Quantum Leap (TV Series) The Right Hand of God - October 24, 1974 (1989) User Reviews

The Right Hand of God - October 24, 1974

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 1 December 2019]

This is very much the set up for the early episodes of Quantum Leap.

Sam leaps into a body of a boxer in the ring and gets knocked down. Somehow he manages to knockout his opponent.

The boxer Sam has leapt into is Kid Cody, a boxer who has not had a straight fight for ages thanks to a crooked bookie and his own gambling issues.

Kid Cody's boxing contract is owned by a church. The nuns are hoping that Kid will win the championship to fund a new chapel. There is a sad sob story from Sister Angela, Kid has a rather comely girlfriend Dixie who is a stripper.

Al wants to train Sam but Al is getting a lack of sleep thanks to a noisy neighbour. Somewhere in Africa, Muhammad Ali is preparing to take on George Foreman. I wonder if Sam remembers the outcome of that fight. Just to link in with the previous episode, President Nixon is in a heap of trouble courtesy of the Watergate scandal.

A typically fun episode of Quantum Leap in its early years. Teri Copley was very easy on the eye as Dixie. There is a riff on the Rocky theme as Sam gets to do a training montage.

Beefcake and Brothers and Nuns, Oh My!

[dinky-4 · 7/10 · 22 November 2009]

"The Right Hand of God" marks a rare pairing of the acting Stockwell brothers -- lean, wiry Dean and bloated, bearish Guy. The script doesn't allow them to play much off each other but seeing them together, even casually, adds a note of lustre to this episode which is built on a contrived but likable mixture of gangsters, pugilists, and faith-filled nuns. What's more, there's an engaging "Marilyn Monroe" turn by Teri Copley as well as one of the last appearances by Nancy Kulp of "Beverly Hillbillies" fame. Perhaps the chief attraction here, however, is a generous helping of "beefcake." In the boxing ring and afterwards, in his dressing-room, 34-year-old Scott Bakula gets to show off to good effect his bare torso, complete with hair-covered pecs and a coating of hard-earned sweat. There's also a glimpse of the boxer whose life he's temporarily usurping -- played by an even more hirsute Michael Strasser -- and then there's the climactic match against a boxer played by Roger Hewlett who provides another generous helping of male pulchritude in beefcake-form. And Hewlett's white! Hey, two white guys battling for a boxing championship! Is this a fantasy or what?

"Right Hand's" righteousness run amok

[El Cine · 13 March 2011]

For an episode that wears piety and Christian charity on its sleeve, The Right Hand of God (TRHoG) is remarkably self-serving. Perhaps it's true that when people, like the characters here, are so convinced that their desires are part of God's plan, the more skeptical you have to be.

As stakeholders in a Sacramento pro boxer's career (!), Sister Angela and her convent hope to use his winnings to finance a new chapel and services (of both kinds) for the homeless. Although many viewers have no interest in the evangelism that goes with that, few will fault the nuns for wanting to do more social work. Nor can we fault Sam (who takes the boxer's place) for hoping to win the prize money on their behalf.

But does that make it okay for the hero Sam to cheat his way to victory? This he does, when he has a friend interfere on his behalf during the fight, and gets special help from a second. The nuns could use the money, but what about the opponent who loses out? At no time does anyone consider his rights, or needs. What if he plans to spend the money on his own charities? What if he depends on that money to keep his family from living in a seedy one-room apartment? Nor is basic sportsmanship considered, needless to say.

This ironic lack of ethics is extra troublesome given the mantle of righteousness TRHoG assumes. Angela's religiosity gains precedence in the plot, reinforced by her manipulative tragic backstory that ends with her born again. She also thinks Sam was sent to her by God to win the prize money. TRHoG would like to think Sam's scheme on behalf of such a person is not just heroic, but holy. In fact, his role in ultimately reaffirming her faith is presented as his purpose in Sacramento no less than his prize-winning is.

The religious elements are rather confused, too. On one level, TRHoG is just indulging in comedy by turning nuns and a priest into boxing fans who train a boxer, attend matches, and cheer on their trainee. The priest even knocks down Sam while sparring. This begs the question of how likely it is that these clerics would show such interest and support for a violent sport that's all about men beating each other until they're bloody, bruised and unconscious.

And its portrayal of Angela as a pious, deeply spiritual woman of faith achieves the opposite. When she fears Sam has lied to her about his plans to win the match for her, it's enough to make her lose faith in God again. A faith that entirely depends on whether one man is telling the truth is a fragile one. Whatever her religious beliefs turn out to be, Angela should probably re-evaluate a few things.

But TRHoG's worst "sin" might be the sexism of Sam pressuring and guilt-tripping his stripper girlfriend to go naked in front of thousands in an arena, as part of his scheme to win his match. Since she's a stripper, he rationalizes, surely this is totally do-able. Compared to this, the clichéd training montages are almost fun.

Boxing woes

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 4 March 2020]

This episode sees Sam jumping into the body of a boxer who's in a bit of a precarious situation with some crooked characters. Our hero is delightfully dim in this one but the canny nun character makes up for his deficiencies. The ROCKY rip-off training sequences are hilarious. Al seems to be going from strength to strength and his sleeping on the floor is very funny. Not a top tier episode but fun enough.