308 The Great Spontini

This was an ok episode. Didn't stand out that much, but still good.

this episode i can mildly relate to. it shows how divorce can be tough on a child of an old enough age. unlike Jamie however, i was onlny three when my parents decided they just didn't have anymore in common and things were not working out, or rather my mom decided it and took off, but not intentionally. i relate becasue even though there was no nasty custidy battle for me because my parents got a long quote beautifully, and i don't remember anything of the divorce events, i still have had a tough time coping with it, as i never much saw my father often as i grew older in the elementary years, until it came to now when i was only seeing him once a week for lunch or dinner depending, up until his unexpected death on october 5, 2005. i understand how it sucks to have split parents becasue i was the only one of my friends. plus it was great to see how Sam faught so hard for her, and agianst Steve and the curtina things he said to steve about Maggie and Jamie still being his family no matter what and no lawyer had the right to take that away, and keep him away from them.

Just wanted to add some trivia about this episode...

It's based on an episode of The Magician, called "The Illusion of the Evil Spikes." "Evil spikes" refers to the Table of Death illusion that Sam was going to do to get on the show. In the actual episode, Bill Bixby did the trick himself (he did all of his character's magic tricks on the show). The date of May 9 is too late, though--the episode had already been broadcast on April 15, 1974, so it's much too late for The Great Spontini to be part of the filming.

I'm guessing that this episode was written by a couple of Magician fans--they're not regular QL writers. I happen to be a fan of Bill Bixby too, so I see this ep. as a nice little homage to him. He was still alive when they made it. I hope he knew about it, and I'll bet he got a good laugh out of the crack about "Incredible Hulk."

It was only an Average episode,in my opinion,but i still liked this episode very much. I don't know it had this...magic.

I have this song on my comp that makes me think of Maggie, its really pretty.

Listen To Your HeartI know there�s something in the wake of your smile
I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yeah
you�ve built a love but that love falls apart
your little piece of heaven turns too dark

listen to your heart
when he�s calling for you
listen to your heart
there�s nothing else you can do
I don�t know where you�re going
and I don�t know why
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye

sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile
the precious moments are all lost in the tide, yeah
they�re swept away and nothing is what is seems
the feeling of belonging to your dreams

listen to your heart
when he�s calling for you
listen to your heart
there�s nothing else you can do
I don�t know where you�re going
and I don�t know why
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye

and there are voices
that want to be heard
so much to mention
but you can�t find the words
the scent of magic
the beauty that�s been
when love was wilder than the wind

listen to your heart
when he�s calling for you
listen to your heart
there�s nothing else you can do
I don�t know where you�re going
and I don�t know why
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye

Listen to your heart....mm..mmm

I don�t know where you�re going
and I don�t know why
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye

This episode had its moments, I loved the bit where Al was just lying on the "table of death".

That lawyer made me mad throughout the show. Oh, and I agree with Sam's Crow. The part where Al was on the table of death was hilarious! Even funnier, though, was the look on Sam's face. :lol

Personally, I love the bit when the handlink "dies"

Oh, that was funny. Not so much that it died, but does anyone else remeber those children's toys where a person would push down on a lever, and a circle full of animals would spin, and where ever it stopped, the sound of that animal would be heard? It really reminded me of that :roflmao:Not that they all sounded like animals, but because it was sort of random.

Janna Galaxy said:

Personally, I love the bit when the handlink "dies"

Click to expand...

That was an other funny part of it. Mind you, he was beating the hell out of it.:crash

Just finished re-watching this episode and I'm disappointed for a couple of reasons:

1. Sam gets together with Spontini's ex.
This bothered me to some degree because he was emphasizing how he could make a great single father; I thought it would have been interesting for him to be a single father. The fact he got together with the ex was incredibly predictable, too; can't we have a good ending where not everything is neatly wrapped up in one nice package?

2. Another episode where Sam is a jerk to Al.
I guess having recently re-watched "MIA" and "Leap Home" Parts One and Two, I might be more sensitive to Sam being a jerk than I might normally. It feels like whenever Al questions Sam or disagrees with him that Sam has to snark off and bring up some part of his past to throw in his face. His remark about Al's mother is totally uncalled for, and Sam never, ever apologizes for it. That bothers me, especially when Al's so willing to give so much up for Sam's behalf.

Janna Galaxy said:

Personally, I love the bit when the handlink "dies"

Click to expand...

I have a feeling that this episode must have originally been shown later than was intended, because it is this moment when the handlink is supposed to permanently change, yet he uses the gummy bear handlink in a few earlier episodes...

Lightning McQueenie said:

I have a feeling that this episode must have originally been shown later than was intended, because it is this moment when the handlink is supposed to permanently change, yet he uses the gummy bear handlink in a few earlier episodes...

Click to expand...

Wow, didn't actually notice this. Nice catch!

Snish said:

Just wanted to add some trivia about this episode...

It's based on an episode of The Magician, called "The Illusion of the Evil Spikes." "Evil spikes" refers to the Table of Death illusion that Sam was going to do to get on the show. In the actual episode, Bill Bixby did the trick himself (he did all of his character's magic tricks on the show). The date of May 9 is too late, though--the episode had already been broadcast on April 15, 1974, so it's much too late for The Great Spontini to be part of the filming.

I'm guessing that this episode was written by a couple of Magician fans--they're not regular QL writers. I happen to be a fan of Bill Bixby too, so I see this ep. as a nice little homage to him. He was still alive when they made it. I hope he knew about it, and I'll bet he got a good laugh out of the crack about "Incredible Hulk."

Click to expand...

My problem with the crack was (and they wouldn't have been aware of this in 1974, I know) Bill Bixby didn't portray the Hulk. He played Dr. David Bruce Banner. Lou Ferrigno was our ill-tempered green friend and Dr. Banner's alter ego.

Lightning McQueenie said:

I have a feeling that this episode must have originally been shown later than was intended, because it is this moment when the handlink is supposed to permanently change, yet he uses the gummy bear handlink in a few earlier episodes...

Click to expand...

Yes, I was going to point out the same thing. I think we had already seen the "gummy bear" handlink in Black on White on Fire, the previous episode. I'd been looking for it to make its debut, and it makes sense to show up first here, because Al "kills" the old one.

Also, there's a blooper: when Al is in the trailer, he's holding the older version of the handlink, which had already died; and when he centers on Jamie backstage at the club, he's suddenly holding the "gummy bear" version.

iMonrey said:

Yes, I was going to point out the same thing. I think we had already seen the "gummy bear" handlink in Black on White on Fire, the previous episode. I'd been looking for it to make its debut, and it makes sense to show up first here, because Al "kills" the old one.

Also, there's a blooper: when Al is in the trailer, he's holding the older version of the handlink, which had already died; and when he centers on Jamie backstage at the club, he's suddenly holding the "gummy bear" version.

Click to expand...

While on the subject of handlinks, it's interesting to note that at the Project, they actually manage to repair the dead handlink, because we see Gooshie using it in Lee Harvey Oswald

Good episode but nothing special, in my opinion. It was fun to watch, either way. Love every time something pops out of Sam's hands. My favorite part, aside from Ziggy "dying", was when Sam took off his jacket and many things that came out from it were dropped on the floor. Quite hilarious.

My favorite character was of course Jamie. I found her actually quite relatable and engaging. Maggie and her lawyer fiance were both very annoying and one-dimensional, and didn't like the ending at all. It seemed so rushed to me and quite conventional and predictable, even for QL standards, and there were times in this episode where it seemed that Sam was not written very well, either. I love the work of Beverly Bridges, even though she was not so regular, but for her first episode she started off just fine.

I always thought that the actress who played Jamie at that time would've made a great Arcadia "Arkady" Darell if they ever made a movie out of "Second Foundation", the third and last book from the "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov. She was a great character there. Brilliant, intelligent, playful, sneaky, etc., and I don't know why but when I read that book I couldn't help but picture that actress every time Arkady appeared.

The Table Of Death was quite inspiring for some suspense/horror stories I wrote when I was 17. I had never heard of it until I saw this episode.

My rating: Average.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

My favorite character was of course Jamie. I found her actually quite relatable and engaging. Maggie and her lawyer fiance were both very annoying and one-dimensional, and didn't like the ending at all. It seemed so rushed to me and quite conventional and predictable, even for QL standards, and there were times in this episode where it seemed that Sam was not written very well, either. I love the work of Beverly Bridges, even though she was not so regular, but for her first episode she started off just fine.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I liked Jamie, too, and the girl who played her did a good job. With only a couple of exceptions I thought they did a good job casting kids throughout the series.

I agree that Maggie and her lawyer were one-dimensional, especially her lawyer, but I'm curious: what did you feel was off about Sam? I'll have to watch it again, but I don't remember getting that impression. There's one scene where he says something to Al about his mother that's kind of hitting below the belt -- is that the part you're talking about?

blue enigma said:

Yeah, I liked Jamie, too, and the girl who played her did a good job. With only a couple of exceptions I thought they did a good job casting kids throughout the series.

I agree that Maggie and her lawyer were one-dimensional, especially her lawyer, but I'm curious: what did you feel was off about Sam? I'll have to watch it again, but I don't remember getting that impression. There's one scene where he says something to Al about his mother that's kind of hitting below the belt -- is that the part you're talking about?

Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, definitely. That's one, but most of the time throughout this episode I found him a bit too high-toned towards Al, like Al didn't deserve the land Sam was walking on. That changed towards the ending, but I saw this a lot at the beginning. Glad this character approach was dropped after this ep.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

Oh, yeah, definitely. That's one, but most of the time throughout this episode I found him a bit too high-toned towards Al, like Al didn't deserve the land Sam was walking on.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I get you. Sam could be self-righteous at times -- that's one of his main character flaws I think -- he definitely was in the scene I mentioned. Although it wasn't a constant thing I think he got that way several times with Al, especially in the fourth and fifth seasons, though maybe it was toned down a little. Stand Up is actually one episode where I definitely picked this up, which is another reason why I couldn't warm up to that episode.

blue enigma said:

Yeah, I get you. Sam could be self-righteous at times -- that's one of his main character flaws I think -- he definitely was in the scene I mentioned. Although it wasn't a constant thing I think he got that way several times with Al, especially in the fourth and fifth seasons, though maybe it was toned down a little. Stand Up is actually one episode where I definitely picked this up, which is another reason why I couldn't warm up to that episode.

Click to expand...

Yeah, every time I saw that in Sam it made me think "WHAT is his problem?" Sam is NOT perfect himself. In fact, he's far from that. One of the reasons I'm more fond of Al. He's more Down-to-Earth, in my opinion.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

He's more Down-to-Earth, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

That's a good description. With Al it really is 'what you see is what you get' for the most part. I think this is part of why they compliment each other so well, though. Al's groundedness keeps Sam's head from getting completely lost in the clouds.

This is a sweet episode with a wonderful father/daughter bond.
Jamie Spontini is a well written, likable character; a strong minded, take charge kid who knows what she wants and doesn't allow herself to be pushed around.
The situation was well written and believable, somewhat like in Mrs. Doubtfire. Father with unstable home environment and employment automatically written off as unfit parent.

Honestly I don't believe any episode nozzle (to use Al's word lol) in this series pisses me off like that attorney does and no less with each time I watch. The bastard was clearly searching for excuses to make a man he doesn't even know out to be a bad guy or threaten to take away visitation rights for no damn reason. In the scene where Sam nearly got into a brawl with him I wish he would have freaking broke his nose!

The mother kinda of irritated me as well with the whole "I had no choice" bit. Now I am no expert and we of course don't know the nature of her living conditions immediately after leaving the family however when my mother left my father she ended up living with her parents, my grandparents for at least a year yet she had me with her. I was three years old. So I find it hard to imagine Maggie being unable to have an 8 year old with her where ever she ended up especially since it's pretty clear that she had planned to come back for Jamie.
In fact the claim that Harry's living conditions were inappropriate should have also worked against her because she left the child in said conditions. Reckless abandonment right there.
Though as I said since we don't know what her circumstances were this is just a rough assessment. The backstory there has a blank space in it where the possibility could easily fit. Either way she left of her own accord (not kidnapped or the child verbally threatened) regardless of the fact that her reason was understandable and even more so she left Jamie behind. Both were choices she made.
Best line in the episode:
"I didn't walk out on my daughter."
Well said Sam.

Another favorite aspect of this leap besides the father/daughter relationship is Sam's refusal to settle for the expected minimal success when there was clearly an additional opportunity presenting itself. He could tell from the beginning that these two people were still in love and couldn't ignore that.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

but most of the time throughout this episode I found him a bit too high-toned towards Al, like Al didn't deserve the land Sam was walking on.

Click to expand...

Would you mind elaborating, what's the instance you feel this way about? I am not following. Though I did feel that the comment about Al's mother was a bit below the belt and certainly unnecessary. Where did that come from Sam? Not cool!

Honestly Sam is quite a bit unfair and selfish towards Al such as with Beth in M.I.A (however not without regret). Though any character, especially one like Sam who has barely been shown to have a hint of darkness (which is in heavy contrast to second Leaper Alia who was more evenly distributed) would not be believable if not flawed in some way.
Personally I find the brilliance of their team in the fact that they are exact opposites in practically every way. It's because of this that they compliment each other so beautifully and of course are so hilarious.

So whatever it is you are referring to it's no doubt a necessary character flaw.

Sam Beckett Fan said:

Would you mind elaborating, what's the instance you feel this way about? I am not following.

...

So whatever it is you are referring to it's no doubt a necessary character flaw.

Click to expand...

Sure. What I mentioned before. Sam in fact DOES have flaws. It happened sometimes that he was so focused on doing the "right" and the "moral" thing that he immediately discarded any comments or visions from Al, even if they were for the better. Kind of what happened in "Good Night, Dear Heart", when Al points out that Sam is getting a bit too obsessed with all the Hilla movies, and he just keeps going. Or in "The Leap Home", the "don't give me that crap, Al" line when he tells him that maybe he wasn't there to save his family. Sometimes, and mostly during this season and in this particular episode as well, I found Sam not being a very good listener, except for the most important things (talking about life and death). Also, and I don't know exactly why, but he gave me the impression that sometimes he kept judging Al for his past, for the way he lived it. The comment on his mother stems away from this self-centeredness and from his (mistaken) notion that he had the word on what was best for the life of everybody. It also happens in "Dreams" at some point. He overlooks Al's opinions and Al just has to give in. I know Al is not perfect, either, and sometimes he's going to be wrong, too, but I'm talking about the reaction from Sam. It's almost as if he hates being wrong or proven wrong because he always has to be right about everything. A major flaw and one of the things I dislike about him. I disagree it's a "necessary" flaw. It's a subtlety I don't particularly enjoy. Understandable, maybe, but not exactly necessary. It's probably just another way for Sam to continue learning... So 90's, if you ask me. :b

Alright, well I believe that somewhat that falls under his selfish side, the same side that wanted nothing more to do with Vietnam than to save Tom but in a different way. Personally I am not sure what instances in this particular episode in which you see this occurring (but then again it's an ungodly hour in my agenda, since I have class today, one in which my noggin isn't in the best working condition) but I see your basic point and agree. Some of that in part however can be blamed on Al himself. Perhaps if he wouldn't at times show up on his own agenda or share his unmoral opinions with a man whom he should know better will argue them (Ex. Thou Shalt Not) Sam might take him more seriously in some instances.

Not that I mean to defend Sam; I can see where you are correct on this point and agree with the frustration of his such behavior in some episodes such as All Americans and as you pointed out The Leap Home(though given the personal circumstances of that leap you can't completely blame him). I however will not yield that it is a necessary flaw. To show a selfish and/or conceded side of such a pure and compassionate man provides a good believable balance to what would otherwise be too perfect a character.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

It happened sometimes that he was so focused on doing the "right" and the "moral" thing that he immediately discarded any comments or visions from Al, even if they were for the better.

Click to expand...

This is an interesting point and of course what's "right" and the "moral" thing to do isn't always black and white, and what's the right thing to do in one situation is not necessarily the right thing in another. Further upthread Trudy commented that Harry and Jamie seemed happy with their life and that she would have liked to see an outcome with Harry continuing as a good single father who loves his daughter and raises her himself. I agree with this. I really didn't like too much that Sam feels that the only way they can be happy is to reunite them back into a traditional nuclear family. While sometimes this is the best situation, a lot of times it isn't.

Donofrio_QLTD said:

Also, and I don't know exactly why, but he gave me the impression that sometimes he kept judging Al for his past, for the way he lived it. The comment on his mother stems away from this self-centeredness and from his (mistaken) notion that he had the word on what was best for the life of everybody.

Click to expand...

Here is where Sam's self-righteousness comes in. This is an example of it and he was definitely judging Al.

Al spent the majority of his childhood years in an orphanage most of the time but from some of the stories he tells on the street sometimes too, because of the actions of his parents, particularly his mother. We know what the fallout was for his sister Trudy too. Now, to be fair, we know the story of his mother as Al tells it, and it may not be accurate -- maybe his father bad-mouthed his mother to Al and Al believed it because he had to, because his father was the one he was left with. For all we know his mother had a very good reason for leaving, like maybe it was a matter of her survival, which Al may not be aware of or doesn't want to admit. But from his perspective and as far as we know his mother callously ran off with another man and abandoned the family. And things continually got worse.

Is it fair for Al to now judge every woman/every mother by that? Nope. But it's human nature to react to things based on our experiences. And whatever her reason Maggie did walk out on the family. The Becketts weren't perfect and everyone has their problems but Sam grew up in a relatively happy and loving home, he has no idea what it's like to be abandoned by a parent or to wind up parentless or on the street. It's really easy to judge someone in a situation when you're looking at it from the outside and you've never experienced it. Which is what Sam is doing when he makes the comment about Al's mother and why it ticks me off.

blue enigma said:

Further upthread Trudy commented that Harry and Jamie seemed happy with their life and that she would have liked to see an outcome with Harry continuing as a good single father who loves his daughter and raises her himself.

Click to expand...

Agreed that the outcome with the parents getting back together was not believable. No separated couple gets back together especially not when one up and leaves because they couldn't handle your life anymore. Despite that Sam had pushed that in the end since it wasn't in the original outcome, either way the mother still remained in the equation having won her daughter's acceptance back. Which in the time it was forced to take since they only have a hour to tell the story, also wasn't realistic. Especially not as angry as Jamie rightfully was.

Harry having won sole custody would have been a very unique and refreshing outcome. Though again probably not realistic for the time period and given his circumstances.

blue enigma said:

I really didn't like too much that Sam feels that the only way they can be happy is to reunite them back into a traditional nuclear family.

Click to expand...

Who said he reunited the parents because he felt it was the only positive outcome?
What was portrayed with that angle was that Sam saw these in these two people that there was still love between them and thus felt that they were throwing their relationship away for no good reason.

blue enigma said:

Al spent the majority of his childhood years in an orphanage most of the time but from some of the stories he tells on the street sometimes too, because of the actions of his parents, particularly his mother. We know what the fallout was for his sister Trudy too. Now, to be fair, we know the story of his mother as Al tells it, and it may not be accurate -- maybe his father bad-mouthed his mother to Al and Al believed it because he had to, because his father was the one he was left with. For all we know his mother had a very good reason for leaving, like maybe it was a matter of her survival, which Al may not be aware of or doesn't want to admit. But from his perspective and as far as we know his mother callously ran off with another man and abandoned the family. And things continually got worse.

Click to expand...

Agreed that Al could very well be romanticizing his father. Even if he were abusive let's say, the way Al might see it is that he was there and tried at least for a little while.
Or he doesn't give the father credit but the mother could have been more of the villain in the same scenario because she left him and Trudy in that environment, with a violent man. How could she be so selfish!?

Or perhaps the mother left because the father was unfaithful but the children were never told of this so to Al it can have no other appearance than that the mother just up and left. Once again the father would be romanticized in this scenario, a victim.

My best friend whom in her Quantum Leap writing likes to work more with Al than Sam (and has a pretty amazing handle on his character) wrote a piece set in Al's childhood where it's mentioned that he told his peers his mother was killed in a car crash because he was too ashamed to admit that she'd abandoned the family.
She also wrote another where an adult Al who had always kept that he was an orphan to himself (even in the childhood piece he never mentioned the orphanage to his school friends) and would fabricate where needed opens up about it to Beth.

Sam is the one person Al trusts more than he's ever trusted anyone in his life; so since he tells Sam that the mother left she probably did regardless of the reason. If any part of what he actually tells is untruthful it's because either he has the wrong idea about the mother's leaving or the he romanticizes his father who wasn't as caring or as much of a victim as he implies.

blue enigma said:

Is it fair for Al to now judge every woman/every mother by that? Nope. But it's human nature to react to things based on our experiences. And whatever her reason Maggie did walk out on the family. The Becketts weren't perfect and everyone has their problems but Sam grew up in a relatively happy and loving home, he has no idea what it's like to be abandoned by a parent or to wind up parentless or on the street. It's really easy to judge someone in a situation when you're looking at it from the outside and you've never experienced it. Which is what Sam is doing when he makes the comment about Al's mother and why it ticks me off.

Click to expand...

This is perfectly explained. Why I didn't think of it this way is beyond me.
As I pointed out earlier, Sam and Al are exact opposites in practically every way. Sam being a very compassionate guy always feels for the situations of others but is only human and by no control of his own can not relate to everything. He has no notion of what it's like growing up in a negative environment as in turn there are times when Al forgets that Sam was raised in a loving home. Such as in Leaping in Without a Net.
"Let me guess, you ran away from the orphanage when you were a kid and joined the circus?"
"Yeah. Didn't you?"

Sometimes I do feel like Sam doesn't try as hard to sympathize with Al as he does with the people he's involved with in leaps. Why, I can't imagine.

Sam Beckett Fan said:

Agreed that the outcome with the parents getting back together was not believable. No separated couple gets back together. Although Sam had pushed that in the end since as Al put it that wasn't in the cards in the original outcome, the mother still won her daughter's acceptance back which in the time it was forced to take since they only have a hour to tell the story, also wasn't realistic. Especially not as angry as Jamie was.

Harry having won sole custody would have been a very unique and refreshing outcome. Though again probably not realistic for the time period and given his circumstances.

Click to expand...

This is my take on it. Sometimes a separated couple can get back together but given all the anger here it didn't make sense for this couple, and certainly not as quickly as it did.

Sam Beckett Fan said:

Who said he reunited the parents because he felt it was the only positive outcome?
What was portrayed with that angle was that Sam saw these in these two people that there was still love between them and thus felt that they were throwing their relationship away for no good reason.

Click to expand...

I agree that this may have been part of it as Sam tends to be a romantic that way. But he can get a little too gung-ho about the romantic aspect. There is a lot of anger here and this family has problems. It was too pat. I also think that because Sam comes from a more traditionally structured family he does a little bit overlay this idea onto other situations though.

Sam Beckett Fan said:

Agreed that Al could very well be romanticizing his father. Even if he were abusive let's say, the way Al might see it is that he was there and tried at least for a little while. Or he doesn't give the father credit but the mother could have been more of the villain in the same scenario because she left him and Trudy in that environment, with a violent man. How could she be so selfish!?

Click to expand...

Exactly. He may have witnessed his father abuse his mother and even blocked it out. That's a terribly traumatic thing for a child to see. I never got the sense that Al was abused by his father, but again, maybe he blocked it out. Or he might blame his mother more for leaving him at his mercy.

Sam Beckett Fan said:

As I pointed out earlier, Sam and Al are exact opposites in practically every way. Sam being a very compassionate guy always feels for the situations of others but is only human and by no control of his own can not relate to everything. He has no notion of what it's like growing up in a negative environment as in turn there are times when Al forgets that Sam was raised in a loving home. Such as in Leaping in Without a Net.
"Let me guess, you ran away from the orphanage when you were a kid and joined the circus?"
"Yeah. Didn't you?"

Click to expand...

I think Al's either joking with Sam when he says, "Didn't you?" or he's leading up to his comparison, almost in a bragging way for lack of a better word. Because he goes on to compare their upbringing, which shows that he didn't forget at all. I don't think he ever forgets that difference between them.

"Oh sure, you grew up on a farm, I grew up in an orphanage. You had a mother and father, I had a parole officer. You had a cow, I had a roach."

I'm paraphrasing, as I don't remember the exact dialogue right now. But I actually love this exchange. It's hilarious when Al starts talking about Kevin the roach.

blue enigma said:

Exactly. He may have witnessed his father abuse his mother and even blocked it out. That's a terribly traumatic thing for a child to see. I never got the sense that Al was abused by his father, but again, maybe he blocked it out. Or he might blame his mother more for leaving him at his mercy.

Click to expand...

True this is also a possibility, however since this is information that is never developed there is nothing to suggest that what we are told isn't true.

blue enigma said:

I think Al's either joking with Sam when he says, "Didn't you?" or he's leading up to his comparison, almost in a bragging way for lack of a better word. Because he goes on to compare their upbringing, which shows that he didn't forget at all. I don't think he ever forgets that difference between them.

"Oh sure, you grew up on a farm, I grew up in an orphanage. You had a mother and father, I had a parole officer. You had a cow, I had a roach."

I'm paraphrasing, as I don't remember the exact dialogue right now. But I actually love this exchange. It's hilarious when Al starts talking about Kevin the roach.

Click to expand...

You're probably right. Forget I said anything regarding that subject.
Kevin the roach was hilarious. XD

Sam Beckett Fan said:

Kevin the roach was hilarious. XD

Click to expand...

It's one of the funniest exchanges in the series for me. It's really done well and Sam's expression while Al is talking is priceless.

Kevin the cockroach was something Tommy Thompson pitched during his initial meeting with Don Bellisario and the writers, he said that Don would always mention Kevin and they'd always share a laugh whenever they met. How sweet

I've always had a soft spot for this one. I must concede that in many ways it is probably deserving of only an average rating. But I personally like it for several reasons.

First of all, I really like Jamie, and her bond with her father/Sam. The interactions between them are what really catapulted the episode up for me. Another highlight of this episode for me was the one in front of the judge, where Al kills the handlink. I think this must have been the last time we were ever supposed to see this version of the handlink before the gummy bear version appeared. But of course, the order the episodes were filmed in was different to the order in which they were aired.

The lawyer character, Steve, is easy to dislike and is in fact one of my most hated characters that ever appeared on the show. But in some ways I actually disliked the mother, Maggie, even more. Not only for running out on her kid but also for completely using Steve. It's clear to me she was only using him as a lawyer to get her daughter back. As much as I disliked Steve, I do think he genuinely cared for Maggie, so I did feel a tiny shred of sympathy for him at the end.

My rating. Good. A sweet story that continues the trend of good episodes in season 3.

Why couldn't Jamie hear Al?

It may be talked about somewhere else but at what age do kids stop being able to hear/see Al? He was trying to tell Jamie to get off the dangerous magic trick and then said "why am I talking to you, you can't hear me". It made me wonder why some kids can hear him and others can't.

Pool Hall Blues vs Rebel w/o a Clue

Why did they have the same actor play Grady in Pool Hall Blues and Ernie (the diner owner) in Rebel Without a Clue? These episodes aren't that far apart in sequence and it seems like they should have got a different actor.

I believe the cut-off age for kids seeing/hearing Al is around 6 years old.