As much as I’ve loved the entire series to-date, Quantum Leap 1×14 “S.O.S.” is the kind of episode that resets the bar for how good the show can be. Adding a dash of War Games to the series formula, it was the best episode of the season so far. Everything about it just works. I’ll be honest. I loved it enough to make it hard to find the words to describe how much. Or even why. Which makes being tasked with writing a review like this rather difficult. In all the best ways.
Raising the Stakes
There are two kinds of shows: the kind where anything can happen (and anyone you love can die). And the kind of show where you know everything will work out, at least for the series stars. I’ve written before that Quantum Leap is the ultimate comfort show because you always know things will work out in the end. Which is comforting but does give the writers something of an uphill climb when it comes to building tension that feels like it has actual stakes.
“S.O.S.” was the perfect combination of personal and huge, world-impacting stakes. The kind that make you start to question your conviction that everything will turn out okay in the end.
What started as potentially a Leap where Ben (Raymond Lee) had to help Addison (Caitlin Bassett) with her relationship with her dad was revealed to be an episode about saving a submarine full of sailors. Oh, wait, now a submarine and the ship Ben’s on, with all its sailors aboard. Uh….hold up. Is it possible he now has to stop World War III? At every turn, the little voice in the back of my mind wanted to reassure me that it’s Quantum Leap, so everything will end up okay. But we were both too caught up in the tension, perched at the edge of our seat because everything keeps getting worse.
This is when I had to recognize that Ben is a better person than I am, because I loved XO Augustine (Brandon Routh), but at some point, I was silently screaming at the television that maybe Ben should chuck his ass overboard to see if that would reset the Leap to being low-stakes again. (Though if he’d done so, that would have caused problems of its own. I’m not sure there’s a Hallmark card for “Sorry I threw your dad to the sharks to stop a World War. Forgive me?”) And I recognize that sacrificing XO Augustine for the Greater Good wouldn’t have helped, because he was never really the problem. But I was tense and desperate.
Two of a Kind
Speaking of XO Augustine. Let’s, shall we?
This episode brought home the personal stakes as Addison realized she’s been wrong about her dad her whole life. As it happens, Augustine and Ben have a lot in common. More than Addison or Ben may realize at the moment. (To be fair to her, she’s too distracted trying to figure out how to Patrick Swayze Ben in her holographic form.)
Though Addison grew up thinking her father had failed to respond to an S.O.S., leading to personal disgrace, it turns out he was falling on his sword for his commanding officer. A living legend for the military, and a man Augustine clearly loved and respected in his own right. Of all the people Ben has been tasked with helping over the course of the show thus far, Augustine was the most unequivocally honorable.
Faced with one bad situation after another – situations with no good choice, let alone readily “right” one – he consistently chose to do the most honorable thing. Even to his own detriment. Always determined to do the right thing, even when the right thing wasn’t clear. Willing to sacrifice his happiness, reputation, and even his life for the people he loved – both his commanding officer and his family. Willing to do so at the risk of the people he loves not understanding his motives and feeling like he betrayed them. Particularly since he’s admittedly not always the best at opening up to the people closest to him. Sound familiar?
Oh, yeah. And both Ben and Augustine love Addison more than anything. Both will do anything to protect her – even if, from Augustine’s perspective – that means saving her from themselves. Yeah. these two men are a lot alike. Which just makes their team-up and joint victory at the end all the more satisfying.
A Grand Plan
Quantum Leap 1×14 “S.O.S.” was filled with so many brilliant touches. Like the subtle changes in the conversation between Magic (Ernie Hudson) and his Chinese counterpart once Ben inadvertently changed the past so that his ship would also be destroyed. Of course, the show had already established that changes in the past could – and would – change the team’s memories in the present. But the impact of this change in history was just seamlessly woven into the episode.
For the more pedantic fans among us (and I certainly have my moments), I also loved that he show addressed the Butterfly Effect question. All these changes Ben is making to the past. Could they have dire consequences in the present? Could helping Augustine in the past fundamentally change who Addison is in the present? Could helping someone seemingly unrelated in another Leap cause her to never be born?
Rest easy, Quantum Leap fans. In the world of the series, it would take a cataclysmic change in the past to impact the present to a degree that our beloved characters would fundamentally change. Or cease to exist. (Something as cataclysmic as actually starting World War III? Luckily, we didn’t find out.)
All’s well that ends well in Quantum Leap land. But did all end well here? As it turns out, Ben wasn’t just helping Augustine. He was inadvertently helping the Mystery Leaper, Martinez (Walter Perez). To do…what? To do what, show? I’m dying here!
Ben has no idea. Neither do I. Maybe saving the Augustine relationship means Addison becomes privy to information he’ll be after in the future. Maybe Martinez is after whatever the sailors on the submarine were doing. I. Have. No. Idea.
But with only four episodes to go this season (I’m trying not to cry at the thought), we won’t have long to wait to find out.
