Have I mentioned how much I love Quantum Leap? Because I really, really do. Almost as much as I love Brandon Routh. So imagine my excitement to hear that Routh will be joining one of my favorite shows on television for an upcoming episode. (I know what you’re thinking. It’s only for one episode as Addison’s (Caitlin Bassett) dad, so maybe I should contain some of our excitement. But hush. I’m not trying to hear that right now.)
To be honest, I’ve loved Routh ever since he played Superman the first time. Yeah, like many people, I have some criticisms of Superman Returns. Maybe it was a mistake to ask Routh to play Christopher Reeve playing Superman. (I think it was.) But Routh did exactly what he was asked to do. And he did it really, really well. Better than I can imagine any other actor tasked with the same challenge.
His acting in Superman Returns only made me wish we could see what he would do with the character in his own right. Luckily we got a glimpse of just that when he donned the Man of Steel’s cape for an Arrowverse crossover a few years ago. It only made me want more.
“We’re talking about Quantum Leap, so why do you keep talking about Superman, Jade?” I hear you, I hear you. In response, I have this to say: First, because if you know me, you know how much I love Superman. It’s like mentioning anything peripherally related to Lord of the Rings around Stephen Colbert. I can’t help myself.
But also because the thing I love about Routh in his iterations of Superman is the thing that makes me so excited that he’s joining Quantum Leap. Routh is one of those actors who plays earnest sincerity so well, it seems like it’s just who he is. He sells it. It feels genuine. Heck, it even comes across when he plays villains, like he did in Chuck. And the ability to do that without slipping into tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, cynicism, or tipping too far in the other direction toward cheesiness is frankly underrated.
I don’t know what Routh is like in real life (though I’ve only ever heard wonderful things), but he seems like a Labrador Retriever in a suit. (Normally, we’d say “Golden Retriever” but I think we can all agree that title belongs to Chris Evans.) So having Brandon Routh join Quantum Leap and putting him next to Ben (Raymond Lee) will basically form a black hole of wholesome from which we may never escape.
Not that we want to try.
