S02.E06: Secret History

[secnarf]

Quote

At Princeton University in 1955, Ben must find a formula hidden by Albert Einstein that holds the key to nuclear energy before the Nazis get it. He's surprised to run into a familiar face on campus.

Original air date: November 15, 2023

[AnimeMania]

[Starchild]

An average episode that yielded several observations for me:

1. Tom is the best hologram yet (even better than Ian, it pains me to say)
2. Ben the physicist has tons more chemistry with physicist Hannah than he ever had with soldier Addison -- in this case it's the opposite of "opposites attract"
3. It's obvious that the mysterious person behind this compromised chip that brought QL back online will turn out to be Hannah (or she's at least heavily involved)
4. Hannah knows the formula to kill the world -- how's THAT going to work out?

[possibilities]

I had never heard of Operation Paperclip, but apparently it's a real thing:

https://www.history.com/news/what-was-operation-paperclip

Disgraceful.

Giving Hannah "photographic memory" and having her clearly reading and memorizing the formula makes it seem inevitable that she will try to use it in the future, and become a villain, which depresses me. I was enjoying having her be just a smart woman who was aided by QL. And having Ben kiss her makes it worse, because when he winds up finding out she's terrible, and probably being the one who has to stop her, it just makes the angst factor absurdly terrible, after the whole Addison debacle. Why are they torturing Our Hero with romantic misery?

[Trini]

Wow, really don't care about Tom's current or former relationships. On the other hand, I hate that Ian's ex is only around to be a plot device. Hannah's a love interest for Ben? Saw that coming!

Jenn may not be as useful (depends on the context, though) on leaps, but I find that when paired with Ben it's a more interesting/entertaining dynamic.

 

19 hours ago, Starchild said:

Hannah knows the formula to kill the world -- how's THAT going to work out?

Yes, this! Also, doesn't Ben also have a photographic memory? Anyway, that formula is going to come back around; but how and when??

So who was Mystery Woman blackmailing Ian, and how is she related to Hannah?

Edited November 16, 2023 by Trini
curses! typos quoted!

[Starchild]

20 minutes ago, Trini said:

Anyway, that formula going to come back around; but ... when??

End of the season, natch :)

[bros402]

I like Hannah and Ben's chemistry a lot!

It's so going to end up that Hannah is somehow related to the bad people... but maybe Ben will change it? Since I like her!

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I had never heard of Operation Paperclip, but apparently it's a real thing:

I had just the opposite reaction - Is there anyone who hasn't heard of the use of German scientists during the Cold War?  Does the name Werhner von Braun ring a bell?  For those interested in a bit of satire, look up Tom Lehrer's savage parody of von Braun on youtube.

Secondly - Are they saying that in 50+ years, no one in that library noticed that the clock was a few minutes fast and went to reset it?

Hannah - "Tell me something about the future."  Ben:  "Microsoft.  Intel.  Google.  Facebook.  Oh, and the Red Sox in '04."

[PurpleTentacle]

"These twisting magnetic coils allow us to stimulate plasma particles, that could in theory, produce limitless clean energy one day." Argh! You know when there is actual science, you don't need to invent nonsense technobabble, right, right?! Who would have said "clean energy" in 1955? Who would spout that nonsense at a Professor?

The prototype seems to be fairly accurate to what they tried at Princeton at the time (although I doubt it had a plastic hose). But not sure why Mark is so excited about it, considering how far removed this is from anything that could ever actually work. I guess he is a nerd and might just be exceited to see the beginnings of people thinking about this concept.

Also there is no "formula" that could magically solve fusion. Mark should know that. If the formula really exists at the end of the episode, I think I'll have to rage. (yes, I know time travel show, but the actual science should at least be somewhat accurate)

Maybe soviet spies were interested in the Stellarator, but if they were, they shouldn't have been. At the time it was a completely unworkable concept and they had the Tokamak. The Stellarator needs a pretty advanced understanding of plasma physics and powerfull computers that can simulate the correct shape and placement of the electromatic coils.

later:

Fusion reactions on earth can't destroy entire buildings. That's not how it works.

And I guess that formula was real. uarghhhhhhhh -.-

-

I guess Hannah is going to meet Ben a few more times throughout her life and by the end he will have changed her life so much, that she'll be able to bring him home. I see no other reason for her to be in this field of work and them meeting multiple times.

[PurpleTentacle]

14 hours ago, Starchild said:

Ben the physicist has tons more chemistry with physicist Hannah than he ever had with soldier Addison -- in this case it's the opposite of "opposites attract"

Is there no english saying for that? The german one would be: Gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern.

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

I had never heard of Operation Paperclip, but apparently it's a real thing:

It's how you got to the moon before the soviets. Amoung other things.

Apparently that was more important than other considerations.

10 hours ago, Trini said:

Yes, this! Also, doesn't Ben also have a photographic memory? Anyway, that formula going to come back around; but how and when??

I don't think the formula is important at all, other than a plot device in this episode.

Or maybe I just hope that's the case, because man was it dumb. But I really think it's about Hannah and her life, not the formula.

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Is there no english saying for that? The german one would be: Gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern.

Well, there's "birds of a feather flock together" or "great minds think alike" but they're not specific to romantic attraction.

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Starchild said:

Well, there's "birds of a feather flock together" or "great minds think alike" but they're not specific to romantic attraction.

There's also "like two peas in a pod"; but again, that's not usually used in a romantic situation.

[Oscirus]

Tom is easily the best hologram out of everybody. He takes the job seriously instead of fanboying/girling and uses his position as a hologram to get valuable information.  I'm not even mad at the dynamic those two have.

Are they purposely avoiding having Addison tom kiss? It seems weird that I don't remember seeing them kiss even though they're supposed to have been a couple for eight months.  For someone who claims to like partners who are open and vulnerable, she sure seems to pick partners who are the opposite.

Yo Ian, when your girl is giving up her livelihood to help you, maybe don't needlessly rub it in her employee's face that you one-upped them.

Show you literally bought up consent issues that happened on this show. If you can't get around said issues, don't have a romance between the two.

This show shines when it concentrates on the story, so more about the leaps and less about the outside world. 

One of the better episodes this season.

 

 

[Brown44]

10 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I guess Hannah is going to meet Ben a few more times throughout her life and by the end he will have changed her life so much, that she'll be able to bring him home. I see no other reason for her to be in this field of work and them meeting multiple times.

That's what I'm thinking. The team is gonna meet the very older Hannah and she's gonna try to help bring Ben back. Ben may have change her future so much that she maybe now have worked on the original Quantam project with Sam Beckett. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Brown44

[DoctorAtomic]

I said in E5 today that they should have shifts for the holograms. Not exactly what I meant here, but still. 

Kudos to calling Hannah coming back.

If only nuclear fusion was a formula. 70 years later, we've just scratched the surface. I don't really care; the show was about the former Nazis not being so former and how far the US would go in the Cold War. 

How does Jenn not know about Paperclip? It's not that an esoteric piece of history.

Clearly, we're seeing Hannah again, but I'm thinking Tragic Death than villian. Ben didn't give her any indication that QL is trying to get him home, and he didn't tell her why he leaped. 

She's got to be 30 at best; she'd be in her early 70s when Sam leaped. Unless she writes the theory that Sam applied to make the accelerator, I don't see how she would directly affect the present.

Unless Ben is his own grandfather. Choke on that, causality!

I agree Tom was an effective hologram. 

[KaveDweller]

19 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I had just the opposite reaction - Is there anyone who hasn't heard of the use of German scientists during the Cold War?  Does the name Werhner von Braun ring a bell?  For those interested in a bit of satire, look up Tom Lehrer's savage parody of von Braun on youtube.

I had never heard about that.

I don't think Hannah is going to end up a villain in the present timeline. First of all she was at least 20 in the 1949 episode, and the present storyline is now in 2026. She'd be 98, or even older. That's kind of old to be being a supervillain. I think they are trying to do a time-crossed lovers approach, kind of like Time Travellers Wife.

I liked Tom so much more as a hologram than his scenes at Project QL. But Jenn is also a great hologram.

 

[Guest]

On 11/15/2023 at 9:14 PM, possibilities said:

I had never heard of Operation Paperclip, but apparently it's a real thing:

I knew they recruited enemy scientists but only knew the project name because it’s a key plot detail in Marvel movies. 

 

On 11/15/2023 at 9:14 PM, possibilities said:

Giving Hannah "photographic memory" and having her clearly reading and memorizing the formula makes it seem inevitable that she will try to use it in the future, and become a villain, which depresses me.

I think she is going to be a factor in PQL but I don’t see her becoming a villain. If she was going use the formula there would be no reason for her to wait 70 years. History would have changed as soon as Ben saved her in 1955. 

3 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I liked Tom so much more as a hologram than his scenes at Project QL. But Jenn is also a great hologram.

I agree. Which is cementing for me that the problem is that Addison was miscast. Every other actor works better with Raymond Lee.

[CeeBeeGee]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

On 11/16/2023 at 12:14 AM, possibilities said:

I had never heard of Operation Paperclip, but apparently it's a real thing:

I knew they recruited enemy scientists but only knew the project name because it’s a key plot detail in Marvel movies. 

Also in The X-Files.

[Irlandesa]

I still like Ian as the hologram as they bring the humor and a funny energy but I also like what Tom brings just as much.  I think the fact that they're strangers was a unique dimension because they had a bit of a businesslike interaction with one another whereas the rest of the crew cares about Ben too much.

[Brown44]

I've just noticed that Ben hasn't leaped into a person with kid's or been around kid's and animals, I believe only kid's and animals could see Sam.

[PurpleTentacle]

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

If only nuclear fusion was a formula. 70 years later, we've just scratched the surface.

We are pretty much there. If we threw just a fraction of moon landing money at it and just built a few power plants, with the knowledge that some might not work (though most likely they would), we could be there in under 10 years. But apparently saving the planet isn't as important as one-upping the soviets.

Now we have to rely on the generosity of billionairs to maybe some day get there. The dumbest timeline.

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

She's got to be 30 at best; she'd be in her early 70s when Sam leaped. Unless she writes the theory that Sam applied to make the accelerator, I don't see how she would directly affect the present.

The actress is 34, but I had a feeling that she was supposed to play younger when Ben first met her. Probably like 20. I assume they did that so they can age her up more convincingly. So let's say 26 in 1955, that would make her 60 when Sam leaped and 94 now. Which, some scientists are still working at that age. Not sure if they should, but they are. I'm predicting a very old Hannah is going to stroll up to the door of quantum leap by the end of the season.

7 hours ago, Dani said:

I agree. Which is cementing for me that the problem is that Addison was miscast. Every other actor works better with Raymond Lee.

Yep. I wish they'd taken this opportunity to just yeet her off the show. I really don't need her "dramatic" scenes every episode.

[Dowel Jones]

13 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I had never heard about that.

I should have been a bit clearer on that.  I was referring to the characters, rather than all of us out here.  I would think anyone working on a secret government project would have at least heard about, if not known about, the history of space flight during the Cold War.

13 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

4 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

But apparently saving the planet isn't as important as one-upping the soviets.

 

And in truth, that's all the space race was about in its early days.  Kennedy even said that if we couldn't beat the Russians, he wasn't interested in budgeting a program to go to the moon.  And we see just how fast interest dropped off after the first mission was completed.

[KaveDweller]

11 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

The actress is 34, but I had a feeling that she was supposed to play younger when Ben first met her. Probably like 20. I assume they did that so they can age her up more convincingly. So let's say 26 in 1955, that would make her 60 when Sam leaped and 94 now. Which, some scientists are still working at that age. Not sure if they should, but they are. I'm predicting a very old Hannah is going to stroll up to the door of quantum leap by the end of the season.

If she was 60 when Sam leaped (in 1999) she'd be 97 now, because present day Quantum Leap is now 3-years ahead of us. It is 2026 for them.

Which I guess makes it plausible we see her in old age make up at some point.

Edited November 18, 2023 by KaveDweller

[PurpleTentacle]

Ah okay, thank you. Did not consider that they are slightly ahead.

But as you say, still within a human lifespan though. Guess we'll see if she shows up at the end of the season, but my money is on yes.

Edited November 18, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[QuantumMechanic]

It really is amazing how literally everyone who interacts with Ben has better chemistry with him than Addison.  They biffed it big time hiring that actor.

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by QuantumMechanic

[iMonrey]

I'm not sure I followed this. If Donovan was a Nazi hired by the US government, does that mean he wanted to build a bomb for the US government, or for someone else? And if he was working for our government, wouldn't they prevent him from being arrested and/or going to prison? I'm sure they don't want anyone to know they recruited Nazi scientists. At the very least they would silence him.

Some really poor directing WRT the fire in the secret room. Once they got out of it there was no urgency in putting it out. Ben and Hannah just sat there calmly as though the whole library wasn't in danger of going up in flames, and it seemed like Ben only told Hannah to go call the fire department as an afterthought. The sword fight was cheesy as hell too. And too much Bond Villain Gloating instead of just running Ben through, giving Hannah plenty of time to clock him over the head.

I don't get what's going on with the special chip either. Is Ian's love interest going to prevent her boss from deactivating it? How, if she's fired?

Only two more episodes, and I suspect that will be the end of it.

[PurpleTentacle]

18 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

If Donovan was a Nazi hired by the US government, does that mean he wanted to build a bomb for the US government, or for someone else?

I think he wanted to build a bomb to somehow take over the world and resurrect the third Reich or something. It didn't make much sense.

18 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

And if he was working for our government, wouldn't they prevent him from being arrested and/or going to prison? I'm sure they don't want anyone to know they recruited Nazi scientists. At the very least they would silence him.

Yeah that he got taken away by the idiot police from the beginning of the episode was ridiculous. He should have been taken away by men in black suits.

18 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Only two more episodes, and I suspect that will be the end of it.

Wikipedia says this season is supposed to have 13 episodes. While mid-season cancellations are not unheard of, they are pretty rare in season 2. So I hope they get to finish this story.

Edited November 18, 2023 by PurpleTentacle

[Guest]

3 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Wikipedia says this season is supposed to have 13 episodes. While mid-season cancellations are not unheard of, they are pretty rare in season 2. So I hope they get to finish this story.

8 episodes were filmed before the strike and production is supposed to resume before the end of the month on the final 5 episodes of the season. 

The last two episodes have brought in the show’s highest ratings since the pilot. It’s not in any danger of being cancelled mid-season. 

[CeeBeeGee]

18 hours ago, Brown44 said:

I've just noticed that Ben hasn't leaped into a person with kid's or been around kid's and animals, I believe only kid's and animals could see Sam.

And the mentally compromised (for lack of a better word--in Shock Treatment Tibby and the others could see him, right? Or was it just Al they could see?).

I still don't know why Bakula didn't get the Emmy for that episode. He played like seven different characters!

[Oscirus]

It's not lost on me that her life improved the two times Ben ran into her. It's almost as if Ziggy is motivated to see her succeed.

On 11/16/2023 at 11:21 PM, Dani said:

I agree. Which is cementing for me that the problem is that Addison was miscast. Every other actor works better with Raymond Lee.

To be fair to the actress, the writing for her is shit. She should be flourishing away from Ben and that soap opera-ish stuff, yet even this week, she's stuck in soap opera nonsense just with a new actor. Even if she were Meryl Streep, she couldn't overcome that nonsense.

[PurpleTentacle]

9 hours ago, Dani said:

The last two episodes have brought in the show’s highest ratings since the pilot. It’s not in any danger of being cancelled mid-season. 

The ratings of the first few episodes of the season were really low. Nice to hear it recovered.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I think that it strained a little credulity that anyone working for the QL project would be unaware of Operation Paper Clip. As mentioned, it's been a major plot point in popular culture (The X-Files built several seasons around it and it has been key to a few Marvel movies). I am not even sure why Tom had to declassify files about it because I feel like the whole story about it has been out there for decades. But the point is, science types like the QL staff are certainly going to be aware of Marvel and The X-Files.

Otherwise I thought this was a good episode. I don't dislike Addison like so many others but I also think that the relationship between her and Ben wasn't working. So I think they have done a good job reconfiguring the team.

[iMonrey]

39 minutes ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I don't dislike Addison like so many others but I also think that the relationship between her and Ben wasn't working. So I think they have done a good job reconfiguring the team.

The problem is, now she serves no purpose. She can't be the hologram anymore, so what is her role? If they aren't going to write her off the show then they must be keeping her around for an eventual reconciliation with Ben. Which is something nobody wants.

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

The problem is, now she serves no purpose. She can't be the hologram anymore, so what is her role? If they aren't going to write her off the show then they must be keeping her around for an eventual reconciliation with Ben. Which is something nobody wants.

While I wouldn’t be completely shocked if they reunited Ben and Addison I don’t think her still being her is an indication that they are endgame. They aren’t writing this season like Ben and Addison are the show’s OTP. If they were, they wouldn’t have been able to resist including a shot of Addison reacting to the kiss. 

They may prove me wrong but, at this point, I think they realized Ben/Addison didn’t work and are in the process of course correcting. Caitlin Bassett is the show’s female lead so that can’t just write her off immediately. 

[DoctorAtomic]

She's military trained. She can be part of security. She's been a hologram for a year, and she can advise Magic. 

tbh, she could be the hologram manager and assign who is helping Ben. Working with Ian and Ziggy on projecting the leap, and planning accordingly. QL isn't particularly pro active. They only shoved Tom in there because there was no one else, but he was the best fit for the situation.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

The problem is, now she serves no purpose. She can't be the hologram anymore, so what is her role? If they aren't going to write her off the show then they must be keeping her around for an eventual reconciliation with Ben. Which is something nobody wants.

I mean, tv shows evolve. Just because she's used only tangentially in one episode doesn't mean she will have no other role moving forward. Especially because she does have military training, etc.

I don't think that they are necessarily "keeping her around" for a reconciliation. Instead, I think that this is an ensemble show (unlike the original, which was really just focused on Sam and Al), and they are keeping her around because she's part of the ensemble. It's possible there could be a reconciliation but right now, I see them writing carefully so that the audience accepts her relationship with Tom (and Tom himself), and for the audience to root for Ben and Hannah.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

She's military trained. She can be part of security. She's been a hologram for a year, and she can advise Magic. 

tbh, she could be the hologram manager and assign who is helping Ben. Working with Ian and Ziggy on projecting the leap, and planning accordingly. QL isn't particularly pro active. They only shoved Tom in there because there was no one else, but he was the best fit for the situation.

My guess is that she will be back to being the main hologram shortly. She couldn’t be the hologram because Ben couldn’t deal with the changes while seeing her regularly but the last episode went a long way to Ben accepting and moving on himself. 

I think Addison can be a decent character if they drop the relationship angst. They probably cast the actress because she is also military trained.

She just isn’t great at the interpersonal dynamics. 

Just now, eleanorofaquitaine said:

It's possible there could be a reconciliation but right now, I see them writing carefully so that the audience accepts her relationship with Tom (and Tom himself), and for the audience to root for Ben and Hannah.

That’s exactly what I think they are setting up. 

[Oscirus]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

She's military trained. She can be part of security. She's been a hologram for a year, and she can advise Magic. 

tbh, she could be the hologram manager and assign who is helping Ben. Working with Ian and Ziggy on projecting the leap, and planning accordingly. QL isn't particularly pro active. They only shoved Tom in there because there was no one else, but he was the best fit for the situation.

Unless Jess is incapacitated, there's no current use for her to be there if she's not the hologram. They're all aware of what being a hologram entails at this point.

It's been two episodes and they got little use for her. She was only used in the last episode because Ian and Jenn were busy with that chip nonsense.

[Oscirus]

1 hour ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I mean, tv shows evolve. Just because she's used only tangentially in one episode doesn't mean she will have no other role moving forward. Especially because she does have military training, etc.

I don't think that they are necessarily "keeping her around" for a reconciliation. Instead, I think that this is an ensemble show (unlike the original, which was really just focused on Sam and Al), and they are keeping her around because she's part of the ensemble. It's possible there could be a reconciliation but right now, I see them writing carefully so that the audience accepts her relationship with Tom (and Tom himself), and for the audience to root for Ben and Hannah.

What good does military training do in this scenario if its not being used to advise Ben? Jenn's already got security covered.

That might work if it weren't for the fact that the writers aren't subtle at all. If they'd just let Addison and Tom act like a couple instead of basically tiptoeing around HQ when everybody's fine with the relationship, the audience might accept it. Instead, they're going to just make Addison look bad by highlighting how many years Hannah's willing to wait for Ben.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

3 hours ago, Oscirus said:

That might work if it weren't for the fact that the writers aren't subtle at all. If they'd just let Addison and Tom act like a couple instead of basically tiptoeing around HQ when everybody's fine with the relationship, the audience might accept it. Instead, they're going to just make Addison look bad by highlighting how many years Hannah's willing to wait for Ben.

I am not really sure I understand the argument here? For one thing, Tom and Addison are a couple who share a workplace. So far, we've seen them act like a couple...who share a workplace. We only get brief glimpses of any of the QL staff outside of HQ and within HQ, I think that Tom and Addison have acted appropriately and professionally. I don't think they are tip-toeing around their relationship, they just aren't acting super lovey-dovey because they are at work.

Secondly, I think that the audience does accept Addison and Tom as a couple? Given the fact that everyone seemed to really dislike Ben and Addison, it feels like a large majority of the audience is relieved to see Addison with Tom and Ben with a new love interest in Hannah.

Personally, I think the some of the best writing for Addison was around her talking to Ben about what it was like to "lose" him and what processing that grief was like. So I feel like they have gone out of their way to not make her look bad. Now, do I think that they are going to have to find more effective ways to use the character if they aren't going to reconcile them? Sure. But it's only been a few episodes since they split them as leaper/hologram, and I am willing to give them a little more time to figure out what next to do with her. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I give the show credit for shaking up the formula. Taking the three year leap (ha!) is risky for a network show. I'm not sure TPTBs on the show did it because Ben/Addison "wasn't working". I thought they were fine and not as bad as made out to be. They could have given her a little more to work with - 'five minutes as a woman and you've already been called a bitch' rather than just dispense information. You're kind of painted into a corner. Al was nearly as emotional invested in the leap as Sam, and that wasn't coming across as much here. 

It's no surprise when they had holograms coming in to get Ben through the leap that we all liked it more. It's a more active approach. I would have preferred one more episode with no hologram.

Having Addison as the only person Ben interacted with when he had lost his memory made sense. Now, that's no longer needed. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

My feeling is that as leaper/hologram, Ben and Addison worked. Like they actually had a similar chemistry as Sam and Al in those roles because these are two people who care about each other and the world around them, and also they each brought important skills to their roles.

But I don't think that they had great chemistry as a romantic couple, and that's where I think that shaking things up a bit is a good thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Addison does eventually end up back in the hologram role, which would be fine with me. But I think that having her act as the hologram without the romantic relationship would be best.

[Oscirus]

4 hours ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I am not really sure I understand the argument here? For one thing, Tom and Addison are a couple who share a workplace. So far, we've seen them act like a couple...who share a workplace. We only get brief glimpses of any of the QL staff outside of HQ and within HQ, I think that Tom and Addison have acted appropriately and professionally. I don't think they are tip-toeing around their relationship, they just aren't acting super lovey-dovey because they are at work.

Secondly, I think that the audience does accept Addison and Tom as a couple? Given the fact that everyone seemed to really dislike Ben and Addison, it feels like a large majority of the audience is relieved to see Addison with Tom and Ben with a new love interest in Hannah.

Personally, I think the some of the best writing for Addison was around her talking to Ben about what it was like to "lose" him and what processing that grief was like. So I feel like they have gone out of their way to not make her look bad. Now, do I think that they are going to have to find more effective ways to use the character if they aren't going to reconcile them? Sure. But it's only been a few episodes since they split them as leaper/hologram, and I am willing to give them a little more time to figure out what next to do with her. 

Other than that one scene where Tom kind of flirted with her, they've done nothing other than have soap opera dialogue scenes together. If she didn't tell Ben they were a couple, they wouldn't come off as a couple. I don't need them full-on making out at work, but they can at least have some subtle gestures.

The audience that didn't like Ben and Addison for the most part didn't like Addison. Putting her in another couple won't change that. I'm sure some people like them together, but I don't imagine it's a lot.  If they're trying to drum up support for said relationship, slow playing it the way, they are isn't going to help.

Maybe Im in the minority, but if they continue down this path of showing Ben succeeding without her, then there doesn't feel like there's a place for her since the other characters have the other areas covered pretty well.

[lavenderblue]

I just want to say that I was very glad to have been doubly correct about Hannah after episode 3, both in thinking that they were hinting towards her returning, and that they were playing up her chemistry with Ben. Otherwise this episode was pretty average, but I'm good with this direction -- whatever her ultimate purpose will be, it's more compelling to me than the whole other/evil leaper business last season, which got sort of muddled with timelines and everything. 

[Daltrey]

On 11/15/2023 at 6:11 PM, Starchild said:

Ben the physicist has tons more chemistry with physicist Hannah than he ever had with soldier Addison

I'm playing catch-up. I just watched this episode and came to see if anyone mentioned it. I didn't expect it to be right in the top post😆

I can't decide if Addison's new guy is sketchy or not, lol, guess I'll have to wait and see.