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Quantum Leap (2022)
Season 1, Episode 6:
What a Disaster!
Written by: Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt, and Martin Gero
Directed by: Chris Grismer and Helen Shaver
Original air date: 10/24/2022
October 17, 1989
Ben leaps into a man named John Harvey in San Fransisco, whose estranged wife Naomi (Jewel Staite) is in the middle of telling him that she wants a divorce — moments before the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
hits. Ben is there to help Naomi save their son, Jason, who originally died in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Meanwhile, the Project is still grappling with the end of Ben's last leap, and struggle to figure out who the mysterious "Leaper X" is.
Tropes:
- As You Know: When going over her theories about Leaper X, Jenn breaks down how Ben and the rest of the world — save for whoever is using the Imaging Chamber — only sees Ben as the leapee. Magic says he already knows.Jenn: So to the world, Ben's walking around, and he still looks like Diego, right? Even to Ben. When Ben looks in the mirror, it's Diego he sees.
Magic: Jenn, I know all this.
Jenn: I'm building to a thing, Magic.
Magic: Build faster. - Broken Masquerade: Discussed. In the original series, Sam and Alia (and later Zoey) had to make physical contact in order to see each other through their leapees' auras, and once this happened, their respective holograms could then see the other leapers as well. In this case, Jenn theorizes that with the new Project's leaping methods and technology, holograms and other leapers could immediately see other leapers' real selves. This helps them theorize that Leaper X is likely using their own project's technology from further in the future, and allows them to immediately use the Imaging Chamber data to run a facial recognition on Leaper X.Jenn: But if they're using quantum leap technology like ours, when we see them in the Imaging Chamber...
Magic: We wouldn't see the cowboy. - Five-Second Foreshadowing: The World Series Game 3 broadcast with Al Michaels, which tips Ben off that he's mere moments away from a massive earthquake.
- Have We Met Yet?: A variation. Magic and Jenn go to visit Richard Martinez after identifying him as Leaper X. However, as of 2022 he's not a leaper yet, but rather a well-decorated Marine with very little free time. Martinez catches onto the fact that these two mysterious people — one of whom is an admiral — seem to know a lot about him, but won't tell him why they're visiting.
- Internal Homage:
- To the original Quantum Leap pilot movie "Genesis," in that this episode also features a leaper phoning a beloved parent who is dead in the present day. However, Ben doesn't get to have a full conversation with his mom before leaping out.
- The end of the episode references "The Boogieman" in that it shows a house's address marker ominously switching to 666 just after the leaper enters the house.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the beginning of the episode, Addison's regular "hockey puck" handlink is on the fritz, so Ian gives her an "older" one to use. This handlink was the original design of the handlink for this series, and the scene was added to help cover up that this episode is a re-edited version of the original pilot.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Ben has a particularly bad case of timing with the leap-in this time. Namely, he leaps in right in the middle of Naomi discussing wanting to divorce "John".Naomi: (at wits' end) I've been killing myself trying to make this work, but I-I-I can't. I can't do it anymore. I want a divorce.Ben: (sympathetic) Oh... ... (suddenly realizes he leapt into her husband) ...from me?
- "Mister Sandman" Sequence: A very light one at the beginning. While "So Emotional" by Whitney Houston plays in the bar, Ben sees baseball fans dressed in Oakland A's garb, deduces that he's in San Francisco, then sees Al Michaels' sportscast, and immediately knows what day it is and what's about to happen.
- Mythology Gag: The bit where Allison had to use an older model of the handlink hits a lot closer to home when you know that was the original handlink from when this episode was meant to be the pilot.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Just like Sam with his father, Ben realizes he never got to say goodbye to his mom before she died. But what makes things worse is that their last conversation was a vicious argument over him bringing home a report card with all Ds, with the implication being him saying he hated his mom before leaving their apartment was what caused her to keel over dead.
- Oh, Crap!: Ben's reaction as soon as he recognizes the World Series broadcast and realizes that he's in San Francisco just moments before the deadly Loma Prieta earthquake is about to hit.
- Our Time Travel Is Different: This episode establishes that the new Project's technology allows leapers to immediately see each other as their true selves instead of as their leapees, unlike with Sam and Alia, who had to make physical contact first.
- Present-Day Past:
- No one is dressed looking like they're from 1989. Jewel Staite's hair and clothes look way more like 2022 than 1989.
- When Ben examines Jason's Oakland cap, it has the current New Era logo on the side. New Era didn't use its current logo until 1997, and didn't put its logos on the sides of its regular MLB caps until the 2010s.
- Retroactive Precognition: As soon as he sees the World Series broadcast on a television in the bar, Ben immediately freaks out and tells Naomi that they have to leave the bar. When she later asks "John" how he could've known about the earthquake, Ben vaguely says that he remembered it.
- Sequel Non-Entity: While discussing where or when Leaper X could've leaped from, the project team doesn't mention or allude to Lothos as a possibility. However, a later episode reveals that the Evil Leaper reports had been filed incorrectly.
- Shout-Out: In this episode, a time traveler's intervention in San Francisco leads to a young man becoming a scientist whose earthquake resistance methods save countless lives in the future. This is also what happens when the Doctor talks to Gareth in the Doctor Who TV movie.
- Stable Time Loop: Discussed by Ian and Jenn, who discuss the possibility that their talking to Martinez in the present will inadvertently have led to him becoming Leaper X in the future.Jenn: Ian, I can't tie my brain in pretzels about what gonna happen in the future. We need to focus on the present and get back to Ben and Addison in the past.
Ian: Our lives are so insane.
Jenn: Yeah, I heard it. - Take That!: When discussing that "Leaper X" could've come from a third-party corporation or conglomerate with leaping technology, Ian quips, "Elon Musk or Zuck being able to control the past? Ugh, that's terrifying."
- Tragic Intangibility: When Ben is knocked unconscious in the collapsing apartment building, Addison reaches out to touch him, but can't.
- Weakness Turns Her On: After Ben opens up to Addison about his mother's death, Addison admits to Jenn that Ben's leaping has opened up his vulnerability, and says that she's falling even more in love with him for it.
