Diksha Sundriyal
NBC’s ‘Quantum Leap’ puts Dr. Ben Song on the brink of war in its fourteenth episode. Titled ’S.O.S’, it takes place on a US Navy ship with Ben landing himself in a situation where the stakes have never been higher. Things also get complicated for Addison who finds her father at the center of this leap. As if things weren’t tense or confusing enough for the team, the return of an unlikely character makes Ben and his team worried about what the entanglement of past and future could mean for all of them. Here’s what the events in this episode spell for the Quantum Leap team. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Quantum Leap Episode 14 Recap
After helping an Indian-American family save their restaurant, Ben lands in 1989 on an American warship. This time, he is an operations officer, aboard USS Montana which is revealed to have an infamous past. Addison reveals that Montana received a distress signal from a submarine, but the captain of the ship refused to heed it. They didn’t know that the submarine was USS Tampa, which was on a secret mission to get a peek into the Chinese territory. Because Montana didn’t know about it, they thought the signal was from a Chinese submarine. The captain believed it to be a trap, which led to the loss of all the lives on the submarine.
Ben realizes that there is more to the leap than saving the world this time when Addison reveals that her father was on the ship too. He was the second-in-command and it was he who refused to answer the call. For this, he was discharged from the navy. It is his mind that they need to change, but things soon turn out to be more complicated than that. Ben realizes that if he doesn’t finish this leap, he will not only be stuck here but it could also mean the beginning of the next world war.
Quantum Leap Episode 14 Ending: What Happened to Addison’s Father?
According to the official records, it was Addison’s father, Alexander Augustine, who didn’t answer USS Tampa’s distress call. However, minutes into the crisis, Ben and Addison discover that her father actually wanted to pursue the signal. It was Captain Bill Drake whose orders he had been following. It turns out that Drake had helped Alexander after he ran away from home to escape his abusive father. Drake was the father figure who helped him turn his life around which is why Alexander doesn’t want to do anything to defy him.
Addison realizes that this loyalty must have been the reason why her father took the blame on him rather than allow Drake’s reputation to be tarnished. This means that they have to change the Captain’s mind, who, it turns out, is grieving his wife who died recently. While it means saving many lives, the change in the events that happen on this day could also have an impact on Addison’s life.
Throughout the episode, Addison reveals bits and pieces about her father who was also stoic and distant. He never showed any emotions, which made Addison think that he never loved her. He also suddenly left her and her mother and never came back. Despite what others believe, Addison assures Ben that no matter what changes take place on this day, her father will continue to be the same person, because she believes he was always the same. But then, when she gets to see him in his most vulnerable of moments, she discovers that there was a different side to him that she didn’t know about.
Alexander tells Ben that his wife is not in love with him anymore, but she won’t leave him because she doesn’t believe in abandoning a relationship. This has made them an unhappy family and he worries that this will have an impact on his daughter, who is around two-year-old. By the end of the episode, Alexander has seen a turn of events. Despite not wanting to go against Drake, he mutinies, which leads Drake to leave the command of the ship in his hands, following which he and Ben are able to save USS Tampa, while not initiating a war with the Chinese ships, which Drake believed were planning to attack them.
Changing the events of the original timeline, Alexander takes charge of the situation and saves many lives. Does this mean that he has changed things for himself and his family? How far of an impact a leap has on people’s lives will only be revealed in the next episode, but there’s a good chance that things remain more of the same for Addison. Her parents will still split up. Their marriage was doomed even before Ben found himself in the leap. Alexander had made up his mind to leave because he knew his wife wouldn’t. The discharge from the navy might have hardened him, which led to his distant relationship with Addison.
After the leap, Alexander is in a better state of mind. He may try to save his marriage. If not, then at least, the separation will be more amicable, considering the perspective that he received from the events that happened on that day. He would also be more attentive to his daughter, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if, in the next leap, we discover that Addison ended up having a better relationship with her father.
It will be interesting to watch because it would reveal the one thing that hasn’t been touched upon in the series. In every leap, Ben saves lives and changes their future. This time, we’ll get to see what life turns out to be after the leap. The exact change in people’s lives and how it affects the memories of the people who have been impacted by the leap will be visible in Addison.
What Does Richard Martinez’s Presence on USS Montana Mean?
Ben has a surprise waiting for him when he discovers that he is not the only leaper on the ship. In trying to save the ship, Ben sparked an unlikely friendship with a certain Lt. Walker. Ben only talked with him over the radio and they struck up coordination that helped them save the day. After everything has been wrapped up, Ben is excited to meet Lt. Walker. However, he is shocked to see Richard Martinez. Previously, Martinez had appeared in Ben’s Wild West leap. Back then, he’d made it clear that he was no friend of Ben’s. This prompted the Quantum Leap team to theorize about him, wondering who sent him in the past. It turned out that Martinez, in the present, knew nothing about the Quantum Leap project. This time, he gives a few more clues, but things remain mysterious still.
While Ben and his team are still trying to figure things out, Martinez seems to be more knowledgeable than them. He has leaped from the future, which means that he might have better technology at his disposal, one of the perks of which would be that he remembers exactly why he leaped. Ben, on the other hand, is yet to figure out what he had planned when he leaped into the past. Things are coming back to him slowly, but the full picture is yet to reveal itself.
Martinez, on the other hand, is fully aware of his intentions and plan of action. This is why, he says, he will win. It makes it sound like he and Ben are in a race, which makes things direr for Ben who doesn’t even know what race he is supposed to win. This isn’t the last time that he and Martinez will cross paths. It is also possible that their destination is the same. They are taking different paths to which, which cross from time to time. This time, they helped each other because they had a common goal. In the final leap, however, it could be that both of them will work against each other.
Since it’s all to save Addison, Ben would find himself trying to save her at all costs. Martinez, however, might be tasked with harming or killing her, or doing whatever it is that Ben wants to save her from. Because that point in time is their eventual destination, Ben and Martinez will land there at the same time, even if one jumps more leaps than the other in between. Before that, Ben will have to strain his brain and try to remember exactly what he is fighting for and what he needs to do. Otherwise, not only will he fail to save his fiancée, but he will also be stuck in time, having failed to finish his leap.
Read More: Who is Richard Martinez? Is He Leaper X in Quantum Leap?
