Sep 21, 2022·edited Sep 21, 2022Liked by John Aspler
I was excited to see this pop up in my inbox, because A) it reminded me that I had entirely forgot this was airing this week (never a good sign for long term viability) and B) it immediately gave me a place to rush off to after finishing watching to digest and process my thoughts. Given the 'sequel' status of it all, a little context with my relationship to the original Quantum Leap. Similarly to Dr. Aspler, I was a fan of the original who found the show in reruns (paired with Star Trek: The Next Generation in my case!) I've largely avoided going back to rewatch it outside of stumbling on a random episode airing on cable, knowing how poorly it must have aged despite being a non-small part of forming my belief in empathy as a critical component of being a good person.
With all of that preamble out of the way, I think whatever might have been gained from directly calling this a sequel is unfortunately lost in the procedural framework being used. Granted, as Myles and John rightly note, this being a pilot leaves not much room to breath in general, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the procedural elements were sucking what meager air was left out of the room. I deeply resonated with John's observation that the present day elements simply meant the time travel story line was reduced to something very generic. Which, is kind of supposed to be the big draw, right? It all felt so perfunctory, it made me wonder why this was even using the Quantum Leap IP in the first place. I was actually annoyed by how little the events of the past actually seemed to matter - both in taking advantage of the setting, and in their plot resolution which made absolutely no sense. Effectively, it was a happy ending because... reasons?
Conversely, the present day elements didn't really offer any meaningful (or interesting) anchor points beyond being exposition or plot dumps. Even the romantic drama that seems to be the major motivating reason for the combination of present & past story telling feels like it could have been better served in just the past. As it is, it's this awkward opening party scene establishing the relationship, then it's immediately thrown away to only give the fiance a few awkward lines. Not to armchair show run here, but I feel it would have been much more engaging to have that relationship be a bit of a mystery. The awkward starts and stops from the fiance would naturally lead us to wonder about the relationship, while also allowing us to sympathize with the hero a bit more than thinking he's a bit of a dick for abandoning her in this fashion. (No, the secret recording with vague "You may not understand now, but you will" doesn't really help. )
Which, is a shame because I actually think I like the characters in the present day - at least at this very early archetype level they are currently operating in. They just seem entirely in the way of the show being the best "Time Travel Puts Right What Once Went Wrong" show it can be.
Having said all of this though - it's a Pilot and it would be amazing if a high concept plot with the baggage of a sequel on it, actually hit the ground running. I'll definitely give it a few more episodes to try and find it's footing, but given my complaints about the core framework of the procedural elements I'm not very optimistic it'll be able to change enough to hook me.
I like the sequel/legacyquel format for the new Quantum Leap and I will be shocked if Bakula isn't lying through his teeth about his lack of involvement. I do think that introducing a big mystery / master plot right out of the gate comes with some risks; QL was the quintessential story of the week show and now they have the burden of marking progress towards the fireworks factory every week rather than just letting us enjoy the trip. And while it's always nice to see Ernie Hudson, I'm not sure about the bigger cast yet.
Real talk though: Did they think we weren't going to notice the retcon of how Project Quantum Leap works? What about the waiting room? If we're going to be spending so much time in the present, the leapees ought to play a bigger role.
When I was a kid, Quantum Leap was a show I'd occasionally watch, and I was really excited to see what was in store for the series finale... and, woof, that end title card they tacked on made it one heck of a gut punch. In terms of "TV finales that weren't written and filmed as finales and, therefore, end up emotionally devastating," I always associate it with Alf, weirdly enough!
My take on this is to pause the DVR and YouTube Scott Bakula in It’s Always Sunny, “Ziggy! Leap me far, far from here..”. My immediate and foremost want is to love this connection to the source material but the relation is only just. This sequel/boot takes the tried and true procedural framework and lashes the remains of the Bakula original to plot beats that still ring true. This time we get an ensemble, and I’m all for giving Ernie Hudson (looking fantastic here) more to do. This, Fringe, Criminal Minds, Sleepy Hollow team up allows this Leap to have a mystery built in that I’m not yet sold on. I’m willing to stick with this one for a moment but I need to know if it’s worth exhuming Sam’s lost presumed dead body for yet another procedural.
I was excited to see this pop up in my inbox, because A) it reminded me that I had entirely forgot this was airing this week (never a good sign for long term viability) and B) it immediately gave me a place to rush off to after finishing watching to digest and process my thoughts. Given the 'sequel' status of it all, a little context with my relationship to the original Quantum Leap. Similarly to Dr. Aspler, I was a fan of the original who found the show in reruns (paired with Star Trek: The Next Generation in my case!) I've largely avoided going back to rewatch it outside of stumbling on a random episode airing on cable, knowing how poorly it must have aged despite being a non-small part of forming my belief in empathy as a critical component of being a good person.
With all of that preamble out of the way, I think whatever might have been gained from directly calling this a sequel is unfortunately lost in the procedural framework being used. Granted, as Myles and John rightly note, this being a pilot leaves not much room to breath in general, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the procedural elements were sucking what meager air was left out of the room. I deeply resonated with John's observation that the present day elements simply meant the time travel story line was reduced to something very generic. Which, is kind of supposed to be the big draw, right? It all felt so perfunctory, it made me wonder why this was even using the Quantum Leap IP in the first place. I was actually annoyed by how little the events of the past actually seemed to matter - both in taking advantage of the setting, and in their plot resolution which made absolutely no sense. Effectively, it was a happy ending because... reasons?
Conversely, the present day elements didn't really offer any meaningful (or interesting) anchor points beyond being exposition or plot dumps. Even the romantic drama that seems to be the major motivating reason for the combination of present & past story telling feels like it could have been better served in just the past. As it is, it's this awkward opening party scene establishing the relationship, then it's immediately thrown away to only give the fiance a few awkward lines. Not to armchair show run here, but I feel it would have been much more engaging to have that relationship be a bit of a mystery. The awkward starts and stops from the fiance would naturally lead us to wonder about the relationship, while also allowing us to sympathize with the hero a bit more than thinking he's a bit of a dick for abandoning her in this fashion. (No, the secret recording with vague "You may not understand now, but you will" doesn't really help. )
Which, is a shame because I actually think I like the characters in the present day - at least at this very early archetype level they are currently operating in. They just seem entirely in the way of the show being the best "Time Travel Puts Right What Once Went Wrong" show it can be.
Having said all of this though - it's a Pilot and it would be amazing if a high concept plot with the baggage of a sequel on it, actually hit the ground running. I'll definitely give it a few more episodes to try and find it's footing, but given my complaints about the core framework of the procedural elements I'm not very optimistic it'll be able to change enough to hook me.
I like the sequel/legacyquel format for the new Quantum Leap and I will be shocked if Bakula isn't lying through his teeth about his lack of involvement. I do think that introducing a big mystery / master plot right out of the gate comes with some risks; QL was the quintessential story of the week show and now they have the burden of marking progress towards the fireworks factory every week rather than just letting us enjoy the trip. And while it's always nice to see Ernie Hudson, I'm not sure about the bigger cast yet.
Real talk though: Did they think we weren't going to notice the retcon of how Project Quantum Leap works? What about the waiting room? If we're going to be spending so much time in the present, the leapees ought to play a bigger role.
When I was a kid, Quantum Leap was a show I'd occasionally watch, and I was really excited to see what was in store for the series finale... and, woof, that end title card they tacked on made it one heck of a gut punch. In terms of "TV finales that weren't written and filmed as finales and, therefore, end up emotionally devastating," I always associate it with Alf, weirdly enough!
My take on this is to pause the DVR and YouTube Scott Bakula in It’s Always Sunny, “Ziggy! Leap me far, far from here..”. My immediate and foremost want is to love this connection to the source material but the relation is only just. This sequel/boot takes the tried and true procedural framework and lashes the remains of the Bakula original to plot beats that still ring true. This time we get an ensemble, and I’m all for giving Ernie Hudson (looking fantastic here) more to do. This, Fringe, Criminal Minds, Sleepy Hollow team up allows this Leap to have a mystery built in that I’m not yet sold on. I’m willing to stick with this one for a moment but I need to know if it’s worth exhuming Sam’s lost presumed dead body for yet another procedural.