You know that feeling when someone says something that causes your brain to short-circuit and you have to pretend to be a reasonable, level-headed adult while inside there’s just static? And maybe some internal screaming and jumping around?
That was my recent experience interviewing Quantum Leap‘s Caitlin Bassett. In large part because she started the interview by saying she reads Fangirlish, so I had to mentally go over everything I’ve ever written in, like, five seconds of time. (As long as I can continue to live in plausible deniability that Raymond Lee is aware of my thirst reviews, I think we’re fine.)
I actually had the chance to interview Bassett before the first season, and her enthusiasm and love for her character was absolutely infectious. She cares so deeply about her character, I fell in love with Addison (and Addison and Ben) before I’d had a chance to watch more than a couple episodes. So you can imagine my excitement at being able to check in with her about how Addison has dealt with a very emotionally difficult year. And where she’s going.
Yeah, I really need to know if the show keeps breaking my heart. I didn’t even try to hide it. And she shot me down on that right away, too. I mean, she didn’t even soften the blow! (You know an actress is charming when she can be like, “Nope, I have to let you keep living in pain and confusion,” and you can’t help but love them anyway.)
But of course the writers aren’t just writing the show for me. (Though could we make that happen? I’m just saying, I’d be okay with it.) Or, as Bassett put it much more kindly, they’re writing a show with a multiple-season long-game in mind. She does promise many good (and exciting!) things ahead for anyone who’s a fan of her character. And a fan of Ben and Addison together. And a fan of “all the things.”
What are all the things, Caitlin? Yeah, that sentence alone is going to live rent-free in my head for the rest of the season. And then probably all summer hiatus, too. But all joking aside, Bassett promises that “the end of the season is going to be the most exciting episode of the series because it shows you what the potential future of this show could really be, and it’s so much bigger.”
Bigger, you say? Than traveling through space and time? Bigger than ending up on space shuttles and warships and punching Nazis? I’d speculate, but I can’t even imagine the possibilities. How do you get bigger? Addison jumps? Addison and Ben jump together? Ian (Mason Alexander Park) and Jenn (Nanrisa Lee) push Addison into the accelerator to jump with Ben because they’re both just so sick of waiting for these two to get their quantum entanglement act together?
Hold on. We might be veering into fanfic territory. (I can’t help it! There are so many possibilities! However, I would like to say…if that sort of option is on the table, and they’re looking for someone to make a cameo appearance to do the honors, I will clear my schedule.)
Of course, Addison’s journey isn’t just about Ben. Nor should it be. It’s also not just about Tom (Peter Gadiot) or any other singular thing – or other person – at all. And there’s no question that Addison has dealt with a lot this season, outside of her love life. Last season, she had to come to terms with not being the Leaper she was intended to be. This season, she had to come to terms with not even being the hologram.
I asked Bassett about Addison’s personal journey this season, and she admitted to being very excited that she was finally given a chance to be proactive in her own life. “[W]hat we really start to see her do at the end of episode nine is start driving her own ship. I think it’s the best thing that she could have possibly done, and it makes her so much more compelling as a character, and it’s more fun to play for me. … I love Addison and just, what does she do in relation to no one? What does she do?”
As much as I talk about shipping, it’s hard to care about a ship when you don’t care about the characters as individuals outside of the ship. So I couldn’t be more excited to see Addison get the opportunity to take a little bit more agency in her own life and her own future.
If there’s one regret Bassett has for the season, it’s the lack of time. Of course, the second season of Quantum Leap isn’t a full run of 18 episodes. So there were things we would want to see that simply don’t have time to be explored. Bassett admitted that things like Tom’s background (and potential motives pertaining to the project) couldn’t be explored in as much depth as everyone might have liked in a longer season.
For me, I’m always up for seeing the characters I love interact when there isn’t an emergency. Whether it’s Jenn and Addison watching terrible television shows together, or whether it’s Ian challenging Magic (Ernie Hudson) to a trivia night (it could happen!).
And, for Bassett, the chance to interact with Eliza Taylor (Hannah) has been a highlight of the season. She promises that “the writers did some brilliant stuff [building Addison and Hannah’s relationship].” And, as much as I go on about ships and the pain they cause me, Bassett is so enthusiastic about working with Taylor and so complimentary of her fellow actress, I can’t even jokingly be snarky about it.
Maybe that’s her superpower. If Ben’s superpower is saving people at various points in time, Bassett’s may be convincing me to give characters (and ships) I want to watch with a hefty amount of side-eye a chance. I’m not saying she’s convinced me to root for them. (Hey, even the cosmic force behind Quantum Leap has its limits.) But when she spoke about what’s coming up for Addison and Tom…yeah, okay, she’s piqued my interest.
Addison’s reactions with Ben have been…complicated, to say the least. They are a lot simpler with Tom, in very understandable ways. (For one, she’s able to actually touch him. And he’s remembered her over the whole course of their relationship. She’s never thought he was dead. Like I said, things with Ben are complicated.) For Addison, being with Tom gives her the opportunity to live in the present. Not the past, with regrets for what might have happened. And not in an uncertain-if-it-would even happen future, as she faces when it comes to Ben ever returning home.
… Okay, I get some of the appeal, all right?