“The Americanization of Machiko – August 4, 1953” is episode three of season two of Quantum Leap.
At the end of the previous episode, “Disco Inferno – April 1, 1976”, Sam leaped into a sailor disembarking from a bus. He uses his bag to determine who he is – Charlie Mackenzie -and reads a paper to find the location and date. Then what is presumably his – Charlie’s – father greets him and they get into a car and drive off. Leaving a young Japanese woman behind.
Sam says the place feels like home and Henry reminds him of his own father. Back in town, the Japanese woman passes someone who is clearly not happy to see anyone Japanese, then speaks to a deputy and explains that she is trying to find her husband. Charlie Mackenzie.
An older and a younger woman are wondering what Charlie’s surprise is; the younger, Naomi, thinks he’s finally going to ask her to marry him. Charlie’s mother, Lenore, thinks Charlie would have written to Naomi about that. Sam and Henry arrive and Naomi sits on Charlie’s knee until Lenore tells her to come.
Sam likes farms. Al prefers Vegas. He says all they know is that Charlie married Naomi and they had a miserable marriage. Ziggy thinks Sam is here to stop that marriage, with a 97% probability. Then a police car arrives and Al admits there is a margin of error. The deputy greets them and explains he found a young woman who claims she married Charlie.
According to Al, the family never accepted Machiko, and she went back to Japan heartbroken and never remarried. Sam speaks to Machiko in Japanese; his mother asks where he learned to speak that gibberish. Henry points out he has just spent two years in Japan. Lenore won’t let them stay in the same room until they’re married again; Sam explains to Machiko that this is to honour his parents. Lenore is not happy but Henry seems more accepting. Lenore also doesn’t want Machiko staying in Charlie’s dead sister’s room. Henry takes Machiko aside and Lenore tells Sam that Machiko will never be a part of her family.
The next morning, Lenore objects to Machiko scrubbing the kitchen floor and to cooking rice for breakfast, chucking it away. She speaks to Henry and says Charlie is different. Which she’s right about; it’s not because of Machiko though.
Sam speaks to Machiko who says she can’t please his mother. Sam says it’s a big change. And she will have to change as well; she’s his wife, not a servant. It’s not a wife’s duty to serve her husband’s family; it’s a choice. She’s in America now. Women have equal rights. Machiko asks if she can have money, then, to buy an American dress like Naomi. Sam says they will drive into town. Machiko takes that as meaning he will teach her to drive. She’s not a great driver.
Lenore is not accepting of Machiko, and there’s a major culture clash, though Henry has easily taken to her. Naomi also doesn’t believe that Charlie has moved on from her, and is another source of problems. Finally, the man in town who wasn’t pleased to see Machiko is Rusty, a World War II veteran. All issues that need dealing with.