104 How the Tess Was Won

[Lightning McQueenie]

Originally Posted by servo75

Now, regarding the Buddy Holly thing... I like this episode because of its quirkiness, but yes this ending is weird. I agree with the OP, Buddy Holly wrote the song just fine the first time around, and it's not one of those "the changed history is OUR real history" (as in Lee Harvey Oswald) because as the OP pointed out, Sam recognized the song.

I think that the point is, with Sam having helped Buddy Holly with the lyrics, he must have come up with the song QUICKER in the revised timeline, and so probably had time to make more music before his untimely death.

And why DID Sam ride Widowmaker if he had no intention of "marrying" Tess? Sam should have leaped as soon as Tess showed up because the Doc and Tess didn't marry in the original history.

Probably to show Tess that he could do it. Sam's/Doc's pride was on the line.

I also want to comment on the "up against it" comment as Sam looked in the mirror. Presumably he looked at Doc's reflection at some other point since his leap-in so this shouldn't have been a surprise. I agree with the OP it was an insinuation that Tess was "out of Doc's league" but apart from that I don't get it. And why is mirror image Doc wearing glasses while Sam wasn't? Maybe the feeling was that if Sam were wearing them it would "give away" something about Doc, but articles of clothing and eyewear would not leap forward with the leapee.

I think it's meant to imply that Doc was much older than Tess, not so much uglier. And I can forgive the mirror shot for having glasses, as they were so new to the series and didn't have everything sorted out yet.

[MO]

Another "average" episode for me. I didn't see the point in Al's side story. The whole episode was about Sam chasing the girl, who didn't want to be chased, nor did she want to chase him. Meh.

I liked the animals (especially when the raccoon was trying to reach out to Al!) and the scenery, and that was about it.

[chris-oates]

Hmm. How the Tess Was Won. What can I say about this one? Well, it wasn't all bad. Haha. Honestly, that's the best I can say. For the most part, this episode just stands out to me for all the wrong reasons. First of all, again Al plays a very small role here. In season 1 as a whole this often tended to happen, but this one stands out along with the previous episode for failing to make the most of Al.

The most major problem with the episode I have, though, is Tess herself. She is just plain annoying. In fact, almost every character comes across this way (except maybe Chance). I'm also irked that the entire reason for the leap was helping Buddy Holly write the lyrics to Peggy Sue. While amusing, it does seem to downplay the serious job of being a leaper. Jokey reasons for leaps happened quite a few times in the first season. Double Identity and Play It Again, Seymour are the other two occasions.

My rating. Fair. A largely annoying episode all around.

[servo75]

You know I hate to nitpick, and maybe it was a funny quirky thing too hard to resist, not just Peggy Sue but the fact that Sam didn't know what the boy's name was (in later episodes Al is usually able to identify everyone around Sam).


However... Although the timing could be right with Peggy Sue being recorded in 1957, Buddy Holly was already recording professionally by January 1956, 7 months before the episode takes place. I don't think he'd be working as a vet's apprentice in the middle of nowhere, and everyone else would have known how famous he was.


But if this really was before Holly's recording career, he would have responded to his real first name, Charles. I'd assume "Buddy" was a stage name he took later on.

Originally Posted by chris-oates

Hmm. How the Tess Was Won. What can I say about this one? Well, it wasn't all bad. Haha. Honestly, that's the best I can say. For the most part, this episode just stands out to me for all the wrong reasons. First of all, again Al plays a very small role here. In season 1 as a whole this often tended to happen, but this one stands out along with the previous episode for failing to make the most of Al.

The most major problem with the episode I have, though, is Tess herself. She is just plain annoying. In fact, almost every character comes across this way (except maybe Chance). I'm also irked that the entire reason for the leap was helping Buddy Holly write the lyrics to Peggy Sue. While amusing, it does seem to downplay the serious job of being a leaper. Jokey reasons for leaps happened quite a few times in the first season. Double Identity and Play It Again, Seymour are the other two occasions.

My rating. Fair. A largely annoying episode all around.

[servo75]

Purpose of the leap was to make sure Tess married, just in the twist it was Wayne instead of Doc. In early episodes, the leap objective wasn't always clear-cut or understood early on. I felt the same way you did about Double Identity

Originally Posted by chris-oates

I'm also irked that the entire reason for the leap was helping Buddy Holly write the lyrics to Peggy Sue. While amusing, it does seem to downplay the serious job of being a leaper. Jokey reasons for leaps happened quite a few times in the first season. Double Identity and Play It Again, Seymour are the other two occasions.


My rating. Fair. A largely annoying episode all around.

[Lightning McQueenie]

Originally Posted by servo75

Purpose of the leap was to make sure Tess married, just in the twist it was Wayne instead of Doc. In early episodes, the leap objective wasn't always clear-cut or understood early on. I felt the same way you did about Double Identity

I don't think that's true, Tess married the person writing her love letters in the original history anyway...

Also, to quote Honeymoon Express - "JUST to help Buddy Holly with the lyrics to Peggy Sue?"