‘Quantum Leap’ Season 1 Episode 1 Recap: “July 13, 1985”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 1
Caitlin Bassett, Nanrisa Lee, Ernie Hudson, Mason Alexander Park, and Raymond Lee in ‘Quantum Leap’ season 1 episode 1 (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

NBC’s Quantum Leap season one episode one does exactly what it needs to do. It introduces the new quantum leaper – Dr. Ben Song played by Raymond Lee (Kevin Can F**k Himself) – while paying respect to the original series that premiered in 1989 and ran for five seasons. It’s an updated sequel that retains much of what made the original series with Scott Bakula so entertaining. There’s the science stuff, of course, but there’s also a healthy mix of heart and humor.

2022’s Quantum Leap is a continuation of the original show and includes multiple references to Dr. Sam Beckett’s (Bakula) disappearance after stepping into the Quantum Leap Accelerator in 1995. Since then, the program’s been revived by the government with a new team attempting to fix what went wrong and successfully jump through time.

And now to the recap of episode one…there are spoilers ahead.

The key players in this reboot are quickly introduced while at a party celebrating key player #1 physicist Dr. Ben Song’s engagement to key player #2 Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett). Key player #3 Jenn Chou (Nanrisa Lee) left her date dangling at the bar while key player #4 Ian Wright (Mason Alexander Park) attempts to do the DJ’s job for him and then brings up the quantum simulation he ran that morning. There’s a no work talk rule, but Ian doesn’t recall ever agreeing to that.

Key player #5 arrives and turns out to be Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson) – the guy who runs the top-secret time travel project who Jenn introduced to her date as a video game designer. Chuckles ensue.

Ben hates parties, small talk, and public speaking so this is a super uncomfortable situation. Still, he manages to pull off a quick thank you to all the well-wishers. He delivers a science-y take on romance before he’s allowed out of the spotlight.

He steps away to read his texts and, apparently, he’s got to ditch his own party because he’s wanted at the lab ASAP for a time-sensitive mission.

He heads to the lab, slips into a white bodysuit, and steps into a machine. Seconds later, he finds himself at the wheel of a van and listening to David Bowie perform at Live Aid. For all you kids out there too young to have experienced Live Aid live, it was a huge fundraising event for famine relief in Africa.

He’s shocked to discover he has a passenger, and even more surprised to learn this passenger, Ryan (Michael Welch), thinks they’re friends. The anxiety level cranks to 11 when the passenger dons gloves and a ski mask. Is Ben – who Ryan thinks is a man named Nick – a getaway driver? Yes, he is. And his passenger has a gun.

Ben looks in the rearview mirror and it’s the face of a stranger staring back at him. He has no idea what’s going on as he exits the van and sees people waiting in line at a phone booth and a theater marquee advertising The Goonies and St. Elmo’s Fire.

The date: July 13, 1985.

Ben whips out his wallet and learns he’s Nick Rounder from Philadelphia. As he’s attempting to wrap his mind around this, Addison shows up and asks why he made the leap before they were ready. Unfortunately, Ben doesn’t know who she is, where he is, or what the heck a “leap” is.

Memory loss is a side effect and she’s about to explain what’s up when three mask-wearing robbers emerge from a building with a crate. They yell at him to get back in the van as she quickly sums up that she’s a hologram from the future and he time-traveled to the past.

Ben gets back in the van but now there’s a new catch…he can’t drive a stick shift! He talks out loud to Addison who, obviously, no one else can see because she’s a hologram and she walks him through shifting gears while Ryan reminds him the getaway driver’s job is to drive them away from the scene of the crime.

He picks it up quickly while two squad cars fall in behind. He has no idea where to go and Ryan says they’re heading to his restaurant on York. Addison’s able to quickly pull up directions and although Ben leaves a trail of crashed vehicles behind, they make it to the restaurant without dying.

Unfortunately, Ben’s adventure isn’t over. He asks Addison for a more detailed explanation, and she starts to fill in the blanks. Their imaging chamber’s connection is severed before she finishes the explanation.

Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 1
Nanrisa Lee as Jenn, Ernie Hudson as Magic, Mason Alexander Park as Ian, and Caitlin Bassett as Addison in ‘Quantum Leap’ season 1 episode 1 (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Back in the lab, Ian explains that before Ben made the leap, he uploaded a lot of new code – basically a new version of the system. They’ve been working hard over the past five years to fix the original code (and here’s our first mention of the original series and Sam Beckett) but they weren’t close to human testing. Yet for some weird reason, Ben magically wrote a new operating system and made a leap.

Addison reveals Ben doesn’t remember anything, but it’s possible he figured out a way to get back.

Oh, and the new AI – Ziggy – is offline. We’re told Ziggy is one of the most powerful A.I.s ever designed.

Ian has no idea why Ben chose to leap but he’s sure he had a good reason. Addison just needs to trust that.

Jenn and Magic join the conversation and Jenn’s discovered the security cameras have been wiped. The Pentagon needs answers, but the truth would lead to the project being shut down.

The imaging chamber’s working again and Addison pops back in time to check on Ben. Ben asks to be beamed up, but Addison says the machine controls the leap – not her. It’s a design flaw from Sam Beckett’s original project. Sam would leap into people, help them out by putting right what once went wrong, and then it would start over again. But Sam never made it home.

Ben needs to help this guy he leaped into while they work on the new code he uploaded. If he helps Nick, maybe he’ll travel back to 2022. She suggests he think of her as his guide. For now, he needs to think of himself as Nick while they work things out.

The crate they stole is full of C4 explosives and Addison thinks he might be there to stop some sort of explosion. The crew, led by a guy named Cole (Michael Malarkey), is pissed at Nick’s driving and they aren’t sure they can trust him. However, Ryan vouches for him – even though Nick’s been talking to himself and acting strange.

He’s warned if he messes up, he’ll be killed.

Back at the lab, Jenn has researched Nick and come up with nothing. However, an explosion went off in front of the Museum of Modern Art on the day of Live Aid. Bingo! The newspapers report they never figured out who caused it, but no one was hurt.

Ziggy gets back online.

Ryan’s wife and young daughter show up out of the blue and she explains they finished dialysis early. (She has no idea her hubby reunited with his old pal Cole and has an explosion planned.) They’re behind on payments but Ryan says by tomorrow their problems will be solved.

Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 1
Caitlin Bassett as Addison and Raymond Lee as Ben in ‘Quantum Leap’ season 1 episode 1 (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Addison and Ben have a quick chat. Ben figures out he’s there to save Ryan’s life, not Nick’s. Research revealed Ryan will be shot dead tonight.

Later, Ben tries to warn Ryan something’s going to go wrong, and he needs to back out of this plan. Ryan can’t – he desperately needs the money.

Ben and Ryan meet with a bad dude named Horace who’s in possession of a fake Hope Diamond. The plan: the explosion will be cover for swapping it out with the real priceless necklace. Horace wants to renegotiate their deal, but Ryan points out Cole’s already paid him. Horace’s goons grab Ryan and Ben comes to the rescue. He speaks Romanian – and several other languages – and translates what he just heard Horace say on the phone. Plus, he claims to know everything about Horace.

Addison gets the hint and asks Jenn for details on Horace. Ben’s able to get under Horace’s skin by revealing he knows about his bank accounts in the Caymans. Horace has no choice but to stick to the original deal.

Back in the lab, Jenn shows Magic a little of the recovered security footage and it’s confirmed Ben was working with someone when he jumped. Footage shows an unknown woman and she’s wearing a ring that means she is or was in the military. Whomever she is, she’s the only person who knows what happened to Ben.

Ryan’s confused about how Nick knew things about Horace and when he learned Romanian. He’s finally willing to listen when Ben warns Ryan he’s going to get shot that very evening and that Cole probably pulls the trigger. Ryan refuses to believe it at first…but he’s stuck. He needs to go through with this to help his wife and daughter.

Ryan and Ben meet with Cole and here comes a big twist – Ben isn’t Nick. Nick doesn’t exist. Ben actually leaped into Matt Shaw, an undercover cop. (That’s why Jenn couldn’t find anything on Nick.)

Ryan had no idea his buddy is a cop, and Cole punches Nick in the stomach. Cole realizes this is why the driver who was supposed to handle this job got arrested, leaving a spot open for Matt/Nick/Ben.

They check Ben for wires and are about to shoot him when he confesses to being a cop. Stealing a diamond is one thing but killing a cop is a whole other problem. A short discussion of options leads to Cole deciding the plan is still on, but now they have a bargaining chip if something goes wrong.

Ben gets locked in a storage room and Ryan’s upset he trusted him. Still, Ben pleads with him to think things through. Cole will kill him tonight since he brought a cop into the crew. Ryan still believes he has no other option and can’t back out now.

Back at the lab, Ian’s upset about this turn of events. The night went from celebrating at an engagement party to not being able to figure out how to get Ben back from the ‘80s. “It’s like a bad mushroom trip that I just can’t sober up from,” says Ian.

Magic suggests he focus his anxiety on bringing Ben home. They all need his full attention and assistance.

Ian’s confused about what’s happening in the ‘80s since the Hope Diamond was never stolen. Magic confesses that’s not true. The one on display in the Smithsonian is a fake, and the DOD has a secret file (labeled Operation Blue Glass) about it. The government decided to cover up the theft rather than pay out the half-billion in insurance money.

They need the specifics on how it was stolen so Ben can stop it. That would save Ryan and maybe then Ben could leap home.

Originally, Cole never learned Nick was a cop. They gave Matt/Nick the slip and Ryan was dead by the time he got to the heist. Matt resigned from the force right after that.

Another hint at their backstory arrives when there’s tension between Ben and Addison. Ben’s apparently very stubborn. Plus, Addison explains she was specifically brought onto this project to be the one who made the leaps. Ben was supposed to be her hologram, not the other way around.

Addison instructs Ben on how to free himself from the plastic cuffs. Ben pauses when Addison tells him to call the cops to stop the robbery because that would mean that Ryan would get arrested. Addison points out at least he’ll still be alive.

Ziggy says there’s a 99% chance Ben will leap if he calls 911 right now. Ben refuses to make the call and Addison begs him to reconsider. Ben apologizes but he can’t let Ryan down.

Quantum Leap Episode 1 Raymond Lee
Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song in ‘Quantum Leap’ season 1 episode 1 (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)

Ben makes it to the museum wearing a tux and Addison confirms that if Nick/Matt dies, so does he.

The black-tie affair’s in full swing and the Hope Diamond’s in the spotlight.

Addison and Ben walk through the timeline again. The explosion will happen at 8pm, knocking out the grid and the museum’s power. The security room gets sealed and the crew’s able to swap out the diamonds.

It wasn’t until hours later that the museum figured out what happened.

“So, I have 15 minutes to stop the greatest jewel heist no one’s ever heard of in order to save a guy I just met,” says Ben, summing up the situation.

Ben spots one of the crew heading to seal the security door and knocks him out. It hurts his hand – he’s not the sort of guy who normally hits people. Next, he spots Ryan, but Ryan won’t leave.

Ben then dances with the female member of the gang – Charlie (Enajite Esegine) – and he stops her before she can reach for her gun. Cole looks furious but Charlie signals for him to stand down. Ben offers a deal: if they let Ryan walk, he’ll let the crew walk without any retribution.

Ben reveals the security doors aren’t sealed and when the lights go off, 15 guards will stop the heist. Charlie reminds him of the explosion set for 8pm but Ben explains no one will get injured so that’s not really part of the equation.

Charlie quickly changes that. She whips out her gun, fires off a few shots, and the museum guests head for the doors right before the explosion.

Ben realizes he made the situation worse – people are running toward the bomb. He asks for Ryan’s help because Ryan knows the location of the bomb. They head outside and Ryan points out a car. They hurry over with 52 seconds left on the timer. Addison tells Ben how to defuse it, but he has nothing to cut the wires.

Plan B: he picks it up and tosses it into the sewer. He screams “run” seconds before it goes off.

There are a couple of injuries, but no one dies. Ryan thanks his friend and Ben tells him to go home and be with the people he loves. Also, don’t hide things from his loved ones or he’ll regret it.

Addison says the new timeline shows Cole and his gang were arrested, the diamond was recovered, and Ryan cut a deal with the police. After Ryan’s story hit the news, everything changed for the better. His wife’s treatment was taken care of, and Ryan got his restaurant back.

Ben thanks Addison for making him feel safe in these strange circumstances.

Lights swirl around Ben and in the lab they’re hopeful Ziggy’s bringing him back. An internal syntax error pops up on the screen – they’ve lost Ben!

And now we get another tie-in with the original show. Jenn reveals the mystery woman is wearing Al Calavicci’s ring. For those not up on their classic Quantum Leap, Al was Sam Beckett’s A.I. Al is dead so who’s wearing his ring?

Magic figures out the woman is Al’s daughter, Janice. She wanted to follow in his footsteps, but the DOD wouldn’t let her. (Al was played by Dean Stockwell, and the episode is dedicated to his memory.)

Addison returns home and their place is still a mess from the party. Ben left his phone behind and she plays a message meant for her. He apologizes that he had to do this and describes it as bigger than anything she could imagine. He’s doing this because he thinks it’s worth it and it had to be done.

He promises he’ll find his way home.

The episode ends with Ben leaping into an astronaut just as a rocket blasts off.

New episodes of Quantum Leap will air on Mondays at 10pm ET.




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