Camikaze Kid – Episode 8

Camikaze Kid was the eighth and penultimate episode of Quantum Leap’s first season to air, with Sam finding out what it means to be an unpopular 17-year old in 1961 as he tries to keep his sister from making a terrible mistake. In this episode Gerry and Iain discuss the depressing endurance of toxic masculinity.

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Arriving in the middle of a drag race, Sam and his ‘mom-mobile’ come in a distant second place and he is made to hear all about it by his future brother-in-law Bobby (Kevin Blair / Spirtas) and his group of hangers-on led by Pencil (Jason Priestley).

Sam learns from Al that Bobby intends to destroy his sister Cheryl’s (Romy Windsor / Walthall) dreams and force her to drop out of the Peace Corps before trapping her in an abusive marriage. Recalling his guilt from his failure to save his own sister from a similar fate, he sets out to protect Cheryl at all costs.

Camikaze Kid was directed by Alan J. Levi, the first of his six episodes for the show. The teleplay was written by Paul Brown, the first of thirteen scripts he wrote for the series.

In this episode Gerry and Iain considered age-appropriate casting.

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You can listen to the show here on the website, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocket Casts, TuneIn, Stitcher, Google or wherever you find your podcasts.

Camikaze Kid was released in 1989. It is 48 minutes long and originally aired on the NBC network. It can be viewed on NBC’s Peacock streaming service in the UK and on Roku in the United States. The show is available on DVD and Blu Ray in other countries.