Quantum Leap Season 2 Finale Review: As the World Burns and Against Time

It is the time of the season finale and Quantum Leap goes wild by ending the season on a high note with not just one but two episodes. The show has not been renewed yet so if this is the series finale then it is a satisfying one.

Quantum Leap episode 12: As the World Burns

In episode 12, Ben is a fireman and is paired again with Hannah. But this time, Hannah is a widowed woman. Hannah has been a widow for several years and is taking care of Jeffrey, whom we met in an earlier episode.

When Ben goes to save a child in a burning apartment building in Baltimore, Ben recognizes Hannah. He calls her out but Jeffrey is suspicious and asks why he knows his mom. Hannah jumps to Ben’s defense and mentions the fire of a neighbor where she met the fireman.

Hannah and Ben have a little meet-cute where they talk about the last couple of years since Josh passed away. Hannah worries that she may look too old. Ben has seen her the same way since the first day they met.

Just when they started talking about Theoretical Quantum Physics a big explosion happened. Hannah informs Ben that this is the last time they will ever see each other.

City officials were bribed for cheap and fast construction

The fire was caused by bad materials, the builders bribed city officials and used aluminum rather than copper when they built it. When the inhabitants of the building are evacuating, Jeffrey wants to run back to get his dad’s, Josh, stuff.

Ben and Hannah both urge him to get to safety. Ben’s mission is to save the fireman Otis Burke, who he lept into, and his squad. In the original timeline, they all die. It is up to Ben to make sure that that doesn’t happen.

Hannah won’t leave Ben’s side and she and Addison talk him into taking Hannah with him. They go down to a room where there are builders who overloaded the circuits using their equipment and set the building on fire.

While Ben is trying to get the builders out, they are locked in but knowing Ben he finds a way out before the building collapses. And just when he does, they find out that Jeffrey is missing. He went back in to get Josh’s stuff anyway. He has had a hard time coping with the death of his father and the old stuff is the last memories he has of his father. The emotional value is huge to Jeffrey. So huge that he is willing to risk his life for it.

Hannah in the meantime is on the floor with debris covering her entire body and she won’t have long to live. But she urges Ben to save Jeffrey. Addison presses him as well, saying that it is either Jeffrey or Hannah.

Hannah wrote the DARPA code

Addison and Hannah have a chat and Hannah shows her an equation that can bring back home. Hannah is the one who wrote the DARPA code that Ian is working through.

Hannah tells her that whatever the universe is up to, Quantum Entanglement brings people always back together. No matter where and how. The same goes for Addison and Ben. Hannah as well as Tom in the previous episode and of course, the Universe, is bringing Ben and Addison back together as lovers.

Ben has found Jeffrey and convinces him to come with him. But that is when the big explosions happen inside the building. The only way is down and Ben jumps. He tells Jeffrey that it is no time to be scared but that courage is a choice and it is the right one to make.

Ben saves both Jeffrey and Hannah

The explosion moved the debris Hannah was under and they can now remove her and get her to safety as well. The damage is big though, Josh’s stuff was left in the burning building. Jeffrey jumps and wonders why Ben said the things he said. It reminded him of his father. Jeffrey does have the letter that Ben wrote to Hannah about Josh’s heart condition. He finds out who Ben is.

Hannah confesses to Ben that she is so grateful to have met Ben. He turned her life upside down and opened doors for her. In return, she wrote the Quantum Code for DARPA to get Ben home. It is her gift to commemorate her friendship. Just when he wants to say something, Ben leaps to the next.

Gideon stages a coup and now owns the Quantum Leap project

Ian is close to figuring out Hannah’s Quantum Code for DARPA just when he is about to explain everything to the team, the team is invaded by the Pentagon under the leadership of Gideon. Gideon fires Ian and the rest of the team. Gideon wants full control of the Quantum Leap project.

Quantum Leap episode 13: Against Time

Ben wakes up in the body of a race driver and he is in the middle of the qualification for the race the next day. Ben doesn’t know how to drive properly and ends dead last in the race qualifications.

While Ben is licking his wounds from ending dead last, Gideon shows up to have a chat with Ben. Gideon intimidates Ben with his chatter but Ben stands firm against that. Gideon also confesses that he is none other than Jeffrey Nally, Hannah’s son. He came up with the disguise to get back at Ben. He blames Ben for everything that went wrong in his life and goes as far as violently taking over the Quantum Leap Project.

Ben defends himself by saying he helped Jeffrey by saving him from the fire. Gideon however refers to the letter he wrote to her about Josh’s heart condition. Gideon continues by telling him that the letter is what caused the death of Josh.

Josh and Hannah had a fight and Josh went for a drive to cool down but ended up in a storm and crashed his car. Ben again defends himself by saying he tried to help Josh by informing him of the heart condition. Gideon is having none of it and builds his tech empire to get revenge on Ben.

When Ben tries to call Hannah, Jeffrey answers and declines his collect call. What Ben is trying to do is change the past by talking to Jeffrey in hopes that the future turns out different from the darkest timeline the future holds.

Ben visits a young Jeffrey but is it to save him or humiliate him?

Ben drives off in his race car to find Jeffrey after finding out that he is only 20 minutes away from his location. Jeffrey still blames Ben for the death of Josh. But Ben tells him that he understands his rage and anger but that he has lost people too. Time is a thief, as Ben explains.

Ben is opposed to the plan to shatter Jeffrey’s confidence and chooses to ask Jeffrey for help with the father of the racer, whose body Ben is currently in. Ben is trying to show Jeffrey that there is another way to deal with rage and anger other than to take revenge.

When they arrive on the spot, the father has sadly passed away but Ben asks Jeffrey to build something that looks like a defibrillator on the way over. Ben uses the car battery to power up and the father comes back to life.

Jeffrey realizes that there is indeed another way and that showing empathy and compassion can change people’s lives for the better rather than destroying them with rage and anger.

The entire event triggered a butterfly effect and in the present, Team Quantum Leap is back together and Jeffrey / Gideon is now the biggest donor to the program. But nobody remembers the original timeline where Jen got shot and Team Quantum Leap is scattered. Except for Addison, being in the imaging chamber supporting Ben made her immune and now she is either blessed or cursed with the knowledge of what is now an alternative timeline where things went awry for the world.

After a discussion with Magic and the rest of Team Quantum Leap, Addison asks if she can become a leaper and the next we see is that Ben and Addison are reunited during a leap.

Team Quantum Leap, formerly in disarray

Team Quantum Leap has a hard time in the season’s finale. First, they lose Magic, then Tom leaves and Gideon forcefully takes over. The entire team was fired by him and they are now on the run. And just when there was no hope left, Janis and Beth Calavicci stepped in. Remember when Janis stole the old communicator from Al? And that she had her set up with a direct connection to Ziggy. Exactly, that is what saved the Quantum Leap Team from losing.

Team Quantum Leap sends in Jenn to buy Ben the time he needs while drives off with Jeffrey to save the life of the racecar driver’s dad. By going back in Jenn risks her own life and while she is locking down the Team Quantum Leap facility, Gideon and his soldiers rush in. Gideon warns her that if she doesn’t back down, he will have her killed. Jenn replies that there are bigger stakes than her own life. And Gideon’s soldier shoots her. Gideon blames Ben Song immediately, that is how deep his hatred for Ben is.

But Gideon isn’t such a sweetheart himself, he wants to use Hannah’s code and body swap with Ben in the past so he can be the only leaper.

With Jenn dead and the team mourning her loss, Gideon seems to have the upper hand. Team Quantum Leap comes up with a controversial plan to destroy Gideon’s work in the past to shatter his self-confidence and to make sure that he won’t get back up again for a long time. Ben disagrees and tries to talk Gideon into joining him to show him what compassion and empathy can do.

The Butterfly effect is established after Ben is successful and Team Quantum Leap is back together again.

Meanwhile, Ian starts working on Hannah’s gift to Ben, the DARPA code and while it is not finished yet, there are now possibilities to bring back a leaper to the present time. What a great gift Hannah left for Ben and future leapers.

Personal Thoughts on the Season Finale

The season finale was everything I had hoped for. All of the plotlines of the seasonal arc involving Hannah and her family as well as Team Quantum Leap came together in the last 2 episodes of the season.

Ben and Hannah’s destinies were intertwined

I liked the Gideon story and I was taken by surprise when it turned out that he was Jeffrey, Hannah’s son. It was a great plot twist and the ramifications of leaping and having a relationship with someone whom you keep meeting are very well felt throughout the season. The entire build-up with Hannah and Ben at the center of the story was great. Eliza Taylor and Raymond Lee have great onscreen chemistry.

The gift Hannah gave Ben was amazing and it truly commemorates their friendship. Even though Jeffrey is angry that his mother was involved with Ben every time they met and blames him for everything gone wrong in his life. Hannah was quite the opposite about the events. Hannah explains to Ben that she is forever grateful for the letter Ben wrote about Josh’s heart condition because it gave their family an extra 600 days.

Ben’s empathy and compassion saves the day

Another thing I liked during the series finale was the fact that Ben once again showed more empathy than the entire Quantum Leap Team when they suggested that Ben should just simply destroy Jeffrey’s computer in the past to set him back a few years. Ben said no to that because doesn’t want Jeffrey to hate him even more than he already did. But also to show Jeffrey there is a better way in life other than holding on to rage and anger.

The move Team Quantum Leap suggests is highly controversial since it goes against the core values of what Quantum Leap is all about. The show is about compassion and empathy and that is not the easy way out but you take the most difficult path because you are convincing people that your point of view is the best for everyone involved. It is good that they made Ben shine once again by using empathy and compassion.

The shocker of the week was the death of Jenn and we saw her body as well. So the rule of thumb is that as long as you don’t see the body, there is a chance that the character is still alive. Alas, Jenn died in a blaze of glory and saved the timeline but geesh writers, at least give us a heads-up when that happens. Luckily, with the restored timeline, Jenn is alive and well and has no recollection of her untimely death.

Addison is, surprisingly, the 2nd Quantum Leaper

Now that the world is back in one piece and Team Quantum Leap is back together, Addison is the next leaper. And she ends up with Ben during a leap. They can now see each other and touch each other and it is about time. I do not want to see them just as a couple but also want to see how they work together. Yes, we have seen Ben and Addison work together throughout 2 seasons but now they have to rely on each other without the imaging chamber being the wall between the 2.

This brings me to the following questions, if the show gets renewed, how will we see both Ben and Addison coping with situations with someone like Jeffrey coming into play?

The showrunners have indicated that season 3 would be another anthology in the Quantum Leap lore. The way they picture the show is that you can view it as a standalone season. So, Season 1 would be Anthology Vol. 1 and that would make Season 2, Anthology Vol. 2.

What I am hoping for the 3rd season of Quantum Leap

Now that the timeline is saved and Addison can join Ben on his leaping adventures, there are things I would love to see in the 3rd season of Quantum Leap.

Who will the new hologram?

The first one is, who is going to support Ben and Addison from the imaging chamber and relay information about the people they lept into? My hope is it will be a rotation like we saw earlier in season 2 when Ben didn’t want Addison to be his holographic support. We had Magic, Jenn, and Ian all taking turns and we even saw Gideon.

It is time for the Calavicci’s to step up

The second wish I have for the 3rd season is that Janis Calavicci plays a larger role. Not just as a plot device like she was in the season’s finale but maybe she can take on a role where Team Quantum Leap needs parts from the black market while she uses her connections to that. Plus, it would connect the show even more to the original show since she is Al’s daughter. Since Beth, her mother, is dating Magic, it would be nice to see her around more often as well.

And we need more lore, the old communicator Al was a great lore object and it means so much for the older fans who watched the original show.

Story ideas that I have are the following. We met Addison’s father in season 1 and now I would like to see Ben meeting his parents. There was a storyline in the original show where Sam met his family while growing up. Ben never knew his father so that is an open book. His mother we know little about as well. So why not meet them during a leap? And Addison gets to meet her family-in-law as well.

And since it was mentioned before by Hannah, some events are just timeless and can not be changed. They need to happen. In the first Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett tries to save JFK from being assassinated and the event needed to happen. Not a lot of fans liked that idea and say that that is where the show jumped the shark but if you do it well, then you can just make it well. The controversy around the JFK and Sam was that it was a huge event in U.S. history and people don’t like it much to meddle with that.

Hopeful for a season 3 renewal

About a potential season 3, the ratings are steady and they took a little hit when they moved the show to Tuesday but still steady. A TVLine poll showed that 83.96% loved the season 2 finale and 73.22% loved the 2nd season as a whole. If that is any indicator, then the show’s future is looking bright for renewal. So keep your fingers crossed!

All in all, I loved season 2 and even though the SAG AFTRA strike put a hold on the shooting of the show, it has not diminished in quality at all. I hope the writers got what they wished for so we can see more quality TV coming to our small screens soon!

Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode Reviews

Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 1 Review: This took too long

“This took too long” is the first episode of the 2nd season of Quantum Leap. Ben is stranded in Russia but no one from the team supports him. It is revealed at the end that Quantum Leap has been disbanded.

Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Ben and Teller

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.