‘Quantum Leap’ 2×11 Review: “The Outsider”

After watching Quantum Leap 2×011 “The Outsider” I have this to say: All right, show. You win. Tom (Peter Gadiot) is a genuinely good guy who was dealt a bad hand. Even when he’s forced into the position of “bad guy,” he’s, like…inhumanly good. He’s not some evil mastermind. He’s not been playing Addison all along, to further his own ends. It appears he’s genuinely good, and I feel bad that his heart was broken.

Not, like, bad enough to regret being all in-on my ship. But I’m going to be really sad if he doesn’t get some kind of happy ending. Because he’s genuinely a good guy, and I should probably feel bad I’ve been side-eyeing him all season. Are you happy now, writers?

I much prefer when I get to ship my ships without feeling bad for people who are collateral damage for my ships. But as I sit here and wallow in pity for Tom, let’s get to the review.

Moment of Zen

I’ve been so determined that Tom is a bad-guy-in-hiding all season, it’s like the writers decided to bludgeon me over the head with how good he is. And, damn. Assuming he’s entirely on the up-and-up this episode (I have no reason to believe he’s not, but old habits die hard)…he’s, like, freakishly good, isn’t he?

I actually normally hate the TV trope where the non-OTP part of the triangle breaks up with the part of the OTP that’s in the triangle to make way for the OTP. And then gives their blessing to the OTP to be together. Which is a really convoluted couple of sentences. But in real life, people don’t usually break up with their significant others because they realize that person loves someone else more, and is, you know, happy about it. Or even necessarily gracious in defeat.

I totally get Tom seeing that Addison (Caitlin Bassett) isn’t really over Ben (Raymond Lee) and isn’t ready to move on. And I also think it’s completely legitimate to recognize that this entire sequence of events isn’t Addison’s fault, and she genuinely wanted to be ready to move on. And even thought she had. I also think, if she could have moved on with anyone, it would have been Tom. She didn’t mean to hurt him at any step of the way. But he still got hurt.

So at the very least, I think he was warranted to be like, “I’m going to be okay with this eventually, but in the meantime, I need to think very unfair thoughts about you into a pint of Ben and Jerry’s while I process these feelings.” (Guys do that too, right? They eat their feelings through ice cream?)

Even if Tom is a good guy, he deserves to not be okay with everything that went down. But, alas. He really is too good to be true. And only on a show like Quantum Leap does that level of innate goodness kinda work. Not only is Tom pretty okay with the breakup – attributing it to “fate” that they met and that they didn’t work out – but his last words to Addison are encouraging her to save Ben.

There’s the writers proving me wrong about his character, and then there’s rubbing salt in the wound. Could we get some sort of confirmation he gets a happy ending? Because otherwise, I’m just going to keep feeling bad for him. As I’ll discuss in a moment, even his act of “villainy” this episode was actually for the greater good (i.e., saving Ben). I suddenly feel like I’ve been trashing Mr. Rogers all season. But, like, a hot Mr. Rogers.

Good Lord, this show just made me type the words “a hot Mr. Rogers.” I’m going to need the entire summer hiatus to recover from this one. (Also, now I’m having a whole Mr. Rogers conundrum because I genuinely don’t know if he’d be offended that I’m implying he wasn’t hot or if he wouldn’t want to be thought of that way. YOU WERE PERFECT JUST THE WAY YOU WERE, MR. ROGERS! I need to move on in this review before I make my existential crisis worse.)

Sacrificial Lamb

On the topic of my childhood crashing and burning, things don’t go so well this episode for Magic (Ernie Hudson). Gideon (James Frain) wants a whole pound of flesh for the whole computer chip fiasco, and Tom is called in to extract it. Of course, the obvious choice for Tom would be to boot Ian (Mason Alexander Park) – and possibly Jenn (Nanrisa Lee) – from the project as the mastermind/accomplice-after-the-fact of the entire affair. However, Ian is simply too invaluable to getting Ben back (and Jenn would presumably not be quite enough of penance for either Gideon or those in charge). So Tom not-so-subtly hints to Magic that there’s only one way for them to get out of this with any hope of getting Ben back.

Magic has to throw himself upon his sword and resign as the head of the project.

From a bureaucracy and accountability standpoint, it’s not an unreasonable solution. Sure, Magic wasn’t part of the whole plot. He didn’t even know about it. But that could be seen as part of the problem. He gave his staff enough free rein to make these kinds of calls and deals behind his back. He also didn’t have enough oversight to catch onto what was going on sooner.

Of course, I don’t blame Magic for either, but I could see how this would be an acceptable penalty to the higher-ups. That said, I can’t imagine that this is the end of the Gideon plot. There’s a good chance there will be hell to pay over the remaining episodes, without Magic in charge. (I refuse to believe he won’t be instituted before or very early into next season, though. That’s a non-starter.)

But again. Even in doing his act of “villainy” this episode and ousting Magic from his role as head of the project, Tom still puts Ben’s best interest first. The guy who just kinda inadvertently contributed to his heartbreak. He really is like a modern day…really nice person who doesn’t need to be compared to any former children’s television show hosts, okay?

What Might Have Been

This whole episode review feels like it has veered off-course and has become a slow-moving train wreck, but I’m committed, so I’m plunging ahead anyway. I want to take a moment to ponder where these characters are (and have been) emotionally. Which may drift a little into fanfic territory, since a lot of this is stuff we haven’t seen…and probably won’t. So if that’s not your thing, maybe skip ahead to the next section.

I feel like we’ll see a lot of plot casualties in the TV landscape due to a lot of shortened seasons caused by the extended strike. (That is in no way a suggestion I feel the actors were wrong to strike. It’s just a recognition that shortened seasons mean shows are going to have to wrap up plots differently than maybe originally envisioned.) I don’t know exactly what Quantum Leap plot lines ended up on the cutting room floor, but this episode gave me a glimpse into one I suspect we’ll frankly never have the time to see. Which is a shame.

I really loved the confrontation (of sorts) between Ian and Tom this week. It was a really compelling moment in which we were given a glimpse into why Ian was willing to risk so much when everyone thought Ben was dead. They were unwilling to let Ben go because, quite frankly, they’d want someone to keep fighting for them, if they were the one leaping from one body to another.

I feel like there’s a whole lot of guilt and even resentment simmering under the surface for Ian. That they were the only ones who held on, when everyone else let go. I can only mourn what could have been, if we had enough time for a 3 to 4 episode arc to explore these (frankly very valid) feelings.

When it comes to my favorite characters, I’m not a huge fan of interpersonal conflict for the sake of drama. But I am a huge fan of allowing some space for such conflict if it opens the door into their deeper motivations and provides emotional growth. If the show had a few episodes to explore this subplot, just imagine what kind of meaty material each of the actors could be given to really explore the grief and trauma that led to their actions this year.

Imagine Ian finally letting go and unloading all their anger at Magic, for being willing to give up the project so soon. At Jenn, because Ian’s arguably closest to her at this point, and they have to be wondering if she’d give up on them so readily. On Addison, for loving Ben most of all and being willing to give up on her fiancé when, you know, even he says he wouldn’t have done the same, if the tables had been turned.

Imagine Addison finally getting a chance to just let it all out in a way she hasn’t been able to before. Yeah, she’s expressed some of her feelings and what led her to try to move on. But she’s had to hold back to a degree every time, since it’s been in the context of “we can’t really get into this because we’re in the middle of a Leap and there are other things we need to focus on right now.” And also because she doesn’t want to cause Ben further pain by fully showing him her own.

But, look. If anyone has earned the right for an emotionally cathartic breakdown – the kind where you start screaming (not at someone in particular, just in general) and you just don’t stop until you get it all out, it’s Addison.

I’ve always been #TeamAddison when it comes to how she’s dealt with…well…everything over the last couple of seasons. Even when I wish she’d dealt with things differently. If you have a problem with her, you can fight me. And here’s why: From the moment Ben jumped, she’s essentially been a widow.

Every time she goes home at the end of the day, his things are there, reminding her of the person who isn’t. Except that slowly becomes no longer the case, over time. Over weeks and months and years, his favorite foods are no longer in the refrigerator. His discarded shirts have been laundered and no longer smell like him. The unfinished books on his nightstand were at first straightened, then eventually (and regretfully) put away. Maybe his clothes have even been packed away; if not, they’re just gathering dust in the closet. Every day, his memory is in their shared home less and less, and it becomes more and more apparent that she’s alone.

At the same time, she’s not exactly a widow, either. (And not just because they weren’t technically married.) She goes to work, and he’s there. But not. Like a ghost. So she can’t hold onto him, but she can’t let go of him, either. And on top of that, he left her to begin with because he wanted to save her life, so she can’t even really be furious with him or resent him for it without feeling like the Worst Person Ever. But neither was she given an opportunity to have any input at all in Ben’s sacrifice. She just had to deal with it after the fact.

Oh, and on top of all that, all this happened in a Top Secret Project, so when Nosy Nancy from across the hall starts asking questions about what happened to Addison’s Nice Young Man Who Used To Come Around, she can’t even say anything remotely close to the truth. She has to have concocted some sort of lie, like he found a new girlfriend who lives in…Canada. You wouldn’t know her, Nancy. But don’t think too badly of him for it, on the off chance he comes back someday!

Against Addison’s grief and guilt, you haven’t Ian’s. Ian, who was one of Ben’s best friends, and who also undoubtedly feels responsible for this entire situation because they gave him the warning about Addison to begin with. Ian, who’s so impossibly brilliant and is literally probably the only person alive who could bring Ben back home…but hasn’t been able to do just that.

Everyone is depending on them. Ben is depending on them. Ben undoubtedly believed when he decided to leap to begin with that Ian would find a way to bring him home. It all rests on Ian’s shoulders, and they may never be able to do it.

Imagine if the show had the space to allow these two characters to just let it all out. And then to tie it all back to Ben, who could see his own anger and resentment at the situation reflected in these people he loves so much. Allowing all three of them the opportunity to come to terms with the unfairness of their situation and the choices that brought them where they are. Allowing them, in turn, to finally and genuinely find peace and acceptance as they look to the future.

I’m sure we won’t have time for any of that. But I would have loved the insights into the characters’ emotions we would have gotten if we had.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Speaking of how little time there is left to the season…we’re two episodes from the end. And since they air back-to-back next week, we’re really just one rather long episode from the end. So where is all of this (perhaps somewhat abruptly) leading?

Well, as I wrote above, I have a hard time seeing the Gideon plot as entirely wrapped up. Sure, they had less time to explore it than they otherwise might. But he walked into HQ with a little too much menace to be so easily waved away. Also, doesn’t it seem like Magic’s ousting placated him a little too easily?

Unless Gideon is positioning to take over the project. For his own purposes, of course. And what would those be?

Well, I’ve had the theory that Gideon is Jeffrey Nally (Connor Esterson), all grown up. Suggesting it has something to do with his dad’s death. (Which we discovered this week still happened, only about a year later in another seemingly avoidable accident.) But let’s set that aside.

This whole thing blew up because Gideon was using his technology as a “back door” into the project, gathering data. Even if it wasn’t to save his dad in the past, it was for some reason. A reason that may lead into whatever the crisis is the team needs to face in season three (which I am personally speaking into existence right now).

There’s the romantic plot between Ben and Hannah (Eliza Taylor). I assume she’s back next week, and I assume next week will put the final nail in that Impossible Relationship Coffin. Not that I haven’t enjoyed her as a character, but unless she somehow becomes a co-leaper with Ben, there really are only so many times the writers can throw the two together before it becomes time to fish or cut bait, cosmically speaking. They’ve been thrust into each other’s paths too many times for it to be just because they’re in love – even in the feel-good world of Quantum Leap. So it won’t be long before the universe needs to get to the point, already.

Fans have theorized that Hannah actually wrote the code that Tom recovered a few episodes ago. Which is certainly possible. And the history Ben is still rewriting today would explain why nobody found that code in time to save Sam (Scott Bakula) in the original timeline. It didn’t technically exist yet.

Of course, we can’t – or shouldn’t – forget the themes of the episodes. I know I spent an inordinate amount of time this season talking about ships and suspecting incredibly nice characters. But Quantum Leap 2×011 “The Outsider” actually had a bigger theme than “Tom is a really good guy, and you should probably believe us when we tell you that, already.” It was about embracing your purpose in life and who you were meant to be.

Which, sure, helped the reporter in the past. But it’s also been part of what Ben has been grappling with all season. There have been questions of sacrifice and of fate, and of whether he the good he does each week can help him come to terms with the regret of all he’s lost. Those are all questions that are screaming for some payoff.

But there’s also the fact that in our interview, actress Caitlin Bassett promised, “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.” Which really just blows the doors wide open when it comes to where all this may be headed.

Only one more week to find out. And then a long, long hiatus, during which I will have plenty of time to ponder some very personal Mr.-Rogers-centered regrets.