Quantum Leap episode 9 has Ben Song play a bodyguard to Carly Farmer who has survived multiple attempts on her life.
Quantum Leap returns from the holiday break and we are in full pursuit of Janice Calavicci and the consequences of a simple conversation between Addison and Ben in the previous episode.
In the previous episode, Ben remembered that he joined forces with Janice Calavicci because he wanted to save Addison. But instead of consulting with her first, he just jumped into the Quantum Leap machine and lost his memory.
A security guard in 1979
Ben quantum leaps into the body of Jack Armstrong who is a security guard for Carly Farmer (Deborah Ann Woll of Daredevil fame) a singer with a big career.
The casting of Deborah Ann Woll is magical. Her acting as a singer was amazing and I have to say that after Marvel’s Netflixverse, I kind of hoped that we would see more of her in other shows or movies. But seeing her on Quantum Leap made my viewing extra worthwhile.
Carly Farmer is surrounded by sharks but this is unbeknownst to her. We have Trevor, her manager, who goes to great lengths to keep Carly’s sister away. Even setting her up to get restraining orders against sister Jamie. But the real deal is that he is of course the heir to the rights to Carly’s music if anything happens to her and she doesn’t survive. And one of the sharks is trying to kill Carly for reasons unknown.
And then there are her friends/background singers. They are all so cute when Carly’s around but when she isn’t, some of them are quite jealous of the success Carly has and claim that it should have been one of them instead.
So that’s pretty much this week’s hornet’s nest in Quantum Leap. And it is up to Ben and Addison to stop the crazy sister, or was it the manager or her inner circle? Stay tuned!
Crazy Jamie Farmer is a drug addict
The reason for concern when Jamie shows up is that she has a history of threatening Carly. Despite being sisters, she never really was happy with the success Carly has with her singing.
There are several plotlines that are connected to this week’s morality story. Jamie was being kept away out of concern over the money she has a right to. But she fell into a life of addiction to narcotics. And which, presumably, was the reason for her being dangerous. When Ben is shown the letters where she threatens to harm Carly, Ben is skeptical and he should be.
If all you see is a red mist (a Prince Harry reference!) then why would you type on an old typing machine? You know, the kind of machines that grow your finger muscles every time you hit a letter. And by the end of the letter, you will either have man hands or have fingers as muscled as the Hulk. It’s a good workout. I recommend it.
All kidding aside. Ben is of course right, no angry person would type such a letter so this whole “Jamie is bad for you” is suspicious. When Ben talks to Jamie, she informs him that she has sobered up and that someone has sent her an invite for the concert.
We don’t know who sent her the invite but it is very convenient that Jamie is there. She does have a right to some of the songs Carly has in her repertoire because she helped or wrote the songs herself.
Carly however is still scared. She is informed by Trevor, her manager, that Jamie is around. The history between the two sisters is a nasty one. There were several lawsuits and Carly managed to get a restraining order. And we all know what happens when the terms of the restraining order is violated: It means that Jamie will go back to court and they can refer her to a psychiatrist to evaluate if she still poses a threat and if she has sobered up.
It turns out that all Jamie wanted was to make amends with Carly and restore the relationship between the 2 sisters. And this is what makes Quantum Leap’s reboot close to the original. While there is a lot of action, there is mostly human interest.
Et tu, Trevor?
Trevor is the first suspect and I can’t blame the writers to pick him. All throughout the show, Trevor has been the one who is overprotective of Carly. But he owns a portion of the music catalog which means he owns part of the rights to her music. If Jamie dies, he gets all of it. The only other person who actually can stake a claim is Jamie. But if she’s out of the way as well because she violated the terms of that restraining order then nothing would stand in Trevor’s way to be a very wealthy man.
And thus Ben keeps a close eye on Trevor and even asked him to compare the letters. Ben deduces that the invite and the threats are written on different typing machines. So this begs the question: Who wrote the letters to Carly? Ben is too quick to jump to conclusions and has Trevor fired by Carly for writing the death threat letters.
It was a great scene and it reminded me why I love Deborah Ann Woll’s acting. She knows how to portray emotions on the screen very well. The facial expression, the body posture, and the tone of voice, it all adds up and again, I can’t stress enough that we really need to see Woll in more drama shows or perhaps even return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in either the upcoming Daredevil show or a possible new Punisher series.
In the end, it wasn’t Trevor who attempted to kill Carly. Trevor loves her too much and is overprotective of her because he sees her as the sister he’s never had.
Jealousy, will you bring me down?
The background singers, who Carly considers to be family, are part of team Shark , eh I mean Team Farmer. But it’s not all it seems.
If you have read the story so far, you may have deduced that based on the clues dropped in the show that the one who tries to kill Carly is always near her. It can’t be Jamie because she only dropped in after the first assassination attempt.
It isn’t Trevor because, despite his letters and sly manipulations, he’s not a killer. Which leaves the band members.
After another assassination attempt, Ben tries to call Trevor to ask who could potentially be the killer and with a little reluctance, Trevor shows that he’s more than a bad guy: He gives up the name of the potential killer because he’s been dating her on and off. It’s none other than Loretta, one of the background singers.
I have to say that saying it was Loretta was quite a stretch. Of course, it’s not Jamie or Trevor. But because of the screen time and scenes they had, you would think otherwise. Good job writers for creating this nice misdirect.
Addison and Team Quantum Leap are a step closer to the truth
When Ben leaped in the episode before the winter break, he muttered the words that he was in league with Janis Calavicci and he did it to prevent Addison’s death. Which is also the moral issue of the week. Ben took action without informing Addison when they are supposed to be a team that informs each other every step of the way.
Ben doesn’t remember the full story of why he was in league with Calavicci but he does know that he’s made a big mistake and at first he doesn’t know how to deal with it. But help came during the leap in the shape of Carly who time and again reiterated that together you are a team.
Team Quantum Leap has a lead on Janis and they follow her to a holiday island. Jennifer and Janis have a conversation and just when Jennifer wants to take her in, Janis tells her that those are her bodyguards. To which Jennifer replies: Sure, but uncle Sam pays better and Janis’ own guards turn her in.
That part was the scene of the week. After dealing multiple blows to Team Quantum Leap, they are finally able to deal a blow to Calavicci. We won’t know what will happen to Calavicci except for the fact that she will face some tough questioning about her Quantum Leap technology, how she managed to predict Addison’s death and of course, the most important question: How did she get Ben aboard all of this.
Personal opinion of this week’s Quantum Leap episode
As I have said a few times, we really need more Deborah Ann Woll on TV. In whatever role, because that girl can act. She can even make onions cry.
This week’s plot took me by surprise a few times. The Jamie and Trevor plotlines and when all that came together was a pleasant watch. And it was a happy ending for both the Farmer sisters: They ended up on stage together after Loretta was taken to the police at the end of the episode. But having said that, Loretta’s jealousy and envy weren’t portrayed very well. Loretta had too little screen time to actually make that analysis.
Team Quantum Leap and Calavicci was a good start of the new plotline and it remains to be seen if Calavicci will become a member of Team Quantum Leap but if she is then would the team do it by putting Calavicci under very firm and strict conditions. For instance: Calavicci gets a reduced jail sentence if she uses her skills to help the government. I can’t wait for Addison to meet Janis Calavicci. If it happens, it’s going to be very explosive.
