N
Night Terror
Guest
The little kid is Donald P. Bellisario, creator of this show, and he is with his father. He really likes planes, doesn't he? I think he used to be a pilot.
521 Mirror Image
- Thread starter alsplacebartender
- Start date
The little kid is Donald P. Bellisario, creator of this show, and he is with his father. He really likes planes, doesn't he? I think he used to be a pilot.
Does anybody have a screencap of the final text screen that says Sam never leaped home? I can't find it anywhere...
Samantha Beckett
Samantha Beckett
watched this last night.
sad episode -very touching.
i am pleased that Sam got to put right what happened between Al and Beth.
In a way i am glad that Sam never returned home - it made it much more touching and much more to Sam's Character.
It also leaves it open for a Quantum Leap follow up.
sad episode -very touching.
i am pleased that Sam got to put right what happened between Al and Beth.
In a way i am glad that Sam never returned home - it made it much more touching and much more to Sam's Character.
It also leaves it open for a Quantum Leap follow up.
When I saw the ending the first time, I couldn't do something, I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I was only sad and needed some minutes to realize it. But finally I liked the final ep and it was fine, that Sam could help Beth and Al. But it was a bit unfair that Al has a good life (don't misunderstand, I'm very happy for Al) but Sam never returned home, although he did so many good things. That was very sad.
I hated to see the show ended so abruptly! I know NBC was not happy with the Season 5 ratings and pulled it fast! So they really could not come up with the perfect ending! This was to be a two part episode concluding in the never produced season 6.
However, it was sad to see that Sam never returned home spite the happy ending for Al The episode never answered the main question of who is actually leaping Sam, but creating more questions left unanswered. The statement made by Al the bartender did not explain how Sam was leaping himself, but why he is leaping himself.
If Sam really was leaping himself, that means in his first leap when the Quantum Leap Retreval program was activated while Sam was leaped back halfway to his own time and then came back to the person and time he leaped into, it was he himself that fought the return leap. That is impossible being he had severe memory loss at the time, and did not at all even remember him leaping to get to where he was at. If you cannot remember leaping through time, then you cannot leap through time. He would of had to return home and then later re-leap into Tom Stratton when his memory returned.
Then it was Sam then who leaped an unborn baby out of its mother in one leap when Sam's host was a pregnet woman! Then of all places to leap the baby into himself who is a man and biologically cannot have a baby inside him let alone deceive the doctors in the past into seeing the baby inside Sam. That takes a lot even for a smart man like Sam to accomplish!
Then if Sam really leaped himself why did he not leap when his life was in jeopardy like when a mobster held a razor to his throat threatening to use it if he did not answer a question that was directed to him in a foriegn language he did not speak. Even when his host leaper was a cold blooded killer who was ready to be murdered by a policeman who lost his daughter by this evil person that Sam was in he did not leap!
It would mean that Sam would have supernatural powers similar to God to leap by will. Then he would of never needed Project Quantum Leap to do that. He had no access to the Project's accelarator being in the past, and no one in the future was controlling it. So it had to be someone else or something else.
I think you owe us an answer Don.
However, it was sad to see that Sam never returned home spite the happy ending for Al The episode never answered the main question of who is actually leaping Sam, but creating more questions left unanswered. The statement made by Al the bartender did not explain how Sam was leaping himself, but why he is leaping himself.
If Sam really was leaping himself, that means in his first leap when the Quantum Leap Retreval program was activated while Sam was leaped back halfway to his own time and then came back to the person and time he leaped into, it was he himself that fought the return leap. That is impossible being he had severe memory loss at the time, and did not at all even remember him leaping to get to where he was at. If you cannot remember leaping through time, then you cannot leap through time. He would of had to return home and then later re-leap into Tom Stratton when his memory returned.
Then it was Sam then who leaped an unborn baby out of its mother in one leap when Sam's host was a pregnet woman! Then of all places to leap the baby into himself who is a man and biologically cannot have a baby inside him let alone deceive the doctors in the past into seeing the baby inside Sam. That takes a lot even for a smart man like Sam to accomplish!
Then if Sam really leaped himself why did he not leap when his life was in jeopardy like when a mobster held a razor to his throat threatening to use it if he did not answer a question that was directed to him in a foriegn language he did not speak. Even when his host leaper was a cold blooded killer who was ready to be murdered by a policeman who lost his daughter by this evil person that Sam was in he did not leap!
It would mean that Sam would have supernatural powers similar to God to leap by will. Then he would of never needed Project Quantum Leap to do that. He had no access to the Project's accelarator being in the past, and no one in the future was controlling it. So it had to be someone else or something else.
I think you owe us an answer Don.
I was nearly crying when this episode aired! Why couldn't NBC finance a tv movie now and then while Scott and Dean were young enough to do a reunion as Sam and Al! Now they won't even reprise their roles...BUMMER!
This is one of Scott Bakula's best, most emotional performances.
I love this episode. I was glued the whole way through and I love the surreal, dreamlike quality - I know some people interpret this as Sam is dreaming the leap, up until he leaps to Beth, which is an interesting interpretation. I love the focus on the friendship and that Sam finally rights that wrong for Al, I love seeing Sam in a leap where he can't directly help out and how frustrating that is for him.
As for that last black screen: this is a time travel show about changing the past, so to me saying "Sam Beckett never returned home" is no different than saying "Tom Beckett died in Vietnam" or "Maggie Dawson never won the Pulitzer", both of which were true at one point but were changed. So, to me this is also changeable, especially since it's past tense.
If TPTB were thinking of continuing the series later or doing a movie they would need to have Sam still leaping, so they gave us an ending that was 'final' but also open to a continuation. So, that's my two cents on that.
I love this episode. I was glued the whole way through and I love the surreal, dreamlike quality - I know some people interpret this as Sam is dreaming the leap, up until he leaps to Beth, which is an interesting interpretation. I love the focus on the friendship and that Sam finally rights that wrong for Al, I love seeing Sam in a leap where he can't directly help out and how frustrating that is for him.
As for that last black screen: this is a time travel show about changing the past, so to me saying "Sam Beckett never returned home" is no different than saying "Tom Beckett died in Vietnam" or "Maggie Dawson never won the Pulitzer", both of which were true at one point but were changed. So, to me this is also changeable, especially since it's past tense.
If TPTB were thinking of continuing the series later or doing a movie they would need to have Sam still leaping, so they gave us an ending that was 'final' but also open to a continuation. So, that's my two cents on that.
Last edited:
I agree, the acting is great...Scott does a wonderful job here, and so does Dean. I think the main reason so many people have such a hard time with it is because the idea that he wanted to go home so badly and didn't make it is so sad. It's hard for me to watch for that reason too. The idea that it is a dream is interesting. Sigh, all T.V. shows come to an end eventually. Some just have things turn out better for the character(s) than others. But in the end, Sam took the high road and did the right thing like he always did.
Basically, this episode just left me baffled. I don't really have a problem with the ending revelation that Sam never returned home, which is what I think most fans objected to. I just don't really understand what DPB was trying to say here - regardless of whether this was intended to be a season finale or not.
I initially came away thinking it meant Sam was dead, and had been dead all along and made into some sort of guardian angel, but DPB has said in interviews Sam is not dead. So, I don't understand exactly what was going on here, or what it means that Sam saw all these people from previous leaps with different names and lives. Were they all leapers too? The Bar seems to be some kind of limbo or weigh station for leapers, and at the same time, an actual place where some miners were trapped and needed rescuing. We see one guy leap out but isn't replaced with someone else. The bartender tells Sam he is responsible for the leaping himself, Sam can't quite accept it, and then at the end wills himself to leap back to Beth at the precise moment he left her in MIA.
Throughout the series there is an unabashed suggestion the God Himself is leaping Sam around, which I have no problem with. But this episode seemed to go a little too far into religious allegory for my tastes, which is probably why I can't make head nor tail out of it.
I initially came away thinking it meant Sam was dead, and had been dead all along and made into some sort of guardian angel, but DPB has said in interviews Sam is not dead. So, I don't understand exactly what was going on here, or what it means that Sam saw all these people from previous leaps with different names and lives. Were they all leapers too? The Bar seems to be some kind of limbo or weigh station for leapers, and at the same time, an actual place where some miners were trapped and needed rescuing. We see one guy leap out but isn't replaced with someone else. The bartender tells Sam he is responsible for the leaping himself, Sam can't quite accept it, and then at the end wills himself to leap back to Beth at the precise moment he left her in MIA.
Throughout the series there is an unabashed suggestion the God Himself is leaping Sam around, which I have no problem with. But this episode seemed to go a little too far into religious allegory for my tastes, which is probably why I can't make head nor tail out of it.
The entire leap takes place in Sam's head. That's why nearly everyone he meets resembles someone he met in a previous leap and why nothing makes any sense. The purpose was to make Sam come to terms with the fact that he subconsciously built Project Quantum Leap with the intention of making the world a better place, to accept that this is his calling. So literally, even though he doesn't control where he goes or who he has to save, he IS leaping himself around by his choice to want to do good in the world. As for Al (hologram) being able to find Sam, well their brainwaves are linked, so it makes sense that he might be able to tap into the leap inside Sam's head, and that was crucial, as it made Sam realise that he couldn't go home while he still had a wrong to put right for Al, and from there came to the conclusion that there was always another wrong to be put right, so he just kept putting off going home.
Finally, since you mentioned God, I don't believe that Al (Bartender) actually is God, I think he's more a manifestation of part of Sam's own psyche. The Sam who leaps into the bar is Sam's Id, the one who just wants to go home. Al the Bartender is Sam's ego, making him realise that he has a job to do. Al the hologram could be thought of as Sam's superego, the one who provides the right path for Sam to take.
My Theory
When Sam leaped back into himself at the exact time that he was born his body disappeared from the waiting room in 1999. When that happened it was as if he had never existed. That's why he couldn't return.
Imagine your life is a piece of string. If you pull that string out tight, you can measure it's length. But tie the ends together and screw it up into a ball and it's harder to tell how much of a life you have. And if the two ends are tied together do you have a life at all?
If Al and Beth stayed together and lived happily ever after, did Al ever get envolved in Quantum Leap? Did Al ever really know Sam Beckett? 8o
When Sam leaped back into himself at the exact time that he was born his body disappeared from the waiting room in 1999. When that happened it was as if he had never existed. That's why he couldn't return.
Imagine your life is a piece of string. If you pull that string out tight, you can measure it's length. But tie the ends together and screw it up into a ball and it's harder to tell how much of a life you have. And if the two ends are tied together do you have a life at all?
If Al and Beth stayed together and lived happily ever after, did Al ever get envolved in Quantum Leap? Did Al ever really know Sam Beckett? 8o
Well if he and Al never met, it's also quite possible that PQL never existed, which means that Sam could have never fixed their marriage, and round and round we go...
Besides, Sam's body disappears from the waiting room during every leap, the only difference was that since he didn't leap "into" anyone, there was nobody in the waiting room. I think it was speculated once that Sam technically does leap home for a brief instant between leaps.
And neither was Sam. The rest of them had to be leapers ("Gooshie" looking different in the mirror and Stawpah saying that he needs to get the miners out "this time").
When Sam was sipping beer with "Ziggy", I could swear he wiped his mouth in the exact same way that he did in Moe Stein's kitchen.
Up until that black screen tells us that Sam never went home, Sam was insisting he wanted to go home. He even cried when telling Al the bartender he wanted to go home...yet never does. Makes no sense. It's not noble on Sam's part to abandon his wife and friends after all they have sacrificed for him. I know the show was cancelled.. But that black screen was not necessary.
All three times Sam "chose" to keep leaping he was emotionally manipulated. He spoke to his dad and then suddenly leaping wasn't such a bad thing in the first episode. Al's life was in danger so he gave up his freedom again. Then fixing Al's marriage for some reason meant he had to keep leaping.
And if amnesia is the only way Sam would keep leaping, is it really his choice to keep going?
All three times Sam "chose" to keep leaping he was emotionally manipulated. He spoke to his dad and then suddenly leaping wasn't such a bad thing in the first episode. Al's life was in danger so he gave up his freedom again. Then fixing Al's marriage for some reason meant he had to keep leaping.
And if amnesia is the only way Sam would keep leaping, is it really his choice to keep going?
So Al the bartender gets Sam to remember that he invented PQL to put right what once went wrong and Sam basically says he didn't intend it to be what it ended up being (one life at a time).
I dunno but two things strike me about this. The pilot episode gives me the impression the real reason he wanted to travel through time was to talk to his dad. Second, isn't Al basically saying, "Yeah this wasn't what you had it mind but I still felt justified in sending you on missions and basically keeping you hostage"
I dunno but two things strike me about this. The pilot episode gives me the impression the real reason he wanted to travel through time was to talk to his dad. Second, isn't Al basically saying, "Yeah this wasn't what you had it mind but I still felt justified in sending you on missions and basically keeping you hostage"
If we assume Al the bartender is God or G/T/F/W (I don't), and if we interpret the events of the episode at face value and as real. Another interpretation is that Sam is dreaming the entire leap, in which case the people and events he meet are part of his subconscious and Al may represent that part of Sam that makes him continue to leap/that wants to keep leaping.
Here's my response to the "is Sam dead?" fan debate. This is a slightly edited version of a comment I wrote anonymously (date unknown; approximately May-June 2015) regarding a copy of a review of "Mirror Image" posted at The TV and Film Guy's Reviews: Worst.. Finale... Ever..., review originally posted by Josh Lasser on June 21, 2007 at The Worst TV Series Finale… Ever:
New corroborating info to add, which I just realized in July, 2016:
By production code number order, the episode which immediately precedes "Mirror Image" (68126) is not "Memphis Melody" (68123), but "Revenge of the Evil Leaper" a.k.a. "Evil Leaper III" (68125). More info from that episode and one of its preceding related mini-arc episodes also support my theory above. Near the end of "Deliver Us from Evil" a.k.a. "Evil Leaper I", Sam convinces evil leaper Alia not to shoot him, based upon his idea that "evil can not exist without good", so if she were to kill Sam, she would die too. By the logical corollary to this theory, good also can not exist without evil. Near the end of "Revenge of the Evil Leaper", we see Alia get shot in the chest and immediately leap. However, by this time Alia is apparently no longer an evil leaper but instead the target of one. But her replacement evil leaper Zoe also gets shot in the chest and immediately leaps. What if Sam's "good and evil" theory is true, and my corollary is true too? What if Zoe died as a result of the gunshot wound and her death directly and immediately caused Sam's death, at the moment we saw him leap? This would be a perfect lead-in to "Mirror Image" with Sam being deceased but not yet being aware of it.
The question in my mind now is, was Bellisario lying when he said that Sam is not dead? From a marketing standpoint, with the possibility then existing for a QL movie or for the series to be picked up and continued by another network, he had to say that Sam is still alive whether it was true or not. To me, these clues make it apparent that, as the writer of the episode, DPB originally intended that Sam is dead. However, since he isn't credited as a writer of any of the "evil leaper" episodes, he might have forgotten or been unaware that Zoe's getting shot could have resulted (and now apparently did) in Sam's death. Whether Bellisario originally intended for Sam to be dead or not, considering the episodes in production code number order and taking the "string theory" and "good and evil theory" into account, Sam must be dead during this episode.
Last edited:
I don't see why DPB would lie. You've made some interesting points and connections to argue this theory, and it's entirely possible that we can interpret it this way, since Sam is wearing his own clothes rather than the Fermi suit he was wearing both times when he stepped into the QL Accelerator, has his wallet with him with his own ID, etc. (although the dream theory can explain those things too). If per the string theory Sam's moment of birth and death are touching the moment he walked into Al's Place, is he really dead? Or is he being reborn? Is he now in an endless loop in and between those moments?
But I personally don't think DPB was lying/changed his mind when he said Sam's not dead -- I think he meant it and I think the point he wanted to make is that it was ultimately always up to Sam whether he continued on his mission or stopped and went home (I'm also not sure how involved he was with the evil leapers or if that's a direction he would've even gone in if he'd been more involved with the show at that point). As far as production code versus final airing order I tend to go with final airing order. Also, and I could be remembering this completely wrong, wasn't 'Mirror Image' originally intended for the end of Season 4, with at least a script already written then? I could be completely off on that but I have a vague recollection of reading it somewhere (and Sam's hair in 'Mirror Image' is Season 4 hair). If that was the case DPB may have had something entirely different in mind at that point.
The more we try to pull at the strings that tie together the backstory of Quantum Leap, the more things unravel. The fact is, it was never an anthology show. The continuing history of the main characters never transcended or became more important than the "monster of the week" or in this case "leap of the week".
With modern TV, the continuing anthology story is the "A" story while the action in the episode is the "B" story. In the 1980's and 90's, it was the other way around where we got just a taste of what was going on behind the scenes but it never took precedence over the guest stars of each self-contained episode. Remember, to be sold into syndication, 80's and 90's shows were required to be non-linear, with each episode pressing the "reset button" at the end so that episodes could be aired out-of-order. This restriction was eventually lifted, but this is why the characters on Star Trek TNG didn't really grow or change, while they did in later series. Now just about every show has a big chunky ongoing story or drama while the weekly action is just something for the characters to chew through while they're progressing bigger multi-episode plots.
Sorry for all the food-related euphemisms.
With modern TV, the continuing anthology story is the "A" story while the action in the episode is the "B" story. In the 1980's and 90's, it was the other way around where we got just a taste of what was going on behind the scenes but it never took precedence over the guest stars of each self-contained episode. Remember, to be sold into syndication, 80's and 90's shows were required to be non-linear, with each episode pressing the "reset button" at the end so that episodes could be aired out-of-order. This restriction was eventually lifted, but this is why the characters on Star Trek TNG didn't really grow or change, while they did in later series. Now just about every show has a big chunky ongoing story or drama while the weekly action is just something for the characters to chew through while they're progressing bigger multi-episode plots.
Sorry for all the food-related euphemisms.
I didn't know that was required to be sold into syndication. Thanks for the info.
Of course the "reset button" worked for QL canonically anyway.
Al's behavior once he finally located Sam in this episode was pretty strange. Granted at this point Sam was pretty hysterical after everything that has been going on and it makes sense that Al was reacting to that, not just about what Sam was saying. But I think this is one thing in the episode that is explained well with the "the leap is happening in Sam's head" theory -- in which case, Al was reacting in the way Sam was imagining he would react.
Actually I disagree with this, as Sam and Al are neurally linked, it makes sense that the real Al would be able to connect with Sam's subconscious through the Imaging Chamber. It was definitely the real Al, and his behaviour is perfectly reasonable - can you imagine leaping into someone else's hallucination?
The whole episode just drives me mad. Al's behavior was completely off-kilter. It's like DPB hadn't even watched every episode or familiarized himself with everything that had gone on. He just had this story he wanted to tell that brushed on his father's experiences after the war and in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania and if it confused the heck out of us, so be it.
The whole episode just drives me mad. Al's behavior was completely off-kilter. It's like DPB hadn't even watched every episode or familiarized himself with everything that had gone on. He just had this story he wanted to tell that brushed on his father's experiences after the war and in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania and if it confused the heck out of us, so be it.
I agree with you completely about Al's behavior in this episode (which is why I've begun to favor the "it was all Sam's dream" theory as an explanation -- although to be fair I think Al's behavior was off in several episodes in Season 5, which I chalk up to Al spending too much time in the imaging chamber).
Also DPB did tend to put his own stuff into stories a little too much (not just QL). In this case he was definitely indulging that tendency. On the other hand he also wrote some of the best episodes in the series (The Leap Home and The Leap Home Vietnam) and I always favored the dynamic at play between them in the specific episodes that he wrote (except LHO which I won't watch ever again, lol). Too bad he didn't carry that over into this episode. I was also disappointed with how little of Al was in the episode, even if we felt his presence by way of his absence.
I agree. Even going by the original "season finale cliffhanger" intention, Al was used so little in this episode.