About MIA?

Sam Beckett Fan

Sam Beckett Fan

Re-Writing Life
Jun 3, 2005
2,872
8
38
37
medium.com
ok, this is ganna sound very stupid, i know:eek:
but i have seen MIA more times than i can count, right now is one of them. however, despite how many times i have seen it, i still do not get what exactly the sitchuation was with the woman and the baby? can someone explain this to the hopelessly dumbstruck me, hehe?:eek:
 
They were being used as bait to lure Skaggs into an ambush. It all relates back to the story he told Sam about when he was in 'Nam and he froze up upon seeing a baby. He knew it was a trap, but still, he couldn't move. Luckily, he wasn't killed, but he also told Sam that "you only get one chance to walk away from something like that" or something to that effect.

Obviously, he was right, because those guys would have killed Skaggs if Sam hadn't been there to save him. That's why a single tear crawled down his eye when he saw the baby... because Skaggs knew he was about to die and froze up again, like he did years before. Seeing the baby triggered his memory of how he almost died in Vietnam... as the camera zoomed in on his face, you can hear the sounds of gunfire and a crying baby echoing in his memory.
 
oh, like kill scaggs for shooting them at the beginning of the episode. ah huh. ok, i get it, thanks.

i get it, he knew he was going to die becasue to him, you only get ONE chance to walk away and he was in his second encounter.
 
ok, something else. at the end scene when AL was dacing with Beth, there was an instance where she touched his shoulder and then a few minutes later he puts his hands on her shoulders and kisses her forhead? is this a mistake or was there a meaning to this?
 
Nope, it wasn't a mistake. For that one split second moment in time, Beth was able to miraculously "feel" Al kissing her on the forehead right before Sam leaped out. This is why she suddenly opens her eyes and whispers, "Al" when he vanishes. Ironically, I took her reaction to mean that she was now convinced that Al was truly gone, and that her final ray of hope vanished along with Al's "spirit."
 
that's what i made of it too, i was just wondering, if anyone else agreed. of course i did not guess the part about the kiss being the sign of hope being gone. just the rest of it. wow, that's deep dman, and it makes a lot of sense.
 
That's the same interpretation I've always applied to that beautiful, bittersweet moment in M.I.A. as well. That she "knew" he was there, and when she sensed him leave when Sam Leaped (after that faintest brushing of his lips across her forehead)....she thought he'd died and come to say goodbye. It's like throughout the episode she was losing hope but not wanting to, struggling to come to terms with holding on and hoping in the face of no word...having the possibilities of a new life returned to her in the attentions of Dirk (and Jake/Sam)...feeling herself come alive again...but still not wanting to give up on Al. And then, as Al dances with her, realizing she can sense he's there, he pleads for her to wait for him. Ironically, it's that that ultimately closes the door on her hope.
 
SBF, you'll find that most of the posts here are very passionate filled and totally deep in nature. I mean, as long as you don't get into a philsophical or quantum physics based debate with Damon, Greg, or Brian, I think that you'll be just fine.

:rollin Just kidding.

Once you get into a great discussion - whatever it might be, it just gets better and better and better. If you know what I mean.

Most of the shows are deep and I need to start to rewatch some of them again. *sighs* I just don't have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do.

As for MIA, I don't care how many times I watch it, I'll forever cry. Especially when Al is telling Sam that the odds are "up there" for him to save his marriage. It's also that one point in the show where Al says, "Life gives you one chance at true love and Beth was mine." Not many men admit that... and it came from the heart. That's why all the rest of his marriages failed. He still loved her.

Okay... now, I have to get myself out of a funk.
 
Oh yeah....and that moment you're talking about, MJ....let me take a step back from character analysis and just say what a performance from Dean! The way his eyes have the thick sheen of tears in them, his voice cracking. The turn of his head as he pleads ignorance to Sam confronting him with what he's been doing. The urgency in his entire body as he begs for help in saving the only relationship that ever really mattered to him (besides his friendship with Sam).

Okay...I'm about to make myself start :cry now. <g>
 
> Re: About MIA?

It's not only in "M.I.A." where I see all the pain that Al feels. I can get a sense of it from Dean's acting in other episodes; even though he acts enthusiastic and silly, anyone who pays attention to his character can see through the smiles and look deeper at his hidden pain. Al's past is occasionally reflected upon in the series, but I think another stand-out performance by Dean was in "Jimmy." I actually believe that Dean is talking about Trudy as if she was his own sister and that he really had that tragedy in his life. Maybe it's because the front that his character had put up during the series completely collapsed during his story. It's another example of what a truly great actor Dean is.
 
Re: > Re: About MIA?

Like we've said before SBF, once you see them all and know all the story and THEN go back and watch them, you will "see" a lot more that you missed... It's not only a tribute to Dean and Scott for their portrayals, the writers knew what they were doing (except for the body/soul thing...and ZIggy being a she...lol)

It's hard to keep things back in my posts without spoiling Season 5 for ya...
 
Re: > Re: About MIA?

Jennie.... STOP IT! You can't talk about that anymore....

STOP! NO MORE.... okay? *sniffles*

I can't STAND it! I can't STAND it! AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

Yes, I know that I'm :wacko

Get used to it.

Thank you.
 
SBF, you'll find that most of the posts here are very passionate filled and totally deep in nature. I mean, as long as you don't get into a philsophical or quantum physics based debate with Damon, Greg, or Brian, I think that you'll be just fine.
Click to expand...

MJ, i happen to love deep stuff and deep moments in a tv show or movie. i think i may have said this before, but when i write my stories dramatic is how i always write. i just like dramatic stuff.

and i too love a good conversation, that's what makes it less boring for me to be online. hehe.


and as for the MIA scene, i had been guessing, from the moment when Al makes the joke about anyone with a rank higer than lutenent is a horse's ass, and she laughed, i knew that somehow she did kinda hear him, or his voice saying something, and felt his presence in the room, that's why she laughed and began to dance with herself becasue she felt that he was there and dancing with her. and i of course knew about the end when he vanished and she whispered his name and began to cry. i knew what was happening there, there was just little bits of the rest of it that i had to figure out. sometimes it takes me quite a number of re-watches to catch them though, eaither that, or asking questions.:)
 
SFB, I hope that you didn't take my comment as though you CAN'T have a deep conversation... or that you can't ask questions or etc. et al.

At least, I hope that you didn't take it that way.

That is just one of those scenes that I just .... auuugh... I just feel Al's angst in it EVERY SINGLE TIME I WATCH IT! EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I don't care how many times I do see it... or how many times I cry over it and YES, I do cry every time... I will forever say this about Quantum Leap ---------

THE ACTING IS SPOT ON!
 
no, no. not at all, i just thought you were trying to apologize for the conversation being so deep becasue of my comment of that to dman. so i was just indicating that i love deep conversaions, especially when i get inot them with my best friend. it's always so interesting.;)
 
hehe, i am acually very sorry that i was only able to cry the SECOND time i saw MIA. i wish i would cry more, i have never been in a postion where a tv show has so many sentimantal and dramatic moments, but makes me shed not a single tear. that sux. i think my eyes got mistly the first time i saw The Leap Home though. i wish i would cry more.
 
There is one point just before the Leap-out where you do see Beth's hair move as Al moves to kiss her.
 
yeah, and he acually places his hands on her shoulders, plus while they are dancing, she has her hand just slightly acually touching his shoulder, i can see it well, i have "hawk eyes", as my best friend tells me.;)
 
and as for the MIA scene, i had been guessing, from the moment when Al makes the joke about anyone with a rank higer than lutenent is a horse's ass, and she laughed, i knew that somehow she did kinda hear him, or his voice saying something,
Click to expand...

The whole scene really just lends itself to the idea of their love transcending physics. Sounds mushy, but they did it so beautifully...

Besides...as a lieutenant, I'd have to agree with Al's assessment! :lol

-amkm
 
The whole scene really just lends itself to the idea of their love transcending physics.
Click to expand...

Absolutely!!! And I will maintain to my grave that M.I.A. is the most romantic and heartfelt usage of "Unchained Melody" to date. _Ghost_??? What's THAT? ;)

Besides...as a lieutenant, I'd have to agree with Al's assessment! :lol
Click to expand...

:rollin
 
Absolutely!!! And I will maintain to my grave that M.I.A. is the most romantic and heartfelt usage of "Unchained Melody" to date.
Click to expand...

i very much agree. not that it would not be easier to say that once i have seen the whole series. man, i feel like a dunce here. becasue i love the show but have only seen about half of it so far. and all of you, or it seems like all of you, have seen the whole thing. and i am ganna, but i have to wait till decemeber. because i am calling off my serach and offically pronoucing myself sci-fi less.:cry
 
Hey...I'm really enjoying being able to see and take part in someone discovering the series. :) Take heart...you'll be caught up in no time at all, it will seem afterwards.
 
I tried a more practical solution to the "M.I.A." music problem last night... As some members have done here, they take the audio from the "syndicut" versions and swap it onto the Universal images. Well, I lack the technology and the recorded episodes to do that, so I played "Georgia On My Mind" on my iPod at just the right volume during the last scene. It worked well; I was able to hear the dialogue and drown out the generic music.

For anyone that has one of these devices, in order to buy "Georgia On My Mind," you need to purchase the whole album on iTunes. I got the song through other means... :evil
 
I got my copy of the song off winmx too. I'm hoping eventually to get every song heard in QL. I've only just started but it will be a great CD set when I've finished.
 
MIA is such a heartfelt episode. I'm a guy and even I have to hold back the tears when I watch it.

One glitch I found though...

In The Leap Home Part 2: Vietnam, the photographer takes a photo of the P.O.W.s being transferred once the Viets were attacked. She captured Al's face on film, and it was THAT photo which posthumously won her the Pulitzer Prize.

If that photo had been published, Beth should have been able to see it and know that Al was alive... or at least know that he WAS alive at that point and keep some hope.

I'm not too sure whether the timeline matches up though, so either she didn't see the photo when it was published, or she had already moved on by then.
 
The photo would have been released in 1970.

Beth remarried in June of 1969.

:(
 
Well doesn't that just suck for Al, LOL.

He got released soon after if I remember correctly???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back