Spoiler discussion and speculation following episode 2

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Starbright

Project QL Intern
Oct 6, 2022
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I've just finished episode 2 and its time to think about those 3 missing years *and* what Jen and Ian spoke of.

It sounds like Ian did something more then he said and I have an educated guess what it might be.

But first did Jen find out about what he did or work with him.

I actually have a few ideas here.

Its been 3 years for the team and moments for Ben.

They said specifically that he was presumed dead or lost "when he leaped as a host".

This leads me to several thoughts.

We also have the "cheat code" and well I'm a veteran star trek fan - I'm pondering the equivalent of a transporter pattern buffer situation.

He has been stuck in a half- leaped state until Ian did something to free him to leap again OR someone leaped for the express purpose of freeing/saving Ben.





With a 3 year time gap and us never seeing who came out of the accelerator it is actually *possible* that Sam *did* come home and then either returned to leaping or is in the present to eventually talk to.

There is even a remote possibility that Tom Westfall is related to Sam somehow - Tom being both a common name and his brother's name.

You will remember that Sam also double leaped or potentially leaped while a host - in the leap back. (And I do wonder if he was actually in Al's body or his own during that? There are a few subtle indicators that he might actually be Al) but either way that is when Sam "double-leaped" or leaped as a host.

My previously stated theory is Sam became more physically himself after that point. Now Ben starts out fully leaping into other people's bodies - I think they may have been indicating through the old woman being able to break down that wall - that he is now much more physically himself wrapped in the host's aura ;). Aka at either level one or two of how things were for Sam - interesting.

The three year time job leads to interesting possibilities but Ben being frozen in time while three years passed is quite the development.

Also a few developments with Magic - no longer military and a year of being with someone. Hmm a new charactor, returned to a prior one, Beth?

What are your thoughts?
 
I noticed that Ben had Ben’s strength this time, too, not the Leapee’s body. So definitely something has changed there.

I hadn’t considered Magic’s love interest to possibly be Beth, but I do like it.

You didn’t mention this, but I completely disagree with the producers abandoning/sidelining Janis this season. I could see her working with Ian to find Ben.

And I agree; they definitely need to clue us in sooner rather than later about who Leaped back to the Project at the end of season 1.
 
McDuck - I'm with you about Janis, I actually erased something about it as its not really spoiler discussion exactly - I'm hoping/think they said she isn't main cast this season but will still appear.

New Federalist - kinda confused by your question - I post on rating threads at times, I'm more into theory discussion;)

This brings me to something else that had been nudging my mind - Tom Westfall - I don't remember a direct QL reference to that name but it is really close to Tommy Westphall. As in the Westphall Universe to which a startling number if tv shows theoretically belong. In the final episode of St. Elsewhere we learn the whole shoe is taking place in the mind of a young boy on the Autism Spectrum, Tommy Westphall who is staring into a snow globe. Which implies every show that crossed over with it, and every show connected to those shows are all in Tommy Westphall's mind.

I'm leaning toward it just being a cool easter egg but if it is a clue somehow? Does that imply GFT
Manifestation or something?
Is that a mere coincidence, a fun little easter egg - or a clue?

So we don't know much about Tom Westfall but he got someone on the phone who was able to send those troops in HQ away - the question is who?
 
We saw in season 1 Ben leaping to 'save' Addison, the result of which has seen QL 2022 lose 3 years, I believe season 2 we will see Ben trying to rectify losing Addison by leaping in time to correct the timeline and somehow wining Addison over again. It reminds me of Avengers Endgame where snapped people lost 5 years and subsequent MCU films showed the re-adjustment to the snap by Thanos.

Regarding the new character Tom Westfall could he be a relation to Sams brother Tom, a grandson perhaps?

The plot lines of the show are becoming skewed again ��
 
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"The plot lines of the show are becoming skewed again ��" - Spartan83

You can say THAT again! So many plot lines and what has been cleared up so far? What happened to Janice Calavicci? What happened to Al's original handlink that she used to contact Ben? Hmmmm....
 
NewFederalist said:
"The plot lines of the show are becoming skewed again ��" - Spartan83

You can say THAT again! So many plot lines and what has been cleared up so far? What happened to Janice Calavicci? What happened to Al's original handlink that she used to contact Ben? Hmmmm....
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Apart from Ian briefly explaining to Magic and Ben why he didn't leap back none of the woven plots of the season 1 finale had any resolution, what a complete waste of time.........I feel like Ben at the end of the episode where he finds out Addison has moved on and he thinks to himself " Why did I even bother saving you".

What was the point of building up so many plots in season 1 when very few had resolution.

For example, who did leap back in the accelerator? How was it that Lorena a 70+ year old was able to break through that dry wall? Was it Ben's body? Why introduce such a firecracker character like Janis in season 1 yet according to reports very rarely use her for S2?

Questions questions!.
 
We've litterally seen *2* episodes of season 2. Some plot lines were resolved last season, some were not. New ones have been raised why would you think everything should be 'tied up with a bow' this early?

I've made educated guesses where some of this is going but honestly Ben and the team haven't had a good chance to fully catch up.

The first ep, Ian barely saw Ben, told him it had been 3 years, and Ben leaped.

The second ep they were busy reassembling the team/getting the back together without it being fully authorized and dealing with troops arriving - while Ben was in the middle of a tricky hostage situation.

Addison did tell Ben she has a new guy and she is staying as primary hologram.

I'm not saying the writers didn't contrive all this to draw out the suspense but within the story its been 3 years since someone came out of the accelerator so its not immediate news and there just hasn't been a good chance to brief Ben or have a full project meeting yet.

The thing is, the writers can only keep this plausible for so long so we will get more info this season.
 
Its very obvious where the show is heading so early in the S2, this will be a love triangle series encompassing Ben Addison and Tom. It's very ' Soap drama-esque ' with an element of intrigue in Tom who is being intro'd as the new character, that's where its going.

I'm not saying it's good or bad but all it does do is further take away from the leap part of the show and the situations Ben finds himself in, the interest in the episodes was already split between modern HQ and Ben's leaps .....now you have to weave a love triangle storyline. It's just a MESS.

I admit the QL team do need a little time to set up Ziggy and the mainframe at HQ but one thing is clear, Ian has done something to 'monitor' and find a leaper who has supposedly been lost in time (Ben) ......... a technique which could be used to potentially find Sam ( to further the suspense of the viewer in Scott returning).
 
Spartan - I agree we have a love triangle in this season. Its a classic move in shows that can work or just be annoyingly predictable.

The question is how much of a focus will it have - or was it just a way to shake things up/add Tom to the cast?

I can already predict there will be an ep where Ben will either face Tom as a hologram OR encounter him during a leap.

So why did they do this?

It *could* be network pressure/a storytelling desire to free Ben to have some romantic entanglements that aren't just Addison.

It could also be that the charactor of Tom is inportant and this is just how they are introducing him.

We supposedly meet the new female main cast member this week on an episode involving Area 51 and it looks like she meets Ben in the past - hmm - that is interesting but waiting to see how she ends up staying in the show.

Does she somehow end up leaping *with* Ben or does she just spend this one ep with him and then show up at the present day project?

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Another thing is they brought up Sam's wife. I like the fact that Donna exists but it also complicates things in many ways. Sam is technically cheating on his wife regularly even if he doesn't remember.

There are books that make her charactor work but she just didn't work in the leap back, IMO. And being okay with him romancing all sorts of women and even fathering a child - its something that has to be sold carefully to new viewers if we want Sam to be seen as worthy of his hero legacy.

And did Sam really just leave Donna alone when he continued leaping? We *need* a conversation between Sam and Donna. Because if Sam truely had control after mirror image, remembered Donna, and *didn't* either offer her a chance to join him, start visiting her in secret, or give her his blessing to move on with her life that is *not* cool.

Plus Teri Hatcher did a much better job as young Donna - the actress who played older Donna had no chemistry with Sam/Scott. So if they do bring back Donna - I'd prefer Teri Hatcher( if she works as older Donna) or someone different entirely.
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Now in episode 2, past Ziggy put the likelyhood of a Ben/Addison couple at only 50%.

So we could have thier relationship shifting back and forth as subtle things change in the past or maybe having them together *isn't* endgame.

I don't mind if there is a love triangle/square plot as long as it doesn't take over. Last year we had why did Ben leap and the QL version of a ghost romance between Ben and Addison.

This year we have why has it been 3 years, what happenned in those 3 years, who came out of the accelerator 3 years ago.

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Is Ian still destined to become a leaper? Has he already leaped?

I still feel optimistic that we get Scott as Sam during or prior to the final ep of the third season.

The thing is, unless they are going to digitally de-age Scott -I don't think they can go with the plot of him being in the "quantum pattern buffer", or stuck in the time stream, or half leaped - or whereever Ben supposedly was for 3 years.

And honestly, I'd prefer they don't de-age Scott so we can have him as a less expensive series regular/recurring charactor.

My several dollars worth
 
Starbright said:
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Another thing is they brought up Sam's wife. I like the fact that Donna exists but it also complicates things in many ways. Sam is technically cheating on his wife regularly even if he doesn't remember.

There are books that make her charactor work but she just didn't work in the leap back, IMO. And being okay with him romancing all sorts of women and even fathering a child - its something that has to be sold carefully to new viewers if we want Sam to be seen as worthy of his hero legacy.

And did Sam really just leave Donna alone when he continued leaping? We *need* a conversation between Sam and Donna. Because if Sam truely had control after mirror image, remembered Donna, and *didn't* either offer her a chance to join him, start visiting her in secret, or give her his blessing to move on with her life that is *not* cool.

Plus Teri Hatcher did a much better job as young Donna - the actress who played older Donna had no chemistry with Sam/Scott. So if they do bring back Donna - I'd prefer Teri Hatcher( if she works as older Donna) or someone different entirely.
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Agreed Starbright, Donna's mention although subtle could indicate she make an appearance somewhere down the line.

Also, picking up on your comment about Sam cheating on Donna regularly this was also implied upon by Donna herself in conversation with Al at the end of the episode "The Leap Back", she says to him Sam can only do what he does because he doesn't know of her existance, knowing Sam as we do and his strong morals he'd NEVER cheat on her, Donna even tells Al not to tell him.

I have to agree also that Sam can leap anywhere as himself and go home anytime and see Donna, she's the love of his life, so it's always bugged me he'd just leave her alone like that even though he fought so hard to get them together in S1 EP3 Star Crossed.

Even O.G QL had so many unanswered questions like that, did Donna know that Sami Jo was Sams daughter aswell? pretty sure she must have.
 
I just finished 2x2 and am not clear on the exact moment Ben disappeared from the radar.
What does "when he leaped as a host" mean, his initial leap from the project or after he lept into himself and got his first date with Addision sooner?

A common discussion in the Pokemon game fandom is about how using cheat devices should be done with caution if at all because it can screw the game up including sequence breaking or save file corruption, and the project used a "cheat code" to ensure Ben was able to defeat Martinez and return to his pre-leap self or something to that effect.
Could it be that their "cheat code" caused a break/corruption in the sequence Ben pre-programmed when he leaped that rerouted him from what was meant to be his return?

Regarding the retrival process that was cliffhanged at the end of the S1 finale, in that initial moment, I jumped to Sam but perhaps instead of someone appearing instead of Ben, the process failed and produced no one.

I feel this logic is most fitting.

The plot with Addision putting Ben to rest and moving on to a new relationship is once again an intriuging flip of the leaper/hologram situations but at the same time it bugs me how Ian was the one who refused to give up on Ben rather than the woman who was engaged to him and had such a heartfelt emotional and supportive involvement with him as a leaper.
Donna's at least half a decade felt more dedicated despite that she was just a 'war wife' and I don't really buy her and Sam as soul mates. Or perhaps I am just being a little petty because I really enjoyed the Ben/Addision relationship.

I feel for Ben who looked rightfully angry as he leaped out of the bank teller that he would go thorugh all this hell for her and she just ditched.
I am suddenly beginning to wonder if perhaps Ian could be Ben's true soul mate but I still want to keep faith in him and Addison.

On the subject of Ian, I can't figure the reason they would hide their true process of finding Ben. My first thought was Janice but Janice doesn't need to hide anymore because she's more or less been integrated onto the team. Or was at the end of s1. I wonder where she is now and hope she comes back.
 
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So I was over at a friend's house last night saw I saw episode 3 broadcast. I'm not going to give it away but they do answer the Janis question with an Off hand comment that I don't really see as a spoiler - she has a job with one of the gov agencies in Hawaii - so hopefully we see her at some point this season.

Otherwise its a reasonable ep but we don't really learn anything new.


Neither confirmed nor refuted that Magic is dating Beth.

Ep 3 is alright, even reasonably enjoyable as an ep - but as far as moving our story forward- the only thing we touched was Ben's emotional reaction there *was* time while Ben took a car ride for them to avoid talking about thier emotions by catching Ben and the audience up on the lives of the team and project happenings to some degree. I don't expect to get every answer this week but we got almost nothing.

We don't know who Magic is dating, who came out of the accelerator or really anything new other then that throw away line about Janis.

Ben met the new female cast member and she is interesting with a fairly cool back story but he meets her in.the 1940s so how are we seeing her again? If I didn't know about the casting I'd expect to either never see her again or maybe have one follow up ep.

I wasn't annoyed last week - I am now.

So go watch the ep to hopefully enjoy the ep, but unless I catch something new on my second watch we are in the same place as ep 2.
 
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