HOLOGRAMMATICAL ERRORS:
Hologrammatical Error #1: When Al is watching the raccoon, his image reflects in the glass table top. (IMZ)
Hologrammatical Error #2: How did Al know Wayne was cheating at cards? Al didn’t seem to be around when Wayne was dealing. (MPB)
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PROJECT:
Project Trivia #1: Al uses both the Imaging Chamber door and the handlink in this episode, though both appear only once. Note that the Imaging Chamber door is still a regular hinged door, without the blue-white light. (MPB)
BACKSTORY NITS:
Backstory Nit #1: Sam was raised on a farm.
Why doesn’t he seem to know anything about pigs and horses? (APP)
PCR: He swiss-cheesed it. Eventually,
he did figure enough out about pigs to diagnose Piggy’s allergies.
(MPB)
HISTORICAL NITS:
Historical Nit #1: It’s unlikely
that buddy Holly (who would have been seventeen or eighteen in August 1956)
would have been working for Doc. By then, Holly and the Crickets were already
doing their own radio show. (MPB)
PCR: Without Sam to help him figure
out the "Piggy Sooeey" song, Buddy wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyway.
(MPB)
Historical Nit #2 (The Infamous Temporal
Paradox Debate--greatly abbreviated): If Sam was supposed to help Buddy
Holly write "Peggy Sue," then how could Sam recognize the song, if, in
the original time-line it did not exist? Sam and Al should not have been
familiar with "Peggy Sue" if it did not exist before Sam suggested the
lyrics to Buddy. (LW)
PCR #1: In the original timeline (before
Sam Leaped), "Peggy Sue" (and the other "Kisses with History" that we see
throughout the series) did exist, but something that Sam did in the course
of Leaping somehow un-did it. Sam therefore had to re-create the
event to put the timeline right. (MPB, AAK)
PCR #2: In the original timeline, Buddy
Holly worked out the lyrics to "Peggy Sue," but sometime after August 1956.
Sam, who remembers the song from his own past, just helps Buddy figure
out the lyrics a little earlier. (GJM)
MIRROR NITS:
Mirror Nit #1: When Sam looks at Doc’s reflection in the mirror, Doc is wearing glasses, but Sam isn’t. How is that possible? (SA, IMZ)
Mirror Nit #2: In the closing scene,
when Sam seems irritated that he’s going to Tess and Wayne’s wedding and
not Tess and Doc’s, Al makes him look in the mirror to see that Doc is
kind of homely. Are we supposed to believe that Sam’s been in Doc’s life
well over a week and hasn’t looked in a mirror yet? (MH, APP)
PCR: Sam had probably looked at
Doc’s reflection before, but hadn’t considered Doc’s appearance in terms
of attractiveness to women until Al pointed it out to him. (LW)
Mirror Nit #3: Is Doc really as ugly as
all that? And are we to assume that Tess’s choice between Doc and Wayne
was based strictly on their appearances? (TK, AMKT)
PCR: Since Tess didn’t seem like the type
of person who’d choose a man just because he was good-looking, perhaps
Al’s comments about Doc’s appearance were merely his clumsy way of trying
to make Sam feel better, but had little relation to Tess’s real motives.
Obviously, Tess’s choice of Wayne was based on her long-standing friendship
with him and the realization that he was interested in her, not the ranch.
(MPB, LW, HJK, NM, MH (greatly shortened--have we left anybody out?))
GENERAL NIT-PICKING:
General Nit #1: The mud seems to travel up Sam’s face somewhere between Riata and Doc’s house. (IMZ)
General Nit #2: If Sam was so puzzled
about Buddy’s identity, why didn’t he just ask Al? (IMZ)
PCR #1: That would have been too
easy. (SA)
PCR #2: When Al was around, it just
slipped Sam’s mind, and he didn’t happen to think of it again until a time
when Al wasn’t there to answer him. (MPB)
General Nit #3: How did Sam avoid
getting his thumb cut off by the rope? (APP)
PCR: Maybe he learned about Wayne’s
trick from watching "Bonanza." (MPB)
General Nit #4: When Sam’s digging post-holes with Tess, he’s actually in more danger of sunstroke or heat prostration than she is. It’s really a bad idea for him to be working in the blazing sun without a shirt on to keep him from getting broiled alive, especially since 1950s suntan lotions were more like wearing butter to help you cook better than like sunscreens. (MPB)
General Nit #5: When Tess asked Wayne to
dance, why didn’t anybody turn the radio on? (ARS)
PCR: Sam didn’t look as though he wanted
to give Wayne any help. Anyway, Tess probably wasn’t interested in testing
Wayne’s sense of rhythm. (MPB)
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS:
Detail #1: Tess’s winning hand, aces
and eights, is the "dead-man’s hand" that Wild Bill Hickock supposedly
held when he was shot during a poker game. (MPB)
Detail #2: It’s neat how the Tina/Gooshie/Al
triangle subplot parallels the Sam/Wayne/Tess main plot, with all the characters
playing mindgames with each other throughout the episode until the couples
get straightened out in the end. Of course, poor Gooshie and Doc end up
being odd men out--in more ways than one. (MPB)
TRIVIAL PURSUIT:
Trivial Item #1: Notice that Ken
Fox’s dog from "Genesis" makes a repeat appearance here as Buddy’s dog
Pard. (MPB)
AL’S WOMEN:
A Tale of Two Tinas--Encore: Here we learn that Al met Tina over a poker table in Vegas-- he had a flush, and she had a pair ("Oh, what a pair!"). We also learn that Sam knows Tina--she thinks he’s cute, though not cute enough to show him her tattoo, which is on a "super-secret" part of her anatomy. We also find out that Tina likes to get back at Al by flirting with other guys at the project (notably Gooshie) to make Al jealous. So, are there two Tinas or aren’t there?
Lucille - the cause of Tina’s jealousy. At the PQL Christmas party, Al and Lucille went into the Energizing Chamber to "exchange gifts"--and they were probably busy bunnies in there, too.
NAME THAT TUNE:
As usual, DPB and Co. have made a very apt selection of popular songs to underlie the episode. When Sam and Tess dance, Hank Williams is singing "Cold, Cold Heart" on the radio. The lyrics reflect Tess’s mistrust for Sam/Doc: "You’re afraid each thing I do is just an evil scheme...Why can’t I free your doubting mind and melt your cold, cold heart?" (MPB)
FAVORITE QUOTATIONS:
Sam: "I’ll take the pig. You keep the daughter."
Sam: "‘Bonanza’ was never like this."
Al: "I had a flush. She had a pair. Oh, what a pair!"
Al: "She took my second most favorite organ and stomped it to death with her four-inch spike heels."
Sam/Doc: "Piggy .... Piggy .... here Piggy"
STILL UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
When exactly was Wayne and Tess’s wedding, and how long was Sam stuck hanging around as Doc while they were arranging it?