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In this week episode of the Quantum Leap Rewatch, Cory and Tom learn piano on the run and enjoy your hospitality as they discuss season 3 episodes 15 & 16, “Piano Man” and “Southern Comforts.”
Piano Man:
Sam leaps into lounge lizard piano man Chuck Danner and ends up being confronted by an ex girlfriend named Lorraine who has tracked him down despite him changing his name from Joey DeNardo when he ran out on her three years prior. She says her fiance Carl, told her to come find him to “get him out of her system” so they can go forward in their marriage, free from their pasts.
Al arrives to tell Sam that in the original history, Joey and Lorraine died in a car bombing but luckily for Sam, he had loaned his car to the bartender who unfortunately ends up taking his place in the doomed car. A hit man starts to pursue Joey and Lorraine as they escape in her car which promptly runs out of gas, forcing them to hide off-road in some bushes until they manage to get a ride from some good Samaritans.
Sam and Lorraine manage to find some refuge at a dinner where they call the sheriff and then start to rekindle their old romance while waiting. Unfortunately Al shows up with the news that their lives are again in danger unless they leave immediately.
They make their escape but their car ends up needing a new tire and they are forced to stop yet again. While waiting for the tire repair, Al convinces Sam that he has to ditch Lorraine in order to save their lives, which he does, causing her to drive off. Unfortunately the killer arrives soon after and begins following her, thinking Joey is in the car as well.
Sam steals a truck and chases after them, eventually running the killer into an oncoming big rig truck as Lorraine heads to the airport that Carl told her he would meet her at. Carl becomes quite insistent that Lorraine tell him where Joey is but Sam arrives to break up their reunion with the news that Carl is actually a man named Nicky, whom Joey saw kill someone named Ponti three years ago, and has been using Lorraine all this time to track down the only witness.
Nicky quickly gets the upper hand by goading Lorraine into attacking him and then holding her hostage but as he grabs the guns from the floor Lorraine is thrown backward and reaches for a chain hanging from the ceiling causing a huge engine to fall and crush Carl as Al reports that both Joey and Lorraine end up finally happy in Hawaii as Sam leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Lorraine is played by Marietta DiPrima. We’ve seen her playing Penn Jillette’s assistant in Lois and Clark episode Illusions of Grandeur. She also started in “The Hughleys.”
Janelle (the woman in the bar) is played by Denise Gentile who went on to play Lise Hampton in “Babylon 5.”
Carl is played by Angelo Tiffe. He is mostly a soap opera guy, recently being on “Days of Our Lives” and previously appearing on “ER” and “Young and the Restless.” He had a small part in Police Academy 6 as Cop #1. He was in “21 Jump Street” playing a friend of Johnny Depp in a few episodes, the first episode he was in also had a guest appearance from Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) as a police academy instructor.
This episode unsung hero is Sam Clay. He has just 4 credits to his name, with appearances on “Married with Children”, “Future Shock” and “Beverly Hills 90210.”
The song “Somewhere in the Night” sung by Scott Bakula, is available on the Quantum Leap Soundtrack.
Southern Comforts:
Sam leaps into Gilbert Labonte, owner of the Labonte quilting and sewing academy, an innocuous name for what is in actuality a brothel. Sam is charged by Al with saving the life of Gina, a young girl in the brothel who goes missing in the next 24 hours, only to be discovered dead from a beating a month later.
The house has several visitors that night, one of which tries to pressure Gina into going “upstairs” with him for some private attention but she refuses, resulting in Sam stepping in and throwing the men out while Gina runs to the kitchen, feeling sick. This is followed by another visitor named Jake Dorleac looking for one of his students who ran away from his boarding school. Sam turns him away and decides the only true way to save Gina would be to close down the house for the night, preventing anymore guests from coming to partake of their services.
It’s soon revealed that Marsha, the head Lady of the night who is engaged to Gilbert, is actually related to Gina and has allowed her to stay there after she ran away from her home. The truth soon comes out when Sam rebukes Marsha’s advances and he tells her that she needs to move onto a better life for herself.
Meanwhile Jake has returned and climbed the trestle to enter Gina’s room and begins beating her for running away but Sam arrives, and a fight breaks out with Jake running away. Sam and the sheriff track him down and it is revealed that Gina is not just his student but his wife. Gina admits the truth, explaining that she left because she got pregnant and was afraid he would hurt the baby with his abusive treatment of her but she still won’t press charges, worried that Jake will hurt her more. Having no choice, Sam agrees to let Jake come and retrieve Gina.
The next day when Jake arrives he finds the girls dressed up to take a graduation picture for the quilting academy. It all turns out to be a ruse as they manage to capture a picture of Jake holding money, and seemingly propositioning one of the ladies who had quickly undressed for the snapshot. With the picture in hand, Gina is stronger and stands up to Jake, refusing to leave with him and under threat of blackmail agrees to leave and never come back. Al informs Sam that Jake eventually ends up in an institution due to his rage and never hurts anyone again. Marsha and Gina leave the house as well, determined to start new lives for themselves. Meanwhile Sam is propositioned by the girl who Gilbert will eventually marry and just as Al is about to get a glimpse of what he has been waiting for, Sam leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
The exterior of Gilbert’s house is the Munsters house.
Jake is played by Dan Butler. He played Bulldog Briscoe in Frasier.
A second Police Academy reference for the week is more glaring in this episode. The Sheriff is played by David Graf, who played Tackleberry.
Gina is played by Georgia Emelin who we’ve seen before as Dr Elaine Morris in Sliders episode Love Gods where only a few surviving men must repopulate the earth as slave breeders.
This episodes unsung hero is Richard White who has just three credits. He was in “Kill Zone” as a medic and “Immediate Family” as Anxious Father.
Whats Next?
Next weeks episode discussions are “Glitter Rock” and “A Hunting We Will Go”.
Thanks:
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