Quantum Leap episode review — 5.16 — Goodbye Norma Jean
Published in
Feb 1, 2022
Original air date: March 2, 1993
Director: Christopher Hibler
Writer: Richard C. Okie
Rating: 8/10
This is kind of one of the more depressing episodes. Sam leaps into the body of Marilyn Monroe’s driver not long before she’s to die, and he naturally assumes he’s supposed to prevent her death by overdose.
And yet the episode presents that, at the end, as inevitable, and instead Sam ends up convincing her to live long enough to complete her final finished movie, The Misfits, which Al rightfully points out is her best performance.
It’s a good episode. It’s well acted by the guest cast as well as of course Bakula, who’s great as always. And it’s got some interesting twists to the storytelling.
