Quantum Leap season 1 episode 11 recap: Does Ben meet President Kennedy?  

The latest episode of Quantum Leap could be the show's craziest episode yet. It saw Ben jump to 1962 when John F. Kennedy was the president of the United States of America.

Quantum Leap is a revival of the series of the same name created by Donald P. Bellisario. It stars Raymond Lee as Ben Song, Caitlin Bassett as Addison Augustine, Mason Alexander Park as Ian Wright, Nanrisa Lee as Jenn Chou, and Ernie Hudson as Herbert "Magic" Williams.

Episode 11 was titled Leap.Die.Repeat, and its synopsis reads:

"When Ben leaps into one of five people in an elevator at a 1962 nuclear reactor, he must figure out which one triggers a bomb that kills them all."

Let's see what happened in this episode in detail.

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Ben is tasked with the job of diffusing a nuclear bomb in the newest episode of Quantum Leap

The episode begins with Ben in an elevator wearing a military uniform and realizing that he is a colonel after he is addressed as by it. He and several others were brought to a basement to see a nuclear reactor.

Ben soon learns that he is in the 1960s and Kennedy is the president. He gets instructed by Addison to shut down the reactor.

Addison tried to learn about Ben's mission and learned that the doctor who was helping with the reactor would die of a heart attack. Strangely, the janitor, journalist, and assistant from the group also died. By the time Addison rushed to tell Ben, he was already dead. Addison screams but seconds later he is seen alive and they are confused.

They realize they are in some kind of a loop. Ben is now the assistant and visits the reaction where he sees Addison. She was in tears thinking Ben had died and informs him that this loop will not stop until Ian fixes it.

Ian tells magic that Janice is an expert in time loops. Ben warns everyone that the reactor will explode but nobody believes him. He dies again, but learns that there was a bomb that was planted that caused the explosion. The loop again continues from the start.

This time he returns as a doctor and feels useless. Ian gets the message that it might be the janitor who was responsible for the explosion, but Ben discovers that it was not a loop. He has one last chance and if he fails again, he will remain dead.

He returns as the janitor and the colonel confronts him with a gun with Addison standing behind him. Ben learns that it was the assistant who planted the bomb and realized that the pen the assistant was holding was a detonator. Ben stopped him and saved everyone.

Ben leaps again and the episode comes to an end.

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What is Quantum Leap about?

The official synopsis of Quantum Leap, according to its trailer on YouTube reads:

"It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project in hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it."

It continues:

"Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Caitlin Bassett), who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear. She’s a decorated Army veteran who brings level-headed precision to her job."

Donald P. Bellisario, Martin Gero, Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt, Deborah Pratt, Helen Shaver, and Dean Georgaris serve as the show's executive producers.