HOLOGRAMMATICAL ERRORS:
Hologrammatical Error #1: How did Al know what Sam should say to Don Geno in the beauty parlor? Al didn’t seem to be around when Frankie’s father was making excuses to Don Geno. (IMZ)
Hologrammatical Error #2: Why does Al’s voice echo in the basement of St. Francis’s? (IMZ)
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PROJECT:
Project Trivia #1: While we don’t see the Imaging Chamber door, Al does use the handlink in this one. (MPB) There are also no IC door sounds in this episode. (IMZ)
BACKSTORY NITS:
Sam Backstory Nit #1: Sam remembers being
ten years old in 1965. But Sam would have been twelve by then, and definitely
not in the fourth grade. Given Sam’s smarts, he probably wasn’t in seventh
grade either--it wouldn’t be surprising if Sam had started high school
by 1965. (MH, MPB, NM)
PCR: Must be that old swiss-cheesed memory
again. (MH, MPB)
Al Backstory Nit #1: Al remembers his dad setting him (Al, that is) up with a girl. But we find out later ("Leap of Faith") that Al’s dad died when Al was ten. Either Al was really, really, really precocious, and his dad was kind of sleazy (contributing to the delinquency of a minor and all that), or Al is just making this up. Then again, knowing Al, he’d get Sam righteously indignant and then finish up by saying that his dad brought this girl and they went out for ice cream (and the girl was Papa Calavicci’s date’s daughter, or something equally innocuous). Al seems to love setting Sam up that way. Only Sam never let him finish this one, so we’ll never know. (JE, MPB)
HISTORICAL NITS:
Historical Nit #1 (or, Temporal Paradoxes,
Part II): How could Ziggy know that the blackout was supposed to
happen, if Ziggy had to cause it? Is this another example of Ziggy (or
Sam or Al) having foreknowledge that s/he (or they) couldn’t possibly possess
without creating a paradox? And what was beneficial about the blackout?
(LW)
PCR #1: Perhaps, in timeline #1 (pre-Leap),
there was no great East Coast blackout, and maybe Sam and Al caused it.
Sam and Al showed no foreknowledge of the blackout. Perhaps Ziggy needed
to cause the blackout in order to prevent TV, radio, etc. signals from
interfering with whatever signals Ziggy and the PQL folks had to transmit
to retrieve Sam. (MPB)
PCR #2: In timeline #1, there was
a blackout, but Sam somehow inadvertently prevented it, thus creating timeline
#2, and causing all sorts of havoc by preventing all those blackout-conceived
babies from being born nine months later. So Ziggy postulated that, in
order to get home, Sam had to re-cause the blackout and restore that particular
event in the timeline. (MPB)
PCR #3: In timeline #1, there was a blackout,
but it did not happen until some time after 5:15 p.m. November 9, 1965.
For some reason, Ziggy figured it would help to retrieve Sam if Sam made
the blackout happen earlier. (MPB)
GENERAL NIT-PICKING:
General Nit #1: In the opening scene, when Sam is putting Frankie’s pants and jacket back on, one second he’s not wearing a cummerbund (and neither is Frankie in the mirror), the next he is--it just sort of magically appears. (MPB)
General Nit #2: November 8, 1965 is a Monday. Kid of an odd day to have a huge wedding, isn’t it? Not impossible, just odd. (MPB)
General Nit #3: Sam supposedly doesn’t
know the words of "Volare," yet he keeps going after Al becomes distracted.
(IMZ)
PCR: Maybe once his memory kicked in,
he finally remembered the song. The Italian words that Sam sings after
Al gets distracted are just a repeat of what Al taught him, and the English
ones might have popped in once he was reminded of the song. (MPB)
General Nit #4: Sam/Frankie is supposed to be the oldest of the three brothers. Why then are his younger brothers named Primo and Segundo? Shouldn’t Frankie be Primo, since he’s the oldest? (JAN)
General Nit #5: Sam (or Scott?) gets a little tongue-tied when he and Al discuss Ziggy’s plan to Leap Sam home. Notice he says "Greenwich Minnich Time" instead of "Greenwich Mean Time." (MPB)
General Nit #6: The constellation Sam and Teresa are looking at sure doesn’t look like Orion. (MPB)
General Nit #7: It’s awfully dark, and there are an awful lot of stars out for 5:15 p.m., even in November, even with Daylight Savings Time. In the Northeast things are just getting a bit dim around that time of day, but nowhere near pitch black. (MPB)
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS:
Detail #1: Sam’s little quick-draw routine with Frankie’s mirror image, along with his "Let’s go to it, killer" remark, are particularly ironic, considering Frankie’s profession. (MPB)
Detail #2: It’s fun how Ziggy’s power problems foreshadow the big blackout. (MPB)
Detail #3: Notice how Al pulls out his little pocket fan every time he contemplates the idea of Sam and Teresa together in Don Geno’s attic? (MPB)
Detail #4: Any coincidence that Primo and Segundo use a hairdryer to cause the blackout? (MPB)
Detail #5: "Doctor Zhivago" is playing at the movie theater when Sam and Frankie’s family walk down the street. "Doctor Zhivago" was one of the biggest movies of 1965. The choice of "Doctor Zhivago" is interesting because it too is about a love triangle, although that one consists of one man and two women. (MH)
Detail #6: Teresa’s motto, "If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’" becomes poignant when she’s talking to Sam/Frankie in the attic, and she says, "All men lie to me." These statements connect both her bold, sometimes teasing attitude toward men and also her more vulnerable side. (MH)
Detail #7: Notice how the mirror in Don Geno’s attic gets broken during the fight--Sam looks at his new reflection through glass that’s as shattered as his hopes of getting home. (MPB)
AL’S WOMEN:
Hannah Gretz--okay, this one was only a girl--Al’s fourth grade classmate whose pigtails he dipped into the inkwells until he figured out that it was more fun to take her into the cloakroom.
THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY:
"Double Identity" looks like a cross between "Married to the Mob" and "The Godfather" (MPB)
NAME THAT TUNE:
"Volare," obviously--will Teresa’s love give Sam wings and help him "fly away" home? (MPB)
Diana Ross warns Sam to "Stop in the Name of Love" when he’s getting a shampoo in Teresa’s beauty parlor. Too bad he wasn’t listening. (MH, MPB)
"Hang on Sloopy" (by the McCoys)--a song about a mismatched pair of lovers--is playing at the "A&P" frat house when Primo and Segundo show up to plug in the dryer. (MH, MPB)
FAVORITE QUOTATIONS:
Don Geno: "Gimme a razor, Teresa." (well, this one has to be heard to be appreciated.)
Don Geno: "Go tease some hair."
Teresa: "If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’."
Teresa: "Let’s be awesome."
Sam: "Because you were terrific in
the attic."
Teresa: "Better than under the table
at the Sons of Italy?. . . or behind
the furnace at St. Francis?"
Al: "Whoever heard of one lousy hairdryer
blacking out all of the East
coast?"