Welcome back to our journey through the lifetime of one Sam Beckett, as we follow him through lifetime after lifetime of righting the mistakes of the past. This week: Sam leaps into a black man in 1950s Alabama and a nerdy teenager in 1961. Let’s fire up the accelerator and hope that this leap is the leap that brings us home.
1. The first classic
“The Color of Truth” is one of the most iconic episodes in all of Quantum Leap. It is the first time we see Sam leap into anyone of a different race, and he seems, scientifically, very excited about that prospect of this opening up the project into unexpected areas. This is the first of many times when Sam will be put into a life that feels totally different than his, and where his natural tendencies will put him at risk. Normally, there is some cognitive dissonance between the norms and morays that Sam is used to, as opposed to where he is. But here, instead of being looked at as a kook or a fool, Sam may cost someone their life for his errors.
2. This sees familiar
When I first saw this episode, I thought “Oh, this is a Driving Miss Daisy reference,” only to find out that this came out just a few months away from that film. Turns out that Driving Miss Daisy was a hit play before it was a film, so “The Color of Truth” may have still been inspired by the source material. But it’s not just Driving Miss Daisy, we’ve all seen this type of story before. We know all about the good-hearted but set in their ways white folks, the abject racists, the more conservative black folks who want progress but not at the risk of harm, and the folks called radicals who fight for justice at all costs.
And while it can be easy to dismiss this episode because of the familiarity, there is a sincerity to Quantum Leap that stems from Sam being, to borrow a pro-wrestling term, a white-meat babyface. He’s just so good, trying to help folks no matter what. And so while the story absolutely simplifies a complicated situation, and some of the characters are painted more broadly than you’d ideally like to see, the heart of this episode is impossible to ignore.
3. Either excellent acting or not acting at all
There are some things that actors “get” to do that us normies don’t get to. Tom Cruise jumps off plane wings and rappels off of buildings and I watch Quantum Leap on my laptop. But sometimes that means that actors get to channel dark corners of their psyche, or put themselves into ugly parts of history and live out roles they’d never really partake in if it were real.
I say that to say this: it seems like white actors sometimes enjoy playing racists. Saying the “n-word” seemingly comes very easy to them, too. Now, I am not at all suggesting that any or all of the actors in “The Color of Truth’ are racist, or took joy in saying such a vile word. But it seems like most of the actors who are supposed to be bigots can channel that energy without much trouble, and really chew the scenery with their hate. On one hand, it is like playing any monster; the role allows you to be someone totally removed from your life for a few minutes.
On the other, at least one person in this episode seems like using racial slurs is the most fun he’s ever had on screen. Tone it down a little, bruh.
4. Where were you in ’62 ’61?
In “Camikazi Kid,” Sam leaps into a young dweeb/wannabe greaser right out of American Graffiti who must stop his sister from marrying a piece of shit. Because of the connective tissue of the leaps appearing at the end of the prior episode, as well as Sam’s somewhat healing memory, it is impossible that this episode was slated earlier in the season and pushed back. But Sam makes a lot of rookie mistakes here, highlighted by him talking openly to Al a few times and his Swiss cheese brain remembering his sister’s first, doomed, marriage.
Continued belowThis episode also has one of the most absurd historical connections yet, as Sam teaches a young Michael Jackson how to moonwalk. This goes against all logic, as Michael Jackson would’ve been 3 years old and living 2/3 of the way across the country at this point in Gary, Indiana. These early episodes love the bullshit historical connections.
Oh hey, and Jason Priestley is in this episode! His hair, looking exactly the same as it did on Beverly Hills 90210, somehow fits in even better here.
5. Just in case you thought that a Michael Jackson connection was the creepiest this episode would get
There is a romantic subplot running through this episode involving Sam’s leapt-into character, Cam, and Jill, a tomboy who Sam defends from bullies. This is a chaste and sweet plot, until the final minute of the episode, where Sam has to kill Jill. Now, I know that, from Jill’s perspective, Sam is a 17 year old Cam, but it means that Scott Bakula, a 35 year old man, had to kiss Holly Fields, a twelve year old actress. Now, this isn’t exactly a passionate, tongue-a-palooza, but it is still creepy as fuck.
You should be ashamed of yourself, Donald P. Bellisario.
The Oh Boy Teaser
Sam comes to holding a gun, dressed like James Cagney, over a dead body. Oh boy, indeed.
