509 Trilogy Part III <AKA The Last Door>

The Last Door


  • Total voters
    27

alsplacebartender

Al's Place Bartender
Staff member
Trilogy Part III
July 28, 1978


Baton Rouge and Potterville, Louisiana


In the final installment of a three-part saga, Sam leaps into Larry Stanton, a lawyer who defends Abigail on trial for the murder of Leta Aider. Secrets are revealed, the family history comes unraveled, and surprises are in store for Sam as he discovers the heritage behind Abigail's daughter, Samantha Jo Fuller.


Written by: Deborah Pratt
Directed by: James Whitmore, Jr.


Rate and comment on the final chapter of this trilogy!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is an excellent end to a trilogy. Sam has a daughter who is almost as intelligent as he is. She ends up working on the project and thinks she can bring him home.
 
Why not? The whole scenario is bloody brilliant, especially now that she works at the Project. I liked that the girl who played Sammy Jo was the same little girl who was Abigale in the first trillogy ep.

If it's her accent u find annoying Cyd, then you wont want to hear me talk...i sound like her a wee bit.

Samantha Beckett
 
Samantha_Beckett said:
Why not? The whole scenario is bloody brilliant, especially now that she works at the Project. I liked that the girl who played Sammy Jo was the same little girl who was Abigale in the first trillogy ep.

If it's her accent u find annoying Cyd, then you wont want to hear me talk...i sound like her a wee bit.

Samantha Beckett
lol are you sure you're southern and not british, you say bloody and bleeding a lot like the british lol. and both my best friend and i don't like that Sammy Jo is a total Abigale clone, we think she should have at least dyed her hair to look the least bit like Sam, but other than that she was cute in her personality, better than Abigale as a little girl cuz she was kind of annoying, in my opinion.
 
SamBeckettfann said:
lol are you sure you're southern and not british, you say bloody and bleeding a lot like the british lol. and both my best friend and i don't like that Sammy Jo is a total Abigale clone, we think she should have at least dyed her hair to look the least bit like Sam, but other than that she was cute in her personality, better than Abigale as a little girl cuz she was kind of annoying, in my opinion.

Haha, I get that alot Cyd. I know for a fact that I was supposed to be born in England but was born in the South by mistake. I'm a misplaced Brit, LOL. Plus, I can say "bloody" all I want in front of my parents and stuff, and they'll have no idea i'm swearing in front of 'em, :lol

Samantha Beckett
 
I thought it would have been a neat twist if Abagail had been guilty after all! Did anyone else find Abagail a bit "off"--not crazy, just a little creepy and not as wonderful as Sam kept saying she was? When she first appeared in this part of the trilogy, I didn't believe it was her--she hadn't aged a bit in twelve years! I didn't care for the girl playing young Abagail/Sammi Jo either, and it had nothing to do with her accent. Or rather she seemed a little miscast; she looked perfect for an Outwardly Sweet Evil Child character!
 
Aging Boomer said:
I thought it would have been a neat twist if Abagail had been guilty after all! Did anyone else find Abagail a bit "off"--not crazy, just a little creepy and not as wonderful as Sam kept saying she was? When she first appeared in this part of the trilogy, I didn't believe it was her--she hadn't aged a bit in twelve years! I didn't care for the girl playing young Abagail/Sammi Jo either, and it had nothing to do with her accent. Or rather she seemed a little miscast; she looked perfect for an Outwardly Sweet Evil Child character!

Yeah, I may be beating a dead horse - but I never liked the trilogy. The whole thing seemed "off", in my opinion. But, it's the fifth season, and something tells me they were thinking of just about anything to keep the series going. Personally, I pick and choose what I consider acceptable from the fifth season and disregard the rest of the canon - in the fifth season. Not the whole canon.

*sigh* I wonder if they had let the fans write in their suggestions for episodes they would want to see and did it that way . . . I wonder if it would have been better. It certainly would have been different, and it would have catered directly to the audience. Just a thought. I've been known to be totally and morbidly wrong.
 
I've gotta admit, I love the moment when Sam realizes the significance of the telephone bill. I wasn't crazy about the looney mom testimony - it was done much better in So Help Me, God - and I can see how people wouldn't really like this episode or the whole trilogy, but specific moments really sold me on the story. Of the three parts, I think the final installment is the strongest, in terms of storyline.
 
Aging Boomer said:
I thought it would have been a neat twist if Abagail had been guilty after all! Did anyone else find Abagail a bit "off"--not crazy, just a little creepy and not as wonderful as Sam kept saying she was? When she first appeared in this part of the trilogy, I didn't believe it was her--she hadn't aged a bit in twelve years! I didn't care for the girl playing young Abagail/Sammi Jo either, and it had nothing to do with her accent. Or rather she seemed a little miscast; she looked perfect for an Outwardly Sweet Evil Child character!

It's not you at all. I though Abigail was a bit off myself - especially as a child. You're description is exactly what I always felt about the way she was portrayed. Put in Sam's place, I wouldn't have been reciting all the ways I loved her so much a sleeping with one eye open. I'm sure that's probably how they wanted to character to seem to keep the viewer guessing. I think it just went a little too far and I felt no symptathy for the character at any age.
 
jmoniz said:
It's not you at all. I though Abigail was a bit off myself - especially as a child. You're description is exactly what I always felt about the way she was portrayed. Put in Sam's place, I wouldn't have been reciting all the ways I loved her so much a sleeping with one eye open. I'm sure that's probably how they wanted to character to seem to keep the viewer guessing. I think it just went a little too far and I felt no symptathy for the character at any age.
Snerk. There's definitely a "Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed" vibe going on there.
 
I kind of like this part of the trilogy. I rather think that Abigale finally shaped up. She's pretty, lost the distzyness and is now finally mature since she's a mother now. I also really like the concept of Sam feeling Larry's Heart problems although I dont understand how taking his medication helps because Its just a feeling Sam's actual body is not experiencing it as he's very healthy. So wouldn't Larry's drugs possibly hurt him. Shouldn't Larry himself in the waiting room be taking the drugs. And yes I know the drugs are with Sam so how can he? Well I was thinking that Dr. Beaks could arrange to get him some medication kind of like they were able to reproduce Dr. Ruth's glasses they could reproduce Larry's medication. I don't know.

lunar crystal said:
Yeah, I may be beating a dead horse - but I never liked the trilogy. The whole thing seemed "off", in my opinion. But, it's the fifth season, and something tells me they were thinking of just about anything to keep the series going. Personally, I pick and choose what I consider acceptable from the fifth season and disregard the rest of the canon - in the fifth season. Not the whole canon.

Yeah it is out of place but then again most of fifth season is, because like you said they were doing just about anything to keep ratings up which its the new NBC guy's own fault they had to struggle to keep good ratings in the first place as he is the one that moved it so it was conflicting with Full House.

Jmoniz said:
I think it just went a little too far and I felt no symptathy for the character at any age.

I also agree with this. While I don't mind her in this episode, I still never smpathized with her. Because she's annoying especially in the first one the way she described how angry she got at that other girl and was hitting her mostly over a stupid necklace. I also found it annoying how many times she kept asking Sam to recite all the ways that he loved her like you said Julia.
 
Last edited:
I like the trilogy, especially the 2nd installment, but it borrows heavily from The Bad Seed. I think they did a good job with the "creepy sweet" little girl character in the 1st installment. I noticed, when I watched this installment on the DVD that they cut heavily from the courtroom scene - the prosecution's opening remarks were completely eliminated!
 
naggindragon said:
I love the starting scene...

"Come over here you great Southern Rebel... and melt me dooooooooown..." Hahaha!!!

Yeah, I'd like to have Scott melt me down! OO baby.

His reactions to Cheryl Lynn in that scene were priceless, as were her reactions to him: "Well, you can just hang your holsters up until next Saturday night, because I am no longer in the mood! (pause) Well, aren't you going to stop me?"

"Stop you?"

"I'm callin' my MOTHER!!!!!"
 
I found this part excellent. A very good Trial episode in my opinion. well written(Except the end when Sammy-Jo says she saw what really happend to Letta in Abigail's kitchen).
Another thing i want to say is,that after this part i understand,that in part one it wasn't the actress, who played abigail(and Sammy-Jo in this part) that was irritating, it was 10yo Abigail charecter. Though i stiil found the mature Abigail and Sammy-Jo Accent a bit annoying.
And befor i'll post my review for the episode,there is one more thing i want to say - I can't understand what's your problem with the character of mature Abigail.I think she was a fine written character. I can also understant why Sam could fall in love with her.But i gotta say i think that some of the feeling sam had for Abigail were an impact of Will and Sam's mind merging.
 
cookiemom said:
Yeah, I'd like to have Scott melt me down! OO baby.
Yeah me too, ROOOOOAR! :dreaming

isz said:
I can't understand what's your problem with the character of mature Abigail.
Who was this directed at, I haven't noticed anyone saying they have a problem with Abigale in this episode, surprisingly not even me, I actually don't mind her in this episode because she's a great mother figure. Most of us just are annoyed with her as a child and some of us in the second one as well, *ahem*. But as I stated above in the third one her charactor really shaped up being a mother now. I was pleased by her charactor in this episode. Although as I also pointed out just because she had a better attitude in this ep does not change my sympthay for her. In the first episode with the issue of Abigale being accused of stealing the locket, and killing Violet; I can actually understand Lita's point of view given Abigale's attitude and the fact that she beat Violet senseless.

Aging Boomer said:
I thought it would have been a neat twist if Abagail had been guilty after all! Did anyone else find Abagail a bit "off"--not crazy, just a little creepy and not as wonderful as Sam kept saying she was?
Exactly I feel exactly the same way. And in the second episode her body that of an adult but her attitude had not aged a bit since Sam had last met her at least in my opinion. She was selfish and a still brat, she said that she loved the little boy yet when hes lost and all alone and in danger she is worried about her stupid wedding. Weddings can be reschueled, that little boy's life can not be. This is why I was very pleased with her charactor in the third episode because finally now that she's a mom her attitude cought up to her body.

and touching on your comment about Abigale should have been guilty I must say it would make sense consitering her conflicts with the Aiders especially Violet, the way she beat the poor girl senseless over a stupid locket and it's also curious that she happens to have killing history in her family from her grandmother(Laura's mother that killed all her children and then herself)

isz said:
But i gotta say i think that some of the feeling sam had for Abigail were an impact of Will and Sam's mind merging.
Yeah exactly my thoughts exactly, but I think more of Will was talking than Sam because he really merged with him deeply to the point where he even was left with the guy's stutter.
 
Last edited:
I ment to Abigail character in part 2 and 3. and the "question" were directed to each and every one of you who didn't like Abigail(mostly in part 2).:)
 
I watched the thrird part of the trilogy last night. One part I don't quite understand. When Al and Sam go to see Laura in the mental institution they see that her head and arm had been burned. How did this happen?
 
marie1439 said:
I watched the thrird part of the trilogy last night. One part I don't quite understand. When Al and Sam go to see Laura in the mental institution they see that her head and arm had been burned. How did this happen?

Because it proves that in Part 1 of the triology, that the woman that Sam saw in the fire at the sheriff's house (when he rescues Abgail) really WAS Laura (Abigail's mother), and not a ghost or a mirage.

Eleiece
 
That's right. I got confused. I know that Al and Sam went to visit Laura in the first one but that was before the fire.
 
very touching between sams' character the lawyer and abigail and sammy-jo.

great end to this great 3 parter.
 
Because it proves that in Part 1 of the triology, that the woman that Sam saw in the fire at the sheriff's house (when he rescues Abgail) really WAS Laura (Abigail's mother), and not a ghost or a mirage.

Eleiece

wow - i didn't realise this! maybe they could have made that a bit clearer to the viewer - when he is looking at her scars maybe they could have done a quick flash back to to the fire where she 'appears' - to remind the viewer that she was there.
 
First, let me say that I love the trilogy.

But, you know, there are things that don't sit right with me. The first thing, as I've read in this thread a lot from all of you, was young Abigail. I guess we were meant to suspect her as the possible villain here and this is why she was protrayed as she was.

I remember when I saw these episodes for the first time I was a little creaped out when we went from Sam as the dad to Sam as the lover in a matter of seconds.

When Sam sees Laura in the hallway through the bedroom door we can't tell if she's really there or not. But later we find out she's alive. The only way Sam could have seen her is if she was really there. Yet Abigail doesn't see her? Sam runs to the hall and sees Abigail, yet she didn't see her own mother? And she was in the burning house (and may have actually started the fire when she appears to have confronted Lita Aider)? The woman seems to get around just fine, yet we are told she hasn't left the institution since she got there. She called a cab without being noticed??

It's these things that bug me. Having said that, though, just looking at the trilogy as a whole I find the whole story quite good and always like seeing an episode when Sam is in love. I'm just finishing off this third episode right now and am enjoying it all over again--despite those little things.
 
Yeah, I may be beating a dead horse - but I never liked the trilogy. The whole thing seemed "off", in my opinion. But, it's the fifth season, and something tells me they were thinking of just about anything to keep the series going.

I agree. I'm not a fan of the trilogy at all and for several reasons the whole thing is just ick. Deborah Pratt was arguably the best writer on the show, certainly one of the best, but the trilogy feels like a self-insert (or Mary Sue as Julia called it in another thread). So, I'm one of the people that brought down the average vote on these. I agree that the whole thing is 'off' and out of character.

When I saw this episode the first time (before Mirror Image) I thought the reason they brought in Sammie Jo as Sam's daughter was to set things up to bring him home. From the very beginning it's clear that only Sam can bring Sam home - Al says as much in the pilot episode. Nobody is as smart as Sam, or understands Project Quantum Leap to the degree that he does. Now they brought into the show a daughter who inherited his genius, his talent for quantum physics and we find out that she now works at the project and has a theory on how to get him home. So, I thought they were setting that up with this character - and that was the only reason I found her presence tolerable at all. Then they didn't even do that.

I mean, as far as we know Sam doesn't have a child with his own wife. But he has this child on a leap. Ick.
 
Last edited:
When Sam sees Laura in the hallway through the bedroom door we can't tell if she's really there or not. But later we find out she's alive. The only way Sam could have seen her is if she was really there. Yet Abigail doesn't see her? Sam runs to the hall and sees Abigail, yet she didn't see her own mother? And she was in the burning house (and may have actually started the fire when she appears to have confronted Lita Aider)? The woman seems to get around just fine, yet we are told she hasn't left the institution since she got there. She called a cab without being noticed??

Yeah, Laura Fuller's presence in the first part was unsettling. Al mentioned that she had been catatonic in a rocking chair since Clayton brought her to the asylum two years prior. In the third part, Sam's narration states that her confinement in the asylum was self-imposed. Which means she had been voluntary and could come-n-go as she pleased.

I don't think she started the fire, but she had to have confronted Leta ("No, no get away from me. I'll kill you....I'll kill you all!!") make her drop her candle lamp. What I wish was explained was why she was like a haunting ghost in the first part. Immune to fire?

Also, why'd she get (choice or not) institutionalized as an adult? Though she witnessed her mother's rampage as a child, she seemed high-functioning enough as an adult and had a good relationship with Abigail and Clayton prior to.
 
This was always the most tolerable part of the trilogy for me and again a more plausible scenario than where it begun. The fact that Lita Aider continued her wrath on Abigail from the grave, committing suicide to frame Abigail for her own murder, I actually find to be pretty brilliant.
In some ways one must feel badly for Lita Aider considering the circumstances of her bitter rage and honestly one could question the religious conduct of the clear show in this entire story of God's denial of the justice Lita Aider so desired and wasn't exactly undeserved.
In the case of Violet if Laura Fuller were of sound mind and thus her confession taken completely seriously I could be wrong but I believe she could have faced Voluntary Manslaughter charges. Or perhaps it would be Involuntary Manslaughter. I'm not entirely sure.

Voluntary manslaughter is defined as the unlawful and intentional killing of another human being, without malice or deliberation, upon a sudden heat of passion caused by adequate provocation. Of these several elements, the defining characteristic of voluntary manslaughter is the requirement that the killing be committed upon a sudden heat of passion.

The second kind of manslaughter is known as involuntary manslaughter. This crime occurs when the defendant kills the victim by accident, but under circumstances that justify some amount of punishment. It is often said that involuntary manslaughter amounts to “criminal negligence.” In other words, the defendant acted so recklessly that the law imposes criminal liability, even though the defendant did not intend to kill. A common example of involuntary manslaughter is a drunken driver who causes an auto wreck resulting in death.

Source: http://www.hg.org/manslaughter-law.html
Also I researched the laws specific to the state of Louisiana and was unable to find much but it does seem as though they use these terms/definitions. It certainly must fall under one of these however. Thus Lita Aider still should have seen some justice even if it was from the grave.

Interestingly I accidentally stumbled upon an intriguing piece of information. The state of Louisiana established something in 1978, the year of this portion of the trilogy leaps called the Children's Code which allowed the short term trial of juveniles but it wasn't actually put into effect until 1992. Regardless this may not have mattered in this case since the accusation pertaining to Violet was 25 years old by 1978. I just found it pretty ironic.
http://ojj.la.gov/index.php?page=sub&id=150

Now lets talk about the Leapee, Larry Statton (apparently the third as we learn here for the first time). I found it pretty well done how they in a way foreshadowed us to that by his appearances in the first two episodes and established him to the audience as a likable character before we see Sam assume his identity. Though clearly there was some change in him by then considering how whipped that b**** of a wife seemed to have had him, I assume she's the reason it was implied that Satton didn't originally take Abigail's case.
As a side note, his reflection was by far the best done aged makeup in the entire trilogy. Honestly with characters like Beau and Marie it wasn't too believable. It was also the most interesting mind meld since Dreams having Sam suffer from Satton's heart condition.
Something about that doesn't add up for me though, how could Statton's medication relieve Sam of a condition he doesn't actually have but just feeling? Wouldn't this be a reason for it to actually harm him? Though I am unsure what Statton's medication was (I forget the name Sam had mentioned), and the following reference is fictional so be aware that I'm presenting it with a grain of salt, an episode of one of my favorite crime drams Cold Case suggested that Dijoxin a medication for an irregular heartbeat can be used to poison someone who does not need it.
This however is getting into complex territory as it involves the body vs. soul debate so just about anything could be argued here.

On to Sammy-Jo. I've never been fair to her, always judging her by the fact that she's Abigail's daughter and of my disapproval of how she was conceived. Not that there is anything to base a separate judgement on. We learn almost nothing about her. Since I am unsure if I was clear on this in my review of the second part I shall say this here; my theory that GTFW meant her to be conceived (see my review of the second part for an elaboration) is NOT approval. Though I suppose I've made more than clear throughout my entire membership here that I'm not a Sam/Abigail fan hehe and that hasn't changed. Sorry.
I believe Sammy-Jo could be a decent character if written right (which the published novel Loch Ness Leap did not in my opinion, she's ten year old Abigail all over again except she's a young adult!). I might even give her a cameo in my fanfiction, which I am hoping I can recover my beginning of., I lost it. :( Long irrelevant story, feel free to PM me if you want to know.
By the way I would have loved for them to discuss what her theory was to get Sam home and if they'd tried it.

Lets move on to Sam's visit to Laura Fuller in this episode as he did every time.
She says something that doesn't make sense to me, which granted is valid considering she's not in her right mind but she always seemed to suddenly become pretty clear with Sam. Especially in this episode, when she realized it was him she was suddenly almost sane.
Anyway what she said that I'm questioning was:
"Clayton said you'd come and then I'd have to tell about Violet."
She couldn't have been referring to when Sam was Clayton because she sees him, she knows he's not the person he leaps into. I'm certain this must have meant something as opposed to a mentally unstable person's babble but what?
I've already expressed my thoughts on the burns displayed on her here in connection with the fire in the first episode and have nothing to add so I'll bypass that here. I had originally intended to save that for this thread but decided to keep it with the episode it primarily focuses on.

So my overall evaluation of the trilogy as viewed for the second time:
What's changed is that now I can tolerate watching it and as I've expressed do have an improved view of some of it's plot aspects. What hasn't changed is obviously my view of Abigail, mostly as a child but also in her relationship with Sam.
So while before I am not sure I would have been able to screen cap it for my collection with my original views of it, now you can for sure expect it.
 
So Lightining McQueenie brought up a thought in the Deliver Us From Evil thread and I've deciding to bring my response here to prevent off topic discussion over there.
Apologies for the double post but my edit window has ended on the first one.

Lightning McQueenie said:
What I don't really understand is why Laura never reported it. If Laura had called an ambulance they may have been able to retrieve Violet's body and treat her injuries / resuscitate her. Maybe because of Abigail beating Violet up, the rivalry beween Laura's and Leta's families, combined with the town's beliefs about her mental state, made Laura believe if it was ever found out she'd be charged with murder. Mind you, the alternative, rotting away in a mental institution, wouldn't be considered any better...

This is an excellent catch. She could have just told the police that she'd maybe dropped an earring into the well and when she'd gazed in to see where it went there was Violet. Though that's not believable and you are probably right that her so called "cursed" past probably wouldn't allow her to get away with something like that. Not only because the police probably wouldn't buy her cover story but Lita Aider would've just accused her of covering for Abigail, in fact I am willing to bet the Beckett farm (haha) that had she been standing in that courtroom these 25 years later that's exactly what she would have done.
Also wasn't it implied somewhere that Clayton told her to keep her mouth shut? Isn't that why he put her in the institution?

Lightning McQueenie said:
We actually aren't given any confirmation that Violet died instantly.

With this I disagree. Were you paying attention to that drop? I doubt anyone could survive that but especially a child as I believe their skulls aren't as hard as an adult's.
In addition I believe her head was shown to have been bent into a unnatural position, suggesting that the impact broke her neck which is entirely plausible.

If however you were right and Laura had left Violet down there when she could have been saved that just adds on to the Manslaughter charge I suggest in my first post.

Also I've just now noticed blue_enigma's post which I'd like to respond to.

blue_enigma said:
Deborah Pratt was arguably the best writer on the show, certainly one of the best, but the trilogy feels like a self-insert (or Mary Sue as Julia called it in another thread).

Judging by the backstory I heard of the Trilogy concept I believe self service is exactly what it was.
She'd wanted to explore the idea of Sam having sex in a leap, preferred this in fact to the re-introducing of Donna in The Leap Back.
I've said this in the thread for the first part and I shall repeat it; this was a Stephan King Novel not a Quantum Leap episode. That's my beef with it other than Abigail as a character.

blue_enigma said:
I thought the reason they brought in Sammie Jo as Sam's daughter was to set things up to bring him home.

See that's a problem for me as well and relates to my mention of how we never learn her theory. The fact that it ended with her being implied as the key to bringing Sam home and then they never went anywhere further with her. That seemed sloppy and makes the Mirror Image ending that much more of a let down regardless of the fact that it was ended with a grain of salt to leave it open for a sixth season. Honestly though the concept I was told they had in mind wasn't all that appealing IMO and did not really involve Sam. It was Al becoming a leaper in search of Sam who's aura never returned to the waiting room after Mirror Image with Sammy Jo as his observer. As much as I would have liked to see more of Al as a leaper you can't have either him or Sam without the other. You just can't.
 
This is an excellent catch. She could have just told the police that she'd maybe dropped an earring into the well and when she'd gazed in to see where it went there was Violet. Though that's not believable and you are probably right that her so called "cursed" past probably wouldn't allow her to get away with something like that. Not only because the police probably wouldn't buy her cover story but Lita Aider would've just accused her of covering for Abigail, in fact I am willing to bet the Beckett farm (haha) that had she been standing in that courtroom these 25 years later that's exactly what she would have done.
Also wasn't it implied somewhere that Clayton told her to keep her mouth shut? Isn't that why he put her in the institution?

That is an interesting theory, that Laura had told Clayton, but I don't think it can be right, because if that was the case, then Sam originally wouldn't have leapt into Clayton. He'd have leapt into someone else, say Marie, and tried to stop Clayton and Abigail from perishing in the fire while still trying to find out what happened, as Clayton would be able to tell him.

Then again, Al could have just asked Clayton in the Waiting Room...

With this I disagree. Were you paying attention to that drop? I doubt anyone could survive that but especially a child as I believe their skulls aren't as hard as an adult's.
In addition I believe her head was shown to have been bent into a unnatural position, suggesting that the impact broke her neck which is entirely plausible.

If however you were right and Laura had left Violet down there when she could have been saved that just adds on to the Manslaughter charge I suggest in my first post.

I'm just thinking in terms of what I would do in that situation. There's no way I wouldn't try to help a girl who'd just fallen down a well.

But you're right, she probably did die instantly. There's no way anyone could know that for sure though, even if you could sort of see her from the top. It would be too dark and too far to make a correct judgement...

See that's a problem for me as well and relates to my mention of how we never learn her theory. The fact that it ended with her being implied as the key to bringing Sam home and then they never went anywhere further with her. That seemed sloppy and makes the Mirror Image ending that much more of a let down regardless of the fact that it was ended with a grain of salt to leave it open for a sixth season. Honestly though the concept I was told they had in mind wasn't all that appealing IMO and did not really involve Sam. It was Al becoming a leaper in search of Sam who's aura never returned to the waiting room after Mirror Image with Sammy Jo as his observer. As much as I would have liked to see more of Al as a leaper you can't have either him or Sam without the other. You just can't.

But it was just a theory. They would need to test it, and it would probably have gone wrong, just as Sam's had gone wrong.

Having said that though, I think that it was only planned for the FIRST episode of Season 6 to have Al try to find Sam. I think he would have found Sam and they would have done something to have the project stay in contact with him again. In fact, it's quite possible that Sammy Jo's theory might bring Al home so that he can be Sam's hologram again.

Interestingly, we know that the evil leaper project is able to retrieve their leaper within 48 hours (as long as they complete their mission). Maybe this was Sammy Jo's theory, and they had utilised or refined it :D