After a rocky star, Quantum Leap has established itself as a worthy successor to the original show. It did this by changing the script, involving the home team more, and breaking some rules. “Judgment Day” breaks just about all of them, but most of them feel natural and effective. Let’s dig in.
1. Breaking the laws, breaking the laws
This episode continues the reboot’s decision to break rules in the service of a better show. By sending Ben years into the future, into a nuclear winter, with a wizened older Ian goes against so many of the ‘rules’ of the Quantum Leap project, but it gives the episode a structure that makes the stakes feel incredibly high. By sending Ben back to his own past, with the rest of the cast, also gives the finale a very, well, finality to it. It is clear that this episode was shot as a potential series finale, and it spends a considerable amount of time tying up enough loose ends that, if this was the end for the show, it would be a satisfying conclusion.
The leap into 2018 was interesting for a few reasons, but the elephant in the room has to be addressed: why did Jenn and Ian dress like they were in 1998? I know that people’s fashion can change a bunch over 6 years, but they were two adult professionals. Different haircuts, sure. A different cut of pants, absolutely. But Jenn having extreme mascara art on her eyes and Ian dressing like an extra in Hackers all seems like stuff that wouldn’t really have been normal just a few years ago.
But beyond that, this is the first time we’ve gotten a glimpse, aside from the pilot, of what Ben’s actual relationship with his coworkers was. Sure, we’ve seen a few of them step into the imaging chamber, but to see him among his peers, now that we know who they are, was interesting.
2. Ben and Addison
Seeing flirty, just falling for one another, Ben and Addison was the first time that their chemistry seemed unbridled and raw. In some ways that makes sense; I’m sure seeing me flirt with my wife around the time of our first date would look very different than watching us interact now. But Addison’s wooden-ness has been my biggest nitpick of this entire series thus far, and in 2018, she was anything but wooden. Perhaps, by highlighting her past effervescence, we can have a new appreciation for just how worried she is about Ben, and how that causes her to act in the present. I think I’m giving the writing too much credit. Let’s just work on getting her more like her 2018 self in season two.
3. The future
I like the drama inherent in Ben not just leaping into the future where there is nuclear winter, but nuclear winter that is caused, indirectly, by team Quantum Leap. While it is a little silly, it does something that I felt neither version of the show ever leaned enough into, which is just how crazy this project is. Yes, it is a secret government project, but even within the government, something like this would change literally everything. There would be huge repercussions to any aspect of this ‘working,’ and so thinking that a government sponsored time travel project could break down society and lead to war isn’t exactly as far fetched as the idea of time travel itself.
4. “We need each other”
The Ians of Infinite Earths touch was a nice one, and I like that the message of “we need each other” wasn’t just a pep talk, but had something more at its core. But the pep talk was a nice one, too. There’s a lot about this season that made the stuff outside of the leap more interesting than I had thought possible, but the biggest element of that was the chemistry between the cast members. The performances really stepped up in this episode, too, with Magic dropping any of his authority for a one-on-one with Ben, or Jenn allowing herself some vulnerability.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want more of the non-leap stuff, but I think the show has found a good formula to have both pieces working in concert. It took awhile, but they got there.
Continued below5. Referencing old friends
While it is never that surprising to hear someone talk about Janice’s father, having Magic going to meet Al felt a little different than we’ve seen before. While the plot point was basically there to give a MacGuffin to Magic that could be used to reveal his status as Leaper X, Magic talked an awful lot about Sam, and his desire to bring Sam home this week. I know that Scott Bakula has said that he wouldn’t be appearing in the reboot, but that was before the season began, and it seems to me like the show is not going to give up on bringing Sam home.
The way this episode ended was strangely reminiscent of the original series’ finale, which was not planned to be a series finale, and had a hastily tacked on ending to Sam’s story. The producers didn’t want to repeat that, and so gave an ending that could’ve easily been the series finale in case the show wasn’t picked up. Perhaps they will continue with that plan, and make each season its own self-contained story. Season one’s plot was to save Addison’s life. Maybe season two’s is to save Sam? Join me whenever the show returns to find out.
