418 It's a Wonderful Leap

It's a Wonderful Leap

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Al's Place Bartender - Brian Greene
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Jul 10, 2002
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It's a Wonderful Leap
May 10, 1958

New York City, New York


As a cab driver in New York trying to earn his medallion in a high-stakes contest, Sam literally runs over a woman who claims to be an angel. She can see Al, who doesn't get along very well with her, and says she is there to help Sam in his mission! Sam's mission, however, is to keep from getting himself killed while still earning the medallion.


Teleplay by: Danielle Alexandra and Paul Brown
Story by: Danielle Alexandra
Directed by: Paul Brown


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Now Watching It's a Wonderful Leap. I found this to be a very charming spin off of the classic Movie "It's a Wonderful Life". Although i did not see that movie all the way through because i was sick with the flu when it was on and i fell asleep, i still am aware of the main idea and Quantum Leap did a great job of duplicating it. my best friend and i found that the rather large woman Angela, meant to portray the role of Clarence provided mass humor to the episode, mostly when conflicting with Al. plus she desplayed quite a singing talent in the episode as well. i found the charactor of Angela to be both humorous and charming as she she had her serious moments when it came to Max's father and his conflicts of the soul, and steering Sam in the right directions. Then she also had her humorous side, cracking jokes here and there and when in an argument with Al, every remark she threw at him was halarious. i also found her mysterious when i was first viewing this episode, and quite enjoyed watching as her story began to unravel slowly througout the episode.
I also found that this episode desplayed some of the greatest Al humor as the conflict rises and falls throughout the episode, of is Angela really an angel or not?
There was also a great desplay of Sam's kindheartedness. Being the good heart that Sam has he is set on finding Angela a home before finding out that she's an angel, when in fact, his host local cabby, Max Greenman is the one in trouble. Fated to get robbed of his cab fares and shot in the head leaving him comatose for the rest of his life, Sam must prevent this. Unlike Al, Sam seemed to easily believe that Angela was an angel and at one point it's desplayed that he even has quite a but in common with her. but even then, he still won't relinquise his desire to help her in any way he can, when she is the one assigned to help him.
Personally i loved everything about this episode, the wonderful humor between Al and Angela as Al contiunes to refuse that She is an angel and thinks he has the rational expliantion for all of the evidence. There is even a reference to the Movie itself in this episode when Sam expresses that he thought Gardian angels were more like Clarence.
I love Sam's kindheartedness at the beginning of the episode when he is set on finding Angela a home, and worrying for her well-being.
And i also loved towards the end when Al and Angela begin to get along at last and turn out to be a great team. i found that the both of them made a great guidence team for Sam, as Al and Angela work together and end up helping Sam save the day. i am rather disappionted that they don't ever bring Angela back with the exception of one of the Quantum Leap based Novels.
The Sad thing was that once Angela had finished her job with Sam, and was ready to move on, everyone in the time period was fated to forget she ever was there, and this sadly included Sam, which does not agree with the movie, and my best friend and i believe that it should not have been such a big deal with allowing Sam to keep the memory of her. But i found it adorable when she called him by name and kissed his cheek, completely stunning him and leaving an adorable expression and lipstick mark on his cheek. awww
grin.gif

Plus i just have to stress about how i loved Sam's outfit in this episode i thought it made him look very cute. I also thought it was SOOO cute how when theat guy had the gun point at Sam and told him nervously to vacate the veichle, Al said.
"You better do it Sammy, he looks nervous".
thats so cute that he calls him Sammy. (and no i did not mishear, i heard it loud and clear through my headphones on my dvd drive)

This episode also has a historical figure camo, the famous Donald Trump as a kid, the creator of the famous Trump Towers.
 
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Okay, moment of fangirliness here: Sam's outfit in this episode was the cutest thing ever. I dunno what it was, but he was just so adorable! End moment of fangirliness.

And I loved Angela from the moment she opened her mouth. She made a great counterpoint to Al, and the exchanges between the two were hilarious. It was sad that Sam didn't get to remember her, and funny that Al couldn't forget her no matter how hard he tried. It was a great episode, all in all.
 
This is one of my favourite epsisodes, even though today was the first time I saw it. I think it was just hilarious how Al and Angela were going on at each other like that, I was laughing so hard I missed a few parts of the episode! Tomorrow I'm going to buy this season on DVD, so I'll be able to see the bits I missed, but that's of no relevance. I really think that this episode was brilliant.
 
I really enjoyed this episode,Great humor,Great chimestry between Al And Angela,interesting and I also think it were well written by Danielle Alexandra and Paul Brown,but the plot itself wasn't something to remember. The only thing that probably made viewers to remember this episode - is the 3 main characters in this episode-Sam,Al and Angela and the chimestry between them,during the episode.
One of my top 15,probably.
 
Yeah that's true Isz, the charactor of Angela kind of overshadows and distracts you from the story but the writers did it in such a way that is acceptable and enjoyable.
 
I think the actress who played "Angela" is the housekeeper for Karen (the lush) on "Will & Grace." I don't know if that was her singing, but it wasn't angelic to my ears. The West Story Story song was well-sung though.

In any case, I loved this episode, but I'm biased. Any time you have a funny character interact with Al, I'm watching the entire episode. The costume department hit the nail on the head by putting Al in a bright red suit so Angela could call him a devil, roflol!

There were a lot of good lines in this episode. I loved the little Donny Trump interaction - "there's gonna a big glass tower next to Tiffany's!"

Too bad Sam couldn't remember Angela. That would have been good for his character to know that he was being watched over by angels.

I didn't get the need for Angela to hand over the cash box. If she knew she couldn't die, why not hide the money and give the guy an empty box? Ah well, then we wouldn't get to see Sam leap over a desk and take away the bad guy's gun.
 
LadyKayoss said:
Okay, moment of fangirliness here: Sam's outfit in this episode was the cutest thing ever.
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Yes and no - the opening scene had me confused. At first, I thought he was African-American and then the rearview mirror peek made me think he might be an Orthodox Jew.

Once he got out of the cab with those glasses and the cap, I agree - it was a great costume. The wardrobe department deserved applause for this episode; everyone's outfits were great, even Angela's flapper dress.
 
NYCSciFiFan said:
I think the actress who played "Angela" is the housekeeper for Karen (the lush) on "Will & Grace."
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Rosario on "Will & Grace" was played by Shelley Morrison, not Liz Torres.

NYCSciFiFan said:
I didn't get the need for Angela to hand over the cash box. If she knew she couldn't die, why not hide the money and give the guy an empty box? Ah well, then we wouldn't get to see Sam leap over a desk and take away the bad guy's gun.
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True, Angela couldn't die but Sam could. If the thief (can't remember his name right now) opened it then and saw there was no money, he may have shot Sam.
 
jmoniz said:
True, Angela couldn't die but Sam could. If the thief (can't remember his name right now) opened it then and saw there was no money, he may have shot Sam.
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Yeah, but this is Sam we're talking about. The guy glances away to look in the box and Sam takes him down. It only takes a second.
 
OK for those that went bowling the night before the con, this is the episode that Ed Wasser appears in as the young executive. I have watched this episode twice now looking for him, but I can't find him. He is credited at the end, does anyone know which scene has the young executive in it?
 
This is a great episode...It's worth watching just for the scene where Sam and Al realize Angela can see Al. The chemistry between Scott, Al and Liz Torres makes this episode special. It's good that Sam has someone watching out for him since he's usually the one watching out for others.

"If I wasn't a gentleman and a hologram..." :roflmao:priceless.
 
This episode is fantastic. I love everything about the Angela character, and the banter between her and Al is hilarious. I reckon if Angela was ever reincarnated, she'd have ended up as one of Al's ex-wives. My favourite line:

Al: So there must be an all-you-can-eat buffet in Heaven...
Angela: You never gonna get there, so you never gonna know...
Al: And why is that?
Angela: There is a DRESS CODE.

Hahahaha. What I love most is that Liz Torres, who played Angela, was also a co-writer of this episode. At the QL con, she stated that she was blown away when she received her script, and every one of the jokes that she had suggested had ended up in there.

Plus, I love her singing voice :)
 
One thing that is starting to come to my attention as being a flaw is how surprised Sam is when Angela suddenly addresses him by his real name though she was right there when Al did it at least twice during the robbery scene and after she got shot. Kinda takes away from the revelation a bit, though there is still the fact that she was sent to him not the leapee.

BTW love it when she tells Al: "you're the devil but I don't see no horns.". Oh if only she had shown up in The Boogiem*n! XD

LadyKayoss said:
Sam's outfit in this episode was the cutest thing ever. I dunno what it was, but he was just so adorable!
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Couldn't agree more! <3
 
Sam Beckett Fan said:
One thing that is starting to come to my attention as being a flaw is how surprised Sam is when Angela suddenly addresses him by his real name though she was right there when Al did it at least twice during the robbery scene and after she got shot. Kinda takes away from the revelation a bit, though there is still the fact that she was sent to him not the leapee.

BTW love it when she tells Al: "you're the devil but I don't see no horns.". Oh if only she had shown up in The Boogiem*n! XD



Couldn't agree more! <3
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I just think that Sam didn't really believe that he was personally receiving help from angels, and preferred to think that GFTW is simply wanting to make sure the original wrong is being put right...
 
Excellent thought. It's probable that Sam had gone into slight shock at the revelation that God had actually made in a sense a physical appearance to get him through a leap.

It seems that He may have acknowledged the impossibility of the given task and thus deemed it cause to step in. Remember it was because Angela was shot in Sam's place that he'd survived that robbery.
The real Max likely refused to give up the money box (and may not have taken that unsteady trigger hand seriously) because this was something he was dedicated to and had worked like hell for however though Sam alone might have cooperated (since until after the robbery the task he was aware of was Max's life not the medallion) that gunman was in such a panic that he might have pulled the trigger anyway either without intention due to his trembling or for good measure. Actually this is pretty much a given considering that Angela had also cooperated and was still shot.
So the situation didn't seem anymore in Sam's favor than Max's.
This suggests that the task expected of Sam was the medallion which wasn't achievable without impossibly surviving the robbery.
 
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