I know this question has been addressed many times, but I have to ask this question. I've just watched Mirror Image for about the 10th time. I don't like the episode much. I don't like it for quite a few reasons, but mainly because of the sad and ambiguous ending. The reason I've watched it so often is because I keep trying to make sense of it. But I can't.. I have a few questions to ask.
1. Why didn't Sam choose to leap home..
I know the reason he doesn't is because he wants to help Al and Beth stay together.. But it's strongly implied that Sam was always controlling his own leaps, and when he realises he can leap wherever he chooses, he leaps to the exact moment in M.I.A when Beth is dancing.. But why doesn't he after he tells Beth that Al is alive, leap home. If he can control where he leaps, why can't he leap home after telling Beth? It seems like Sam had to choose between, saving Al and Beth's marriage, and leaping home. Why can't he do both?
2. Does Sam telling Beth that Al is alive effect his friendship with Al.
After Sam tells Beth that Al is still alive, does this radically change history. Do Sam and Al even meet? And if they never did, this means Al won't remember Sam. But if this is the case would Sam still remember Al. Because when you think of the episode A Leap for Lisa, Sam changed history and Al was going to be executed. But Sam still remembered Al, even though history was saying that they never met.
3. Was Sam dead all along.
In the final episode it is mentioned how often we here stories of the dead coming back to help the living. It could be Sam never returns home because he was in fact dead all along. Once he died in the start of the series he began leaping through time to help people much like Al's uncle in the final episode who was taken at the moment of death through time to help the miners in the final episode. However, with Sam, his body was gone when he died because of the Quantum Leap, and Al & Gushy & Ziggy were able to use the technology from the Quantum Leap project to go back and time and observe Sam wherever he had leaped to. Al never realizes that Sam is dead and neither does Sam. But all along, Sam is just another dead person helping the living. That could be it.
And finally.. 4. Does Don Bellisario fully understand the last episode.
Maybe he doesn't understand it either. Maybe he just threw it all in because he couldn't think of an ending for the show.. I know that Don wasn't sure if NBC were going to renew it for another season, so he tried to make it both a cliffhanger and a series finale at the same time. But still it's so confusing, I find it hard to believe that Don understands everything about that episode.
I know we'll probably never really know the answer to these questions, but it would be great if you could try to answer my questions. I'd love to hear your opinions on the final episode.
1. Why didn't Sam choose to leap home..
I know the reason he doesn't is because he wants to help Al and Beth stay together.. But it's strongly implied that Sam was always controlling his own leaps, and when he realises he can leap wherever he chooses, he leaps to the exact moment in M.I.A when Beth is dancing.. But why doesn't he after he tells Beth that Al is alive, leap home. If he can control where he leaps, why can't he leap home after telling Beth? It seems like Sam had to choose between, saving Al and Beth's marriage, and leaping home. Why can't he do both?
2. Does Sam telling Beth that Al is alive effect his friendship with Al.
After Sam tells Beth that Al is still alive, does this radically change history. Do Sam and Al even meet? And if they never did, this means Al won't remember Sam. But if this is the case would Sam still remember Al. Because when you think of the episode A Leap for Lisa, Sam changed history and Al was going to be executed. But Sam still remembered Al, even though history was saying that they never met.
3. Was Sam dead all along.
In the final episode it is mentioned how often we here stories of the dead coming back to help the living. It could be Sam never returns home because he was in fact dead all along. Once he died in the start of the series he began leaping through time to help people much like Al's uncle in the final episode who was taken at the moment of death through time to help the miners in the final episode. However, with Sam, his body was gone when he died because of the Quantum Leap, and Al & Gushy & Ziggy were able to use the technology from the Quantum Leap project to go back and time and observe Sam wherever he had leaped to. Al never realizes that Sam is dead and neither does Sam. But all along, Sam is just another dead person helping the living. That could be it.
And finally.. 4. Does Don Bellisario fully understand the last episode.
Maybe he doesn't understand it either. Maybe he just threw it all in because he couldn't think of an ending for the show.. I know that Don wasn't sure if NBC were going to renew it for another season, so he tried to make it both a cliffhanger and a series finale at the same time. But still it's so confusing, I find it hard to believe that Don understands everything about that episode.
I know we'll probably never really know the answer to these questions, but it would be great if you could try to answer my questions. I'd love to hear your opinions on the final episode.