Quantum Leap (2022)
Season 1, Episode 15:
Ben Song for the Defense
Written by Romy Loor
Directed by Kristin Windell
Original air date: 3/13/2023
April 1985
Ben leaps into a public defender, Aleyda Ramirez, who must keep an innocent teen, Camilo Diaz, from going to jail for a murder he didn't commit, and prevent his younger brother Leo's fate from joining a gang and dying in a shootout.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: It's wrong to force innocent people into guilty pleas without a fair trial.
- Amoral Attorney: ADA Barnes will stop at nothing to win the case, as he is eyeing the District Attorney position. He gives Ben the files on the case, intentionally has Vicky leave out a page with a witness list on it, brushes off Vicky when she confronts him about it, fires Vicky when Ben reports the Brady violation, and falsifies the document he gives Ben. It ultimately comes back to bite him; Vicky reports him to the DA for withholding evidence in other cases, and he loses his job.
- But Now I Must Go: Ben hears that the verdict is about to be read, but he leaps right after stepping back into the courtroom. Though he doesn't get to hear the verdict for himself, this still shows that his mission was successful, and the team confirms it to each other while reviewing the leap afterwards.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Stuart, the bike rider, who is one of Aleyda's clients. After Ben helps him get his motorcycle back from impound, Stuart happily rushes Ben across town to help find Edwin Soto's stashed gun.
- Continuity Nod: When Ben first sees Jenn, he doesn't recognize her and is startled when she calls him by name. He first assumes that she's another leaper, which he's still jumpy about after meeting Martinez again in his previous leap; and he's equally startled to see that she's a somewhat glitchy hologram, given how he briefly met Janis at the end of another leap.
- Courtroom Episode: This is Ben's first leap into a lawyer.
- Didn't Think This Through: More or less said verbatim by Jenn after she enters the Imaging Chamber, only for Ben to assume she’s another leaper.
- '80s Hair: Aleyda and Vicky both have poufy hairstyles.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: Ian starts off the episode discussing an algorithm to help detect whether Martinez is present in Ben's next leaps.
- Enhance Button: Ian uses one to wipe out a black marker on a police report that had redacted a witness's name.
- Gender Bender: Ben leaps into public defender Aleyda Ramirez.
- The Ghost: Edwin Soto is very likely the actual killer, and ADA Barnes goes at lengths to cover up Soto's name in order to railroad an innocent person to boost his own career, but we never actually meet him.
- Have We Met?: Ben is momentarily surprised when Jenn calls him by name, first assuming that she's another leaper, then he sees that she's a hologram. Addison then pops in to formally reintroduce them.
- Hidden Depths: Jenn got a law degree while in prison.
- Internal Homage:
- To "So Help Me God", which was Sam's first leap into a lawyer also defending someone for murder.
- To "Raped", as the Project brings a second person into the Imaging Chamber to help the leaper in court.
- There's a slight homage to "Killin' Time", where a new hologram starts off glitchy.
- The new leap at the end is an homage to "Shock Theater", in that it takes place in a Bedlam House during an ominous thunderstorm.
- Mentor Archetype: Saul Becker seems to be this for "Aleyda." He tells Ben to get into private practice, and later advises Ben about the implications of the missing page.
- Not What It Looks Like: After learning about the hidden witness Edwin Soto, Ben asks Vicky about it. Since Ben was standing right next to her files for Camilo's case and couldn't have logically learned it another way, Vicky accuses "Aleyda" of looking at the files.
- Present-Day Past: While most of the characters look like they're believably from 1985, there are establishing shots of the New York City skyline that include modern skyscrapers like 432 Park Avenue
, which wasn't completed until 30 years later. - Retroactive Precognition: Ben uses information gathered in the future to not only determine Edwin Soto's name from the missing page, but also uses info from a 1990's newspaper article to find Edwin Soto's gun. The former point gets to be an issue because he can't explain how he even knows about Soto, and he can't call out Barnes for falsifying the missing page in front of the judge.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Even though the legal system now has Soto's gun, Barnes still offers Camilo a plea deal for four years if he pleads guilty to a B-felony; Jenn even tells Ben that Camilo taking the deal would ensure Leo's safety and would allow Ben to leap. Ben refuses since he knows Camilo is innocent, and goes against 50/50 odds in front of a jury. He wins the case.
- Secret Relationship: Vicky, who is second chair for ADA Barnes, is secretly in a lesbian relationship with Aleyda. Vicky doesn't want it to get out that she's seeing a public defender — much less another woman — because she could be fired for it.
- Shout-Out: Ben's first client and his girlfriend are named Tyler and Rose.
- Side Bet:
- The Project had one over who Ben would remember first besides Addison. Jenn's story about the bunnies jogs Ben's memory of its original teller, Magic, who receives a dollar from everyone at the end.
- Addison and Magic also apparently had one over whether Jenn would get emotional on this leap.
- The Swear Jar: Non-cussing example; the Project team collects a dollar from anyone who says "Leaper X" instead of "Martinez." Ian messes up once, and Magic does twice.
- Tears of Joy: While reading the results of the leap to the rest of the team, Jenn gets emotional when she reads that Aleyda and Vicky stayed together and joined the Innocence Project.
- Temporary Substitute: Since Jenn has a law degree, Jenn is the hologram in this episode instead of Addison.
- That's an Order!: Jenn doesn't want to be a hologram. Magic gently reminds Jenn that it's a military operation and he gives the orders, and Jenn reluctantly gives in.
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: To help Tyler's girlfriend Rose get money for Tyler's bail, Jenn says that they've got "Marty McFly's almanac" and gets some horse race results from Ziggy, which Ben passes along to Rose. Tyler and Rose later ask "Aleyda" if they could get another tip like that.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ben is distraught that he's ruined the leap and things are out of control. Jenn — who at first concedes that she's terrible at speeches — tells Ben a story about a boy saving bunnies from drowning in a river, and says that Ben is a hero for wanting to save people in the past and in the future.
