I wanted it to end with seeing Al at the big project place, talking to the leapee in Sam's body, trying to find out where Sam is, only to work Sam's right there.

I'm not okay with sad finales because I am a big giant sap.

Don't forget, the written coda at the end of the final episode:

"Sam never made it back home"

or something to that effect.

It wasn't a cliffhanger, and it pissed off a lot of people needlessly. QL was a great show. Why end on such a downer note? There was no reason not to leave it open, or even say, "Eventually, Sam made it home".

It sucked. And seeing him as Captain Cardboard on Enterprise is awful. Bring Back Sam!!!

JesseBelle

I didn't think it was a sad finale at all -- it was more like, Sam, this is why you've been doing this. Here you are: some of the people you've helped, all your memories back. Here you are: free will. Look at the results you've gotten, when you were doing it by accident. How would you feel about doing it full time, on purpose?

It was sort of like an optimistic commitment, not something sad. I always got the sense that if he'd wanted to, he could have returned to the life he'd had, and that maybe he will, when he's done doing what he's doing. Sam always was the sort to take on the burdens of others, but I don't think he ever did so unwillingly.

I thought the ending was perfect and touching.

YEndingMV.

Okay. Found something:

Now the subject of great debate amongst its fans, the last episode of Quantum Leap, the infamous Mirror Image, was intended to be a season finale cliff-hanger. With the announcement of the show's cancellation well after the filming and much of the editing of Mirror Image was complete, the episode was hastily re-edited to turn it into a series finale. Although the episode was originally designed to address many outstanding questions about Sam's leaping, it raised many more new questions that it answered. Many fans were, and still are, unsatisfied with Mirror Image. There have been numerous requests over the years for a TV movie (or even a feature film) to bring proper closure to the series.

I was pretty pissed off at the QL finale. Sam should have gotten home.

I liked it. It made me cry. Remember the moment when he saw himself in the mirror -- his real face -- for the first time in however many years? Shamelessly tearjerking.

Sam's situation is tragic if you look at it objectively, of course ... but subjectively, he did so much good as a leaper, and he was used to it. I like the idea of him out there somewhere, striving to put right what once went wrong, home a pleasant swiss-cheesy memory.

They could bring back the show by having some transporter accent that tosses Bakula into the bodies of various people he has to help.

I'm the original non-sad-ending-liking girl, and I thought the QL finale was just about perfect. Maybe because I never really believed in my heart that Sam wouldn't make it home. And because he did make a choice, and he got to help Al, and because he was the kind of guy that was made to help people.

I guess I would have preferred that he had control and still lept. It would make it more noble if he jumped to right what once went wrong each week knowing he might or might not get back.

The way I choose to deal with it is that, when dealing with time travel, "never" doesn't really apply. I had QL fanfic in my head before I knew what fanfic was, fanwanking Sam home.