Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Nomad

In this week’s episode of Quantum Leap, called “Nomad”, Ben leaps into the body of a CIA Agent in 1961 in Egypt. He also gets a pleasant surprise when Hannah is also in Egypt.

Nomad

Back in 1961, the CIA was investigating, during the Cold War, how Russia was operating in the Middle East. Not just the Russians but also the Stasi, the former East-German secret police.

After Ben arrives in Egypt, he must return to the CIA Middle East bureau in Cairo. After rough negotiations with a guy on a moped (it cost Ben $20) Ben returns to Cairo where he meets the bureau chief and the secret informant.

Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Nomad

While Ben talks to the bureau chief and Addison, who returned to be his sidekick in the last episode, Ben sees someone enter the building. It is Hannah. Ben shies away behind the newspaper but Hannah has a hunch that it is indeed Ben.

When she walks to him, she asks if he is Ben and it is a yes. The 2 lovebirds are once again reunited by time and the Quantum Leap accelerator machine.

Addison makes her come back

Addison is still there to help Ben, she suggests meeting Nomad with Hannah. It is suspicious to sit at a cafe as an American in an Egyptian place but if you pretend to be a newlywed couple then it is very easy to blend in.

So the 2 lovebirds, Hannah and Ben, are off to the coffee shop where they are supposed to take photographs of the traitor who is willing to sell US intel to the enemy. Instead, the CIA bureau chief asks to bug the meeting and they do. Only to find out that the bug is in the wrong cafe. So they improvise with Hannah pretending to be Southern Belle which comes with a fake accent. And Ben manages to put the bug in the cafe.

Nomad is still alive

Back at the CIA bureau, the Chief is upset with the traitor. But he still wants Nomad out of the Middle East and sets up a meeting for Ben to pick her up. The meeting goes awry as their cover has been blown for the KGB and Stasi. Ben and Hannah barely make it out and the Chief tells them that Nomad has been killed by the KGB and Stasi.

Feeling defeated but finally having time for themselves, Hannah and Ben sleep together. A phone call from the Chief later reveals that Nomad is still alive. Ben and Hannah go to the place where she was last spotted and search. Ben gets help from Addison to find Nomad. After a brawl with a Stasi agent, Ben finds Nomad and gets her to a safe place but not until the KGB and Stasi try to apprehend them at a bus stop.

The old bait-and-switch

Hannah, Ben, and Nomad did a bait-and-switch. The Stasi agent recognizes Ben but realizes that the woman he is with is not Nomad but it is none other than Hannah with her Southern Belle accent. Nomad has already fled the scene by stealing the car of the Stasi agent, ironically.

Ben and Hannah kiss one more time before Ben leaps to a new undisclosed location which we will see after the winter break.

Back in the present, Tom comes home with a briefcase that holds information on how to get Ben home.

Personal thoughts and notes about Nomad

The episode Nomad was pretty amazing. It served as the winter finale and I hope that the plotlines that have been further fleshed out this week will come together in the remaining episodes.

The episode was heavily focused on Ben and Hannah. From the moment they met, they had great chemistry. It just splashes on the screen and with Addison and Ben broken up, there is nothing to stop Ben from starting a new relationship. And the 2 have a lot of fun together in this episode. Like pretending they are newlyweds and sleeping together. I love all of this because I want Ben to be happy, if not with Addison then with Hannah.

Addison and Tom also feature and they appear to be a happy couple. Addison cooks and Tom helps out and Tom cooks to surprise Addison. But when Addison sees Hannah and Ben together, I could not help but notice the jealousy in her body language. The kind of jealousy that will make her fight to get Ben back.

It makes a lot of sense because, like I wrote before, Addison and Ben are pretty much endgame. But with their current lives, it seems impossible. Even if Addison attempts to get Ben back, he is head over heels in love with Hannah. And what of Tom and Hannah if they break up? I mean, Tom, we don’t know much about him because his character hasn’t featured that prominently throughout the current season.

But Hannah, even if they manage to get Ben back to the present day, she would be in her 70s or 80s. How would that work out between the 2 of them? It is not like I am describing ageism here but how can you build a future? As for Tom, he would likely go back to his department.

Hannah and Ben’s Quantum Leap Tinder program

This episode also marks the 3rd time that Ben and Hannah are paired. It is like the Quantum Accelerator is playing Tinder for the 2 of them. Since the leaps are still very mysterious with no one knowing where Ben will end up next, I wonder where the show is headed.

Whoever is behind the leaps, must have a plan for Ben and Hannah. Although there was no science talk between Ben and Hannah, it was mentioned that Hannah has her Ph.D. and that she works for a New York company. She is in Egypt for a conference, but we never see anything from that. She only spends time with Ben.

Back at Quantum Leap headquarters, Addison remarks that someone or something is behind all this and that she does not understand why Ben keeps ending up with Hannah. It is the 3rd time and we get no answers. No one has them.

So here is my theory, Ben and Hannah will stay together while he leaps from life to life. He will meet Hannah and she will search for him when he is born. She will use the knowledge Ben gives her to start the Quantum Leap program. She may even be behind the briefcase that Tom shows Addison at the end of the episode and bring Ben home to meet him for real.

Although there is no return date yet, we will wait for the next episodes!

Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode Reviews

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In Quantum Leap 2x01 Review, titled "Ben & Teller", Ben lept into the body of a woman named Lorena Chavez in her 70s who works at a bank and is eagerly awaiting the birth of her grandchild. Quantum Leap ep 2 changes character dynamics back in the present day for Team Quantum Leap.