“Thou Shalt Not… – February 2, 1974” is episode seven of season two of Quantum Leap.
At the end of the previous episode, “Good Morning, Peoria – September 9, 1959”, Sam leaped into a rabbi at the bar mitzvah of Karen Bosch.
Somehow, he managed to get through it and is at the party afterwards when he’s asked to come on stage for the blessing over the bread. It seems Sam is Karen’s uncle. Al appears, and fortunately knows how to do the blessing, as one of his wives was Jewish. Sam is then asked to lead a dance; fortunately, Al knows this as well.
Afterwards, a man, Bert, comments that the sermon was fascinating and he’d love to quote it in a book he’s writing. Irene Bosch asks her husband, Joe, to dance, but he declines. Bert says yes. Sam tells Joe he should have danced. Joe doesn’t want his advice.
Three women are talking about Bert, who is apparently a widower. One says he’s trying to get over it; it sounds like she has some first-hand experience. Sam is invited to sit and two of the women go; the third wants to talk to him tomorrow.
Al likes the look of the food. As to why Sam is here, Irene is about to destroy her life. In 36 hours, she will have a one-night stand and her husband finds out. It destroys their marriage and her daughter never gets over it.
Back home, Karen is showing her gifts to Sam. Joe says he’s going to get fuel. Karen wants to come with, but Joe doesn’t see why she’d want to. He asks Sam to come.
Waiting for fuel, Joe says it’s an excuse to get out of the house and is talking about their father taking his sons to a sports game. And that for the first time in 22 years he’s thinking of having an affair.
Sam tells Al, who thinks they should both do it to get it out of their system. Irene comes into the kitchen at that point to get the meal ready. Sam goes to play a game with Karen who asks him if he’s thought about marriage. By the sounds of it, she knows there are problems with her parents’ marriage. Sam picks up a guitar. Danny’s, apparently.
Dinner is awkward. Irene talks about Danny’s headstone and Joe doesn’t want to talk about it. Sam realises they’ve lost a son, which explains some oddities in Joe’s conversation earlier. He asks to stay the night.
Sam ends up being worried that he’s the one Irene will have the affair with, but he isn’t. And he needs to help the family deal with their loss.