Sam leaps into Dennis Boardman, a chauffeur for real-life Marilyn Monroe, in 1960. He has to do what he can do to keep the doomed movie star from dying, by her own hand or otherwise, from a drug overdose. At the same time, he finds himself contending with an opportunistic would-be actress who wants to get ahead by positioning herself as Marilyn Monroe’s secretary, and intentionally contributing to her self-destructive behavior.
Written by Richard C. Okie . Directed by Christopher Hibler.
Previous Episode: Revenge of the Evil Leaper • Next Episode: The Beast Within
Comments:
Goodbye Norma Jean is a surprisingly good episode of Quantum Leap. Not “surprisingly” because I don’t like this show–obviously I do–but because this the one that features Marilyn Monroe as a big character, and that feels like a sign of the show struggling for ideas. Generally, Quantum Leap has focused on the quieter corners of history, with regular people going through ordinary but meaningful moments of life. Beyond cameos, the show has only moved into the realm of real or famous people a couple of times before. We had that in Lee Harvey Oswald, but that felt like a bit of a special case (a stunt to open a season), and we had that in Dr. Ruth, where the gimmick wa the casting (Dr. Ruth herself appearing as herself). Goodbye Norma Jean is the first time something like this is happening and it just seems like the only reason for it is because that’s just what the writers came up with.
But like I said, it’s a good episode, which I think is down to the fact that for me the most part Marilyn Monroe is treated as a real person going through meaningful moments of life. Everyone treats Marilyn like she is some sort of porcelain doll, to be gazed at and admired–even Sam and Al spend much of their time just being in awe. But the episode itself treats her as human as any other character, and manages to do so in a way that feels authentic. The character beats are fairly obvious but the presentation is believable.
A lot of that is down to Susan Griffiths as Marilyn Monroe, an actress who seems to have made her career playing the famous star, but whose performance is much more nuanced than simple caricature. She does an excellent job bringing the famous starlet to life, and is especially good in her believable confusion over why Dennis is turning her down romantically. I have no idea how historically accurate her portrayal is, nor how much she actually looks like Monroe beyond the obvious. But she never made me feel like I was watching anything less than a real person, albeit one who is both stunningly charming and terribly self-destructive.
(I have a friend from college who was a big fan of old movies, and she said she could never believe it when other actors played the likes of Clark Gable or other Hollywood icons, because they just don’t have the charisma that made the originals the massive stars that they were. I’d guess that’s the case here, with anyone who really knows watching the people playing Monroe, Gable or John Huston. But for someone like me, with only a passing familiarity with these figures, the illusion was easy to maintain.)
The other notable character in the episode is Barbara Whitmore, who is well played by Liz Vassey. She really does feel like a warm and trustworthy personality before she is revealed to be the toxic, manipulative enabler that she is. However, Barbara is also a confused character (from a writing perspective). At first, when we see her dark side she seems to dangerously fixated and obsessed with Marilyn, but then she later turns out to be more scheming and manipulative. She obviously lies to Sam about certain things, but presumably she’s not lying about being obsessed with Marilyn, because such a thing would not advantage her. She she must be obsessed but not so obsessed that she’s not willing to sabotage her idol in order to further her own career.
Similar to what we saw in Lee Harvey Oswald, Goodbye Norma Jean depicts Sam changing history in a way that it brings it into line with the real world, as prevents Marilyn Monroe from dying two years early, and helps to motivate her to complete (and retitle) The Misfits. (Does this mean we currently live in a world that has benefitted from Sam’s interventions?). I have seen The Misfits (for a film blogging challenge I set myself couple of years ago–read about it here), and it is indeed a good movie, and ended up being not just Monroe’s last completed film, but also Clark Gable’s. I wouldn’t have guessed it was good enough, however, for “God or Time or Whatever” to go out of his way to send Sam to ensure that Monroe was in it, but then what do I know?
Cast Notes:
• Susan Griffiths, who plays Marilyn Monroe, has got at least ten credits on IMDb playing Marilyn Monroe or a Marilyn Monroe-lookalike, including in the movie Pulp Fiction.
• Liz Vassey (Barbara Whitmore) previously appeared on Quantum Leap as Paula Fletcher in the episode Raped. She was also in the Star Trek The Next Generation episode Conundrum, and she played a hero called Captain Liberty in the live-action series The Tick from the early 2000s, which I have never seen.
• Stephen Root (John Tremain Jr.) is a prolific actor whose credits include parts in movies like Office Space (as Milton), O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He also was in the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter Unification I and Unification II, and a bunch of latter episodes of The West Wing as someone in the Arnold Venick presidential campaign. He’s also done lots of voice work including playing “Bubbles” in Finding Nemo, and engineer Gene Jakabowski in an episode of Star Trek Lower Decks’ last season called Starbase 80?! Finally, he also featured on the TV series The Man in the High Castle as Hawthorne Abendsen, who was in fact the titular “Man in the High Castle.”
• Tony Young (John Huston) was in an episode of Star Trek the original series called Elian of Troyius as a character named Kryton.
Who and Where is Dr. Sam Beckett?
Sam is Dennis Boardman, chauffeur to Marilyn Monroe, in Hollywood, California, from April 4 – April 10, 1960.
What does Sam have to do?
Sam has to prevent Marilyn Monroe’s death from accidental drug overdose, and then after that to ensure her participation on the filming of The Misfits, and thus preventing Barbara Whitmore from potentially usurping her career.
What do we learn about Sam Beckett?
Sam is a big fan of Marilyn Monroe, even though she died when he was just a kid. He used to sneak out (of college, apparently, so presumably he doesn’t mean that literally) in order to watch one of her films and get lost in her “luscious blue eyes.” His favorite film (if he’s telling Barbara the truth) being Some Like It Hot.
Sam’s idol is Albert Einstein.
Sam tells Marilyn that he always wanted to have a family, and that he really likes the movie Rebel Without A Cause.
What do we know about Al?
We don’t learn anything in particular aside form Al’s massive fondness for Marilyn Monroe.
What about the experiment?
Ziggy is hampered from making a guess about what is going on because of all the mystery surrounding Marilyn Monroe’s death.
“Driven by an unknown force…” (God or Time or Something)
There’s no particular reference to this this time around.
“Oh Boy”
The catchphrase is heard, with an excited tone, when Sam realizes he’s in the proximity of Marilyn Monroe, and then at the end when Sam has leapt into the next episode.
Sam’s Complicated Love Life
Marilyn Monroe comes onto Sam very aggressively, trying to seduce him on a number of occasions, but he always resists and they don’t do anything more than kiss. Sam though, claims to feel like he’s falling in love with Marilyn Monroe.
The Many Loves of Al Calavicci
Al is also enamoured with Marilyn Monroe and tries to get a look at her nude. He also leers lasciviously at Barbara Whtimore.
Other Observations
• Sam references some of his less pleasant previous experiences–being pummelled in a boxing ring (The Right Hand of God) and working in a chain gang (Unchained).
• Sam has a good line when he is talking to Barbara about her obsession with Marilyn Monroe. “You can’t base your whole life on an image on the screen,” he says. “Why not?” she replies. “Because it isn’t real.”
• Al says at one point, “Hey, we’re in the wrong-righting business,” which is a good line.
• This episode features a time skip of several days in the middle of the story, which is a little unusual for this show.
• The mirror effect of and his bodyguard host is a little imperfect, but it’s a nice attempt.
• Sam makes a decent effort to encourage Marilyn that she has a reason to live. She accuses him of resorting to cliches, and he replies, “Look, I’m not trying to be a writer. I’m just– I’m just trying to tell you that…your life can be so wonderful, if you let it. You’ve gotta hang on to it with everything you’ve got.”
• And then, “People really care about you. You’re one of the most loved people in the world…ever.” “Then why can’t I feel it?” she asks. Sam replies, “I don’t know. Just promise me you won’t stop trying.”
• There’s some nice direction on the tracking shot shot where Marilyn, Peter Lawford and Sam come indoors
• Sam does a lot of taking Marilyn by the arm, or grabbing her to make a point. He also grabs Barbara at one point. That looks a lot more awkward to today’s audiences than it did when the show first aired, I’m sure.
• At one point, Al says that in the original history, Marilyn finished the movie, but now the chances of that were decreasing. Of course, in the original original history, Marilyn died before she ever got a chance to work on the movie, so presumably Al is referring to the revised history after Sam saved her life.
• Clark Gable is starring in Marilyn’s new movie, though just a couple of days ago the leading man part was still up for grabs.
• Everybody, but everybody in that rehearsal scene is so overwhelmed with Barbara’s figure. Maybe that’s just how Hollywood is / was, but it seems a little over-the-top. I like Gable’s line, though, when he’s asked whether Barbara should fill in for Marilyn: “Beats waiting for the princess.”
• Some of the conversation between Gable and Barbara sounds super cringey, but then it turns out to be dialogue from the movie.
• It’s a great moment when Marilyn makes her appearance with “Why didn’t you teach your wife to be graceful?” and then proceeds to blow Barbara off the “screen.”
• Marilyn has a great line that puts Barbara in her place at the end: “Barbara, why don’t you
get us all some orange juice?”
Sam Leaps To
The Beast Within
Favorite Dialogue
Well, the best dialogue is probably what the actors are reading from The Misfits—“What I meant was, when you really love someone, you both should be willing to teach each other everything. We’re all dying. Aren’t we? All of us. Old folks…and kids, husbands and wives, and we’re not learning a damn thing.”
But my favorite line of dialogue that is original to the actual episode is Marilyn Monroe’s response to Sam asking her what made her decide to study acting.
Watching my own movies.
Special thanks, by the way, to this site for the episode transcriptions.
The Best Moment
I enjoyed seeing the solid dramatic stuff when Sam is saving Marilyn’s life–pushing past the bodyguard and knocking Peter Lawford out of the way.
Previous Episode: Revenge of the Evil Leaper • Next Episode: The Beast Within
