Except for the November '65 Blackout episode "Double Identity", we never see what happens to the person after Sam leaps out of them. They must look really stupid to their friends and family for not knowing what went on for the 3 or so days when Sam leapt into them.
Or can the people see what Sam is doing while they are in the waiting room?
It's a residual Swiss cheese effect, where there's a vague sense of recollection, but a lack of clarity. There's some thought that, just as we've seen Sam glean trace elements of the memories and personas of the people he's leapt into later in the series; when they leap back, they may pick-up some of the experiences Sam had as them, filling in some of the blank spots.
"I'm in it for the power and the free robes." - Harry Stone
Just watched "The Leap for Lisa" and the person in the imaging chamber just wears an all white outfit in a white turtle neck and can see a reflection of Sam's face in the mirror but not what Sam is doing.
It must be quite freaky to sit there for 2-3 days like a prisoner. Good thing Al is a nice conversationlist.
I wonder what people made of the person he leapted into suddenly having a differant personality when Sam leapted into them and then going back to there original personality when they came back for example if Sam leapted into a racist who stopped being racist when Sam leapted into them and started being racist again when Sam leapted out and they came back
shareWith a few exceptions, like the hit man in season 1, or the serial killer in season 5, Sam seemed to generally leap into who weren't vastly different from him, in terms of world views or philosophy. My perspective has always been that, that's in part why Sam would leap into the specific people he did, at least most of the time; because he's doing the things they might have otherwise done the first time around themselves, but through various happenstance didn't originally - either because their circumstances or personal insecurities held them back, or just by virtue of Sam having foreknowledge of events. Some of his more unique skills may have come in handy, but usually his innate humanity was his greatest asset; something virtually all of Sam's hosts had, to some degree, but for one reason or another, mostly lack of foresight, just didn't manage to do what he did at certain critical moments. "The Leap Home, Part 1" may be the best example of this, since Sam leaps into himself as a teen; the only real difference between Sam at 16 and Sam at whatever age he was when he leapt in, is some tempered wisdom that comes with age, but mostly foreknowledge of the future.
"Sorry, I mistook you for a corpse."
I've kind of wondered the same thing. Do they know what Sam did with their lives while they were gone? Or do they come back with no knowledge of it and people telling them about events that they don't know about?
shareI always figured that the swiss cheese effect caused Sam's memories of his time in their lives filled the gap.
shareJust finished watching "Double Identity" again. When the guy Sam leaps out of, Frankie, comes to, he has no idea any time had passed or that he missed the rest of the wedding.
So at least initially in the series, it seems like leapees acted like they were in a coma.
I know the novels aren't considered cannon, but one of them (Foreknowledge) dealt with this.
At the start of the book, Sam leaps out at the end of an adventure. During the course of the leap, the woman whose body he had leaped into had been put into prison for 12 years. (In the original history, she hadn't.) The woman couldn't remember why she'd been imprisoned, but had a vague recollection of a man named Sam, who she couldn't quite place.
12 years later, sometimes in the 1980s, she was let out of prison and read an article about a quantum physicist named Sam Beckett who was about to receive an award. Without knowing quite why, she blamed this man for her prison sentence and set out to kill him at the award presentation. I think Sam had coincidentally leaped into somebody at around the same time, and Al was secretly trying to prevent it all from happening because it would've changed history.
It's been a few years since I've read it, so I'm describing that plot from memory, but the point is the ex-leapee had no memory but some vague hints of deja vu.
That's a good point, thanks!
I think the book you're referring to is pretty similar to the November 9th, 1957 episode "Good night, Dear Heart", where the lesbian went to prison for killing Hildy.