Quantum Leap episode 2 introduces Beth Calavicchi and her daughter Janice. Meanwhile Ben is in space trying to fix the Atlantis in 1998.
The last time we saw Dr. Ben Song on Quantum Leap, he ended up in a space shuttle called the Atlantis that was about to launch in 1998. Instead of saying the iconic words, Dr. Sam Beckett used “Oh boy”, Ben uttered the words “Oh sh…”. And that’s where we are now.
Fly me to the moon
Disoriented from his leap, Dr. Ben Soong finds himself in a space shuttle that is about to go into Earth’s orbit. When finally in space, he checks his mirror reflection and sees an Asian face. After conferring with Addison, it turns out that Ben has leaped into the body of David Tamara.
It was established that Quantum Leaping causes amnesia and that Ben has no idea of who he is. But when talking to Addison, Ben suddenly mentions how much a fan he was of David Tamara.
Tamara was an Asian immigrant who became a successful astronaut. Ben talks about himself and how he idolized David. He related to him because David is Asian like Ben is.
Addison tries to press him a little more to remember more about himself and even ignores the comms in hopes that Ben will remember more about himself. Unfortunately Ben doesn’t remember.
But even he realizes full well that by talking about himself he will start to remember life before the Quantum Leap.
I would say that the scene where Ben talks about himself and remembers his life before the leap is essential and sets precedent for the rest of the season. Because if he remembers his life little by little, then it could solve the mystery revolving around Quantum Leaping.
And of course, Ben remembering plays well into the season story arc where the Quantum Leap team tries to figure out the algorithm of the Quantum Leap program.
With the help of supercomputer Ziggy, Addison and Ben find out that Ben is on the space shuttle to help David survive the trip.
Quantum Leap team schism
During the first chat with Ben, Addison hears the Quantum Leap team whisper in her ear that she has to call off going down memory lane with Ben. There is a divide in Team Quantum Leap and in particular between Addison versus Jennifer Chou and Magic Williams. Ian is trying to stay neutral.
Jennifer and Magic are trying to figure out what Ben is up to since he has not informed anyone about his dealings with Janice. Was she an accomplice or did she sabotage his work?
If it is the first then what did Ben do is their reasoning and he could potentially be incredibly dangerous. Addison however is not convinced but she is not objective because she is engaged to him.
When she finds Ben’s computer, it came with a password and a USB stick. She asks Ian to crack Ben’s password but after multiple tries, Ian says he needs so much power to crack it that it would raise an alarm. Addison holds on to the USB stick because she is suspicious of Magic and Jenn. That’s how big the divide is among the team.
Major Tom to ground control
Back at the space shuttle Commander Jim Reynolds is unconscious and hurt. It is up to the 2nd in command, Samantha Stratton, to figure out the next steps. She has been training for this moment for the better part of the decade. And remembers when Jim would call her out by saying “Told ya” and tells her that he’s prepared for everything that could possibly happen except the next moment. And this is that next moment.
Ziggy has computed that David will die because he got hit by space debris during a spacewalk while fixing the space shuttle. So Ben figures that all he’s gotta do is stay inside the shuttle and after that he can Quantum Leap to the next. That plan doesn’t really work out.
So we see an untrained Ben doing the spacewalk but successfully avoiding the debris. Addison and he celebrate but a little too soon. The debris has hit the space shuttle’s shields and they won’t make it back unless they can contact the MIR space station.
I have to say, the space scenes were amazingly well done by the special effects team. We see a sitting Addison who’s a hologram and a floating Ben because he is physically there. We see space at its’ finest.
But this is what I am having trouble with: We all know that becoming an astronaut is not easy and being in space takes training. For instance, Samantha was trained for the better half of the decade. And then Ben just takes a spacewalk? Without any training? How does he do that?
What I think happens during the leaps is that Ben takes over the consciousness and skills of the person he lept into. But then again, Ben does look clumsy when he regains consciousness in David’s body.
So there is a discrepancy in my theory. Maybe the writers will fix that in the future. The way I would fix that is that leaping disorients the person you leap into and also maybe with a little experience you can control what happens a little more.
I’m up in space, man
When Ben draws the shortest straw, he is forced to go out again on another spacewalk but this time to try and aim an antenna at MIR in order to ask for help.
The antenna actually doesn’t work. And the crew is left with only one hour of oxygen for four people. Until Ben has a divine moment and thinks that he can make the leap. He and Addison had a previous discussion about controlling where you can Quantum Leap to when Ben was waiting thinking he was done with David’s life.
Addison thinks it is impossible but Ben thinks he can control it. I think that that scene is a precursor to what will happen in future episodes: Ben being able to control, albeit partially, where he leaps to. What time era, what moment exactly, and what he is going to in that particular time.
For now the Atlantis space shuttle fate rests in his hands and Ben takes a leap of faith. And he makes it to the space station to call for help. The crew is saved and Ben leaps to the next adventure where he gets punched in the face. Welcome to the life of a boxer, Ben.
Team Quantum Leap
While Ben is doing his thing on the Atlantis, Team Quantum Leap is dealing with other businesses. Janice, for instance, has yet to be found and in order to find her, Magic makes an unorthodox move by contacting Janice’s mother Beth, and Al Admiral Calavicchi’s widowed wife.
Magic bugs Beth’s house and as soon as Magic and Jenn leave, Beth contacts Janice. They have an address and rush to find Janice in order to interrogate her.
Beth is an actual easter egg; she is played by none other than Susan Diol, who played the love of hologram Al’s life in the original series. Instead of an easter egg, I am hoping she’ll become part of the new mythology and turns this egg into a full dozen.
Janice figured out the scheme and rigged the house. Jenn and Magic barely make it out alive but gained something valuable: they have downloaded her knowledgebase of the Quantum Leap program. Most of it was Al’s but Janice has added information to it.
While talking to Magic, Janice actually claims that Ben contacted her. Magic says that she is not on his payroll because he checked Ben’s finances. Janice insists that Magic backs off and leave Ben and Janice well alone.
Back at the office, Team Quantum Leap comes together in order to decrypt the files on Jenn’s hard drive. But it is impossible without a key. Addison gives the key to Magic. They have a chat about how they are all in this together and the schism I mentioned earlier makes way for a team bonding moment.
The moment the key decrypts the files on Jenn’s hard drive, we see a palette of points in time that has an important meaning one way or another. With one central dot that is bigger than the rest. It was like a quantum painting. Ian speculates that that is where Ben needs to go.
When I saw that quantum 3D painting, the first thing I thought was: Together with the Quantum Leap of faith where Ben learns how to control where he leaps and the points on the map, we are going to see what the Quantum Leap has discovered in the past 30 years.
The big dot in the center of the painting also gives me hope that we will see what happened to Sam Beckett or at least big hints if Scott Bakula continues to decline to come back as Sam Beckett.
Team Quantum Leap coming back together after the previously mentioned schism in the team happened way too fast.
The team talk was much too thin and much of the conflict that was created could have lasted a few episodes longer instead of making up already.
So the show either has a goal with the team gelling so well or the conflict was too small but has a big aftermath.
Magic already apologized for being so suspicious of Ben at the end of the episode and that how to handle Ben is supposed to be a team decision.
As viewers, we don’t have a reason to be suspicious of Ben at all but we still don’t know about his involvement with Janice and what he was like before the jump or if the jumps have affected his mind other than Quantumnesia.
