Oh boy.
After a miraculously short hiatus thanks to the forethought of the showrunners and hard work of the production team, NBC’s hit sci-fi series, Quantum Leap, returns this week on a new night and at a new time with all-new adventures for Dr. Ben Song and the QL team.
Quantum Leap Season 2 premieres at 8/7c on Wednesday, October 4, and it’s immediately apparent that Ben does not make it home. So what’s a time-traveling physicist to do?
The premiere quickly immerses viewers in an action-packed and comedically brilliant A-Team-gone-wrong-esque operation when the top-secret cargo aboard Ben’s plane attracts Russian missiles, and they are shot down.
It’s 1978, and with a superb supporting guest cast consisting of Melissa Roxburgh, P.J. Byrne, Aaron Abrams, and Francois Arnaud, Ben must trust his gut and skills to see them through the ordeal.
The QL team is MIA. Ben isn’t able to connect with Addison, Ian, Jenn, or Magic.
In fact, I think he’d be happy to have Janis show up, but that’s not in the cards either.
But knowing how leaps work, he buckles down and assesses the situation.
It helps that this isn’t his first military-context leap. He’s served in the navy on Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 14 and had to be a general as part of the multitudinal roles he took on on Quantum Leap Season 1 Episode 11.
Other parts of the mission might strike a chord with Ben.
Melissa Roxburgh’s Lt. Ellen Grier’s no-nonsense and authoritative manner rings awfully close to Addison’s military-trained approach to dilemmas.
The sergeants backing Grieg up are a motley collective, each with their own area of specialty.
Byrne’s Enoch and Abrams’s Ronny deliver some fast-paced and witty banter that smacks of an Ian/Jenn dynamic.
Meanwhile, Arnaud’s Sergeant Curtis Bailey lends a gravitas that speaks to a looming backstory. Hmm, who does that remind us of?
Stranded in the middle of a hostile wilderness with a crate of unknown contents and only the slimmest hope of rescue, Ben’s team is living a macro-parallel narrative to his entire Quantum Leap adventure.
It’s a nearly Shakespearean plot echo if you think about it.
Ben leaps into unpredictable lives in crisis (i.e., hostile wilderness) with an initially undefined goal (i.e., mystery crate) with only his hologuide and a glitchy Ziggy to guide him towards the conclusion that will lead to the next leap (i.e., slimmest hope of rescue).
What a clever meta-concept for a premiere!
In the absence of the QL team, it’s only fitting that Ben becomes a crucial part of this ensemble mission.
Besides the interpersonal hijinks sure to come up whenever things get stressful, and no one has a clear escape plan, we can look forward to some truly excellent production value as their plane crashes in what could be a literal minefield.
Related: Quantum Leap Season 2: Everything We Know
It won’t just be your minds that are blown [up].
Will they carry out the mission objective? Is that cargo truly worth their lives?
Is everyone on the team trustworthy?
Assuming their mission is as top-secret as they’ve been told, how did the Russians know to target their plane?
Is there a traitor in the group?
Everyone has a reason (and a secret) for being assigned to this mission. Could one of them be working for the other side?
And if distrust begins to brew, how will Ben explain the skills and knowledge he has that his host doesn’t?
Expect some crazy twists and turns on Quantum Leap Season 2 Episode 1 as this ragtag band of military misfits comes up against Russian opponents, internal conflict, and their own personal demons!
Can Ben hold them together and see them all successfully come through the mission?
Be sure to check out the sneak peek of the season premiere below!
Of course, even as we thrill at the suspense and action of the leap, the burning question remains: What went wrong with the last leap? Why didn’t Ben make it home?
Will Ziggy find Ben and re-establish a link to the team?
Could Ben’s leaps have changed the future of Project Quantum Leap? Could Martinez’s bosses have interfered with the leap home? Is there even a home left for Ben to leap back to?
While Ben’s 1978 Russia mission can be expected to wrap up well, sending Ben leaping onto his next adventure, we can also expect that this new season has a lot more in store regarding the long arc.
Over to you, Fanatics! What are you hoping to see on the premiere?
Where will this season take us? Will there be more leapers like Martinez? Could we even see the present-day Martinez recruited to the QL team?
What about Addison and Ben’s wedding? That was supposed to happen six months after he initially leaped!
How is Magic handling this wrench in his dreams of using the quantum accelerator to bring Sam Beckett home?
If he can’t even bring Ben home after a few months, what are the chances of bringing home the leaper lost 30 years ago?
Hit our comments with all your thoughts and theories, Fanatics, and be sure to head back here for our review after the premiere!
Quantum Leap returns at 8/7c on October 4 on NBC, streaming on Peacock the next day!
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond ’til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.