Back after the midseason break, Ben leaps into a bodyguard who must save the life of his boss Carly, a huge singing star. Questions of trust abound.

The revelation at the end of the previous episode casts a huge shadow over this one and undoubtedly will continue to do so over the rest of the season, if not the whole series. Turns out, not only does Dr. Sam Beckett’s life hang in the balance, so does Capt. Addison Augustine’s. Yes, that Addison.

As per the usual trope, every time Ben saves Carly’s life, it only pushes back the time of her death. Suspects include an estranged sister and a shady business manager, so naturally neither did it. Initially Ben shies from telling Carly about the threats. Yes that demonstrates his trust issues and also evokes the cliched “for their own good” trope. I get it (or at least assume). This mirrors his still-unexplained choice to leap without telling anyone on his own team why. It also allows for some skillfully staged double conversations with Ben talking to Carly at the same time he and Addison are discussing what’s going on between them.

In this particular leap, Ben learns the value of honesty, openness and trust – and of not making decisions for other people that he has no right to make. An admirable theme, if not all that deftly executed. Still, character growth is always appreciated and appears to give some resolution in this episode.

Even more forward motion takes place back at the Quantum Leap base. The cat-and-mouse between the team and Janis Kalavicci takes a most interesting turn. The potential problem with an ongoing antagonist is balancing between a worthy adversary who challenges the protagonist, but without making the heroes look foolish. Previous episodes crossed the line to the latter a few times. It was beginning to get tiresome how consistently Janis left them in the dust.

That ended tonight, happily. With Jenn taking point, they track Janis down and in a refreshing and overdue reversal from all the previous confrontations, arrest her. Some pointed dialog between Jenn and Janis reminds viewers that Janis was ruthless – or at least single-minded – enough to drug her own mother. Janis raises the question of why Ben either couldn’t or wouldn’t trust his coworkers enough to share his plans with them. Time will tell if the prodding was a helpful clue or a blatant attempt to pit the team members against each other. They can’t walk the tightrope for long without becoming tedious. Genius that she is, Janis should be able to let at least one member of the team in on her secret.

Overall, not the strongest episode, but not the weakest either. The metaplot moves ahead, if not in leaps and bounds, then at least substantially. That beats dragging it out and the show getting tangled up in its own mythology. The guest cast do a solid job with an unremarkable script.

Verdict: Quantum Leap doesn’t disappoint; the regular cast is too good for that. But this particular episode doesn’t enchant either. 7/10

Rigel Ailur