Quantum Leap (1989–1993): Season 2, Episode 1 - Honeymoon Express - April 27, 1960 - full transcript

In April 1960 Sam leaps into the body of a New York City police detective, Tom McBride, who is traveling with his new bride Diane on the Honeymoon Express, the train from New York to Niagara Falls. He soon realizes that Diane's violent ex-husband is stalking her and that he has every intention of murdering them. Meanwhile, Adm. Al Calavicci finds himself before a very skeptical Senate committee reviewing the project's budget. What they don't realize is that Sam's trip on the train and the Senate investigation are definitely linked.

Admiral, are you trying
to tell this committee that God...

has taken control
of Project Quantum Leap?

That is the conclusion that
Dr. Beckett and I reached...

after exhausting every other
possible scientific explanation.

Is that ''God'' with
an upper or lowercase ''G''?

I mean, is G-O-D a military acronym
I'm not familiar with?

No, Senator.

I'm referring to... him.

- Or her.
- I hope you're right, Senator.

And that God with a capital ''G, ''
male or female,

interfered with
Dr. Beckett's attempt...

to travel within his own lifetime
and is using him to, uh,

''put things right
that once went wrong. ''

Yes, sir.
And you list some examples.

Saving the life of a test pilot
and his unborn child.

Helping Sisters of Charity
build a chapel.

Being instrumental in
the integration of a small town.

All commendable, but not exactly
earth-shattering changes.

They were earth-shattering
to those that he affected.

Admiral, I believe the point is that...

Dr. Beckett hasn't
significantly impacted...

on the domestic and global conflicts
of the recent past.

I mean, for $43 billion,

he could at least have altered
the results of the last
presidential election.

Quantum leaping has left Dr. Beckett
suffering from partial amnesia.

He's unable to recall many
significant events ofhis lifetime.
And even ifhe were,

he seems only able to impact...

people and events...

that he wants changed.

You expect us to believe...

that God leapt Dr. Beckett
back into '56...

just to help Buddy Holly
with the lyrics to ''Peggy Sue''?

He works in mysterious ways.

Evidently, so does this project.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Admiral,

but do I understand
that you are the only person
who has had physical contact...

with Dr. Beckett since
he supposedly leaped back in time?

Physical contact, no.

We appear to each other
as holograms.

I can see and hear him,
and he can see and hear me,

but we can't interact physically.

And no one else can see
or communicate with him?

No, Mr. Chairman.
The experiment was designed
around our brain waves.

In other words,
we have only your word that...

this quantum leap
ever really happened.

Admiral, you must understand...

that this committee cannot justify
funding a project...

that costs $2. 4 billion a year...

on the word of
any single human being,

even one as highly respected
and decorated as yourself.

Thank you for your testimony, Admiral.

We'll caucus and announce
our decision on Friday.

Excuse me, Mr. Chairman,

but if you kill this project,

you will end
one of the greatest adventures
mankind has ever undertaken.

And more important,

you will leave
a brave man back there alone.

He's not alone, Admiral.

He has God.

Please, be careful.

Oh, you don't have
to worry about me.

I've been climbing trees
since I was-- since I was three.

If Ginger fell, I'djust die. |

What are you doing, Sam?

I'm trying to save Ginger.

That name is probably why
he's up here in the first place.

He?
Sam,

how would you like
to stop a revolution?

What?|

Does the name Fidel Castro
mean anything to you?
No. Should it?

Well, I don't know,
since it's '57,

and he won't be taking over Cuba
for two years.

Don't tell me Ziggy's changed his mind
about what I'm here to do?

Parallel hybrid computers,
they never change their mind.

Their ego won't let them.
He's still predicting...

that you're here to make
a... heroic rescue.

- Here, kit-- Whoa!
- Uh-oh.

Oh, Ginger.

My poor baby.
Are you all right?

My hero.

Oh, boy.

Don't be embarrassed, folks.

After 27 years
on the Honeymoon Express,
I've seen more than kissing.

And before we even
left the station too.
Honeymoon Express?

That's what we call
the Niagara Falls run.

Most of these folks on this train
are on their honeymoon.

I'm on a honeymoon.
How did you know
we were newlyweds?

Well, new suitcases, new rings,

and the gleam
in the gentleman's eye.

Will you be supping here
or in the dining car?

Dining ca--
Here.

Usually, it's the bride
that wants the dining car.

Yeah.
The dining car will be fine.

But could we have
some champagne in here first?

Champagne? Here?

Uh, sure.

Be back in five minutes.

Uh, I'll be right back.

Porter?
When you bring the champagne,
could you pick up today's paper?

You wanna read a newspaper?

I like to keep up
with current events.

Yes, sir. Oh.

Will you be wanting me
to make up the upper or lower bunk?

Both.
Both?

Yeah, both.

All aboard!

White folks.

Um, I--
I have to use the bathroom.

Not until you've kissed me first.

I, uh-- I'll just--
I'll just be a minute.

You've done it to me this time.

I'm sorry. I know you're not gettin'
the honeymoon you expected.

Oh, boy.

Why would a cop bring his gun
and handcuffs on his honeymoon?

I'm thinking like Al!

Oh, Tom!

You packed my book on
torts, writs and subpoenas.

Oh, well, yeah. You know.

Do you realize how much
your supporting my dream
means to me?

I'm-I'm starting to get the idea.

It makes passing my bar
seem unimportant next to us.

But-But passing the bar is important.

What say you, um, get in
a little study time before dinner.

Lieutenant Macbride, are you trying
to get me so in love with you...

that I'll do anything you want?

Do you want me to come back later?

No.
No?

You do have to study, don't you?
Yes, but--

Good. Then why don't you just
put in a few pages of torts and writs,

and-and I'll just
go find the porter...

and tell him
to keep our champagne on ice.

Sam, she's not interested
in torts and writs.

She's interested in--

Aren't you at least going
to kiss me good-bye?

Oh, boy.

Al? Al!

Al, I'm a newlywed.

Can you believe it?
And on my honeymoon!

You lucky dog.
Lucky?

Al, that woman is
a complete stranger to me.

Why are you wasting this on him?

Come on. Come on. Come on.|

Here, boy.

What am I here to do?

You're here to have significant impact...

on an event of global importance.

What?
Today is April 27, 1 960.

In two days, the Russians
are gonna down shoot down the U-2.

- The rock group?
- No, no.

Our top secret spy plane
flown by Francis Gary Powers.

- I don't remember.
- Well, why should you?

You were only six years old
when it happened.

The downing of the U-2 torpedoed
the ''Big Four'' summit in Paris,

the disarmament talks in Geneva,
the Test Ban Treaty.

It single-handedly prolonged
the Cold War for decades!

And I'm here to change that?

All you have to do is to get Ike
to drop the mission.

Ike?
Ike.

Dwight David Eisenhower,
34th president of the United States.

Okay.
Um, Al,

how does a New York cop
get the president of the United States
to call off a top secret mission?

You get your bride there
to call her daddy,

who's a U. S. senator
and also Ike's golfing buddy.

Her daddy's a senator?
Max Brown-- Ohio.

And this-this is what Ziggy
says I'm here to do?

Not entirely.

But the opportunity
is too good to pass up.
What does Ziggy say?

Since when do you listen
to egotistical hybrid computers?

Since you started talking
global impact.

Look, in all the leaping around
we've done, we've never affected
anything beyond individual lives.

I think that's the way he wants it.

And I think that all this global impact stuff
has to do with something else--
something else you're not telling me.

Sam, trust me on this one.

You're here to stop the U-2.
What does Ziggy say?

He says there's a 7 8% --

7 8. 6% chance you're here
to help Diane...

pass her bar... exam.

Bar exam.
Uh-huh. Well,
that's more like it.

How do I do that?

Well, you go back in
your compartment there.

And by now, she's only wearing
a little black negligee...

that has a little black ribbon
right about here...

which when you pull it,
it unveils--
Al, Al.

Yeah. Then you take her
in your arms...

and you make mad,
passionate love to her.

Then you make more mad,
passionate love to her.

And then you make even more--
Al, I get the idea,
all right?

Okay. Then just before she falls asleep
from complete and utter exhaustion,

you whisper lovingly in her ear,

''You will pass your bar.

''You will pass your bar.

''You will tell your daddy
to tell Ike...

not to send up the U-2. ''

You know I can't--

Oh, uh, porter, I'm sorry.
Could you keep that on ice until dinner?

You're not having it
in your compartment?
Uh, no.

My wife has a little studying to do.

We always get a red light in Harlem.

They oughta put it on the schedule.

Thanks.

You're hurting me!
Let me go!

- Diane?
- Tom!

Tom, help me!

Roget, please!
Please, stop!

No!

You all right?

I had a dream about you
last night, Diane.

You know-- You know this man?
You didn't tell him, Diane?

- I'm her husband.
- Ex-husband.

You really should have
told him, Diane.

In the dream, you were running
in the Argonne in the snow.

I know it was the Argonne because
the flakes were big and wet,

the way I remember them as a boy.

You went to an old mill,

just like the one where
the Gestapo caught Moulin.

There was a German officer there,
tall and arrogant,

and you started to make love to him.

Roget, please, don't do this.

Before it was over,
I bled him till the snow turned red.

- That's enough!
- He looked like you.

Except for the eyes.

He had the eyes of a man
who could kill.

You hate me, don't you?
What?

No.
I didn't tell you
I'd been married before...

because if I didn't tell you
then it didn't happen,
at least not for you.

And if it didn't happen for you,
then I could pretend
it didn't happen for me.

There's a weird logic in that.
You hate me.

I don't hate you.

Look, it's 1 960.
Divorce is not unheard of.

What is unheard of is being kidnapped
by your ex-husband.

I should have known Roget
would never let me go.

I knew he was jealous
when I started dating him.

I found it flattering.

I just thought he was being very French,
and that once we were married
it would all end.

It got worse.
He made me a prisoner in my own home.

We never went out.
I couldn't have dinner parties
or see old friends.

He wouldn't even let me shop or
get my hair done without him sending
one of his bodyguards along.

Bodyguards?
Roget smuggles arms.

Into Africa, mostly.
It's very lucrative,
but it's very dangerous.

Didn't you know this
before you married him?
No.

I knew during the war
he smuggled guns into France
for the Resistance,

but I never dreamed
it became his profession.

He always talked about
how horrible it had been--

how everyone close to him
had been caught and executed
by the Germans,

and how, after the war,
he alone survived.

Diane, did you love him
or feel sorry for him?

A little of both.

I don't think I knew what love was
until I met you.

Oh, Tom, I'm so afraid
he'll hurt you.

Admiral, we're here to render our decision.

Mr. Chairman,
I would like to request...

a 48-hour delay in that rendering.

Admiral, nothing is going to change
over the weekend.

Except history.
In 1 960,

an American U-2 reconnaissance plane
was shot down...

on an intelligence mission
over the Soviet Union.

By this Monday, the U-2 incident
will not have occurred.

Dr. Beckett is going to abort the mission,

thereby changing history
on a global basis...

and also proving
that he's back there.

And if there are no changes,

will you admit the Quantum Leap
is a failure...

and go quietly into
the sea of retirement?

You have my word on that, Senator.

You have until Monday at 1 0:00.

- He's drinking a Kir.
- So?

So, it's very French.
So's our champagne.

You know, you remind me of me.

You?
Mm-hmm.

On my first train ride,
I was confused, frightened.

I was sure everybody on board
was out to get me.

How old were you?
Two.

At two, it's appropriate.
Not at 26.

It is if you've been frightened.

Hmm.
What are you doing?

Reading your champagne bubbles.

It's kind of like reading tea leaves,
only it's more accurate.

It is?
Mm-hmm.

I can see that
you're going to pass your bar,

become a lawyer,

go into corporate law--
Yuck.

Find that boring,
enter politics,
Hmm.

and become the first president
of the United States...

to give birth in the oval office.

Is that how your mother
calmed you down--
by making you laugh?

Uh, no.
She would give me a book to read.

At two?

What were you,
some child prodigy?
As a matter of fact, he was.

At five, he could do calculus
in his head.

At 1 0, he could beat
a computer at chess.

Would you excuse me?
I need to go to the restroom.

Not the men's room again.
Sam, I'm startin' to feel like a pervert.

Um, I will be in the compartment.

I have some girl things to do...

and something very special
to put on.

You know, my first wife and I...

spent our honeymoon
on the train to Niagara Falls.

And my third wife.

And my fourth wife--
Or was it the fifth?

Fourth or the fifth?

Let me see. The fourth was--
What was her name?
Sharon.

She wore pink baby dolls.

Maxine was the fifth one.
She didn't wear anything at all.

She used to flavor her toes
with mint leaves.

It was Maxine, Sam.
I took my first, third and fifth wife
to Niagara Falls.

How odd.
That's funny, Sam.

Having someone try
to kidnap your bride isn't.

You're kidding.

You're not kidding.

Oh, damn, I forgot.
We pulled Ziggy's research unit off-line.

What?
Well, it's the end of the month.
The funds are a little low.

It happens. You make cuts.
No, not in research
you don't make cuts.

Don't worry.
I can switch some funds
from the motor pool.

You know, sometimes I feel like
nobody back there gives a damn.

I do.

Yeah, I-I know you do, Al.
I'm-I'm sorry.

Did you ask Diane to call her daddy
about the U-2 mission?

- I've got bigger problems.
- I don't think so.

Her ex is trying to kidnap her, and I--

Al, she thinks I'm her husband,

the man that she married this morning
at who knows where,

and in a few minutes
she's gonna expect me to go in there
and make love to her.

What's the problem?

I'm not her husband!

To her you are.
But not to me!

Al, it's-it's not morally right...

to sleep with a woman
that you don't love.

I agree.
You agree?

I have loved every woman
I ever slept with...

at the time I slept with them.

Okay. All right.
I don't love her yet.

What do you mean, yet?

Well, I mean, I'm just--

You think
I'm falling in love with her?

Oh, Sam.

You're going to have
to bite the bullet.

While I go back
to put research online,

you're going to have to face
a beautiful woman...

who wants to spend the entire night
making mad, passionate love to you.

It's a dirty job,
but somebody's got to do it.

Is this really
what you want me to do?

If it is,
I wish you'd give me a sign.

Oh, boy.

I have something to tell you.
My-My name isn't Tom Macbride.

Oh? What is it?

Beck-- Beckett.
It's Sam-Sam Beckett.
The playwright?

I don't think so.

Then who?

Well, um, primarily
I'm a quantum physicist.

Oh?

I like it.

And I'm Lara,

the K. G. B. 's sexiest agent.

I boarded the Orient Express
with orders to seduce Sam Beckett,

America's most famous
astrophysicist...

Quantum physicist.

and have him fall madly in love with me
and drive him crazy...

by refusing to sleep with him
until he tells me
how to make a hydrogen bomb.

You don't like it.
Okay.

Tell me your fantasy.

I'm Tom Macbride.

I'm a police lieutenant
on my honeymoon...

with the most beautiful woman
I've ever known.

Oh! I like that story.

What is it?

It's Roget!

I don't see him.
Are you sure you didn't imagine it?

He was wearing the same trench coat
he had on this afternoon.

How could he have caught up with us?

I don't know.
Car, plane. I don't know.

What are you gonna do?
Walk the train.

No.
Look, if he's on the train, I'm gonna
have to face him sooner or later.

He'll kill you!
No one's gonna kill me.

I'm just gonna explain to the conductor
what's going on,

and then they'll turn him over
to the police at the next stop.

The police won't do anything.
Look, he tried to kidnap you.

I know, but it's our word against his.

And even if they do believe us,
it might be considered
a domestic matter.

There's this case in Buffalo in '49
where a man tried to kidnap his ex-wife
to try and win her back.

Diane, shh.

Why are you doing this?

So I won't scream.

All aboard!

Whoop. You all right?

Ah, the groom.
Je vous en prie.

You know, I was wondering.

Do you think Diane married you
because you're a policeman?

Maybe subconsciously
she was seeking a protector,
a blue knight.

I asked my analyst about it this morning,
and he thought it quite possible.
What else did he say?

Regretfully, that I was quite mad.

I would agree with that diagnosis.

- I love her.
- You want to possess her.
That's not love.

She took a vow...

to love, honor and obey until death.

She changed her mind.
She doesn't have that right.

That's no longer strictly
a male privilege, pal.

- You're not afraid of me?
- No.

You should be.
I'm going to kill you.

No, you're not.

Yes, he is.

Tom Macbride was found dead
on this train.

Stabbed through the heart.
Your lack of fear shows
how little you know of me.

Maybe I should tell you a little war story
about a woman I used to know.

She had a Nazi lover,

and she gave him the names
of everyone in our village
who was with the Resistance.

The Gestapo caught,
tortured and hung them all.

- All but me.
- You killed her?

- Yes.
- She didn't give them your name?

No.

I suppose because
she was my mother.

Now, I think you do fear me.

Take him, Sam.

Sam, take him!

They got my gun.
You let 'em get your gun?

I take that back.
You probably didn't have any choice.

Thank you.
This is gettin' dangerous, Sam.

You think?

Ziggy says your best shot
is to have the conductor
radio ahead for the police,

because Roget is wanted in New York
for murdering his psychiatrist.

If you swim with the sharks,
you get bit.

You and Diane are supposed to
lock yourself in your compartment...

until the police board
the train in Niagara--

Uh-oh.
No, that's no good.

Because the minute
the cops pick him up, you'll leap,
and you can't do that...

until you get Diane to get her daddy
to get Ike to cancel the U-2 mission!

Would you get off
that broken record?

I'm trying to save Diane's life.
He's not gonna kill her!
He's gonna kill you!

Sam, Congress doesn't believe you leaped.
I told 'em you'd prove it.

Have you seen the conductor?
Change history. Stop the U-2 incident
from ever happening.

That's your problem.
No, it's your problem too!

If you don't prove you're back here,
they're gonna shut down the project!

In case you haven't noticed, Al,
I don't need the project.

They aren't leaping me
around anymore. God is.

If they shut down the project,
you won't be able to contact me.

I was thinking of tryin' a couple
of tin cans on a piece of string.

- When are they pulling the plug?
- Now. This is our last contact.

I don't think I can make it
without you, Al.

I don't wanna hear
you can't make it without me.
Of course you can, if you had to.

But you won't if--

If I get Diane to call her dad.
I know. I know.

Diane, it's Sam-- Tom.

He's on the train, isn't he?

Yes.

But the conductor is
radioing ahead to the police.

All we have to do is stay locked up
in here until we get to the station.

And then it'll be over.

I promise.

Diane,

when we get to Niagara Falls,

I'd like you to call your father.

I can't.
Don't you remember?

He and Senator Tipton left
after the wedding to go fishing in Canada.

They'll be incommunicado for a week.
Why do you want me to call Dad?

You don't think the police
will arrest Roget, do you?

No.

Yeah, they'll arrest him. I mean,
he's wanted for murder in New York.

A psychiatrist.
Oh, God.

Oh, Tom.
I don't think I can make it until morning.

Sure you can.

I'll distract you...

by asking you some more questions.

And considering the circumstances,
don't you think you should...

get into something practical?

Um-- ''In order to be valid,

''a state enactment must meet
a three-part test.
Mm-hmm.

The law must be--''

''Enacted within
the state's boundaries...

and must not unduly burden
interstate commerce. ''

Because the ''one man, one vote''
requirement...

is part of
the 1 4th Amendment...

which applies to the states,
and therefore...

it can't be a right
reserved to the states...

under the 1 0th Amendment.

Enough studying.

Shh.

Henri!

Follow him!

Start the train!

Hey, this train ain't goin' anywhere
until I find out
who pulled that emergency cord,

and it sure as hell ain't goin' anywhere
with you hangin' onto
the side of this engine!

I pulled it.
Lieutenant Macbride, N. Y. P. D.
I don't have time to explain it. Just go!

I need a gun.

He's a cop.
Give it to him.

Railroad issue, 50 years ago.

It worked?

It's all over, Diane.

Throw your gun out of the window.

Now, s'il vous plâit.

Come on! Do it!

You know, it's amazing
how the brain can absorb
the sound of a shot.

I wonder if suicides know that before
they shoot themselves in the head.

You kill him, Roget,
and you'll never get me
off this train alive.

Not alone.

Let him go,
and I'll freely go with you anywhere.

No!
Please, Roget.

Let him live,
and I'll do anything you want.

I'll go anywhere you want.
I swear on my mother's soul.
Please, just let him live.

That's how much
you love him, Diane?

Yes.

You leave me no choice then.

Next time, it will be easier.

According to this history book,
on May 26, 1 960,

diplomatic furor over
the American U-2 spy plane...

shot down by the Russians...

has driven East-West relations
into a tailspin.

At the United Nations
Security Council meeting today,

Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko...

accused the United States
of pushing the world
to the brink of war...

by its continued military espionage...

against the peace-loving Soviet people.

Do I need to read any further,
Admiral?
No, sir.

Good.
Mr. Chairman,

I know we were unable
to stop the U-2,

but Dr. Beckett did change history.
Admiral, please.

He was able to save Diane Macbride,

and he still didn't leap, so--
What the hell
are you trying to pull, Admiral?

I don't understand, Senator.

Are you talking about
Senator Brown's daughter?

Yes, sir.
Diane Macbride.

Then your research computer
goofed, Admiral.

I still don't understand, Senator.

It's true
I was Max Brown's protégé...

and was elected to his seat
when he died in '65.

So I can see how you'd believe
by involving his daughter,

you might evoke
some sympathy from me.

Mr. Chairman,
I swear I had no idea...

you knew Senator Brown
or his daughter.

It just so happened--
Only you didn't research
deep enough.

Diane ran against me.
She was the one I beat for this seat...

30 years ago.

Mr. Chairman--
Admiral,

with all due respect, you lost.

Now sit down
and take your medicine.

I've done everything I think
you put me here to do.

So, please, either leap me out of here
or look the other way.

Um--

What, um--

What amendment...

or...

amendments...

explicitly limit
private acts by individuals?

Thirteenth...

and 1 4th.

I love you.

I love you too.

But you're wrong.
What?

The 1 4th Amendment,

which...

''prohibits discrimination
under its Equal Protection Clause... ''

addresses state action,

not private action.

The 1 3th Amendment...

is the only one that...

explicitly limits private acts
by individuals.

My God, you're right!

I don't know how
I could have missed that.

That would have influenced
half my constitutional rights answers.

That one stupid mistake...

could've cost me the exam.

This committee has decided that
your 2. 4-billion-dollar funding request...

for Project Quantum Leap--

... shall be approved
for one more year.

I know you haven't proven that
Dr. Beckett has traveled back in time...

or that ifhaving done so
he can make an impact
of global importance.

But it is the opinion of this committee
that such heroic undertakings
advance the human cause,

and whether or not they succeed
is not so important
as the fact that we try.

You have your funding
for one more year, Admiral.

This hearing's adjourned.

Admiral, I see that Dr. Beckett's
first name is Samuel.

Uh-- Yes, it is.

- No relation to the playwright?
- No, I don't think so.

I seem to recall meeting
a Samuel Beckett.

Astrophysicist, as I recall.

I just don't remember
where I met him.

It'll probably come to me
when I'm least expecting it,
like in bed tonight.

Good day, Admiral.