Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Quantum Leap episode "Ben, Interrupted." Read at your own risk!
Quantum Leap has spent most of its first season teasing viewers with so many mysteries, and now it's finally time for some answers. "Ben, Interrupted" was an episode that diehard fans will no doubt want to revisit with their Peacock Premium subscription as soon as it's available due to all that was revealed. The episode answered some major lingering questions about Martinez and revealed the traitor to the program. It even made a callback to the original series, and after it all was said and done, my jaw was on the floor.
As I said, this is going to be a Quantum Leap episode that fans will want to revisit. As for those already ready for a rundown and want to speculate further? You've come to the right place. Let's hit the highlights of this episode and why I'm absolutely dying to see what happens in the next two weeks.
Martinez Isn't A Good Guy After All
Richard Martinez and his intentions have been a mystery for most of the season. Even in the last episode, it seemed like he might actually be an ally. Unfortunately, Janice was the bearer of bad news and revealed that part of Ben's intention of leaping was to trap Martinez in a leap to prevent him from completing his mission. Of course, doing so meant that Ben would also be stuck, so the team went against Janice's advice and decided to trust Martinez and work alongside him to complete the leap.
Martinez rewarded that trust by helping Ben complete the leap but also by stabbing him in the neck in the hopes that he'd die before the leap was completed. As Martinez explained, Ben was an obstacle in completing his objective and had to be taken care of. It was quite a shock, especially after Quantum Leap went to such great lengths to make him seem like a decent person! Ben ultimately survived to make his next leap, but just barely.
Ziggy Is The Traitor, But How?
Janice Calavicci had the Quantum Leap team on high alert when she suggested a traitor was in the program and even had them questioning Ian when it was revealed a future version of them had used the program to leap. Janice didn't have a clear read on who the mole was initially but revealed to Magic in this episode that it all became clear to her recently. The traitor who seemingly had all the answers and knew the team's every move was none other than Ziggy!
Yes, the project's unassuming, super smart, and expensive A.I. is reporting on the Quantum Leap team, but how? My guess would be that there's some spyware installed on the program that has it sending information to another team of leapers looking to work against Ben. We may even know who, thanks to a great reference made earlier in the episode.
Are The Evil Leapers Still Active?
It doesn't seem like a coincidence that the same episode in which we learned that Ziggy is up to no good also had Ian name-dropping the "Evil Leapers." As fans of the original Quantum Leap know, the Evil Leapers worked against Sam Beckett and tried to "Set wrong what was once made right."
Who are the Evil Leapers, and is Martinez working for them? Well, I can't imagine that an organization looking to kill Addison is working toward the greater good, but I could be wrong. After all, wouldn't we all risk the world to protect our loved ones? I'm not 100% ready to say the Evil Leapers are still active, but I'm certainly not ruling it out.
Quantum Leap is winding down Season 1, but there are still two weeks left of episodes to catch on NBC on Mondays at 10:00 p.m. ET. This episode was absolutely bonkers, so I can't even imagine what's on the way in the final two episodes.
