SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 7 OF THE QUANTUM LEAP REBOOT!!!

WE GET A HALLOWEEN EPISODE!! WE GET A HALLOWEEN EPISODE!!

The original Quantum Leap had a great Halloween episode. It involved Sam leaping into the body of a horror writer, on Halloween in the 1950s and through several shenanigans, he came across the devil himself, disguised as Al. It was wonderful, one of my favorite episodes and when this new version of the show ends, I’ll start going over the old episodes. I can’t wait to talk about that one. But for now, let’s talk about THIS one.

Ben finds himself in the body of a priest named Father Davenport and it’s October 31^st, 1932. He gets called to the house belong to The Greys. There’s mom Lola, father Charles, Charles’ brother Percy, Aunt Tessa, and the maid Magda. Father Davenport, now Ben, was called to the house because the daughter of Charles and Lola, Daisy is, well to be blunt about it, possessed by a demon.

Clearly this set up was inspired by The Exorcist and yes I am very excited. Ben goes up to see Daisy and she’s tied to the bed, has scars on her face, and is talking in a very deep growl. Addison shows up and tells Ben he is there to save Daisy and perform the exorcism but do it right because she dies from it. Ben, a man of science, doesn’t believe in exorcisms until a demon decides to show up in the form of a puff of black smoke.

Ben freaks out and runs to the water closet to talk to Addison. But while talking to Addison, she glitches out and is pulled out of the imaging chamber. Ian tells her that the system went offline and they can’t get it back online and they’re working on it. I’m gonna mention the 2022 stuff now cause there LITERALLY wasn’t much. Magic wasn’t in this episode for some reason (maybe Ernie Hudson was filming new Ghostbuster stuff? Hmm…) and Ian is trolling Reddit to get information about Daisy. Other than Addison and Jenn talking about faith, there’s nothing much in 2022.

Also, Leaper X isn’t seen but the actor who plays him is credited, so that’s interesting.

Back in 1932, Dr. Watt shows up and provides a medical reason for Daisy’s condition and Ben agrees…until she starts floating above her bed and talks in a demonic voice. While Ben and Dr. Watt are discussing what to do, Aunt Tessa was alone with Daisy and soon Tessa is found dead. Thinking the demon had something to do with this, Ben decides to perform the exorcism.

Ben, not sure he’s up to the task, decides to talk to the mirror image of Father Davenport, which was a wonderful scene because it looked like the mirror image was responding back. And Ben gets the courage to perform the exorcism. While doing the exorcism, he gets knocked out and Ben has a dream/vision. In this vision, Addison is there, in the flesh. She tells him that there’s no such thing as possession and exorcisms and there must be a logical reason to everything that’s been happening.

Ben remembers a conversation earlier that all this demon stuff started after Daisy’s 18^th birthday and recalls that Charles, Percy, and Tessa had an argument. Aunt Tessa cut Charles from her will and decided to leave all of her money to Daisy in the event of her death. So now that Daisy stands to inherit a bunch of money, if Daisy is killed, the next person in line will get the money. And you’d think this would be Charles but no…

Ben wakes up, realizes that both he and Daisy have been given poison that makes you hallucinate, and learns that there’s a secret passage from Daisy’s room to the next room…which belongs to Percy. Her uncle.

Wait wait wait…you’re telling me her UNCLE could slip in and out of a teenage girls room AT ANYTIME and not be detected? Oof, Quantum Leap. Oof.

Anyway, now knowing that Percy drugged Daisy (and Ben) and was hoping she would die from “being possessed”, Ben, with Daisy’s and Dr. Watt’s help, “performs an exorcism” which “kills Daisy”. Dr. Watts “declares Daisy dead” and they put her body on the table in the dining room. While performing last rites, Ben says he hears the demon again and Daisy sits up, acting like a demon and mentions there’s a guilty party and someone is responsible for Daisy’s death. Percy, scared of being damned to hell, instantly confesses…and mentions that Daisy’s mother Lola HELPED AS WELL!! She wanted to go to Hollywood and didn’t want to be bogged down with a kid. So she hoped Daisy would die, she would divorce Charles, and run away with Percy, who she was in love with.

Ben did not see that coming.

Daisy reveals she’s actually not dead, forgives Lola and Percy, and they’re carted away to jail. But before Ben leaps, he notices the black smoke again…is it the demon? ARE THEY REAL?!?! HOLY SHIT!!! GET A PRIEST oh wait Ben’s a priest…

Actually no. Finally, FINALLY, fucking FINALLY Janice appears to Ben as a hologram. She reveals she’s been trying to reach Ben but she keeps appearing as a black demon cloud for some unexplained reason (she was trying to make contact when Ben saw the demon earlier in the episode) but now she’s gotten through. She also mentions she disconnected the projects imaging chamber so she should reach Ben but before she could tell him what’s going on (he still doesn’t remember), Ben leaps.

He leaps into the body of a teenage boy named Ben, oddly enough, and they’re running away from an academy. Considering Blur’s “Song 2” was playing during this, I’m gonna assume we’re in the ‘90s. But that’s where the episode ends.

SO MANY QUESTIONS!!

-Do we think Janice is “bad” or is she and Ben truly trying to do something good?

-Where do you think Magic was during this episode?

-How come Janice was coming to him in the form of a smoke demon? Granted, Ben was tripping balls so maybe that was what he THOUGHT he saw…but then how do we explain what happened at the beginning BEFORE he drank his drugged drink?

-What is this secret destination that Ben is trying to land on?

-How come they skimped out on this Halloween special? In the original one, we got the idea that Satan was kind of real at the end of the episode. This one we didn’t get a conclusion that demons was real.

-How does Leaper X fit into everything involving Janice?

-Could this possibly be too much for a freshman season? Should they have either gone with Janice OR Leaper X?

Anyway, this was a great episode and I’m getting more and more happier this season plugs along. The sets no longer feel cheap and having something wrong so Addison wasn’t there was clever. Plus there were some legit scary moments and some great comedy. The cast is starting to shine and come into their own. And I’m really curious where things are going and wondering if there will be a season 2 and what would THAT pertain to!

Anyway, next week looks like we’re in the ‘90s! WHOO-HOO!!!!!

-Jason