HOLOGRAMMATICAL ERRORS:
Hologrammatical Error #1: When Al is teaching Sam the hora, Al’s image reflects in the dance floor--can’t miss them golden slippers! (MPB)
Hologrammatical Error #2: It was
a bit windy in the Imaging Chamber when Al was talking to Sam on the beach.
(IMZ)
PCR: Perhaps a wind illusion is created
to make it easier for Sam to interact with Al without being distracted
by the differences in their environments. As Sam became more and more reliant
on Al, the fact that he could not touch or interact in any tangible way
would become very discouraging for Sam. Sam’s support team back at PQL
probably decided to make the holographic image reflect Sam’s environment
as much as possible in order to reduce the distress that his temporal exile
must be causing Sam. (SVZ, NM)
Anti-PCR: If that’s the case, Al is the
worst violator of such an effort. Al himself often takes a pretty cavalier
attitude toward maintaining the illusion, and sometimes goes out of his
way to aggravate Sam by walking through things, floating in air, popping
in and out unannounced, etc. (IMZ, MPB)
BACKSTORY NITS:
Sam Backstory Nit #1: Sam’s a doctor.
Why did he seem so squeamish at Al’s mention of circumcision? (LW)
PCR #1: Either Sam swiss-cheesed
his medical degree, or he was just showing a standard male reaction at
the thought of performing (or undergoing) such a delicate operation. Even
if Sam did remember some of his medical training, he might not have felt
confident that he remembered enough to perform a circumcision. (HJK &
MPB)
PCR #2: Not all medical doctors are trained
in surgery. Ob-gyns often do circumcisions. We know from "Genesis" that
Sam is not an ob-gyn. (TA)
HISTORICAL NITS:
Historical Nit #1: Another temporal paradox
here: if Sam had not been there, wouldn’t Heimlich have died, and therefore
not been around to invent the Heimlich maneuver that Sam uses to rescue
Heimlich? (LW)
PCR: Maybe in timeline #1 (pre-Sam), Dr.
Heimlich chokes, passes out, and almost dies, but is ultimately rescued
from impending death--perhaps by somebody manually extracting the stuck
object. Dr. Heimlich says to himself, "Hmmmm....there’s gotta be a better
way to deal with these situations," studies the matter, and comes up with
his famous maneuver. In the Sam-created timeline, Sam speeds the
process up and spares Dr. Heimlich a near-death experience. (Heimlich did,
by the way, invent his "maneuver" in 1974). If Sam, in the course of this
Leap, accelerates the discovery of the Heimlich maneuver, he may have saved
many more lives than just Dr. Heimlich’s--a little bonus to this Leap.
(MPB, LW)
GENERAL NITPICKING:
General Nit # 1: How did Sam get through
the rest of Karen’s bat-mitzvah service? (LW)
PCR: Maybe most of the rabbi’s part was
finished by the time Sam Leaped in. Perhaps the cantor led the rest of
the service. (HJK)
General Nit #2: An uncle in a close-knit
family would not have to ask his niece whether she played the guitar or
how to get to the beach house. Yet neither Karen nor her parents showed
surprise at Sam’s questions. (LW)
PCR #1: Perhaps Karen was too disturbed
by her parents’ behavior to pick up on Sam’s flub. (MPB)
PCR #2: Perhaps Karen and her parents
attributed Sam/David’s odd questions and hesitation to his own discomfort
about Danny’s death (HJK)
PCR #3: As a rabbi, David probably had
a pretty busy schedule. If he rarely had a chance to go to the beach house,
it wouldn’t be surprising if he couldn’t remember how to get there. Even
Joe and Irene hadn’t been there in a year. (HJK)
PCR #4: Perhaps David had a lousy memory
for directions, so it didn’t seem odd that he had to ask, even if he’d
been there before. (HJK)
General Nit #2: Why would Sam have so much
trouble faking his way through the hora? As we see later, he’s a pretty
good dancer, so it should have been easy for him to pick up from watching
the person next to him. If he could tango, the hora should have been a
cakewalk. (LW)
PCR #1: Nobody ever seems to be able to
do the hora in unison. (HJK)
PCR #2: Sam swiss-cheesed his dancing
ability. (MPB)
PCR #3: Al just wanted a chance to show
off those golden slippers. (MPB)
General Nit #3: How did Sam keep his yarmulke
on when Joe was punching him out? (LW)
PCR: Bobby pins, hair spray, industrial-strength
yarmulke clips, and Krazy Glue. (MPB & HJK)
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS:
Detail #1: Like "Disco Inferno," this episode has a brother relationship that parallels Sam’s relationship with Tom. In the gas line, when Joe reminisces about how his dad used to take him and David to sporting events, Sam seems to be trying to stir up memories of his own father and brother. There is also a parallel between Sam and Karen. Sam, too, knows what it’s like to lose an older brother. He can probably relate very well to what Karen feels. One wonders how the Becketts’ reaction to Tom’s death compared with Irene and Joe’s. (MPB)
OH, BOYS:
Sam substitutes an "Oy vey" for his traditional Leap-in "Oh, boy."
AL’S WOMEN:
Al talks a lot here about his third wife Ruthie, who was Jewish, and apparently something special, as he didn’t know what family meant until she’d left him.
NAME THAT TUNE:
"The Locomotion"
"Hava Negila"
"Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack--an appropriate choice, considering how Joe’s been treating Irene. (MH & MPB)
FAVORITE QUOTATIONS:
Al: "What’s wrong with a good old-fashioned one-night stand?"
Al: "Well, sometimes I think that
fidelity is highly overrated…uh...nobody looks at the downside.
Sam: "There is a downside to being
faithful?"
Al: "Of course. It discourages social
interaction. Look Sam, if all the men in the world could freely… socialize
with all the women in the world, there would be no war."
Sam: "Until their wives found out!"
Al: "My relationships have all been
good; it’s my marriages that haven’t worked out."
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