#554696
A Little Miracle
Original Air Date: December 21, 1990
Story by : Sandy Fries
Teleplay by : Sandy Fries & Robert A. Wolterstorff
Directed by: Michael Watkins
Leap Date: December 24, 1962
This time: Sam leaps into a man helping someone into their boxers. He is Pierson, personal valet to tycoon Michael Blake. Blake made a fortune buying up businesses, automating them and spinning out a profit at the cost of putting a lot of people out of business.
Captain Laura Downey of the Salvation Army approaches Blake to protest his tearing down of their Mission. Doing so will give Blake a huge plaza but he has to tear down their building by the end of the year to maintain his permit. Al comments on Blake … and Blake responds. Al quickly disappears and most everyone else is confused. With Ziggy’s help they are able to fix things, but Al says that Sam is not there for the Mission, he is there for Blake.
Recognizing a Scrooge, Sam hatches a plan and goes to Downey to put it in action. Sam drives Blake to an appointment and Blake reminisces over a box of photos planted there. As the memories turn dark, Sam stops the car in the Blake’s childhood neighborhood. A literal walk-through memory lane, including running into an old chum helps matters, but Blake sours.
Blake is despondent and Sam is conflicted. Al sees that the plan worked a bit but now, Blake has to be shown the present. A trip to the site of Blake Plaza does not especially help but nearby carolers do. Going to the Mission, Blake is resolute to tear down the mission, but Downey gets them to join in the choir. Things look good as Blake and Downey bond. The odds go up and then start to go down. An innocent question snaps Blake back. He leaves is a fury and threatens Sam/Pierson’s job.
Sam has a talk with Al about what to do next. Going full Dickens, Sam hatches a plan. Decked out in an outfit and makeup, Al appears to Blake as the Ghost of Christmas Future. They travel to the site of Blake Plaza. Al shows Blake Plaza and a newscast foretelling the fall of Blake, driven mainly by an unrelenting quest for profit. The plaza is sold, and he dies penniless. As Blake breaks down, he sees a light shining on the Mission. Per Al, Blake and Downey marry. Though Blake Plaza is built he incorporates the Mission. Sam thanks Al for the light, but Al cannot take credit. Sam leaps …
… into a tween on a family road trip.
Fact check: The newscast mentioned that the “New York Knick’s have done it again,” though that season was not that great for the team.
Stop talking to yourself: What better way to open a Christmas episode than with holiday themed shots and a monologue about being in service to someone?
Only Sam can see and hear: Al saves the day by appearing to Blake. Blake believes that Al is mixing characters with Marley’s chains, but does not mention that it is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, not the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Mirror images that were not his own: After fumbling through the morning routine, which pretty much entails doing the most mundane tasks for Blake (dressing, putting on the napkin for breakfast, etc.) Sam sees himself in the mirror and exhales a long-deserved sigh.
Brush with history: As Blake and his assistant discuss war with Russia, Sam predicts the two will become allies.
Something or someone: Sam and Al have enough time to give each other holiday greetings and stand around a bit before Sam leaps.
It’s a science project: Thus far, only young children and animals can see Al. Blake can too since his brainwave is pretty close to Sam’s. Ziggy is able to do a workaround.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: It may be a Christmas episode, but Al is decked out in a Hawaiian shirt. It is July where he is. With the long lead time required to make these episodes, Russel T. Davies played Christmas Carols in April.
One more time: “Look at that. Khrushchev at Disneyland. Why don’t they just invite him to the Pentagon and go through the files?”
Blake looking at the morning headlines
The Rainbow Treknection: After being a huge asshole in Quantum Leap as Blake, Charles Rocket played a slightly less though still asshole-like guy in The Disease as Captain Jippeq.
Put right what once went wrong: “I have more art than the Guggenheim.” After being one in two with Halloween episodes, Quantum Leap decided to go with a Christmas one.
This hour puts a lot of weight on Dean Stockwell’s shoulders. Usually second fiddle on the show, Al is generally there to support Sam, but he gets to take a more reactive role this week. Stockwell clearly revels in the final act, happily being able to directly interact with people other than Sam. The costume helps and he is able to do some neat tricks be appearing and disappearing after letting Blake jump through him. The scenery is chewed but it is chewed well. It is great to see him take a larger role in the final solution to the episode.
Charles Rocket makes Blake a perfect asshole. He exhumes arrogance and as the primary antagonist he loves taking people down and enjoying it. He takes the dialogue and spits it out at everyone. Every line is more sinister when he says it. There is contempt for everyone else, both those he is evicting and those in his employ. Early on he addresses an old man with the mission presuming he is Captain Downey. Not skipping a beat when showed otherwise he chews her out. Downey is adequately played along with Calloway, another of Blake’s flunkies. These two would have no qualms about taking an old ladie’s purse if they could get away with it. As Max Wushinski, Robert Lesser plays an old buddy of Blakes and is ecstatic at seeing an old chum. The two reminisce and Wushinski does not charge them, yet Blake still overpays. It is a glorified cameo, but the two play off each other magnificently.
The writing does not have a good plot to put on top of their onscreen talent. For one, the story is credited to two writers, and it shows. Blake has huge shifts in his mannerisms, going from sympathetic to aggressive on a dime. It is almost as if one writer was writing, got up to get some coffee and the other sat down and just took things in another direction. The shifts are just too jarring.
As good as it was to see Stockwell, the ‘Christmas Carol in a hour’ can work but does not here. It would be much more successful if they had focused on one section. Putting in everything is a bit much especially when they drive the point home several times in script. Not just that but this defies what the series has shown us thus far. The changes to the future are instantaneous so we should not magically see the odds decreasing, especially at these slow rates. I am happy that we got to see this group on screen, I just wish they had a bit stronger material to work with.
Original Air Date: December 21, 1990
Story by : Sandy Fries
Teleplay by : Sandy Fries & Robert A. Wolterstorff
Directed by: Michael Watkins
Leap Date: December 24, 1962
This time: Sam leaps into a man helping someone into their boxers. He is Pierson, personal valet to tycoon Michael Blake. Blake made a fortune buying up businesses, automating them and spinning out a profit at the cost of putting a lot of people out of business.
Captain Laura Downey of the Salvation Army approaches Blake to protest his tearing down of their Mission. Doing so will give Blake a huge plaza but he has to tear down their building by the end of the year to maintain his permit. Al comments on Blake … and Blake responds. Al quickly disappears and most everyone else is confused. With Ziggy’s help they are able to fix things, but Al says that Sam is not there for the Mission, he is there for Blake.
Recognizing a Scrooge, Sam hatches a plan and goes to Downey to put it in action. Sam drives Blake to an appointment and Blake reminisces over a box of photos planted there. As the memories turn dark, Sam stops the car in the Blake’s childhood neighborhood. A literal walk-through memory lane, including running into an old chum helps matters, but Blake sours.
Blake is despondent and Sam is conflicted. Al sees that the plan worked a bit but now, Blake has to be shown the present. A trip to the site of Blake Plaza does not especially help but nearby carolers do. Going to the Mission, Blake is resolute to tear down the mission, but Downey gets them to join in the choir. Things look good as Blake and Downey bond. The odds go up and then start to go down. An innocent question snaps Blake back. He leaves is a fury and threatens Sam/Pierson’s job.
Sam has a talk with Al about what to do next. Going full Dickens, Sam hatches a plan. Decked out in an outfit and makeup, Al appears to Blake as the Ghost of Christmas Future. They travel to the site of Blake Plaza. Al shows Blake Plaza and a newscast foretelling the fall of Blake, driven mainly by an unrelenting quest for profit. The plaza is sold, and he dies penniless. As Blake breaks down, he sees a light shining on the Mission. Per Al, Blake and Downey marry. Though Blake Plaza is built he incorporates the Mission. Sam thanks Al for the light, but Al cannot take credit. Sam leaps …
… into a tween on a family road trip.
Fact check: The newscast mentioned that the “New York Knick’s have done it again,” though that season was not that great for the team.
Stop talking to yourself: What better way to open a Christmas episode than with holiday themed shots and a monologue about being in service to someone?
Only Sam can see and hear: Al saves the day by appearing to Blake. Blake believes that Al is mixing characters with Marley’s chains, but does not mention that it is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, not the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Mirror images that were not his own: After fumbling through the morning routine, which pretty much entails doing the most mundane tasks for Blake (dressing, putting on the napkin for breakfast, etc.) Sam sees himself in the mirror and exhales a long-deserved sigh.
Brush with history: As Blake and his assistant discuss war with Russia, Sam predicts the two will become allies.
Something or someone: Sam and Al have enough time to give each other holiday greetings and stand around a bit before Sam leaps.
It’s a science project: Thus far, only young children and animals can see Al. Blake can too since his brainwave is pretty close to Sam’s. Ziggy is able to do a workaround.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow: It may be a Christmas episode, but Al is decked out in a Hawaiian shirt. It is July where he is. With the long lead time required to make these episodes, Russel T. Davies played Christmas Carols in April.
One more time: “Look at that. Khrushchev at Disneyland. Why don’t they just invite him to the Pentagon and go through the files?”
Blake looking at the morning headlines
The Rainbow Treknection: After being a huge asshole in Quantum Leap as Blake, Charles Rocket played a slightly less though still asshole-like guy in The Disease as Captain Jippeq.
Put right what once went wrong: “I have more art than the Guggenheim.” After being one in two with Halloween episodes, Quantum Leap decided to go with a Christmas one.
This hour puts a lot of weight on Dean Stockwell’s shoulders. Usually second fiddle on the show, Al is generally there to support Sam, but he gets to take a more reactive role this week. Stockwell clearly revels in the final act, happily being able to directly interact with people other than Sam. The costume helps and he is able to do some neat tricks be appearing and disappearing after letting Blake jump through him. The scenery is chewed but it is chewed well. It is great to see him take a larger role in the final solution to the episode.
Charles Rocket makes Blake a perfect asshole. He exhumes arrogance and as the primary antagonist he loves taking people down and enjoying it. He takes the dialogue and spits it out at everyone. Every line is more sinister when he says it. There is contempt for everyone else, both those he is evicting and those in his employ. Early on he addresses an old man with the mission presuming he is Captain Downey. Not skipping a beat when showed otherwise he chews her out. Downey is adequately played along with Calloway, another of Blake’s flunkies. These two would have no qualms about taking an old ladie’s purse if they could get away with it. As Max Wushinski, Robert Lesser plays an old buddy of Blakes and is ecstatic at seeing an old chum. The two reminisce and Wushinski does not charge them, yet Blake still overpays. It is a glorified cameo, but the two play off each other magnificently.
The writing does not have a good plot to put on top of their onscreen talent. For one, the story is credited to two writers, and it shows. Blake has huge shifts in his mannerisms, going from sympathetic to aggressive on a dime. It is almost as if one writer was writing, got up to get some coffee and the other sat down and just took things in another direction. The shifts are just too jarring.
As good as it was to see Stockwell, the ‘Christmas Carol in a hour’ can work but does not here. It would be much more successful if they had focused on one section. Putting in everything is a bit much especially when they drive the point home several times in script. Not just that but this defies what the series has shown us thus far. The changes to the future are instantaneous so we should not magically see the odds decreasing, especially at these slow rates. I am happy that we got to see this group on screen, I just wish they had a bit stronger material to work with.
New places for old(er) keywords: Continuing Mission
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights
Cardassians and Federation posturing it out: Showdown: Four Lights