Review | Quantum Leap (2022) 206 - Secret History

[00:00:01] You. [00:00:03] Hello, fellow travelers. Welcome to Fates Wide Wheel. I'm your host, Sam Fein, and I am here this week to talk about Quantum Leap, Secret History, episode two six. That's the 6th episode of the second season, written by Drew Lindo, who also has written somebody up there likes Ben and fellow travelers and directed by Pamela Romanowski. I just want to get this out of the way. I love the episode. I think it's fantastic. [00:00:27] I enjoyed so much about it. I thought that it had heart, history, hope and humor, and it was just chock full of it at every turn. [00:00:36] If you've not already, you can of course, see my interview with Eliza Taylor, who plays Hannah Carson, who features heavily in this episode, of course makes her return after closure encounters Drew Lindo as well, and Dean Georgias. It was a great time. Lots of new information, both about Eliza's approach to the character, the casting process, some of the behind the scenes stuff with her and Raymond in particular, which was really fascinating. Some great stuff from Drew about the creation of this episode and just kind of what the writers room is like right now. Anyway, coming back from the strikes. And of course, Dean shared some really great information about the genesis and creation of season two while they were still in production. Season one, some of the new focus, the new kind of wants for the show, hopes for the show, et cetera. So check that out if you haven't already. I just again, had a blast and I'm so grateful to Drew for helping to set all that up and of course, for Eliza joining us and Dean coming back to the always, always such a pleasure to speak with Dean. [00:01:37] Dean has been a great friend of the show and has genuinely been responsible for a lot of what's happened over the past year. And I'm very grateful for him as well as Eliza. And yeah, check that out. You can, of course, listen to my little review and contextualization that I'm about to do first, if you want to, and then check it out if you just want to stop listening to me and go listen to them, head on over there and check out that interview right now. [00:02:08] Before you go too far, however, make sure you hit that like and subscribe button helps out the channel. Leave a comment below if you've got some thoughts and feelings that you want to express, whether it's about this episode, fates wide wheel, or anything, really, I'm listening, and it really helps the channel. I really appreciate it. And of course, one of the huge benefits of subscribing is you will be notified the minute a video drops or you can turn those notifications off if you don't want to get those. 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Obviously, we've been devoted to Quantum Leap for the bulk of these six years, but it's certainly time to continue to branch out a little bit more and cover film, television, pop culture, and of course, Quantum Leap, in addition to, of course, hitting that like subscribe button and checking out the new storefront. Also, you can check out the Patreon Patrons get exclusive access to behind the scenes videos about JJ's process in creating these posters, which has been super enlightening. The One for Secret History is available now, and no matter what tier you subscribe at, whether it's a dollar, ten, whatever in between, you will get access to that video and many, many more as we go on. You'll also get early access to special interview videos, including that Caitlin Bassett video, for instance. You'll get early access to that before it becomes available to everyone on YouTube. So lots of benefits to being a patron, and they will continue to grow. 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I didn't have to spend anything out of my own pocketbook, which was very nice. So just one example of where your money can go is to help keep those files safe in case we ever decide to revisit them. [00:06:27] All of that said, let's talk about secret history, shall we? I think now is a perfect time to do it. So thank you, subscribers. Thank you, patrons. I really appreciate all of your support, but hopefully, this is what you're here for, right? To talk about the show that we love. Quantum Leap, Episode 206, Secret History, written by Drew Lindo. Directed by Pamela Romanowski. Right off the bat, the leap out that we got from one night in Koreatown, I think sets a really wonderful tone. The stakes are high. Someone is literally dying in Ben's arms. [00:06:57] There was a little bit of misunderstanding, it seemed, online, and even in perhaps the subtitles on the episode Leap out. But Lawrence, the man dying in Ben's arms, says the word Pathfinder. I know that there were some that thought that they were saying, ben, find her or go find her or whatever, but he says the word Pathfinder, which comes into play later in the episode. [00:07:21] Back at the project, stakes are also suitably high because Ziggy is going a little crazy, a little haywire, and Ian thinks that it might have something to do with their sort of deal with the devil. So they've lost contact now with Ben, even though they found him now nothing. [00:07:43] There's an interesting moment, and I love what Caitlin brings to it, where Addison is scared that they've lost Ben. I thought that played really nicely. Tom is kind of in the background over her shoulder. It's an interesting moment, and I don't want to necessarily stoke the fires of the Badison shippers out there too much because that's not necessarily what the show is about, especially at this think, you know, the character growth that we've seen and the way that these characters have moved on is lovely and beautiful, and I think, should Ben and Addison find their way back to one another, great. But if they don't, I'm okay with that, especially with what comes out of this episode. But that said, I thought it was a really cool moment, and I thought it was a nice reminder of just the strength of the connection between these two human beings. [00:08:28] So we're kind of off to the races at this point. [00:08:32] We get this interaction between Ben and some police officers in the wake of the death of Professor Henry McCoy, who is Ben's leapy friend, Lawrence. And turns out that Lawrence is also working at Princeton and had been a colleague of Albert Einstein's. As the police are questioning him, Jen pops in as the hologram. There's this wonderful moment between her and Ian where they do rock, paper, scissors to see who's going to actually get into the imaging chamber, and she wins, much to Ian's dismay. Funny story, it turns out, that was actually supposed to go the other way. Ian was supposed to win that, and they were supposed to be the hologram for the bulk of this episode, but due to some scheduling stuff, they were unable to do that. So Jen ends up being in the driver's seat for this. And it works out great because Jen is awesome. And then Risa Lee is so fantastic, and her sense of humor in particular drives some of the funniest moments of the episode. And her one liners are just so perfect. They work really well. And yes, I would be hard pressed to not admit that they are reminiscent of one Al Kalavichi, which works out well. [00:09:42] I love how kind of nonchalant and unprepared she is about some of these things, like, she's not really actually actively helping Ben. Ben kind of has to know she's a hologram, so he can't but give the little nudge in the ribs, like, come on, help me out here. [00:09:56] WE learn that Henry McCoy was a sergeant in the military during World War II and stormed the beaches of Normandy, where he suffered an injury, which is why he uses a cane. And Ben suffers from some pain and discomfort. The leg and the hip area, which is a result of that injury in Normandy. It's a great reaffirmation of the fact that Ben takes on the physical being of whoever he's leapt into. And so in somebody up there likes Ben, for instance, he's got those reflexes and the missile memory and the muscle mass of the boxer. He just needs to kind of learn what to do with it, because he doesn't necessarily know that. Right. We've seen it at other point in time, for instance, in what a disaster, he has trouble running through the tunnels because the body that he's inhabited is sort of an out of know middle aged man. [00:10:48] And this was especially in light of what we saw on Ben and Teller. I think a wonderful affirmation of, like, no, Ben really does actually take on the physical abilities of whoever he has leapt into or disabilities in this instance. And I think Drew sums up the closure encounters moment very, very well. And I feel like it's a great official statement that this is the way that quantum leaping works in the revival. So take a look at the interview, and you'll get a little bit more on that. I do ask that question. Towards the very end of the interview, actually, we get this wonderful moment. It's really the first time we've seen Ben excited about where and when he is since probably Atlantis. I mean, genuinely. Not that he's been miserable this whole mean. I think far from it. He has enjoyed some of the leaping, and even later in this episode, he talks about meeting wonderful people and stuff. But I think that to see his giddiness, it's something that we've not seen since Atlantis, and it feels well earned. It feels like what we've gotten from the last five episodes, the little joys that he's experienced throughout his leaping. Awesome stuff, right? Like, sure, in family style, he's excited to kind of be in a kitchen and cooking and that sort of stuff. But I think that the last time we saw him this excited was probably Atlantis, when he was excited to be on the Space Shuttle, which that's the second episode of the series. We're, like 24 episodes deep before we get another kind of moment of joy from Ben over when and where he is. And being in Princeton in 1955, May 15, to be precise. He's excited because of the potential for Albert Einstein being there. Unfortunately, Albert Einstein has already passed at this point, as Jen informs him. But it's cool because Einstein still, of course, plays a part in all of this. Einstein did indeed die, actually, less than a month prior to the setting of this episode. He died April 18, 1955. [00:12:49] There's some just wonderful work in general, I think, that they didn't shoot at Princeton, obviously, but being outside and seeing a location as opposed to being on a backlot, it was really cool. Unless, of course, that was a backlot, in which case it didn't really look like one, and it was awesome. [00:13:11] So we start to learn about the mission, and Ben's getting this gives way to confusion because he thinks that he's read everything that Einstein has ever written and would know about a secret formula. But apparently there's a secret formula, and the game, as they say, is afoot. [00:13:31] It's really fascinating because you cannot help but think of the ties, whether intentional or not, to Sam's hero also being Albert Einstein and the fact that Sam was referred to as the next Einstein, for instance. And now here we have know talking about his hero, Albert Einstein. [00:13:51] It's at this point that the Atomic Energy Commission wants to speak to Henry McCoy, and it's at this point that we go to some of our first historical context for the episode. The Atomic Energy Commission is entirely a real thing. [00:14:12] The United States Atomic Energy Commission was actually established in August of 1946, and it did not actually go into civilian hands until January 1, 1947. So it was actually an arm of the military at that particular point. HArry Truman set it up To BaSically foster the development of atomic science and technology. [00:14:36] Einstein did indeed do work for them. [00:14:41] They were directly involved with work that Oppenheimer was doing after the war, for instance. So a very real commission, and certainly, I think, would have been interested in what was happening in 1955 in Princeton, especially considering that there could be this missing formula. [00:15:03] We find out very quickly that there's somebody familiar here, and it's none other than Hannah Carson, played by the absolutely wonderful, stellar Eliza Taylor. [00:15:14] Seeing Hannah back is amazing, And ThEy get everything right. Her costume, her hairstyle. I mean, she just looks perfect. [00:15:23] It is a huge shout out to the production crew. Wardrobe, hair, makeup. [00:15:30] She just looks absolutely perfect. I mean, that's the best thing I can say. AnD I think that the score that comes in is just phenomenal. We talk a bit about that in the interview with Eliza, Drew, and Dean. So, again, make sure you check that out for more on that, but I love Hannah's theme. It's just one of my favorite pieces of music from the new show. It's so fitting for her. It's so fitting for the relationship that develops between Hannah and know the shock that Jen has. [00:16:04] It's really interesting. Know Ben is surprised by it. But know, I think Jen thinks like, what the hell's going on here at is. THere's comfort almost. And Yeah, I see you later. And HEre YoU are. ThAt's wonDerful. [00:16:25] And their relationship, even in spite of the fact that Hannah has no idea that it's Ben, there's just something about their connection that just feels very natural. And obviously that gets followed up on later in the episode. [00:16:38] Jen has an amazing line about maybe the accelerator decided you needed a friend. Again, just one of those funny one liners that she gets and delivers so perfectly throughout the course of the episode. [00:16:51] We learn more, again, some more historical context. Project Matterhorn, which was indeed a real project that was taking place there at Princeton. [00:17:05] It is now the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. But at the time, Project Matterhorn was focused on developing fusion energy and controlling thermonuclear reactions and in potential to design an H bomb. [00:17:23] The fusion power became the main focus in the early fifty S. So at this particular point in time, yeah, they're looking for fusion power. The stellarator, for instance, which we see in just a few short moments that was also real. That was something that was absolutely being built at the time, in 1955. [00:17:46] And seeing that there was really cool. And Jen's lied about the steampunk mousetrap or hamster tube, rather, was fantastic. [00:17:57] The playfulness that Hannah exhibits in turning it on and Ben's watch, pocket watch being pulled up due to the magnetism is also wonderful. [00:18:10] Just some really great little moments as we're getting exposed to all this wonderful history, this real life stuff that was happening at this particular place in this particular time, and seeing our characters inserted into it so effortlessly, that's the thing that's really nice. None of this feels like it's laid on too thick by any means. It just feels so natural and it just feels like it's this wonderful insertion of our characters, specifically of Ben, into these real life situations. And the fact that Drew was able to use so much real history in the crafting of this episode, that's what quantum Leap is all about. And it doesn't necessarily have to be what, like one night in Koreatown? It had to be overt, right? Because we are in a very big, specific situation in this episode. Because the story is not necessarily as directly connected to the events that are occurring. We get to kind of pull back a little bit and just feel that sort of nice sinking into this time and place. And nostalgia is the wrong word, but it almost fits the idea that we are kind of so effortlessly dropped in. [00:19:28] It's back to the future esque in a way. It's like when you see Marty in the 50s for the first time. And as someone who obviously wasn't alive in 1955, there's something that's eventually almost effortless about these little things that are so identifiable as being indicators of the time and place that you're in. And that's the same way I felt about so much of this episode, which was really, really nice. We're introduced to Carl Donovan, played by Colin Douglas, and does a wonderful job as this character, especially considering where this character goes at times or specifically later. But, yeah, I thought that you did a great job and someone who has been around for a very long time as an actor, over 30 years almost, of experience in numerous television shows and films. And I thought that what he brings to Donovan is absolutely perfect for the role, especially considering when we first meet him, where he has to be compared to where he's going to end up later on. So it's a really great performance. And that's one of the things that I continue cannot stress enough about this season, is that for the most part, the guest casts have been phenomenal, and getting to know the people that Ben is know when he's around them has been such a joy. And this episode is a little bit different in that respect because the focus is obviously more on the relationship between Ben and Hannah. And Hannah in particular is kind of like our know, guest cast member, even though she's not really guest know. We don't necessarily get to know any of the other people on the leap the way that we do Hannah, for instance. So it's interesting, the person who, spoiler alert, becomes our heavy at the end of the episode starts off in a very interesting way, and seeing the development of the relationship with he and Ben and the casual misogyny of it all, the idea that Hannah is like, oh, forgive my assistant. [00:21:44] Again, there's this very normalized level of kind of misogyny, which plays into the fact that we also learn that Donovan never has the intention of giving Hannah any credit for any of the work that she's doing, and her name never appears on any of the papers. Ben immediately, you know, takes this as kind of like I have to do something about that. And Jen, of course, is very happy that he's going to do something about it as well. [00:22:07] We see Hannah helping out some folks and solving something on their chalkboard, and they're very upset about it. Also based on a real life group of scientists at Princeton at the time, the moment where Ben calls her Hannah before she's actually told Professor McCoy her name is, you know, again, we get that theme music. We get that moment where you can tell, like, Hannah's processing. Like, there's something about this guy, and it's really lovely. [00:22:44] And it's at this point, of course, that Ben's like, you know what? I do need your help. Come along on this adventure with me, basically. [00:22:50] And they're going to search Albert Einstein's home to find, actually, excuse me, they're going to search Lawrence's home for clues on where Einstein's formula could be. [00:23:07] And, of course, like I said, hannah refers to him as Al. She knew him a little bit, which is great. [00:23:17] The information that we learned. I should mention the information we learned from Donovan earlier, is that Einstein has solved the problem of fusion, which is, again, the whole point of Project Matterhorn. And he, of course, says that the Soviets are circling, and they need to find that before the Soviets do, which is nice. Little bit of misdirection. Spoilers for, of the way that Ben immediately wants to try to help. Hannah obviously echoes closure encounters and the way that he helps her. At the end of the episode, it's clear that one of the things that Hannah has struggled with and in the original history struggled with, both when she was at Princeton, but even before Princeton, when she was in New Mexico, was basically the patriarchy. And the idea that a woman in her time could not do the things that Hannah wanted to do. And at every step of the way, Ben has kind of tried to open up the world for her a little bit more and give her the opportunity to do these things that she otherwise would not have had the opportunity for. Whether it know, because the patriarchy was standing in her way, whether it was because she didn't have the self confidence that she needed just giving her those nudges in the right direction. And it's fascinating to think about what that might look like when we kind of Zoom out a bit, especially on the whole season with where we're going. And I think that those nudges throughout the course of these two episodes that we've seen them interact in thus far, again, seeing where that goes, is going to be, I think, one of the big keys and one of the big takeaways from the season as a whole, especially for what it means for the characters, for what it means for Ben and for what it means for Hannah. Not in any sort of know, mystery box way or anything like that. And that, to me, again, is just the hallmark of what this season is doing so well is focusing on the characters, bringing everything, devoting it to the development and to who these people are, what they want, why we want to invest in them, and why we are invested in them. And continuing to highlight that has been one of the true joys of season two thus far. [00:25:30] We also get the. [00:25:35] This is an interesting bit and it fits really, really well. I mean, some people probably say, like, oh, well, that's convenient. But I mean, how many times did we see that in the classic series, obviously. But it turns out Tom went to Princeton, and that is a very important point to the. And the great thing is, echoing what I was just saying, it's even more important for the character. And that's why it really works so well, in my opinion. [00:26:03] At this point, when they find the clue in Lawrence's apartment, it turns out that it was directly related to Pathfinder, which was the name of the task force that McCoy and Lawrence were members of, and they find this clue. In finding the clue, Jen says that now Hannah's going to die and that it was some sort of accident in the. [00:26:30] Obviously, you know, Ben now has a bigger mission, right? He's got to try and save Hannah. In addition to all of this, Jen gets distracted because of Ian's issue with security, so she's got to pop out. And when she does so, there's no observer. [00:26:47] Addison rightly says she can't go back in. I think that this is great. Had she gone back in, it would have been too soon. I'm not saying we're never going to see Addison as the observer again. Obviously, we don't know at this point. Right. But for my money, if she had gone back at this point, because, like, oh, Jen's got to step out, I guess I'm back in. It just would have been too soon. [00:27:13] The way that it's dealt with again, it creates such wonderful stuff for our characters. And sure, maybe there's an argument out there of, like, why couldn't they get computer tech number three to do it? Well, if you look around the room when Addison and Tom are trying to figure out who's going in, there's no one else there. [00:27:34] It's not like in some of the scenes we've seen before where you see some background characters working in the project. There's no one else in the room, and time is of the essence. Right. Sure. We could make the argument of, like, well, why wasn't there anybody else in the room? They could have had somebody else they could have, blah, blah, blah. Sure, they could have, but it sure as hell wouldn't be as interesting. And ultimately, you know, we're in the business of telling interesting stories and trying know develop these characters in interesting ways. And what better way to do that than to put Tom, Addison's new boyfriend, in the imaging chamber with Ben? [00:28:06] It's great. It's not a bad idea. It's a terrible idea, which is great line. Excellent moment between Addison and Tom. Peter, really, as Tom, this episode, I mentioned a couple of episodes ago when he talks about the nature of quantum leaping sacrifice, about how it was probably the first time that I really found Tom compelling this episode. Throughout the course of this episode, I didn't just find him compelling. I found him to be a character that I liked, a character that I wanted to continue watching. [00:28:40] Up to this point. We're six episodes in. Up to this point, I was not sold on the charaCter. And it's not because I didn't want Addison to have a boyfriend. It's not because I didn't want there to be new government oversight in the project. Everything about the character I was fine with. There was just something I was not connecting with. And this episode connected me to Tom, and I loved it, and it connected me to the actor, to Peter, as just thought. I just thought that it was such wonderful work. It was one of those opportunities where Drew came in and wrote some great stuff. [00:29:15] And then it was delivered well by Peter and everybody else kind of gelled around him as well. [00:29:20] Seeing Ben and Tom together was awesome. I loved Ben's reactions. I thought they were so honest and genuine. The discomfort, the anger, the angst of it all. It was just really perfect. [00:29:37] And it continued to grow. [00:29:40] The nature of their relationship throughout the course of the episode in really wonderful ways. To the point that I feel like by the time we got to the end of the episode, it was almost like the last piece, missing piece of Ben and everything that happened to him after the season finale of season one and these last five episodes, it just kind of almost felt like by the end of this episode, we got Ben back. [00:30:04] And I'll get to more of that later. But it really did. It felt like, oh, we got Ben back. That's great. Not that Ben hasn't been himself, but arguably he hasn't quite been himself. He's had a lot of shit to deal with. And this episode, I just kind of felt like, wow, we got Ben back, and it felt earned, right? Like six episodes in, it wasn't, you know, here we go. Two or three episodes, and everything's back to normal. It's like, no, this is about growth. This is about progression, and it's just being handled really well. I really loved it. So anyway, now Tom's back, and he tries to shake Ben's hand. Of course, that doesn't work because he's a hologram, which is another moment for Ben to kind of be able to almost be smug about, know which, again, I just loved that they went there. I love that Raymond went there. I love that the direction took them there, the writing took them there. It gave Ben the opportunity to be a little bit of a shit, and justifiably so, right. It was nice, and it played well. And you could see Tom's uncomfortability. And Tom also kind of being like, I'm here to help, and I understand why you're upset with me, and I understand why this is hard for you, but I promise I'm just here to help you. And then when Tom kind of gives it back a little bit, when they take the clue to the library to try to find the missing formula, and Ben is all like, oh, what were you doing? Getting high with your buddies? And Tom says, no, I was getting high with my future wife. And it's like, oh, yeah, okay, Tom's going to give it back. He's going to volley that back. And I loved that. I loved that they didn't shy away from the fact that we've got two characters who are in a position to not necessarily be totally friendly, right, for whatever reason. And Ben kind of starts it, and Tom's like, you know what? If that's how we're going to do this, fine, I'm here to help you, but also, no, I'm going to stand my ground too. And it was really nice. I thought it worked out well. Of course, we know that Tom's wife has passed, that she died of cancer six years ago. So that would have been in 2020. We're in 2026 now. So it took him a good four or five years before he got together with Addison. And we learned throughout the course of the episode that Addison and Tom, when they were first getting together, one of the things that kind of drew them together is that Tom was able to share his loss of his wife with Addison to help her cope through her grief of losing Ben. And from the sounds of it, they were not in a relationship then. There was nothing romantic about it all. They just reconnected as friends, and Tom was there for her. And then, of course, the relationship grew out of that. And I love that. It's one of those things where sometimes we want to see those big moments on screen. But one of the amazing elements of season two is there are a lot of big moments that have happened off screen, but because of the way they've been followed up in the story, it feels like we got to experience them anyway. And it's great because there's this mystery in a, you know, we don't know exactly what happened in those three years, and little by little, they're getting kind know, filled in for us. But the amazing thing is, and again, this is a hallmark of smart writing, they're being filled in in active ways. It's not exposition. It's not a character sitting there saying, like, Ben, let me tell you what happened for the past three years. Instead, it's being filled out as a result of this character development, this character growth, and the tensions and the conflict between these characters. [00:33:33] And that's the way to do it. It's really wonderful. It's really smart writing, and I really appreciated it. And learning that about Tom and Addison's relationship, I think, gives you even a greater appreciation for it as obviously getting, again, the affirmation that Tom's wife has died, that she died of cancer is also an important thing here. First of all, I say this with all sensitivity to anyone, including myself. I've lost family members to cancer as well. However, I think choosing to have it be something natural as opposed to something that could have been stopped or prevented, is smart because it puts to bed, hopefully, the speculation that Tom is here to try to save his dead wife and erase the past three years so that everything that's happened, all this wonderful development and growth that I've been talking about, gets erased and sacrificed for some silly storyline that's not happening. That's not what this is about. Again, the information that Tom's wife passed away from cancer, he can't go back in time and saber from that. [00:34:35] So I kind of like the idea that I don't think that's the intent behind this information being dropped. I don't think that there's any thought to that whatsoever. There can't be because this episode was produced before anybody was talking about the Previous five. But seeing some of that conversation online, it's just sort of like no, that's not what this is about. That's not where we're going with this story. Let's kind of give that a rest. Let's move on from that and appreciate this wonderful character development we're seeing and not want to sacrifice it for any reason. [00:35:11] We get some great hologram moments here. Tom walks through the wall behind the clock to find the hidden room, which, again, he knew about because he'd been there before and there'd been rumors about that and everything. Ben explains it to Hannah about secret societies meeting here, know, blah, blah, blah. It's really wonderful. The gimmick of the clock is amazing. And let's take a moment to just talk about JJ Lindell's incredible fucking poster, right? Which uses that clock motif so beautifully. But the clock, setting the clock to the correct time opens the secret chamber. They can get in, and once they're in, they see, like, this private sanctum that Einstein had, apparently, where he could work and write and all this sort of stuff. They find the journal, but at that point, they've got the big blue eyed dude who apparently murdered Lawrence coming up the stairs. Ben gets to make up the story later. Well, serving in the airborne, my trained ears, I heard him coming. [00:36:18] We get this really great moment where, again, that conflict between Ben and Tom is right on display because Tom is trying to make suggestions to Ben about how to deal with this attacker. And Ben is just sort of know. I wasn't in the army. I can't do that. Of course, Hannah's like, yeah, you were. Because she's hearing all of this. We love those moments whenever we get them in Quantum leap, the fact that our leaper is talking to the hologram while somebody else is around. And it's like this three way conversation that's happening where one person can't hear the other two. [00:36:52] It's a nice little moment. Adds to the tension of the know. Our heavy comes into the room. There's a bit of a fight. The fire starts, but luckily, Hannah saves Ben, smashes the bust over the back of the wouldbe attacker's head, and they're able to scram out of. [00:37:12] Yeah. Again, I really love it. It's nice the way that she saves him. [00:37:20] There's this great line that Tom has as Tom continues to try to be professional, and Ben is still kind of being short with know. Tom's like, I'm not sure you're dealing with Russians. The guy's name is Klaus. Turns out he's German, and he has an SS tattoo. [00:37:36] And that's where the information about Operation Paperclip comes into play, which is time for a little bit more context, because that's one of the things that fateswide wheel tries to do. Operation Paperclip, obviously, was a very real intelligence program, which more than 1600 German scientists, engineers and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II. [00:38:02] I think that the ethics and morality of Operation Paperclip will probably be discussed for generations to come. [00:38:12] Were there benefits? Absolutely there were. Werner von Braun, of course, being probably one of the more famous beneficiaries of Operation Paperclip, came to the United States, ended up working most famously with NASA and designing the Saturn V rocket, which allowed us to travel to space and to the moon and so on and so forth. And, of course, his contributions to the United States space program are undeniable. At the same time, he was a Nazi. He was literally a member of the. [00:38:50] You know, there's a line later on the show references the term the good German again, just to provide a little bit more context for that. It's an ironic term, referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed to have not supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in any meaningful way. [00:39:12] The idea is that's a myth, that there really were. [00:39:19] The ironical usage of the term anyway, is that those people didn't actually exist. Either you were against it or you weren't. [00:39:28] It's a specious term at best, but it is one that gets used. And the thing is that you couldn't even necessarily classify somebody like Werner von Braun as a good German because he was literally a member of the Nazi Party. [00:39:41] Operation Paperclip. Of course, again, there were benefits to American society and to our scientific programs. And like I said, we wouldn't have gotten to space without bringing these scientists over. [00:39:57] But it's controversial at best. [00:40:00] And naturally, one of the things that this episode plays into is the fears that some of these people might not have been acting out of the best interest of the United States of America and indeed may have still had and loyalties to the Reich, as opposed to really looking for some sort of clean slate. [00:40:22] Was it necessary? [00:40:25] Did the good outweigh the ill? Again, I think these are debates that will carry on for generations to come. But I would urge people to check out more about Operation Paperclip because it is fascinating, and it's certainly something that fictional stories have been told about for years. And there were instances even before the war or before the United States entered the war, where we tried to smuggle German scientists out of Europe in order to help us. There's a Jimmy Stewart movie called the Mortal Storm, actually, which touches on that very fact as well. So it was not something that was just confined to post war. It was something that was ongoing prior to the United States entry into the war, during the wartime, and then, of course, after wartime, kind of trying to figure out, what do we do with these geniuses, right? What do we do with these people that were thinking, trying to think up their own version of the atomic bomb or trying to think up their own weaponized rocketry, et cetera. So it is a fascinating period in European and American history and global history. And I love the fact that this episode brings it in and uses it as a part of the story in the way that it does. [00:41:37] So we also learn that Tom's wife's name was Kate. This is the moment between Tom and Addison when they're talking about the nature of their relationship, how it started, how Tom was talking about his grief and processing his grief. But once he and Addison actually started in a relationship, he stopped talking about it. And she wants him to know that he can still talk about it, he can still lean on her, and he appreciates that. But he's focusing at the mission now. It's like, we got to take care of this. [00:42:07] It's this wonderful scene between Hannah and is. Is very comfortable with mean. Just what a great, energetic, amazing Eliza Taylor, in our interview, talked about just how she's such a special character, how she's one of the best characters, and this is evidence of that. Like, just seeing that energy, seeing the agency of the character, seeing the way that she kind of just inhabits this world, and she inhabits a world that's not quite ready for her. I think that that's the other thing that's so interesting about this, right? Because we get this genuine sense, even in closure encounters, that this is a woman out of time, in a way, right? Only she's not. And it's this wonderful reminder about human beings sometimes the times that we inhabit are not necessarily the times most conducive to our perspectives, to our talents. And Hannah Carson is absolutely that kind of character. And it's beautiful. And I love that commentary. I love that notion, and I love the idea that it's so easy for so many of us to connect with, right? Like, so many of us can see a character like that who feels at odds with the time in which she's been born. It's like that Beach Boy song it just wasn't made for these times. And to see her in that light and be able to kind of connect with a character like that is very empowering, very validating. It's really, really lovely. [00:43:35] Of course, as they're going through the journal, they hit on Al's formula. It's in Greek, and it's using the elemental abbreviations. From the periodic table, we learn that Hannah's got a photographic memory, much like Sam Beckett, and she is able to decode this. And as she starts to work on decoding it, all of a sudden Ben realizEs, no, because it's a bomb and it's dangerous. It's not fusion power. And if the Germans get a hold of it, that's it. Hannah is furious. She wants to take, like. And again, it's this wonderful turn because you realize where Hannah's loyalties lie, right? Like, Hannah is in pursuit of this greater thing, of the science, of her fidelity to Einstein or fidelity to her mentors, to the people around her that are helping her and teaching her. And McCoy seems nice, right? And there is that weird kind of connection, but at the same time, now, all of a sudden, you're another obstacle. You're another man telling me what I can't do. And it's a really great scene, and the tension kind of reaches that fever pitch and then fucking magic happens. And, yeah, maybe you could see it coming. Maybe you knew it was coming because you saw all those trailers that may see wildly put out. I don't understand why, but all of a sudden, Ben, just know. Agent Robert Cook and his confession to Hannah is so beautiful. It's so. [00:45:05] It's direct. [00:45:08] There's this kind of, like, almost know. Tom, of course, tells him it's breaking all the protocols, but he doesn't care. [00:45:17] Will she believe me? This is my last ditch effort. I've got to get her to believe me. But there's also this yearning, this desire of, like, I want to tell her, even apart from all of these other things. I want to tell her who I am so she can see me. I want to be seen. I want to be seen for the first time, know God, time, or fate, whoever knows how long it's really been, right? I want to be seen and I want to be heard. And I want her to be the one that sees and hears me. [00:45:48] He's got this wonderful line. I misquoted Einstein because I knew you'd correct me. [00:45:53] And Hannah believes know, Hannah believes him. And this confidence that they have in one another is really beautiful, right? Like Ben had it in closure encounters. And Hannah did, too, but obviously she didn't know that she was talking to Ben at that, you know? But now it's like there's this shared confidence that they have in one another. They've become like this support system in this short amount of time. But it feels very real. It feels very genuine and very. And I just love it. [00:46:23] Oh, God. Hannah has this gorgeous line about a guardian angel from the future being the most romantic notion of physics. It's beautiful. It's incredible. [00:46:32] Ben is like, look, in order to protect you, I need you to stay here. Please stay here. And it's interesting because it feels very much like one of those moments of, we've seen it in television shows before, right? Especially with the man, like, telling the woman, like, stay put, I'll handle this. But it doesn't feel like that. And it's lovely. And it kind of turns the convention on its ear just a little bit, because what ends up happening is he tears the page out of the book, this crucial page, right? That if they decipher it, the Germans will have the most powerful bomb ever created in humankind at their disposal. He gives it to Hannah. And what does Hannah do? She turns right around and burns it. [00:47:09] Amazing. [00:47:10] There's no doubt in anyone's mind at this point. It's not like, oh, the Germans are going to bust in and they're going know, have the page or anything like that. Now, of course, we know she's got the photographic memory. She's committed to memory that could come into play. And I don't just mean in this episode, I'm wondering, right, like, where do we go from? Like, she's got that in her head. [00:47:29] So stay tuned. Leapers. But it's really lovely and I really appreciate it. Back at the project, Jen and Ian have been trying to kind of figure out what they're going to do in order to solve this problem with Ziggy being held hostage, basically, and the mystery woman is calling them, know, telling them, hey, this wasn't part of our deal, et cetera, et cetera. Floriana Lima plays the character, this mysterious character, if you will. Her name's Simone. We find out later. [00:48:06] And, yeah, they're basically going to hold the project hostage unless Ian gives them what they want. And so Ian and Jen kind of hatch a plot. And part of that plot is they're going to need Rachel. And Ian goes to Rachel and they tell her everything. [00:48:23] And it's this really great scene. And know you're wondering what's going to happen is this going to work out? Is it going to be okay? And Rachel just ends up saying, like, I love you. I'll help you. Yes, of course. And it's really nice. It's really beautiful. [00:48:35] I'd be lying if there wasn't a little bit of me that was just sort of like, is she setting them. [00:48:42] She. Is she setting in up in some way? They're not going to do that. Right. [00:48:49] But definitely worth kind of keeping an eye out for, I guess. [00:48:54] But anyway, at this point, it seems like things are going to work out. Like Rachel's going to rewrite the code, the firmware, and they're going to be able to kind of get this monkey off their back, basically. [00:49:10] We also get this kind of graphic, gruesome image about the fencing scars and about how people placed highly in the Nazi Party used to wear it as a badge of honor, like, from these fencing scars or whatever. [00:49:22] And that's when they realize that there are these sabers on Carl Donovan's wall. That's when they make the connection that Carl Donovan is actually a Nazi. He is one of the Operation Paperclip, you know, here it is. It all comes together. And when we see Donovan again and we see Ben explaining to them what's going on again, I mean, Cullen Douglas is really wonderful. I think he does this great thing where he doesn't overplay. Know, I think so often we get these characters, these types of villains, if you will, that they play it in such a way that you would have known from scene one, oh, yeah, he's bad guy, right? And maybe in your head you're kind of thinking like, there's something off about that guy or whatever, that's fine. That's just experienced television viewing. But if you look purely at the performance, it's not until the turn comes when you really are like, oh, shit, that guy's Nazi. [00:50:15] And again, it plays out really well. And I appreciate his performance a great deal in the way that it plays out because he never goes over the top either with the much. And it's scarier for it, too, when he gets up and he's threatening Ben and he's threatening Hannah and all that sort of stuff. Again, there's some restraint to the performance. He doesn't get into that mustache know phase, and it works really well. So kudos to, you know, for fantastic performance in this episode. But of course, it's time. Right, here we go. There's going to be a sword fight. [00:50:49] And I love it. I love it. I love what we're getting, what we're seeing here Ben, and he's overmatched. He's overmatched. Right. The cane gets smashed. Then as they're fighting with the swords, like, he gets disarmed, and it looks like everything's over. But at this point, Hannah has done battle with Klaus, basically, and she turns on the stellarator. The sword goes to that. Ben clocks the guy. Somebody up there likes Ben Callback, maybe. And as he gets clocked, he gets what will, I'm sure, become an iconic line in the Quantum Leap revival. I've never punched Nazi before. It felt good. And it's just a wonderful resolution. Our adventure, action packed finale here, if you will. [00:51:33] And one of the things that Drew said in our interview is he wanted an indie style adventure with a Hitchcock blonde. And that's exactly what we've gotten. Right. Like, we've seen this Indiana Jones style adventure. It's really wonderful. And just, like, everything about it, I've said this before, and I'll echo it, is that it feels like the adventure I would have played in my backyard when I was a kid, right? [00:51:58] Crafting my own little treasure map with friends, burying something in the backyard. The sword fights and all this adventure esque. I don't know. It touched that part of me. [00:52:12] It's like the kids who filmed Raiders of the Lost Ark did their shot for shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's that kind of vibe, and it touched me in that way. It was really wonderful, really amazing. And Drew had kind of hinted it a couple of times, like, you're going to love this episode. And he was absolutely right. I adored so much about it. [00:52:31] But the best is yet to come, because after all of this happens, we get this really lovely moment as Tom kind of provides the wrap up at Ben's urging, because Ben has to remind the observers what to do. Right. Which is great. And it's this wonderful thing, too, that makes you wonder. It's like, again, I think we're going to see Addison back at some point, right? We'd have to. At some point, she's going to come back. Maybe not permanently, maybe just for some reason. But part of the reason could literally be that she knows how to do the job. And we're seeing in this episode that Jen, she's fine, but she doesn't really know. [00:53:10] Know. Helps out a great deal, but he doesn't really know the job. Right. [00:53:14] Oh, I almost forgot. Well, no, I'll get to that in a, you know, we get this wonderful moment where Tom provides the wrap up, and it's really well done. Of course, you know, everybody's going to end up fine. McCoy gets another medal, et cetera. And then Tom has this. [00:53:34] He takes a pause and Ben's just like, are you okay? And I just thought, Ben's back. That's the moment. That's the moment for me where it's just like, Ben is this rival, this person that he shouldn't like. Right? He cares. That's just who Ben is. That's who our leaper has to be. In the same way that throughout the classic know Sam had to know, Ben has to care. We've talked about it before on the show. We talked about it during season one. There are those beautiful moments where Ben does that sort of stuff, but everything that Ben has been up against for the past five episodes in this moment, it just kind of feels like he's going to be okay. [00:54:13] And what better way to indicate that than by having him be compassionate towards this person that he has every reason to not like? [00:54:24] And we get this really beautiful moment as Tom sees the letters carved on the tree. I'll get to that in a second. And talks about how he and his wife used to sit under. [00:54:36] You know, he has this beautiful line about, know our future is just someone else's, you know. Again, some of these know, comments that Tom drops in, it's just on the nature of time and time travel and quantum leaping really drive home some of the more metaphysical aspects of what's happening here and what's been happening since Sam Beckett stepped into the accelerator from our reckoning in 1989. Although in leap reckoning, it was probably 95, 96, something like that. [00:55:09] And it's just a really beautiful moment. [00:55:15] And when Tom goes back and walks out of the imaging chamber and puts his arms around Addison and says, I missed my wife today, that got me. [00:55:29] That really got me. And it got know all three times I've seen the episode so far, it was a really beautiful moment. And again, I connected to Tom. [00:55:41] And in some ways, if that's what this episode could accomplish, I'm not saying that's the best thing that this episode accomplished, because we're getting there, but it's pretty high up there on the list of things that this episode accomplished for me. And I really appreciated it a great deal. I loved Addison's response. [00:55:59] Everything's going to be okay, so much as it's complicated and it's messy and that's okay. And that reminder, that idea that a, we don't have to be okay, and B, we can be okay even when we're not okay, right. [00:56:17] That instead of normalizing this perfect little picture, let's normalize the idea that it's messy and it's complicated. And that our journey and our work and our creating this thing together is absolutely going to be better than trying to ignore the messiness or the complications of it all. And in the day and age in which we live, it seems that it's so much easier to ignore a lot of that. And I would certainly advocate for the mental health of our collective consciousness that it's okay to recognize that it's not okay and that things are messy and complicated. And only by bringing nuance to bear on some of these situations, only by doing some of that messy and complicated work and accepting the nature of the world in which we live, are we actually going to be able to do anything positive. [00:57:07] That falling strictly on one side or the other is not always the way to do it. That sometimes finding that middle ground and sitting down and really talking and hashing these things out and communicating and just stopping for 1 second to maybe disengage from I hate to use such a watch word, but the tribalism that is so typical of humanity and humankind, that perhaps recognizing the complications and the messiness, that's the best way. And as it deals in this very specific moment, the messiness and the complications of grief and the way that we move on. And obviously, this is very special circumstance, right. That could only happen in our beautiful show of quantum leap. But the notion that Ben is here, right? And Addison is here and Tom is here and figuring out navigating that, I don't know, I just thought it was a really lovely way to kind of say like, hey, it's not okay, but it's okay that it's not okay. [00:58:09] And I think that that can be applicable on a macro level as well as the micro level in many different situations. So I really appreciated that a great deal. [00:58:18] We get the meeting between Ian and Simone and Jen is there as well, and they basically are able to kind of put pressure on Simone to kind of say like, hey, this is the way it's going to be and that's all there is to it. And it's not quite cut. And know, I think it feels like from a casual perspective, you're like, yeah, they got know everything's going to be okay now. But I think when you dig in a little bit more and when you engage on it, especially looking at Simone and seeing the way that she treats the situation, there's definitely an element of like, oh, this ain't over yet. So I'm really interested to see where it's going to go from here. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not necessarily followed up on super soon, but I do think that there's something lurking, something lurking here, and I love the way that it plays into a lot of the issues that Ian has had in the past and their ability to trust not only themselves, but to trust some of the people around them and the people that are the most important to them, like Rachel. And it feels, in some ways, that that arc of their character, we've gotten a little bit of a resolution there. I imagine they're still very vulnerable in that instance, but by relying on the people around them and in the way that they have, it feels like we've gotten a little bit of a resolution not only for the situation, but for their character as well, which is really beautiful, and I really appreciated that as well. [00:59:40] Back to Ben and Hannah, and that's the perfect way to wrap this up. [00:59:44] So before I get there, I will just quick mention that the carving on the tree, S and D. [00:59:51] S and D. Scott and Dean, Sam and Donna, it's not a literal thing by any stretch. [01:00:02] Drew even mentioned the potential of it being two podcasters, which was very sweet of him. But that little Easter egg, that little, like, I think for viewers like us to see something like that, I don't know, is this kind of cool? And definitely put a smile on my face almost as cool as future Boy, which Drew's got a great story about that. Tune into the interview to hear what he has to say about where that came from, why that came from, and what other permutation it might have taken had they had the opportunity to do so. [01:00:39] This scene between Ben and Hannah is lovely, and I won't belabor it because it's just lovely, and it's perfect, and I really appreciated it. So, know, time to leap feels like it. And then all of a know, they have this beautiful moment where, you know, she wants to ask him one question, and out of all the questions she could ask, she wants to know his me again. [01:01:12] Got me again. I was not a dry eye in the house. [01:01:16] It really moved me, and I loved it, and I love that Ben got to share that with her, and I love what it means, and I love that he feels seen and he feels heard, and it was beautiful, and I love the fact that as he's talking about leaping and his life, it wasn't all bad, right? Like, yeah, it's clearly, this is hard, and this is lonely, but I get to meet all these wonderful people. I get to do all these wonderful things, and I get to do good in the world. I get to set rights and wrongs, and it's just so beautiful. It's like I'm going to some quantum leap up for you right now, and it's just wonderful. And Drew does that so beautifully, and Ray is so perfect in it. And hearing the story about the way that scene was directed and Pamela and the reaction that she and Drew had as it was being filmed is lovely, and you got to hear that in the interview, but it's just such a beautiful moment. It really, really is. And then the kiss, it's just magical. And again, it's one of those things where it's just sort of mean, even as I'm talking about, you just can't help but feel good. You feel good for Ben. You feel good for Hannah. You feel good for where we're leaving things, and you do. You get this element of just sort of like, Ben is back, but the amazing thing is, we've got this other wrinkle now. We've got this other complications, like, when will he see her again? Right? And Ben says, see you later. And it's just. [01:02:38] Just. I just love the way that it ends. I love Hannah as a know, at the very beginning, I was talking about, like, will we see Ben and Addison get back together again? Maybe. And the truth of the matter is, it's like, that is so the furthest thing from my mind now because I'm just so focused on this beautiful relationship that we have, this unique, amazing, wonderful, only this show could do it relationship between Hannah and it's. It's got me and for anyone out there know, thinking time traveler's wife sort of stuff or the stuff that doctor who did, playing with time traveler's wife sort of stuff or whatever, this is different. This is absolutely different, and it's very important to remember. [01:03:22] Yeah. I just love so much about the way that things are happening, and I can't wait to see it continue to unfold. [01:03:32] Drew created an amazing script. [01:03:37] Pamela did an amazing job realizing it. This cast knocked it out of the park. Eliza and Ray are great together. Everything that they did was amazing. Peter was fantastic. SeeinG Tom from this perspective, the work that Caitlin did, I loved Nanrissa. Oh, Mason. I mean, the stuff that Mason did in this episode, they don't necessarily get the same screen time or scenes that are necessarily written with quite as much scope as some of the others, but what they were able to do with the stakes that they were given. And emotionally, the idea that if you look at the Rachel and Ian storyline, from the way that it started in season one to where it is right now, the shape of it is so beautiful, and what they bring to it is just so. [01:04:29] Yeah, I feel like we leave episode six in a very rich place for all of our characters and for the story going forward, and it's exactly kind of how I felt. It feels like this exhalation, in a way, and the show continues to grow and evolve. And I love that. I love that about this quantum leap. [01:04:52] This episode is so indicative of what Quantum Leap can do best. Right? I mean, it's all there. The four H's are all there. The heart, history, hope and humor, it's all there. But even more than that, it's the idea that look at all of these worlds we can inhabit, look at the way we can tell these stories about these people, and it can be fun and it can be adventurous, and the stakes can be high, and the tension can be there. It can be romantic, and it can be all of these wonderful things. And coming on the heels of an episode like one night in Koreatown, where we felt like the social consciousness of the show was brought to the forefront, which is wonderful. And that's something else that Quantum Leap can do so well. To have an episode like this follow on the heels of that. [01:05:32] It just feels like such a wonderful payoff in so many ways, and it tells one complete story on its own, but it feels almost like, from episode 201 to 206, that there was just this beautiful arc. And it feels like where we leave things in 206. It's just like everything's open again. There's a richness to everything. [01:05:53] It almost feels like the end of the first arc, in a way, so, you know, had an arc. Noah. [01:05:59] Anyway, so there you have it. I absolutely loved secret history. I think it's a fantastic episode of Quantum Leap. I think that it could very well be one of the very best of the revival, if not the best of the revival. [01:06:13] It's certainly up there, like, top two or three, I would imagine. And I would put it up against a lot of the classic series as well. I think the Rose colored glasses with which we view the classic series sometimes it's important to understand that there are classic moments being created right here, right now with the revival series. And, yeah, I would put secret history and a number of episodes from the revival up against anything from the classic series as well. [01:06:42] Yeah. So, anyway, I hope people enjoyed it as much as I did. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below. Send an email if you want to remember to hit that like and subscribe button really does help out the channel and I'm so grateful for it. Head over to the Patreon if you can support the show. Really appreciate that. But also, let's make sure that we are setting rights and wrongs in the world around us. Reach out to your favorite charities. Do what you can. Find ways to volunteer your time. If you can and you're able to in your community. Give back. Let's give back. Especially this time of year. [01:07:14] It's important all year round, but obviously this time of year I think people need a little extra and that could mean you. And if you need a little extra, make sure you're getting it for yourself. [01:07:24] It can be a difficult time of year. I know that I've certainly been struggling a bit myself lately, so remember to take care of yourselves and take care of one another and stay safe out there. And always, always leap responsibly. Thank you all so much. Bye.