Shock Theater - October 3, 1954

Rewatching this amazing series for the ??th time, I still get amazed at the quality of the acting. This episode and S4e1 again prove just how great this series was. Scott Bakula has proven in more one show that h's a good actor , but I will always think. "Sam Beckett" is one of his very best roles. And Dean Stockwell will always b Al Calavecchio in my mind. I never get tired of watching this series and am thankful GET (Great Entertainment Television) is showing it still.

I am very sorry no one made a tv movie to complete Sam's journey home when Dean Stockwell was still alive. The NBC "reboot" was okay and I watched it and enjoyed it but the background story was so different that it was basically a whole new show even though the names (Beckett and Calavecchio) were mentioned.

But, like so many "reboots", the original was, in my opinion, THE BEST and holds up even these so many years later!!

If you have the chance and enjoy a series with lots of good unique stories, please watch this.

The flexibility of QL gave them scope to have comedy episodes, drama episode, faux horror episodes, but this was the first episode where I was genuinely scared by it. Knowing it was the last episode of the season also brought in the potential that things could actually go wrong and end the show.

The compilation of flashbacks and Scott Bakula actually doing impressions of the other actors for the first time also gave a previously unseen twist to this episode.

After 3 seasons, Sam Becket finally looses it , and the QL project almost looses him. After undergoing shock treatment in a 50s mental hospital, Sam can no longer grasp reality and fades into the people he leaped into. Poor Al is trying to bring him back to real time, but the only solution is a very painful one. If people ask why Quantum Leap was so amazing, this episode is the answer. Even today, 18 year after its original airing, it is as fresh and exciting as it was before. Scott Bakula received the Golden Globe Award for his performance in this episode, and it is - hands down - his best work in the show or on TV ever.