8 1/2 Months
(15 November 1955)
Sam is...Billie Jean Crockett, Expectant Adolescent
The Mission...Ensure Billie Jean doesn't give up her baby for adoption.
Yes, the Quantum Leap reviews are back after three (!) years. OK, so I didn't expect it to be quite that long however I did put the DVD by the TV to remind me. On New Years Day. That was this year though so there's progress. In the interim I've been thinking that crossdressing is a little like Sam Beckett's leaping. I still look down at myself now with painted nails and bracelets on my wrist or maybe wearing a skirt and tights and it still looks a little out of place after you've been used to yourself looking a certain way for so many years. I have gotten used to myself like this more as the time go on but there's still a sense of something off-kilter about and, yes, like I've leapt into a completely different body because you look down and think 'this can't be me.'
Anyway, on to the review and on our big Quantum Leap checklist of feminine situations reaches pregnancy which is such an obvious one that I'm surprised it took them three seasons to get to it. Billie Jean is an unmarried pregnant teenager in mid 1950s Oklahoma currently living with her friend Dottie Billings and working in her salon. Her mother died and her father threw her out. In the original history, Billie Jean gave her baby up for adoption, regretted it and tried to track her down for the rest of her life. Sam's mission is easy enough in that all he has to do to make sure she keeps the baby is to not sign the adoption papers with the agency but Deborah Pratt's script looks at the wider problems facing the young mother. Placing Sam in the 1950s means he is up against the prejudices of the time and he has to ensure that Billie Jean is cared for and he does so be reuniting her with her estranged father Bob (played by the episode's director James Whitmore Jr) who eventually marries Dottie. We get little info on who Billie Jean and her baby go on to be but it is presumed that they go on to live a good, happy life in the usual QL way.
Again Scott Bakula shines and has some really great scenes in this episode. QL always played a little loose with exactly what happens to Sam when he leaps and how much of the person remains. As stressed in this episode, Sam leaps into place and retains the 'physical aura' of the person however throughout this episode he begins experiencing symptoms of pregnancy. Sam and Al seem to flip their stances as usually Sam is the more rational whereas here Sam fully believes he is experiencing the pregnancy while Al is prepared to put it down to flu. Throughout the episode Sam not only feels the baby kick but he experiences hot flushes, cravings, cramps and increased urination. Towards the end of the episode in among the confusion as he gives birth Al pops in to tell us that Billie Jean has done the same thing - and the baby has disappeared from her womb!
Scott's performance is great throughout. When Sam first leaps in we find him dressed in a large shirt and jeans but he then spends most of the episode in a maternity dress. At first his physicality doesn't change to reflect the pregnancy but subtly he begins to walk with the weight, holding his back, and all without a fake pregnancy belly too. His scene with the lady from the adoption agency is especially well played.
The supporting characters are decent enough with Dottie and Effy the standouts. Dottie's boyfriend Keeter is the typical jerk just there to stir the pot and then we also have the father of Billie Jean's baby, Willis. It's interesting that he more or less gets away with little responsibility. A likeable chap, Sam decides to let him follow his dream and go to college to get out of their small town rather than push on with making him share responsibility. The plot was always heading towards a resolution between Billie Jean and her dad as the way to make sure she gets to raise her kid in a decent future although with Willis as one of his workers I'm suprised we never got the inevitable showdown. Overall a very good episode.
Again Scott Bakula shines and has some really great scenes in this episode. QL always played a little loose with exactly what happens to Sam when he leaps and how much of the person remains. As stressed in this episode, Sam leaps into place and retains the 'physical aura' of the person however throughout this episode he begins experiencing symptoms of pregnancy. Sam and Al seem to flip their stances as usually Sam is the more rational whereas here Sam fully believes he is experiencing the pregnancy while Al is prepared to put it down to flu. Throughout the episode Sam not only feels the baby kick but he experiences hot flushes, cravings, cramps and increased urination. Towards the end of the episode in among the confusion as he gives birth Al pops in to tell us that Billie Jean has done the same thing - and the baby has disappeared from her womb!
Scott's performance is great throughout. When Sam first leaps in we find him dressed in a large shirt and jeans but he then spends most of the episode in a maternity dress. At first his physicality doesn't change to reflect the pregnancy but subtly he begins to walk with the weight, holding his back, and all without a fake pregnancy belly too. His scene with the lady from the adoption agency is especially well played.
The supporting characters are decent enough with Dottie and Effy the standouts. Dottie's boyfriend Keeter is the typical jerk just there to stir the pot and then we also have the father of Billie Jean's baby, Willis. It's interesting that he more or less gets away with little responsibility. A likeable chap, Sam decides to let him follow his dream and go to college to get out of their small town rather than push on with making him share responsibility. The plot was always heading towards a resolution between Billie Jean and her dad as the way to make sure she gets to raise her kid in a decent future although with Willis as one of his workers I'm suprised we never got the inevitable showdown. Overall a very good episode.
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