303 Leap of Faith

I thought this was a good episode. Not one of my personal favorites though. I liked the idea of Sam being a priest and I also liked it when Al said a prayer to God after all the years of not speaking to the almighty when Sam got shot. Thankfully he lived!

~Steve(aka RossBeckett)

Great episode. It shows how Al loses his faith, but prays for Sam when he gets shot. I also like the kiss with history with Sam inspiring Sylvester Stallone for Rocky.

I found this episode bellow average. I seriously considered voting the episode as fair.but finally i decided to vote Average,because of Al's personal angle. Anyway this episode is defently in my last 10 of the series.

I have noticed a "nitpick" in this episode. Five minutes and forty-five seconds into the episode, Father Mack holds up a Philadelphia Guardian newspaper dated August 19, 1963, featuring the headline "Youth Hit By Train." Upon closer inspection, the article just below the headline and next to the picture of the youth reads that Dianne Feinstein is up 13 percentage points against her opponent in next month's election for the Democratic nomination for California's gubernatorial race. The date of the election: June 5.

Al The Observer said:

I have noticed a "nitpick" in this episode. Five minutes and forty-five seconds into the episode, Father Mack holds up a Philadelphia Guardian newspaper dated August 19, 1963, featuring the headline "Youth Hit By Train." Upon closer inspection, the article just below the headline and next to the picture of the youth reads that Dianne Feinstein is up 13 percentage points against her opponent in next month's election for the Democratic nomination for California's gubernatorial race. The date of the election: June 5.

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Freeze-framing on the newspapers is always a hoot. There are a couple of howlers in Trilogy, I think - instead of the local murder, the article has to do with construction at LAX. Whoever had the thankless task of preparing the prop newspapers clearly didn't anticipate DVD technology revealing the fact that they only replaced headlines, not articles.

That's hilarious. Poor prop paper preparers. (Say that three times fast! )

Just watched this one again last night. Not a favorite but I like it, and like isz I particularly love the addition of the Al backstory and Sam's concern about why Al was acting so strangely during the leap -- that's a great scene.

I liked this one as well; I thought Al's prayer for Sam was touching also. It was a bit unrealistic to have him running and driving a car so soon after being shot though. Head wounds, even superficial ones, are nasty. I've done medical transcription for almost 16 years and I've transcribed a few where people have had head injuries. :b

Though I am no expert I too found the portrayal of the GSW to the head as a mere knee scrape not believable. His life or at least mental health should have been in jeopardy. Is it possible that perhaps the bullet had merely grazed across his skin? It was after all a sloppy shot since Tony could not see his target, not to mention was in a hurry to get the job done. The wound as seen in the end of the episode does look like a mere cut.

Regardless that gunshot and Al's prayer is my favorite part of the episode. The fact that Al did not hesitate for a second to turn to the God he doubted, even resented for Sam was amazing and shows how precious Sam is to him.

bluedana said:

Whoever had the thankless task of preparing the prop newspapers clearly didn't anticipate DVD technology revealing the fact that they only replaced headlines, not articles.

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Certainly not, DVDs did not exist when this show was filmed.
I believe I shall start paying more attention to the newspapers in the show now haha.

MichelleD said:

I liked this one as well; I thought Al's prayer for Sam was touching also. It was a bit unrealistic to have him running and driving a car so soon after being shot though. Head wounds, even superficial ones, are nasty. I've done medical transcription for almost 16 years and I've transcribed a few where people have had head injuries. :b

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lol, definitely unrealistic but it's Hollywood. It's only a flesh wound.

I liked the scene with Al praying for Sam, too.

Watching again now, it's even more obvious the wound was a scratch across the left side of his forehead. The bullet must have just grazed across the skin, it was an unaimed sloppy round of shots plus Sam had ducked just seconds before. So it seems to make sense, not that I am expert.

This was an episode that kind of scared me (for lack of a better word) the first time I saw it when I was a teenager. I don't know why, exactly, but it did at the time. After watching it over and over again throughout the years, I may say the reason could be the atmosphere that was masterfully put together in the episode. The sadness, the human darkness, the hoplessness, and the way they were all crafted with an ambience of seriousness, intensity and suspense, even when there were a few little funny moments.

The music was great here, and it helped a lot. In my opinion, Velton Ray Bunch always made the best scores for Quantum Leap. Love Mike Post, too, but it was simply different. Velton's score suited these series better.

Loved the message on faith itself and on hope even when everything may seem so lost and so dark. Loved father Mack. He was one of my favorite characters from QL.

My rating: Excellent. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. Very well-written from start to finish.

I thought of something during my latest watch of this episode:

Father Mac admitted he didn't actually see the original robbery and shooting, and only pretended to because Sonny had been scared about coming forward (rightfully so). This means that without Tony's confession, there is no way he could be convicted for the murders. Tony only confessed to the murders of the shop clerk and Sonny because he was being held at gunpoint. Al tells us that Tony doesn't get put to death but does some hard time. Since a confession given under duress is not admissible in court, do you think he escaped the death penalty because he couldn't be convicted of the murders, only the attempted murder of Father Pistano (Sam)?

I thought it was extremely cheesy when Al did that prayer.

And why didn't that train just hit the brakes? It was the most slow train I've seen in all my life!

Definitely a let down after the brilliant Leap Home episodes.

jg1981 said:

I thought it was extremely cheesy when Al did that prayer.

And why didn't that train just hit the brakes? It was the most slow train I've seen in all my life!

Definitely a let down after the brilliant Leap Home episodes.

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Hi jg1981, I do agree that the prayer was cheesy, but it was the sentiment behind the prayer which made it bearable and meaningful for me. Al was someone who wanted nothing to do with God, but cared more about his friend's wellbeing than his own hangups.

It's funny you mention that about the train - Tommy Thompson (the writer of the episode) told us in his interview for the Quantum Leap Podcast that for safety reasons they were not allowed to have the train go over 5mph while shooting. They had to do their best with the editing to make it look dangerous. It wasn't perfect but they did a pretty good job doing so

I thought the actor who played Tony was familiar - it was Fabricio from "Titanic"

But about the episode, something that confuses me. After the assassination attempt, Al tells Sam that he was really there to prevent Father Mack from killing Tony, but this couldn't be the original mission because originally it was Mack in the confessional and did get shot by Tony. So Sam changed history where Mack survived and went after Tony.

servo75 said:

I thought the actor who played Tony was familiar - it was Fabricio from "Titanic"

But about the episode, something that confuses me. After the assassination attempt, Al tells Sam that he was really there to prevent Father Mack from killing Tony, but this couldn't be the original mission because originally it was Mack in the confessional and did get shot by Tony. So Sam changed history where Mack survived and went after Tony.

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You just answered your own question. In the original history, Tony shot Father Mac in the Confessional and killed him. Sam changed that when he took over that job, and that is what caused Father Mac to want to get his revenge on Tony.

Lightning McQueenie said:

You just answered your own question. In the original history, Tony shot Father Mac in the Confessional and killed him. Sam changed that when he took over that job, and that is what caused Father Mac to want to get his revenge on Tony.

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Yeah that's exactly what I thought. It's just that the way Al said it was like it was one of those "Oops, Ziggy goofed" moments, that Sam was REALLY there to prevent Tony's death.

This was a well-done episode. All the characters were believable (yes, even the nit-picky first-pew ladies), and well-acted. I think the little guy who played Joey did a fantastic job. Also the actor who played Father Mack. You could see his hands shaking as he was doing the drinking scenes. Nice attention to detail.

I didn't like how Al seemed afraid to enter the church. Yes, I completely understand his anger over his father's death, and how he would be reluctant to ever have anything to do with his childhood faith (Roman Catholicism) again, but fear? The way he looks around with trepidation at his surroundings each time he's inside (or at the doorway of) the church? That seemed unrealistic to me. When a person stops believing the faith they were raised to believe, especially for a reason like Al's, I don't understand why there would be fear of coming into contact with symbols of that former faith. Irritation, yes. Anger, yes. Fear? No.

Though taking a knee and saying a prayer for Sam was touching. I liked the little bit at the end: "Thanks."

This episode still gets an Excellent from me.

jg1981 said:

I thought it was extremely cheesy when Al did that prayer.

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It was but it's the sentiment that mattered. It had meaning because it was a significant milestone for Al.
A man who unreservedly smites God plead to Him for his dearest friend's life.
For the first time in 30+ years, even though it was just for a moment, something was important (or perhaps desperate) enough to Al to reawaken a speck of his Faith.

jg1981 said:

And why didn't that train just hit the brakes? It was the most slow train I've seen in all my life!

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Good catch. Agreed. The timing of the talk down scene was unrealistic.

As a whole, I believe it was about 30 seconds to a full minute, far longer than it would take a train to travel the distance it had from the moment of Sam's arrival on the scene.

servo75 said:

I thought the actor who played Tony was familiar - it was Fabricio from "Titanic"

But about the episode, something that confuses me. After the assassination attempt, Al tells Sam that he was really there to prevent Father Mack from killing Tony, but this couldn't be the original mission because originally it was Mack in the confessional and did get shot by Tony. So Sam changed history where Mack survived and went after Tony.

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As Lightning McQueenie pointed out, Sam changed the mission.
When he replaced Mac in the confessional he simultaneously succeeded in preventing Mac's murder as Tony opened fire into the stall because he thought it was Mac which it was in the original history and created a new one because the attempt on Sam's host instead of him snapped Mac.

Though I'll grant that it doesn't make sense that Al had called it a mistake on Ziggy's part implying that she'd given them the wrong mission from the beginning.

You know what, I've always really enjoyed this episode. I know it's a bit of a mix bag in some ways but for me this is one of the best episodes of season 3. I think it's because I simply like the idea of Sam being a priest. In many ways, Sam is already like a priest. He does God's work on a daily basis and moves around from place to place and tries to make the world a better place. Al the bartender and Sam have a conversation regarding exactly this in Mirror Image, with Sam remembering that he'd leaped into a priest once.

Another reason why I like this episode is Father Mack. He's a great character. He's a good man but more than human enough to be believable. Put it this way, I could 100% buy that if Sam hadn't been there he would have killed Tony.

The reason why this really ranks high on my season 3 list, though...is largely thanks to Dean Stockwell. We learn some more about Al's past here and that scene in the darkened gym between him and Sam is a real highlight. I do think it's odd in some ways, though, that Al's beef with God is brought up here but is never mentioned before or after this. So I don't completely buy this part of Al's backstory, but even so, Dean does incredible work here as always. The best scene has to be when Sam gets shot and Al bends down and tries to lift his friend up. With the wrong actor there that whole scene with Al begging God to spare Sam could have come across as corny, but with Dean it works.

My rating. Excellent. The great start to season 3 continues.