fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2740 ]

[ SECRET POST #2740 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2738 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

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03.

[Fargo]

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04.

[The Dark Tower]

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05.

[Free!]

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06.

[Edge of Tomorrow]

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07.

[Iggy Pop]

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08.

[Sarah Jane Adventures, Quantum Leap]

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09.

[Captain America: The Winter Soldier]

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10.

[Kamui Cosplay]

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11.

[Marvel Comics]

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12.

[Deep Space Nine]

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13.

[Sarah Jane Adventures]

14. [repeat]

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15. [SPOILERS for Infinity Gauntlet]

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16. [SPOILERS for Smallville]
[WARNING for suicide]

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17. [WARNING for suicide]

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18. [WARNING for rape]

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19. [WARNING for suicide]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #391.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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08. http://i62.tinypic.com/23h3t46.jpg
[Sarah Jane Adventures, Quantum Leap]

Oh God this. Quantum Leap's ending was one of the biggest fuck you's ever for endings.

Why, exactly?

Because Sam never returned to his loved ones. He kept fighting and helping but never got his reward. For him the cake was a lie.

NAYRT:

The whole series was Sam trying to leap home and then at the end we find out he was just leaping for the rest of his life! Totally shitty.

Yep. An inspiration for all future 'fuck you' endings.

...I still don't understand why everyone hates the ending to Quantum Leap. I mean, it provided closure, and opened a way for the fandom's headcanons/fics/etc. to go on forever. It was also a different way to end a popular series at that time, and the novelty factor of that made it seem cooler than it was, too.

I don't get it either. I loved the ending tbh.

Because it's really, really sad.

AYRT

Yeah, I'm not seeing it. Didn't God basically explain that this was what Sam was meant to do/good at/etc? I mean, yeah, it's unfortunate he never will never get home, but OTOH, that's not what the show was about, and Sam ended up continuing "put right what once went wrong" which is what made the show so positive and uplifting.

My two cents.

But for all we know, he may be effectively immortal. Can you imagine constantly changing bodies/lives forever, with no real rest and no predictability?

It wasn't all that bad/difficult; what about the time he went home? And I'm sure he ate, slept, did all the things that occur in whatever span of time passes in each person's life he jumps into; they just didn't show us that, because the show was only 45 minutes minus commercials.

(no subject)

mekkio - 2014-07-05 00:31 (UTC) - Expand

Because it was cruel. With every leap he wanted to go home, we were told that at the beginning of every episode. It was an intriguing end, but it left me bereft and I was only 8 years old when I watched it originally. Sam could never go home, and he'll always strive to, because (and correct me if I'm wrong because I might be remembering this incorrectly) he doesn't know it's hopeless.

His life is now eternally his mission. I didn't find it to be a satisfying end because I was invested in Sam's goal - leaping home.

For me and my mother it was crushing that Sam never got to return to his friends and family. He could never really be himself and be with those he loved. It was a punch to the gut.

I loved the ending. It was bittersweet. Al who had been effed up for most of his adult life because his true love remarried thinking he was dead got his happy ending. How often do you watch a show where not the lead gets the happy ending but the sidekick? Sam knew that he was rewriting time by making sure Al had his happy ending but didn't care. He loved his best friend enough to sacrifice his own happiness. That's true friendship.

I hated that ending. I hated it.

I don't necessarily hate that Sam didn't get home (though I don't exactly like it either). My hate, which taints the entire episode for me, is reserved for how isolated Sam and All were from each other.

But then, more John D'Aquino, who I always like on my TV. So I have confused thoughts on the finale.

You can headcanon whatever. I do. ^^

Quantum Leap was the first tv show I really got into that wasn't programming aimed towards children (and that my parents didn't watch) when I was a kid. I watched the last three seasons as they aired, and have the clearest memory of sitting on the floor directly in front of the television as the finale aired.

I screamed when I read the final title card and cried. And cried. I had loved Sam and Al so much and just knew Sam'd get back home to his wife eventually and all his friends.

Now as an adult, I can see the merits of how they ended it. I can point to it as an example of true unselfish love- how Sam did the one thing Al had always needed done for him - telling Beth that Al would come home and saving his marriage. Also, Al did something pretty amazing for Sam too in that he let Sam save his brother in Vietnam even though it meant Al had to stay more years as a POW than in original history.

Both were huge sacrifices for both of them and I loved the characters all the more for having that deep of feelings for one another. (as friendship or more depending on how you shade it- either way it's love). I can still tear up if I think about that long enough, it hurts my heart that they never made it back to one another :( and Sam never made it home!

I feel like this ending at the time though, took a bit of my belief in that things work out good in the end in entertainment away. As I was still a kid and assumed that there would always be a happy ending and there isn't. I can't help but think that there were other young people watching it who had the same reaction and maybe that's part of how the OP feels.

Pretty much the same, though I watched it with my mother. And I was so confused at the ending.

I was so confused as well, and that's one of the few things I remember clearly from that time in my childhood.

I need to rewatch. I thought Al stayed a POW for the same amount of time, but he could have been rescued sooner if he had told Sam he was there instead of helping him save his brother.

Either way, their relationship is the best part of that show. I have 4 more weeks left of my maternity leave, I wonder if that's enough time to rewatch....we just finished Highlander so we have an open slot in our day.

Ah you might be right! I did a big rewatch a few years ago but the thing that stuck with me was he had to stay a POW for years more because of that happening and how he never told Sam during the whole episode. It was so heart breaking to see Sam realize at the end. And the whole "I was always free in my mind"

The other big line I remembered that we've not touched on is the one where he leaps home and Sam's wife tells Al "Sam couldn't do what he has to do if he remembered me. Promise me you'll never tell him, Al." and just omg O_O gut punch you know?

I will say the fashion etc is so dated and cheesy for Al and any technology of the 'future' but otherwise the stories hold up surprisingly well on rewatch! :)

Oh yes! That part with Sam's wife was so heartbreaking! That show was so good. I'm definitely starting a rewatch on Monday.

Same, I must have been 7-8 myself when I first saw it? Now I'm older I can kind of look at it in the sense of "yes there are intriguing narrative results of this", but at the time it was very much WAIT WHAT TELEVISION DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS, WHAT IS THIS?!

I suppose that might be valuable too, heh.

I'm kinda glad I never saw the finale of Quantum Leap, then. That would've messed me up.

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