Justice – Episode 57

Justice was the fourth episode of Quantum Leap’s fourth season to air, with Sam trying to keep Klan members on-side to prevent a lynching. In this episode Gerry and Iain discuss the difference between shocking and awful.

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Sam leaps into Clyde, in the middle of his Klan induction. With his anti-racist instincts making it difficult to play along with the group, Sam is nevertheless by exhibitions of compassion and brotherhood shown by klansmen like Tom (Dirk Blocker) and Grady (Glenn Morshower) as well as Grand Dragon Gene (Noble Willingham).

This civility contrasts harshly with the behaviour exhibited towards black people like Nathaniel (Michael Beach), the son of Ada Simpson (Fran Bennett) who works for Clyde and his wife Lilly (Lisa Waltz). Sam is horrified at the use of racially offensive language by their son Cody (Jacob Gelman) and insists on trying to show the racists the error of their ways, regardless of consequences.

Justice was directed by Rob Bowman and written by Toni Graphia, in both cases their only work for the series.

In this episode Gerry and Iain considered whether this juxtaposition of tone and topic could ever succeed.

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Justice was released in 1991. It is 47 minutes long and originally aired on the NBC network. It can be viewed on NBC’s Peacock streaming service in the UK and in the United States. The show is available on DVD and Blu Ray in other countries.