Quantum Leap (2022)
Season 1, Episode 17:
The Friendly Skies
Written by Alex Berger
Directed by Liza Mendoza
Original air date: 3/27/2023
August 5, 1971
Ben leaps into Lois Mitchell, a flight attendant on Trans Global Airlines Flight 349, a transatlantic flight doomed to crash for unknown reasons. He's there to prevent the crash, but has to figure out things without Ziggy's assistance.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: The first officer is amused by Ben telling the pilot the technical info that Addison has relayed.
- After the End: At the end of the episode, Ben ends up back home...only for it to be snowing in California. Then an older Ian tells him it's nuclear winter...
- Asshole Victim: The pilot is rude and sexist to "Lois" so no one sheds a tear when he dies.
- Bait-and-Switch: Shortform: Right as Ben leaps in at the top of the episode, and we get the usual frontal shot of his face, a bloodied knife pops in from the bottom left corner, much to Ben's confusion. As it happens, he was holding it, and was cutting some steak.
- Blatant Lies: Addison (poorly) lies and says that she was "never worried" about Ben surviving the previous leap.
- Breather Episode: Granted, it's still about an armed hijacking of an airplane, but compared to the extremely dark "Ben, Interrupted" before it, and "Judgment Day" after it, this episode is relatively light in comparison.
- Call-Back: Ian mentioning that Jenn owes them five bucks calls back to everyone's side bets about who Ben would remember first in "Ben Song for the Defense".
- Chekhov's Gun: An elderly passenger named Zelda takes insulin injections for diabetes, and another passenger has quaaludes. Ben later uses one of Zelda's syringes to inject quaaludes into a hijacker's neck to subdue them.
- Continuity Nod: Ian reads a Reddit theory from OswaldWasAnAlien117, whose name is a nod to "Lee Harvey Oswald" from the old series. Even better, the user's incorrectness about Oswald — who very much was not an alien when Sam leaped into him — foreshadows that their theory about TGA 349's crash is also wrong.
- Crash Course Landing: While Cory is rerouting the hydraulics systems, Ben is left to land the plane. Ian steps in as the hologram to walk Ben through it and provide him with a Heads-Up Display.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: From the get-go, Ben finds himself on an airplane holding a steak knife, and is shortly afterward asked for an ashtray. The pilot is also quite sexist towards "Lois."
- Dramatic Thunder: When Addison first relays that the plane is fated to crash.
- The Elevator from Ipanema: "The Girl from Ipanema" is heard in the plane's bar at the beginning.
- Gender Bender: Ben leaps into flight attendant Lois Mitchell.
- Handwave:
- The handlink works separate from Ziggy. Addison says Ian explained it, but she zoned out.
- They can have two people in the Imaging Chamber without a problem now. Ben interrupts when Ian starts to explain how they fixed that.
- Have We Met?: Averted; when Ben sees Ian, he immediately recognizes them. Ian says that Jenn now owes them five bucks.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Ian falls asleep watching plane disaster shows. They later talk Ben through landing the plane, without Ziggy's help.
- In Spite of a Nail: It's mentioned that the passenger fighting back against one of the hijackers, and the hijacker's gun discharging and causing the hydraulic issues, may have also happened in some way in the original timeline and caused the crash.
- Internal Homage: To "Ghost Ship": Ben leaps into one of the crew members of the airplane, which is flying through a severe storm, and winds up needing to prevent a plane crash, all the while the leap is hindered due to technical issues with Ziggy. However, in lieu of the Bermuda Triangle, the driving conflict of the episode involves hijackers.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When looking into where Ben's leaping next at the end of the episode, Ian informs everyone that Ben is estimated to have one leap left, two max.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Invoked for Ziggy. Magic makes the decision to have Ziggy shut down, as she is keeping logs of the Project's movements and passing them along via The Slow Path to whoever is colluding with Martinez at the Project in the future.
- Obviously Not Fine: Aside from experiencing the typical momentary confusion, Ben very quickly adapts to his new leap and tries to act casual, which is quite something considering — from his point of view — he'd just lost a lot of blood and had cauterized his own neck wound. However, as the leap progresses, it's clear that Martinez's betrayal has caused Ben to temporarily second guess his gut instinct and given him reluctance to trust anyone in his current leap.
- Oh, Crap!: The team at the end, when Ian sees that Ben's quantum signature is offline, meaning that something is blocking him from being found.
- Power of Trust: A major theme of the episode. Ben is understandably reluctant to ask anyone else physically present to help him after what happened with Martinez in his previous leap. He's justified in refusing to ask for Leslie's help, since she's actually a hijacker, but Addison and Ian also take time to talk some sense back into him.
- Red Herring: Before the hijacking takes place, there are a bunch of misdirects as to how the plane crash happens.
- It's briefly mentioned that the leading theory is the stormy weather. It's not.
- Ian reads a theory on Reddit that the captain deliberately crashed the airplane because he was suicidal. Whether he was or wasn't is irrelevant, as he is poisoned.
- Holly, another flight attendant, is suspected of being a hijacker because her boyfriend was a member of the IRA. She turns out to be innocent.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Ben doesn't want to enlist Leslie's help because of jitters after being betrayed by Martinez in the previous leap. Turns out Ben is right to avoid her, because she's one of the hijackers.
- Shout-Out: TGA or Trans Global Airlines was featured in Airport.
- Spot the Thread: Cory notices that the seal on the emergency equipment locker has been broken, leading Ben to discover a cache of passports and money.
- Techno Wizard: Even without Ziggy's help, Ian cobbles together a holographic Heads-Up Display to assist Ben with landing the plane.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Cory, the son of the airline head, whose parents don't seem to want anything to do with him.
- Wham Line:
- After Ben discovers that the co-pilot was one of the hijackers, Cory quickly informs Leslie (who was exiting from the bathroom at that moment) that the plane is being hijacked. Her response?
- A twofer in the final scene:Ian: Hi Ben. I've been waiting for you for a long time.
Ben: Oh my God. I'm in the future.
- Wham Shot: Ben walks out of a wrecked Imaging Chamber door into a trashed Project Quantum Leap. A pull-back shot shows Ziggy's name on a nameplate. Ben realizes that he's back in LA, and it's snowing, then sees an aged Ian who recognizes him.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Addison insists that Leslie is Ben's best bet to avert the plane crash, as not only is she an ex-NYPD police officer, but has experience with the airline due to being Cory's bodyguard. She turns out to be one of the hijackers herself.
