Quantum Leap (2022) - Episode 1x05 - Salvation or Bust - Review
A generally pleasant and well-executed episode ends with a shocking twist!
In 1879(!), Ben leaps into Diego de la Cruz, an old gunslinger brought by his granddaughter, Valentina, to help save the town of Salvation (a town founded by his son) from a ruthless gang of outlaws. It looks like Ben—a pacifist—will have to suck it up, learn how to shoot, and take on the outlaw leader in a shootout! Psych; actually, he gets to remain a pacifist by working with the townsfolk to capture the baddies, collect some reward money, and save this special place for racialized and othered peoples!
Procedural Storytelling: While I wouldn't say the guest cast gripped me, individually, the overall narrative and the need to bring the strengths of each citizen to bear as they saved the town was quite compelling! I enjoyed Ben’s interaction with the Chinese chemical expert / chef and his son the most (and Ben’s discovery that he speaks the language), but everyone from the man running the forge to the woman running the saloon helped create a vibrant picture of a community just trying to build a space for the kinds of people who, in 1879, may not have been able live these lives elsewhere.
Serial Developments: I recently checked in on the Quantum Leap subreddit and was surprised to learn that folks don’t seem to love the Ben/Addison dynamic. For me, it’s one of the show’s most charming elements! I still wish Ben hadn’t remembered their relationship so soon, but I’m happy to see new tensions emerge—i.e., his inability to remember specific events (like a first date), or their ongoing disagreements about the use of force. I appreciate how it sets up continued debate between Addison and Ben on a theme I could imagine the show revisiting and exploring more seriously, later. I’m really digging what they’re bringing to the table and I look forward to more!
Otherwise, the main drama for our ensemble was a nosy congresswoman trying to find out why weird (and I imagine expensive) power surges (that look an awful lot like someone’s gone a leapin’) keep happening. These ‘please keep funding our wacky time travel experiment’ plots, a Quantum Leap staple, have never really worked for me—the congresswoman has a great point!—but at least Magic finds a way to almost-but-not-quite blackmail her with the liepromise of finding a way to maybe change her past to save her brother’s life. I’m not looking forward to it, but I have no doubt we’ll see more government oversight drama throughout the series. At the very least it helped us better understand the rest of the cast—especially Jenn, who sorely needed fleshing out.
Legacyquel Baggage: Of course, the biggest serial development was the shocking twist that a man in town—likely a fellow Leaper—knows all about Ben! So who might this Mystery Leaper be? I think there are three options (tied up in Legacyquel Baggage):
It’s Sam. Although he appeared pretty aggressive in his warning, he never directly threatened Ben. It could be that Sam believes Ben is putting himself in danger.
It’s an Evil Leaper. Ugh I really hope it’s not an Evil Leaper.
It has something to do with whatever Janis is up to. Another Leaper? Janis?
From there, lots of different permutations spin out. Could it be Al? Or someone who has met Ben before that Ben has not yet met (because time travel)? Maybe there are other Good Leapers, or maybe the idea of an Evil Leaper is too black and white for a show in 2022 (as much as the original liked to frame it as God vs. The Devil)? I don’t know, but I am leaning most heavily toward it being Sam. Of course, maybe the show wants this person to be Sam, but if Scott Bakula truly isn’t returning, then the writers have at least given themselves a vague enough development to adjust as needed.
Okay! Enough theorizing! The only other item worth addressing is that Ben can now leap to any time period. This was explained by Ian in a previous episode, and its a fun change, but it does raise a number of questions about the kinds of stories Quantum Leap wants to tell in different eras. It’s hard enough to get identity and social justice right even in just the 80s-2020s, and it was smart to make Salvation explicitly a town for primarily racialized others to build lives for themselves, but I do worry about what they might gloss over depending on when they decide to Leap in future episodes.
At the very least, we got more consistency on embodiment. Ben might have the body of the man who used to be a gunslinger, but he has none of his muscle memory. So the legacyquel is cementing the idea that he has their characteristics, but not their skills.
Next week, we get to watch the pilot that was moved and reworked to be Episode 6! Can’t wait.