Quantum Leap #2: Another Mother

Another Mother 

(30 September 1981)

Sam is...Linda Bruckner, multitasking mother

The Mission: Save son Kevin Bruckner from running away from home and subsequently vanishing without a trace.  

This is another favourite episode for me and one I have watched a number of times.

We are still in season two and this story comes a mere nine episodes after What Price Gloria. We've done 'single girl in the city' so 'mother' is the next logical step. As such, we are over the whole "oh no I'm a woman" thing and struggles with heels and getting into the situation at hand. Sam looks a lot better in Linda's pirate-y blouse and long skirt than he did in Samantha Stormer's revealing dresses. I noticed Al's bizarre clothes a bit more this time with his tie with bites taken out of it and flurry of buttons on the collar. 

While Linda is dressing as a pirate, all the cool kids in 1981 are dressing as cowboys and cowgirls it seems. Speaking of which, up to this point 1981 was the furthest the show had ever travelled forward for a mission. I suppose it was like a present day Doctor Who episode, saves money on period detail at least. This episode also introduced the idea that kids could see Sam and Al because they exist in a natural alpha state and could not be lied to. "That's not mommy, that's a man," repeats younger daughter Teresa at the beginning, and no doubt to several psychiatrists in the years since. She's was played by Troian Bellisario daughter of producer Donald Bellisario and this episode's writer Deborah Pratt.  

Michael Stoyanov (whom I remember mainly from the early 1990's sitcom Blossom) plays Kevin well and has some of the most pop-culture laden lines pre-Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Somehow he's involved in Demons and Dragons, an odd Dungeons and Dragons game in which ranking is based on sexual encounters for some reason. When school hottie Jackie agrees to embarrass Kevin in front of his friends he is soon sent into the night and into the clutches of two mute perverts who we have seen heading towards the town in a beaten up van in various previous scenes. Al has a wonderful line in response to one of the Kevin's so-called friends, telling him he won't lose his own virginity until 6 years time although how he has this information to hand is another mystery. Sam gets the opportunity to kick ass in a long skirt ("Watch that knife, Sam. It could be sharp," is Al's helpful advice) and it's worth it to see the stunned look on Kevin's face when he stumbles out of the van to see his mother has beaten up his kidnappers. Their motivation is never explained but perhaps they don't need one beyond being generic dirty old men and providing someone for Sam to fight which he does so while Al reels off a list of all the fighting styles Sam handily knows. 

So, it seems a bit like an 80's teen sex comedy in places but there's a lovely dynamic with the kids, Kevin and his sister Susan bicker all the time but make up and Al's scenes with Teresa are lovely as she embraces the logic of the leap. Teresa also appears in a novel sequel Angels Unaware (1997) by L. Elizabeth Storm. Not only does Sam have a schedule to keep up with but there's some interesting moments as he finds he can't have a heart to heart with Kevin as he feels he can't relate to his mum. 

This story was less about Sam being a woman and more on his role as mother and it was all the better for it, the outfits he wore for it worked better too. 

That's not quite it for season two though as we also have a snippet of the finale M.I.A (01 April 1969) in which Sam leaps into it, at first sight, a hooker standing in an alleyway. This is a wonderful little fake out which appears in the credits but our crossdressing leaper is for once actually crossdressing and the figure in the big hair, red top and orange mini skirt is actually undercover cop Jake Rawlins. After leaping twice into a woman this season, you couldn't blame Sam for thinking otherwise. It's not the first crazy costume he wears this episode too. As a newbie detective he also finds his locker filled with frillies and once again he's delighted to see a pair of jeans. That's where the CD element ends but this is a lovely bittersweet story in which Al tries to get Sam to stop his first wife remarrying while he's MIA (missing in action) in the Vietnam war. Ironically, the next story after this sees Sam try to change his own past in season three opener, The Leap Home.

Next time we enter the world of the beauty contest...