Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 5 Review: One Night in Korea Town

In Quantum Leap: One Night in Korea Town, Ben leaps into the body of an Asian teen named Daniel. It is the night of the LA Riots and Magic helps Ben get through it.

One night in Korea town

Ben leaps into the body of a Korean teen who works at his father’s sneaker store in Los Angeles in 1992. Daniel has plans for his life and has enlisted in the Marine Corps.

His brother Sonny wants to leave the sneaker store and develop his shoe line. He has the help of Damien. A young black kid who is considered a criminal by Daniel’s father, Jin. Every day Damien comes by the store to check new sneakers. Jin however calls him a criminal because the kid is black and it doesn’t look like he has a job.

The store also has a nurse visiting and buying new sneakers. She has them on layaway and will pick them up after her shift. She complains about the price of the shoes and Jin says it is because of Footlocker. It is the era of big franchises that are pushing mom-and-pop stores into bad times.

When Damian comes by, Jin urges him to leave the store, and Damian says that he bought the shoes. But Jin says that he has no receipt. Then Sonny pops up and shows his father the receipt and he gives Damian the shoebox. The box however is filled with money. And not just petty cash, but a lot of money. Jin and Ben are shocked but don’t get any answers from Sonny as to what the money is for.

Magic is the hologram of the week

Magic pops up since Ben told Addison in the previous episode that he didn’t want her to be the support anymore. So Magic took it upon himself to take the role.

Magic tells Ben that he is there to save the people from the LA Riots. Jin is going to be killed by the mob who loots his store. The nurse from earlier will be killed too. And Damien will be shot and killed by the police. It is up to Ben to prevent that from happening. Since Jin dies alone, Ben’s first action is to make sure there are people in the store to alter the outcome of what happened.

While he does that Ben has a chat with Sonny about the money in the shoe box. It turns out that the money is meant for Sonny’s shoe line. Sonny will sell them through the store while Damian designs them.

Sonny asks if Ben has told Jin that he is enlisted in the Marines. Ben tells him no but that he will in due time.

Magic has returned to Team Quantum Leap headquarters. They are discussing on what to do. There is so much information and misinformation that it is hard to form a good argument as to what line to follow here.

The LA Riots have started

Shortly after a scene on TV where it is stated that the 4 officers have been released and found not guilty. This was the cause of the riots. The city of Los Angeles felt insulted and angry.

Outside, the riots have started and there is fire and people have turned into militia carrying guns and stand guard on the roofs of their shops. Ben has to save both Luisa Rojas (the customer) and Jin. Magic tells him to go back to the store. The people in the streets are completely locked in the area. So they have to sit out the time of the riot inside the store.

To keep them safe, Magic’s knowledge of special operations comes in handy. He urges Ben to take the shoes away from the window to make it less appealing to loot the store. And the door and windows outside need to be barricaded. Jin however pulls out a buckshot. And Ben says that he cannot use that. Meanwhile, Damian is fleeing the scene but Jin, still thinking he is a thief, tells Damian to go away. Ben tells him that Damian will die but Jin would have none of it. So Damian is on the run and Magic tells Ben that if he doesn’t get Damian to safety then he will die.

While Ben goes after him with Sonny, the police are hunting Damian down. He is almost found when Sonny and Ben get him to safety and they hide behind the garbage cans. Once the police are gone the 3 of them go back to the store.

This is when Jin goes off on Damian. Telling him that he is a no-good kid who will end up getting nowhere in life. Damian puts Jin in place, telling him that he has had offers from 3 Ivy League schools and is in high demand.

Sonny gets shot

Then the worst thing happens, the rioters are looting the store. Ben rushes everyone into the storage room and they stay there until it is safe. The looting only lasts a minute but the damage is severe. The entire store is ransacked.

When they clean up, Damian ticks Jin off again and this time Jin has his weapon aimed at him. Ben comes between the 2. And then it happens: There is a sound at the backdoor and Jin shoots thinking it is a looter. Instead, he shoots Sonny and it is near fatal.

Sonny is taken to an ambulance that was deserted when the looting started. But the police are back and they are ready to kill. But it is Jin who sticks up for Damian, the driver, and the rest.

He tells the cops that his son needs medical help. The police lets them go and their future is saved. Ben enlists in the Marine Corps and follows a business study after that.

Damian and Sonny’s new shoes are highly successful. And Daniel joins them after his studies as their first CFO. And Jin of course is in full support of his sons and Damian.

Magic’s story is sad

Magic disappears in the middle of the episode, leaving Ben alone. It turns out that Beth Calavicci is in the office. The two of them are dating and Magic thinks it’s a surprise visit. Instead, she shows Magic the empty bottle.

Some time after Ben’s disappearance he was thought dead. And Magic couldn’t handle life anymore. He turned alcoholic. So he had to tell Beth why that bottle was in the bin. He told Beth he threw it away to close off a dark period in his life.

The other reason that Magic disappeared was because of the LA Riots. Magic was involved in the 1967 race riots and the LA Riots and Damian’s situation hit a bit close to home.

Personal notes and a piece of history on the LA Riots

This week’s episode was pretty amazing storytelling. I was right when I wrote that Magic is going to be the new hologram support for Ben. And I was even more right when I wrote that he would complement Ben even more. And the 2 did until Magic couldn’t handle the LA Riots. It hit too close to home.

So I guess that we will have a rotation of holograms ranging from Magic to Tom, Ian, and Jen before we end up with Addison. Whichever way you put it, Addison and Ben are endgame and it is only a matter of time before she is Ben’s support hologram again.

Something else that occurred this week is that Ziggy went haywire when Jen tried to find information on the events in the lives of Jin, Daniel, Damien, and Sonny. Would the cause be the secret chip that was found last week in Ziggy’s hardware? I can only speculate but my guess is yes. If so then it may just be trackable in the upcoming episodes.

The 1992 LA Riots happened after a black man named Rodney King was brutally beaten by the police who used excessive force during the arrest of King. The 4 officers were acquitted and that caused social unrest that led to the riots. In the minority parts of LA already complained that the police were incredibly tough on them and it all erupted after the acquittal of the 4 officers.

In the episode, Jin accusing Damian of shoplifting was common in the early 90s in that part of LA. Neither the Koreans, Afro-Americans nor the whites understood each other and suspected each other of stealing from one another. Jin is the embodiment of the racial tension of that particular era. It was wonderfully done.

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