Quantum Leap (2022)- 2x02 - Ben and Teller

In an otherwise solid episode about a bank robbery gone wrong, Ben and Teller resets the Quantum Leap status quo in a fairly conventional way.

In 1986, Ben Leaps into Lorena Chavez, a recent grandmother and soon-to-be-retired bank teller caught in a bank robbery gone wrong. In the original timeline, 8 people are killed in a shootout between cops and robbers, so Ben becomes the hostage liaison. As his actions in the past cause the disaster to escalate, he bonds with Lorena’s co-worker, Rebecca, whose brother Sean is one of the bank robbers. Sean’s not a bad guy, he’s just down on his luck, and in the end, Ben puts right what once went wrong; he saves everyone (except the actual bad guy/lead bank robber), plus Sean and Rebecca’s relationship. Unfortunately, being gone for 3 years was not good for his relationship.

Episodic Storytelling: This episode was just fine! The present-day plot drove most of the drama, so the case of the week served more as a tool to build suspense and tension, and to provide us with some action.¹ I liked the guest cast well enough, and the story about a bank teller and her brother, the bank robber, was touching; it certainly wasn’t a dull episode with one-dimensional characters. And the tension from the Leap bled back and forth into the tension back at QL HQ, so I’d chalk this one as a win. It just didn’t hit as hard as the premiere, and didn’t resonate thematically across both plots.

More importantly, I had been hoping to see Quantum Leap radically reformat its weekly procedural engine, but it looks like we’re back to the status quo. More below.

Serial Developments: Oh boy! As it turns out, Addison didn’t show up as the hologram in the premiere for two reasons. First, Ian did something very secret to find Ben—Jenn knows, but Magic and Addison don’t—which means we’ve got another juicy season-long motivation-based mystery! Second, with Ben gone for three years, Addison has, understandably, after a long time searching/hoping, moved on. Tom’s an army guy with connections who also happens to be a new series regular and the new leader of Quantum Leap (Magic seems to be a soon-to-be-engaged civilian now). Dramaaa!

Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to feel about this development, which serves as a fairly conventional procedural return to a (slightly modified) status quo. In my review of the S2 premiere, I argued that a new structure, one that fleshed out the missing three years at HQ via flashbacks and that only provided tantalizing hints of present-day action, would benefit the show creatively. Imagine saving the reveal of Addison’s new relationship for an episode 5 or 6 after cycling through the rest of the cast as holograms parcelling out information to Ben, maybe even after introducing Tom as a new member of QL via flashback (or as the hologram before Addison!). Imagine learning about those 3 years at the same time as Ben, bringing us closer to his POV.

Instead, Ben and Addison will continue to have capers of the week starting next episode (hopefully the rest of the cast will sub in as the hologram more often), with the added twist of Ben and Addison no longer being together. The fundamental structure of the show hasn’t changed, just the relationships and character dynamics. Which, don’t get me wrong, are plenty important! But I was hoping for a more foundational shakeup. I shouldn’t be surprised, this is just how broadcast TV works.

Legacyquel Baggage: Unfortunately, I think it’s unlikely at this point that we’ll see Sam in the sequel series. They might find a way to honour his Leaping, but it will probably be without Scott Bakula. And so, since the show hasn’t really discussed the past much so far this season, I’ll turn to a reflection on the mechanics of leaping instead.

Identity and Embodiment Corner: I don't mind that the sequel changed some of the rules; for example, the lack of a waiting room can probably be explained away by a more effective and modern Leaping system—at least in my own headcanon.² But the new series has explicitly established that the body belongs to the Leapee,³ so strength and weight and stamina come from the physical body, not Ben's spirit or mind.

In my review of 1x03, Somebody Up There Likes Ben, I explored those new rules:

Addison explains that Ben has “leapt into the body” of someone with different physical characteristics—so Ben can use Danny’s “strength and speed” (though he lacks his skill) when boxing. This raises all kinds of interesting questions about experience, identity, and embodiment, ranging from dysphoria to how minds and bodies relate (i.e., Ben may have Danny’s physical strength, but he doesn’t retain his boxing muscle memory).

This happens many times, as when Ben experiences shortness of breath in 1x06 (What a Disaster!) because the Leapee is out of shape, and the rules remain consistent across the series and between Leaps. So I was kind of frustrated when they had Ben, as a grandma, break down the drywall super easily while joking that he (she) did Pilates. It’s not a super explicit breaking of the rules (maybe the grandmother was in great shape, it’s hard for us to know when we mostly just see Ben), but the show went out of its way to have another, younger character offer to break the wall instead, so… I’ll be keeping my eye on the rules of minds and bodies interacting through Leaps as we go.

And with that, see you all soon for 2x03! Now that the Wheel of Time has ended, I should be able to get these up earlier than before (hopefully on Fridays, but we’ll see how this goes).

1. But relatively well-paced and cleverly designed action; I will never not facepalm over Ben foiling domestic terrorists in the pilot by dropping their explosives down the sewer drain.

2. I do wish the new Quantum Leap at least acknowledged the existence of the waiting room, but I can understand why they chose to pretend it never existed. To appeal to as wide an audience as possible, a show can’t waste valuable scene time on an infodump about how the system used to work and how it doesn’t work like that anymore so it doesn’t matter anyway. That would be strange for a new or casual viewer. It’s not the same as an Easter egg like the Evil Leapers being mentioned in the S1 finale, which was both plot relevant as a theory on their situation and a nice way to seed potential future plots. Still, they could have lamp-shaded the idea, maybe when Magic talked about his experience as a Leapee, but oh well.

3. Another change from the OG series, in which Sam used his own body beneath an illusion of the Leapee—in one case, a physically impaired illusion—but it’s a change I’m fine with.