Quantum Leap (TV Series)

Mirror Image - August 8, 1953 (1993)

Bruce McGill: Al the Bartender

Photos 

Quotes 

• Al, the Bartender : Sam, if you became a priest...

  Sam : I've been a priest.

  Al, the Bartender : So you have. If the priesthood had been your chosen life, even though the Church might move you from parish to parish, don't you have to accept responsibility for the life you lead?

  Sam : Even priests can quit.

  Al, the Bartender : That's true. Hmm... But they can also take sabbaticals, especially before embarking on a difficult new assignment.

  Sam : Are you telling me that the leaps are gonna get tougher?

  Al, the Bartender : Where would you like to go, Sam?

  [a tear rolls down Sam's cheek] 

  Sam : Home. - I'd like to go home. But I can't. Can I? I've got a wrong to put right for Al. You knew that, didn't you?

  Al, the Bartender : [puts his arm around Sam's shoulder]  God bless, Sam.

  [Sam leaps] 

• Al, the Bartender : You're not here to save them.

  Sam : How'd you know what I was thinking?

  Al, the Bartender : A good bartender has to be part philosopher, part psychiatrist, part psychic.

  Sam : Al. I'd like to talk to the philosopher part.

  Al, the Bartender : I just stick to the basics.

  Sam : Okay, okay, uh... "To be or not to be," er, "I think therefore I am," that kind of stuff?

  Al, the Bartender : Uh-huh.

  Sam : Uh-huh. Why am I here?

  Al, the Bartender : Why do you think you're here, Sam?

  Sam : No, no, no, no, that's answering a question with a question. That's, that's psychiatrist stuff. All right? We're talking philosophy.

  Al, the Bartender : That's good, Sam.

  Sam : Thank you. Now, why am I here?

  Al, the Bartender : You're beginning to think you're here to save Pete and Tonchi.

  Sam : But I'm not.

  Al, the Bartender : Not directly.

  Sam : What about indirectly?

  Al, the Bartender : Who knows what Don Quixote can accomplish?

  [Sam looks at him in amazement] 

  Sam : Who are you?

  Al, the Bartender : [shrugs]  Bartender.

  Sam : Who knows everything?

  Al, the Bartender : Only God knows everything.

  [he laughs at Sam's suspicious face] 

  Al, the Bartender : You don't really think I'm God, do you?

  Sam : You're not just a bartender.

  Al, the Bartender : No, that's true. I own the place, too.

• Al, the Bartender : Why did you create Project Quantum Leap, Sam?

  Sam : To travel in time.

  Al, the Bartender : Why did you want to travel through time?

  Sam : Because... I w... I-I wanted to, um...

  Al, the Bartender : To make the world a better place?

  Sam : Of course. To make the world a better place.

  Al, the Bartender : To put right what once went wrong?

  Sam : Yes. But not one life at a time.

  Al, the Bartender : Ugh! I got Mother Teresa here. Do you really think that all you've done is change a few lives?

  Sam : Basically, yes.

  Al, the Bartender : At the risk of over-inflating your ego, Sam, you've done more. The lives you've touched, touched others. And those lives, others! You've done a lot of good, Sam Beckett. And you can do a lot more.

• Al, the Bartender : [of Sam]  Maybe he's here for the same reason you are - to have a beer.

  Stawpah : I never drink beer, Al. You know that.

  Al, the Bartender : I forgot.

  [he laughs] 

  Stawpah : You no forget nothing. I wonder what happen around here if you did.

  Al, the Bartender : Things might go a little ca-ca.

• [Sam looks in the mirror, stunned] 

  Al, the Bartender : Something wrong?

  Sam : That's, uh... me - in the m-mirror.

• Sam : So, Stawpah was here?

  Al, the Bartender : I remember him.

  Sam : Why don't they?

  Al, the Bartender : That's the way it is.

  Sam : "That's the way it is"? One moment he-he's one of them, and the next, he's just a memory, and all you can say is, "That's the way it is"?

  Al, the Bartender : Sometimes, "That's the way it is" is the best explanation.

• Sam : [examining his face]  God!

  Al, the Bartender : What?

  Sam : I've got white hair.

  Al, the Bartender : Just a little. You know, you really should look in the mirror more often.

  Sam : Look at these crow's feet!

  Al, the Bartender : When's the last time you took a really good look at yourself?

  Sam : It's been a while.

  Al, the Bartender : Well, you let too much time go by, you could lose touch with reality.