. But his freedom from POW camp is a very selfish thing for him to openly want because its only about him and it does not matter much anyway, it does not benifit anything Beth has already married Dirk. And he does not need Sam's help to get through it alive. I think he was perferring to just strongly encourage Sam to save the POWs furtively or at least have Sam ask him where the POWs are once Tom is safe and Maggy is dead. In real life a death can't put the war on hold, so Sam could tell Tom that he has his famous "magic moment" about knowing where the POWs are and go rescue them for moatly the sake of the others who may not live through it originally like Al; after they pay small respects to Maggy. My BFF actually wrote a this alternate ending.

None of this however would effect Beth I am afraid though because she married Dirk a month after meeting him in MIA which is June 1969, so Maggy's photograph was taken a year too late. Beth has already declared Al dead and begun her new life with Dirk a long time ago.
 
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Thank you Term180 thats what we are all here for :)
And welcome to the board by the way, now that the introduction board has been moved way down there I hardly pay attention to it anymore :p
 
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