Fellow Travelers:
Written by:
Story by : Drew Lindo & Dean Georgaris
Teleplay by : Drew Lindo
Directed by: David Grossman
Airdate: January 2, 2023
Synopsis:
Ben leaps into Jack, a bodyguard for famous musician Carly Farmer who, according to Addison, died during a sound check in the original history. Ben literally leaps to her rescue after receiving that information when Addison sees a light ready to fall on her. All is not well, however, because now the timeline has changed to indicate Carly is murdered later that night.
Meanwhile, Ian, Magic and Jenn discuss Janis, and the possibility that she is on their side, trying to help Ben save Addison. With Ian having worked out the possible places she could have escaped to, Jenn’s instinct picks Belize and she heads out to find her.
Ben discusses the possible suspects with Addison, going over the people who work with her. He ends up with Carly outside and she kisses him, revealing to Ben that Jack and Carly have a budding relationship. They’re interrupted by one of Carly’s backup singers, telling them Jack is needed by her manager, Trevor. Furthermore, Carly’s younger “junkie” sister, Jamie, is trying to get into their party, claiming she has a ticket, but shouldn't be here. Addison drops in with the news that in the historical records, Jamie is the one who murdered Carly.
Ben talks with Jamie and recognizes that there may be a deeper problem than just the murder, defying Addison’s prompting him to tell Jamie that her sister didn’t want her there. Addison tells Ben that Jamie was tried and convicted, but Ben wants all the information about the trial to determine for himself.
During a Q&A session, Carly talks about her sister, having written a song for her on her new album, showing great support for her and regret that they haven’t talked in so long. Trevor talks with Ben and shows him copies of threats he has received over the years from Jamie, while Ian tells Addison about the trial which showed conclusive evidence that Jamie was the likely culprit. Ian, however, tells her that it could be the perfect frame, and points out some things that could be questionable in the official story. Trevor is shocked when he sees the invitation that Jamie had, saying it proves that Jamie typed it, trying to invite herself. He throws it away, telling Ben to not tell Carly that her sister was ever here.
Addison returns to tell Ben that someone stands to make a ton of money if Carly dies, and they both conclude that it would be Trevor, because when Jamie turned to drugs, he began helping Carly write her lyrics. However, he isn’t credited as a songwriter on the album, but would get the publishing rights to those songs after Carly dies. Addison comes up with the idea of setting up a trap, but the way she explains the reasoning behind the idea makes it clear she’s upset with Ben about not telling her why he decided to leap. Before they can continue the talk, Carly appears.
Jenn finds Janis, and despite Jenn trying to get information about what happens to Addison, Janis counters with the question, why did Ben come to her for help instead of his team? Jenn says that since Ben trusts Janis, she will trust her as well. Janis says that her father had people he could trust at Quantum Leap, suggesting that the current team does not. She goes to leave, but Jenn had previously paid off Janis’ bodyguards and they stop Janis from leaving.
Ben tells Carly that Jamie was here, much to Trevor’s annoyance, and tells her that she seemed fine and not dangerous, but that he thinks there’s a threat regardless. Carly wants to go out by herself, but Ben refuses to let her do her usual routine, so she reluctantly allows him to join her at a bar.
Addison and Magic have a heart to heart, allowing her to let loose with her anger, and he feels very much the same about what Ben did, but tells her they need to share these feelings with each other because they’re a team and need to rely on each other.
Carly tells Ben about how Jamie signed them up for a talent show, which started her love of singing. Addison returns and tells Ben that after Ziggy’s analysis, the letters that Jamie supposedly wrote were not a match for her grammar, vocabulary, and syntax, and were actually written by Trevor. At Addison’s insistence, Ben tells Carly that Trevor was trying to keep her and Jamie apart so he could continue to collect money. Ben reassures her that Jamie still loves her, and that while we can’t change the past, we can change what we do going forward. Suddenly, a car comes barreling towards them and narrowly misses hitting them, Ben having shoved Carly out of the way.
Carly immediately slaps and fires Trevor, and begins expressing remorse about how much time has been lost, with Ben encouraging her to call Jamie. Jamie comes over and the two sisters reconnect with an embrace. Ben takes a moment to relax, but Addison shows up to tell him that Carly still dies, being stabbed later that night, with the knife being found in Jamie’s coat pocket. Carly, taking Ben’s advice from earlier about not being afraid, refuses to cancel the show, offering to use herself as bait in order to catch the killer.
As Ben tries to figure out who the killer actually is, he realizes that Trevor may have written the letters, but that he was surprised about the invitation. He calls Trevor and finds out that Carly’s backup singer, Loretta, was dating him and knew about Trevor’s letters. Unfortunately, Ben is separated from Carly when the crowd suddenly rushes inside the venue.
Loretta finds Carly and tells her Jamie needs her, but as she walks down stairs Loretta starts to attack her. Ben again leaps to the rescue and tackles Loretta, ending the ordeal. As he deals with the pain of being stabbed himself, he agrees with Addison that they’re better together as a team, harkening back to her anger about being left out of the loop on why he leapt. Jamie joins Carly onstage as her new backup singer, while Addison and Ben share a moment about facing everything together before he leaps. He finds himself now a doctor in a parking lot with a woman about to have a baby.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Who is Ben?
Jack Armstrong
Where is Ben?
Chicago, Illinois
When is Ben?
April 24, 1979 (17 year leap back)
Closest Previous leaps-
S01E03 “Somebody Up There Like Ben” 1977
Closet location to Sam Beckett-
S02E18 "Pool Hall Blues" Chicago, Illinois September 4, 1954
S04E15 "A Song for the Soul" Chicago, Illinois April 7, 1963
Closet time to Sam Beckett-
S02E10 "Catch a Falling Star" Syracuse, New York May 21, 1979
S03E14 "Private Dancer" New York City October 6, 1979
S04E08 “Dreams” Malibu, California February 28, 1979
We’ve seen director David Grossman before, he directed 2 episodes of Lois and Clark, S04E05 “Brutal Youth,” or the old man Jimmy episode, and S04E19 “Voice from the Past,” where Lois is kidnapped by Lex Luthor’s son. He also directed Sliders S04E08 “The Alternateville Horror,” or the haunted hotel episode, and Dawson’s Creek S04E13 “Eastern Standard Time,” where Joey and Jen travel to New York together so Jen can confront her father.
Songs for this episode were written by the singer/songwriter Jamie Jackson, who is a longtime musician who typically works with her husband, Waz, scoring TV shows, and writing original songs for TV (as well as their other projects), along with singer/songwriter, Jamie Drake.
Quantum Leap‘s executive producer, Dean Georgaris, had worked with Jackson on his earlier TV series, Bluff City Law, and he hired her to write the song for Carly Farmer (the episode was written by Georgaris and co-executive producer Drew Lindo).
The song is sung by Jackson and Drake, with lead vocals by Drake. Guest actor Deborah Ann Woll did an amazing job looking as if she was singing the song in the episode. Jackson actually worked it out so that the band who performed the song actually got to act as Farmer’s backing band in the episode (other than a new piano player, since Jackson played piano on the song, and she wanted to be able to be separate from the performance so that she could see how Woll handled it, in case she needed help with the performance).
Carly was played Deborah Ann Woll. She recently created and starred as the Dungeon Master in a web series called Children of Éarte (Presented by Demiplane). She was involved in a similar style show called Force Grey a few years earlier. She is probably best known however for playing Karen Page in Netflix’s Daredevil and Punisher shows, and Jessica in True Blood and True Blood: Jessica’s Blog.
This episode involves Ben leaping into a scenario akin to The Bodyguard (1992). The episode opens with a rendition of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman," which Whitney Houston sang on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Another point of interest may be that the Kevin Costner character is Frank Farmer while the guarded singer in Quantum Leap is Carly Farmer.
Unsung Hero: Zach Sowers was Jack. He’s only got 9 credits, 2 of them in Picard as a security guard. He did appear in Post Malone’s & Dojo Cat’s video I Like You (A Happier Song) as Bubble Man.
Kiss with History: Elton John
Paging Dr. Song:
Written by: Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes
Directed by: Tessa Blake
Airdate: January 9, 2023
Synopsis:
Ben leaps into a parking lot as a female doctor named Alexandra Tomkinson, standing near a young couple who are more than ready for their baby to be born. With no other options available, Ben is forced to deliver the baby girl, which he does successfully. Afterwards, in the locker room, Ben runs into another doctor and mentor, Sandra Turk, who Addison reports is going through a bad divorce and bitter custody battle. Addison then informs him he’s there to save three people named Kimberly, Eli, and Louis. However, when Ben goes to find the patients, they aren’t actually in the system. An alarm goes off suddenly and a horde of victims from a train crash are being admitted inside.
As Ben helps Sandra work on a patient, another doctor named Harper orders them to get the patient to the operating room, recommending she be given 10 ccs of an anesthetic called Respiratrex, which seems to give Sandra pause. Addison explains that many drug companies would sell their products to hospitals, they seem promising originally but eventually turn out to have many negative side effects to certain people. Addison digs deeper and finds out that this hospital was one of the few that were incentivized into trying the drug. Ben talks to Sandra who confirms that she would prefer using a different drug, and Ben changes the chart to reflect her recommendations, much to Sandra’s surprise and threat that if Dr. Harper finds out, her career could be over.
Meanwhile in the present, Magic talks with Janis who asks to be released from the handcuffs, offering to tell him everything she knows about the Ben situation, but only after she gets to talk to Ben first. Jenn takes a turn with Janis and tells her of Leaper X, Richard Martinez’s role in one of the leaps, and Janis lets something slip out about what is going on. She does, however, stop herself short, saying that there is only one person besides Ben that she will talk to. Magic makes the decision to roll the dice.
Ben finds the next patient, Eli, and while he was told he had a concussion, his chart reveals that he has a brain tumor. Ben starts to explain his next steps, but he demands to be discharged, explaining that he is done fighting, and his life has not been what it once was when his wife was still alive, now feeling hopelessly alone. Sandra enters the room, surprised to see Eli, and he tells Ben that she is his daughter. Addison tells Ben that unless he can change Eli’s mind, he will die.
When Ben finds the third patient, Louis, he is shocked to see a piece of the train wreckage embedded in the man’s forehead. Sandra needs to remove the shrapnel herself, because all of the OR’s are filled, but in the original timeline she nicked an artery and the man died. Ben begins talking to Louis to keep him calm while Sandra works, and she successfully removes the shrapnel, saving his life.
Ben goes to Sandra and she explains that her and her dad are not on great terms, due to his past as a lawyer for evil corporations who were on trial for chemical spills, sexual harassment lawsuits and so on, neglecting his family in the process. His job made Sandra want to become the opposite of what he was, someone who saved lives.
Harper comes in and chastises Ben for changing the chart, refusing to believe Kimberly has an undiagnosed condition that would cause fatal reactions with Respiratrex. Sandra doesn’t stand up for the change either and Harper leaves, telling them that they will be using the Respiratrex, and later they will talk about Alex's future at the hospital. Sandra says she can’t help because of her custody battle, and needing her career or she could lose her son.
Ben goes to see Eli who is readying himself to leave, and he admits that he wasn’t the best father, knowing about his transgressions from his past. Ben counters that maybe the universe is allowing him to help his daughter save the lives of a lot of people from a dangerous drug, but needs his help to do it.
Addison shows up to deliver the unfortunate news that Louis’ wife was found but is currently brain dead, leaving Ben to tell him. Addison shares a time when she had to deliver a similar message during her time in the military, which helps Ben find the right things to say to Louis, comforting him the best he is able to.
Ben tells Sandra that Eli has agreed to help fight the board about Respiratrex, but Sandra is not buying into it. Before they can argue about it, an alarm sounds and they find out Kimberly is having a reaction to the experimental drug and in danger of dying. As she flatlines, Addison helps Ben use the crash cart to try and shock her back to life, which she eventually does, her pulse returning. Sandra however, sees that Kimberly needs a heart transplant as soon as possible.
Sandra confronts Ben about how he knew about Kimberly’s undiagnosed condition, and why she thinks she needs to reconnect with Eli. She asks what Ben knows, leaving him to tell her about the tumor, explaining that Eli doesn’t want treatment because he has lost all hope in his life, and that she is the only one who can convince him.
Ben gets frustrated that they can’t find a heart donor for Kimberly, regretting his choice to leap early, but Addison talks him down, telling him he just needs to find the connection that binds these patients together. Ben goes to Louis, asking him if he would consider giving Kimberly a chance to live by donating his wife’s heart for the procedure. Louis, knowing his wife’s spirit of giving, allows it to happen. Unfortunately, Harper is subbing in for the operation and plans to use Respiratrex which would result in Kimberly dying.
The pair rush into the OR and demand the operation stops, with Ben holding the IV and threatening to cut it. Harper is incensed but Sandra sticks up for Ben and shows him the chart that confirms that Kimberly does have the medical issue Ben explained earlier. Harper gives in and changes the drug out, calling Ben “Doctor” instead of talking down to him like he had earlier. Addison reports that Harper recommends stopping Respiratrex use the following day, and eventually it leads to the drug being canceled.
Ben talks with Sandra about Eli, and she admits that she understands now how her father might be feeling, due to her own feelings since her divorce, and heads off to talk to him and take him to oncology for his treatment.
Ben talks with Addison about how hard the day was, respecting the things doctors and nurses have to deal with. He then starts to wonder if he will be able to do what he originally leapt for. Addison again talks him down from the ledge, telling him neither one of them needs to be afraid of the future. As he goes to kiss her, Ben leaps into an army colonel in an elevator, on his way to see a nuclear reactor.
Addison returns to the project and talks with Janis, but goes in hard with attitude. Janis stands up to her, telling her that she didn’t want to be involved with any of this, but what Ben told her made her drop everything. Janis says she needs to stop asking Ben to remember, to stop him from talking about things from the present, and that he can trust no one, not even Addison.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Who is Ben?
Dr. Alexandra Tomkinson
Where is Ben?
Seattle, Washington
When is Ben?
1994 (15 year leap forward)
Closest leaps-
S01E08 "Stand by Ben" 1996
Closet location to Sam Beckett-
S05E19 "The Beast Within" November 6, 1972 Washington state
Closet time to Sam Beckett-
S04E01 “The Leap Back” Stallions Gate, New Mexico September 18, 1999
Tiffany Smith played Sandra. Her last credit before QL was as a lead in the Greg Gunberg show Weird Weird Times, which only contains the information in IMDb that it is a comedy drama series from 2020. She was also a voice in Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation. She was one of the higher ups in the cast list for House of Demons (a supernatural thriller about four estranged friends who are reunited to spend the night in a terrifying time-bending haunted house).
Francois Chau played Louis, and he's best known to us by several character names in Lost (Pierre Chang, Martin Candle, Mark Wickmund, Edgar Halliwax). He shows up all the time in various shows as a character actor with a large number of credits to his name; he did have a recurring role in Amazon’s The Tick series, and was in 11 episodes of the original 1985 cartoon GI Joe as Quick Kick.
All other actors, like Stan Shaw (Eli), the man in the parking lot (Wes Armstrong), Harper (Eugene Byrd), Lead Nurse (Sumalee Montano), all have a long list of character actor credits, and a lot of animation work one offs, but in some cases full series.
Unsung Hero: Chinyere Dobson. In the past, she was a lead in the series Journey of the Vagina (a 11 episode comedy about a girl who faces the everyday challenges that girls go through on the bumpy ride to womanhood). Her other roles are all a bit lower on the cast list, including the 2023 movie You People, starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, David Duchovny, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, amongst others. She's currently a supporting cast member of the series All The Queen’s Men (Madam is a fierce businesswoman who is at the top of her game in the exotic nightclub industry and surrounded by a band of trusted employees who are down to make sure that she is successful, but discovers that more money and more power means more problems).
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