S.O.S.

Written by Dean Georgaris

Directed by Chris Grismer

Original air date: 3/6/2023

May 2, 1989

Ben leaps into Commander Rossi, the ops officer on board the US Navy ship Montana. He's there to save the lives of the men on board the USS Tampa, a US Navy submarine that experienced an explosion in the China Sea and sank in the original history, due to the inaction of the Montana's XO — and Addison's father — Commander Alexander Augustine.

Tropes:

The Alleged Computer: Addison doesn't have any data for Ben, as once again, Ziggy's running slow.
Ben: Yeah, if I ever started a band, that's what I'm naming it.
The Chain of Command: A major part of the episode deals with how the military rigidly sticks to the chain of command. Addison advises Ben on this quite a bit, telling him to find tangible alternatives for Captain Drake, and to apologize to the captain for a slight against his command.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Captain Drake is established as a sexist when he mentions that women had constructed the USS Montana in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, presumably during World War II, and casually says that women "are good for two things."
Disaster Dominoes: The Chinese minefield was stirred loose by a bad storm, got into international waters, and sank the Tampa; Magic's Chinese counterpart tells him that both sides got really lucky that it didn't reach the rest of the American wargames, otherwise it would've almost certainly triggered World War III.
The Ending Changes Everything: Ben discovers that Walker is actually Martinez, and that his own leap has helped Martinez in some way.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: XO Augustine immediately clocking the Tampa's distress signal, even after Addison said the Montana never responded to it, is a quick clue for the real conflict of the episode even before Captain Drake tells him to ignore it.
Gender Bender: At the end of the episode, Ben leaps into public defender Aleyda Ramirez. This was a lead-in for the next episode, "Ben Song For The Defense".
The Guards Must Be Crazy: "If I asked you a really dumb question, would that distract you?"
Have We Met Yet?: Martinez is visibly older, but he doesn't seem to remember meeting Magic and Jenn, though it's not clear whether it's because his memory is Swiss-cheesed or he has Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory.
Martinez: Your team must have found me. Well, the past me. I can't imagine I had any intel to give to you.
Hot-Blooded: Captain Drake is pissed off by the Chinese submarine following the Montana that Ben has to repeatedly find evidence that contradicts any appearances that the distress call or minefield is anything but miscommunication or a misunderstood situation. XO Augustine calls him out for it.
Misplaced Retribution: Captain Drake is eager to sink the Chinese Han sub after the Montana hits a mine, because he figures that there's no other good reason for Chinese mines to be out in the middle of nowhere like that. He doesn't know that the Chinese mines had accidentally been stirred loose by a storm.
Oh, Crap!:
- Addison recognizes Captain Drake's speech, and realizes that they're on board her father's ship just before the incident that led to her father leaving the Navy.
- Pretty much everyone when they realize that the Montana sinking the Chinese sub would lead to World War III in 1989.
- Ben at the end, when he realizes that Walker, the communications specialist he'd been communicating with all episode, was actually Martinez.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the master chief brings up that the captain is "getting worse," XO Augustine angrily tells him to drop it. Addison remarks that she'd never seen her normally-stoic father that upset before.
Rewatch Bonus: All the scenes where Ben speaks to Walker, who is offscreen, after you know that he's been leapt into by Martinez. His snarkiness comes more across as messing with Ben rather than playfulness.
The Stoic: What Addison knew her father as growing up. She said that he rarely showed emotion, if ever, and she's shocked to see how emotional he is.
Unwitting Pawn: Ben apparently helped Martinez's leap, which is likely some part of a larger scheme.
Ben: You helped me today?
Martinez: I mean, if we're being fair, I'd say you helped me. Not sure I could have pulled this off from where I was sitting today.
Ben: I-I-I don't understand.
Martinez: I know. And that's why I'm going to win. [leaps out]
Walk and Talk: Justified: Addison invokes this when giving Ben the brief for what happened in the original history, as standing in one place and talking to yourself aboard a Navy ship would draw way more attention than normal.
Wham Shot: Ben turns around to thank Walker, who he'd been working with all episode, only to see that it's Martinez, who gloats that Ben helped him during his own leap.
World War III: Addison says Ziggy projects this will happen if Captain Drake sinks the Chinese submarine.
You Can See Me?: Ambiguous; Alexander seems to have some kind of awareness of Addison at the end.
Addison: I know you're scared that you're gonna hurt me. And I know that you're scared that you can't be a good dad because you're too hard or cold, or that you carry some kind of darkness inside of you. But whatever your dad had, it stops with you. Because you have done nothing but love me, and made me the person that I am today. It is going to be okay, Dad.
[He looks up, steps away, and looks out the window]
Alexander: Yeah... everything's gonna be okay.

Magic: I don't believe the leaps are random. I don't believe it's all just a roll of the dice. "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
Jenn: Martin Luther King.
Magic: That's what I think we are, what Quantum Leap is. Part of whatever mysterious force bends that arc for the better.

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