LogFAQs > #965163597

I guess the writers weren't sure if Sam was occupying another person's body or physically replaced them but still looked like them. But there's a few where even Al don't know how it works like telling Sam that he can't cross a pond because chimps don't have enough body fat to swim let alone save someone who is drowning. It's generally assumed that Al sees Sam as Sam, except for the episode where he's a woman and Al sees the woman that Sam replaced.

Despite being a later episode (after it's established Sam is in his own body and the other body is in the waiting room) it's implied that S5E17 - an evil leaper was in the body of a prison warden and tried it out.

Sam gets an extra degree as the series goes on. This could be a continuity issue. Or by changing things in the past that effects his personal history he altered his own past. They also change how they describe Ziggy. So maybe the altered timeline also gave it an upgrade.

There's one confusing episode with a hostage situation. The person Sam replaces is holding a gun. So Sam has the gun. But the guy in the waiting room also has the gun. So now there's 2 of the same item which never happens in any other episode.

I'm convinced the evil leapers only exist because Sam invented the technology, told everyone he met in the past about it, and kept leaving clues that the technology will exist and can be taken advantage of.

The leap itself is sometimes described as getting hit by lightning. So imagine the confusion of the family in S2E13 - after the mother suddenly learned martial arts, saved the son from kidnappers, patched up whatever family drama they had going on, only to the see her get struck by lightning and have no memory of the past week.

For that matter what about...
S3E17 - The rock star that now has a son he doesn't remember meeting and doesn't know why his manager was arrested.
S5E12 - The bigamist who doesn't know 2 of his 3 families have met and want nothing to do with him.