Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke 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.

Another Mother

• Sam leaps into a kitchen at breakfast time and observes as two teenagers argue and a toddler calls him “mommy…”
• September 30, 1981
• The oldest, a boy, fights with the middle child, a girl, over a Queen t-shirt that he claims she stole from his room… but she claims it belongs to a friend of hers… until the shirt tears apart.
• The youngest, also a girl, complains that the dog, Wookie, tore the head off her doll and wants it fixed.
• Meanwhile the dog is eating the breakfast that has been prepared for the kids and Sam decides it’s time to lay down the law.
• He shouts, “Quiet!” in a tone that shows more authority than these kids are obviously used to.
• Suddenly the youngest girl asks, “Where’s my mommy?”
• When the other kids point out that their mom is right in front of her, she says, “That’s not mommy, that’s a man!” before running off to her room.
• Let’s clear this up… the kids names are Kevin, Susan, and Teresa (from oldest to youngest)…
• Sam sends Susan to talk to Teresa and calm her down while Kevin apologizes over breakfast.
• We learn that Linda is recently divorced and the kids’ father ran off with some bimbo.
• Linda recently obtained her real estate license and is hoping to make her first sale soon.
• Susan has convinced Teresa to come back and take another look at their mother to prove it’s really her.
• But Teresa again insists, “That’s not my mommy, that’s a man…”
• Then she reveals she can see Al, too, calling his futuristic shirt ugly.
• Teresa runs back to her room again while the older kids leave for school.
• Al then relays some info from Ziggy, saying that children under five exist in a natural alpha state, which is why Teresa is able to see Sam and Al.
• Teresa keeps crying for her mommy, so Sam has no choice but tell her the truth.
• Al and Sam just tell her that mommy had to go away for a little while but she’ll be back real soon and for a few days, everyone is just going to pretend that Sam is mommy.
• They tell her they’re there to help her big brother win the swim meet.
• Teresa assumes they’re angels and goes along with it… especially when she has fun passing through Al.
• The real reason Sam is here is because Kevin is going to vanish without a trace tonight.
• Six months later, his bloodied clothes will be found, but not Kevin…
• Meanwhile, the audience is shown a creepy van driving down the highway.
• Sam worries about how to keep Kevin from running away from home when he can’t follow the kid around all day.
• He realizes he can’t follow the kid, but Al can… but Al doesn’t really want to and exits the imaging chamber.
• But then we see Al hanging out at the high school as Kevin eats lunch with his friends.
• Those friends are giving him an obvious hard time regarding sex and a girl named Jackie.
• Al smells a set up…
• Kevin’s friends want him to hook up with Jackie and return with proof of his “conquest.”
• Man am I glad I didn’t have “friends” like these when I was a kid.
• Al returns to Sam and tells him he has to help Kevin have sex with the girl… but Sam’s not on board with that idea.
• Sam ruins dinner, so he suggests to Teresa that they pick up Kevin and Susan and go out to eat.
• Meanwhile, that creepy van is getting closer to Scottsdale.
• Sam gets home with the kids and Teresa keeps calling him Sam instead of mommy… but the other kids aren’t quite noticing yet.
• Kevin is distracted, so Sam challenges him to a round of ping pong in the garage.
• But Kevin isn’t keen on opening up, even when Sam says it’s clear something is bothering him.
• Sam doesn’t have any luck since Kevin doesn’t want to talk with his mom about girls.
• Elsewhere, the creepy van follows a school bus as it drops off a couple of kids.
• Two creepy guys in the van look at each other and smile, but are clearly disappointed when the kids’ mother pulls up in a station wagon.
• At Jackie’s house, Kevin’s “friends” get her to go along with a prank by convincing her that Kevin will play along and think it’s funny, too.
• Kevin decides to get advice from Susan while she watches Magnum, but she’s only 11 and has nothing to say.
• So Susan takes off and goes next door to watch TV.
• Kevin gets ready to head out, claiming that he’s going to see Raiders of the Lost Ark again with his friends, but Sam insists that he needs to stay home tonight.
• Angry, Kevin goes to his room and slams the door before cranking up the volume on his stereo.
• Then he sneaks out his window and rides his bike to Jackie’s.
• Sam and Al put Teresa to bed and Al sings her to sleep… it’s kind of sweet.
• While Al sings, Sam goes to turn down Kevin’s stereo, discovering he’s gone.
• Kevin sits nervously next to Jackie on her sofa and she tells him he doesn’t have to be nice to her or even talk to her…
• She’s kind of treating it like it’s a business transaction.
• Jackie tells him to take his clothes off and kisses him.
• He confesses that he’s not sure what to do, so she asks if he’s a virgin.
• As soon as he admits that he is, his friends burst out of the closet laughing… even Jackie laughs at first, too.
• But she immediately feels awful when she realizes how much Kevin’s feelings are hurt.
• He storms out of the house and takes off on his bike… and is soon followed by the creepy van.
• Jackie yells at the other guys who are still having a good laugh at Kevin’s expense, and claim they’re going to share the news of Kevin’s virginity with the whole school.
• Time out… Kevin’s only 15.
• I know the reality is that kids younger than that can and do have sex.
• But was the expectation in 1981 really for a 15-year-old guy to have been sexually experienced?
• I’d bet real money that those “friends” of his are virgins, too.
• They’re just better at lying about it.
• And how stupid is it that these teenage guys wear sexual conquest like it’s a badge of honor, but if a teenage girl is found out to have had sex, she’s labeled a slut.
• Ugh… I hate high school.
• Anyway… Sam shows up to Jackie’s house and asks where Kevin went.
• Al shows up and tells Sam that when Kevin disappeared, his bike was found on Bell Road, which Jackie says is just two blocks over.
• Jackie apologizes to Sam, but he just tells her to save it for Kevin.
• Sam takes off but Al stays long enough to hear some of the friends continue to poke fun at Kevin.
• One of the guys says, “Man, with a mother like that, I’d still be a virgin, too!”
• To which Al replies, “You are still a virgin… you’re gonna be a virgin for another six years…”
• We cut to Kevin, bound and gagged in the back of the creepy van.
• Al joins Sam in the family car as they pass the abandoned bike.
• They catch up to the van and Sam asks Al to center in on Kevin, just to be with him… even though Al can’t do anything to help the kid.
• Al watches helplessly as the guy not driving crawls back toward Kevin.
• Thankfully, Sam catches up enough to start flashing lights and honking the horn, distracting the creepy guys.
• Sam uses the station wagon to run the van off the road.
• The creepy driver sees Kevin’s mom in the rear view mirror and grins.
• The passenger comes from behind and grabs Sam, holding him while the creepy driver tears open Sam’s blouse.
• But Sam surprises them and himself with some martial arts skill and Al reveals that Sam is an expert in Judo and Tae Kwon Do.
• Sam frees Kevin and tells him to come on…
• Uh… Shouldn’t they tie up these guys so they can’t go anywhere while one of them goes to call the police?
• No… just leave those creepy guys unconscious on the ground so they can wake up the next morning to abduct someone else.
• But as long as Kevin’s safe, that’s fine.
• Sam tries to talk to Kevin about what happened at Jackie’s house and comforts him about being a virgin at 15.
• Kevin gets ready to head off to school, then hugs Sam.
• I’m pretty sure if I’d nearly been abducted, I’d be okay taking a day off school.
• Sam asks why he hasn’t leaped yet and Al says it’s because he’s having too much fun with Teresa.
• But really, it’s probably about Kevin confronting his friends at school.
• Kevin enters the cafeteria at lunchtime and his “friends” prepare to embarrass him to death.
• Jackie spots him and sincerely apologizes to him for her part in what happened and asks him on a date.
• When the other guys announce that Kevin’s a virgin, Jackie disputes that news and basically starts making out with him in the middle of the cafeteria.
• Al is quizzing Teresa on different types of dinosaurs and Sam senses that it’s time to leap.
• Al then tells Teresa that her mommy’s coming back, but she wants Al to stay.
• Of course, he can’t, but he promises he’ll come back to see her someday.
• Sam then leaps into a high school quarterback that’s about to run a play on the field…
• Oh boy.