Quantum Leap (TV Series) S.O.S. (2023) User Reviews

Good show

[VetteRanger · 8/10 · 9 March 2023]

I've been struggling with a few Quantum Leaps lately, and even skipped one during the first few minutes. This show made up for the last two.

Ben is the Operations Officer on a battleship. When a call for help comes in from a submarine during war game maneuvers, the captain of the ship believes it to be a trap and commands they will not respond.

With some prompting, Ben is able to prove the distress call is real, and the Captain, supposedly an officer with a heroic past, gives the go-ahead to proceed with the rescue.

But THEN, an explosion. Did the trailing Chinese sub torpedo them? Is the rescue off? Will everyone on the sub die?

A highlight of the episode was Brandon Routh as the XO. We've liked him since his Superman movie. :-)

Pretty Good Thanks to the Human Element

[Gislef · 8/10 · 12 March 2023]

Like last week, the episode was better once they focused on the "human" element, and less on the whole mystery of why Ben is Leaping, and what he's trying to do. Yes, Martinez was at the end and spoke a few ominous words, but he was pretty minor to the overall plot.

The focus was more on Ben and the person he was Leaping for, and less on the support team. Even Addison, and the focus was more on her father than her. Yes, Caitlin Bassett has a few "big" scenes and she acquitted herself admirably. But mostly she was providing guidance to Ben and functioned more as support than pivot. The episode could have progressed without her present and been pretty much the same.

And Brandon Routh was pretty good. As my SO noted while watching, she was surprised to see him in a "serious" role. Granted, that was after seeing him in a few season of 'DC Legends'. Still, it was nice seeing him in a dramatic role rather than comedy.

The only thing taking away from the comedy was the threat of World War III, which took away from Ben's presumed saving of Alexander. For one thing... what World War III? Presumably there wasn't a Word War III before Ben Leaped. Was there one in 1989 before Ben changed history? I don't recall one in the original QL, and there hasn't been any indications of one in the new series That seems kind of a big thing to overlook.

But in the original timeline, Drake launched WW3? And Ben prevented him from doing so. At least to my old and tired brain, that seemed to be what they were going for. So Ben saved Addison's father AND prevented WW3? That seems kind of big and deemphasized. See what I mean about the latter deemphasizing the former? But it seems unnecessary, too. Ben saved the world from WW3, but we never knew the world had one. So... what?

But that's nothing major, and the story focused more on Ben saving the day with his calculations on the transmitter. So I'd give it a pass.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?

S.O.S.

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 15 March 2024]

S. O. S. Could stand for Save our Superman. He is Alexander Augustine (Brandon Routh) an Executive Officer on an American battleship taking part in some war games in 1989.

He is also Addison's dad. In the original timelines her father was discharged from the navy for ignoring a transmission. An S. O. S. From a US submarine in trouble.

Dr Ben Song thinks all he has to do is to make sure that Alexander Augustine does not ignore it this time.

Only to find that it is the Captain of the ship who ignores the distress call presented by his Executive Officer. Also the captain is belligerent towards the Chinese navy and thinks it is all a ruse by them.

An enjoyable episode and like the original show, a bit of a pastiche of a movie. This time the Crimson Tide. Ben needs to persuade Alexander Augustine that the captain is not fit to command.