Originally aired May 31, 1996
Teleplay by Scott Smith Miller
Story by Sean Clark & Scott Smith Miller
Directed by Allan Eastman
On a world where Northern California is controlled by organized crime, the Sliders inadvertently disrupt the marriage of two mob families, and Rembrandt gets mistaken for his double, this parallel world's FBI Deputy Director and leader of the Incorruptibles.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Altar Diplomacy: The idea behind the Greenfeld/DeBello wedding. They hate each other, but the marriage will combine their massive resources and help enable a plan to secede from the country.
- Arranged Marriage: Leah Greenfeld is pushed into this as part of the plan to unite two opposed crime families.
- As Himself: Mel Tormé.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Quinn has never played blackjack before, but his math skills allow him to effectively count cards. He wins a small fortune by the time the casino management figures out what he's doing and kick him out.
- Big Good: Rembrandt's double is positively adored by the people and feared by the criminals.
- Corrupt Politician: The climax reveals District Attorney Joseph Biacchi is working with the Greenfelds.
- Different World, Different Movies: Goodfellas is not only shown on the Disney Channel (as is Casino) but it has a sequel entitled The Return of Goodfellas.
- Divided States of America: The Greenfelds and the DeBellos' plan is for California and Nevada to secede from the US.
- Eternal Prohibition: Prohibition was never repealed on this world, which is how the crime families continued to gain influence and power.
- Genre Blindness: The Sliders land in the middle of the wedding. Seeing all these angry and scared people with guns, Rembrandt automatically thinks they're just Crying Man fans mesmerized to see him.
- Harmful to Minors: Inverted. Wade sees a bunch of gangster movies are scheduled to air on the Disney Channel.
- It's Personal:
- Rembrandt's double laments Mel's supposed death—calling him a friend and a patriot.
- Mr. Greenfeld stays focused the entire time, but he admits to a great deal of satisfaction over having the chance to kill Rembrandt's double (a man responsible for jailing or killing many of Greenfeld's old friends).Greenfeld: Today is payback time.
- The Mafia: It's a world full of mob families, but the Greenfelds are the primary antagonists.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Rembrandt's double is the Deputy Director of the FBI and the leader of the Incorruptibles. They are essentially this world's answer to Eliot Ness and the Untouchables.
- Not Quite Dead: Mel Tormé is presumably killed in a car bombing, but he turns up alive in the end to say goodbye to him."The cooler the cat, the harder he is to kill."
- Real Life Writes the Plot: June was supposed to be a double of Daelin from "As Time Goes By". That episode was filmed before this one and explained Quinn's connection to Daelin, but the writers had to use a completely new character due to fear Fox would air the episodes out of order (which the network did).
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman:
- Mel Tormé is a Bible-thumping, whisky swilling country-western singer and an FBI informant. In the words of his son Tracy, "everything he's not in this life."
- Ronald Reagan also served as President in this world but he is running for election as Governor of California in 1996.
- Retirony: Subverted. Mel Tormé talks about how this is his last case as an informant and presumably dies, but he's alive after all.
- Shout-Out: The title is a reference to Goodfellas.
- This Cannot Be!: Fresh in from Toronto, Rembrandt's double can't believe the reports that he was at the wedding and fingered Mel.
- Twin Switch: Off-screen during the last act, Rembrandt's double switched places with him and let himself be captured by the Greenfelds along with the other Sliders. This was so the Deputy Director could get in the room and ask all the right questions about the secession conspiracy. The FBI was nearby monitoring all of this and once they got the incriminating evidence on Biacchi, they stormed the place.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Rembrandt suddenly appearing at the wedding and approaching Mel at the wedding—saying they've worked together before. It results in the crime families going into clean-up mode, the Sliders having to deal with a mob bribe (that is later stolen from Quinn), and nearly gets Mel killed.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Quinn's first meeting with June was this. After talking to the bartender, Quinn sees June getting threatened by a patron, he steps in to save her, and he finds she stole from him in all the confusion. June, the "attacker," and the bartender were all in on it.
