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In this weeks Quantum Leap Rewatch, Cory and Tom take a more literal leap and find themselves on the run as they discuss season 2 episodes 19 and 20, “Leaping in Without a Net” and “Maybe Baby.”
Leaping in Without a Net:
Sam finds himself as Victor Panzini, a trapeze artist working with his sister Eva and father Laszlo. Unfortunately, due to Victor’s role in the death of his mother, another trapeze artist, Laszlo refuses to let him catch Eva as part of the act, relegating him to safety man on the ground instead. This will have dire consequences however as Al reveals that Laszlo fails to catch Eva at their next show, causing her to fall to her death. However, Sam discovers that he couldn’t catch Eva even if he wanted to, because of his own fear of heights. Nevertheless, Eva persuades him to try and with help from Al, he manages to overcome his fear slowly.
Meanwhile, the Panzinis are facing another struggle, their fellow carnival coworkers are mad because the family has received an offer to perform in a much more illustrious circus, Circus Vargas. Upon arriving at Vargas, Laszlo learns that Eva wrote to the circus herself and offered to perform the triple, the very stunt that killed their mother. Eventually it is revealed that the death wasn’t Victor’s fault but rather Laszlo’s, as his body and reaction times are not what they used to be and he begrudgingly submits.
Later that evening Sam and Eva ready themselves for the triple and while Sam is extra nervous due to Eva refusing to use a safety net, he manages to actually catch her after she performs the triple and after Laszlo assures him he is now back in the act, Sam leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Eva is played by Fabiana Udenio. She has had a steady career but most notably she played Alotta Fagina in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”. Also from Summer School with Mark Harmon
Big Moe is played by Phil Fondacaro. He got an early start playing an Ewok in “Return of the Jedi” alongside Warwick Davis, and later appeared with him again in the film “Willow.” We’ve seen him before in Sliders episodes Into the Mystic as the Bounty Hunter and Data World as Mac.
The owner of the second Denver based circus is played by Richard Riehle. He is an extremely busy actor, constantly appearing in TV shows and movies (381 credits on IMDb). A lot of people will recognise him as the uptight Tom Smykowski from “Office Space.”
This episodes unsung hero is Ted Nordblom. He was also in the Wolverine video games as the voice of Colossus and did stunts on “Batman and Robin.”
Kiss with History:
Circus Vargas is an American circus based in California. It was built with the intent of bringing an old time circus to everyone; it is billed as one of the world’s biggest traveling circuses still using a big top tent. Clifford E. Vargas (1924-1989) founded Circus Vargas in 1969. After sale, with rising costs, owners changed the circus into a more intimate one-ring ‘European style’ circus.
Al’s Five Wives:
Al’s second or third wife was Hungarian.
This could align with his 3rd wife, Ruthie, being Jewish? See more about the history or Hungarian Jews here.
The name Ruth also has origins in Ancient Hebrew.
Maybe Baby:
Sam leaps into a bouncer named Buster in the middle of what appears to be a kidnapping, as he is rushed carrying a bassinet into a truck by a young woman named Bunny O’Hare, a locally well known stripper. She claims that the baby is hers and Sam decides that he must be there to help her and the child get back to safety in New Mexico with Bunny’s Aunt Margaret, far away from Reed Dalton, the baby’s father.
Al arrives and tells an unbelieving Sam that Bunny is not the mother but after some pressing from Sam, Bunny tells him that she isn’t in fact the mother, just the babysitter and the baby’s real mother IS in New Mexico and that Reed lied about the mother dying so he could keep the baby for himself. Disappointed in the lie but still believing her story about needing to get the baby to New Mexico, they take off the next morning in a newly bought car after Reed and the sheriff show up looking for them.
Al continues to push Sam to turn themselves in and hope for a lesser sentence than the original 20 years they received, but Sam pushes on. They end up stopping at a bar so Bunny can do a striptease act in order to win money for gas but their success quickly ends when Reed and the sheriff show up. It’s revealed then that Bunny wasn’t even the babysitter, but was just someone that Reed dated for a while. Disappointed again by yet another lie, Sam loses hope in Bunny and won’t even believe Al when he shows up and says that Bunny’s story IS actually true.
Bunny however, manages to get the deputy’s gun and the two, with the baby, make a break for it in the cop car. Al explains as they speed to a New Mexico address that Reed is wanted in NM for a real estate scam and after he lost custody of the baby in a divorce, he stole the baby and just told everyone the mother had died as he fled to Texas to start a new life.
With Reed tailing them close behind, Bunny radios the police and tells then where they are going so they can be there when they arrive. Reed arrives at the same time and orders the NM police to arrest Sam and Bunny but the officer recognizes Reed and takes him into custody instead. Mother and daughter are reunited and Sam finally leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Bunny is played by Julie Brown. She was also in “Earth Girls Are Easy” and was an MTV VJ. Her brother is Paul Brown, her co-writer on this episode. We’ve seen another MTV VJ named “Downtown Julie Brown” in the L&C Mr Goode episode, however, that is a different person.
Reed is played by Charles Frank. We’ve seen him before in Lois and Clark episode Honeymoon in Metropolis where he played the shady Congressman Ian Harrington.
This episodes unsung hero is Jay Boryea. He’s mostly a stuntman but has acted a little as Tough Guy #1 Bouncer #2 and Henchman #3. He was also in Freddy’s Nightmares, Sopranos, and was a stuntman in movies such as “My Super Ex Girlfriend” and “Daredevil.”
Kiss with History:
Perhaps Barbie? Although the Barbie doll featured in the episode was a modern 80’s style Barbie with the bangs and flowing hair, the black and white swim suit is a match for the period of this episode.
Whats Next?
Next weeks episode discussions are “Sea Bride” and “M.I.A”. These episodes and the penultimate episode and season 2 finale respectively.
Thanks:
We give thanks to some dedicated fan sights. For more information on Quantum Leap, please take the time to check out The Quantum Leap Wiki and Al’s Place.
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