1214 Throwaway Girl

What is your opinion of this story?

  • 5 ? This is an excellent episode! One of my personal favorites!

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • 4 ? This episode was great! I will definitely tell others about it.

    Votes: 3 50.0%
  • 3 ? This episode was good. It was worth reading.

    Votes: 1 16.7%
  • 2 ? This episode was like the neutral zone ? I am indifferent.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 ? Bellisario would be rolling in his grave if he had one.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    6
D

Dman176

Guest
Throwaway Girl
October 10, 1981


San Francisco, California


Sam leaps into Domino, a fifteen-year-old who has run away from home and is trapped in a life of prostitution and heroin use. Her death by overdose will cause a burned-out, cynical detective to commit a murder, ruining his career and his life. Although Sam changes that history, things go from bad to worse when Domino's pimp teaches his "girl" a lesson by raping her, sending Sam over the edge and into the street with a loaded gun, intent on shooting the pimp dead.


Written by: Shelbey Wright


Thanks,
TVS Team
 
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Our rating system this season consists of six raters and three back-up raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode. Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 9.0

Please be aware that some reviews may contain spoilers! Some of the comments given were:

Seeker said:
A summation comes at the end of a review, but I?m starting my review with my summation, and here it is:

"THROWAWAY GIRL" WAS ABSOLUTELY FAN-DAMN-TASTIC!

Now, on to the review.

One of the things I learned from a writing course I took once is that one of the marks of a good story is that the reader willingly suspends their disbelief to allow himself or herself to be drawn into the story. It?s one of the ?measuring sticks? by which I judge stories. Well, Shelbey, that?s what happened for me as I read your story, but your story isn?t just good, it?s GREAT! Every scene was crystal clear, every character was a real, living, breathing, ?recognize them if you passed them on the street? person, and I was *right there* in the moment from the opening scene to the last.

I?ve only said this about a few of the many, many wonderful Quantum Leap stories I?ve read, both here and elsewhere, and that is that Throwaway Girl absolutely, positively, and without the smallest iota of doubt in my mind, would have been a fantastic recorded episode for TV! I?ll go a step further. If this story had been among the originally aired episodes, I would rank it right up there with my personal favorites of 8 ? Months, MIA and Shock Theatre. Throwaway Girl is THAT good!

Shelbey, I am looking forward with great anticipation to reading more of your writing in the future. Way to go and keep up the good work!

As for a rating, you?ll just have to settle for a 10, even though I firmly believe this story deserves a rating of at least twice that.

RATING: 10

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Morris J. Finkle said:
What an excellent debut story by Shelbey! As Seeker said, every scene was clear; I could "see" and "hear" every character with precise detail. I found it very interesting how Shelbey decided to address the interaction with Sam's physical aura. It reminded me a lot of "8 1/2 Months."

I look forward to reading more from her in the near future. Well done, Shelbey!

RATING: 9.0

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Sporty said:
Very well done, Sam being a female is always a challenge, and in this case was double the challenge. I like the way it was all worked out in the end, a good story. Great job!

RATING: 8.0

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Allie Cat said:
Awesome! Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, AWESOME! Did I mention this story is awesome?

What a great story! The characterizations were perfect, the plot kept my attention, the tension was palatable... heck, I even got the serious heebie jeebies and the hinkies during the climax!

Congratulations, Shelbey, on a very excellent TVS first. I look forward to reading more great stories in the future.

RATING: 10

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Vince Beckett said:
This was pretty good. It got interesting when Sam's brainwaves stopped for 3 minutes and he had an out-of-body experience.

RATING: 8.0

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Gooshie said:
Shelbey, welcome to The Virtual Seasons. You have made an excellent debut with this episode and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The premise is one that we have not seen before, that being Sam leaping into a prostitute. I was impressed with the way the story evolved as I read it and it definitely had an "original series feel" to it with the way emphasis was placed on Sam's point of view.

Sam certainly did a lot of good this time around but I would have liked to have had more involvement from Al who seemed to be in the background for much of the episode. Regardless, you did a great job!

RATING: 9.0

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team
 
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Enjoy the story very much. A very nice first story with a couple of interesting twists.
 
That was PHENOMENAL!! Shelbey, please write more. The emotions were so real, the story tightly plotted and nicely woven together. One of the best I've read this season!
 
Kudos

Well, it has been said already by others, but let me put in my two cents...

This story was awesome!
This story was brilliant!
This story was amazing!

Kudos to Shelbey for an incredible first story, I hope it will not be the last.

May I suggest we have a strong candidate for the writer's hall of fame?

This story had it all, drama, angst, Sam in peril, Sam suffering - both mentally and physically - and I'M accused of being mean in what I do to him! I think I have a rival for the title of cruellest writer. (Hmmm, new category for the fandom awards Mikey?)
 
Like the other readers and raters have said, this was a great episode. It seemed like one that could have easily been televised back when the show was still on the air.

Excellent job, Shelbey!

... Mike. ^_^
(post #53)
 
A woman speaking here ....powerful story. Even though and I pray it never happens to me. Rape is a subject I've always had a hard time reading about. I once brought it up in my own writing, when I was writing the rape scene in an episode on the series I write. I kept pausing while writing. This story made me do the same types of pauses while reading. MikeKraken, I agree with you this story would have made a very good real show.