Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 1 Review: This Took Too Long!
Diana Keng
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Can we all agree that while quantum accelerators are the stuff of science fiction (so far), sometimes Quantum Leap solutions are firmly entrenched in the realm of fantasy?
While I fully admit to breathing a genuine sigh of relief that Ben's Air Force unit survives the landmine on Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 1 by repeatedly playing a full-body version of the Indiana Jones statue swap, I'm pretty sure that's not how pressure plates work.
But that aside, a solo Ben adventure is the monster of all twists for the return of a show built on the strength of its ensemble.
Of course, he's not actually alone. His leap drops him into a team of military misfits, immersing him in a collective greater than the sum of its parts.
Furthermore, the QL team is never far from his thoughts. He draws strength and wisdom from his rapidly returning memories of Addison, Magic, Ian, and Jenn.
But until Ian appears in the final frame with that bombshell of a reveal, Ben's flying without the Ziggy safety net of probability and causality.
Instead, he's forced to go with his gut and lead with his heart.
Grier: That thing is a ticket out of running dead-end long-haul supply missions. We land in New Delhi, hand it off, you two [to Abrams brothers] get to go … do whatever, you [to Bailey] get an honorable discharge, and you [to Ben] get to finally go home. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?
Ben: Yeah, it is.
Meanwhile, his teammates' (and his host's) backstories feel weirdly parallel to the QL composition.
Ronnie and Enoch's banter is a brilliant comedic element. Belying their flippant speculation on the nature of their cargo is the recognition that both have highly strategic minds.
Ronnie: Just because we pick it up from Germany, doesn’t mean it came from Germany.
Enoch: You’re just going to gloss over the fact that the Nazis ‘collected’ a lot of artifacts?
Ronnie: Stop. It’s not what you think it is.
Enoch: I’m just saying that this could be some sort of deeply supernatural, level ten occult, ultra powerful ancient artifact!
Ronnie: This is not a supernatural relic.
Enoch: Okay, fine. What do you think it is?
Ronnie: I’ll tell you what you think it is.
Enoch: The floor is yours.
Ronnie: Taking into account all the variables that you brought up, I think that the only reasonable explanation is that it’s some sort of alien or extra-dimensional energy device that our government just stumbled upon.
Enoch: You’re thinking like Roswell?
Ronnie: Roswell’s a hoax.
Yeah, they're tactless and honest about their self-interests, but they're good soldiers who just want to be treated with a modicum of respect.
Lt. Grier leads them with competency and determination. It's no wonder Ben feels it necessary to share how Addison will one day walk the path that Grier blazes.
She's fighting a battle within the military organization even as she fights to defend her country.
If they had just told me the truth, that we were just a decoy… I mean, hell, if they had told us we were a straight-up suicide mission, I woulda said yes. Cause I believe in our country even if it doesn’t believe in me.
Grier
Perhaps there was a bit of overshare in disclosing her personal mission to assure women a place on the front lines and at the higher ranks, but Quantum Leap's never been above a little aspirational monologuing.
And at least Ronnie's response is authentic. It doesn't make him a chauvinist. Rather, it's an honest response from someone who has no skin in the game and shouldn't have to risk his hide for someone else's dream.
Grier: I was top of my class at the academy and the only thing that I did wrong was not be born a man. They have refused to give me a real mission until now so I’m gonna protect that crate not just for me but for every other woman out there serving this country!
Ronnie: So we’re gonna die because of feminism? No thanks! I’m a big no thanks on that.
Bailey's reveal isn't unexpected. François Arnaud conveys a lot in his brooding, jaded, yet still invested sergeant.
His deathwish while standing on the landmine, confessing the real reason he's been sentenced to serve in a go-nowhere unit, is an exceptional moment of honest emotion.
It also speaks to his trust in the unit's members, that he can be honest about something he's hidden for so long.
Ben: I’m just praying.
Bailey: Praying? I thought you were an atheist.
Ben: Well, felt like a good day to hedge my bets.
It's possible that Ben's sharing about himself through the voice of Perez sparks something in Bailey.
Stranded in enemy territory after inexplicably surviving a plane crash, one would suspect they might all be seeing the world with some new clarity.
That the narrative takes the team from a fake decoy mission into a very real one that will require them to innovate and risk far more than originally planned is a credit to the writers' room.
It crosses the line between defining what these soldiers do and what they are.
Grier: The funny thing is we have been so preoccupied with getting ourselves out of purgatory that we have forgotten why we joined the Air Force in the first place.
Enoch: To fly cool jets.
Grier: No, to help people.
Knowledge may be power, but it also means making a choice.
Once they know that the Russians are targeting new US planes, Grier, Bailey, Ben, Ronnie, and Enoch realize they must protect those lives despite having a clear path to rescue and extraction.
Grier: The funny thing is we have been so preoccupied with getting ourselves out of purgatory that we have forgotten why we joined the Air Force in the first place.
Enoch: To fly cool jets.
Grier: No, to help people.
That doesn't mean Enoch, portrayed by the hilarious P.J. Byrne, can't get a punchline in.
And then it's all about the plan coming together.
Between the plane crash, the exploding engines, the tripwire bomb strapped to the jeep, and the missile strike, I'm pretty sure Quantum Leap used up its entire pyro-FX budget on the premiere.
But, hey, if you want to start the season with a bang, that's what you gotta do.
Enoch: So your plan is for us all to take turns standing on the landmine?
Ben: Do you have a better idea?
Enoch: No, no, I don’t. Can’t wait to explode with all of you.
And, ironically, the one thing that really should've blown up -- the pressure-triggered landmine -- didn't.
If there was ever an argument for Ben's leaps being puppeted by some divine intervention -- as the title of Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 3 intimated -- this outing is it.
This all leads us, of course, to Ian's appearance and learning that what to Ben was a single leap has, in fact, been a three-year absence in the present-day of the Quantum Leap project and its team.
Knowing that the project has been shut down but Ben has continued to leap has some profound implications for Dr. Beckett watchers. If Ben has continued to leap, Sam could've continued to leap, and the time spent leaping might not correspond to the time that has passed in the world of the QL project.
Ben: You think when Sam got into the accelerator, he knew he maybe wouldn’t come back?
Magic: It’s hard to say.
Ben: Just keep thinking about his wife and Al and…
Magic: They all knew the risks.
Ben: Doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Magic: No, no, it doesn’t. In some ways, hard as it is to be the time traveler, I think it’s even harder to be the people left behind. For them, there is no adventure, just the longing.
All of this imbues the flashback scene between Ben and Magic with so much more meaning.
Ben's leap left Addison and his friends behind. But now, they've moved three years beyond his sense of continuity. What does it mean for his relationship that Addison believes that he's dead?
If the project was shut down, how is Ian able to find Ben and project into the leap? So. Many. Questions. See if you can spot clues to the answers in the Season 2 trailer below!
What are your best guesses, Fanatics?
Who or what controls the leaps, and why can the leapers never return?
And now, what would Ben return to if he could go home?
Hit our comments with all your reactions and predictions!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
