Quantum Leap episode review — 1.3 — The Right Hand of God

Original air date: April 7, 1989
Director: Gilbert Shilton
Writer: John Hill

Rating: 6/10

This episode is pretty charming. Sam finds himself in the body of a boxer prone to throwing fights, but he’s determined to win in order to raise money for his manager nuns to build a new church.

He’s also dating a stripper, so that’s fun (and it actually helps him win, in a weird way).

The only problem, of course, is that Sam Beckett is not a boxer. And he doesn’t inherit the body he inhabit’s physical strength. So he tries to train with Al, but that doesn’t work out so well for obvious reasons, and he ends up training with his nun managers.

But meanhwhile, some gamblers are trying to get him to take a dive. Fortunately for him, he can convince them to put money on Ali in his fight against Foreman, due to his knowledge from the future.

This episode is quite fun. I especially like Al in this one, particularly when he’s in the ring as Sam fights. They’re having a lot of fun with the holographic projection stuff here.

And there’s some good emotional stuff with the nuns as well. The only thing that I really didn’t like all that much was the music. They did like a “Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky thing during his training, but they used the Quantum Leap theme to pull it off, and it’s just awful.