The Color of Truth - August 8, 1955 - S1-E7
Continuity mistake: After Miss Melanie's son leaves, Sam/Jessie reaches out to steady her. His left hand is on her shoulder until the camera angle changes, when both his hands are at his sides. Change angles again, and his hand is back on her shoulder.
The Color of Truth - August 8, 1955 - S1-E7
Continuity mistake: When Sam leaves the jail after the Sheriff has released him from custody, we can see Sam's reflection, not Jesse Tyler's, in the window on the door as it swings shut behind Sam.
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