[s5e22] Mirror Image - August 8, 1953 Apr 2026

Sam meets Al the Bartender (Bruce McGill), who seems to possess an omniscient understanding of Sam’s journey.

The episode ends with the famous and bittersweet title card: "Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home" . [S5E22] Mirror Image - August 8, 1953

The bartender's name, Alberto Bellisario, is a nod to the show's creator, Donald P. Bellisario, who also wrote this final episode. Sam meets Al the Bartender (Bruce McGill), who

In this surreal and emotional series finale, Dr. Sam Beckett leaps into a tavern in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania—on the exact day and time of his own birth. For the first time in the series, Sam looks in the mirror and sees his own reflection instead of a host. Donald P. Bellisario