The Americanization of Machiko

In 1953, Sam steps off a bus as a sailor returning home from Japan with—surprise! to Sam and everyone else—a new bride named Machiko.

— Michael Main

“I try to find a husband . . . to find my husband”

Quantum Leap (s02e03), “The Americanization of Machiko” (NBC-TV, USA, 11 October 1989).

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Time Travel Methods

Themes

Identity Illusion
Incorporeal Traveler: Al
Touched by a Time Traveler: Sam touches the lives of Charlie MacKenzie, his wife Machiko, his mother, and his former girlfriend.

Real-World Tags

Baseball: a small, but important, appearance on TV
Lorne Greene: Footage from the 1974 movie Earthquake is spliced into the episode, showing Lorne Greene trying to save Sam from falling.
Regis Philbin: left of Lorne Greene

Groupings

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From the Stone house in Burbank, California, 4 April 1976 ⋙ to getting off a bus in Oak Creek, Ohio, 4 August 1953. Note: into returning serviceman Charlie Mackenzie.
From a church in Oak Creek, Ohio, later in August 1953 ⋙ to sitting at the lunch counter in Patty’s Cafe in Rigada, Alabama, 8 August 1955. Note: At the end of this episode, Sam jumps again to the opening scene of “The Color of Truth.” Officially, this was to not confuse the TV audience, since this episode [s02e03] was followed by a rerun of “The Color of Truth.” However, the real story is that God was a little caught off guard by the successful renewal of Project Quantum Leap’s funding. This caused Her momentary confusion, and She parked Sam briefly back in that rerun before moving him on to his actual next mission, “What Price Gloria?”
From the imaging chamber at the project lab, New Mexico desert, circa 1996 ⋙ to various locations and times in the episode at an unknown time. Multiple round trips. Note: Al’s hologram.