“M.I.A. – April 1, 1969” is episode twenty-two of season two of Quantum Leap and the season finale.
At the end of the previous episode, “Sea Bride – June 3, 1954”, Sam leaped into a woman again. Except not. And in his handbag are a gun and a walkie talkie over which someone is saying they’re coming. Two people with guns appear and open fire. Sam dives for cover, a cop car appears and a gunfight ensues. When one of the gunmen is injured both surrender. One of the cops, not dressed like such, assumes Sam’s gun jammed. Except the safety was on. Sam – Jake’s – partner and says it jammed; Sam is told to get a revolve, not an automatic. Jake’s partner recounts a story from Vietnam and says if a man is lucky, he gets to freeze up once in his life and live to talk about it. Not twice.
Al is in the police locker room; he says Sam – Jake Rawlins – is the new guy. He’s just made detective. His partner, Roger Skaggs, is a detective sergeant and an undercover. Sam is hazed by the other cops and handles it well. When Sam asks Al why he’s there, Sam says it’s to stop a woman, Beth, from making the mistake of a lifetime. Her husband is MIA who went down over two years ago, He’s not dead and is repatriated in 1973. Except Beth has fallen in love with someone else.
The woman has a flat tyre and is crying. A man offers to help. She introduces herself as Beth Calavicci. Calavicci is Al’s last name. There’s something he’s not telling Sam.
Sam and Scaggs turn up to help with the tyre; Scaggs speaks to the man, Dirk Simon, and Sam to Beth. Both are left with the impression that the other is in trouble. Dirk is a lawyer, though, and gives Beth his card. Beth is annoyed.
Later, Sam and Scaggs are pretending to be hippies so that Scaggs can nail a pusher. Al berates Sam as Beth and Dirk still get together after her husband is declared dead. Al says his story is identical to Beth and her husband’s. Because it probably is the same story. Beth is a nurse on a burn ward and yesterday lost a Marine. She may have also lost the last bit of hope she had for her husband. She’s vulnerable and needs someone who won’t take advantage.
Al is focused on what happens to Beth and never bothers checking on anything else. He never outright lies to Sam either; he always phrases his words so that he’s telling the truth. Just not the whole truth.