Quantum Leap Episode 11 Review and Breakdown: Leap, Die, Repeat

It’s Groundhog Day for Quantum Leap as Ben Song jumps into 5 bodies in a single episode. Jump, die, repeat!

Leap, Die, Repeat is the eleventh episode of the first season of Quantum Leap. In this episode, Ben relives the same day 5 times while jumping from body to body.

Quantum Leap becomes Groundhog Day

If you’re familiar with the movie Groundhog Day, then this week’s Quantum Leap episode should look really familiar. If not, I’ll give you a quick synopsis of Quantum Leap’s version of Groundhog Day.

Ben jumps into 5 different bodies this week. And each of them is trying to prevent the explosion of a nuclear reactor built for sustainable energy. A noble goal.

This week’s special guest star is Robert Picardo, best known as the emergency medical hologram from Star Trek: Voyager. I am a huge fan of the series and have seen all 7 seasons.

Which people will be quantum leaped into?

When the nuclear reactor is powered up for the big test, it explodes and everyone inside dies. And you guessed it: the reactor is being sabotaged with a bomb and a remote trigger. But who did it? The trigger can only be used inside the plant and not outside. So it has to be one of the people in the room. And how can Team Quantum help Leap?

Doctor Edwin Woolsey, Nobel Laureate

Doctor Edwin Woolsey prepares for his big day. The nuclear reactor he builds can recycle nuclear waste, making it eco-friendly, and the doctor can get many more awards if he succeeds. He has already won a Nobel Prize, so this doctor is a celebrated man around the world. Can he pull it off?

Colonel Parker, the dutiful

Then there’s the soldier, Colonel Parker, and that’s also the first body Ben jumps into. The man carries an unopened letter with him. At first I thought the envelope contained a letter from a loved one. But less is true. The Colonel carries a letter with him that threatens his life: Stop the project or I will do it. Sounds life threatening enough to me.

Mallory the reporter

Could it be the ambitious young reporter Mallory covering the launch? But she has an ulterior motive: she and her sister had family members in a nuclear disaster and want to expose the Doctor because she was given secret information that the Doctor will weaponize his invention. But is she the one stopping it?

Eugene, the assistant

Eugene is Woolsey’s biggest fanboy and he tells Ben that he once met Woolsey at an event he attended with his mother and he told his mother that he would one day work for Doctor Woolsey. And there he is. Eugene is funny and a total nerd. During Ben’s 5 jumps, his pen never works. Could the pen be something else?

Moe Murphy, the cleaner

And then there’s the cleaner who cleans a soda can with every jump. Until Ben jumps into him and tries to stop the bomb from detonating. He’s a big fan of Woolsey and Eugene. He is an aspiring writer and Quantum Leap changed his life. He will write a book about the events that happened because of Ben.

Team Quantum Leap cries as Ben dies

This week’s jumps last about 5 to 10 minutes each. Ben is on time and has little time to prevent the nuclear reactor from exploding, so he has to act fast and at the same time be very careful with it since it is a nuclear explosion.

There are 5 jumps in total and each time Ben jumps into a new body trying to prevent the nuclear explosion.

The first jump is the most important because it is the most emotional. The other 4 jumps Team Quantum Leap and Ben accepted the explosion as part of the mission.

The first jump activated the nuclear reactor and it is working. But Ben sees a warning on the panel inside the Colonel’s body, indicating that something is wrong. And the nuclear reactor explodes and everyone in it dies.

At this moment, Addison is at Quantum Leap headquarters because she is looking for information about the people Ben jumped into and the nuclear reactor explodes, all of Ben’s vitals are dead on Ziggy’s monitor as well. Which can only mean one thing: Ben is dead!

Just then, Addison falls from shock and is caught by the members of the Quantum Leap team.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the actress who plays Addison, Caitlin Basset, is such an amazing actress. The way she falls looked and felt exactly like it should: The love of your life is dead and all you can do is fall and cry.

It was so believable that I almost cried and fell over just feeling the pain. I hope that one day she will get a big part in a drama or something because she sure has the acting skills for it.

Janis Calavicci saves the day

Team Quantum Leap still thinks that Ben is stuck in a time warp and needs the help of Janis Calavicci as she is a time physics expert. Janis rejects her, but after some pressure from Team Quantum Leap, she goes along anyway and the team veto Jennifer’s protest.

It’s a good move. Janis finds out that Ben is not stuck in an infinite loop, but in a finite loop. Once there are no more people to jump in, Ben will die. And that presents us with a dilemma.

Jennifer wants to restart Ziggy to make sure Ben survives, but Janis wants the jump to continue and Ben to untie it so he can jump where he’s supposed to: The big jump he’s just gaining momentum for.

The team again vetoes Jennifer’s protest. It’s interesting because it basically means the team wants Janis to be with them and not against them. At least it seems so.

But it is thanks to Janis’ efforts and analysis that Ben is able to save the day again. What does this mean for the future of Team Quantum Leap? I hope Janis will join the team and be able to help against the Quantum Reapers and more.

Apparently she also has information on who asked Ben to jump in the first place. She tells Addison that she has a name for the person who pushed Ben, and just as she is about to say it, the episode rolls over. So we’ll have to wait until the next episode.

Who blew up the reactor?

The question about the murder mystery that blew up the reactor was a tough one this week. And I’ve been misguided quite often. At first I thought it was the journalist Mallory. Because she kind of hates the doctor because of another nuclear incident.

But it turns out it’s the person I least expected to be with: Eugene… Who would have thought? Certainly not me. The Colonel was my second guess. Why? Because he is the army. But the Colonel got death threats in the mail, and apparently they came from Eugene.

For all jumps, Eugene carries an empty pen with him. Again and again he has to borrow the colonel’s pen. The pen he carries also acts as the trigger that detonates the bomb. Which reminded me of the James Bond film Goldeneye.

Eugene’s motives are that he read a memo in which the Army asked the doctor to use his technology as a weapon, and the doctor said yes in order to get more money.

Eugene believes that blowing up the reactor will prevent the Army from developing the weapon, but Ben intervenes and tells him that won’t be the case. In fact, technology will continue to evolve and create many useful applications in the future, maybe even flying cars. Back to the Future Delorean anyone?

Final thoughts on the Quantum Leap episode “Leap, Die, Repeat.”

i love the episode. Not just because of the bombs that were dropped, like Jani’s willingness to reveal the name of the person who made Ben jump. But Janis is finally starting to become a part of Team Quantum Leap as well.

But the best part for me was the guest star Robert Picardo. I love his acting and hope to see him in more shows or episodes of Quantum Leap. Other shows I would like to see him in are the new Star Trek shows like Picard. He would fit great.

I’m excited to see Quantum Leap continue down the path of human-interest episodes. It gives soul to the show and I applaud that!