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After a fascinating debut season, Quantum Leap returned with its final episode on Monday, April 3, bringing back one last adventure of Ben Song (Raymond Lee), who managed to end up in the dystopian future in episode 17. The previous episode of Quantum Leap had already sown the seeds for this episode, which saw Ben travel back in time with the goal of stopping Martinez with the help of Mason Alexander Park's Ian (s).
The final episode of Quantum Leap saw a lot of drama, a lot of action, and some mind-blowing time-travel theories in action, all packed into an hour-long episode. It also managed to create a fascinating cliffhanger for the next season of the show. The final episode also clarified that Ben and Addison's (played by Caitlin Bassett) is far from over, with no satisfying conclusion still in sight.
The finale of Quantum Leap is now available for streaming on Peacock.
*Warning: Major spoilers ahead, read at your discretion.
Quantum Leap season 1 finale ending: A fight for the ages
The finale began with Ben talking to future Ian about his purpose and mission. Ian gave him a formula that could potentially help him defeat Leaper X and possibly salvage the future.
Ben soon leaped and found himself in 2018, just a few years before the original timeline; the character had finally done so into his own body. Martinez also leaped into Magic's (played by Ernie Hudson) body around the same time, making things more complicated.
The finale revealed that Ben was not supposed to leap at all, but he did so without telling anyone. Hence he lost his memory and could not remember why he leaped apart from a vague recollection that he was saving Addison by doing this. It turned out that the government sent Richard Martinez back in time to stop the Quantum Leap project, which the future government believed was behind the nuclear holocaust.
Martinez was sent back to eliminate Addison, who was the real leaper. He also decided to get rid of the entire team to ensure the safety of the timeline. After Martinez leaped, they destroyed the quantum accelerator, making sure that Martinez could not return and no one else could time jump.
After a brief struggle to convince the team, Ben finally started fighting Martinez in Magic's body. They both leaped into the quantum accelerator and were thrown back into time. In a bizarre and beautifully created scene, it depicted all the times the two crossed paths in the past, eventually landing in the Wild West, where Ben is nearly killed. But before he could ultimately kill Ben, Martinez was shot.
This also introduced the concept of Ian's code, with the future version of him having perfected its usage. The code was like a cheat code that could help a leaper navigate through space and time. With collaboration from the other Ians, they decided to bring Ben back to undo all the damage. The three Ians used their shared experience of meeting the preset-day Ben to forge a bond between time and collaboration to send Ben to 2018.
In 2018, Ben set everything right and finished his mission to save Addison, especially with Martinez dead in the past. But after finishing the job, Ben leaped to reach his original timeline, but he did not make it there.
This was the last shot of the Quantum Leap season 1 finale, however, the series and Ben's story are far from over. It did not exactly explain why he did not make it back, which will perhaps be explored next season.
Quantum Leap season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.
