Quantum Leap was one of the finest series on television. In my mind it is up there at the top alongside The Prisoner.
While there wasn't a bad episode in Quantum Leap, and the first and last episodes are certainly the most wonderful, this episode is a masterpiece.
There is often some special element, some fantasy we might all have about time travel. Here it is the crush he had on his piano teacher as a teenager, who he meets again as an actor who had been her lover. So he is in a situation to at least partially realize his dream of telling her he loves her. Who hasn't wished he could travel in time and do that?
What makes this episode special are the many layers of the story, Sam as time traveler, as Sam the kid music student in love with his former piano teacher, Sam as the actor Ray Hutton still in love with her, Sam transformed into an actor who plays a love scene with her, and Sam as Don Quixote.
When you hear Sam singing "The Impossible Dream" from Man From La Mancha the lyrics fit both Sam's endless quest as time traveler, as well as his predicament in his current situation, in love with Nicole, yet from a certain distance:
To dream ... the impossible dream ... To fight ... the unbeatable foe ... To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ... To run ... where the brave dare not go ... To right ... the unrightable wrong ... To love ... pure and chaste from afar ... To try ... when your arms are too weary ... To reach ... the unreachable star ...
And then there is the plot of the episode, itself, which is complex and sophisticated -- for a television show, and good enough for a Broadway production. The acting was as good as it gets, on TV or anywhere.
I see Paul Brown is the writer of this episode, and about half the episodes in the series. That's quite a prolific schedule, with no sacrifice of quality whatsoever. I'm very impressed. I only wish there had been twice as many episodes in the series.