In this episode Ben finds himself in the body of a priest about to perform an exorcism. As he investigates the situation he learns how one of the family members is plotting the whole thing in order to get the inheritance of the great ant and run away with his brother's wife.
Like the best of the episodes in the series so far, the writers decided to greatly reduce the time spent in the Mystery story-line and focus on the Leap story-line. As a result they ended up with a well paced story, which kept my attention throughout. I hope the trend continues.
There are a couple of things I like to commend the writers on. They didn't go down the route of belittling the Christian faith. In fact, the young woman who was "possessed", but turned out to be drugged, embodies the Christian faith. Even though her mother betrayed her, she forgives her. This was a genuine moment in the script. Many of the shows which attempt to tackle Christianity, always focus on the "supernatural elements", the possessions, angels and daemons, etc. But this is not what the Christian faith is about. It's about being like Christ, who forgave even his murderers. And this young lady forgives her would be murderers. Whether the parallel was intended or not, I thought it was a stroke of genius. Good on them.
Even Ian admits how Sam believed God was guiding his leaps. I'd like to delve a bit further into this idea, because I mentioned it before. In this Quantum Leap they imply how Ziggy is the one controlling the leaps. But I still think it's not a very good explanation. How did Ben choose these people? What is imposing the requirement that whatever went wrong must be set right in order for Ben to leap? I mean if Ben is the one who wrote the algorithm, it is rather strange he would put such a requirement in place. It would greatly reduce his chances of getting to his final destination. What if he dies in one of the leaps, or he fails setting right what once went wrong? However, once you put the "supernatural element" back. I mean God is the one directing Ben's leaps, then everything makes sense. Maybe he's able to exert some control over his leaps, but he's not the one choosing where he should leap. Some greater power is using him to set right what once went wrong.
The second aspect I'd like to commend the writer on is: they had minimal time between Ben and Addison, and frankly, I didn't miss her. I think if they reduce her role like they did in this episode, it would serve the series well. So far there isn't any chemistry between the two actors. I mean, it could change in the future. But from a story perspective, it would be a lot more motivational for Ben to want to go home and be reunited with Addison, if he doesn't see her in every leap.
If we take a page from the original series. The reason we rooted for Sam is because he wanted to go home and be with his family, but he never could. He wanted to save his father, but he never could. All the way up to the 3rd season, we see how Sam helped other people, but couldn't help himself. This led to one of the best episodes in the entire original series where Sam saves his brother. For Ben, if the writers create a situation where they sever the tie between Addison and him, we can show how much he misses her, and this would create the motivation for him to want to get back home. He now has to choose between Addison and whatever reason he ended up leaping.
I'd like to take this chance to toot my own horn. If you recall in my review of "Somebody up there likes Ben", I did mention how it appeared like Janice Calavichi had built her own imaging chamber... And what do you know, lo and behold at the end of the episode she appears to him. I really, really think she should be his hologram guide. Ditch Addison for her. Maybe she puts in a virus into Ziggy or she activate something in the AI computer, which makes her the only one able to communicate with Ben. Remember the original Ziggy Computer had a personality, used to talk, had mood swings. What if Janice activates Ziggy's original personality. Then Ziggy would want to get Sam back, because he was her friend. The Quantum Leap project would then be forced to deal with Janice.
This would actually serve the point I mentioned above, regarding reducing Addison's role.
The appearance of Janice supports my theory. They are trying to solve the mysterious ending of the original series, and maybe find Sam. Remember in one of the previous episodes she mentioned how she was smart and capable enough to finish what Al Calavichi started. And in another episode they mentioned how Al Calavichi never stopped looking for Sam. This evidence lends credence to my "Solve the mystery of the original show's ending" theory. Guess time will tell.
Of course I still think the writers need to explain how Janice was able to build an imaging chamber. I mean Quantum Leap is a multi-billion dollar project. How's she able to build even a rudimentary imaging chamber in her basement?
Anywho, that's all I got. Over and Out.