I feel let down by this episode on so many levels.
Let's start with the what happens.
Ben leaps back to the 1800s into the body of an old Mexican/American gunslinger. The town he leaps into is called Salvation and it's under threat by the railroad construction company. The railroad company sends a bunch of outlaws to kick the inhabitants of the town out, so they can build the railroad. Ben, a pacifist, refuses to kill the bad guys, but opts for capturing them and turning them in for a reward. His plan works. But wait a minute. Just a few seconds before he leaps he meats another leaper.
Now, I'm not a history buff, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the portrayal of this town. However, the writing in this episode was heavily preachy and I didn't like it one bit.
All the main characters in this episode, both in the mystery story-line, if we can still call it that, and the leap story-line were people of color, which is fine, I guess. What I didn't like is the portrayal of the white men in this episode. They were either drunk or they were the bad guys. Why? Is this a fair representation. If we care about such things?
The inhabitants of Salvation give these long preachy monologues about how Salvation is the town where they can come and be their true selves, so is that restricted to only people of Color? I really hate talking about race. I really do. And I don't like preachy shows which just try and push a message that all people of color are oppressed and all white people are the oppressors, because that definitely ain't true.
Now one can say, well, back in the 1800s people of color were surely oppressed. A fair point, but if you want to portray that, then at least portray it in a compelling manner, instead of just having cardboard characters going around spewing monologues of how they left their towns to come to salvation and build themselves. Who cares? I didn't for sure. None of these characters really mattered to me. I started liking the deputy who decided to stay behind, but mainly because the actor infused the character with some charisma. But he didn't have much to play with.
And did you notice that the two white deputies decided to take the bribe and leave and only the African/American deputy decided to stay.
Honestly, I just thought the entire way they played this story was very crude. I'm very disappointed.
Let's compare this episode with one of the memorable episodes from the original Quantum Leap season 1, The Color of Truth. Sam leaps into an older black man. He's confused, as he usually is after a leap and decides to sit at the diner and order something to drink. Unlucky for him it's a white only diner. His actions brings on the ire of a couple of young men, who are in essence racist. The story unfolds as we see how Sam tries to change the opinion of the older woman whom he works for about "colored folk". The characters in that episode had depth. You could see how some people were good, but were victims of that time period's thinking. They were part of their times. They had quirks and language of the time period, as far as I could tell. And the writing was smart. It was not preachy. The episode didn't preach at you and tell you how we should treat everyone equally. It actually took the time to show us how hard the life of an older black man was in the south; the consequences of the injustice of it all and how change can come about when someone gets out of their comfort zone and stands up against the injustice, even in something as small as letting a black man sit and eat in a white only diner as an equal.
In this current incarnation of Quantum Leap all semblance of good script writing goes out of the window. No effort is put into developing any of the characters beyond their meaningless overly dramatized dialogue. I'm sorry to say, but I didn't really feel for any of these characters. The episode goes out of its way to introduce the black woman who owns the diner, the black iron-smith, the Mexican fifteen year old who supposedly loves this town, the black deputy, the Chinese boy chemist and his father who wants to be a chef and the white drunk man, who's a useful idiot in the story. And all these characters, except of course the drunk white man, give speeches about how Salvation is the town which allowed them to be their true self... Very ineffective story telling. Why the hell would you have so many characters, which have practically identical roles in the script? They all are their to tell the audience that Salvation is the town where they can be themselves. Basically implying how society rejected them and they came to this town, which was built by minority for minorities. Bad writing. Just horrible writing.
Instead of having so many characters, have one or two you focus on. Spend sometime showing the injustice they suffered. Show how they struggled to build themselves in Salvation. Make us care for their plight. Preaching at me ain't gonna make me care. Trust me.
Then there is Addison. I'm sorry to say but there isn't any chemistry between her and Ben. Zip, Zero, Nada.
This episode did try and spend some time with Ben and Addison developing their relationship, unfortunately, the writers failed to make me root for Ben and Addison. I don't care where there first date was. Literally, this is the only thing I remember from their dialogue. There isn't any other significant piece of information I came out with. I didn't feel for them one bit. It's part bad writing, part lack of chemistry between the actors.
I'm starting to think the whole girlfriend hologram thing just ain't working. I would've much rather had Janice Calaviche be the hologram.
And then there is the mystery story-line, which now devolved to something that's not the mystery anymore. It was an entirely useless b-storyline about a congress woman who came to investigate the program. Why? Don't know. What's the purpose of the that b-storyline? Don't know. How does it serve the overall arch? Don't know. Basically a waste of time.
In the original show, when they introduced the budget hearing episode, they at least tied it with the leap. When Sam helps the woman he lept back to help, she becomes the judge who decides to continue funding the Quantum Leap Project. At least they attempted to tie it in in some sensible manner. Not here. Just a rogue b-story line which did what? Gave the other actors something to do?
Then there was the other leaper. It was thrown in like an after thought. We see one close up of the character of the leaper, but he has no dialogue until the very end. Why? Why? Oh Why? What a waste of an opportunity. Instead of introducing the evil leaper in a dramatic way we have this corny scene at the very end of the episode. And ... And we never see were Ben leapt.
Fair to say, I found this episode lacking. And I hope it's just a dip and the writing will become better and smarter in later episodes.
Any who. That's it from me. Over and out.