Quantum Leap (2022)
Season 2, Episode 8:
Nomads
Written by Dean Georgaris
Directed by Chris Grismer
Original air date: 12/13/2023
May 1961
Ben leaps into Michael Allison, a CIA agent assigned to Egypt to protect Layla, an Egyptologist and informant on the East Germans. He also runs into Hannah Carson for the third time.
Meanwhile, in the future, Addison discovers an engagement ring at hers and Tom's home.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: At the end of the episode, it looks like Tom is going to the kitchen drawer to grab the engagement ring, but instead he grabs the DARPA file to show to Addison.
- Contrived Coincidence: Hannah is in Cairo at the same time as Agent Allison's mission, as she's attending an international science conference. However, the "coincidence" is heavily discussed by the team as this is the third time that she and Ben have crossed paths.
- Darkest Hour: After Layla is reported dead, Ben goes to Hannah and tells her that he failed the leap and is stuck. She consoles him and tells him that he's still in a position to use future knowledge to help people and himself, and he postulates that maybe he kept meeting her so he wouldn't be stranded in the past alone.Hannah: 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.
- Double Standard Rape Scifi: Narrowly averted only because Ben and Hannah ultimately don't sleep together. They come very close, and there's no discussion of the fact Ben would be having sex using someone else's body without obtaining his leapee's consent to use it that way.
- Girl Friday: Hannah serves in this capacity during the leap, twice helping Ben plant an electronic bug to save Layla, and later serving as a decoy for Layla.
- Internal Homage: To "The Curse of Ptah-Hotep", which was also a leap into an American working in Egypt (though that episode was about a mummy's curse whereas this one is about espionage so it's only an homage in terms of the setting).
- Love Epiphany: Played with. Addison stumbles out of the Imaging Chamber and says she knows why the accelerator keeps pushing Ben and Hannah together: the two are in love.
- The Missus and the Ex: Ben "introduces" Hannah to Addison. It's awkward from Addison's perspective, but Hannah is friendly and doesn't learn that Addison is Ben's ex-fiancée.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: In order to distract the Stasi contact while Ben moves the bug to the correct shop, Hannah pretends to be an obnoxious tourist walking into the closed shop. Layla is aghast, but it gives Barnes the recording he needs to find the intelligence leak.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Hannah sees "Michael Allison" look surprised to see her. She walks over and immediately asks if he's Ben. Ben confirms it, and she says she's been doing this to strangers for six years.
- After Layla is reported dead, Barnes calls Ben and says that the Stasi agents are still combing the streets, and they come to the conclusion that Layla is actually still alive.
- This Is Reality: Addison, who has a background in military intelligence, tells Ben that spying is a world of lies and betrayal, it's the exact opposite of a James Bond caper, and that "this isn't a game."
- Time-Travel Romance: Leaned into a lot more heavily, as Hannah says that maybe she's Ben's home since he's a nomad in his own right, and says she loves Ben more for wanting to remain a nomad to help people. Before Ben leaps out she tells him that she loves him.
- Title Confusion: There was some initial confusion over whether the episode was called "Nomad" (singular) or "Nomads" (plural). However, both IMDB and several fansites use "Nomads," and Dean Georgaris told the Quantum Leap Podcast that he prefers "Nomads." The latter title would refer to both Layla's codename and Ben's status as a nomad of time.
- Wham Line:Tom: I was called to DC because they found something on a fragment of a hard drive in a discontinued DARPA project.
Addison: What — what is this?
Tom: A way to bring Ben home. - Year Outside, Hour Inside: From Ben's perspective, it's been one leap and about a day since he'd last seen Hannah. From Hannah's perspective, it's been another six years.
