bamlou

I was surprised that Janine was able to get her job back at Abbott so easily. I thought Ava had already hired her replacement? And Ava is no fan of hers either, so it would have helped if they’d explained the plot convenience here better. I agree with those who weren’t fans of how this played out in order for Janine to return. I liked seeing her blossom at the District and earn respect and get recognition and praise from her colleagues there that is sometimes met with an eyeroll by the Abbott staff. So I wish they’d found a different way for her to find her way back. But if this was how she comes back (and I am happy about that) then I can still go with it. Even if predictable, it hit the right emotional beats for me, and they’ve been planting the seeds for a while that she’s been feeling conflicted about staying on at the District. So for what it is, it works.

Did I I hear right that the consulate flew the Bulgarian victim back to NY so that she could be interviewed by Olivia? And that the victim hopped on that plane at a moment’s notice? Seemed like a stretch even for this show, but maybe I misheard, or I’m underestimating how cooperative the consulate would be to help. I was also surprised the school only expelled the 3 guys from the robotics dept. - the press conference didn’t mention any consequences for the other student from the genetics dept. who was testing/verifying the DNA swabs, and he was the one directly involving the school by using its equipment on school property.

Yeah, I felt that this audience was willing to embrace his comedy for the most part, but it was his own hesitation and awkwardness with some of the delivery during the monologue that stopped him short of getting the belly laughs he was expecting. And then calling it out added to it feeling clunky, and maybe it made the audience less sure of how to react and laugh after. They seemed on board to have a good time, but even Update got a more tepid response to jokes I thought would land better. I feel too that there was a missed opportunity to more openly address what happened with his hiring/firing, rather than just a brief mention and "don't Google it" which made it more the elephant in the room. I was wanting some more direct jokes about the situation, or for him to talk about what he's been up to since then, or, if he and Bowen are actually cool with each other (like their hug at the goodnights suggests), perhaps Bowen could have joined briefly during the monologue to poke fun at how they were hired together. That might have shown some goodwill and put skeptics more at ease to laugh, given more of an introduction to those unfamiliar with him, and could have set a better, more relaxed tone for the rest of the night. It was just an okay show for me. The sketches were a little half baked, and that cold opening dragged - knowing that this ep would be attracting non-regulars checking it out, it's too bad they didn't open with something more accessible. If not for all the hype around Shane's hosting, this would probably be a very 'mid' episode, but the expectations were high, so there's more scrutiny and it makes this miss maybe land harder.

Got it, thanks. So I guess it's along the same series of coincidences/convenient plotting that similarly led the guy on the train who got Maddie's note to also happen to be a drug dealer who also happened to have a connection to George and also happened to sit right behind them the whole train ride lol. With stronger writing I can often accept these types conveniences (or they're masked better) to enjoy the ride, but there were some leaps along the way to wrapping up this story that were harder to ignore.

YES! I had the same questions. They seemed to have completely ignored that this is how the story started, which was actually the more intriguing part of the case for how warped it was and the loose threads they couldn't figure out. Maybe it was case closed when they found that warehouse of the dolls in the first episode? But it seemed like they hit a dead end as to who the was running the larger business and only caught the underlings/customers. And maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but I thought the guy who had originally kidnapped her was some doll obsessive who wanted to have the real Maddie. I must have missed when she also somehow got entangled in this trafficking ring.

Yeah, I'm glad their reaction was more sympathetic than glib. I haven't been a fan of how they re-wrote the family's dynamic with Bev to be so mean-spirited to go for easy jokes, so this was an unexpected more caring response from them, especially when their lazy solution to the credit card fraud earlier in the ep was to take advantage of Bev's senility and pin the charges on her.

These final two episodes delivered better as the action-adventure show that this reboot has chosen to be, so on that grading curve I found the finale to be mostly satisfying in tying up the stories for the season, particularly that second hour. It helped too that they gave total fanservice bringing back that original score for a scene, plus the buggy handlink which I was ragging on about just last episode! I was holding my breath that we might get an imaging chamber door effect too (which I also sorely miss) since Janice was using older tech, but oh well. It all just reminded me that it's those small touches that help add some fun and character which often feel missing from the show. Especially that score, which helps convey so much emotion and humanity to a scene, I wish they'd use it more. But again, the human drama is second to the ticking clock action plots. We barely got to know anyone in either leap, since they were just backdrop to this whole Hannah-Jeffery story, which didn't fully add up to me. How is it that Hannah was able to create a formula that's a supposed way to bring Ben back home when she has no reference for any of PQL's work, especially since the project doesn't exist yet in her timeline? And I can't even begin to wrap my head around how "time is a river/they need a fixed point in the present or some such" somehow equates to "we need to swap Ben with someone else" as the solution. I was with Beth when she's like "I don't understand any of this, but it sounds bad". I was glad though when Hannah stopped Ben from telling her about future tips that would help her life out. He's been so brash willing to do anything for her without considering the consequences of his actions (to both the timeline and in accomplishing what needs fixing in some leaps) that it was getting a little frustrating. You'd think there'd be more oversight on the project using time travel for their employees' own personal gain (and yes, I know the original show kinda walked that back with Al and Beth, but still, it's worth calling out and they gloss over it). It also kinda made me see Jeffery's side and maybe that he ...had a point? Not with using time travel to become all powerful, but his anger towards Ben I could kinda sympathize with, especially when Ben has had such tunnel vision with Hannah. The cliffhanger, I'm feeling neutral about. But if having two leapers could mean more time spent on the leap and less at HQ, then I'm for it.

Thought this was a good start to the season! I just caught up with this show recently, and watching season 2 on a binge I could feel the padding that expanded season had - the writing here felt much tighter with mostly all the characters tying into the alien shenanigans in some way. As much as I dislike this being a shorter season, hopefully that means we'll get stronger, more focused storytelling. I'm glad that Asta wasn't kept in the dark about the new sherrif for too long. Thankfully they've already moved it along so that she and Harry can use it to their advantage. It can be so frustrating when you just want characters to say the thing that will explain what's going on but they choose not to (same thing with not telling Max the truth about the alien tracker, ugh the avoidable conflict!). But I did like the ep's justification that Harry's alien species/ his personality is that he knows best and he's not used to working with others. Plus the reminder that he's emotionally equivalent to a child in how he communicates. And it led to that sweet and funny scene at the end of Harry showing some growth and vulnerability in opening up to Asta. It was also interesting how they incorporated owls being a bad omen to some indigenous communities. I'd only learned about that watching Reservation Dogs, so that was my first thought when the owl showed up and I liked how they addressed that in the diner scene.

Agreed completely with this. I'll add to this too that for me it's also lacking a lot of those small quirky sci-fi/tech touches within the leap which were always part of the fun of this concept - finding neat ways to show the hologram effects, the buggy handlink, determining or disagreeing with Ziggy what wrong needs to be put right, trying to have a conversation with a hologram no one can see, a reflection or mirrorshot of who Ben's leapt into ...they don't consistently lean into these things and when they do they often feel like afterthoughts. Perhaps there's just no time for these smaller moments since they have to barrel through the leap story and also service the present day drama at HQ. And again this episode, they didn't consult with Ziggy on what Ben's purpose was for this leap. Addison gave the run-down that Connie went from big New York journalist to small town reporter, and that was somehow enough for them to conclude that they had to help Connie get her back on top. Even though there was nothing to suggest at the time that she didn't live a good life this way. Ben didn't even question the mysterious phone call he got as possibily the reason why he was there. I'm not opposed to them going off of hunches, but it would make more sense (and make things more interesting) if they at least ran these hunches by Ziggy to find out the probability, and possibly get some pushback on these hunches - and that would have served this episode well too since the purpose of the leap ended up being bigger than just Connie. Ziggy is supposed to be this supercomputer and should be used for more than just internet research, and even there they somehow missed that Robbie gets "killed" in a car bombing (plus they never questioned if maybe *that* was who Ben was there to save?). Nitpicking aside, I did like this leap story, enjoyed the guest performances, and I do want to like this reboot and can respect them wanting to forge a different path than the original. But a lot of their creative choices just aren't making as strong or as interesting of a show for me, and I was hoping that at this point in the show's run they'd have a better handle on what does and doesn't work.

This finale hit a level of cheese, rushed writing, and production constraints to a point that I just had to go with it and get some enjoyment out of how baffling they chose to wrap up plotlines. It would be fascinating to hear the behind the scenes of what went wrong on this season because even with a reduced episode order and actor availability, they still found ways to write themselves into new confusing corners and ignore established plot from the past seasons which didn't help. You could feel the budget/actor avail/writing limitations when entire scenes were being explained through exposition and characters were missing - all this buildup to 1965 and Eve's rescue and heroic sacrifice in 1965 happens offscreen, and then Riley is "just in the backseat of the car" unconscious lol. My favourite was the beat they spent on Scott and Lucas deciding to go and save Petra, and then two seconds later with no scene or explanation, "okay, saved her!" The show's time travel and internal logic just made no sense by the end, and everyone here is making great and amusing points about it all. Some other questions I still have: So, there ended up being no connection between James's time travel efforts that caused the sink holes and this completely separate military time travel project of Maya's that's also conveniently operating in 10,000 BC? It was just pure coincidence that Eve time traveled using James's device back to 1965 where Maya's military base operations also happened to be located? Scott's paper/knowledge about that prehistoric plant was important because...? They completely dropped that. Scott also seemed to have no memory of Ty visiting him in 2021 before falling into the sinkhole. So is this a multiverse time travel situation? Yet at the same time Eve can leave a box of letters under a tree and expect it to be there in 2021. The show wanted its time travel to work both ways. The aurora to 2021 took Ty back to before the sinkhole in LA happened, yet in the finale (given that Scott's fiancée thought he was dead) it's taking everyone back to 2021 after the sinkhole appeared? How the aurora decides this makes sense only for the convenience of the plot. But at least this avoids there being a second "pre-sinkhole" version of each character being present at the same time (I still squint at how they just ignored this when Ty went to 2021 earlier this season). And I'm still confused at what point Levi was recruited by Maya (or was he a double agent this entire time?). That came out of nowhere to me. No doubt everyone involved didn't intend to make such a mess of it, but this was a rough way to end the show. Still, it was at times a fun and fascinating mess to watch.

This is why I feel conflicted about how this 'teaching moment' was inserted into the episode. On the one hand, I look back on my TV childhood and these preachy-type scenes probably informed my thinking in a positive way more than I realize, even though I smirk when I watch those same old TV shows today. And on the other, the execution and dialogue could have been way less heavy-handed, even just by having another scene maybe where the sister voices her hesitations about Dean before coming around, so it didn't feel so clunky happening all at once. Agreed with everyone too about the plotholes and underwriting with this leap, though I did like the setup and the dynamic between the sisters. Ziggy also felt like a non-factor helping out. What happened to Ziggy's theories about what Ben has to do to leap? I feel like recently they've been going off of Ben or Addison's hunches moreso to drive things, which makes the leaps seem a little more generic to me.

Ditto. This episode felt especially sloppy to me. The "sitting in a tree" song mentioned above seemed out of place, the way of speaking, and the makeup/hairstyles all felt too modern and took me out of it. It also seemed contradictory that Ian was able to give information about the townspeople's deaths when Jenn hadn't returned yet with the library records. But I did like that in the absence of Ziggy, Ian gained info by eavesdroping on the townspeople. And I know they've been pretty loose all along with Ben talking to himself in front of others, but it seemed especially egregious/not the smartest when he's doing it during the trial where he's being accused of witchcraft (or at least have the townspeople notice and call it out!). I'm trying really hard still to like this reboot, and have accepted/been worn down now that they're going for a more action-adventure angle than the more human drama of the original, and I try not to compare. But the writing should still put the effort in to make me care about the people in the leap so that the stakes matter, and this was pretty bare bones. We kinda learn about the girls on trial but it's mostly in service to moving the plot along. And I would have liked to have gotten at least some nuance from the magestrate to humanize him more or have more of an attempt by Ben to reason with him. But both him and the townspeople just came off as cartoon villains to root against and nothing more. As with many of the episodes, it all seemed so hasty. I wish they took at least one or two beats to let the plot/scenes breathe a little. For me, it would help even if they removed the music constantly underscoring every. single. scene.

Totally agree that Ian would have been the better choice for hologram. The show needs some more levity, and it would be interesting to see Ian bring that energy to the scenes with Ben - the tone of these first two episodes have been very intense, and lacks the warmth and humanity (for lack of a better word) of the original series. I wish too that they would spend more time in the past, and not get bogged down with this mystery of Al's daughter - the leap is where the magic of this concept is, and feels like they're kinda missing the mark by not developing the story more there or the chemistry between Ben and Addison. I get that this version is trying to do something different with a more modern take, but with the faster pace and focus on Al's daughter and all these secrets the team is tracking down, it's kinda coming off like any other generic sci-fi or high-concept drama with a mystery/conspiracy twist, and not fully leaning yet into what makes Quantum Leap feel more special. Hopefully future episodes will also have more everyday stories and people - everything so far has felt very high stakes and, again, intense. And I still miss seeing a proper / more visual leap effect.

I'm feeling the same mixed sentiments as many on this thread about the show. Of all shows to reboot, this has been the one that's left me both with worry and delight to watch because the original is one of those touchpoints from my childhood that I didn't really want them to attempt, and yet it's such a great concept that can go so many new places today that I couldn't help but be excited to see where they went with it. There was a lot to like, it was nice that it was pretty faithful with the original show's cannon, and I see the potential. It was just an overly busy pilot, so I hope in future episodes it will calm dawn - and focus more of the story on the past wrong that must be righted, rather than the present team's attempts to work out the mystery of why Ben leaped and who he was secretly working with. I did enjoy the scenes of the team (and the team itself is likeable), but it felt like a very modern TV show trope to add them in, when the draw of the original show for me was the discovery of each leap and the everyday people and time periods that Sam had to adjust to - it was a very human drama and the sci-fi stuff was always present but more in the background (and cool when it popped up!). So I hope it doesn't get too high concept (or go too far down the worn path of conspiracies, secrets, or shadowy organizations). And maybe I'm too nostalgic for the original, but for future episodes there better be a theme song! (and am I asking too much for a saga cell intro too?). That always just set the right tone to start off each episode, and it was touches like that (along with that signature 'leap' effect that here felt like an afterthought, the opening of the imaging chamber door, the 'oh boy' also mentioned just above, the kooky handlink sound effects...) which I was kinda missing since it all added to the fun and fantasy of the original for me. But I'm nitpicking, and get that they're going for something maybe more sophisticated (and maybe a bit more action-driven?). I'm in for the ride regardless and curious enough to see how this version evolves over the next few episodes.

I thought she said "dick in a box" as well, but the reactions were so "shocked" that I second guessed if I interpreted the bleep correctly. SNL made that phrase so mainstream that I wouldn't think it would cause such a stir if that's what she actually said.

Sigh, again with the extremely lenient judging during the Winner's Circle, which I maybe just need to let slide to enjoy the show, but it felt even more questionable watching it happen twice with that one contestant who ended up taking the win. What's the point of specifying "Classic books" and "Marching band" in the categories if all that has to be said is "books" and "band"?

I'm glad I'm not the only one annoyed at the lack of quality control with these challenges - it's been a problem in the past seasons but felt so much more glaring in this episode. I'd like to think that actual movers and delivery workers put the care of people's belongings and packages high on their list of priorities, so it seemed odd that it was so irrelevant to the challenges. There really should've been some sort of penalty for damaging things. Three seasons in, and I don't get why quality of work has yet to be a factor in the show's challenges. It matters just as much as strength and speed, and could help level the playing field. It could have played a role especially in the Overtime challenge - Christine was forcing that truck door shut by slamming it down on the ends of those boxes until she *made* them fit. Seems like a grey area to consider this a win if you're potentially damaging packages in the process (and wasn't it her last week too who accidentally dug her pole too far away from the fence so she had to force-fit things when nailing them together? Again, grey area). haha I had a similar thought. I also kinda questioned if Savage Crew actually found their manifest or if the one they picfked up could have been the other team's, but since they were delivering to different rooms I guess it wasn't possible to pass Dirty Hands' manifest off as theirs for the win.

Mixedish, the Goldburgs Fresh off the boat covered that era Thanks for the reminders on these shows. I guess we do have Young Sheldon, though it seems less focused on its early 1990s time period if I recall (while The Goldbergs and Mixed-ish play it loose with the eighties) but I don't follow it very closely. Fresh Off The Boat was more mid-nineties I think, and more broad in humour than what this show seems to be going for. I'm not opposed to keeping it in the sixties, esp. given the significance of that decade. So I'm willing to give the show a chance to see if they can put a fresh spin on this premise and time period.

I had similar thoughts while watching this pilot. I think it will be much more difficult for today's audiences to connect with this show as strongly as the original did, with so much more time having passed and so many more shows since then having mined sixties nostalgia multiple times over. I felt rather neutral - not disliking it, but it didn't resonate with me as I'd hoped. I have a lot of fond memories watching the original as a kid; I didn't really grasp the sixties references back then, but my parents did, and I think that may have helped keep it more relevant for our family to watch together. I don't see that happening as easily with today's families since the average parent won't have any connection to this time period. Setting it in the early 90's could have maybe been an interesting choice - it's a decade not yet really explored by many shows, and pre-internet those were still simpler times that you could think of as 'wonder years', which families today could have felt nostalgia for in a way similar to the original show. But okay, the sixties again - I'll withhold much judgement to see where the next few episodes go. I hope they at least put in a theme song in the next episode - I missed hearing Joe Cocker's voice when the title card came up, it really helped set the tone in the original. This remake could use something similar to give some sentimental feels for the period.

In the first half, Mario also gave the clue “Not Billions” for ‘Millions’, and thought for sure that would get buzzed. Is that acceptable? Seems in the same grey area as “bicycle/tricycle” that got buzzed an episode or so ago.

That was my initial reaction too, but now I can buy it. I'm sure his feelings towards Mark are complicated. Yes, they did eventually become friends, and Dan defended Mark on several occasions, but I can totally believe that after he died and Dan watched Becky sink into depression and alcoholism with no financial security or education to fall back on, that Dan's feelings hardened and reverted back to "I wish they'd never met." I had a similar knee-jerk reaction that they completely dismissed how Mark was eventually accepted back into Dan’s good graces after the elopement, and that Dan had some respect for Mark’s loyalty and work ethic. But as Becky and Dan were hashing out how Mark played into Becky never finishing school or going to college, I started to understand how Dan could still hold a grudge against Mark for where Becky’s life has ended up. I think you sum up really well how complicated Dan’s feelings could be and how they could have changed over time. It’s just too bad that some of that nuance wasn’t conveyed in Dan’s anger talking about Mark - just a line or two to acknowledge that Dan grew to accept him but still held some resentment, rather than making it all anger which is not how we remember it. Because otherwise, I ended up really liking the scene and that they addressed how Mark’s death pushed her further down this life path she never saw for herself. Lecy really sold it. I’m not sure how I feel about the reveal of how Mark died. Motorcycle accident being hit by a deer? I don’t hate it. But I guess after all this time wondering it just seems a little anti-climactic, or I wanted more from it when it was revealed, rather than it being mentioned in such a throw-away moment.

Agreed 100%. Similar to last season's final comp (and many of the individual challenges), there's a brains or puzzle element missing that would allow those with different skills to shine, and the opportunity in the final comp for those behind to potentially catch up, or for those in the lead to switch. I also wish quality of work was more of a factor in challenges when it could be relevant. Unfortunately being able to muscle through seems to be a winning strategy, which is making the show a little predictable.

I am almost sure she couldn't have. Before uploading, she would have seen that it was still recording and be able to edit it. Not only that, but I would assume that most people who have a podcast - even amateur beginners - wouldn't just immediately upload it right after recording it. You give it an edit to add in music for the intro and outro, check that your audio levels sound okay, test how it plays when a listener starts and ends the episode etc.; at the very least just check that it even recorded properly before choosing to upload it. But again, this is Maggie, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised how careless she is and how she just assumes people are going to be interested in her lazily produced podcast which still somehow attracts 1000+ people to listen. I also don't really get why Dakota covered for Eddie - her motivation should be to keep Eddie around so he can continue to help produce her music (it's the explicit reason we were told last week when she chose to enable his addiction), so I don't see how taking the fall for him accomplished that since it barrs her from coming around and Eddie from working with her. Maybe she would have been found out anyway if Eddie came clean that Dakota gave him her pills, but in either case I don't get what she got out of covering for him. Their friendship has been very transactional so I can't really see her doing it because she cares or wants to protect him (and well, if she did, then she wouldn't have given him the pills in the first place!)

I agree that the feedback the judges gave last episode was refreshing to see. The real test though (at least for me), is what they'll say once the live shows begin - this is usually when these judges' critiques suddenly become nothing but praise and minimal constructive feedback on this reboot, which has disappointed me because that's when the contestants need it most, so we can see them grow week to week. But with the faster contestant cuts and reduced number of live shows that Idol does now, I sense that these judges don't want to be too critical of them at that stage of the competition since it moves at such a quicker pace. I'll be optimistic and hope that they keep up this level of feedback, so we'll see.

I enjoyed a handful of the duets and always look forward to this night of Hollywood Week, but still wish they had an actual group round with groups of more than two people. Maybe it was COVID-mandated to keep this round to duos, but I recall them only doing duets last year as well and I was disappointed then too, because groups of 3+ have often made for more interesting performances - requiring more collaboration, learning how to really shine amongst others, more thought to choreography and how to use the stage etc. Plus none of the duets really chose upbeat songs, so I just missed the energy we've gotten with memorable past groups that had more fun with their performances. But still lots of good singing tonight, and it was nice to see the judges giving the contestants some actual feedback and suggestions to push themselves, which seems to be given few and far between on Idol these days.