"Paging Dr. Song"

Leap Date: February 8, 1994

Synopsis:

Audio from this episode:
Handlink squeal
A connection that binds them...
Trust no one.

TV Guide Synopsis
Broadcast Date
Leap Date
Leap Location
Name of Leapee
Project Trivia
Ben Trivia
Addison Trivia
Ian's Outfit Worn in the Episode
Kiss With History
Miscellaneous Trivia
Guest Cast
Guest Cast Notes
Guests who appeared in other Quantum Leap episodes
Characters who appeared in Classic Series episodes
Songs & Music
Say What? 
Quotable Quotes
Personal Review
Production Photos
Production Videos
Production Credits

Poster by J.J. Lendl

TV Guide Synopsis:
Ben leaps into Alexandra Tomkinson, a medical resident in a Seattle hospital. As victims from a train crash pour into the ER, Addison reveals Ben’s complicated mission. He must go up against hospital bosses to save lives and Alexandra’s career.

QUANTUM LEAP – SERIES REGULARS


Dr. Ben Song (Portrayed by Raymond Lee) – Ben is a first-generation American, a world-renowned physicist, and a man of faith. He’s also working on Quantum Leap, a time travel project. But when he uses the project on himself, he’s transported back in time with a bout of amnesia – forgetting what made him time travel in the first place.

Addison Augustine (Portrayed by Caitlin Bassett) – Addison is a smart, witty, fearless ex-military operative who now serves as Project Observer at Quantum Leap HQ. She’s in charge of the technology they use to communicate with the past, and tries to rescue her fiancee, Ben, from his time-flung existence. 

Ian Wright (Portrayed by Mason Alexander Park) – Quantum Leap’s nonbinary chief architect of the AI program.

Herbert “Magic” Williams (Portrayed by Ernie Hudson) – A Vietnam vet and current head of the time travel project at Quantum Leap. Herbert “Magic” Williams tries to keep the Pentagon at bay while the team tries to rescue Ben. Doctor Sam Beckett leaped into Magic during his Vietnam tour.

Jenn Chu (Portrayed by Nanrisa Lee) – Head of security at Quantum Leap HQ. Quirky but formidable, she makes it her mission to figure out why Ben erased all evidence of why he Leaped.

Synopsis:

This episode we see Ben leap into his next “assignment”, in a dark ally way. In the background there is an emergency siren, and then we see a woman pushing up a gurney.
We find a man and woman in distress, and becomes very clear that a baby is on the way. We find out that Ben has leaped into the body of a doctor, and this woman needs immediate help.

After a few seconds of negotiating, and realizing no other help is coming, Ben helps deliver a new baby girl to the world.

We cut scene and get all the details on the leap pretty quickly, Addison is there right away. We are in Seattle, USA. 1994. And Ben has leaped into the body of Dr. Alexandra (Alex) Tomlinson, a first year resident. We get a little comic relief before it all changes…. A joke about the joys of wearing an underwire bra. We are then introduced to Dr. Sandra Turk, a 3rd year resident, mentor to Alexandra. But we quickly overhear what is a contentions conversation (Divorce) on a clunky and large Motorola flip phone (just in case we need any reminders it is 1994). Also in this scene we are given a reminder that Addison is a hologram, as Sandra walks through her, and we get the image flicker.

Now we get to the leap demands: It isn’t just 1 life this time, it is three.
Ben goes out to the nurses station, to see where the three people are, by name. Well after a very awkward conversation, they are not in the system.
Ben and Addison are confused, they must be somewhere… and then, alarms. There is an emergency trauma inbound. Guess we know where the three patients are arriving.

It’s a train crash, multiple victims. We start to see a parade of injured people being brought in.
We see Addison guiding Ben on the medical items and techniques, and what is needed (this happens through out the episode). We have found one of the first patients, and the nurse remembers that Ben was asking about.. and looks at him… how did he know? We then get to meet Dr. Harper. An abrasive senior doctor at the hospital, who obviously has some tension and issues with others on the staff (in particularly Alex and Sandra). We hear about Respiratrex, a surgical anesthetic. One that is still in trials. We now get a piece of the puzzle, this leap is going to be about the challenges of new drugs: profit vs what is right for the patient. Ben takes a bold move, and changes the drug told to use by Dr. Harper, breaking rules. Thinking this is going to save the young girl.

The nurse Ben asked the names of, she finds a 2nd name from that list, and tells Ben (Alex) to go see if she/he can help him.

We meet Eli, who is about to find out that his head pain from the accident, is the least of his problem. He has a brain tumor, that needs immediate treatment.
He doesn’t want it, as he lost his wife, and life has been tough with out her. Then a twist. Dr. Sandra comes in. We find out Eli is her father (estranged). Eli asked Alex not to say anything to Sandra, putting Ben in a difficult position.

Cut back to the ER… and there is a man with a nasty piece of shrapnel in his forehead. As Sandra works to remove the fragment, Alex/Ben talk to the man, learning about his 25 year marriage, and that his wife is somewhere in the hospital, as she was injured as well. We learn a little about the man and his wife (Genie). They have a great life and marriage together. And the two (Alex and Sandra), successfully remove the shrapnel and save his life. Things are good.

We find Ben using state of the art 1996 technology, big medical reference library on CD. And a dot-matrix printer. Thinking back to 1996, this is about right.
The internet was still dial-up in most places and not readily available, and even though that had ISDN or other technologies, it still wasn’t fast. YAHOO was the biggest search engine at the time, and very little medical reference material was available. Ben wishes that he had fast internet connection at that moment. He is looking up details about the cancer that Eli has, and what can be done. Sandra comes in and states, the best treatment is immediate treatment and as his doctor, Alex has to make him do the treatment.

We then get the confrontation from Dr. Turk, about the changed script. He talks down to two doctors, not even referring to them as doctors. It’s tense, he basically tells Alex that when the medical emergency is over, there is going to be consequences. Ben is disappointed that Sandra didn’t speak up about the drug, and her concerns. She is terrified it is going to impact her divorce and the battle for her son.

There is a double down on the drug story line now, that it is going to impact a LOT of people if it continues. So Ben has an idea, he is going to talk to Eli. Who was a lawyer, that fought (for what Sandra declared) the wrong side of the arguments, and won. He was a talented lawyer, but that led to Eli and Sandra’s distance. The conversation with Eli really doesn’t go well, Ben makes the case, but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Addison then informs Ben, that Grace (the man’s wife from earlier), is brain dead. And Ben (Alex) is going to have to deliver the news. In this moment, we get to learn about Addison a bit more. She was a leader in the military, she lead operations that didn’t always go well. She had to break the news to a family that their only son had died, and we see the pain on Addison, that it was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. We see Ben deliver the painful news to the man.

We cut back to Ben talking with Sandra about the conversation with Eli. And then.. code alert. The young girl from earlier (that had the surgery) is crashing, it is Kim. One of the people Ben has to save. They work together to save her again with the paddles of life, but it isn’t going to last. Sandra concludes she is in total heart failure an dis going to need a heart transplant ASAP. In the emotional aftermath, Ben reveals to Sandra that her dad is dining of cancer, and is being stubborn about the treatment. We see this doesn’t sit well with Sandra, and that it is Sandra is the only one that can give him a reason to live.

Ben is frustrated at this point, he can’t solve these three.. .and is afraid he stuck there forever, if he can’t figure out the leap. Addison reminds him, that there has to be a connection… why is he there. Addison works with Ian and Ziggy and conclude there is no heart donor in the system at that time. So what can be done? Ben has an idea. We next find Ben talking to man about his wife, that is declared brain dead. And talk to him about approving the heart transplant. After a warm discussion, he agrees. The transplant is going to happen. However: ALERT! Ziggy says there is a problem, and it isn’t going to work, because Dr. Turk is going to use the Respiratrex drug.

Ben gets help from Sandra… they have to stop this surgery, or get this drug changed. They both then put their careers (well Ben puts Alex’s) on the line. They barge into the active ER. And confront Dr. Turk… not just about the drug, but about how they are treated as Women instead of colleagues/Doctors. They then give Turk the additional data they have, that Kim has a pre-existing condition, and this drug is going to kill her. He nods, and changes the drug to be used. Saves Kim.

We find out then from Addison, the details get out, the hospital removes themselves from the trial. Other hospitals follow, the drug is never approved and thousands and thousands of people are saved. The Leap…. is a success. We find out Sandra is going to force Eli to treatment.

We then end up with Ben and Addison talking on the back of an Ambulance. Reflecting on the lives Dr’s and Nurses live every day. And the lives they hold in their hands, that they save. We have a tender moment, and we seem them lean in… and Ben leaps.

Ben then finds him self in an elevator, with a familiar Sci Fi fan favorite by his side. Military uniforms, Ben is a high ranking person. Doors open, and we here “far out” and “wait to you see what this nuclear reactor can do”.

—

Back in Project QL, things are getting interesting.

Janice is in a dark interrogation room, with Magic. She isn’t talking, she doesn’t trust Magic.
Magic things this is a risk he needs to take, and well.. gives a little trust to Janice, and lets her out of the cuffs.
Janice says she will talk, but she needs to talk to BEN first.

It’s Jenn’s turn to talk to Janice. She brings in some drinks as a peace offering, from the ruse that led to Janice’s capture.
Janice was impressed, and they find a common bond that they are both pretty smart. Jenn gives a little info to Janice.
Tells her about Martinez (Leaper X), and the interaction with Ben. And that Ben was surprised. Then Janice slips. She states: “look, there is an order this as to….”

And stops. Jenn jumps all over that statement… “What Order”. Janice shuts down again, and says… “there is one other person I will talk to…”

Jenn and Magic discuss whom ever Janice noted she will talk to, ultimately they come to conclusion to grant Janice that conversation. But who?

It’s Addison, Janice wants to talk to Addison… and she does.
We get an intense conversation, and Janice gives a demand to Addison. She is to stop talking to Ben about things he remembers.
Ben has to stop sharing, he can’t trust anyone, not even Addison. She hints that anything he says out loud, gets into the records, and future Quantum projects will know about it (a reference to Martinez and Leaper X)

—

Review: 

Another quality episode. 

There is a lot to unpack in this episode, and the preview for the next one.

So going in reverse order of things, the Project QL story line is speeding up. Just with the few minutes of time, we learned a lot more. I am getting little more convinced that Janice isn’t a bad character. She is just going outside the lines to help Ben, she didn’t want this… Ben asked for her help.

I don’t think Ben is going to stop talking to Addison, even if she says he has to. Just doesn’t seem to be in Ben’s updated character. Maybe before he wouldn’t, but not now. 

Back to the leap: The references to 1996, with the cell phone. “Nostradamus” (if you recall he was big news/predictions in the 90’s). The old computer with CD’s and old printer… just the little things, like the pager. Good stuff there. 

My heart strings were heavily pulled when the man was talking about his wife, and their marriage. I personally just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary (we were married just about the time of this episode). So while we watched, it was just a moment that we couldn’t think about life without one another.

The complicated twist of the episode, were pretty telegraphed, we had a pretty good idea where this was going to go. I did think Eli was going to make the case, but that didn’t happen.

A few things though, there is no way they would have pulled that big of a piece of shrapnel out of his head ,that quickly, in position, in the ER. There would have been at least X-Rays to make sure that it didn’t penetrate further. And Kim’s heart surgery would have taken hours, and she wouldn’t have woken up to smile at her mom before the end of the same day. Just some nit-picks. 

Overall this was a good episode, I think the Project QL pieces were more important then the leap itself. 

So the preview for the next episode, which is in 3 weeks 1/30/2023. 

I first think, the delay is probably because they are re-tooling the episode a little bit, OR… because of the 6 additional episodes for season 1. They are pausing here a bit, instead of having a really big gap at the end of the season. 

My opinion, from the little bit we saw: They are in the 1980’s (the “far out” statement from the women in the scene), the older military uniforms. And the shock of seeing a nuclear reactor. The extended preview for the episode, this is going to be good. It’s a time loop. My suspicion is that since it explodes, there is not enough data for Ziggy (or whom ever) to figure out what body Ben was to leap into, to impact the change. And Ben loops through each of the characters, to try to avoid this tragedy. I think it is going to be a lot of fun to watch it play out. 

ONE big other thing that happened in this episode…. We get the “door” for Addison, in a way. I will have another thread on that discussion. 

 
                       

Directed by: Tessa Blake