From MadCap's Couch - Quantum Leap: "Play It Again, Seymour"

"Scott, honey, nobody cares that you're gonna be Jonathan Archer."

Last time, Sam had won a drag race using laughing gas in order to save the life of the sister of one Cam Wilson. This time... he finds himself standing over a dead body and holding the gun.

Let's get into it!

Play It Again, Seymour takes us to 1953. After a brief opening monologue from Sam about how his Leaping has many good days... and how this one, with him standing over the body of a dead man, isn't one of them. Particularly when the cops bust in and, apparently knowing him as a guy named 'Nick', drag him away while they call the coroner.

Also, yes, he's still in LA.

We get to see a very Humphrey Bogart-esque man in the mirror reveal of the face that Sam is wearing. Al pops in to tell him that he is Humphrey Bogart-esque, not Bogart himself, and that he's a detective in 1953 Los Angeles. He has to solve the murder of the man... and Ziggy says there's a 1/4 shot that Nick was the one who did it. Sam ends up predicting the circumstances that he'll be getting released under, having a weird sense of Déjà vu about everything. 

Here's lookin' at... me, kid!

Somehow, it seems, Sam is having bits of his memory jumbled up with the man who's body he's Leaped into. He remembers some of the staff at the apartment building and they theorize who could have murdered Nick's partner and 'Nick' confuses them all by actually paying for a paper and helping the paperboy fix his glasses. After an awkward encounter with the elevator operator, Sam gets another hit of Déjà vu as he heads into his office... and finds a woman. In the full noir style, Sam calls her trouble. Allison, she is, and apparently she was involved with Phil, Nick's partner... and Nick himself, though not sexually it would seem. A nightmare that Phil had a few nights before he was murdered had him muttering about a dropper named Clapper... who was mentioned by the staff of the hotel.  Allison questions 'Nick' about moving in and Sam is... really rather stunned as you might expect, although he's apparently only too happy to thank God for his stroke of luck. Afterward, he digs into papers left behind by Nick and finds that he's not having Déjà vu... he's read the book before.

Al arrives in time for Sam to regale him about this book and how reality should play out. He rightfully brings up that Allison could be the one responsible, even if not directly she might have hired Clapper, but Sam refutes this as possible... at first, at least. Sam thinks he's there to make sure that Nick and Allison leave happily ever after, but Al brings up very rightly that there'd be no reason for Sam to be there otherwise. Sam does have Al have Ziggy look up the finished book to see if he can find out how it ends. The paper boy gives Sam a lead to get to Clapper, who will be at a place called the Blue Island... and then a tense moment where Sam nearly falls down an elevator shaft and barely manages to pull himself up.

Believing the Paper Boy to have been responsible, Sam turns to find him unconscious. It gets inspected later and it appears that the safety latch was disabled. Someone was trying to kill Nick. The paper boy, the titular Seymour, feels vastly apologetic... and then Allison pops up to make both men cry out 'Oh, boy!' in a simple, yet elegant black dress. When she's told they're going to the Blue Island, she begs him not to go... but he reminds her that it's the only lead they have to find Phil's killer. At the Island, Sam and Allison dance in a totally not Casablanca-esque manner. Al ghost conducts the orchestra for a bit of funny as well as showing Sam that he does have the book.

Getting Allison back to the table, they learn from Seymour that word on the street is that Clapper is a woman. Sam sneaks off to 'get drinks' and speaks to Al. Apparently, the book has no ending - and the title is Who Killed Grimsley and Allen? - so that lead is going nowhere. However, most of the people who tried to figure out the ending thought it was Allison. History shows that Seymour and Allison disappeared without a trace on the night of Nick's murder... which is tonight. Nick's body was found at LaGuardia Airport, much as Phil's body had been found in his office. So if Seymour and Allison were murdered, it's curious as to why the killer would have hidden their bodies... if Allison isn't the killer.

He's drinking because he knows that Enterprise is coming.

Later that night, the three leave The Blue Island and Seymour heads off to catch a cab. Allison and Sam talk about Phil, Allison admitting that she loved the idea of Phil more than the man himself and that the only man she ever really loved is Nick. After just realizing that she's made him blind, Sam goes in for the kiss because of course he does. Dude's a helpless romantic as we've seen. Rain begins to fall and Seymour hasn't returned... and someone is shooting at Sam from behind the hood of a truck in the nearby alley, Sam managing to get away with only a swipe across the face from a stray bullet. Soon enough, Seymour arrives in the cab.

Sam gives Seymour a stern talking to about hanging on to Nick as hard as he does in a bit of frustrated callousness, which Seymour doesn't take well at all as his hero is essentially stepping on him by the act. Sam heads up to his office to get Nick's gun, hat, and coat. When he comes back downstairs, he once more helps Seymour fix his glasses and attempts to make a form of apology. Seymour weasels his way back into helping 'Nick', Sam convincing him to go get a raincoat so as not to catch his death of pneumonia and leaves... only to find the cab driving away with Allison and someone else inside.

Al pops into a cab that Sam and Seymour are sharing, Sam apologizing to Al (subtly) for his words earlier. Al takes it... but is less than pleased when they mention they're going to LaGuardia. At the airport, Sam and Seymour split up. Once again, more people mistake Sam for Humphrey Bogart and someone puts Seymour at gunpoint, dragging him away with Sam in pursuit. The trail leads into an airplane hangar where shots are fired. It seems that Allison isn't the killer,  but Lionel, the building supervisor is and has kidnapped Allison with the intent of taking her away by plane.

Thanks to Al, Sam is able to avoid being shot by Lionel, who is later arrested. We have the denouement, Allison asking Nick to go with her to... somewhere, tickets paid for by Lionel. The two share a passionate kiss while Al watches on totally not like a creepy voyeur. Sam sends Allison ahead to the plane, her giving him one of the two tickets before she goes. Al doesn't think that Sam will be getting on the plane with Allison... and Seymour arrives, Sam encouraging him to be a writer with his colorful use of metaphors and the like... which seems to be exactly what he needed.

A bright light overtakes Sam Beckett once more... and when it clears, Sam finds himself in a bubble bath... where a woman tells him to hurry or he'll be late for his first day at his new job - "Mrs. Youngest Executive Secretary". Sam, naturally, is taken aback by this news.

"Don't... forget... to drink... your Ovaltine.
...a crummy ad?! SON OF A BITCH!"

Annnnnnnnd that's the end of Play It Again, Seymour and the end of Season 1. That's right, Quantum Leap actually started life as a mid-season replacement and thus we only have nine episodes in the first season. As for an ending for the season Play It Again, Seymour isn't some kind of big and epic finale, but then none of these episodes in particular have been really big and epic. We just have Sam Beckett bouncing around through time, righting what once went wrong and hoping that each leap would be the leap home. He's not there yet... but he may very well be soon enough, we shall have to see.

I will say that I do love the noir aesthetic in general, so this episode was a bit of a treat for me. Also, the whole thing is a love letter to that genre and to some of classic Hollywood, which is always fun to look back on in terms of the films produced (not so much how said films were produced, but that's a story for another day).

Don't worry, by the way, we will return to the time traveling adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett. When we return with another television show from my couch, however, we will be in the throes of October. Horror Month 2022 will have begun, and we have the story of two brothers and their American muscle car filled to the brim with weapons to get back to for their third season.

Until next time... he's looking at you, readers!