03x02 - The Leap Home: Part 2 (Vietnam) - April 7, 1970

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Quantum Leap" Aired: March 26, 1989 – May 5, 1993.*
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Former scientist Sam is trapped in time due to an experiment gone awry, leaping into different bodies each week.
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03x02 - The Leap Home: Part 2 (Vietnam) - April 7, 1970

Post by bunniefuu »

Theorizing that one could
time-travel within his own lifetime,

Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into
the Quantum Leap Accelerator

and vanished.

He woke to find himself
trapped in the past,

facing mirror images
that were not his own,

and driven by an unknown force

to change history
for the better.

His only guide on
this journey is Al,

an observer from his own time,

who appears in
the form of a hologram

that only Sam can see and hear.

And so Dr. Beckett finds himself
leaping from life to life,

striving to put right
what once went wrong,

and hoping each time
that his next leap

will be the leap home.

Sam, you scared
10 years out of me.

Mom!

Last week on Quantum Leap.

I love you, Dad.

My brother, Tom, comes
home for Thanksgiving

before shipping out to Vietnam.

Al, I can save Tom.

Tom?

Ah, hello, little brother.

I don't want to believe you.

I don't want to believe
you know the future.

Because if you do,
Tom is gonna die.

I don't want my brother
to die in Vietnam.

What happened?

Sam told her Tom
is going to die.

You are not changing anything.

Your father still dies in '72.

Tom still gets
k*lled in Vietnam.

You are not
changing their future, Sam.

All you're doing is making
their present miserable.

But why can I save strangers
and not the people I love?

- Just give me one day.
- A day?

April 8.

The day Tom is k*lled.

Find the deepest hole you can,
and crawl into it for 24 hours.

Oh, what the hell.

You win that basketball game
tomorrow, and on April 8

I will crawl into the deepest,
thickest, concrete bunker in Vietnam.

Hoo-yah!

Come on, Sam.

Bye, Dad.

My brother!
What about my brother, Tom?

I'm sorry, Sam.
He's still k*lled in Vietnam.

Sam!

Hoo-yah!

Tom!

Tom!

We got him. Checking this one.

Tom?

Damn, Magic!

How'd you know they were there?

Oh, boy.

Yeah,
even though I was only three,

it's just as clear as
if it happened yesterday.

It was Saturday.
I know it was Saturday 'cause

Dad always inspected
the battalion on Saturday.

Mmm.

Grimwald. General Max Grimwald
was your father?

Oh!
Big shoes to fill, Colonel.

Mine are a size
and a half bigger.

So, there I was this Saturday

on the reviewing stand
with my dad.

The base photographer
snapped my picture.

He caught me saluting the
colors as they passed in review.

It was so damn cute they put
it in the base newspaper.

That was 1938.

25 years later,
another 3-year-old did the same thing.

I'll be damned.

Yeah, I know.

It just never
seemed fair somehow.

I mean, I did it first,
all I got was the base newspaper.

Hell, John-John's salute
made the cover of LIFE.

It was unreal.

In the space of a leap, I'd gone from the
depths of despair to the summit of hope.

He was alive.

My brother Tom was still alive

and I was in Vietnam with him.

What?

I'm just glad
that we're all alive.

Yeah, thanks to you.

Never seen
anything like you, Magic.

I've been in this
man's Navy 22 years.

Roger that. 11 missions and all
I've had to patch is mosquito bites.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord and Magic.

I'll be dammed.

Round eye. 12:00.

He's coming to you.

He's down.

Hi, boys.

Hi.

Lt. Beckett?

No, sir, I wouldn't say that.

I'm Beckett, sir.

Where do you think you are, Lieutenant?
Club Med?

Tom, he's drowning.

- Who?
- The water-skier.

- He hasn't come up, yet?
- No.

It happens.

Not to Blaster.
He skied all the way to Saigon once.

- On bare feet.
- That's gospel.

Yeah.

This is your fault, ma'am.

- My fault?
- That's right.

Our pilot banked to see you.

That slacked the rope
and wiped Blaster out.

Well, do something, Lieutenant.

Sir.

Go in after him.

Sir, the Mekong's
thicker than mud pie.

We can't see six inches
underwater.

Well, you're Navy SEALs.
Hell, feel around.

Sir, we're five miles
from the coast.

The tide's going out.
That means there is a seven-knot current.

- Eight, sir.
- Eight-knot current running, sir.

By now Blaster's nowhere
near where he wiped out.

In fact, by now,
Blaster's probably

right about...

...there.

I'd like a word
with you, Lieutenant.

Ahem. Yes, sir.

Chief, let's get these weapons cleaned
and, uh, stand them down.

Aye, aye, sir.
Let's move out, boys.

You're Maggie Dawson. Right?

Oh!

In the flesh.

First round of warm beers
is on me.

Easy, boys.

I'm going to forget
about that little joke,

because you're coming
in off a hot mission.

He was in the water
the whole time.

What is it, Magic?

Oh, well.

Nothing, I guess.

Like I was saying,
I'm going to forget about that joke

because you're coming
in off a hot mission,

because
we're fraternity brothers.

I wasn't in a fraternity,
sir, I went to Annapolis.

I went to West Point.

I like to think
of us Academy men

as fraternity brothers.
Don't you?

Not during
the Army-Navy game, sir.

Yeah, right.

Lieutenant,

I need your help.

I've been escorting Miss Dawson
on an aerial tour of the delta.

Ouch, tough duty, sir.

You'll have a chance to
find out for yourself.

How's that?

I've brought you some orders from MACV-SOG.
Very special op.

And well,

I promised Miss Dawson,
that she could go with you.

Oh.

They told me you had
green faces,

webbed feet, and dripped.

Oh, yeah?

This, uh, this gyrene in Saigon
told me that you got the biggest,

- roundest...
- Hey... hey!

Sorry, ma'am.
He's on his third tour, ma'am.

After three wars and five
insurrections, I'm used to it.

I was just going to say

he told me you had the biggest,

roundest camera lens in Vietnam.

That's called a fisheye.

And if you boys are swapping
stories about the size of my lenses,

I'm in trouble.

Now, you can't slide
the barrel in

unless the cocking
handle is cocked.

Oh, boy, combat survival parties.
There's nothing like them.

Course we didn't
have beer on board ship

and we didn't have anyone
that looks like her either.

You know she's got
the biggest, roundest...

Camera lens in Vietnam.
No. I know.

Oh, yeah, that...
Yeah. Yeah.

Lens, too.
Come on.

Magic, where you going?

Uh, well, I figured since we had a
visitor, I ought to get a shower.

- Shower?
- Take a shower.

Hey, I'm going.

b*at you to it!

I already had my shower.

Want a beer?

Uh.

For starters.

Thank you, Lord. Thanks.

You'd think they'd never seen
a woman before.

Well, they haven't seen
anything like Maggie Dawson,

since they started
this tour five months ago.

In December. Tom took a squad
to Vietnam in December of '69.

I'm in Tom's squad, Al.

I'm in my brother's squad
and he's still alive.

Five months ago?

This is April?

April 7.

Tom was k*lled on the eighth.

Tomorrow.

Don't wear any underwear.

And don't button
the top button of your shorts.

SEALs never wear any underwear

and never button the top
button of their shorts.

I'm just telling you,
so at least you can look like a SEAL.

Whatever it takes to
save my brother's life.

Technically,
you're not here to save your brother.

Don't give me that crap, Al.

What, you want me to lie to you

or tell you the truth, so at least
you know what you're up against?

Don't forget your g*n,
you got to wear that.

All right.

You are a signalman second
class, Herbert Williams.

But your buddies all call you...

Magic. Why?

Well, because to the squad,
you are magic.

Their first month in Nam,
everything went wrong.

Missions failed.
Casualties were high.

They thought they were jinxed.

And then you joined.

As you stepped off the chopper,

uh, Charlie started to
mortar the compound.

Blew up the chopper and
everything within 50 meters of it.

Everything, except you.

You didn't even get a scratch.

Then the next day in the jungle,

you tripped a booby trap.

Damn thing didn't even go off.

So, they started
calling you Magic.

They think I'm their talisman?

You are. They haven't taken a
casualty since you came aboard.

Till tomorrow.

Until tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Dempsey and Shamoo
are wounded and, uh,

your brother Tom is k*lled.

And I'm not here to change that?

According to Ziggy, you're here
to see that the mission succeeds.

What's the difference?

Well, some guys get k*lled
on successful missions, Sam.

Not on this mission.

Now, just... just tell me
what I have to do.

I don't know.

You don't know?

All Ziggy's come up with
so far is a code name

Operation Lazarus
and the casualty lists.

Uh, I don't even
know the objective.

The SEALs operations were all
classified top secret and...

You've got top secret clearance.

And they took place
over 25 years ago.

All the battle records are buried
in an old Pentagon computer

and Ziggy's having trouble
interfacing with it.

It's like trying to get
two members of the UN

to talk without a translator.

Well, you tell Ziggy he
better interface

'cause I don't give a damn
about the mission.

All I care about
is my brother, Al.

And if I got to
sh**t him in the leg

to keep him from going
and being k*lled, I'll do it.

What if he gets k*lled
when the slick taking him

to the hospital to treat his
leg wound gets sh*t down?

Until we know how Tom dies,
we won't be able to save him.

Now listen, Lieutenant,
with all the press Maggie can give you,

we're talking about
a Presidential citation here.

There might even be a Navy Cross
for the Commanding Officer.

Colonel, you can hang a Medal
of Honor around my neck,

I still wouldn't take
a reporter on a mission.

Especially a female reporter.

If you gotta take one,
we're the best kind.

She's got a point.

Well, fortunately, ma'am,
I don't gotta take one.

And not even colonels from
MACV-SOG can change that.

Lieutenant, I've been on night
patrol with the Marines,

in a t*nk with the Israelis,
even flew on a bombing raid over Haiphong.

I can take it.

I will bet you can,
but we can't.

This is the SEAL squad, ma'am.

We're so in tune
with each other that

when Magic gets gas,
I break wind.

Not eloquently put, Lieutenant,
but I get the point.

So that I, uh, I don't waste the
trip, can I stick around a few days

and take some pics of
you guys in camp?

I don't see why that
wouldn't be acceptable.

Good. Where do I bunk?

My place?

Magic.

Fix Miss Dawson a cot
in the communications bunker.

Oh, okay.

- Aye, aye, sir.
- Aye, aye, sir.

Communications bunker?

Uh, look for a bunker with a bunch
of whip antennas on the top of it.

Magic, I got a chieu hoi
waiting for me by my chopper.

Chieu hoi?

Chieu hoi is a VC guerrilla
that joined our side.

Personally, I never trust them.

Yeah, send her in, please.

Unless they're cute.

- Her?
- Do you repeat everything?

Do I repeat everything?

Magic, are your ears still
ringing from that firefight?

Yes, yes,
a... a little.

Have Doc check them out.

Okay.

Aye, aye, sir.

Aye, aye...
Aye, sir.

I envy you, Lieutenant.

Maggie wants to go
on that mission so bad,

she'll make a dog in
heat look like a nun.

Oh, boy.
What's the mission, Colonel?

It's a beaut.

I wasn't kidding about those
citations and medals, either.

MACV-SOG calls it
Operation Lazarus.

The target is 10
clicks upriver. Mai Choi.

You send for me, Colonel?

Titi,
this is Lt. Beckett.

He'll lead the SEAL team that
you take to the village tomorrow.

43, 44,

45, 46, 47...

Tom never talked about
what SEALs did off duty.

And after a few hours
with Bravo squad, I knew why.

Mom would have had a cow.

You lose, Choo Choo.

Green face not human.

Never bet a thirsty SEAL
he can't do something.

That was inspirational.

You think that was something,
Miss Dawson,

you should see
what Magic can do.

Yeah, Magic's truly inhuman.

Magic double-jointed.

Double-jointed?

There's no such thing as
double-jointed, Choo Choo.

You double-jointed?
Ask any of my girls.

This is getting interesting.

What is this thing you can do?

Show her, Magic.

Shamoo, you know he can't.

- Why?
- It's classified, top secret.

Bet she's got
security clearance, don't you?

Signed by Westmoreland, twice.

I guess it'll be all right.

You just do your good
morning darlings, first.

Good morning darlings?

Yeah, you know,
to stretch his groin muscles.

Okay.

Physiological necessity.

These good morning darlings
wouldn't by any chance

be a two man exercise,
would they?

You know, they do require
two consenting adults.

One of which is a female.

She knows the exercise.

I should.
I've had enough practice.

Ziggy bypassed
the old Pentagon computer

and went to data fusion with
The New York Times library.

- That's great.
- Thanks.

I thought it was
rather humorous myself.

He dug up a photo story
that Maggie did

on a sapper att*ck here tonight.

Sappers?

Sappers?

They slipped in from the river
around midnight.

They blew up the a*mo dump
and they get

Deke's helicopter
just as it lifts off.

k*lled him instantly.

Now wait... wait,
before you say anything.

I had Ziggy run some numbers.

There's a 52 percent chance that
that's what you're here to do.

To save Col. Deke Grimwald.

But if that's true,

then right after the att*ck,
you're gonna leap out.

And you won't be around
tomorrow to save Tom.

- Dempsey.
- Yeah?

Sappers are coming in from
the river at midnight.

Tough decision, kid.

Sappers!

How could he know?

That's why we call him Magic.

I'm gonna make
three fake insertions.

I'll make one before and
two after I drop your team.

Titi says the road
is booby-trapped,

so you're gonna
have to use the river,

and the rice paddies
when you approach the village.

How long to get there, Titi?

Two, maybe three hour.

Okay. Now,
can't we insert any closer?

Maj. Quan most vigilant.

Leave village if he hear
American helicopter.

Sir, Magic says sappers
are crossing the river.

How the hell does he know that?

Magic's got a sixth sense.

Yeah, you could call me that.

If he says sappers are coming,
Colonel, sappers are coming.

All right fire up the Dragon,
I'll contact you on TAC 2.

No, sir.
I want to set up an ambush.

If they see you flying up,
they'll know we're on to them.

Doc, alert the Marines.

Tell them I'm setting up an ambush.
Slip into the bunkers.

Chief, set them.
Preacher,

take the trench
by the communications bunker.

Blaster, cover the north side
of the river.

Shamoo, south trench.

With the Lieutenant's
permission, I'll man the minigun.

No, I need you on the claymores.

Magic, you man the minigun.

Don't sh**t until you hear
the claymores blow.

It's showtime.

Aye, aye, sir.

Shh.

Should be coming any minute.

You better turn
the battery on, plug it in.

When you fire,
sh**t in short bursts.

This thing sh**t
6,000 rounds a minute.

Too dark for picture.

Honey, this film can get exposure
where the sun don't shine.

I can't see a damn thing.

Stand by, south side.

What do you got, Chief?

Damn.

Round eyes.

If she tries to
leave again, sh**t.

They should hit any sec.

That's what you said
two minutes ago.

I'm telling you, there's nothing out
there except Magic's imagination.

Hoo-Yah!

I can't believe it,

you saved that ungrateful
nozzle's life and he mocks you.

Who cares, Al?
I'm still here.

I changed history
and I didn't leap.

You did change history.
But I'm dammed if I know how you did it.

Well, maybe the sappers saw us and...
and they called off the att*ck.

It's too dark for them to see you.
It had to be something else.

What difference does it make?
We did it.

If we can save Deke,
we can save Tom.

Thank God!
Tell Madame Diem to lighten up.

Is over?

Is over.

I'll bet you a month's per diem,
she would have sh*t me if I tried to leave.

No bet.

Uh,

listen,
I'll... I'll only be a minute.

Uh, Tom, the lieutenant
asked me to

secure the radio net.
So I gotta...

There's nothing to it, Sam.

SEAL One is monitoring a tactical
frequency on that transmitter.

So you just call
them up, and... and you say

you're securing
from battle stations.

SEAL One this...

Bravo.

This is Bravo. Over.

I hope my getting ready for bed
doesn't bother you.

Uh, no, no, no, not at all.

Ahem.

Ha-ha, no, no, no,
I don't think so.

SEAL One, this is Bravo.
Over.

Oh, wow!

- Al.
- Huh?

Al?

Uh, yeah, it's a code name,

um, and they don't seem
to be answering to it.

Huh?

They don't?

Let me see. 47.30.
That doesn't seem right.

Try 41.15.

Oh, sh**t!

She put her jammies on.

SEAL One this is Bravo. Over.

Bravo, SEAL One.
What's shaking, baby?

Those sappers hit?

Uh, no. Uh, negative.

Um, we're securing
from battle stations.

Sleep tight
and don't let Charlie bite.

SEAL One, out.

Okay, over, out.

Here.

To those poor,
magnificent bastards you're going after.

- I don't follow you.
- The Air Cav earache.

He must have told
her the mission.

The guy deserves to
be court-martialed.

Col. Grimwald brief you
on tomorrow's mission?

Mr. West Point? No way.

It was someone higher up.

But how I got
the info isn't important.

What I do with it is.

I'm a photojournalist, Magic.

A damn good one.

And there's not
a good journalist

who wouldn't sell
their soul for a Pulitzer.

Since your mission tomorrow
is Pulitzer material,

I want you to tell
your Lt. Beckett

that you've got that
magic feeling about me.

You think you'll bring
us luck on the mission?

Uh-huh.

In exchange for what?

Your soul?

Not just my soul, baby.

Ah,

woman, you're picking
the wrong man.

What do you say?

Deal.

Sam, I am the one who thinks
with his glands. Not you. Why...

How'd you get
the info on the sappers?

Uh, how'd I get... Well, it was...
it was very simple.

Uh, Maggie filed
a story in the newspaper.

So Maggie goes on this
mission, she's gonna do a story

and then Ziggy can pull it out
of the newspaper files.

Hey, that's brilliant, Sam.
That's brilliant.

It's stupid.
It's really stupid.

I thought you were
smarter than that, Magic.

I swear to you, Tom. Maggie is vital
to the success of this mission.

I can't explain how I know.
I just do.

You sound like my brother.

I do?

He gets these
feelings about the future.

When I was home
last Thanksgiving,

he scared
the hell out of my folks.

Kept telling us that I was
going to die over here

on April 8.

Made me promise to crawl into the
deepest, darkest hole I could find

until that day was over.

Today is, um,

- April 8.
- I know.

But, any hole around here over
three feet deep fills with water.

You know, you made a promise.

Don't you think you ought to
try and keep it?

I got a mission to lead.

Now, are you sure about Maggie?

I'd stake my life on it.

Good, because that's
what you'll be doing.

Staking your life on
it, Magic, and ours.

Once we were in the air,
I expected history to change.

For Al to appear with
Maggie's story on the mission

so I'd know how to make it
a success and save Tom.

But we'd made the fake insertion
and there was still no sign of Al.

I was starting to sweat
and it wasn't the humidity.

We're coming up on the LZ.
One minute.

One minute. Last time.

Preacher and I go
for Maj. Quan's hooch.

Take out his bodyguards and
capture him alive if possible.

If not, praise the Lord and...

Blaster and I neutralize the
guards at the target hooch.

Magic and I cover the rear and
call in the 7th Cavalry if needed.

Roger.

And you, Miss Dawson,
are free to cover

this mission any
way you see fit,

as long as you do
not leave the chopper.

Aye, aye, sir.

Skipper, don't you think it's about
time you told us what's in that hooch?

- I've kind of been saving that.
- Yeah, we noticed.

Two, maybe three American POWs.

All right.

I told you it was
Pulitzer material.

But not for her.

POWs, Al.

Who do not get rescued.

What went wrong?

We still don't know.

Find Maggie's story?

She never filed it.

She was k*lled on this mission.

It was happening again.

But not like it
did the first time.

Then only Tom was k*lled.

Now, Maggie was joining him and
only God knew how many others.

Maybe everyone on the chopper.

Maybe I'd k*lled them all.

I know you want to scream.

I know you want to tell Tom
to call off the mission.

But he's not gonna do it.

Even if he believed you,
he's gonna push on.

He'll get Doc to sedate you
and he'll leave you behind.

You don't want that
to happen, do you?

Just remember you've got
an ace in the hole.

Me.

All right.
Move out. Come on.

Move!

LZ 3 coming up in one minute.

Colonel,
does this bird have a potty?

We just go out the door, Maggie.

Yeah, well, I'm not equipped
to do that.

Uh, how about a minute on
the ground at this next LZ?

I can't do that.

Come on, Colonel.

Where's your sense of chivalry?

I gotta go
and I sure as hell don't want

to do it in front of
these kids back here.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

- MK-26s.
- Must have stolen from the ARVNs.

Or bought it.

Sappers, sir.

Probably going out on a mission.

Take the weapons.
Leave the rest.

- You know her?
- No.

We gotta make that
next insertion, Colonel.

Maggie!

- Damn!
- She ain't coming, Colonel.

She ain't coming.

Village close.

Magic. Doc.

- Deploy here.
- Tom.

What?

This is stupid, Maggie.
Stupid.

But it's how you win a Pulitzer.

Sam! I found the POWs.

The VC are leading them down
a trail right over there.

Al, look at this.

Sam, there's only two guards.
You and Doc can free them.

This radio is tuned to 47.30.

That's the same frequency the radio
in the bunker was tuned to last night.

We took this radio
off the sappers, Al.

47.30 is the frequency
they were using.

The chieu hoi.

She must have radioed them right
after Maggie left the bunker.

She's leading them
straight into an ambush.

I got to go warn Tom.

You'll never catch him in time.

You've flipped Magic,
I'm going to sedate you.

Al, help me.

Get off my back, Charlie.

- We're gonna trip a booby trap.
- No, we won't.

Stop! One right there.

I've got a sixth sense.

Village.

Taking this road got us here ahead
of the squad, but not by much.

Charlie's laying for them on this
side of the river and in the village.

So you better get on the horn
to Col. Custer

'cause we're gonna
need the cavalry.

- What'll I say?
- Help!

Hoo-Yah!

Ambush! Ambush!
Pull back! Pull back!

Get down.

Ugh.

She was going to k*ll you.

Booby trap, Sam. Step over.

Come on, Magic.

- Magic!
- Maggie, no!

Maggie, stop!

Pulitzer.

She can see me.

You didn't k*ll her, Magic.

She sure as hell didn't die the first
time April 8, 1970 rolled around.

What are you talking about?

No, but Tom did.

Well, there it is, isn't it?

I traded a life for a life.

You are one weird dude, Magic.

I was the one that led you
back to save your brother.

So if anyone's responsible,
it's me.

48,

49,

50!

51!

That one's for you, Maggie.

Can a soldier get
a drink around here?

Maggie's last photographs.

Preacher, give me a beer.

She was one hell
of a photographer.

She was one hell of a woman.

And I k*lled her.

No, I did.

Oh, stop it, both of you.

What did she say to you
that time in the bunker?

She said she'd sell
her soul for a Pulitzer.

Not just her soul.

Yeah, well, I wish she'd got it.

She did.

What?

The Pulitzer.

I wish she'd won
the Pulitzer Prize.

She did,
for her last photograph.

What the hell,
I get repatriated in five years.

You could have been free.

I was free.

Up here, I was always free.

Hey, hey, it's midnight.

It's April 9
and I'm still alive.

Thanks to you, little brother.

Oh, boy.
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