‘Quantum Leap’: Addison Actor Caitlin Bassett Reacts to That Episode 4 Twist
NBC’s Quantum Leap revived the classic series with a twist. Its fourth episode contained a monumental twist that will change everything moving forward. Not only for Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee), leaping through time, but for his hologram. The new Quantum Leap made Addison (Caitlin Bassett) Ben’s hologram guide.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Quantum Leap Episode 4, “A Decent Proposal”.]
Showbiz Cheat Sheet spoke with Bassett before the latest Quantum Leap episode aired. We got her reaction to the developments so they’re ready to present now that the episode has aired. New episodes of Quantum Leap air Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
Ben Song remembers Addison was his fiance on ‘Quantum Leap’
Just like Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) before him, taking the quantum leap turned Ben’s memory into Swiss cheese. Addison had to guide Ben through time without revealing that they were engaged in the present. Ben’s memory came back to him in episode 4, and Bassett said that will complicate future leaps.
“I think so because now he has to recognize that, where that’s going to be a very big change from the original series,” Bassett said. “Ben now has to grapple with the fact that not only does he have a fiancé that he remembers but she might be right here. That’s going to make him slightly less maybe emotionally involved in some of the intimate relationships, the romantic relationships that he’s dropped into.”
That’s true. Sam was a bachelor, so every time he leapt into someone with a significant other, he could just play the romance until he leapt out; Ben could have major reservations, justifiable ones, about kissing his leaper’s girlfriends now.
‘Quantum Leap’ has been hard for Addison
In the first three episodes of the new Quantum Leap, Addison saw Ben leap into a family man and a boxer who was sleeping with the opponent’s girlfriend. The astronaut episode was romance free and episode 4 switched the roles, making Ben the woman who turns down a marriage proposal. Bassett said Addison has bitten her tongue in earlier leaps.
“It doesn’t feel great,” Addison said. “We don’t love it but at the same time, yes, we don’t love it. But there’s an aspect right now of like we just have to get through these things because it’s not Ben cheating on me. That’s not what’s happening. He doesn’t know what’s happening and he doesn’t even know our relationship. My job is to deliver him safely through what he’s going through so circumstances definitely take precedence but it doesn’t feel great.”
Now that Ben remembers, Bassett said it is encouraging for Addison. It also makes every quantum leap harder.
“I think she, right now, is staying very hopeful that we’re going to get him home sooner rather than later,” Bassett said. “And we’ll have to see how things unfold but if we are going a bunch of seasons and we just don’t know, I do think there might be a time where she has to let something go but that’s not right now.”
Leaping into a woman is different now
When Sam leapt into a woman, it was groundbreaking for 1990s television. It was also very much two men, Sam and his hologram Al (Dean Stockwell), trying to figure out how to be a woman. With Addison, Ben experienced the perils of being a woman right in front of a woman on his team.
“Welcome pumpkin,” Bassett said. “I had so much fun. It was great. Absolutely because where Al is in a situation was like, ‘Oh, that’s hard,’ I’m in a situation like yeah, that’s hard, isn’t it? Welcome. Welcome to my world.”
The original Quantum Leap did tackle sexism and abuse, so it wasn’t making light of Sam being a woman. Having a woman on the team does evolve the concept though. Ben doesn’t just have to fit in as a woman, he has to answer for his own assumptions a little.
