Quantum Leap: The Family Treasure

It is the 1950s, so it is a little late for Indiana Jones-style adventures, as the franchise itself proved. However, Dr. Ben Song finds himself in the middle of an unlikely treasure hunt. He is determined to find a way to warn Hannah Carson to have her husband’s fatal heart defect diagnosed in time, but he probably will not have the opportunity in “The Family Treasure,” this week’s episode of Quantum Leap, which premieres tomorrow on NBC.

Evidently, Song leaped into the least annoying of three sisters. Sarah is the martyr-ishly responsible one, married to a soul-crushing husband, while Dean/Adina is the one who will eventually teach viewers an “important lesson” in nonbinary acceptance. Together, they must work together to find their wastrel father’s treasure hidden somewhere in Mexico.

Most of the episode focuses on the reasonably entertaining treasure hunt. The clues are clever and the somewhat cheap-looking sets are kind of fun, in a throwback kind of way. However, the “serious drama” quickly grows tiresome. Throughout the entire episode, Song’s holographic guide and former fiancée Addison Augustine keeps wringing her hands over how to tell him about her impending marriage to Tom Westfall, the Quantum Leap’s project’s DOD guy. Plus, we all know a big teaching moment is coming.

At least “The Family Treasure” still gives viewers an adventure. In contrast, the previous comparable social issue-themed episode, “Let Them Play” was all lecture and no story. This time around, the nonbinary sermon is still heavy-handed, but it is relatively self-contained, so most viewers can just tune it out or fast-forward.

Again, there is way too little of Ernie Hudson as Magic Williams. Peter Gadiot is still a strong addition as Westfall, who is probably the now second most likable character on the series (after Magic) and he gets decent screentime, albeit dealing with an annoying subplot. Frankly, the writers need to double-down on military themes (like in their best episodes, including S.O.S. and This Took Too Long) and ease off on the woke PSA’s.

Fortunately, there is indeed a lot of treasure-hunting in “The Family Treasure.” Just be ready to tune out at a certain point—you’ll know when. Mostly recommended for pre-existing franchise viewers and fans of old Raiders knock-offs (like Tale of the Golden Monkey, also a Donald P. Bellisario production, so who knows, maybe NBC will reboot it too?), this week’s Quantum Leap episode airs tomorrow (2/6) on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.