Riots do not just damage cities physically. They leave emotional trauma that
never fully heals. The riots the burned Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood
were a case in point. Unfortunately, Dr. Ben Song must re-learn that lesson
through the eyes of an 18-year-old Korean American teen in “One Night in
Koreatown,” this week’s episode of Quantum Leap, which premieres
tomorrow on NBC.
As
soon as he realizes what day it is, Song understands the catastrophe heading
towards Jin Park’s shoe store. At least his Korean fluency will come in handy. He
wants to close early and get out while the getting is good, but the old man is
too stubborn. Consequently, they will have to dig-in and barricade the store as
best they can. This will be a real baptism of fire for Magic Williams, who
takes over from Addison Augustine as Song’s holographic guide, because it
brings back painful memories. In fact, it might just re-awaken some of Williams’
old demons.
This
will be a tough leap for everyone, including the writers who labor like pack-mules
to put the “right” spin on the looting of Koreatown. The episode mentions
Reginald Denny in passing, but, not surprisingly, the police are portraying as
more villainous than his attackers or other rioters.
Yet,
perhaps in spite of intentions, we feel acutely Park’s fear of losing
everything he had worked so hard to build for his family. C.S. Lee is terrific
as the Park family patriarch, even when his character is poorly served by some
stilted writing.
One excessively indulgent hostage negotiator can create unrealistic
expectations for the next negotiator. There is no way these bank robbers are
getting a helicopter, even though some Fed out in Arizona apparently rustled
one up the week before. Obviously, this hostage standoff ends badly, because
Ben Song leaps into it in “Ben & Teller,” tonight’s episode of Quantum
Leap.
After
three years of silence, Ian Wright finally picked up Song again, but from the
leaper’s perspective, no time had passed since the season one finale. To
support Song, Wright gets all the old gang back together, including the
eternally cool Herbert “Magic” Williams, who is supposedly retired now, but the
showrunners’ statements to the media assure us he isn’t going anywhere. Addison
Augustine is also back, sort of. Its complicated, for reasons involving this
week’s embargoed character.
Regardless,
the pressing issue will be guiding Song through this leap, since the clock is quickly
ticking down. Emotions are perilously high, because one of the armed robbers is
the screw-up younger brother of assistant branch manager Rebecca Egan, who lost
patience with his self-pitying loser behavior long ago.
In the original Quantum Leap series, Dr. Sam Beckett encountered “evil
leapers,” who were trying to set wrong events that had gone right. Dr. Ben Song’s
rival, Richard Martinez, a.k.a. “Leaper X,” insists he is not one of them, but
he would say that, wouldn’t he? Regardless, Song finds himself reluctantly working
with his presumed antagonist in “Ben, Interrupted,” tonight’s episode of Quantum
Leap.
This
time around, Song’s host is a private detective going undercover in a notorious
1950s mental asylum, sort of like Nelly Bly did, but without a good exit strategy
in place. Fortunately, Song has the Quantum Leap team and their AI, Ziggy, to
help guide him. His mission is to rescue his client’s sister, who was committed
by her husband, for the sake of a quick and easy divorce. However, Song probably
won’t be able to leap if one or both of them is lobotomized.
As
a further complication, Martinez leaps into the body of one of the thuggish orderly-enforcers.
He claims he wants to help, but Song is understandably wary. Nevertheless, he
does not have a lot of options.
This
is the first episode in a while that really digs into the “Leaper X” subplot. In
addition, there is also more intrigue and drama involving Janis Calavicci, who
apparently assisted Song make his unsanctioned leap. That means this episode
really involves time travel, rather than mere small-bore family melodrama. The
stakes are also huge, at least for Song.
Star Trek was
remarkably clever in the ways it addressed current social issues of its time in
a science fiction context, without seeming to. That was almost sixty years ago,
but a lot of TV writers working today can clearly still learn lessons from that
show. In contrast, almost every line of dialogue blatantly tries to teach
viewers a lesson in “Let Them Play,” this week’s episode of Quantum Leap,
which airs tonight on NBC.
In many ways, JFK was the “Nuclear President.” He was partly elected due to the
supposed “missile gap.” He also mentioned the potential of nuclear energy in
his “We choose to go to the moon” speech. That is exactly the day Dr. Ben Song
leaps to, finding himself in an experimental reactor about to have an accident
requiring a major government cover-up in “Leap, Die, Repeat,” tonight’s episode
of the new Quantum Leap, which airs tonight on NBC.
Initially,
Dr. Song feels like he is in his element, with science geeks like Dr. Edwin
Woolsey. However, his enthusiasm dampens when the entire place explodes. Ordinarily,
that would be that, but he and the Quantum Leap team are somewhat relieved to
discover he is actually in a time loop, but only somewhat. To save everyone and
leap on, he will have to figure out who sabotaged the facility.
“Leap, Die,
Repeat” is a clever way to break format without really breaking format. Instead
of simply riffing on Groundhog Day and other similar films, it offers a
fresh take on time-looping. However, this episode has a terrible sense of the
era’s history. Song and his holographic guide, Addison Augustine, roll their
eyes when Col. Parker tells him his job is to guard the facility against
Communists, but the Cuban Missile Crisis would happen just one month and four
days after JFK’s “Moon Speech,” so it was a totally valid concern. Also, the
janitor says he reads science fiction novels like Solaris, but Lem’s classic
Polish sf novel was not published in English until 1970 (secret plot twist,
maybe?).
You don't see a lot of hospitals in science fiction, aside from James White’s
Sector General novels. Dr. Ben Song would have preferred to keep it that
way. He is a theoretical physicist (time travel scientist) rather than a
medical doctor. However, he will have to practice as best he can when he leaps
into a first-year resident’s body in “Paging Dr. Song,” this week’s episode of Quantum
Leap, which airs tonight on NBC.
It
turns out delivering the baby in the cold-open will be the easiest task presented
to him, while he inhabits the good doctor. Somehow, this leap involves three
patients, who have not checked in yet. He finds Eli Jackson rather quickly, but
the retired corporate lawyer wants to check out immediately, rather than
transfer to oncology for the cancer treatment he urgently needs. Song will have
to convince him, but he will need help from Jackson’s estranged daughter, who
happens to be his host’s mentor, third-year resident Dr. Sandra Turk.
“Paging”
builds to a climax involving a subplot in which an experimental drug the
hospital is testing will cause the death of one of Song’s patients. It is your
basic Big Pharma demonization, but it feels rather dated in the era of Covid
vaccine controversies. Seriously, do the writers want to encourage greater
skepticism and distrust of the pharmaceutical industry at a time when only 68%
of the United States is fully vaccinated?
On
the plus side, this episode again draws on the military background of Song’s fiancée
and holographic guide, Addison Augustine, who helps coach Song before breaking
some hard news to a patient. Caitlin Bassett is terrific delivering the second-best
speech of the series so far, right behind Magic Williams’ explanation of his
experience as one of Sam Beckett’s original Quantum Leaps.
If you could travel through time, preventing Clifford Brown’s fatal auto
accident and the plane crash that killed Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the
Big Bopper could be musically rewarding ways to use that technology. Dr. Ben
Song will have that chance when he leaps into the body of the bodyguard working
for Carly Farmer, a fictional late 1970s pop singer. However, even after he
saves her from a freak stage accident, someone still murders her a few days
later. Despite Song’s efforts, the killer remains lethally persistent and motivated
in the “Fellow Travelers” episode of the Quantum Leap continuation series,
which premieres tonight on NBC.
Despite
the title, this episode does not feature the rival leaper introduced in “Salvation or Bust,” or 1950s Communist sympathizers. This is basically the Quantum
Leap take on The Bodyguard, with Farmer being a Carly Simon-like vocalist,
who is starting to fall for her bodyguard, Jack Armstrong. Farmer basically
understands her manager is a snake, but she does not realize he has manipulated
her to turn against her former-junkie sister Jamie.
Unfortunately,
someone is also about to frame Jamie for the murder of Farmer. Each time Song
prevents her death, the mystery killer simply murders her “again” the next day.
This happens to be a particularly cleverly-written episode, because much of the
dialogue exchanged by Song and Addison Augustine, his fiancée and holographic
guide, appliers both to Armstrong’s efforts to save Farmer and Song’s
revelation that his unsanctioned premature leap was intended to save her life
at a future date. If only he could imagine the details.
Do you want to time-travel back to your teen years? Maybe if it was the
early days of college, but probably not back to “scared straight” bootcamp. That is
where Dr. Ben Song’s latest host just escaped from. Unfortunately, according to
his holographic guide, the kids do not fare well in the wilderness. At least
Song should have a pretty easy time acting like the geeky one in “Stand by Ben,”
tonight’s episode of the Quantum Leap continuation series.
The
“Stand by” title represents another Stephen King reference, but one not nearly as
substantial as those in “The Boogeyman.” However, being trapped with three resentful,
self-destructive teens, who believe they are victims of the world, certainly
feels like a horror story. In the pre-Ben timeline, they all died from the
elements and the camp successfully instigated a cover-up. Ben tries to serve as
the voice of reason, but they do not want to listen.
Meanwhile,
security chief Jenn Chou tracks Janice Calavicci’s location, but Al’s rogue
daughter locks-down Quantum Leap headquarters, trapping her and Admiral “Magic”
Williams in the elevator. They won’t be able to catch Calavicci this episode,
but Chou will get some straight, honest life advice from Magic.
Apparently, Generation X is now just barely old enough for significant events from
our teen years to appear in time travel shows. In fact, the Quantum Leap continuation
series is appealing to those memories quite effectively. During the premiere episode, it was Live Aid. Now, Dr. Ben Song leaps right into the middle of the
1989 earthquake. We don’t have much nostalgia for that one, but the shock of
how it disrupted the Bay Area World Series comes back vividly. Given the
circumstances, Song has plenty of people to help in tonight’s Quantum Leap episode,
“What a Disaster.”
If
you missed “Salvation or Bust” last week, “Disaster” starts with the
cliffhanger ending to the previous episode, which was a game-changer. Apparently,
there is another leaper, who recognized Song and wasn’t too happy about it. Addison
Augustine, Song’s holographic guide also saw him, so she will get Magic
Williams’ team in the present-day working on an ID. Song has to concentrate on finishing
his leap, presumably by saving John Harvey’s son. To do so, he and Harvey’s
wife, Naomi Harvey, must travel from their current home in San Francisco to
their old apartment building in Oakland, where their homesick son ran off to at
the mother of inopportune times. Ironically, it is probably more dangerous to
make this trip in broad daylight today than the night of the 1989 earthquake.
This
episode clearly leans into family themes, in ways that stir memories of the
amnesiac Song’s childhood that he never confided to Augustine before. “Disaster”
does a nice job addressing the Harvey family’s issues, without glossing over
messy complications. Song won’t fix everything, but maybe getting them back on
a workable track.
“Disaster”
also gives viewers an inkling of some of the mind-bending time-travel issues
that might be coming down the road. Although it is not clear, there is reason
to suspect the other leaper is from the future—relative to the present Williams
and company operate in. As of now, “Leaper X” seems pretty cool and his record
is faultless, so how and why is he leaping?
Leaping into the Old West is some serious Bill & Ted stuff. Dr. Ben Song
shouldn’t be able to do it, but apparently, he can, thanks to the new algorithm
he mysteriously uploaded just before jumping. Nobody is more confused by these
new rules than the staff of the Quantum Leap project. Song already leaped
beyond his own lifetime. Now he leaps well beyond that of his predecessor (Dr.
Sam Beckett) in “Salvation or Bust,” tonight’s episode of the Quantum Leap continuation
series.
Unfortunately,
Song is an annoying pacifist, unlike his lover and holographic guide, Addison Augustine,
who learn is a military veteran. Apparently, the need to forcibly stand up to aggression
is the only thing they ever really argued about. Rather inconveniently, Song
now finds himself in the body of an aging Mexican-American gunslinger, whose granddaughter
expects him to stand up to the outlaws trying to run-out the good citizens of
Salvation. Unfortunately, even if Song did not have a hang-up regarding guns,
his host body just isn’t what it used to be.
Meanwhile,
Magic Williams and his team have to handle a surprise visit from a member of
their congressional oversight committee. Of course, she wants to talk to Song,
who obviously isn’t available. Again, Ernie Hudson makes the most of his screen-time
as the smooth-talking Williams. If this series shifted its primary focus to
him, we would be entirely fine with it.
The
Old West stuff is done relatively well, not entirely vindicating the viewpoints
of either Song or Augustine. In fact, this is a good episode for her character
development, revealing dimensions viewers can appreciate. Augustine, along with
Williams, give viewers two very sympathetic military veterans to identify with,
which is well above average for most of science fiction television produced
recently.
At this point, we’re
hooked, especially given the kicker at the end of “Salvation” that obviously
has enormous long-term implications. The stakes keep rising and the supporting characters
continue to enrich the series lore. By jumping back to the Old West, it shows
the continuation series can explore time-travel options not available to its
predecessor, while still respecting its tone and spirit. NBC just added an
additional eight episodes to their first season order, so there will definitely
be more to come. “Salvation or Bust” engages in some truly old school time travel,
so it is a good place for reluctant fans to start. It airs tonight (10/17) on
NBC and then streams with the rest of the series on Peacock.
Given current cultural fixations, it shows unusual restraint on the part
of the writers to wait until the fourth episode to have Dr. Ben Song leap into
a woman’s body. By leaping him into the early 1980s, the algorithm chose a time
when men were men and women were women, who sometimes met each other in hip
night clubs like The Whiskey a Go Go. However, Song’s latest host, Eva Sandoval
is there on business: bounty-hunting. Song must track a skip while navigating
her workplace romance with her partner in the latest episode of Quantum Leap,
“A Decent Proposal,” premiering tonight on NBC.
It
is 1981, when the entire world was watching the Royal Wedding. Jake wanted to
start planning one of his own with Sandoval, but his proposal caught Sam off
guard. According to Addison Augusitne, his holographic companion (and lover
before the leap), the two bounty-hunters never tied the knot, which doesn’t sit
well with Song. However, Augustine is convinced the leap is more about Tammy
Jean, who skipped out on her parking ticket hearing and was never heard from
again.
Again,
the 1980s details are smartly chosen for quick nostalgia value. Director Rachel
Talalay (who helmed Tank Girl) does a nice job conveying Eva and Jake’s
romance, without leaning into in-your-face gender-bending possibilities. She
and the cast just make us root for the couple to get their act together.
In the previous series, Dr. Sam Beckett often jumped into a body just about
as it was about to be clobbered by a haymaker. Sooner or later, the new leaper,
Dr. Ben Song was bound to get similar treatment. He is somewhat fortunate his chin
music comes from a mere sparring partner at the start of tonight’s Quantum
Leap episode, “Somebody Up There Likes Ben.”
Obviously,
the writers of the current continuation series are somewhat familiar with the classic
Paul Newman boxing film, so give them points for cinematic literacy. The 1970s
vibe is also pretty cool, but unexpected. The big non-spoilery development of
this episode is the fact Song somehow managed to leap beyond his own lifetime.
There will be other technical difficulties for the team that might have a
bearing on the ongoing mystery as to why Song was compelling to leap without
warning.
Obviously,
winning Danny Hill’s title fight will most likely factor into Song’s efforts to
set things right. However, he also must help the fighter’s manager-brother start
dealing with his PTSD. To its credit, this episode demonstrates great empathy
for Vietnam vets like Daryl Hill, who is indeed callously called a “baby-killer”
during the hour-long drama.
Why Would you repeat an infamously disastrous scientific experiment? Because
it involves time travel. We all know Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum
Leap accelerator and found himself leaping into lives that he had to set right,
before he could leap out and repeat the process again. Now Dr. Ben Song is in a
similar position, but that was not the plan. He was supposed to be the holographic
communicator and his lover Caitlin Bassett was supposed to be the leaper. For
some reason he leaped without telling anyone in the new Quantum Leap,
which just premiered on NBC and Peacock (the second episode “Atlantis” airs
tonight).
The
Quantum Leap project had been mothballed after Beckett was declared lost in
time. The original program director and hologram Admiral Al Calavicci (the late
Dean Stockwell) has passed away, but the military relaunched project under the
Herbert “Magic” Williams (Beckett leaped into him during Williams’ Viet Nam
service). Song was considered the glue who held the team together, so everyone
is shocked when he leaps without warning, after installing some strange new
code.
Inconveniently,
Song experiences amnesia after leaping, an anticipated side effect. Frankly,
Williams and Jenn Chou, the project’s security director, are a bit suspicious
of Song, particularly since he apparently had been in recent contact with
Calavicci’s brilliant but somewhat unstable daughter Janice. However, they all must
work together to get him through his first leap.
It
seems Song is now part of a gang that will successfully replace the Hope
diamond. For extra added nostalgic detail, the heist will go down in Philadelphia
during the Live Aid concert. Unfortunately, Song initially manages to make
things much worse for his host body, which could very well set the pattern for
the show.
Like
the 1989 series, Song finds himself leaping at particularly dramatic moments,
but the launch of the space shuttle at the start of the “Atlantis” episode might
have been beyond the means of the 1989 precursor series. Director David
McWhirter nicely capitalizes on the claustrophobic Shuttle setting and the
storyline will resonate with viewers who remember the Challenger and Columbia
disasters. Plus, Carly Pope and Leith M. Burke both do strong, commanding work
in their guest shots as the Shuttle first officer and commander.
One
of the reasons Quantum Leap 2022 is so good, so far, is that it is not a
remake, reboot, or re-conception. It is a continuation of the original series
that obviously respects (and makes frequent reference) to its characters. If the
first season ends with Song leaping into Sam Beckett (as fans maybe are already
hoping), it will earn a standing ovation and a champagne toast.
