Piano Man - November 10, 1985 - S3-E15
Continuity mistake: Sam is driving a beat up truck along a road and talking to Al about where Lorraine is. During this sequence it's foggy/smoky in almost all angles, except the view behind their vehicle. It's a shot of a sunny road. Where is the fog behind them?
Piano Man - November 10, 1985 - S3-E15
Continuity mistake: The old Ford pickup Sam steals to chase them is noticeably different than the one we see being driven later, including the front end, side, and roof damage, different side mirror type, no antenna on driven truck, and a different license plate number. (00:35:50)
Chosen answer: Per the Quantum leap page at http://www.scifi.com/quantum/episodes/season5.html. 8 August 1953: An enigmatic leap lands Sam in a Pennsylvania tavern, as his own grown self on the day of his birth. As Al and Gushie work frantically to locate him, Sam befriends a wise bartender (popular character actor McGill, who'd appeared in a different role in the very first "leap") and a group of coal miners. As a host of familiar-looking faces pass through the bar - with different identities than Sam remembers - Sam ponders his life of leaping with Al the bartender, who tells Sam he controls his own destiny. Pressed for more, Al the bartender simply shrugs and says, "Sometimes, 'that's the way it is' is the best explanation." Sam realizes he must right at least one more wrong before he can go home, and leaps back to tell Al Calvavicci's wife Beth (from "M.I.A.") to wait for Al, who will survive Vietnam and come home to her. The closing title cards state that Beth and Al have four daughters and will shortly celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary ... and that Sam Beckett never returned home.
Boobra