Per Matt
The spooky season has already transitioned into Thanksgiving’s cornucopia of food preparation, and with it, Quantum Leap has provided a feast of fan theories in its Fall Finale. But before the biggest cliffhanger of Season 1 is revealed, the series finally brought back some long-overdue supernatural elements that pleased this fan.

“O Ye of Little Faith” originally aired on Halloween night, bringing with it multiple plot devices to move the series forward — along with more than a few horror tropes. In it, Ben leaps into a priest who is tasked with performing an exorcism on an 18-year-old girl during the Great Depression. If the first thought that springs to mind is The Exorcist, that was seemingly intentional by the filmmakers. While this episode doesn’t really compare to “The Boogieman,” which centered around little Stevie King, there is a murder mystery mixed with money troubles and enlightened characters who can actually “see” our hero.

Additionally, Dr. Ben Song (played by Raymond Lee) reveals he’s a man of science — not religion — which isn’t a shocker. Addison the Hologram is basically blocked from assisting Ben the whole time, while Janis Calavicci unsuccessfully attempts to warn him of impending dangers.

“Stand by Ben” was the Fall Finale, which follows Ben helping a team of troubled teens who reveal the horrors of an abusive youth academy. This episode ends on a soft cliffhanger of sorts, when Ben reveals he’s trying to save Addison from some near-future event with the assistance of Janice, who has so far been depicted as the antagonist. That was definitely an “Oh, Boy” moment.

I truly believe Janice will end up joining the team at some point, and when she does, she will eventually help them find our lost hero, Dr. Samuel Beckett (Scott Bakula), en route to helping Ben. Added to the fact there could be an “Evil Leaper” involved somehow, picking up on a previous thread from the original series. And I’m dying to know the lengths Hologram Al went to before his character was written off the show (Sadly, actor Dean Stockwell passed away before the pilot was filmed.).

I’m proud of myself for sticking with this series. I was hesitant after watching the pilot, but as soon as I learned this was not a reboot that erases the past, but an actual continuation, I was thrilled. Added to the fact was this spiffy Halloween episode and all the demons of this show’s past seem to be exorcised. Almost.

All the while I had assumed Samuel Becket was Ben’s intended target the whole time, which only made sense to me. But now that this theory is debunked, I’m wondering how long it’ll take before Sam finally makes an appearance.

For the pilot, 3.35 million viewers tuned in. Those viewers dropped to a season-low 2.22 million for the sixth episode, “What a Disaster!” While the numbers improved with the final two episodes before the show’s holiday hiatus, ending with 2.65 million, it seems like the series is on shaky ground for a Season 2 greenlight.

As a long-time fan of the OG, Sam deserves some type of closure — and it needs to happen quickly! If it happens at all, I’d imagine the episode will air during a sweeps month, but honestly, this needs to be an epic multi-episode storyline that gives our two leapers plenty of time to share the screen together. And if that happens to be the series finale, I’m OK with that, too. It just needs to happen before the show gets canceled.

Season 1 of Quantum Leap resumes Jan. 2, 2023.