Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 11 Review: The Outsider

Ben leaps into the body of a news producer named Brian Conway to unravel a story involving illegal pesticides and help a once-famous and now-disgraced journalist get her career back.

The biggest pumpkin ever

The moment Ben leaps into the body of a news producer named Brian Conway shooting an item of the biggest pumpkin, Connie does the interview. While Connie does the interview, Addison shows up and tells Ben that Connie used to be a big name in the old days but her career abruptly ended on the big news networks after a mistake with an informant.

After that, as Connie tells herself, she is down to doing small items on the local news broadcasters. And she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she is at peace with it. She won’t tell Ben either what happened that made her career go bust.

Ben asks Addison for Hannah’s phone number and asks if Hannah has received the letter he sent her in the previous episode. Addison tells Ben that the surgery on Hannah’s husband was successful but that he died a year later in a car crash.

Just when he is about to call, Ben is held at gunpoint is told to leave the story alone. It is Connie’s past catching up with her and everyone who tries to revive the old story gets intimidated.

While Ben recovers from the gun whip in his face and is helped by Connie, she tells him that he should leave the story alone. She tells Ben that she used to be a big star in New York of Barbara Walters-esque stature.

And Connie tells Ben to always do the work. Everyone wants the big story and recognition but nobody wants to do the work.

Finding and following the leads

Back at the news station, Ben tries to tell his story but Connie interrupts him and that Ben tripped and fell. Ben’s morale is low since Connie effectively killed the story. Luckily, Addison is there for a talk and Ben is once again motivated.

With the advice of Connie in mind, Ben starts digging through hours’ worth of news videos and they come up with 3 names: a man named Chet Barlowe, Vivid marketing firm, and the Allcom electronics company,

Ben finds the link between Barlowe and that he is the CEO of Herbicore. In the future, the company will have gone through a rebrand and is now called Agri-United. But in 1982, the company was just starting and the product was named Root Out.

And that is about the same time, both Ben and Addison realize that it is that company that about to release the pesticide that will kill thousands of people if released. Ben rushes to see Connie to tell her the bad news. Connie asks how he is so sure, Ben replies that his source just confirmed it.

When Connie and Ben look for the phone number of the source they find that it is Rob Barlowe, the younger brother of Chett. Rob tells them that the lab mice all got tumors from the pesticide but without a smoking gun, the product will get EPA approval and put on the market. It is cheaper to put the product on the market rather than settle with the victims. Rob also says that he is afraid of Chett and will not help them and their story.

Going back to the farmer with the biggest pumpkin

And thus Ben and Connie are back on the road to check another lead. It is the farmer who won the contest for the biggest pumpkin. He and his wife are very pregnant. Ben talks to him about the pesticides and the farmer tells him that it is the best pesticide that he has ever had.

His wife starts to cough however, Ben, using his doctor skills, deduces that the cough is not just any cough but one that is related to lung cancer. That convinces the farmer to go see the doctors with his wife.

Connie and Ben get soil samples and just when they are done loading up the news van, Connie gets a page from Davison, the news editor, who gives Connie a big story to report: A burned-out car downtown.

It turns out to be Rob Barlowe’s car. It is completely burned to the ground and all that is left are a watch and a wallet.

Connie faces her past

Ben asks Connie straight up why she didn’t want Davison to know about Herbicore. And she tells him that she once pushed a source too far and he committed suicide. She does not want that to happen again. She tells Ben to leave the story alone and fires him.

While Ben sulks over his firing with a glass of whiskey, Addison tells him that she broke it off with Tom. While the 2 go over the evidence once more, they both realize that Rob’s body was never found and that he has staged his death.

Ben rushes to find Connie and tells her about Robbie and tells Connie that she must inform the people about the dangerous pesticide.

They find Robbie in his motel and he is upset that the two have found him so quickly. Ben and Connie inform Robbie about the poisoned soil and Robbie replies that there is no way the story will hold.

Ben figures out that they need the memo where it states that it is cheaper to market the product rather than settle with the victims. Robbie, already feeling guilty after Connie’s talk, tells them that the memo is in Chett’s office. And so Ben and Connie go to Chett’s company. Connie will interview while Ben gets the memo.

While Ben manages to open the safe, a security guard comes in and Ben recognizes his voice. It is the same man who whipped him earlier in the episode. Ben bluffs that he will release an article that features him if he is not let go. The guard lets Ben go fearing his life.

Connie exposes Chett after receiving the memo and starts asking the hard questions. Connie’s career is once again saved. While Robbie goes to work for the EPA.

Team Quantum Leap is in disarray

Team Quantum Leap suffered a big blow last week when the creator of the chip, Gideon, came to reclaim his product. While Tom and Addison broke off their engagement.

The Department of Defense was well aware of what Ian and Jenn were doing and installed Tom. Tom was supposed to blow up the entire project but convinced his bosses to keep the project going. The bosses ultimately find the chip more important than the project. And someone needs to take the fall.

Tom’s chat with Gideon leads to Gideon allowing the chip to be used but someone has to take the fall. The first name that comes to mind is Ian. It is also the most logical name on the list but then who will figure out the DARPA code to bring Ben home? So, it is not Ian and not Jen either. So Magic does the unthinkable and resigns from the project effective immediately.

My thoughts on the episode “The Outsider”

Ben’s story was great, a washed-up news reporter who finds her way back up after Ben encourages her. It was the stuff of the ages. Also, bringing Robbie back from the edge was amazing.

Not only, did he save 1000s of people with the help of Connie and Ben but he also stood up to his evil brother, which is no small feat.

The security guard was cowardly, whipping Ben but after applying a little pressure he let Ben go. It is either cowardly or…no, what he did was the act of a coward.

The main story is of course the resignation of Magic’s resignation. I have to say that we saw less and less of Magic throughout the second season. The biggest moment was the episode One Night in Korea Town where Magic assisted Ben as his hologram. Magic told the story of his experiences with racism which fleshed out Magic’s character a lot more than the previous season.

We found that he is dating Beth Calavicci and that he turned to alcohol after Ben was presumed dead. After that, we saw less and less of him. The same goes for Janis Calavicci.

So, you kind of could have seen it coming from miles and miles away but the moment still took me by surprise when Magic did announce his resignation.

The big questions for the coming episodes are: Did Magic really resign? Or is it a ruse to keep people happy? And what happened to Hannah, Ben tried to find her but all he got was an answering machine. With the knowledge that Hannah’s husband has passed away, what has her life turned into?

I am still going for my fan theory and say that Hannah is the founder of the Quantum Leap project. Or could it be that with Hannah’s help, Ian manages to crack the DARPA code in the present or leaves notes on how to crack it and bring Ben home?

Also, a big major thank you to the show for honoring Matt Dale of the Quantum Leap Podcast, who sadly passed away.

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