S01.E09: Fellow Travelers

[secnarf]

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Ben lands in 1979 Chicago as Jack Armstrong, a devoted security guard to talented pop singer Carly Farmer. During Carly's prep for a concert, it quickly becomes clear her life is in danger and Ben must determine who is trying to kill her and why.

Original air date: Jan 2 2023

[AnimeMania]

Deborah Ann Woll as Carly
Daniel Bonjour as Trevor
Karissa Lee Staples as Jamie
Zach Sowers as Jack

[Trini]

I thought this was a good balance of leap story and HQ story; although, I don't think the show really needs Janice as an antagonist. But it looks like she'll be working with QLHQ now, so that's a little promising.

Still so many unanswered questions about Ben's leap; but I guess that's what the rest of the season is for. Did Ben really not trust anyone else, or could something else be going on?

Also I've noticed this for a while - and it might just be me - Raymond Lee's ear piercings are kind of large? It's not something I normally notice, but I notice it here.

[AnimeMania]

5 hours ago, Trini said:

I don't think the show really needs Janice as an antagonist. But it looks like she'll be working with QLHQ now

As an unpaid intern with room and board.

[stonehaven]

I started to watch this but Addison's whining to Ben really annoyed me. I know others pointed it out but I noticed it last night. I mean, if the love of your life said "oh yeah, I know when you die", you're natural reaction is to tell them to shut up and stop talking like that. Most people can't handle knowing their own mortality. If Addison were actually thinking about it, it's why Ben doesn't tell whomever he's supposed to help "BTW-at 10;40pm tonight, someone will kill you. Just don't go out for pizza".

I switched to the tragic MNF game and never went back to the episode and have no real desire to watch this any time soon.

 

[KaveDweller]

I enjoyed this episode, I thought the singer was likable and that her issues with her sister was a good story. This show is definitely at its best when the leaper story is the strongest.

I get Addison being annoyed at Ben not telling her that her life was in danger, but obviously there is something bigger going on and the guy has amnesia so asking him repeatedly won't help him give you better answers. And it did make sense that he not tell Carly what was happening because he wouldn't be able to explain how she knew everything.

[Cress]

I liked the episode. Good mystery, and they finally found Janis. Hope there will be more revelations soon.

[Lisa418722]

I liked the singer and her sister and that storyline. 
I liked Janis and that storylinie. 
I just don't care about Addison.  I wish I did since she is so much of the show.  

[Granny58]

I want to like this show and as an ardent fan of the original I feel obligated to like this show...but I just don't.  Maybe it was my hot crush on Scott Bakula or he had more charisma as Sam Beckett, but either way, I am not becoming invested in this show.  I'm disappointed.  

[Starchild]

Is it just me, or did Bakula have more nuance to his performance? I haven't watched the original since first run, so I don't remember specific episodes, but I have the sense that Bakula would moderate his acting to suggest mannerisms of the person he was inhabiting. While the new guy is not as subtle and is always the same no matter whose body/life he's in.

Am I imagining this?

[iMonrey]

Quote

I want to like this show and as an ardent fan of the original I feel obligated to like this show...but I just don't.  Maybe it was my hot crush on Scott Bakula or he had more charisma as Sam Beckett, but either way, I am not becoming invested in this show.  I'm disappointed.

Yeah the show just has too many problems. The biggest, IMO, is Addison. There's just no chemistry with her and Ben, and the show is leaning way too hard into that relationship. It also prevents Ben from exploring relationships during the leaps.

The ongoing HQ storyline doesn't work either, because it's the only constant, which makes the leaps look like insignificant one-offs. The leaps themselves should be the primary focus of the show, not the staff back at HQ trying to figure out what's going on. Plus they've made little progress since the pilot so it feels like the same thing every week.

Finally, Ben himself feels too peripheral during the leaps. Most of them are about someone else rather than the person he's leaping into. This week's leap about the singer is a perfect example of that. Why should I care whether Carly lives or dies? I don't know Carly and after this week I'll never hear about her again.

The original show did that sometimes too but only once Sam was better established. There need to be more leaps where the person Ben leaps into is the center of the story, not someone he's just tangentially related to.

Sadly, I don't see any hope of fixing this show. There's just way too much wrong with it.

[Granny58]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah the show just has too many problems. The biggest, IMO, is Addison. There's just no chemistry with her and Ben, and the show is leaning way too hard into that relationship. It also prevents Ben from exploring relationships during the leaps.

The ongoing HQ storyline doesn't work either, because it's the only constant, which makes the leaps look like insignificant one-offs. The leaps themselves should be the primary focus of the show, not the staff back at HQ trying to figure out what's going on. Plus they've made little progress since the pilot so it feels like the same thing every week.

Finally, Ben himself feels too peripheral during the leaps. Most of them are about someone else rather than the person he's leaping into. This week's leap about the singer is a perfect example of that. Why should I care whether Carly lives or dies? I don't know Carly and after this week I'll never hear about her again.

The original show did that sometimes too but only once Sam was better established. There need to be more leaps where the person Ben leaps into is the center of the story, not someone he's just tangentially related to.

Sadly, I don't see any hope of fixing this show. There's just way too much wrong with it.

I think all the points you mention are spot on.   Also, I don't care for Addison either.  I would rather watch QL original reruns.  They never fail.

[DoctorAtomic]

23 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I enjoyed this episode, I thought the singer was likable and that her issues with her sister was a good story. This show is definitely at its best when the leaper story is the strongest.

I get Addison being annoyed at Ben not telling her that her life was in danger, but obviously there is something bigger going on and the guy has amnesia so asking him repeatedly won't help him give you better answers. And it did make sense that he not tell Carly what was happening because he wouldn't be able to explain how she knew everything.

One thing I did like was they basically took care of the angst about Addison being (justifiably) ticked at Ben *and* Janice in one episode. I'm sure Janice is going to be annoying, but the scene with her and Jen was quite well written and acted. We all were saying here, there's no way Janice is the 'big bad' because she's Al's daughter, and she undoubtedly revered Sam. But if she knows Quantum Leap is compromised, and Ben knows but doesn't remember, she's not going to talk much. The question is, how do they know? Does Sam leap in and tell them? Oooh, maybe Sam leaped into Janice! I'm claiming it if I'm right!

I actually like the QL characters so I hope Janice's reasons aren't because someone is genuinely bad. Maybe someone does something inadvertently thinking they were helping. Knowing Janice, it's probably some meaningless slight. I think we said early on that we thought she got booted from QL originally because she was looking for Sam. It could be that she thinks she found him too. 

I also enjoyed the leap. I always liked on the OG when Sam 'fixed' something, there was more that popped up. They did that with the shuttle mission too. I thought it was Trevor from the go, and I was washing dishes and watching on my tablet so I didn't catch him being confused about the invite. I did know that it wasn't the sister because who would type the notes? 

I also am enjoying Ben subtly becoming a more experienced leaper. He kind of figured he was supposed to push the fan away, but then you see him check the badge, look in the mirror. He's getting a feel for people more too. 

 

[Chyromaniac]

Very curious to find out if that was actually Deborah Ann Woll singing - if so, she was pretty good as a Stevie Nicks type singer.  The leap was a decent take off on The Bodyguard too- nice twist, but maybe they could have done more with the apparent romance between DAW and Ben as the guard.  But then you’ve got Ben’s fiancé hanging around, so yeah…. And, I thought the whole scenario was a little too… sanitized?  I know this is network TV, but this is supposedly a 1979 rock tour.  So… where’s the drugs???

Otherwise- points for getting a bunch of Chicago references in the script, but the visuals felt more like studio backlots than actual locations (when I took the Universal tour, they said QL shoots there a lot).  Also, Lake Shore Drive isn’t exactly a road that one would go casually take a stroll along- it’s basically a freeway.  Maybe go with the Magnificent Mile or Grant Park for your potential murder walk.  The present day mysteries still don’t do much for me, but hopefully we can start getting some traction on them now with Janis in custody.

[DoctorAtomic]

Given the sister's history of substance abuse, I could see maybe that the singer just didn't want drugs around her. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Well, I am going to go against prevailing opinion and say that I have really been enjoying this new version of Quantum Leap. I feel like it keeps to the spirit of the original series while updating it enough to feel like fresh and its own series. 

I like both Raymond Lee and the Ben Song character. I always liked the "boy scout" aspect of Sam's character and I feel like they have kept that without making him a carbon copy of Sam.

As for Addison - I like her as the expert that Ben isn't. I think they do have chemistry. I will say, I think that they are trying a little too much to make us care about their relationship - it took years for the original series to make us understand the depth of the Sam/Al friendship. So I wish they would let Ben and Addison's relationship unfold a little more organically. 

As for this episode, I had a minor quibble in that I figured there would be a final twist (and at that point, I assumed it was one of the back up band or singers), so that was a little obvious to me. But they did a good job of tying the themes together - of teamwork, honesty, and trusting one another - in both the Leap and the overarching story.

[DoctorAtomic]

43 minutes ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

So I wish they would let Ben and Addison's relationship unfold a little more organically. 

I like the show fine. I'm watching every week. 

I don't think in the current TV landscape that the show really can allow time to unfold though. They only had the short season order to start. You just can't do that anymore. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Yeah, I get that. But they do know they have a second season, so maybe they can take a little more time right now. They are doing a good job of letting the whole "Leaper X" story unfold, maybe they could do the same with Ben and Addison. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by eleanorofaquitaine

[DoctorAtomic]

The disgruntled leaper plot seems something that's trotted out when they need to, more than an unfolding. If this was the old days, I'd say it's a sweeps plot, but I don't think there's sweeps anymore. We haven't seen him since then. They wrapped up Addison being ticked at Ben and tracking down Janis fairly quick here. (I do think that was a good choice). Those are more 'main plots'. I suppose Ben figuring out why he leaped and whether Janis will talk are longer narratives. I'd like to get more of a peek into Janis' pov because right now she's just not talking and distrustful of anyone. So we're not getting any new information. Maybe she'll jump into the imaging chamber on the sly and talk to Ben. 

I'd prefer a longer narrative for sure. I don't think that's where the broadcast landscape is. I'm even surprised that each episode ends with the leap to the next one. I do think they're finding the right balance with the leaps v present day with the time they have. I think everyone is in agreement that the show works best when we're invested in the leaps. I also like that Ben is more experienced and gets his bearings better as the show has progressed. He basically figured out the 'possession' all on his own. So, there's a good unfolding there. 

I also don't know if this last batch of episodes was already in the can prior to the second season.

[possibilities]

I like that Ben is trying to be ethical about using someone else's life to do his mission. When the singer referred to a past statement of interest by the body guard, he didn't deny it but he didn't exploit it, either. Sam having sex with the wife of the person whose life he leapt into was always an ethical problem (happened in the very first episode of the old show, IIRC), and Ben is avoiding those kinds of things. That is something I like about the version of the show. It's way more careful about consent and ethical concerns and tries to do the best it can to not cross more lines than it has to, considering possession is already really over the line.

 

[DoctorAtomic]

They tried to deal with the possession aspect of it with Magic's monologue about 'giving in to the push.' They seem to be aware of those issues. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by DoctorAtomic

[peachmangosteen]

6 hours ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

Yeah, I get that. But they do know they have a second season, so maybe they can take a little more time right now. 

I assume this episode was filmed before the show was renewed.

[Clanstarling]

On 1/8/2023 at 7:13 AM, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I like both Raymond Lee and the Ben Song character. I always liked the "boy scout" aspect of Sam's character and I feel like they have kept that without making him a carbon copy of Sam.

I do like the Ben Song character (we differ on Addison).

On 1/8/2023 at 7:58 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think in the current TV landscape that the show really can allow time to unfold though. They only had the short season order to start. You just can't do that anymore. 

It's a pity really, some of the best shows took time to develop.

19 hours ago, possibilities said:

I like that Ben is trying to be ethical about using someone else's life to do his mission. When the singer referred to a past statement of interest by the body guard, he didn't deny it but he didn't exploit it, either. Sam having sex with the wife of the person whose life he leapt into was always an ethical problem (happened in the very first episode of the old show, IIRC), and Ben is avoiding those kinds of things. That is something I like about the version of the show. It's way more careful about consent and ethical concerns and tries to do the best it can to not cross more lines than it has to, considering possession is already really over the line.

I like that too - though granted it's because we've changed our perspectives over the years (which isn't saying that many of us didn't find it a bit squicky in the original - I did, and I disliked parts of Stargate Universe for the same reason).

I'm liking it more as the season goes on. I can't really remember if I liked the original immediately, so I am giving it time. Though being a big Scott Bakula fan, Raymond has a lot to measure up to (kidding).

Edited January 9, 2023 by Clanstarling
Mixed up Stargate Universe with Stargate Atlantis. Universe is more relevant to the topic of discussion.

[DoctorAtomic]

58 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I did, and I disliked parts of Stargate Atlantis for the same reason

Oh, were you around here for that? What an awful idea. 

 

[Clanstarling]

8 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Oh, were you around here for that? What an awful idea. 

 

I wasn't on the forums then. But they took what could have been an interesting concept and ruined it specifically with the mind transfer issues. Too bad I wasn't on the forum. Would have been interesting.

OH WAIT - I meant Stargate Universe (which had the mind transfer stuff). I guess I hated it so much I forgot the actual name.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Clanstarling

[DoctorAtomic]

I knew what you meant. You missed out. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

21 hours ago, possibilities said:

I like that Ben is trying to be ethical about using someone else's life to do his mission. When the singer referred to a past statement of interest by the body guard, he didn't deny it but he didn't exploit it, either. Sam having sex with the wife of the person whose life he leapt into was always an ethical problem (happened in the very first episode of the old show, IIRC), and Ben is avoiding those kinds of things. That is something I like about the version of the show. It's way more careful about consent and ethical concerns and tries to do the best it can to not cross more lines than it has to, considering possession is already really over the line.

 

I don't remember the very first episode but to be fair to the original show, it was always rather a big deal when Sam did have sex (though I agree it's still an ethical problem, since his partners were unaware that they were having sex with him). I can only remember three times and each of them, there were emotional reasons for Sam - first was in the episode where he leaps into the actor doing some off-Broadway version of The Man of La Mancha, and it turns out his co-star is Sam's old piano teacher on whom he had a crush; the second when he has sex with the photographer in Vietnam in the episodes with his brother, which IIRC we are supposed to see as a breach of Sam's ethics and an indication of the lengths to which he would violate his own ethical code to save Tom; and finally, with Abigail Fuller, with whom we are led to believe Sam has fallen in love (and obviously which results in a child - I do wonder if Sammy Jo ends up in this new version at some point). So they were pretty sparing with that trope and always tried to connect it to Sam's own feelings but yeah, still, there is a lot of ethical problems with it.

I suspect that there will be even less of a temptation to do that with Ben because of Addison, and because Addison can see everything that Ben is doing. Even in kissing Carly in this episode, Ben wasn't comfortable with it, probably because of Addison but also because of the ethical challenges. But I think at some point they might have to address that possibility head on.

Edited January 9, 2023 by eleanorofaquitaine

[DoctorAtomic]

I think first episode Sam leaped into the test pilot, and his wife was having a baby. The pilot would have died in the test. So I don't think there was sex in that one. 

However, the fundamental point I think is even without the sex, Sam was intimate with a lot of people. That's still as much of an issue. 

Here, Ben was clearly not comfortable just with the kiss. Even when he leaped into the bounty hunter, he avoided the proposal and put off any real discussion until he leaped. 

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I knew what you meant. You missed out. 

I just found the forum on the Way Back Machine. I've bookmarked it and will have a fun read - though, sadly, no input.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

31 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I think first episode Sam leaped into the test pilot, and his wife was having a baby. The pilot would have died in the test. So I don't think there was sex in that one. 

However, the fundamental point I think is even without the sex, Sam was intimate with a lot of people. That's still as much of an issue. 

Here, Ben was clearly not comfortable just with the kiss. Even when he leaped into the bounty hunter, he avoided the proposal and put off any real discussion until he leaped. 

Not sure I agree that three people over the course of several years is "a lot." In my view, I think that the ethical violates were related to issues of consent, since the women he was with were unaware that they were having sex with Dr. Sam Beckett - they thought they were having sex with someone else. (Plus, we also find out that Sam is married. He doesn't remember his wife, but regardless, it means he is unfaithful, which seems like something that would really bother Sam if he knew it). I think that the original show didn't really explore those issues of consent and ethics as well as they could, though I also think that they weren't cavalier about Sam's sexual ethics - he wasn't a womanizer or someone who took advantage of women, except that he had a few lapses of judgment. We haven't seen that with Ben yet but I do imagine at some point, we'll also see Ben have some lapses of judgment (maybe not related to sexual intimacy but to something else) because otherwise, the character becomes one-dimensional.

It also occurs to me that Sam was in the body of Magic when he slept with the reporter in Vietnam - I wonder how Magic feels about that, or if he is even aware of it? (Oh, and yikes, I forgot that Maggie Dawson also dies in that episode - again, I think that episode shows how much Sam would put most of his moral standards aside to save his brother, which is why it's such a compelling story arc).

[DoctorAtomic]

Given that Ben, Addison et al. have access to Sam's leaps, iirc, maybe this has been an issue of discussion. (I would like it to come to light.) 

It strikes me that they're aware of this dilemma. We haven't really had a leap that was 'personal' for Ben yet. He called his mother, but I'm talking like interacting with a figure from his personal past as part of the leap. 

As you pointed out, Sam always forgot about Donna and they never told him. Here, they got it out of the way quickly that Ben remembered Addison. So that's a whole new thing. He was married in the 1989 SF earthquake, not that never really factored beyond the plot to save their son. 

[Irlandesa]

I'm usually big on issues of consent but I'm not always entirely bothered by the fact that he slept with people.

In some instances, sleeping with them is something they'd naturally be doing and not sleeping with them would stand out.  In other instances, the person IS sleeping with the spirit and essence of Sam, even if he's in someone else's body, because that's what attracted the person the most. Yeah, that can be questionable even though they don't remember it happening but I don't know if it's something that keeps me up at night when I rewatch the series nor do I see it being controversial if they were to do it here. 

[TheOtherOne]

This is probably irrelevant to the points being discussed, but Sam also had sex with the psychic in Temptation Eyes, but there were also no consent issues because she saw him for who he really was and he told her his whole story.

[KaveDweller]

37 minutes ago, TheOtherOne said:

This is probably irrelevant to the points being discussed, but Sam also had sex with the psychic in Temptation Eyes, but there were also no consent issues because she saw him for who he really was and he told her his whole story.

Sam had sex with lots of women in the original. There was one episode where he leapt into a guy when he was literally naked in bed with a woman and Sam just rolled with it. And it turned out that she was the grown up version of the girl who was his daughter in the last episode, so I remember thinking it was kind of icky. But Sam was in love with her later that episode. He seemed to fall in love a lot.

I think Ben will try and avoid it because he knows he is engaged to Addison and she is right there. In the original they had Sam not remember he was married and the wife being okay with that because she knew Sam would need to have sex as a leaper.

[TheOtherOne]

5 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Sam had sex with lots of women in the original. There was one episode where he leapt into a guy when he was literally naked in bed with a woman and Sam just rolled with it. And it turned out that she was the grown up version of the girl who was his daughter in the last episode, so I remember thinking it was kind of icky. But Sam was in love with her later that episode. He seemed to fall in love a lot.

I think Ben will try and avoid it because he knows he is engaged to Addison and she is right there. In the original they had Sam not remember he was married and the wife being okay with that because she knew Sam would need to have sex as a leaper.

I know. The people above are discussing exactly that. That episode is one that was mentioned, but Temptation Eyes is not, which is why I brought it up.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

Again, I don't think four partners over several years is "lots of women." (I had forgotten about the psychic in Temptation Eyes). Because of current mores and attitudes towards sex and consent in contemporary society, I suspect that the new show will deal with the issue differently. But Sam wasn't shown to be promiscuous, especially for that era.

 

I wonder if part of the reason they created the Ben/Addison dynamic was to sidestep the question? It makes it easier to remove the question entirely if Ben's fiancee is right there constantly. 

[Clanstarling]

43 minutes ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I wonder if part of the reason they created the Ben/Addison dynamic was to sidestep the question? It makes it easier to remove the question entirely if Ben's fiancee is right there constantly. 

My thoughts exactly. And though I do not like Addison much, I like the fact it removes the question.

[possibilities]

Regarding my comment about the first episode of the earlier series, it must have been the 2nd episode then? Was that a 2-part story? He was definitely romantically involved with the woman in that story, the wife of the pilot he was rescuing. There was a scene where they are dancing and she comments that he never dances, and they are being quite snoggy.

My original observation about Ben handling it better, though, was because I see him as pretty consistently trying not to do things (not just sex) that might interfere with the relationships or life story of anyone he encounters, other than to save whoever he is saving from death, and he defines his missions very narrowly, trying to avoid anything else. I saw Sam as being much looser and sloppier and kind of free-wheeling it, more than focusing hard on his task and trying to figure out what that was without becoming distracted.

[bybrandy]

Best part of this episode, only good part, Ian true crime aficionado and everything in that scene. 

[DoctorAtomic]

The first episode was a 2 parter, so he may have danced with the wife at some point. She did go into labor in the episode. 

[Linderhill]

did anyone else think of the episode from the original series when Sam leapt into a KISS-like rocker?  One of the songs his character had the line "I'm a Traveller" and this episode's number sounded reminded me of that song.

[ALenore]

The guy Ben jumps into is named Jack Armstrong. Every time I saw the name, I couldn't help silently adding "The All American Boy."  It was a radio serial that ran from the 30s to the 50's. I never heard it, but my mother listened to it as a child and talked about it often.