“Freedom – November 22, 1970” is episode sixteen of season two of Quantum Leap.
At the end of the previous episode, “Her Charm – September 26, 1973”, Sam leaped into someone being beaten. He ends up fighting back, but gets knocked down from behind. The man doing the beating was the sheriff and Sam is dragged back to a cell by the sheriff and a deputy. The sheriff tells the man in the cell that Sam slipped. Sam, when he comes to, looks in the mirror and says he’s an Indian. The older one says it could be worse; he could be a white man.
It seems they’re inside because Sam stole a pickup truck. Borrowed it, according to the other. If they don’t get out, it’s ten years in jail. When the sheriff returns, Sam is gone; the other claims he turned in to a raven and flew away. Sam, however, is in the mattress; he knocks the sheriff out, then smashes the door into the deputy and they steal the pickup truck again.
The sheriff, Taggart, is getting a gun when a woman comes in. Suzanne Washakie; she’s looking for her brother George and grandfather Joseph and heard they were prisoners. The sheriff explains. Suzanne wants to get her grandfather back to his nursing home; he’s very sick. Taggart says if he finds them, they aren’t going to a nursing home. Sure, Suzanne can come with. If she’s a sworn deputy of the state of Nevada.
Joseph is coughing badly and Sam pulls over. He diagnoses George’s grandfather as having emphysema and wants to go to a hospital. Joseph wants to go home. Al says there’s no oxygen at home and the nearest hospital is 50 miles back the way they came.
Al explains that George helped his grandfather escape from his nursing home. And Ziggy says Sam’s here to help his grandfather die at home. Sam wants to take Joseph back, but Al tells him the sheriff is following but can’t follow onto the reservation. If they go back, Joseph won’t get medical care; they’ll both be lucky not to be shot.
The sheriff is on the radio with his deputy. Suzanne is listening in and says he’s angry at more than just Indians. The deputy agrees.
Joseph has Sam pull over at a shop. Inside, Sam and Al are reminiscing whilst George is shopping. It turns out they have no money, and Sam reaches into his pocket and pulls out the revolver he took. Not to hold the place up; to trade the gun for the blankets and other things. Including the old Winchester on the wall, according to Joseph. And a gas cylinder Sam saw outside.
Sam’s role in this is to help Joseph die at home. Which isn’t going to be a happy one, no matter what. And Joseph, sometimes, seems to be talking more to Sam than he is to George.