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Quantum Leap, the reboot and continuation of the popular series from 1989 that featured Scott Bakula as the time traveler, returned for a 17th episode on March 27, 2023, introducing a big twist in the otherwise positive-minded show.
The entirety of the first season of Quantum Leap focused on unraveling the mystery behind Ben's (Raymond Lee) time travels.
This is quite different from the original series, where Sam (Bakula) knew what he was getting into. The new series is built more like a mystery, with clues slowly deciphering the reason behind Ben's time jump.
It also built a fascinating premise involving time travel in the future, which seemed like an impossibility up till now. After some enthralling action in the previous episode, which saw Ben narrowly preventing another World War, this episode finally took Ben, and the viewers, to a dystopian future.
With only one episode to go, Quantum Leap seems to have suddenly pushed the gas on the plot and will likely see a major dilemma in the finale, titled Judgment Day.
Quantum Leap season 1 episode 17 ending: How can Ben stop the future?
Quantum Leap only saw Ben travel back in time to enter various people's bodies and solve some complicated dilemmas to jump again. After theorizing only once that Ben may jump into the future because of the 'slingshot effect,' this episode finally saw the protagonist jump to the future with the goal of saving Addison's (Caitlin Bassett) life.
But it turned out that this particular quantum leap held much more.
When Ben arrived in the future, he discovered that Los Angeles was in a nuclear winter. As the series slowly gave a glimpse around the post-apocalyptic city, it seemed that the world did not survive the passage of time after all.
Ben was probably inside his own body at the time, which was suspended by using life support to preserve it. He also witnessed the Quantum installation itself. Soon, he was greeted by Ian (Mason Alexander Park), who perhaps traveled in time to initiate Ben's travel in the first place.
The episode hinted that Ben's real goal was perhaps always saving the world and not saving just one person. While the series has not yet revealed what Ben must do to stop the apocalypse and prevent the war that led to the post-apocalyptic state of the world, Ben may be able to find the answer to that in the future. We also cannot ignore Walter Perez's Richard Martinez, another time traveler whose goals are still not clear.
The 17th episode of the season built up many mysteries quite comprehensively. But the cast and crew of Quantum Leap had promised that the series will answer the lingering questions before wrapping up with the finale on April 3, 2023.
There is still a lot more to uncover in the series, which managed to shield many important facts over the many episodes so far. We are still not completely clear about Ben's origin or how he was going to have an impact in this scenario.
The final episode of Quantum Leap will hopefully solve most of the remaining doubts when it airs next week.
