In this episode Ben leaps into a boxer whose title match is the next day. In the original history the boxer loses this match because he was distracted. His brother got arrested and was in a fight in jail. When the boxer loses, his brother also loses his boxer training business. Since the brother suffers from PTSD due to his involvement in the Vietnam war, he eventually commits suicide.

Ben changes history.

Before i get into my review, what's up with the title of the episode? It doesn't relate to the story at all. Well maybe except for one single line Ben says and he actually says the opposite "someone up there doesn't like me". Kinda strange.

I liked this episode. They spend a lot less time in the Mystery story-line and more time developing the characters in the leap story line. Good on them. 

I think the trouble I have with this episode continues to be the relationship between Sam and Addison. They are just not jelling together. First off, she's too stiff. And that could work if we can give her some good back story. I thought this would've been an ideal episode to work in a bit more about Addison. They hint how she served in Afghanistan. Apparently the actress herself served in Afghanistan as well. But why stop there. What happened to her in Afghanistan? Does she carry any psychological trauma from her time there? Wouldn't it have been cool if she did. She would've related a lot more to the people they are there to help. They could've added a few flashbacks between her and Ben, where something happens and she goes off because of her PTSD. Maybe her PTSD is something her and Ben have been trying to hide. If it comes out, it could mean the end of her role in the Quantum Leap Project, so Ben agrees to keep it hidden. Wouldn't it have been even cooler if Ben remembers that? 

So far Addison is not emotionally involved in the leaps at all. She's just there to coach Ben. Remember when Al would get emotional about the boy with down syndrome because his own sister had the same condition and died in an institution? None of that here. A missed opportunity. Maybe they'll have these type of twists in future episodes. But I really think they should've pulled all the stops early in the show to secure the viewer ship.

Here is another missed opportunity regarding character building. The man Ben leapt into has a girlfriend. This would've been an ideal episode to show how Addison reacts to that. I mean the actress does a good job showing how she's a bit jealous. But it's not worked in the script. Why?

I actually like the Janice Calavichi story line, however, why is she so serious all the time. She was obviously pretty close to her dad, and her dad was one funny guy. He didn't react too seriously to every little thing which happened to him. Why does she not take up after him? It would've been a good homage to Dean Stockwell. She could've used some of his catch phrases, ex: "ain't it a kick in the butt". But instead of making Janice light hearted and has a sense of humor. They make her way too serious.

The same problem exists with Addison. She has no sense of humor. She's always stressed out. All her dialogue is either expressing how much she misses Ben, or just helping Ben in his leap. That's not good character development.

The show opts for the fast paced short scenes. I really don't understand why? It could benefit from slowing the pace down a tad when it comes to building up the relationships.

And when I say slow down the pacing, I don't mean the pacing of the story, rather the pacing of the scene changes. They are continuously jumping from scene to scene too quickly. Why not have longer scenes where we see Ben and Addison connecting, or a sequence of related scenes, where the two main characters are Ben and Addison

I'm hoping they do a better job in developing the characters in future episodes.

From the technical side of the world building, I have a few questions:

  1. Who controls the leaps? It seems like Ben's program controls the leaps. Which begs the question: is there no one smart enough to hack it and bring him back? Come on, there is always someone smart out there?
  2. Who determines when he leaps? I mean if Ben's program is the one controlling the leap, then why is correcting history a prerequisit to leaping? Who created that requirement?
  3. The original show solved these issues by adding "divine" intervention. Some how God uses Sam's leaps to put right what once went wrong. Basically, when and who he leaps into are out of his control. I argue that removing the supernatural element breaks down the entire concept.
  4. Also in the end of the original show we learn how Sam actually controls his own leaps, in the sense that he can leap home at any time. However, he subconsciously chooses not to, so he can keep helping people. Maybe this is all part of the arch of the new Quantum Leap series. Bring Sam home damn it. I really hope so anyway. Seems to make sense if they are building on the legacy of the original show.

In the end of the episode we see Janice step into what seems to be an imaging chamber of her making. If that's true, it would be cool. But would raise some question. How did she get the money to create something so advanced? There is an entire program which costs billions of dollars to keep running and she was able to build an imaging chamber in her basement. The writers will need to find answers to these questions.

Any who, that's it from me. Over and out.