Quantum Leap (2022) - Episode 1x12 - Let Them Play
The new Quantum Leap finally takes a risk with a Big Social Issues episode, in which a bit of melodrama goes a long way for social justice—I couldn't be happier!
Just some quick housekeeping: Apologies for being so behind on my reviews of Quantum Leap. I’m thankful—in this one instance—for an unexpected hiatus enabling me to catch up. I won’t be writing a review of the time loop episode, which was just fine, meaning I have little of note to say; but, this episode, Let Them Play, is an important one to cover. I’ll be back to covering Quantum Leap in a more timely fashion starting again with next week’s episode. Thanks all!
In 2012, Ben leaps into high school basketball coach Carlos Mendéz, whose daughter Gia faces othering and discrimination as a trans teen who just wants to shoot hoops. Ben must put right what once went wrong by stopping Gia from running away. Angry parents, jealous teammates, and principals who refuse to take principled stands all stand in her way. And while her loving parents mean well, they don’t totally get her—until Ben as Carlos, with no context yet about the leap, lets Gia play, which isn’t exactly what Carlos and his wife Miriam had planned. They wanted to keep Gia out of harm’s way, out of the spotlight, and off the court. Of course, with a bit of love, empathy, and understanding, not to mention a huge dollop of melodrama, Gia finally feels seen, feels loved, and gets to do what she’s always wanted: Just be a normal teen.
In my co-written review of the Quantum Leap (2022) premiere, I explored how the original QL was at its best when it used its big heart to encourage empathy; it taught me a lot about what it means to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, and about the need to fight oppression in ways both large and small. Although equal parts clunky,1 effective, and affecting,2 the original series took risks, earnestly trying to promote progressive values and politics by centring the lives and narratives of othered people(s). The tension at QL’s core was that Sam would put right what once went wrong by literally becoming the othered person. There’s a bit of a white saviour narrative undergirding the series, which I have been hoping to see updated for 2022. And, yes, Ben is Korean, which has figured into stories about Ben’s life, but the new show has largely avoided (or only superficially addressed) questions of identity.
Which brings us to Let Them Play, an episode that explicitly pushes back, hard, against the toxic far-right politics of adults obsessing and panicking over teen sports and gender identity.3 Not only does it push back through its storytelling, exploring both difficult issues and trans joy, but it pushes back via representation. I have a segment in these reviews I call Embodiment & Identity Corner, which has mostly focused on the embodiment component (i.e., the rules for how Ben controls another person’s body in this storyworld); however, most of my reviews also say something like ‘unsurprisingly, the question of identity isn’t meaningfully addressed.’ I’ve been waiting for Quantum Leap (2022) to take a risk (or, leap, I suppose, haha), to go there. And with Let Them Play, Quantum Leap finally does, in surprisingly nuanced and sensitive ways.
Procedural Storytelling: I think it was the exact right call to cast Ben as an ally, as Gia’s father, rather than having him become a trans person. A classic challenge of Quantum Leap is that Ben’s actions remove some agency (and, honestly, opportunities for emotional growth) from the Leapee.4 And while the literal walking in someone else’s shoes has always been an integral part of Quantum Leap’s approach to social justice, modern sensibilities about which actors should portray which roles must figure into any discussion of casting and leaping. So to have Ben play Carlos enabled QL to cast trans actors and hire trans writers to ensure representation in front of and behind the camera. Josielyn Aguilera plays Gia, Trace Lisette plays Kate, a bunch of trans kids play trans kids in a support group, and Shakina Nayfack plays Dottie and is credited as writer and co-director for the episode. No matter how this episode would have turned out (and I ultimately quite enjoyed it), this is one of the first instances I can remember of a Broadcast Network show doing such a good job at trans representation.5
And sure, some of the episode is corny, with some clunky dialogue and line deliveries, but the heart and shape of the story and performances really resonated with me. Which is a nice way to transition to Serial Developments aka Ian Time.
Serial Developments: Ian is easily the best character in the ensemble. I usually qualify that claim by saying something like the best character in the extended cast, but I’m fine suggesting that Ian is likely more interesting, compelling, and charismatic than even Ben. And while they’ve typically been relegated to quips and technobabble-y support dialogue, this episode throws Ian into the spotlight in two ways: 1) as a non-binary person who has struggled with an onslaught of awful discourse, who was also actually inspired by Gia’s evolving time-altered story as a teen themselves; and 2) in my fav twist of the series so far, as someone who is eventually going to become a Leaper.
Ian’s identity has, for the most part, been an implicit part of them rather than explicitly discussed. I’ve critiqued some of the show’s previous attempts to have Ian (in extremely short scenes) talk (quip?) about gender as a ‘bit too on-the-nose,’6 but, this episode, especially in the scene between them and Addison, the show (and of course Mason Alexander Park7) absolutely nailed it. At this point, I would take a Quantum Leap entirely built around Ian, as much as I love Raymond Lee's Ben and, in general, his dynamic with Addison as lovers rather than buddy buds like Sam and Al.
And so, while a small serial development (Janis giving Addison a name) leads us the tiniest bit closer to understanding why Ben leaped, why Janis helped him, and what might be going on with Mysterious Leaper X, we also get this incredibly fun surprise.
Theory Corner: I mean, we’ve got at least three central mysteries to manage now
The circumstances surrounding Ben’s Leap and why Janis helped him
Mysterious Leaper X aka Richard Martinez, and a possible government conspiracy
And now, the idea that, at some point, Ian will begin Leaping. And not only that, but that Ben may be aware of Ian’s Leaping from before he (Ben) began to Leap. I’m wondering if we’re going to get some Causal Loops here, like, Ben leaped because Ian told him to leap, and Ian leaped because Ben leaped, etc., forever.
Mostly, I am still attached to the idea that all three mysteries are intricately connected: That our current team at Quantum Leap headquarters may be trying to stop, or fight, a future Nefarious American Military Corruption of the QL Project.
Legacyquel Baggage: I’ve already talked a lot about the show’s legacy of social justice, and different approaches to telling progressive stories through the leaping mechanic. So, instead, I just wanted to reflect on how this episode focused on basketball, not unlike the classic original series episode The Leap Home Part I. Sam, having leaped into himself as a teen, is given the opportunity to see his family again, including his brother Tom, who died in Vietnam. Sam wants to believe he is there to save Tom (as well as to convince his father to eat better and stop smoking), but he’s really only there to help win a basketball game. Of course, we all know that this is at least partly Sam’s reward for doing so much good—to be with loved ones long gone. The basketball game (though apparently meaningful for some of Sam’s teammates), is otherwise pretty trivial. And so, in this episode, we return to a basketball game, this time imbued with significant meaning. The moral panic around trans kids in sports is so toxic; the whole point of Let Them Play is to emphasize a combination of trans excellence and that trans kids just want to live their lives, including playing sports in high school.
And with that, I’m back on track to keeping up with QL reviews! See you next week!
In The Color of Truth, an episode from 1989, Sam leaps into Jesse (a Black man), experiences 1950s racism and segregation—he’s explicitly called the n-word on TV!—and plays the secret white saviour as he changes a Miss Daisy type’s heart/mind. It doesn’t totally hold up.
In a 1991 episode that would not, upsettingly, appear entirely out of place in contemporary discourse on rape culture and #MeToo, Sam becomes a woman who has just been assaulted. Unlike in The Color of Truth, Quantum Leap chose to bend its own internal rules to enable Katie to speak for herself, telling Sam what to say during her courtroom testimony.
I say the far-right, but the mainstreaming of transphobia is no joke. We can pretend it’s a fringe wedge issue for FOX, Quillette, or the National Post (for Canadian readers), but I’m thinking recently about the open letter from New York Times staff arguing that the NYT has platformed hate and continues to suggest that trans identity is a ‘both sides debate.’
Although Magic’s description of what it felt like to let Sam in [and Dottie’s, this episode] certainly provides some sense of a sort of spiritual acquiescence, a good vibes-based consent, to the process of leaping. Which does a lot to address my concerns.
I could certainly be wrong—please shout out your favourite examples in the comments!
As much as “I appreciate that it’s nice to be explicit about this much-needed representation on Network TV,” my criticism was about how the show has done little to explore (trans) identity seriously, making this kind of dialogue feel really superficial at best. Let Them Play does a lot of work to build confidence that the showrunners can handle this kind of story.
Who is killing it in general. As Desire in Sandman, as Ian—I can’t wait to see what they do next. And if Quantum Leap wants to centre them as a Leaper, I am in. I know fans have been clamouring for Ian-as-the-hologram (which we also got a bit of this episode), but Ian-as-the-Leaper may be an even better twist. I guess we’ll have to see what that means for Ben.