“Blind Faith – February 6, 1964” is episode five of season two of Quantum Leap.
At the end of the previous episode, “What Price Gloria? – October 16, 1961”, Sam leaped into a pianist who’d just finished a performance. A young woman is watching from the wings and Sam gets up and hears a dog bark. The person he leaped into is blind. Sam goes to the edge of the stage – the dog, Chopin, is acting a bit funny – but has to go back for an encore. He plays Chopsticks. The woman, Michelle, says he constantly amazes her. She can’t wait to see what he plays tomorrow night.
On the street, Sam accidentally mentions a news stand, then claims he could hear the paper rustling. And he doesn’t know he has a Braille watch. On the ground is a paper mentioning a third woman strangled in Central Park. Michelle asks what made Sam choose to play Chopsticks. It was the only thing that came to mind. They stop outside what is apparently her home; it seems Andrew – Sam – hasn’t met her mother yet and still isn’t going to. It sounds like Michelle is protesting too much.
Sam returns home as a neighbour heads out with her dogs. Inside, another neighbour, a policeman called Pete, talks to Sam about the murders and the Beatles, who are in town.
Michelle arrives on a bus at another place and retrieves some books she’d hidden. When she gets home, her mother questions her. Michelle tells a story about what she was doing, but her mother knows that isn’t true. Michelle claims she went to a concert at the last minute and she wasn’t with anyone. Her mother goes off on one, because her husband left her when Michelle was two. She says there’s no Prince Charming and Michelle will need to fend for herself.
Sam is searching the apartment when Al appears. Sam is looking for sheet music. Al tells him Andrew is blind and plays by ear. Sam hopes he leaps out before the concert. Why is he here? Al is reminiscing about the Beatles but then says the concert was a huge success. However, Michelle was strangled in Central Park afterwards. Sam isn’t blind so he thinks he can save Michelle. The problem is the concert. Al can help there. Trust him.
Outside, the neighbour Sam met on the way in is looking for her dogs when someone strangles her from behind.
The next day, Sam bumps into Pete on his horse as the Beatles are arriving. Pete tells him they found another body. In a diner with Michelle, Sam claims he has stage fright. She doesn’t really believe him.
Sam keeps forgetting he’s supposed to be blind and keeps making mistakes. Michelle’s mother wants the best for her, but believes that the best is very little and others can’t be trusted. And Michelle will be murdered if Sam can’t stop it.