As an alternative of returning residence, Ben’s bounce on this week’s Quantum Leap discovered him within the physique of astronaut David Temura aboard the area shuttle Atlantis in 1998.
After discovering Ben’s video and a mysterious bounce drive, Addison was understandably upset that her fiancé was preserving secrets and techniques from her — particularly since they fell in love whereas working collectively on the Quantum Leap mission and devoted years to getting it up and operating.
When she recommended to the crew that they jog Ben’s reminiscence for solutions, Magic instantly shot down the concept. He believed that it was far too dangerous, provided that Al’s daughter Janice was someway concerned. Till they understood Ben’s motivation for the unauthorized leap, he deemed it finest to maintain the time traveler out of the loop. That didn’t cease Addison from secretly teaming up with Ian to determine this out, a method or one other.
What was clear, although, was that Ben leaped into David to avoid wasting his life. The astronaut was purported to die on today, they usually wanted to determine how you can stop it. Proper on time, the shuttle malfunctioned after an explosion, and their chief Reynolds suffered a concussion. Ben/David additionally survived, however David’s destiny had not modified, which recommended he will need to have died from one thing else.
Elsewhere, Magic paid a go to to Al’s widow Beth (performed by Susan Diol, who reprised her function from the unique sequence) for clues about Janice’s whereabouts. Beth informed him she hadn’t seen her daughter since Al died over a yr in the past, additionally feigning concern concerning the Quantum Leap mission. Magic averted answering her query and abruptly ended the go to, getting precisely what he wanted from their dialog. He was capable of hint Beth’s name to Janice instantly after he left and introduced Jenn to the handle linked to the telephone quantity.
They found what regarded like Janice’s base of operations within the basement and shortly realized they had been being watched. That’s when Janice referred to as Magic’s telephone, revealing that Ben approached her for assist, not the opposite method round. The basement then self-destructed, however not earlier than Jenn grabbed considered one of Janice’s arduous drives.
Again in area, the crew concluded that Ben/David wanted to make an emergency spacewalk to repair the shuttle. That’s once we realized David died on this stroll after being struck by particles. Ben, in David’s physique, survived the particles, however that altered everybody’s destiny for the more serious. The flying objects broken among the tiles, and the explosion upon reentry into the earth’s environment would kill everybody on board.
The astronauts debated what to do concerning the tiles. Reynolds and Everett thought the shuttle was high quality as is — not understanding Columbia exploded in 2003 underneath related circumstances — whereas Ben and Stratton believed the injury was way more substantial than they thought. Stratton then recommended they ask for assist from the Russians, who had been close by within the Mir spacecraft. However Reynolds struck that down, calling it a humiliation to ask the cosmonauts for assist.
When Ben lastly satisfied Reynolds to hearken to Samantha and attain out to the Russians, they bumped into one other concern. Their calls went unheard as a result of it was the midnight, and the Russians had been asleep. Taking a leap of religion, Ben unlatched his security tether and actually flung himself onto the Mir to bang on the Russians’ door. The dangerous transfer labored, although, and Ben’s destiny was altered. Everybody aboard Atlantis would make it again safely, with Stratton turning into a shuttle commander and David incomes a spot as one of many first astronauts on the Worldwide House Station as soon as it’s accomplished.
Together with his mission completed, Ben had a 50/50 shot at returning residence along with his subsequent leap. Addison promised that it doesn’t matter what, she could be with him each step of the best way. Sadly, Ben didn’t make it again and remained caught touring via time and area.
Magic apologized to Addison for not telling her about Janice earlier and conceded that the dialogue on how you can deal with Ben’s scenario ought to have been a gaggle resolution. This squashed the sooner stress, they usually had been all in settlement that Ben must be stored out of the loop till they realized extra.
Do not forget that thumb drive Addison discovered? Properly, it contained hundreds of thousands of variables of various locations in time, with one explicit vacation spot singled out. Ian inferred that Ben might have jumped to get to a selected time and place, however the the place and why remained unclear.
As for Ben’s subsequent bounce, he landed within the physique of a boxer. Earlier than the physicist may get his bearings, he took a imply punch to the face. Ouch.
