506 Deliver Us From Evil <AKA Evil Leaper I>

[TheLeaper]

Alia actually falls for that "you kill me and you'll kill yourself" stuff?

 

[Sam Beckett Fan]

I think that it's something Connie had been doing. Lothos could have known this and convinced Alia to do this as to not arouse suspicion. Besides, if Alia's objective was to wreck the marriage, then how would teaching Jimmy to read accomplish that?

It wasn't the reading lessons themselves that were significant it was about neglecting the marriage by occupying all of Connie's time and effort with them.

We see that it's successful right out of the gate in the first scene:
"Great. She remembers your article, but she forgets my lunch."

Then once again at the dinner table:

"I am trying to help Jimmy. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort."
"Yeah, well, you're pushing him too hard."
"Did you read that stuff about the space program I gave you today?"
"Yeah."
"Did you understand it?"
"Gemini VllI had to make an emergency landing. They had a problem with their thrusters."
"That's wonderful! Aren't you proud of him? All we have to do is push him a little more. He's great."
"Yeah, that's right, Connie. And he nearly drove a forklift off the pier today.
He could have killed himself. You know, you're pushing him too hard. You're trying to build up a false confidence."
"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help."
"Just leave that to the doctor. Your job is supposed to be here taking care of the house. I mean, look at this place! It's a mess."

Well yes but assuming that Sam leaped in directly to counter Alia, the leap should never have happened in the first place, but we have to assume that Alia's refusal to shoot Sam didn't erase the previous two days, so that's still confusing.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you are arguing here.
All I can respond to is that it's unclear what exactly allowed the damage Alia did to be erased, so we can't assume anything.

I've been considering, was Sam, in fact, sent to counter Alia or perhaps to save her? Remember she was essentially a prisoner of her project, manipulated, tortured into being their puppet. Ergo, her situation was a wrong that needed righting and when their paths crossed, he brought her hope, a chance just as he does to anyone he encounters during a leap.

It's for this reason that, to answer this question:

I know Alia was supposedly evil and was out to counter Sam's actions but do you think that Alia genuinely has feelings for Sam or was the whole thing set up from the beginning?

Her feelings for him were, in fact, genuine throughout and after the 'You're not evil Alia, whatever is jumping you around in time is' speech. That hope grew in her eyes the more he argued against Lothos, that she could take control and say 'no' to something she didn't want to do. He got through to her because that person that he described was the person she really wanted to be.

Also, consider that it's only after she's freed that he never encounters her again.

My theory about the origins of the Evil PQL may have something to do with the extra handlink left behind in "Leap Back".

This is my theory as well and that the cassette recording of Sam's sodium pentothal session in 'Starlight Starbright' was involved as well. That tape revealed PQL's clearance number.

Of course if the whole idea was to counter Project Quantum Leap, why did Zoe not know about Sam before that leap? Maybe Lothos knew but kept it secret.

Because Zoey had to request for Alia to go as the leaper in her place, I believe it's safe to say that she's merely an employee of the project it's creator's theoretical knowledge of Sam doesn't indicate that the employees are informed.

 

[Lightning McQueenie]

It wasn't the reading lessons themselves that were significant it was about neglecting the marriage by occupying all of Connie's time and effort with them.

We see that it's successful right out of the gate in the first scene:
"Great. She remembers your article, but she forgets my lunch."

Then once again at the dinner table:

"I am trying to help Jimmy. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort."
"Yeah, well, you're pushing him too hard."
"Did you read that stuff about the space program I gave you today?"
"Yeah."
"Did you understand it?"
"Gemini VllI had to make an emergency landing. They had a problem with their thrusters."
"That's wonderful! Aren't you proud of him? All we have to do is push him a little more. He's great."
"Yeah, that's right, Connie. And he nearly drove a forklift off the pier today.
He could have killed himself. You know, you're pushing him too hard. You're trying to build up a false confidence."
"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help."
"Just leave that to the doctor. Your job is supposed to be here taking care of the house. I mean, look at this place! It's a mess."

Yes and not only neglecting the housework, but also neglecting Corey - she didn't give a fat rats where he was at night and Corey even said he believed that his mother didn't love him, and probably neglecting her nightly duties with Frank (if you know what I mean ) which is probably what caused his wandering eye in the first place... Zoe was probably egging her on to at least have one ride though

I've been considering, was Sam, in fact, sent to counter Alia or perhaps to save her? Remember she was essentially a prisoner of her project, manipulated, tortured into being their puppet. Ergo, her situation was a wrong that needed righting and when their paths crossed, he brought her hope, a chance just as he does to anyone he encounters during a leap.

I don't think so, not at this stage anyway. I expect that Alia had always followed her commands without thinking that there could be another way out, and she definitely hadn't experienced the torture that she was put through after her failure. It was really only after she said that what she experienced was "worse than death" in part 2 that Sam made a plan to free her...

 

[Sam Beckett Fan]

I don't think so, not at this stage anyway. I expect that Alia had always followed her commands without thinking that there could be another way out, and she definitely hadn't experienced the torture that she was put through after her failure. It was really only after she said that what she experienced was "worse than death" in part 2 that Sam made a plan to free her...

Perhaps assuming she'd been tortured before this was irrational but she still could have been under manipulation.
I concur that prior to crossing paths with Sam, she'd obeyed orders with the belief that there was nothing else but that doesn't indicate that she wasn't manipulated into participating in the first place.

Her obedience doesn't indicate that she was alright with it, she wouldn't have ever voiced it because she didn't believe it would accomplish anything and perhaps she'd anticipated that she could be punished for having treacherous thoughts.
Recall that she'd fought for the 'privilege' of doing the lighter assignments vs. murder.
"We had to claw our way out of hell to land simple assignments like homewrecking and adultery!"
It can be assessed that the 'we' wasn't genuine because Zoey doesn't have any objection, ruining and flushing out lives fills her with the glee of a child on Christmas morning, hence why she was the original choice as the leaper.
When she ordered Alia to kill Sam the first thing out of her mouth was:

I concur with the theory that their project was created directly to counter Sam which Alia and even Zoey clearly didn't know, suggesting that both of them are pawns, both manipulated in some form.
I'm willing to consider that perhaps Zoey actually believed what she tried to convince Alia of regarding the way out because she herself was manipulated into believing it.

I still believe that inside her, Alia did feel something genuine for Sam prior to the speech. She'd regarded him with fascination when she'd asked "do you always think about the other people?" . He'd already gotten to her by the time she was given the order to kill him because her immediate response was doubt.
"Why? He hasn't tried to stop us."
She just needed to have a gun put in her hand to be able to acknowledge that she was stewing over him almost the entire time which supports that she'd been conceding to her role for at least for a while.

 

[Lightning McQueenie]

I wonder if anyone else noticed Quantum Leap accurately predicting the future in this episode?

Al rattles off a bunch of changes to the timeline since Sam had arrived (due to what Alia had been doing), including an outbreak of a disease.

And according to the original script, the evil leapers are from the year 2020...

So... We have a time traveller from 2020 spreading a disease in the past... Eep!

 

[Sam Beckett Fan]

I wonder if anyone else noticed Quantum Leap accurately predicting the future in this episode?

Al rattles off a bunch of changes to the timeline since Sam had arrived (due to what Alia had been doing), including an outbreak of a disease.

And according to the original script, the evil leapers are from the year 2020...

So... We have a time traveller from 2020 spreading a disease in the past... Eep!

Whether or not this mention of them originating from 2020 counts as canon is debatable since it did not end up on the screen and the outbreak was specified as the flu with no mentioned death count but the suggestion is quite eerie indeed. It's certainly possible.