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Deliver Us From Evil was the seventh episode of Season 5 of Quantum Leap, also the 82nd episode in the series, it also was the first episode of Quantum Leap featuring the Evil Leapers. Co-Written by Deborah Pratt and Robin Jill Bernheim, the episode, which was directed by Bob Hulme, originally aired on NBC-TV on November 10, 1992.

Synopsis[]

Sam finds himself leaping again into Jimmy LaMotta, this time to help mend Connie and Frank's marriage. But Sam's efforts seem in vain, and he quickly discovers he is not the only Leaper around...

Sam is overjoyed to discover that he is back in the life of Jimmy LaMotta, a mentally disabled young man whom he had helped to get a job in a previous leap. He is reunited with Jimmy's brother Frank, Frank's wife Connie, and their son Corey.

All is not well in the LaMotta home, however. That evening, Connie serves the family horrible TV dinners for supper, which causes a fight between her and Frank. Frank says that Connie is not doing her job of keeping house, while Connie's excuse is that she is spending her time on teaching Jimmy to read to keep him from being institutionalized. Al tells Sam he has to save Frank and Connie's marriage because Jimmy will be institutionalized if they break up. But Ziggy is highly disturbed because she can't make sense of this leap, since the LaMotta family were already supposed to have a happy future after Sam helped Jimmy last time, yet now the family is destined to break apart. No matter how much Sam tries to help, Jimmy's future is getting bleaker and bleaker all the time.

Frank is being tempted to stray by an attractive young woman at work. With Frank on the verge of being unfaithful to Connie, Sam pleads with him to go home to Connie, but to no avail. Sam rushes home to plead with Connie, likewise, to do something to save the marriage. As he is appealing to her, he touches her arm, whereupon Connie morphs into another woman. This woman can now see Sam as himself. It turns out that this woman, whose name is Alia, is a time traveller just like Sam, with a holographic companion called Zoey.

Alia tells Sam that she, too, leaps uncontrollably from one life into another fulfilling missions, and that her assignment in this case is to educate Jimmy so he isn't institutionalized. Sam discovers there is someone else in the world like him, someone who shares his unique loneliness, a beautiful young woman who is a kind of soul mate to him. He is bowled over. Alia begins to seduce him. Sam is overcome by passion and gives in to Alia's temptation. Just when things are getting steamy, Frank comes home unexpectedly. In a panic, Sam rushes to get dressed. But then something shocking happens. Instead of putting her clothes back on, Alia looks Sam in the eye, deliberately rips her petticoat and gouges deep scratches on her face with her own fingernails. She screams hysterically. When Frank rushes in to see what is wrong, she tells him that Jimmy tried to rape her - and that it is not the first time. Alia and Zoey, it turns out, are the evil opposites of Sam and Al. Their mission is to set wrong what once went right.

Frank violently attacks Jimmy. Sam tries to explain about himself and Alia, but this just makes it look like Jimmy has gone insane and Alia persuades him that he has to fetch the doctor immediately. Al arrives and wants to know what happened, since Jimmy is now destined to end up in an asylum. Just then Alia and Zoey's sponsor, a being known only as Lothos, changes Alia's mission again - she is now to kill Sam. Zoey tells Alia where to find a gun and urges her to shoot Sam at once. Al informs Sam that history is changing yet again: Connie will be arraigned the next day on charges of killing Jimmy in self defence. At gunpoint, with Alia's finger on the trigger, Sam has to think fast. He makes Alia hesitate by telling her that if she destroys him she will kill herself, because evil can only exist as the opposite of good. He appeals to the tiny bit of goodness that exists in her, that he saw in her when they recognised each other as fellow time travellers. Alia lowers the gun. Instantly, she and Zoey disappear with a demonic scream.

Sam and Al find themselves in the LaMotta kitchen. It is morning, and Frank is cheerfully telling Jimmy to get ready for work. Al is astonished to discover from his handset that somehow they have lost two days. The family's future is assured and Alia is gone, although before he leaps Sam tells Al that he feels this isn't his last encounter with the evil leaper.

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