Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Nomad
Diana Keng
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Hell, yeah. If we're on the hook for a months-long hiatus while production resumes, Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 8 is exactly the note you want to hit with the midseason finale.
Exciting. Satisfying. Tantalizing.
Showrunners, take note: Sending your cast and crew to Egypt not only creates immense authenticity, it showcases your performers' talent and script strength. Gold star to all y'all!
Having Addison back in the holo-guide role fools us into thinking that we're veering back toward Quantum Leap Season 1's status quo when, in fact, Ben's comment about not being in Kansas anymore is applicable across the board.
Office romances are always awkward when the intimacy ends, but the working relationship continues. Kudos to Ben and Addison for trying to make it work despite the bonkers transformation their life together has undergone.
In the background, Addison finding the [potential] engagement ring is a clever red herring to make the reveal in the last scene that much more jaw-dropping.
Honestly, I'm not sure if Tom will propose, although having a jeweler's boxed diamond ring in your kitchen drawer is a little weird.
(While we're nitpicking, looking for caraway seeds in a kitchen drawer is equally odd when there's a massive spice rack available.)
Jenn: What are you two whispering about?
Ian: You
Addison: [at the same time] Magic.
Jenn: [beat] Deception noted.
I love that the team embraces Tom for the happiness he brings Addison. Ian's excitement over the idea of them getting married isn't tempered with any consideration for Ben. Ian, Jenn, and Magic have been through the intervening three years with Addison -- through grief and recovery. It's lived experience that neither Ben nor the audience can begin to understand.
Addison's deepening relationship also makes her uniquely sensitive to the bond growing between Ben and Hannah.
Her recognition of the love that's there for what it is is vital to the ultimate resolution to #Beddison's dissolution.
Could this be a thing? Could we see the reverse of the Moonlighting Curse? Will Addison and Ben evolve from loving lifemates to the ultimate time-traveling helpmates?
The thing is, we have to live the life in front of us. Be true to your present, Addison, not some future you’re wishing for that may never happen. Because waiting isn’t living.
Magic
It's a thrilling subverting of expectation, and the possibilities are impressively expansive.
Magic's advice to Addison in her moment of self-doubt reverberates through the message of this first half of the season -- Life is for living.
Ben, it’s been six years since I’ve seen you. At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I get to spend one week with you over the course of my life. One magical week.
Hannah
Whether it's Ben coming around to the idea that Addison and the team moved on without him or Magic finding a way through the dark days, or Layla (aka Nomad) looking to take control of her story, we are presented with a multitude of characters learning and growing and never standing still.
The core plot is a true nail-biter shaded with elements of historical social injustices and the echo of those people trapped in lives they are not proud of.
Layla's very particular set of skills is the result of her childhood and the horrors she was raised with. Her reaction is to work against the evil regime of her formative years, but in doing that, she finds herself aiding equally evil forces.
Barnes: Nomad. Ha. Let’s not get carried away, kid. Nomad’s a myth and if he’s not, he’s certainly not some part-time tour guide who’s probably slept with half her clients.
Addison: Well, this is why Layla got away with it. She was smart and the world, totally sexist.
One wonders if the real Michael Allison didn't pass her sniff test, and that's why she was never brought in as a CIA asset. If that's the case, Ben's presence in Agent Allison's body- more than even his actions or words- changes history.
Addison: Okay, Ben, this is the world of espionage. It’s… it’s like the opposite of you. Everyone’s a liar, looking for someone to trust. And they’re all terrified of betrayal because they betray for a living.
Ben: You’re really starting to put a damper on my James Bond fantasy.
Addison: Good. Because this isn’t a game.
Of course, it doesn't help that both Allison and Ben are new to the espionage scene. Station Chief Barnes, played by the initially unrecognizable Lou Diamond Phillips, grates as the jaded, bitter old man, constantly addressing Ben as "kid."
And I'm sending out superstar kudos to the costume and makeup team that is able to turn Ritchie Valens into George Smiley.
Like the sheriff on Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 3, Barnes sees nothing wrong with his perspective on the world. He figures he's earned the right to be as cynical and dismissive as he is.
Barnes: She was a good asset. Helped us big. I hate losing her. I am sorry, kid.
Ben: You’re not sorry. You’re a coward. You sit there, risking nothing, while people like Layla are out there risking everything. How did you become so cynical that losing a hero like her stopped feeling like a tragedy?
Ben's passionate rebuke blows away all the certainty, and, as Addison surmises, Barnes makes different choices because he doesn't like knowing he's given up on doing right in favor of the sure thing.
Mind you, those scenes between Ben storming out of the Cairo office until the phone rings in Hannah's room are possibly the most fraught moments in the series, never mind the season.
Believing the mission's failing, faced with the idea of never leaping again, and entertaining the possibility of being lost in time forever, Ben opens himself up to a lot of "what if"s.
And Hannah's there for him.
Yes, there's a logical voice in our head that goes on at length that it can't be "Quantum Leap" without any leaping, but there's a lot of potential off-ramps laid out in the wake of Layla allegedly dying.
Ben: Maybe this is why we kept crossing paths. So that when I ended up stranded in time, I wasn’t alone.
Hannah: Hm, so what you’re saying is I am the universe’s gift for a job well done. As far as compliments go, that’s not half-bad.
Ben living out his days with Hannah poses a number of problems -- Agent Allison is stationed in London, might have family, might be married -- but, admittedly, it feels like a potential reality as he and Hannah discuss his options while Team HQ postulates the possibilities.
Ben, I know you had a life before. But now you’re a nomad. And for a nomad, the only home is people. It can’t be an accident — Fate throwing us together like this. There has to be a reason. Maybe, I’m your home.
Hannah
When TV Fanatic spoke with Eliza Taylor recently, she mentioned that she appreciates being privy to Hannah's entire arc. This hints that Hannah may be a one-season sensation. How could that play out? I, for one, will be intensely unhappy if they fridge her in a time-travel deus ex machina.
And then there's Tom's theory about the quantum accelerator and it being fueled by sacrifice.
Tom: First, Sam Beckett. Now, Ben Song. In both cases, our assumption was that something went wrong. And if we can fix it, one – or both – of them could come home.
Magic: That is the goal.
Tom: But what if the engine of Quantum Leap is sacrifice? What if sacrifice is the price we have to pay for change? For thirty years, we assumed the technology was broken. But what if it has to be a one-way trip?
Magic: But I don’t think that’ll stop people from leaping. I think some will go even if that’s the cost. There’s something deep down inside of us that strives to do better.
Now that Ben's invested in this relationship, what greater sacrifice could there be than Hannah?
Over to you, Fanatics, as you watch Quantum Leap online, what sort of chaotic craziness do you foresee for our team?
Hit our comments with your thoughts and theories! We have many months to discuss. Let's get juicy!
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.
