"Good Night, Dear Heart" is a 1990 episode of the American science fiction television series ''

Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physi ...

''. Lead character Sam Beckett "leaps" (travels through time) to 1957, into the body of a mortician investigating the death of a young West German immigrant woman. What at first appears to be a suicide by drowning turns out to be foul play. The episode, the 17th of season 2, was written by Paul Brown and directed by Christopher T. Welch. It aired originally on March 7, 1990. Paul Brown won an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best Episode in a TV Series for writing "Good Night, Dear Heart". The character Stephanie Heywood was later featured in an issue of the ''Quantum Leap'' comic book series.

Plot

It is November 9, 1957, and Sam Beckett has "leaped" into the body of Melvin Spooner, a mortician in fictional Riven Rock,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, who also serves as the town's

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

. He looks down at the body of 19 year old Hilla Doehner, a

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

immigrant. It is explained that Hilla has no family since her father died in North Africa in World War II and her mother and brothers perished in the 1945

firebombing of Dresden The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal ...

. Although it initially appears that she drowned herself, Sam determines that she was in fact murdered. He realizes that he is there to solve her murder, but grows obsessed with her. Upon learning that Hilla was pregnant, Sam first comes to believe that Greg Truesdale, the young man who loved her, killed her. When he finds out that Greg's father Roger tried to get Hilla to have an abortion, he then tries to convince Lyle, the chief of police, to arrest Roger. Lyle persuades Sam that no prosecutor would take Roger to trial and convinces him to bury Hilla. As Sam prepares Hilla for burial he realizes who the killer is. Hilla was killed by Stephanie Heywood. Stephanie and Hilla were romantically involved and planned to move to New York together, where Hilla would model and Stephanie would become a photographer. Then Hilla fell in love with Greg and became pregnant. When she tried to break it off with Stephanie, Stephanie struck her in the head with a shoe, causing her death. After the funeral, Sam remains behind and reads the poem ''Warm Summer Sun'' by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

concluding with the words "Good night, dear heart, good night, good night" before leaping.

Cast

Scott Bakula Scott Stewart Bakula (; born October 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in two science-fiction television series: as Sam Beckett on ''Quantum Leap'' and as Captain Jonathan Archer on ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. For ''Quantum L ...

as Dr. Sam Beckett *

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

as Admiral Al Calavicci * William Cain as Roger Truesdale *

Marcia Cross Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American actress. She acted in daytime soap operas such as ''The Edge of Night'', '' Another World'', and ''One Life to Live'' before moving to primetime television with a recurring role on ''Knots ...

as Stephanie Heywood *

Robert Duncan McNeill Robert Duncan McNeill (born November 9, 1964) is an American director, producer, and actor. As an actor, he is best known for his role as Lieutenant Tom Paris on the television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. He has also served as an executive pr ...

as Greg Truesdale * Deborah Strang as Aggie * W. K. Stratton as Police Chief Lyle Roundtree * Suzanne Tegmann as Hilla * Marvyn Byrkett as Melvin Spooner * Hal Bokar as Groundskeeper *

Deborah Pratt Deborah M. Pratt is an American actress, writer, and television producer. Early life Pratt was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Geraldine (''née'' Bryant) and Col. Bertram Roberson Pratt, a vice president of Pullman Heritag ...

as Ziggy (uncredited voice)

Awards

"Good Night, Dear Heart" won an

for writer Paul Brown for Best Episode in a TV Series.

Comic book sequel

The character Stephanie Heywood was featured in "Up Against a Stonewall", the ninth issue of the ''Quantum Leap'' comic book. Sam leaps into Stephanie on June 22, 1969, as she is being released from prison for causing Hilla's death. She has continued to develop her photography skills and has secured a patron and a job as a fashion photographer in New York City. Her first model, Clarice, turns out to be a

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

named Clement. When Clement is later arrested and

beaten Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to ...

by police, Sam photographs him out of drag with his injuries to call attention to the abuse faced by gay and lesbian people. After being frustrated in their attempts to meet with members of the city council, Sam and friends head to the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the s ...

for drinks. Al warns Sam of an impending police raid and Sam realizes that he is there to document the raid and the resulting

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

, a pivotal moment in the history of the

gay rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

. Openly gay author

Andy Mangels Andy Mangels (born December 2, 1966) is an American science fiction author who has written novels, comic books, and magazine articles, and produced DVD collections, mostly focusing on media in popular culture. As an openly gay man,Willie Horton William R. Horton (born August 12, 1951), commonly referred to as "Willie Horton", is an American convicted felon who became notorious for committing violent crimes while on furlough from prison, where he was serving a life sentence without the ...

, the new

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

, the new boogeyman for the masses" and the then-pending ballot initiatives in the states of Colorado ( Amendment 2) and Oregon ( Measure 9) that would have stripped gay and lesbian people of the right even to petition for gay rights legislation in those states. Mangels criticized ''Quantum Leap'' for its portrayal of Stephanie as a lesbian killer and for the lack of positive gay portrayals on the series. Noting the series's theme of "setting right what once went wrong", Mangels wrote that "Up Against a Stonewall" was his attempt to do just that.

References

External links

*
"Good Night, Dear Heart"
on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...