This article contains spoilers forQuantum Leapseason 2 episode 11 The Outsider.
The main narrative thrust of the original and newQuantum Leapis changing fate.
To put right what once went wrong.
Does this mean there are some points in time that are fixed?
That no matter what a Leaper does they cant be changed?
Al (Dean Stockwell) attempts to explain that Sam cant change, anything beyond individual lives.
To stop the 1960 U-2 incident from occurring and thus dramatically curtail the Cold War.
Sam, who firmly states he can only impact individual lives, isnt able to manage this anyway.
However in helping the woman pass her bar exam Sam inadvertently changed history in a way he didnt expect.
Well, not exactly.
Sam presses on with his family but no matter what he does, history doesnt change.
A photojournalist, Maggie, dies when she hadnt in the original history before Sam leapt in.
As Sam regretfully puts it, I traded a life for a life.
Fate can be changed, but only with sacrifice.
In that episode this was in the context of sacrifice, being the reason a Leaper cant get home.
Still, Toms speculation can also apply to why bigger changes in fate can occur with sacrifice.
Ben could still save Hannahs husband but it would cost him.
Is Ben willing to pay that price, without knowing what it could be?
But what counts as a change in history that requires a sacrifice and one that doesnt?
Whats the line when a change in history becomes too big or isnt fated to happen?
Is that not a huge change?
Sometimes things dont go the way we want them to.
But that doesnt mean you stop trying to do the right thing.
New episodes of Quantum Leap season 2 premiere Tuesday at 10 p.m. (Special thanks to the Als Place A Quantum Leap Fansite for their image archive of the series.)
