413 Temptation Eyes

Temptation Eyes

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Temptation Eyes
February 1, 1985

San Francisco, California


A rash of serial murders is taking place in San Francisco and Sam has become a television reporter who must prevent the psychic who is helping the police from becoming the next victim! But when she discovers who Sam really is, they fall for each other and the ordeal becomes very personal.


Written by: Paul Brown
Directed by: Christopher Hibler


Rate and comment on this episode!
 
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Vince Beckett said:
I love this episode. Sam falls in love with a woman who sees him as he really is. And this woman can sense Al.
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i agree completely with Vince. this has to be one of my top favorite episodes, its so deep how this psychic woman sees him and keeps dropping hints that she sense's something different about Dylan Powel. especially after Sam and Ross had spyed on Tamlyn holding Janines Pillow and telling the story she saw. Sam asks to walk her home and she notes that she seems to know him from somewhere. Sam suggests from the tv since his host is a reporter, but she rebutts
"no, somewhere else".

i remember the first few times i did not understand this line and wondered what she could have meant, but then as i watched it for i believe a thrid or forth time with my best friend and her little sister it all of a sudden hit me.

i also love the dramatic scene where they pan in on Tamlyns sad face and then back out to reveal Sam's face in the mirror as she looks up and gasps
"who are you".
i remember being so happy when this happened becasue when she had asked him the previous night
"do you like orange spice Sam" in reference to the tea, my heart beat faster, i wanted her to see him, but then the scene ended with her aologizing to Dylan.


"The dark water, meant death in my dream. but i didn't see it, all i saw was you".
"That's why you didn't know that you were gonna die?"
"My vision gets blurred if i am not centered or calm. an intense emotion like fear or...love would throw me off"
"Love?.....i know the feeling"

What i enjoyed the most though, being that i am a romantic, was the romantic moments between Sam and Tamlyn to the beautiful song "I Wanna Know What Love Is" by Forigener. i found it quite charming and mysterious that Tamlyn has loved Sam all along from her dream, and that love for him blinded her to everything else, even death, which is something that Sam can easily relate to. i could imagine that Sam must have felt good being able to be with someone who knows who he really is and whom he does not have to pretend around. Plus there is mild Al humor when he finds Sam in bed with Tamlyn wearing boxers with hearts and bears on them. i laugh every time.
I loved how the msytery of the serial killer was unfolded, as tamlyn was due to be his next victum and the affection Sam showed for Tamlyn as he catches another killer and gets him arrested. the anger he expressed when shouting that he wasn;t going to let him kill Tamlyn. All that, only to have Tamyln's fate, remain the same.
Another thing was the ending, when Sam and Tamlyn share one last hug and Sam's expression as he embraces her shows how much he really doesn't want to leave her. it saddened me. i think it would have been great to bring Tamlyn back in a later episode or two even. I enjoyed her charactor a lot and her psychic ablilites, and i think they would have been a good touch to a few other episodes for example perhaps the evil leapers even.

i also thought the whole Vantentines day and full moon thing in connection with Tamlyns fated death, i found it very mysterious and deep. and also how clever it was that she felt sick every time she was near Ross as a signal that he was the real killer, i swear i was baffled the whole time i did not guess until the end when Ross Joined them on the hunt in China Town, and even then i was taking a wild and random, for now reason Guess.

oh and i also loved Al's joke after the "I Wanna Know What Love is" mantage, when Sam sits up in bed
"boxer shorts, you're wearing boxer shorts in bed!"
"no i..."
"oh and they got heart on em, and little bearsies how cute!"

lol.

literally i could not pry my eyes away from this episode the whole first time i saw it, it was breath taking and very deep and dramatic, just my kind of show;)
 
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i like this episode also.. it's so touching to know that someone could actually see sam himself but not the person who he leap into.. and the song by foreigner "i want to know what love is" just match that scene so well.. too bad they ommitted that song in the DVD release..

just found the song on youtube.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVt1PVzvQiQ
 
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One of my top ten. Tamyln calling Sam by his name, then seeing him instead of Dylan. "I Want To Know What Love Is" is the perfect song. Sam has felt like the world was on his shoulders. He has come so far to change this (his and her) lonely life. Leaving this song off the DVD is second only to leaving Georgia On My Mind off M.I.A.

It is so touching to see Sam smiling and laughing with Tamlyn. He has had to be so serious putting right what once went wrong. And the love scene is so nicely done. Sam is so tender and when he lays Tamlyn bak on the bed and the white streak in his hair is so obvious.........Is it getting warm in here?
 
SBeckett said:
Sam is so tender and when he lays Tamlyn bak on the bed and the white streak in his hair is so obvious.........Is it getting warm in here?
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I don't know but reading this, I am starting to feel a little warm myself:dreaming
I totally agree with this statement, I love how Sam was so tender with her and how she was tender with him when he came back from chasing Tony Besh with fear that she had been attacked in his absence and she rocked him in her arms and stocked his hair so tenderly.:dreaming
 
The first Half of this episode were quite good,but in the minute Tamlyn saw Sam as Sam,i think the episode just "went down the hill from this point on". I just didn't like it. First of all it became too hmm... mushie. second of all - I know that Quite a lot of people here didn't like Sam-Abigail relationship during "trilogy"(especially part 2). I don't know exactly why,but if it is because they think it's Sam "biggest betrayal" on his wife - Donna i think Sam-Tamlyn affair is even worst.
Third of all - The twist in the end was a really "Bad Twist"! Paul Brown just love those Stupid twists!
And last but not list - It's a good episode to see once or maybe even twice.but after the third time...in the third time it's just too boring.
In the Bottom line - I give it Average, because of the first good Half of this episode.
 
Yeah you are right about the Abigale comparision but its easier to see Sam in love with Tamlyn because it's easier to see HOW he fell in love with her because she can see him. With Abigale I at least can not see where his love for her came from besides reminants of Will.
 
Sam Beckett Fan said:
Yeah you are right about the Abigale comparision but its easier to see Sam in love with Tamlyn because it's easier to see HOW he fell in love with her because she can see him. With Abigale I at least can not see where his love for her came from besides reminants of Will.
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The question is,wheather it's the main reason he fall in love with her. Because if it is - i think it's a just wrong and disapointing.
 
Which one Tamlyn or Abigale, if you mean Abigale than *high Five* I agree whohleheartledly. If you mean Tamlyn than I disagree but thats ok its everybody having different views that makes message boards possible and the world interesting. :)
 
Okay, I'll 'fess up. I'm bringing down the scoring curve. I don't like this episode. I don't like the story, I don't like the atmosphere, I don't like the unexplained length of time for the leap, I don't like the dialogue, I don't like the ending, and I don't like Tamlyn. There. I said it. I feel so liberated.

Sam's two week sex vacation in teddy bear boxers doesn't do it for me.

Actually, there's one thing I do like about the episode: that Tamlyn knows that Sam likes Orange Spice tea - a neat bit of continuity from Catch a Falling Star.
 
Well, I must to say on the whole I didn't enjoy this episode very much. Some of the reasons had been already given in other posts: why did he leaped the whole 2 weeks earlier? There doesn't seem to be any motive for this than his having "romantic vacation" with Tamlyn: he does nothing to discover the murderer or do something useful in the meantime. The final twist is very predictable, too. And although Tamlyn is a nice looking girl I find none of the true passion there, which I could see in "catch the falling star" episode. It's just to easy Sam's falling in love with a girl 24 hours after meeting her.
Ok, there is one thing I do like about the episode: Tamlyn stands up to go to the kitchen and Sam stands up too, automatically. Ah, true gentlemen where are they to be found?
 
I started off enjoying this a lot, I loved the phsycic twist at the beginning but you know, Tamlyn started to irritate me after a while, her acting was just BORING, she was boring, no personality whatsover.
 
Bexter said:
I, Tamlyn started to irritate me after a while, her acting was just BORING, she was boring, no personality whatsover.
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Now I think about it, it seems to me you are perfectly right: I could say nothing about her beyond the fact she is psychic. And, after all, her being able to see Sam for what he really is, makes things far less exciting. I mean, in "Catch the falling star" Nicole was an intense personality and than, we are never sure (neither is Sam) if she is capable to sense he is not really Ray. When he says in the last scene "I love you Nicole", she answers "I love you too", but she doesn't add "Ray" therefore we can imagine lot of things. In "Temptation eyes" the story is rather flat, from that point of view. :wavey
 
Yes you are right, I meant to come back to write more to my post but didn't get a chance. quite honestly she didn't seem like the type of person to be giving Sam teddy bear boxer shorts either. Her voice was monotonous, and she didn't seem like the type of person Sam would fall in love with. You are right Nicole had LOADS of personality and they had great chemistry in that episode.

As far as this ep goes I think their whole objective was to get sam into a pair of boxers!! It actually could have been a FANTASTIC episoide had Tamlyn been totally different.
 
I liked this episode, mainly because Sam could be...well, "himself." I always like it when the people around Sam can sense/hear/see Al, too. The best is when they can see him and remark on his attire, lol.

Although I always think about Donna when Sam's involved with a girl on the road. I guess he forgot about her when he leaped. Did they think he'd be back with Tamlyn at some point and did that ever happen before the series ended?

I was put off by Al's insistence that Sam had to chase down the killer near the flophouse. Why? He's supposed to be a reporter or time traveler. Wouldn't it have been better for him to stay and protect the girl? Bah, humbug.
 
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Bexter said:
As far as this ep goes I think their whole objective was to get sam into a pair of boxers!!
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No complaints from me, but the print was a bit silly. Red hearts would have been enough, or even better, red boxers. Red's a celebration color in Chinese culture, right?
 
I love that episode too and also being a romantic. The other day when it was ION I taped it cause the dvd took away the powerful song by Foreigner and I was so happy that I could hear it.
Oh such love in his eyes for her and when Al says that Tamlyn still dies after he corners Toni Beshe in the alley. The frantic way that Sam ponded on the door of her apartment and he embraces her was so moving I cried.

\
isz said:
I ment to Tamlyn.
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Temptation Eyes

I was watching Temptation eyes.

Interesting to see that anyone with the similar brainwaves with sam can see who he is.

In the episode the psychic fell in love with sam, but what a pity sam has no control of where and when in time he wishes to stay.

What a pity!

Sorry for the spoiler everyone!
 
angvav said:
Sorry for my post on Temptation eyes being in the wrong place everyone!

Did I post it in the wrong place?

Sorry, I didn't realize :(
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I don't think that you posted it in the wrong place, Angvav. After all, you gave a review of the episode, and this is the place to discuss the episode "Temptation Eyes", so you posted in the right place.
 
ohboy said:
I don't think that you posted it in the wrong place, Angvav. After all, you gave a review of the episode, and this is the place to discuss the episode "Temptation Eyes", so you posted in the right place.
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Actually, angvav posted it in 'General Discussion', so the mods moved it here.

Angvav: There is no implied criticism of you by moving it. It is simply that it fits better here, and is more likely to get noticed. The general discussion tends to get clogged up, and specific threads can get lost. Much easier to keep comments on a single topic in one thread for ease of reference.
 
Are these the same boxers Sam wears as Knut Wilden (Animal Frat)?
In Animal Frat, after he got to his room (or should I say cave) he undresses (partially) and you can see som hearts-and-bearsies-boxers, too.
 
I guess this was a hit-or-miss episode for everyone, and it was kind of a miss for me, too. I really wanted to like Tamlyn, but she came across as really dull. And the "ethereal" voice that she used the entire episode didn't make me think she was any more mystical than if she had spoken normally.

I feel that the romance progressed way too quickly without enough buildup; the two of them barely knew one another and then they're suddenly sucking face. It also bothers me on some level that most of the times when there's a murder on Quantum Leap, the murderer is way too obvious. This is in part due to time constraints; they can only really introduce so many characters in a 45-minute episode, but they could certainly make it less obvious than it was in this episode.

While not the worst episode in the series, not the best, either.
 
As a (hormonally charged) 14 year old, this episode made a massive impression. The love scene with Foreigner playing stayed with me as a stand out point of the series.

Now twenty years on having re-watched the episode on DVD, I was absolutely gutted I Wanna Know What Love Is is missing! It just shows how much impact a powerful (if maybe a little cheesy) song with pertinent lyrics can have. It is hugely lacking without the original song. I just played it on YouTube while replaying that scene on the DVD. It was close enough. :)

The love scene and the back story of Tamlyn being able to see Sam as Sam made this the love episode for me. I didn't remember any other major love stories, although now re-watching the series there were plenty!

For that reason, even if watching it now Tamlyn is not the most interesting of characters and the killer screamingly obvious, this one will always hold a special place. That and the fact I think I probably have this episode to thank (or to blame?) for a lifelong obsession with Japanese women. :dreaming
 
This isn't the best or my favorite episode; I can understand why not everyone would like it. But I did like it because Sam got to be with someone for awhile who could see who he really was. Poor guy, that happens for him so seldom. Sigh. :)

That being said, the chemistry between Sam and Abagail and Sam and Nicole was better. And him and Donna in "The Leap Back"...Hubba hubba. ;-)
 
Re-reading this thread after several years and noticing the thoughts of this episode having been a flat story I can understand that perspective now. The way I see it is that the entire point of Tamlyn being able to see Sam was to give him a well deserved break and there was more to the story than just the relationship. He was there as he has been in many leaps to stop a murder. Which has actually had me recently thinking, Tamyln's murder stemmed from the relationship she'd established with "Dylan" so then what happened the first time when it was actually Dylan there who probably never met Tamlyn? Perhaps she was on to Ross?

When the season 4 DVDs were released I was actually quite pissed off that they removed the song I Wanna Know What Love Is and replaced it with sound-alike music. Thank goodness for my high school stupidity which supplied me with a bootleg of the episode (the entire series really).


miriel68 said:
Now I think about it, it seems to me you are perfectly right: I could say nothing about her beyond the fact she is psychic. And, after all, her being able to see Sam for what he really is, makes things far less exciting. I mean, in "Catch the falling star" Nicole was an intense personality and than, we are never sure (neither is Sam) if she is capable to sense he is not really Ray. When he says in the last scene "I love you Nicole", she answers "I love you too", but she doesn't add "Ray" therefore we can imagine lot of things. In "Temptation eyes" the story is rather flat, from that point of view. :wavey
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Respectfully I disagree with this. I found it a very unique angle that Sam was for once working as himself.
Your perspective of the Nicole story while creative is invalid, I'm sorry. If you remember she told "Ray" that she had so many students through the years that she couldn't remember individuals when she only vaguely recognized Sam's warm up exorcise but couldn't place it to a student. If by some bizarre miracle she could have seen Sam she would have had no idea who he was especially since he's very much not 15 anymore.


On a side note, my opinion of the Abigail relationship has changed from the perspective I shared here years ago (refer to my recent post in The Leap Back thread) though I still wholeheartedly dislike the trilogy and disagree with the chemistry.
 
Ever since they revealed the truth about Donna,I can't watch the episodes in which Sam's with a girl ever the same way again.
This was a nice episode except the part you figure out the real killer the second he's seen on the screen,though.
For a moment I thought Tamlyn wasn't going to make it.I recognize that actress from Stargate Atlantis 8)
As usual I didn't know the song which was used in original air so I need to check it.

Totally random point: When the camera lights were all over Sam's face in the beginning,I was like "Scott is a very good looking guy,indeed" :D
 
ladystoneheart said:
Ever since they revealed the truth about Donna,I can't watch the episodes in which Sam's with a girl ever the same way again.
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lol, yep. Also, though I haven't actually kept an exact count, it seems to me like Sam actually sleeps around more on leaps after 'The Leap Back' than he did before it.
 
COZI TV retains the correct song!

Shizuoka Leaper said:
As a (hormonally charged) 14 year old, this episode made a massive impression. The love scene with Foreigner playing stayed with me as a stand out point of the series.

Now twenty years on having re-watched the episode on DVD, I was absolutely gutted I Wanna Know What Love Is is missing! It just shows how much impact a powerful (if maybe a little cheesy) song with pertinent lyrics can have. It is hugely lacking without the original song. I just played it on YouTube while replaying that scene on the DVD. It was close enough. :)

The love scene and the back story of Tamlyn being able to see Sam as Sam made this the love episode for me. I didn't remember any other major love stories, although now re-watching the series there were plenty!

For that reason, even if watching it now Tamlyn is not the most interesting of characters and the killer screamingly obvious, this one will always hold a special place. That and the fact I think I probably have this episode to thank (or to blame?) for a lifelong obsession with Japanese women. :dreaming
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I just saw this episode on COZI TV the other night (Wednesday, 16 September 2015 at 8pm ET/PT), and The song I Want to Know What Love Is did air during the love scene between Sam and Tamlyn. I hope you saw it.

Some trivia I found that should be placed in the episode: The above song was the US Billboard #1 song for two weeks in early February 1985, during the precise time "Temptation Eyes" was set.
 
MichelleD said:
This isn't the best or my favorite episode; I can understand why not everyone would like it. But I did like it because Sam got to be with someone for awhile who could see who he really was. Poor guy, that happens for him so seldom. Sigh. :)

That being said, the chemistry between Sam and Abagail and Sam and Nicole was better. And him and Donna in "The Leap Back"...Hubba hubba. ;-)
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After re-watching this today, it does seem like Tamlyn saw Sam as himself from the very beginning, and if that's so, why did she suddenly in the middle of the episode yell out "Who are you?"
 
If Ross was so doubtful about psychics, why would he have killed Tamlyn in the original history? The real Dylan would have had nothing to do with her, he can't have believed that Tamlyn was really on to him.

I also agree with the fact that this leap was a "break" for Sam, and maybe it was interference from GFTW that allowed Tamlyn to see him, I think just being a psychic wouldn't be enough. But anyhow, the fact that he leaped in TWO WEEKS before the killing tells me that he was getting a vacation somehow.
 
servo75 said:
After re-watching this today, it does seem like Tamlyn saw Sam as himself from the very beginning, and if that's so, why did she suddenly in the middle of the episode yell out "Who are you?"
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No, she saw him as the leapee until the point where Sam was looking in the mirror and then she saw him as himself.

servo75 said:
If Ross was so doubtful about psychics, why would he have killed Tamlyn in the original history? The real Dylan would have had nothing to do with her, he can't have believed that Tamlyn was really on to him.
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She was working with the police, which still meant that she was against him. Maybe he just killed her on principle...
 
Lightning McQueenie said:
No, she saw him as the leapee until the point where Sam was looking in the mirror and then she saw him as himself.
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Yeah probably, but what caught my attention was that when they first met, Tamlyn remarked that Dylan "looked younger in person." One could make the argument that Dylan did look like an older Sam.

I think that in "It's a Wonderful Leap" Angela did see Sam the whole time. Also if, as some have speculated, Sam was really put there by GFTW as a "vacation," then why Tamlyn would see Dylan first and then all of the sudden see Sam makes no sense to me. Why that moment? Yes it was an emotional scene but it wasn't the first one, and Tamlyn earlier had said that her vision gets cloudy if she's not calm. So if anything, an emotional state would "blind" her abilities. That part still bothers me a little, but then again I tend to hyperfocus on those details. :nut

EDIT: My anal-retentive self just noticed one more thing. During the "Foreigner" scene, there was a brief moment when we saw Sam's reflection in a window, and we always saw reflections from Sam's POV. So just because Tamlyn could see Sam as himself, does that necessarily mean Sam saw himself in a mirror too? And in "Mirror Image" Sam had not seen his reflection in over four years. Again, just nitpicking, could be a blooper for all I know :)
 
An extremely powerful episode this one, that showcases just how doomed our dear Dr. Samuel Beckett is in terms of forming loving relationships.

Temptations Eyes is, at its heart, a love story. And it works...for the most part. Almost everything about this episode itself I enjoyed. I enjoyed the whole serial killer angle (although it did almost feel like a subplot at times, though, something which was driving Sam and Tamlyn closer and closer together because the plot needed them to be together). Also, just to get this small gripe out of the way...the killer was obvious from the start. We could have done with another couple of prominent characters. Blind Faith had this problem, too (the killer being very obvious again there). But yeah, Dylan was too obvious.

Now, back to the real meat of this episode, Sam and Tamlyn. This is, as many of you already know, the longest time Sam has spent on a leap, and the episode showcases the passing of time well with that beautiful montage (although on my version of the DVD (region 2), the beautiful song by Foreigner, "I Want To Know What Love is", doesn't play. We only get to hear stock, background music, which is a shame). Anyway, basically, I bought the love story between them, and find the ending heartbreaking every single time...

Unfortunately, what stops this episode from becoming Excellent in my mind...is the little problem regarding Donna, and that Sam is married to her. Yes, I know I've never mentioned this as an issue before. But here, the love seems so strong. It feels like there's a...once in a lifetime, star-crossed lovers kind of vibe going on. But we know that isn't true. If this had been a season 2 or 3 episode, I wouldn't have had as much of a problem with it. But it isn't. This comes after the season 4 opener (yes, we've already seen Sam and Donna together when she was younger, but that was different, as Sam's gamble in that episode seems uncertain to work). It does feel as though apart from Don Bellisario, the other writers (including Deborah Pratt), weren't too keen on the idea of Sam and Donna being married in the future. I know it's better that way for Sam that he doesn't remember Donna (because he wouldn't like being unfaithful). But there's a heap of difference in just keeping up a pretence of being in love with someone, and actually falling head over heels for them. And yeah, I don't know. I just think this episode is too close to The Leap Back to fully work.

That being said, I do enjoy Temptation Eyes, and adore Tamlyn as a character.

My rating. Good. A great episode.
 
Glenn L said:
I just saw this episode on COZI TV the other night (Wednesday, 16 September 2015 at 8pm ET/PT), and The song I Want to Know What Love Is did air during the love scene between Sam and Tamlyn. I hope you saw it.
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Yes it's one of the best musical moments of the series, save for Man of La Mancha. It really irks me that the DVDs overide it with generic music :realmad
 
One thing that bothers me about some of these episodes is the inconsistency when it comes to Sam & Al arguing about supernatural events. So to sum up:


Angels and psychics - Sam's fine but Al's skeptical
Vampires and ghosts - The exact reverse


There seems to be no consistency.
 
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