S02.E10: The Family Treasure

[AnimeMania]

A cursed treasure hunt draws Ben to Mexico in 1953, putting him between two estranged siblings struggling with their late father's legacy. As they navigate a series of lethal obstacles, Ben finds the real challenge lies in repairing this broken family's bond.

Premiere Date: Tuesday, February 6, 2023   NBC   10pm  

James Frain as Gideon Rydge
Wilder Yari as Dean/Dina Malek
Hollie Bahar as Sarah
Dan Bakkedahl as Milton Wells
Keon Alexander as Ricardo Baragan
Nanrisa Lee as Jenn
Alice Kremelberg as Rachel

[iMonrey]

It's really frustrating how little effort they put into these leap stories. They didn't even tell us what year it was until after the halfway mark and then only to say it was in the 50's. And they almost never give us any follow up on what happened to the people after Ben leaps away. What happened to those sisters after they found all those jewels? (Which looked hella fake by the way.)

I don't even get this whole subplot with Ian and Rachel and Rachel's boss and this chip or whatever it is. So both the present day story and the leap story suffer trying to be of equal importance when neither is ever fully fleshed out.

Oh, James Frain. How far you have fallen to have to appear on this show.

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

It's really frustrating how little effort they put into these leap stories. They didn't even tell us what year it was until after the halfway mark and then only to say it was in the 50's. And they almost never give us any follow up on what happened to the people after Ben leaps away. What happened to those sisters after they found all those jewels? (Which looked hella fake by the way.)

I'm shocked that they haven't even tried to research where Hannah is in the present day, or if she's passed, how her life went. At least I can't remember them mentioning anything. Like, that would be the first thing I'd do after Ben ran into her A SECOND TIME!

Am I the only one thinking that Ian looked kind of ill? I was worried they were going to say something was wrong with their health. Mark it up to the stress of getting found out re: the chip I guess. Maybe the lighting wasn't flattering. The outfit certainly wasn't, they've looked much better.

Edited February 7 by Starchild

[Trini]

I accidentally spoiled myself on James Frain being in this episode, but still a cool surprise. Way more welcome than completely unnecessary and unwanted Addison relationship drama.

Can we get literally anyone else to be the hologram again, please??

I too was confused on exactly when this story was taking place. Because I was trying to figure out how appropriate or not it was that the sisters were wearing pants out and about.

::sigh:: I guess I just have to accept that they're just going to use Rachel for plot twists, and nothing else. Disappointing.

Leap of the week was good; I did like that it focused on three sisters.

 

51 minutes ago, Starchild said:

 

Am I the only one thinking that Ian looked kind of ill?

Their eyebrows were bleached -- at least that's what threw me off.

53 minutes ago, Starchild said:

I'm shocked that they haven't even tried to research where Hannah is in the present day, or if she's passed, how her life went. At least I can't remember them mentioning anything. Like, that would be the first thing I'd do after Ben ran into her A SECOND TIME!

I think there was a throwaway line about her present day life the third time Ben met Hannah; but I agree, it would make sense for the team to investigate Hannah. And for Ben to be asking more questions about her, at least.

[Starchild]

7 hours ago, Trini said:

::sigh:: I guess I just have to accept that they're just going to use Rachel for plot twists, and nothing else. Disappointing.

Not to me. I still see zero chemistry between them. She reads more like a sister than a partner to me.

[iMonrey]

10 hours ago, Starchild said:

Am I the only one thinking that Ian looked kind of ill?

If I'm not mistaken this is the first time we've seen Ian without glasses.

Speaking of which, representation is great, but that whole coming out scene with Dean felt very didactic. The dialogue felt like it came straight out of an After School Special. 

The writing on this show is incredibly bad. Dean walks away from the bar, leaving the satchel with the map and pointedly tells Sarah (in front of the bartender) to watch the satchel. Why didn't she just take the satchel with her? Oh, so the bartender could steal it. Idiot plotting at its worst. 

Edited February 7 by iMonrey

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Speaking of which, representation is great, but that whole coming out scene with Dean felt very didactic.

I did get a very "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" feeling.

[KaveDweller]

I thought the leap story was pretty good, at least in the sense that the characters were developed and I was interested in them. I wish we heard what happened to them after finding the treasure. There were weak points, but at least I cared about the people.

Also, I always love a good treasure hunt story.

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The writing on this show is incredibly bad. Dean walks away from the bar, leaving the satchel with the map and pointedly tells Sarah (in front of the bartender) to watch the satchel. Why didn't she just take the satchel with her? Oh, so the bartender could steal it. Idiot plotting at its worst. 

I don't know why the bartender needed to steal it. Why not just follow the siblings while they did the hard work?

Is Quantum Leap not a top-secret military project anymore? Because how are all these random people who aren't even supposed to know about it able to just walk right in? I don't care if this new bad guy is a rich and powerful hacker, there will be security. Plus, they can call the military police and say there are intruders, those people won't let rich guys bend the rules. I forget what Ian and Rachel did earlier this season, but it was because Rachel's boss was stealing info from a classified project. Send him to jail for that and problem solved.

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Is Quantum Leap not a top-secret military project anymore? Because how are all these random people who aren't even supposed to know about it able to just walk right in? I don't care if this new bad guy is a rich and powerful hacker, there will be security. Plus, they can call the military police and say there are intruders, those people won't let rich guys bend the rules. I forget what Ian and Rachel did earlier this season, but it was because Rachel's boss was stealing info from a classified project. Send him to jail for that and problem solved.

I think the problem is that Ian acquired the chip or some technology illegally so they are compromised and the project might get shut down if people find out.

[Chyromaniac]

My favorite part of this show is fast becoming spotting locations from the Universal Studios Backlot Tour -which, the flood scene this week is an absolute highlight, especially if you’re on the left side of the tram.  At this point, I legitimately expect them to work the Jaws animatronic into an episode.

 I thought the leap story itself was fine- although I also had a tough time placing it.  I figured that “finishing school” meant that we were pretty far from present day- but would it kill them to just give us a date like the old show?  “Okay Ben, it’s August 12th, 1953…”  Of course, it doesn’t help when Ben keeps treating everything like it’s last Tuesday- really?  “Badass”?  What exactly are they teaching you at that finishing school, “Nadia”?

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I think the problem is that Ian acquired the chip or some technology illegally so they are compromised and the project might get shut down if people find out.

Well Ian is compromised, but if they went to Magic and admitted it, Magic could probably get it swept under the rug. If the government doesn't want to shut down the project, it would be pretty easy for them to brush over a stolen chip. If the government does want to shut down the project, they would have done it already.

I know Ian doesn't want to confess, but Magic seems like a better option than this dude everyone is afraid of.

It just seems like manufactured drama when they could be focusing on the leaps.

14 minutes ago, Chyromaniac said:

I thought the leap story itself was fine- although I also had a tough time placing it.  I figured that “finishing school” meant that we were pretty far from present day- but would it kill them to just give us a date like the old show?  “Okay Ben, it’s August 12th, 1953…”  Of course, it doesn’t help when Ben keeps treating everything like it’s last Tuesday- really?  “Badass”?  What exactly are they teaching you at that finishing school, “Nadia”?

I actually think it is hilarious how bad Ben is at finding cover stories for things he shouldn't know. The looks the other two kept giving him when he mentioned finishing school.

[meet trouble]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I actually think it is hilarious how bad Ben is at finding cover stories for things he shouldn't know. The looks the other two kept giving him when he mentioned finishing school.

I started laughing at all the "finishing school" comments to the point that I started re-reading the line, but changed it to "band camp."

As much as I frequently get annoyed by the stories at HQ, I love me some James Frain, especially as a deep grey character.

That said, I did love watching Ian tear up while Ben used them as a positive example for Dean. Their "you really listened to me" expression made me realize that I need to do a better job of dusting the house.

[Irlandesa]

This episode kind of pushed me into the hating Addison territory when I've mostly been tolerating her. I knew they probably weren't going to move on from the chem-free Ben/Addison pairing but having her agree to marry her boyfriend, decide to elope and then tell him that she actually doesn't want to marry him and needs space just makes her seem awful.

14 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Speaking of which, representation is great, but that whole coming out scene with Dean felt very didactic. The dialogue felt like it came straight out of an After School Special.

The discussion with Dean and Ben felt a bit too on the nose for my ears but maybe it did help people who are less familiar with why people identify as nonbinary understand a bit more. If so, good on QL. 

Personally, the best scene for me was when Ian realized what was happening.  The realization on their face was delightful.  And I liked the discussion surrounding less safe ways binding was done in the past to highlight that nonbinary and transgender individuals existed long before they may have been mainstream awareness.

 

Edited February 8 by Irlandesa

[possibilities]

I used to get annoyed by those kinds of overly "teachy" conversations on tv, but then I heard stories of people whose family members were significantly changed by seeing them. So now I think those kinds of things are great.

[Dowel Jones]

On a side note, I was mildly amused when Addison, a hologram, covered her head and ducked during the cave-in.

[Trini]

11 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

This episode kind of pushed me into the hating Addison territory when I've mostly been tolerating her. I knew they probably weren't going to move on from the chem-free Ben/Addison pairing but having her agree to marry her boyfriend, decide to elope and then tell him that she actually doesn't want to marry him and needs space just makes her seem awful.

Well, I'm not there yet, but I have started to fastforward her non-leap related scenes. But agreed that that subplot was dumb and makes her look bad.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:50 PM, meet trouble said:

That said, I did love watching Ian tear up while Ben used them as a positive example for Dean. Their "you really listened to me" expression made me realize that I need to do a better job of dusting the house.

It was a little heavy on the delivery, but I think it should be. People like Dean have always been around, and there's still a lot of problems for them to just live their lives. Just getting the older sister to accept Dean could have been the whole point of the leap for me, and I would have been fine. The leap kind of was in a way. Broadcast shows aren't really edgy much anymore, are they? This is quite the leap for the show to take in terms of social awareness. Yes, I did that on purpose. Thank you. 

I don't think Ian acquired the chip illegally. I think they made a deal with James Frain (and we're going to be calling him that, yes? None of this Gideon nonsense. No one is named Gideon. It's James Frain) to allow access to the data via the chip for whatever is generated during leaps. Ian and Rachel shut that down. So, basically, they violated the terms of the deal. Yes, it was probably illegal from the DOD side to install the chip. I don't think he really cares about that and just wanted the data. 

Edited February 9 by DoctorAtomic

[secnarf]

Ian uses they/them pronouns.

I felt the episode was okay, but kind of filler. I'm over Addison's relationship drama. I didn't really mind Addison and Ben together as much as many others seemed to, but I hate the triangle (quadrangle?). Either go for it or drop it, but I hate this in between. It doesn't make anybody look good.

Edited February 10 by secnarf

[DoctorAtomic]

Sorry, just a mistake, not intentional. I'll fix it. I think from the gist of my post in supporting the scene with Dean, that it's clear I'm really supportive. 

I even reread the post before submitting and still missed it. I think I originally had it as he, referring to James Frain. Then I wanted to make the joke about not calling him (Frain) by the character name. The actor uses they pronouns too. I wasn't doing it on purpose. 

For some reason I don't slip up when I'm talking to people irl, but this is the second time I did this in writing. Sorry to offend, but, again, not on purpose. 

[iMonrey]

14 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think Ian acquired the chip illegally. I think they made a deal with James Frain (...) to allow access to the data via the chip for whatever is generated during leaps.

No, from what I recall, Ian did not know that data was being transmitted to James Frain until Rachel told them. At which point an alarmed Ian told Jen about it and they worked with Rachel to shut it down. I think it was some kind of new experimental chip or tech or something they weren't supposed to have but Ian figured it was worth the risk because it was a huge improvement over whatever they did have, or some such. 

In any case . . . I find this all pointless and dumb. The problem all along (one of many, actually) with this reboot is its attempt to do two stories instead of one. Both are coming off half-assed. The leap stories feel obligatory and perfunctory, the HQ stories feel intrusive and repetitive. That's not to say a reboot couldn't do both well - but this one just isn't. 

[Chit Chat]

Well, that hour was a total waste of my time.  C'mon, show!  You can do better. 

[bamlou]

On 2/8/2024 at 12:42 AM, possibilities said:

I used to get annoyed by those kinds of overly "teachy" conversations on tv, but then I heard stories of people whose family members were significantly changed by seeing them. So now I think those kinds of things are great.

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.

[DoctorAtomic]

To be fair, when Addison first hit up Ben, she ran through what was going on, and Ziggy said Dean died in Mexico alone. They thought that must be it, which prompted Ben to get them all to go on the treasure hunt. 

I do like that Ben is working off his own hunches more. The episode where he didn't have any hologram help was really good. 

Sam was on his own on the OG at times. Ben is doing the same thing; knowing to look in the mirror, checking his wallet, looking for a newspaper. 

[possibilities]

I liked that the sister didn't express skepticism about Dean, because I thought the whole thing was that she simply didn't know what to think, and didn't have anything specific to object to. Her alarm when she saw the binder was genuine concern, not any kind of objection to anything. It seemed to me that the whole problem between the siblings was that neither of them felt like they could talk to the other in a real way so they were bickering to keep each other at a distance.

The one's unhappy marriage was shameful for her, and Dean's non-binary status was hard to talk about for other reasons, like not having the language for it, as well.

But when they were in the cave collapse, they realized they had to let go of their fears of rejection because the fear of losing the other was able to break through. And things got better between them starting then, and continued from there, the more they opened up to each other and realized that being closed off and defensive wasn't really protecting anything that needed protection [from each other].

Edited February 10 by possibilities

[Cthulhudrew]

"... and up next on your Universal Studios Backlot Tour, a slight flash flood in the sleepy little Spanish town." 

Did RuPaul do the makeup this episode? So much foundation and eyeliner on everyone (especially that bartender).

[iMonrey]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:41 PM, bamlouie said:

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. 

I think the problem is that, like everything else about the leap stories, the writing felt hasty and superficial. You correctly described it as being "inserted" into the episode. If they wanted to do this, they should have made the leap about this, not some dumb treasure hunt that brings the three sisters together. Identifying as non-binary in the 50s wasn't really even a thing. It's something Ben could have sort of walked them through. If he had leaped there specifically to guide them through this journey, that would be a story. 

[Chit Chat]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It's something Ben could have sort of walked them through. If he had leaped there specifically to guide them through this journey, that would be a story. 

His character was a 17-year-old girl though.  There's no way she would've learned that in "Finishing School!" 

I don't appreciate heavy-handed teaching moments in my TV viewing, and I thought the plotline of the treasure hunt was dumb.  Too many plot holes in that episode.  YMMV.  

On 2/6/2024 at 11:53 PM, Starchild said:

Am I the only one thinking that Ian looked kind of ill?

I think it was the blonde hair.  He looked washed out. 

[iMonrey]

19 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

His character was a 17-year-old girl though.  There's no way she would've learned that in "Finishing School!" 

Ben could be anyone, he didn't have to be a 17-year old girl or even Dean's sister. My point is that if they are going to do a story about someone identifying as non-binary back in the 50s, then that should be the story. Not some sloppily addressed B-plot. I'm not even advocating for them to do that story, necessarily, I'm just saying this felt like a throw-away that they didn't want to get too far into. Do it right or don't do it at all. 

[Nerfect Drifty]

On 2/11/2024 at 11:16 AM, iMonrey said:

I think the problem is that, like everything else about the leap stories, the writing felt hasty and superficial. You correctly described it as being "inserted" into the episode. If they wanted to do this, they should have made the leap about this, not some dumb treasure hunt that brings the three sisters together. Identifying as non-binary in the 50s wasn't really even a thing.

See that's what got me the whole time.  The last time they did a story about this, it was set in 2012 when society was thinking about trans issues.  Also, that was the entire leap story.  I can't see anybody being comfortable being open about that in the 1950s.  It just didn't make any sense and they shoehorned it in because they wanted to tell some preachy message.  And if they wanted to do THAT, why didn't they set the story closer to the present so that this B-story didn't seem so anachronistic?  I hate it when telling a story becomes secondary to preaching a social message.

This episode was just indescribably bad.  Heavy handed social issue messaging, cliched story, idiotic character decisions.  At least they finally gave Rachel's boss a name.  But it wasn't some big reveal like we could be all "OMG it was that guy???"  It's just, some guy named Gideon walks in, and I'm all "why were they keeping his identity a secret?"  I mean, I never refer to my supervisor at work as "my boss".  I call him "Steve" because that's his name.

None of the writing decisions made sense.  Why did they set this in the 1950s?  Why did they make Ben a 17 year old girl?  Why did they give the satchel containing the ever important map away?  They were ACTIVELY USING IT FOR A TREASURE HUNT.  Why were they being secretive about the name of Rachel's boss if he was just going to be a new character all along?  Why were Addison and Tom so eager to get married right away, to the extent that the guy had to pull some strings to get a judge to stay late?

You know, I used to look forward to each new episode of this show.  Now I wait several weeks because it's like some sort of chore to slog through.

Edited February 20 by Nerfect Drifty

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Nerfect Drifty said:

I can't see anybody being comfortable being open about that in the 1950s.  It just didn't make any sense and they shoehorned it in because they wanted to tell some preachy message.  And if they wanted to do THAT, why didn't they set the story closer to the present so that this B-story didn't seem so anachronistic?  I hate it when telling a story becomes secondary to preaching a social message.

They were open to their sisters.  If you can't share a truth with beloved family, then who can you share it with? Trans and non-binary individuals may feel more free to be out today compared to the past but that doesn't mean everyone hid their truths in the past. 

[Nerfect Drifty]

9 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

They were open to their sisters.  If you can't share a truth with beloved family, then who can you share it with? Trans and non-binary individuals may feel more free to be out today compared to the past but that doesn't mean everyone hid their truths in the past. 

I guess that's a good point, but did those surgeries even exist back then?

I could tell where this thing was going when Dina insisted on being called Dean, so I'm just left to wonder if the writers expected that whole thing to be a surprising reveal.  Because it felt like they were trying to do a surprise reveal when the bandages were revealed.  I wouldn't put it past the writers on this show to think they were writing a surprising reveal.  They really are that terrible at their jobs.

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't the show were going for any big reveal precisely because they insisted on being called Dean from the jump. We're smart enough to pick up on that. I'd even say Ben knew the deal from the start, but wasn't really paying too much attention because Dean was fated to die alone on the treasure hunt. Ben was more concerned at that point concocting the plan to avoid it. 

The big reveal was for the older sister. The two of them were griping and snapping at each other the whole time because of underlying issues. If anything, the big reveal to the audience was that the older sister acknowledged that her marriage was a shambles, since she was putting out this air of the ideal 50s woman. Which itself may not be a big reveal, but I thought the characterization over the episode was fine. 

She (older sis) was genuinely concerned about injury when she saw the bandages. At that point Ben kind of facilitated the discussion. The entire conversation was for everyone.

I know they already did the show about the trans basketball player, but this isn't quite the same. I don't see the plot as redundant. And, really, I also don't care if it was. This is a serious social issue that affects a lot of people, and for a broadcast show, I applaud them for taking it on. I don't see any problem with that.

The OG show tackled similar social issues for the time. 

[possibilities]

Those bandages weren't from surgery. They were compression bandages, used to bind the breasts to make them look/feel flatter.

[DoctorAtomic]

I meant the older sister saw the bandages and she thought it was due to injury. When we saw them, I think the show expected us to know they were compression bandages. They had Jenn make a comment to underscore it. 

[Nerfect Drifty]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

Those bandages weren't from surgery. They were compression bandages, used to bind the breasts to make them look/feel flatter.

Oh okay.  That makes more sense.

[Nerfect Drifty]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

The OG show tackled similar social issues for the time. 

Yes but when they did that, it was the story.  Like Sam being the young woman who got raped, or the housewife dealing with a husband who didn't approve of her feminist activism, or the first leap as a woman where he dealt with all the sexual harassment and sexism at the car company, or the one where he leapt into a possibly gay military cadet and they tackled the issue of gays in the military.  They didn't have some story where Sam had to save someone from drowning, then tack on a "oh yeah by the way my husband is a regressive sexist jerk".

This B-plot and that big scene with the bandages was nothing but Author Filibuster.  Wanting to spread some message is no excuse for doing your job (entertaining) badly.  And given all the problems with the A-story, that part felt more like an Excuse Plot.

[KaveDweller]

22 hours ago, Nerfect Drifty said:

Why were they being secretive about the name of Rachel's boss if he was just going to be a new character all along?  Why were Addison and Tom so eager to get married right away, to the extent that the guy had to pull some strings to get a judge to stay late?

That has been driving me crazy. It was such a weird way for Ian and Rachel to talk, I figured it was intentional.

I might say "my boss" if I am talking to friends who don't know my bosses name. Like, "my boss was so annoying today" or something. But in this case Ian and Rachel both clearly knew the man, so it made no sense.

10 hours ago, Nerfect Drifty said:

I could tell where this thing was going when Dina insisted on being called Dean, so I'm just left to wonder if the writers expected that whole thing to be a surprising reveal.

Yeah, it didn't seem surprising to me. I thought it was obvious from the first time they said they went by Dean now.

But I wasn't sure if they were non-binary or identified as male. 

[possibilities]

I thought the gender identity issue was fully integrated into the plot, because the "family secrets" were the reason the family was at odds with each other. So, when Dean's shirt got ripped and the sister asked about it, that opened up the conversation about gender identity, and then the sister felt she could open up about her bad marriage (divorce was a big deal back then, so another taboo). And the dad also had secrets. Nobody trusted anybody in that family, even though they loved each other. And once they started talking, everything got better.

 

[North of Eden]

I saw the episode I was like this must be A real budget saver. When they showed up at the Mexican town It just screamed Back lot. And those were probably Standing Cave sets Used on all sorts of productions. I almost died laughing When the flood hit  Is the flood that you see On the universe studios tour. . At least you used to Back in the 90s when I was there. On a positive note Sarah was drop dead gorgeous And I had to look up the actress afterwards

Edited March 10 by North of Eden

[RachelKM]

On 3/9/2024 at 9:49 PM, North of Eden said:

I saw the episode I was like this must be A real budget saver. When they showed up at the Mexican town It just screamed Back lot. And those were probably Standing Cave sets Used on all sorts of productions. I almost died laughing When the flood hit  Is the flood that you see On the universe studios tour. . At least you used to Back in the 90s when I was there. On a positive note Sarah was drop dead gorgeous And I had to look up the actress afterwards

It was still part of the tour as late as 2019.  I recognized it too.  I laughed right before the water ran because I recognized the sight.  And then flood waters hit and just started to giggle.  I enjoyed the episode. But that moment just struck me as funny.

Edited March 12 by RachelKM