Salvation or Bust:
Written by: Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes
Directed by: Silas Howard
Airdate: October 17, 2022
Synopsis:
Ben leaps into gunslinger Diego DeLaCruz in the middle of an argument with his granddaughter, Valentina, in the town of Salvation in 1879. Following her outside, a group of outlaws, led by wanted man McDonough, confront the people of Salvation and threaten them into giving up their town to the Pacific Railroad Company, or be forced out. The sheriff rejects their offer, explaining how they’ve petitioned the governor for help, but is shot by McDonough. Valentina volunteers her grandfather as their savior, but the outlaws are nonplussed and leave for the moment. Ben talks with Addison, but she has trouble trying to figure out why he’s here due to the spotty records that were kept, but Ben is sure that it can’t be to just win a gunfight.
In the future, congresswoman Kavita Adani, one of the members of the project’s oversight committee, has paid them a surprise visit, meaning the team can’t exactly go about its usual business in helping Ben.
Salvation, built by Valentina’s father and Diego’s son, was built for outsiders and the townspeople do not want to leave it, with bar owner Frankie giving Ben his son’s guns to help save them. Both Addison and Ben have the idea to turn in McDonough and collect the reward money to pay off the railroad, but it turns out all the sheriff’s deputies have quit, taking an offer from McDonough. He tries the same tactic with Ben, who refuses along with one deputy named Henry.
Addison tries to train him to shoot, despite Ben’s insistence that he can’t, given the fact that he has never fired a gun and that Diego is not the young gunfighter he once was either. He acquiesces to training but wants to know about their first date before doing so. Ben attempts shooting but is wildly off target, and with Addison being called back to base, Henry steps in to help. After accidentally grazing himself, Ben talks with the town doctor, Ming, the young son of a deaf former mine worker, Wei. Suddenly an explosion rings out as they discover McDonough has set fire to the town’s forge. Ben tries to get Valentina to wait in retaliation against the outlaws, but she insults him and walks away, with the townspeople begging Ben to help.
Adani starts interviewing members of the project but doesn’t get much out of them. She threatens Jenn with breaking the rules of her parole but Jenn counters that without her authorization in writing, she can’t help her. Interviewing Ian, they try to explain away the power surges to protect the AI systems, and other technobabble, but Adani calls out the fact that the power surges coincide with the exact amount of power that the leaping calculations require.
Addison talks to Ben, who is drowning his sorrows, and he confesses his sadness about not being able to be there with Addison, and his regret at why he decided to leap, still unknown to them. Ben goes to find Valentina to work things out, but he finds out she left with his guns and is facing down McDonough on her own. With Valentina easily captured, Ben convinces McDonough to talk and he offers Ben an option: duel him for the town and if Ben loses, the townspeople leave.
Addison begins pointing out skills that the townspeople have, and Ben rallies them together to create a trap against McDonough. At the duel, Ben gives McDonough one chance to surrender, but he of course refuses. The plan is set into action with Henry firing a shot and releasing Valentina from the outlaws clutches. Frankie fires up a ring of fire, while Ming and Wei toss in explosives. As the outlaws try to escape to the bar, chemicals end up causing them to pass out, and a cage dropped from above captures McDonough as he runs out the door. Ben reveals that the authorities are on their way with the reward for capturing them, and he and Valentina reunite happily.
Adani accuses Magic of performing an unauthorized leap, but Magic uses information Jenn found about when she and her brother were drinking and driving. She pulled strings so that it would seem like her brother was driving, when in fact she was. Magic tells her that the project was made to travel in time, and that the technology could be used to save her brother, but they need more time to figure out how to do it properly. The congresswoman drops her case and leaves.
Back in Salvation, the people are happy but wonder what will happen when the money dries up and the railroad company comes back. Addison points out that there’s an unclaimed copper vein nearby, and if they stake a claim the town will be put on the map and saved. As Addison and Ben celebrate, a man grabs Ben and warns him that he knows who he is and what he’s doing. He threatens Ben to stop following him before Ben leaps.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Who is Ben?
Diego de la Cruz
Where is Ben?
Salvation, California
When is Ben?
1879 (102 year leap back)
Closest Previous leaps-
S01E03 “Somebody Up There Like Ben” 1977
Closet location to Sam Beckett-
S01E01 “Genesis” Blockfield 1956
S01E04 “The Right Hand of God” Sacramento 1974
S01E08 “Camikazi Kid” Los Angeles 1961
S02E02 “Disco Inferno” Burbank 1976
S02E07 “Thou Shalt Not” Los Angeles 1974
S02E08 “Jimmy” Oakland 1964
S02E11 “A Portrait for Troian” Near Los Angeles 1971
S02E12 “Animal Frat” Meeks College 1967
S02E14 “All-American” Woodland Hills 1962
S02E22 “M.I.A.” San Diego 1969
S03E07 “Black on White on Fire” Watts 1965
S03E08 “The Great Spontini” Oakland 1974
S03E09 “Rebel Without a Clue” Near Big Sur 1958
S04E05 “Permanent Wave” Beverly Hills 1983
S04E06 “Raped” Mill Valley 1980
S04E08 “Dreams” Malibu 1979
S04E13 “Temptation Eyes” San Francisco 1985
S04E19 “Moments to Live” Los Angeles 1985
S04E22 “A Leap for Lisa” San Diego 1957
S05E01 “Lee Harvey Oswald Part 1” Tustin 1959
S05E04 “Nowhere to Run” San Diego 1968
S05E07 “Deliver Us From Evil” Oakland 1966
S05E18 “Goodbye Norma Jean” Hollywood 1960
S05E22 “Mirror Image” San Diego 1969
Closet time to Sam Beckett-
S05E20 “The Leap Between the States” September 20th, 1867 Mansfield County, Virginia
Valentina is played by Natalia del Riego. She was in 6 of the 10 episodes of Promised Land (An epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latino families vying for wealth and power in California's Sonoma Valley), but quite farther down the cast list. Most recently she was a minor character in the animated series Velma, and she’s had a recurring character on NCIS: Los Angeles for the last two seasons.
Henry is played by Marquise Vilsón. He was in a short called Marquise (the role that actor Marquise Vilsón plays onstage provides important lessons for his life everywhere else), but he is listed second to last in the cast list. Most recently, he was a main cast member of the CW series Tom Swift (Tom is a billionaire inventor who is thrust into a world of sci-fi conspiracy and unexplained phenomena after the shocking disappearance of his father).
Yaani King Mondschen is Frankie the barkeep. In her past, she was in a little less than half of the episodes of Saved (an angel offers a jaded Oklahoma City police detective the chance to redeem her life), and a series called Rommieloverfriends which has no description but she was a main cast member. Most recently she was in The Kings of Napa (The wine business has brought the King's family success and acclaim, but following the patriarch's sudden exit from the company, his three children must grapple for the reigns to the kingdom, to their own power, wealth and legacy).
McDonough is played by William Mark McCullogh. In 2021, he was a lead in A Savannah Haunting (a family loses their young daughter in a tragic drowning and moves to Savannah, only to be haunted by her presence in their new home), and The Crickets Dance (Southern attorney Angie Lawrence searches of the rightful owner of a journal recovered from an antebellum home she inherited. The journal is full of mystery and history that just may lead her to the future she has always dreamed of). He has in a number of what appear to be made for TV movies you can see on various free to watch streaming services as well as over 20 shorts.
Farrah Merani played Kavita Adani. Most recently she was in a movie called The Jungle Book (but not THAT Jungle Book). The movie poster is of a city with the title in neon lights; no synopsis was provided.
Unsung Hero: Alberto Manquero as Diego. He’s had a handful of minor roles, most recently in Pam and Tommy.
What a Disaster! :
Written by:
Story by : Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrant
Teleplay by : Steven Lilien & Bryan Wynbrant and Martin Gero
Directed by: Helen Shaver and Chris Grismer
Airdate: October 24, 2022
Synopsis:
In the future, the team is in a panic as they try to figure out how the mysterious man in Salvation knew Ben’s name and information. Ben leaps into John Harvey, a husband in a failing marriage with a woman named Naomi. As she talks with him, he realizes where he is as the San Francisco Earthquake of 1989 hits them. Outside, Naomi starts to attend to victims who are hurt, while Ben rushes off to find an ambulance. Addison tells Ben to not worry about the mysterious man, who they are now calling him Leaper X, and focus on the leap. The team is trying to come up with how this person was able to leap, with the main possibility that someone in the future is using their exact facility to leap. Addison, having issues with her handlink, uses an earlier model of the handlink once used by Al.
Ben and Naomi return to their home to find their son Jason is not there. As Naomi goes to check with neighbors, Addison tells Ben about his own relationship with his parents, non-existent with his father, and how his mother died when he was in high school, which results in him remembering her and her cooking. Seeing a torn family photo, and realizing that Jason likely learned about the impending divorce, Ben has Addison look up the son, who she discovers died in the earthquake in the original timeline.
Meanwhile, Jenn manages to use the project technology to capture an image of Leaper X, with Ian putting it through an NSA database search, eventually finding out he is Sergeant Richard Martinez, a marine with many medals, stationed at a local base.
Ben talks with Naomi, and they reason that Jason went back to their old apartment in Oakland, a place he remembers being happy. As they head there, Naomi lashes out at her decision to move their family away, triggering more memories from Ben. Ben reassures Naomi that she did what she did for the family and is a good mom. The sounds of people in trouble draws their attention and they head off.
Magic and Jenn go to Martinez’s home and question him, but he seems to be an honest man, someone wanting citizenship and as such devoted himself to the military to protect the country that gave him and his family a stable life. Magic still orders Jenn to dig up whatever she can, in case they are missing something, but she finds nothing.
Ben and Naomi manage to rescue a family from a trapped car but Naomi is hurt by a falling electrical transformer. Ben’s attempts to wake her reveal another memory of when his own mom died, and Addison shows up to show him how to restart her heart with a precordial thump. As Addison tells Ben the old apartment building will collapse in just 45 minutes, he leaves Naomi with an ambulance and takes off. As he runs, he remembers the night his mother died and how they had a huge fight because of his report card which he purposely got B’s on. He then took off, but upon returning later that night, he discovered that his mother had suffered a brain aneurysm and died. Ben tells Addison that was the reason he would get obsessed with physics and time travel and eventually want to be involved in the program. He also feels the need to save Jason, so he can have the relationship with his mother that Ben himself could not.
Ian goes to Magic and admits they may have been looking at the math wrong, and reasons that Ben may have been leaping to try and get to a point in the future, not the past. Addison talks with Jenn and tells her that it seems like Ben is more in touch with his feelings now than he ever was before leaping.
Ben finds Jason safe, but he goes into the building when his son reports one of their old neighbors is still inside. Ben gets to the man, but in trying to get him out, he gets knocked out by a falling ceiling beam. Jason comes in to help him and manages to wake him up. Together they lift the beam and get out just in time. Ben talks with him about how his mother does love him and made the choices she made for him. Together, they reunite at the hospital with Naomi, and Ziggy reports that Jason and his mom reconcile, and he goes on to become an engineer that builds better buildings that can be safer during earthquakes.
Ben realizes that his mother is still alive in this time period and wants to call her, with Addison understanding and giving him the number, but before he can say more than “mom,” Ben leaps, appearing as a priest on a doorstep at Halloween.
Ziggy’s Data Retrieval:
Who is Ben?
John Harvey
Where is Ben?
San Francisco, California
When is Ben?
October 17, 1989 (110 year leap forward, matching Sam’s record for leaping back)
Note: The original series launched in 1989. By October 17th, they had aired up to S02E03
Closest leaps-
S01E01 “July 13th, 1985”
Closet location to Sam Beckett-
S0413 “Temptation Eyes” February 1st, 1985
Closet time to Sam Beckett-
S05E17 “Revenge of the Evil Leaper” September 16th, 1987 Mallard, Ohio
Walter Perez is Leaper X / Richard Martinez. He’s had a number of roles, but mainly lower on the cast list. He had a recurring role in the later season of Queen Sugar (3 siblings claim shared inheritance of a sugar cane farm). He did star as a lead in The Park Bench (when Emily, a librarian-to-be, is assigned to tutor Mateo, a struggling undergrad, in American Lit, they do not get along; but when the discussion turns from classics to confessions, they learn something that could change their lives forever), Line of Duty (four friends from the rough side of town grow apart when two are consumed by a life of crime, and the other two become FBI agents sent deep undercover - to bring down those childhood friends), The Pregnancy Project (a 17-year-old, attending a Washington state high-school, made her senior school project the treatment of pregnant teenagers by pretending to be pregnant), Emilio (an 18-year old kid leaves his village in Mexico looking for his kidnapped sister. His journey takes him to Los Angeles, where we see the city through the eyes of this penniless illegal immigrant on a desperate quest), and was higher up on the cast list for the rebooted Fame movie.
Jewel Staite was Naomi, and is probably best known for her role as Kaylee in Firefly. From our own blog post: She has appeared in a Black Mirror/Twilight Zone type of short called CC, about an android nanny. She also starred in Stargate Atlantis along with Jason Momoa. She did have another series called The LA Complex, a relationship drama. More recently she guest starred in Blindspot and The Magicians. As a kid she starred in Flash Forward, a comedy on the Disney Channel in Canada in which she played a middle schooler living across from her best friend Tucker and the two get into hijinks while comparing what was going on with their younger days. Since we last saw her, she’s been in a show called Family Law (follows a group of flawed family members who reluctantly work together at their father's law firm in downtown Vancouver).
This episode was originally filmed as the series pilot. The decision was later made to move it further back into the season, requiring additional reshoots and editing to fit its new place in the season's story arc. From Martin Gero: “So, to clarify the timeline, we shot a pilot in March, and that pilot was finished in April and submitted for approval from the network. For a bunch of reasons, that pilot wasn’t right. And so, we had a big conversation. People give network TV a lot of shit, but one of the things that it does really right is make pilots. Pilots are very expensive, but they really do teach you an enormous amount about the show. So, after watching the original pilot, which will be a fantastic episode six, it just didn’t feel buzzy enough to be the first episode of the show.”
Unsung Hero: Our unsung hero is an actual unnamed hero, as IMDB does not list the actor who played John, whose reflection we see in a window.
Kiss with History: On October 17, 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages. Despite the fact that the disaster was one of the most powerful and destructive quakes ever to hit a populated area of the United States, the death toll was relatively small. The disaster is known both as the San Francisco-Oakland earthquake and the Loma Prieta earthquake because it was centered near Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
San Francisco’s Marina district suffered extensive damage due to no underlying bedrock,leading to the collapse of a number of structures. Additionally, gas mains and pipes burst, sparking fires. A 1.25-mile segment of the two-level street collapsed during the quake, resulting in 42 fatalities when the upper level of the road crashed onto the cars on the lower level.
In the quake’s aftermath, San Francisco and other communities enacted strict regulations requiring unreinforced masonry buildings to be retrofitted.
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