From: lintz@fred.cis.udel.edu (Brian Lintz)
Subject: Re: QL: Oswald
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 19:03:47 GMT

In article <1992Sep24.132835.1@cubldr.colorado.edu> matthews_k@cubldr.colorado.edu writes:

>Was I the only person who thought Belisario was trying to say that LHO had a
>SPLIT PERSONALITY?  There at the end, when he kept insisting it wasn't him, it
>was (forgot the name, but it was the alias from New Orleans) who was going to 
>assasinate Kennedy.  That might have been why Sam & LHO didn't separate 
>completely, because only the primary LHO persona left the body, the secondary 
>persona did not.  Anyone else agree?

Nice idea. It fits most of what we saw fairly well.

>BTW, I was quite disappointed with the episode over all.  As someone else said,
>it was just a forum for Belisario's personal agenda.  I thought it was very
>disjointed and weakly plotted.  The bit about Jackie.... yuck!  As if her
>absence would make a huge difference?  Please, please, please! No more leaps
>into REAL people!  The old format was so much better!  

A few comments about this:

1. JFK (the movie) was a forum for Oliver Stone's agenda, but that didn't
   keep me from enjoying that movie, which IMHO, was very well done.
	
2. As for Jackie's absence making a huge difference, since when has Sam's
   leaps made a huge difference except to the people he's helped. None of
   his leaps prior to this one have made huge differences in world history,
   why should this one?

3. There are lots of people complaining about Sam leaping into different
   points of Oswald's life with there being no good explanation for it.
   Well, as other people have pointed out, there was an explanation for it.
   Are they completely sure its the right explanation? No, but are they
   completely sure about anything on this project? They are never 100% sure
   what Sam has to change whenever he leaps, they don't really know why he
   keeps leaping instead of coming home, etc. Face it, this was an experiment
   that has gone wrong and they are making guesses as to how to fix it. 
   Personally, I like not being completely sure of what's going on. One
   of the things I liked about the movie _Jacob's Ladder_ was that it never
   came out and told you why these things were happening to Jacob. In the
   end, you came out with your own interpretation. Most TV today has beat
   you over the head and nicely wrap up and explain everything. The season
   premier was not like this, and I like that every once in a while.

4. Other people are upset that this episode goes against the standard format
   of a QL episode. Well, when a TV show has been on for a few years, it can
   do one of three things: keep on doing things the way it has been and
   stagnate (most TV), voluntarily end the show so as not to get stale (MASH,
   Night Court, etc.), or push at the boundaries of the show in an attempt
   to give the viewers something new to watch. Fortunately QL has decided on
   the third option. This is the most risky because (and the net shows this)
   some people will be upset that the show is different. But in the end, if
   the fans stay with it to see what can be done, and the new directions are
   interesting, the show can get better and last longer. 


Brian Lintz
lintz@udel.edu