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Screencaps Click to enlarge |
2x22 "M.I.A." | |
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Leap
Date: |
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Episode
Adopted By: R.
Joy Helvie Additional info provided by: Brian Greene |
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Teaser: As an undercover police officer, Sam is caught in a familiar scenario to Al when he must prevent a M.I.A. Naval officer's wife from marrying another man until he returns from captivity. But the other man keeps showing up and Sam thinks it may just be fate that the two come together. Is Sam there to do something else? |
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Episode Menu |
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TV
Guide Synopsis Place Leap Date Name of the Person Leaped Into Broadcast Date Synopsis & Review Music Project Trivia Al Trivia Al's Women Al's Outfits Worn in the Episode Miscellaneous Trivia Bloopers Guest Stars Guest Cast Notes Guests who appeared in other Quantum Leap episodes Quotable Quotes Best Scene Say What? Awards Script Spoiler Production Credits Podcasts |
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Production # 65412 |
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TV Guide Synopsis
(TVGuide.com): As a detective in 1969, Sam tries to keep an emotionally vulnerable Navy nurse (Susan Diol) from forsaking her MIA husband---who she thinks has died in Vietnam. Skaggs: Jason Beghe. Dirk Simon: Norman Large. Sam: Scott Bakula. Al: Dean Stockwell. |
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TV
Guide Synopsis (Original): |
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Promo: |
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Place: San Diego, California |
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Leap Date: Tuesday, April 1, 1969 |
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Leapee: Jake Rawlins |
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Broadcast
Date: (Season Two Finale) |
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Sam leaps into San Diego wearing heavy make-up, a mini skirt, and heels and smoking a cigarette in an alley. He laments being in heels and being a woman again. He examines his reflection in a cracked mirror in the alley and sees what appears to be a fairly homely woman. He hears a voice yelling the name Jake. He opens his purse and finds a walkie-talkie and a gun. Two armed men run into the alley from one of the buildings. Upon seeing Sam, they point their guns at him and call him a narc. A cop car pulls up and a gun battle ensues between the two armed men and the police. An undercover cop, who is identified as Skaggs (played by Jason Beghe) also joins the fray, while Sam hide behind a dumpster.
To
his relief, Sam realizes he has not leaped into a woman, but a male
undercover cop. Skaggs tells Sam about freezing up in Vietnam after
seeing a naked baby on the trail, which ended up being a set up for an
ambush. He tells Sam that you get one freeze up and still get to live
to talk about it. Skaggs and Sam return to the police precinct locker
room. Sam, still in heels and a skirt, gets several whistles from the
other police officers. Al is waiting for him and gives Sam the facts
about his leap. Sam has leaped into Jake Rawlins, a newly promoted
detective in the San Diego Police Department, who is partnered with
Sgt. Roger Skaggs. Al suddenly gets very serious and tells Sam he is
there to stop a woman named Beth from making a huge mistake. Al informs
Sam that her husband is an M.I.A. pilot, who is being held by the
VietCong and won't be repatriated until 1973. By that time, Beth has
moved on and married again. The man she marries she meets on April
Fool's Day, 1969.
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Personal
Review by R.
Joy Helvie: |
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Music: |
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Project
Trivia: Ziggy is referred to as male in this episode. |
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Al
Trivia: Only four months after Al's first tour in Vietnam ended, he volunteered for a second. Al didn't want children because he didn't believe in constantly relocating them. During Al's second tour, he was shot down over the highlands in his A-4 somewhere around March of 1967. When Al was declared MIA, Beth felt it was only another way of saying that Al was dead. In April 1969, Al was in a cage near Cham Hoi. During his time as a POW, Al was forced to live in a tiger cage that was "too small to stand up in" and "too narrow to sit down in". His nourishment consisted of rainwater and weevil-infested rice. Al was
repatriated in 1973 (later changed to 1975 after the events of "The
Leap Home: Part II") only to find that Beth had asked the Navy to
declare
him dead and then married Dirk Simon in June 1969. |
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Al's
Outfits: Silverish-gray slacks, black shirt with a purple maze-like pattern, slender silver tie. Al spends the entire episode in this single outfit. |
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Al's
Women: Al's first wife (and love of his life), Beth, was a Naval nurse. When it seemed Al would never return from Vietnam, she had Al declared dead and married Dirk Simon in June 1969. |
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Miscellaneous
Trivia: The conversation Beth has with Dirk at the restaurant takes place at a laundromat in the early draft, which is why Beth states in the episode, "We ran into each other at the cleaners." In the early draft, Skaggs' first name is Robert. In the final episode, his first name is Roger. It is also confirmed in the script that Al is able to physically kiss Beth on the forehead as a gift from the entity leaping Sam. Dean did not enjoy acting the painful moments in the episode. He said he would much rather act when Al was lighthearted and fun. Calavicci was the name of a friend of Donald P. Belliasrio in Cokeburg, PA. The photo of a young Al was donated to the set by Dean Stockwell's friend and fellow actor, Roddy McDowall. This episode began filming on Monday March 26th, 1990 and concluded on April 4th.This is the first of only 4 episodes not to show the leap out into the next episode. The others are The Leap Back, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Mirror Image. The credits scroll in this episode. |
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Bloopers: |
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Guest Cast: Jason Beghe as Roger Skaggs Susan Diol as Beth Calavicci Norman Large as Dirk Simon Dan Ziskie as Sergeant Riley Pat Skipper as Tequila Sierra Pecheur as Carol William Shockley as Boner Leticia Vasquez as Rosalie Cyd Strittmatter (as Cyndi Strittmatter) as Hippie Girl: Bob Mendel as Hippie Guy Gregory Millar as Pusher Javi Mulero as Taco Man Doug Bauer as Jake Rawlins (Mirror image) |
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Jason Beghe as
Roger Skaggs:
Jason Beghe was born on March 12, 1960 in New York City, New York, USA.
He is an actor and producer, known for The Next Three Days (2010),
Thelma & Louise (1991) and Monkey Shines (1988). He was previously
married to Angie Janu. His gravelly voice
is the result of an automobile accident in 1999. The accident was
severe enough that he had to be intubated, and he kept pulling the tube
out of his throat. He is a friend from childhood of David Duchovny and
worked with him for a time as a bartender. He originally prodded David
into an acting career. Attended the prestigious Collegiate School in
Manhattan with best friend David Duchovny, actor Zach Galligan and the
late John Kennedy Jr.. He was David Duchovny's best man at Duchovny's
marriage to Téa Leoni. Became a model after being photographed by Bruce
Weber. This led to a modeling career in Europe where he spent a couple
of years as the Armani man.
Norman
Large as Dirk Simon: Norman
Large was born on September 18, 1951 in Barrington, Rhode Island, USA.
He is an actor, known for Mamma Mia! (2008), Mamma Mia! Here We Go
Again (2018) and Titan A.E. (2000). |
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Guest Stars Who Appeared In Other QL Episodes: Gregory Millar portrayed "Lonnie Harper" in the episode "Black On White On Fire". Pat Skipper portrayed "Lucas 'Luke' Marlet" in the episode "The Beast Within". |
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Say What? Al previously says that his first wife was a redhead. Beth is a brunette. Beth
moves her hand from the car and rubs it on the right side of her Sam is very skeptical of Al's prediction of what he's there to do. Sam is usually there to repair small events in time, so why doesn't he take it at face value? Beth's M.I.A. bracelet was not created until 1970. How does Skaggs know that Dirk is a lawyer? "Someday We’ll Be Together," didn't release until about five months after the episode takes place. When Al kisses Beth at the end, her hair moves as his lips touch her forehead. However, in the script, this is intentional. |
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Quotable Quotes: |
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Sam's
Best Lines: "Oooom..." "Are you trying to tell me you have some kind of moral code for picking up women?" |
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Al's
Best Line: "I want you to wait for me, Beth. Don't give up, honey. 'Cause I'm alive out there... and I'm only alive because of our love... And someday... Oh, Beth... someday, I'm gonna come back home to you." |
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Best
Scene: At first, it seems that Beth cannot hear nor touch Al, and she passes through his holographic image when she moves to change records on her player. But at the very end, after Al has pleaded with Beth to wait for him, some extreme miracle is bestowed upon Al by GTFW: Al is allowed to touch Beth. He lays his hands on Beth's shoulders and he lightly kisses Beth's forehead as Sam Leaps. According to the script, Beth DOES feel this. After Al has vanished, Beth tearfully whispers Al's name in a sort of acknowledgement that she knew he really was there with her. |
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Awards: Emmy nomination for Dean Stockwell for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (1990) |
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Spoiler: |
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Theme by: Mike Post Dean Stockwell Photograph Courtesy of RODDY McDOWALL Panaflex ® Camera and Lenses by: Panavision ® Supervising Sound
Editor: Paul Clay Copyright © 1990 by Universal City Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Country
of first publication: United States of Amercia. Univeral City Studios,
Inc. is the author of this motion picture for purposes of the Berne
Convention and all national laws giving effect thereto. |
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In
the thirtieth installment of The Quantum Leap Podcast, Albie and
Heather discuss season two, episode twenty-two “M.I.A.”. There are
first impressions, an episode recap, thoughts and opinions, listener
feedback, an amazing interview with Susan Diol, who played Beth
Calavicci in M.I.A., the fourth episode of the original audio drama,
Quantum Leap: The Impossible Dream, Need You Now: Part 4 with special
guest star Jennifer Runyon. Also Suzanne Smiley with her debut segment,
The Music Replacement In Quantum Leap. Also, an article from Hayden
McQueenie about M.I.A. |
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