Quantum Leap : The problem with 'Raped'

I think it's generally a pretty good episode and obviously deals with a serious issue but I have a problem with the ending.

Kevin is acquitted, which is a shame but we all know the conviction rate isn't high for this type of crime. He then goes to see Katie and attempts to attack her again but this time it's Sam in her body and he gives Kevin a thrashing. Sam has completed his 'mission' and leaps onward.

But when Katie returns to her body and the town finds out she's beaten Kevin senseless, won't they wonder how she was able to defend herself this time but not the time he was successful, thereby confirming his story that it wasn't rape? Also, Katie isn't present in her own body to experience the vengeance Sam wreaked on her behalf. And isn't it likely Kevin will retaliate?

It just doesn't seem to be a well thought out ending.

Yeah, the ending is not good at all. I understand they were going for catharsis but it's unrealistic and Sam's actions at the end would have really bad ramifications for Katie in real life.

Also, the timing is too quick. It's true that in the U.S. the accused are entitled to a fair and 'speedy' trial, but it's not that speedy. Even in a small town enough time would've passed that Katie's bruises would be faded by the time the case went to trial.

Yes, that's true about the timing. I suppose for the mechanics of the show they couldn't have Sam hanging around for months on end but I agree it's not very realistic.

Maybe he was too ashamed he'd been beaten up by a girl to make any trouble about it.

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Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme
of things not found within recorded time.

We know it all works out okay because Sam leaped out. Once everything is on the right path, we (and Sam) don't need to stick around to see it play out.



If you're asking "Did anyone else notice?", the answer is yes.

That actually makes sense based on the lore of the show. If Sam's actions would have left the leapee in worse peril than when he arrived, he wouldn't leap. He CAN'T leap until the situation is resolved so by the rules of the show, things did work out fine and we, as viewers, just weren't asked to sit through the aftermath.

It is a bit of a hollow explanation. However, it does fit based on what we know about Sam's leaps.

In the case of "Raped," Sam wouldn't be able to leap unless his actions resulted in positive resolution for Katie. Since he did leap, the assumption is the beating basically emasculated Kevin and he never assaulted another girl again. As far as he knows, he attacked Katie, this time in an open confrontation, and he got destroyed. A girl, from his pov, beat him senseless.

Exactly. He isn't going to say how he got beat up.

Another problem with this episode is that just because Sam beats up Kevin makes it ok. We all know the psychological effects that rape has. I feel that this was glossed over. I commend them for trying such a serious issue, but it's something that is a hard subject to deal with in a half hour show & for me it doesn't really work. I don't hate the episode, but I think it's too simplified.

The other problem is why on Earth would Kevin go to Katie's house and try to rape her there? The day after he's acquitted no less!

The end lacked all logic or sensibility. I think they were going for a quick-fix happy ending but really it would have been more believable had they simply convicted him.

Well think about it. Even if he did rape her again and she goes to the police, what is going to happen? Oh right, the same thing that already happened, AKA nothing. He felt empowered because he was acquitted.

^Exactly.

It reminds me of a story in my state where a gangster tried to kill someone, he got acquitted of attempted murder, then went back to kill the guy on the SAME DAY he won the trial (and this time, he got convictedbut the price paid was the victim's life).

I think he was gloating, too. You tried to take me down and you lost. I'm coming back to finish what I started. Kevin was a cocky, arrogant prick. He got what he deserved.

THIS. I've always hated the ending because why the hell would he rape her in her back yard with her family feet away? Just horribly stupid writing. Like she's a mute that can't scream.

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THIS. I've always hated the ending because why the hell would he rape her in her back yard with her family feet away?

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His family is very well regarded in the town, and thought that gave him a pass to do whatever he wanted to anyone. I have known people/families that were so well regarded in towns that there was an underlying dark side to them. No one knew about that dark side because they were so good to cover their tracks, the townspeople would be none the wiser and still think highly of them, and the facade would continue. He most likely figured he got away with it once that he could get away with it again, but he was wrong.

MM

I understand why you feel that way, but let me ask a question. Kevin was trying to rape Katie again. Any woman (or man, for that matter) who is being assaulted has every right to defend herself (himself). At what point do you think Sam should have stopped? When do you think self defense should stop, particularly when you have a reasonable fear that your attacker may very well kill you in the process?

Sam has got adrenaline going, fear for Katie's life, anger for the injustices, and morals/ethics that are usually pretty strong. Is it possible that, in his mind, he was defending Katie from being raped again, getting her the only "justice" she was ever going to get, and trying to discourage Kevin from attacking/raping her or another woman in the future? It seems obvious that Kevin had an attitude that he was so entitled that is wouldn't matter what, where, or when because he would never be convicted of or have to answer for anything.

I believe it's as Sam stated, that Kevin tried to rape "her" again only this time she wouldn't be trapped in a car with him, so that would be the reason given for why "she" was able to beat the living crap out of him and not get raped again.

I'd never seen this episode, and just watched it the other night on Netflix.

I didn't really have a problem with Sam beating Kevin up - after all, without a plausible explanation a jury would have been less interested in how a girl broke Kevin's ribs than they are in the fact that Kevin punched her in the face and otherwise obviously injured her. They probably would have just chalked it up to "The McBain grit" and moved on.

My problem was that they never said what happened after that, or why doing that made Sam leap.

The implication - I think - is that since Kevin came back and obviously assaulted Sam, he could now be tried for assault and battery and is much more likely to face a conviction.

But that's only a guess. I would have been more satisfied if after the father came out and saw what happened, Al said something like, "You did it, Sam! Now Ziggy says this jerk goes to prison for assault and battery and he never gets a chance to hurt another woman again."

That would have explained enough to not make it look like Sam just beat the crap out of someone and THAT was enough to make the leap. There would have been closure to the storyline.

I think the focus was on the issue of date rape and by having Sam leap into a woman it also deals with sex sterotypes and gender identity. The ending did change history for the better, but it also leaves a few loose ends.

Quantum Leap was my favorite series in the 1990's. I've been to three of the conventions and were able to ask question to both lead actors, guest stars, the writers, directors and producers. Someone in the audience asked a question about this episode. How it was explained was that since Kevin had already raped her before, so she knew what he was going to do the second time, she had the knowledge and could prepare herself and defend herself. Plus, she wasn't pinned in a car with no way out. The first time she was caught off guard, was in shock and might not have known what to do. Sam leaps in so he's the one who has to deal with the aftermath. Kevin was a town bully, he most likely had done it before and the other young women chose not to confront him or report it. Rape isn't about sex, it's about power and control. His family was well off and the center of that town. I think most people in the town didn't like his family. People in power might get respect, but that doesn't mean the were well liked. I think most of the town would have loved to see him get taken down by a girl. Be humiliated and laughed at.

Sometimes life isn't fair. It's realistic that the bad guy must win at some point.

I actually thought it was very good, Sam got the vengeance for Katie that the courts wouldn't, and she will feel that, but there would be no ramifications for her, because of the kind of boy Kevin was he would never tell anyone that a girl gave him a beat down like that, he would either say it was her father or a mugging or something else. No man would ever admit getting bulldozed by a girl, I am sure that in this case she had a little more knowledge about what happened because they had to actually bring her into the imaging chamber, so she more than others knew what was going on. This is one of my favorite episodes.

The ending is strangely chauvinistic. It basically suggests that life would be so much easier for women if they could beat the sht out of people like men can.

Exactly.

The exterior shot of the courthouse just before "Katie" (Sam) is talking to the D.A. was filmed at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, and my alma mater is about 6 blocks away.

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Remember, when dad asked "her" about this, Sam/Katie said, "This time, I wasn't pinned inside a car."

Second, he completed the mission JUST TO give Kevin a beating. He couldn't give him a beating if he hadn't been motivated by Katie's whole experience the rape AND the trial. He needed to feel that sense of OUTRAGE to simply, kick his ass.

And after that ass whipping, I don't think Kevin will try anything with her EVER again. Basically, he got, "McBained" so to speak.

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he got, "McBained" so to speak.

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If she's related to the McBain in the Simpsons, that would explain a lot!

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I always wondered if Kevin might have gone to prison for stalking/harassment. Bear in mind, now he'd gone to Katie's house and was on her propertyhe had no reason to be there, in fact, it'd be argued that given he'd just been acquitted for raping her, he'd likely avoid her like the plague. Plus, Katie's dad arrived on the scene as soon as Sam got done kicking Kevin's ass, so Katie has a witness that Kevin was on their property.

Kevin couldn't have been retried for rape (double jeopardy), but his showing up at Katie's place after he got acquitted would have surely had a lot of people going, "WTF was he there for?"

We the viewers can only speculate on what happens in every character's life after Sam moves on.

In this case, I like to think that Kevin's reputation in the town was ruined for good, and that his beating destroyed his sense of invincibility; so he never dared to try to assault another female.