01x11 - Leap. Die. Repeat.

[bunniefuu]

Quantum Leap was an experimental

time travel program
years away from being tested.

- Why did you leap?
- I don't remember anything.

Your name is Dr. Ben Song.

You're a time traveler
from the year .

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

I'm Addison Augustine.

Addison. You're the woman I love.

Ben's working with someone.

Al Calavicci's daughter, Janis.

- What is that?
- That's a destination.

I think that Ben was trying
to leap into the future

to a specific place,
a specific point in time.

That shouldn't be possible.

I remember why I leapt
in the first place.

It's to save you.

Janis is our best chance at
understanding what's going on.

It's time to roll the dice.

You want to help Ben?

You will tell him
to trust no one, even you.

[HUMMING AND WHOOSHING]

[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS]

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

♪ [WHISTLING MELODY]

♪

Running a little behind schedule.

Yeah, everything looks good.
Startup will be quick.

Ever seen one before, Colonel?

♪

Seen what?

[DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]

♪

It's far out.

Like something out
of a science fiction book.

What are you doing here?

Sorry.

Anyway...

just wait until you see what
this nuclear reactor can do.

♪

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

You are now in our
state of the art control room.

♪

[SIGHS SOFTLY]

♪

Dr. Woolsey, your work
in sustainable nuclear energy

won the Nobel Prize.

What does today's demonstration
mean to you?

Well, today isn't about me, Melanie.

- Mallory.
- It's about...

An experimental nuclear reactor.

And what it can do for you,
for humanity, for the future.

Our reactor will power
an entire city with...

Recycled nuclear fuel.

[CLEARS THROAT]

Sounds complicated.

Now, don't be intimidated
by all the buttons and doodads.

Starting up our reactor is as
easy as turning on your television.

[SWITCH CLICKS]

It is that man
in his quest for knowledge

and progress is determined
and cannot be deterred.

[PULSING HUM]

Well, it looks like
you finally leaped into your element.

No kidding.

Bunch of nerds gathered
together for the common good?

- Kind of reminds me of...
- Us?

Yeah, like when we first
joined Quantum Leap.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Well, time travel still won't be
invented for another years.

It's September th, ,

the day JFK gave that famous speech

about going to the moon
and the future of technology.

Back in the ' s, they were
very optimistic about the future.

Mm.

And you know, nuclear energy
was the hottest thing in town.

- No pun intended.
- Mm.

- Wow.
- [CHUCKLES]

Like nuclear science and all technology,

has no conscience of its own.

Whether it will become a force
for good or ill depends on man.

So does this reactor do big things
for sustainable energy?

Hmm. [DEVICE BEEPS]

- No, they shut it down.
- When?

Today.

It looks like Dr. Woolsey
does the demonstration

of the nuclear reactor,
but it doesn't work

and the government pulled the funding

- for the program.
- That sucks.

Yeah, I'm not finding a lot online.

I'm gonna need Jenn for this. Oh.

How do uranium atoms say goodbye?

Sorry, what?

Gotta split. [CHUCKLES]

G-gotta split?

You know, because uranium atoms,

they split inside a nuclear reactor.

I'm... I'm sorry. It's stupid.

I'm just... I'm a little nervous
about the demonstration,

- and I...
- [LAUGHS]

That... gotta split instead of goodbye.

- Right.
- Right, right. That's good.

[CLEARS THROAT]

I'll tell my fiancée that
when I see her at home.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

Gotta split. Gotta split.

It's good.

[COMPUTER CHIMES]

Sorry, nothing about an experimental
nuclear reactor near Fort Worth.

Oh.

Dr. Edwin Woolsey,
Nobel prize-winning nuclear scientist.

Yes, he was in the room with Ben.

Oh, looks like he dies today.
Heart att*ck.

Maybe that's who Ben's here to save.

[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

[MECHANICAL WATCH CLICKING]

Ladies and gentlemen, what an
extraordinary time to be alive.

Today we take a step toward the future.

This decade we'll go to the moon.

By the year ,
we'll have flying cars.

- Well...
- Initiate hydrogen flow.

Initiating hydrogen flow.

Flow rate at seven, eight...

. kilograms per second.

[PEN CLICKS]

♪

We don't have all day.

- Yeah, uh...
- Here you go.

Thanks.

♪

- Extract the control rod.
- Extracting control rods.

Colonel, you don't want to miss this.

Sorry.

♪

Okay, brilliant physicist dies.

That has to be the reason for the leap.

Thank you, Jenn.

Wait.

Mallory Yang, journalist,
also dies this week.

Her sister gave the eulogy
at her funeral.

- Car accident.
- That's a weird coincidence.

What about the others
in the room with Ben?

Colonel Parker dies
a few days later too.

Says cause of death is
accidental w*apon discharge.

[KEYBOARD CLICKING]

- Eugene H. Wagner.
- Let me guess. He dies too.

From an overdose, according
to his death certificate.

Okay, and the janitor?

Moe Murphy, electrical accident.

Five unrelated deaths.

Okay, that can't be a coincidence.

- That sounds like...
- A government cover-up.

And start-up in ten, nine...

[CLOCK TICKING] eight...

[TOGETHER] Seven, six...

Get me back online.

Get me back online!

♪

[TOGETHER] Four, three, two, one.

[COMPUTER CHIMES]

[CHUCKLES] [APPLAUSE]

[ACCELERATING MECHANICAL WHIRRING]

♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Hey, is... is that supposed
to be happening?

Why is the coolant draining?

♪

[ALARM BLARING]

Yeah, that's definitely
not supposed to be happening.

[ALARM BLARING]

Ben, run!

♪

[LOW MONOTONOUS DRONING]

[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

[COMPUTER CHIRPING]

Why is Ben flatlining?

Somebody explain what's happening.

He's...

♪

- d*ad.
- No!

I promised to bring him home.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

[COMPUTER CHIMES]

♪

[STUTTERS SOFTLY]

[GASPS]

[SCREAMS]

[SOBBING]

♪

[COMPUTER HUMMING]

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

[SOFT PULSATING BEEPING]

♪

[COMPUTER CHIRPING]

[GASPS SOFTLY]

♪

He's alive.

That's... that's not possible.

♪

[GASPS]

[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS]

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

♪ [WHISTLING MELODY]

Running a little behind schedule.

♪

Eugene, are you feeling okay?

Yeah, sure.

Ever seen one before, Colonel?

Only in pictures.
How long is this gonna take?

I promised my kid I'd make it
to her ballet recital.

Trust me, Colonel,
it will be worth the wait.

♪

What in "Groundhog Day" is this?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- How is this possible?
- When can I go back in?

Just give me a second.
I still have to recalibrate the...

I thought if he died
in someone else's body,

- Ben died too.
- He did die.

- But, like, for real.
- Okay, okay, okay, all right.

Everybody, shh, shh, shh, shh.

Obviously, we are dealing
with a time loop.

Obviously?

Now, in time travel, a time
loop is highly, highly improbable.

It's like being struck by lightning,
except the funny thing is

once you're struck by lightning,

you're more likely to get
struck by lightning again.

Now, I think this is basically
what's happening to Ben

in the time loop when he dies
over and over and over...

Ian.

I have to see him.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[COMPUTER CHIRPING]

[MACHINERY CLANKING]

Thank you.

[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS]

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

Groovy.

Like something out
of a science fiction book.

- What are you doing here?
- Sorry.

♪

Just wait until you see what
this nuclear reactor can do.

Ben!

♪

I... I thought...

- we thought you...
- I died.

- Yeah.
- Did I?

[TENDER MUSIC]

Uh, uh, we think you're in a time loop.

That's highly, highly improbable.

- Like...
- Yeah, I know.

The whole lightning thing.

Ian's working on it.

Okay.

Hold on, if I'm in a time loop,
things are gonna repeat themselves.

Yes.

That means that nuclear reactor...

It's gonna explode any minute.

You have to stop it,
or you're gonna die again.

♪

Okay.

So he's stuck in this leap,
doomed to repeat it

over and over again until he figures out

what he's there to do and fix it.

- Theoretically.
- What about practically?

Sorry, but what we're doing here,
it's kind of cutting edge.

I mean, there's not exactly
a lot of research on time travel.

- Well, except for the...
- Except?

A couple of years ago,
there was this one PhD student

who did publish a paper on time loops.

Okay, let's get them in here.

She's kind of already here.

[SIGHS]

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪

No.

No, I can't help you.

Then Ben will be stuck in this time loop

potentially forever.

You clearly know more about
what Ben is doing and why.

If this time loop is part of the plan,

you got nothing to worry about...

♪

But if it's not...

your plan falls apart.

Fine.

But only until
I get Ben out of the loop.

Then you're on your own.

♪

Come on, time's ticking.

[RECORDER CLICKS]

Today isn't about me, Meredith.

Mallory.

It's about our
experimental nuclear reactor

and what it can do for you,
for humanity.

Stop! Everybody run for your lives!

It's gonna explode!

Eugene, calm down.

We have alarms in place for this reason.

Everything looks normal.

Something's about to trigger
a nuclear accident.

That is highly, highly improbable.

Colonel, you can't smoke in here.

Okay, what it could it be?

It could be anything,
the acidity, the flow rates,

I'll have to check all the numbers.

♪

A bunch of these pages are missing.

♪

I'll have to redo the math myself.

[GRUNTS] I forgot! The ink!

Does anybody have a working pen?

Mr. Wagner, would you say
that the conditions here are unsafe?

No, no, he wouldn't say that.

Wouldn't want to give America
the wrong impression

of our facility, would we?

Eugene, this is just nerves.

I'm gonna have to drain the
coolant and check the reactor.

- Good idea.
- We don't have the time.

[SOFT TENSE MUSIC]

Uh, we have time to see
Kennedy's speech, right?

- What?
- Come on, his famous speech.

The moon, the future.
You love that stuff.

He paid for this whole facility.

I think the least we could do
is honor him

by listening to his speech, right?

♪

Exploration of space will go ahead.

All right, you have
until President Kennedy

- finishes his speech.
- Thank you.

Do you know where
the Hazmat suits are again?

- Shh!
- It's cool, I'll find them.

And no nation...

This decade, the moon.
By , flying cars.

You can quote me on that, Marjory.

Hey.

I pulled everything I could
on time loops,

and Ian was right.

Aside from some
vague scientific theories

and questionable
"Groundhog Day" fan fiction,

there's not a whole lot
that can help Ben.

It's a good thing we happen to have

the foremost expert
on time loops in the building.

Is it a good thing?

Here it comes.

I'm just saying
it's kind of weird, right?

Janis is a step ahead of us
every single time,

and then when we finally catch her,

Ben gets stuck in a time loop?

What if this is a part of her plan?

You think she intentionally
trapped Ben in a time loop?

- Why?
- I don't know.

Gain access to our headquarters,

plant a virus, steal government secrets.

She's already done all that.

What's the most important thing here?

Ben.

I know you want to think
of Janis as some supervillain,

but the reality is she is the only
one who can save Ben right now.

And what if you're wrong?

Then the fallout is on me.

[SOFT SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

Okay, let's find the problem
and get you out.

Radiation levels seem standard.

Okay, we're looking for anything unsafe,

something that could trigger
an accident.

[SOFT BEEPING]

Could that b*mb trigger an accident?

[TENSE MUSIC]

- [b*mb BEEPING]
- There's a receiver on it.

It means someone
in the building triggered it.

The classified report doesn't
say anything about sabotage.

The government just assumed
it was an accident,

called the reactor unsafe, and
quietly cancelled the project.

And the person got away with it.

Why would anyone want to cancel
a harmless energy recycling project?

Okay, uh, why don't we
disarm the b*mb first

and ask poignant questions later, yeah?

[GRUNTS]

It's welded to the pipe.

Do I cut the red wire or the blue wire?

There are no wires.

Ben, run! [RAPID BEEPING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

- That's it?
- We did it?

We stopped the reactor from exploding!

[GEIGER COUNTER WARBLING]

Why am I the only one
celebrating right now?

- That's hydrogen gas.
- Wait, hydrogen is bad.

If it mixes with oxygen.

[ALARMS BLARING]

As in...

air?

[COMPUTER HUMMING AND CHIRPING]

♪

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

♪

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪

Hey, you all saw that, right?

The expl*si*n wasn't an acci... dent.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

What is she doing here?

- Janis is here to help us.
- Help us?

She has been sabotaging us
every step of the way.

You mean saving you.

Friendly reminder,

Ben's stuck in a time loop
exploding every minutes.

Yeah.

Fine. Okay, what do we got?

What we've got is a nuclear expl*si*n
interacting with a time traveler.

It's like a once in a trillion
lifetimes phenomenon.

- Two volatile forces colliding.
- Oh.

It's kind of like you two.

♪

Basically, the expl*si*n is

resetting Ben's leap
to the original entry point.

- The elevator.
- Yeah.

So why did the quantum accelerator

choose the elevator as the entry point?

Because Ziggy said
that someone in the elevator

- planted the expl*sive.
- About time.

Where was Ziggy two explosions ago?

Gathering data.

Ziggy isn't all-knowing.

It's a fallible AI
that selflessly calculates

probability outcomes
based on what Ben sees.

Ben just saw the b*mb,
so now Ziggy can calculate

a probable location for the trigger.

- Which is?
- The control room.

The expl*si*n was triggered
in there both times.

The trigger could be anything.

And the only people in the control room

were the people in the elevator.

We figure out which one did it,
and Ben leaves.

Boom.

♪

- Really?
- Pun intended.

♪

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

Doesn't get any easier, does it?

Still getting used to it.

♪

Still getting used to my ears popping.

- It's a long elevator ride.
- How long is this gonna take?

I promised my kid I'd make
it to her ballet recital.

Trust me, Colonel,
it will be worth the wait.

All right, Ziggy says someone
in this elevator did it.

% chance it's any one of them.

[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS]

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

They have no idea how things
are gonna end for them.

What kind of person would
do something so horrible?

It's not gonna end for them today.

We're gonna figure this out.

I can't just warn them, can I?

You saw how that worked.

For all we know, warning them
could set the b*mb off faster.

- And we can't disarm it?
- Nope.

You're gonna have to blend in
and investigate,

which is what journalists do.

Good news is you are stuck
in a time loop.

Sorry, that's good news because?

Because you literally have all the

time in the world to figure this out.

♪

[RECORDER CLICKS]

Our employees are the best
and brightest in America,

and our facility is the safest.

Would anybody want
to see this project fail?

Sure, there's always
healthy competition.

We really should get back
to the demonstration.

Ben, you gotta keep him talking.

Dr. Woolsey, off the record,
do you have any enemies?

- Enemies?
- Goodness no, Millicent.

- Mallory.
- [SIGHS]

I never had children of my own.

This project is my pride and joy.

Rest assured, there is
no safer facility in America

than the one you're standing in
right now.

Hmm.

♪

Recycled nuclear fuel.
That sounds complicated.

So you're not passionate
about sustainable energy?

Ma'am, I'm here to do a job,
and I take that job very seriously.

I keep this place safe from...
Well, you know.

Who?

Commies.

[SIGHS]

♪

I've been here since the beginning.

Known Dr. Woolsey for years.

Uh, that's us right there, actually.

♪

- That's you?
- Yeah.

Yeah, I was a bit
of a geek in high school.

My mom took me to this convention
on sustainable energy.

Dr. Woolsey was getting an award.

[CHUCKLING] He gets a lot of awards.

Told my mom I would work
for him one day,

make the world a better place
and, uh, here I am.

♪

I like working here.

My fiancée buys me a lot of
those science fiction books.

"Solaris," "Stranger in a Strange Land."

Oh, classics.

Is what they'll be someday, I'm sure.

Anyway, I liked watching them
build the reactor.

It was real neat.

Like suddenly, I'm in one
of those stories. [CHUCKLES]

Uh, we good here?

If I don't clean up that soda spill,
somebody could get hurt.

Oh, yeah, yeah, we're good.

♪

[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]

It doesn't add up.

They all really seem
to believe in this thing.

- They're like...
- Us five years ago?

Or years from now?

[CHUCKLES] Yeah.
Except one of them is lying.

I mean, it could be the journalist.

But then why go through the trouble
of bringing a tape recorder

if nobody was ever meant
to hear what's on it?

This sucker's heavy.

- Testing, testing, testing.
- Oops.

One, two, three, testing.

She must have recorded something
before she got in the elevator.

Oh, go ahead.

If you can hear it, I can hear it.

Okay, I'm approaching the facility

and meeting Dr. Woolsey for a tour.

Hello, there. You must be...

Dr. Woolsey, hi.

- I'm Mallory Yang.
- Yes, yes.

We're all very excited to introduce
America to our little reactor.

Oh, excuse me, dear.

I'm going to have a quick word
with the colonel.

Sure thing. [CHUCKLES]

Okay, he's gone.
God, he's so transparent.

This place is such a front,
and I'll have the evidence

to expose Mr. Nobel Prize
by the end of the day.

[APPLAUSE]

- Okay, a front for what?
- I don't know.

But it sounds like
Dr. Woolsey's hiding something.

I'll have to talk to him again before...

[ALARM BLARING] Never mind.

[expl*si*n RUMBLING]

Ah, there you are.

[SIGHS] Sorry, I just, uh...

[CLEARS THROAT] Just needed a second.

[SIGHS]

Your fiancé died today.

It's okay to take more than a second.

I know that I

should feel relieved

that Ben didn't actually die...

so why does it feel like he did?

Well, ever since...

he leaped, you can't touch him,

you can't be in the same space with him.

It's almost like living with a...

A ghost.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Ever since the engagement party,

ever since Ben leaped,

it feels like a part of him...

♪

It feels like my Ben died.

And I have been mourning that...

every day since, but...

[INHALES DEEPLY]

I didn't feel it until today.

Grief... [SIGHS]

Doesn't keep a schedule.

It just shows up when it wants to,

and when it does show up...

like it did for you today...

let yourself feel it.

But when it starts to consume you...

you keep holding on to the thought

that he's going to come home one day.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Okay?

♪

Like you hold on to Sam?

♪

I really want to believe
there's something great

waiting for us on the other side.

I guess I'm not ready to let him
go into that white light just yet.

♪

Me neither.

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

♪ [WHISTLING MELODY]

Of course, you leap
into the one person we need to talk to.

Bad luck.

Well, there's always the next leap.

♪

It's neat.

Like something out of...

Out of a science fiction book, yep.

Mallory, can I talk to you for a second?

Sure.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

It's a great facility.
It's cutting edge, it has...

What do you know about this place?

- What do you mean?
- I know you know it's a front.

Are you trying to intimidate me?

No, no, I...

Did they tap my phonelines,
bribe my editor, what?

- Who?
- The government.

Stop playing dumb,
and don't you dare come after my sister.

She's just my transcriber.

She doesn't know anything about this.

No, I'm on your side. I think.

Save it. I'm not like you.

They can't buy me.
How do you sleep at night?

♪

[SIGHS]

Okay, well, next time
you leap into Dr. Woolsey,

maybe a gentler approach
with the journalist.

Hey, you okay?

I just leaped into
the most powerful person

in this place,
and there's nothing I can do.

I can't warn anyone
without triggering the b*mb.

- It sounds bad, doesn't it?
- What?

Whatever's got Mallory so upset,
whatever' Dr. Woolsey's hiding.

Do you think Mallory planted the b*mb?

Well, whoever did must believe
it's better than the alternative.

What could be worse
than k*lling all these people

and dying for it?

I don't know, I don't know.

But I'm gonna find out.

♪

Here, brought you some coffee
'cause at this rate,

it looks like
we're gonna be here all night.

Don't worry, I didn't poison it.

[CHUCKLES]

Look, I know you think
that we're the bad guys here,

but I promise you, we're not.

It's not personal.
I just know I can't trust you.

No offense, but do you trust anyone?

I mean, you literally poisoned
your own mother's tea.

I didn't poison her, okay?
It was a sedative.

[CHUCKLES] Okay.

She deserved it.

After undermining the only dream I had

since I was a little girl.

What, to work here?

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

To follow in your dad's footsteps?

Yeah.

♪

Guess this is what
it would've been like.

You know, you and Addison are
more similar than you think.

Stubborn, loyal, sensitive.

[CHUCKLES]

Not that either one of you
would ever admit it.

But maybe she's wrong about you...

the way that you're wrong about us.

♪

[COMPUTER CHIRPS]

Um, well, it looks like Ziggy
has narrowed down our suspects

to the physicist and the janitor.

- Why?
- I don't know.

Maybe it's because Ben's leaped

into every other person in the elevator.

It's not like that Ben could
trigger the b*mb himself.

I don't know. You're the expert.

Show me the data.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

I assumed we were dealing
with a closed timeline curve,

but this code suggests
that Ziggy doesn't think

Ben can leap into the same body twice.

- But that would mean that...
- This isn't a time loop.

It's a finite series of leaps.

It ends when Ben runs out
of bodies in the elevator.

What?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

I'm so sorry, Ben. We thought...

It's okay. It's not your fault.

So after this, I have one leap left.

Yeah.

And after that?

You die... for real.

♪

Okay.

Then let's make the next one count.

Sorry, what's happening right now?

[ALARMS BLARING]

Nothing.

[SIGHS SOFTLY]

You'll forget in a second.

[expl*si*n RUMBLING]

We'll try disarming the b*mb again.

- Ben, we can't.
- We have to try!

Ugh.

[METALLIC CLANK]

- It's locked.
- Hey!

- You can't go in there.
- Ugh.

Nobody stopped us last time
because you were the engineer.

Damn it!

You keep leaping into the wrong
body at the wrong time!

Please, you have to let me in.

No can do, buddy.

You don't have the clearance
for the stuff behind that door.

Why don't you stick
to mopping floors and cleaning offices?

I have keys to all the offices.

I hope so.

I might be in the right body after all.

Thank you.

Wait!

♪

Control, we have a potential situation.

Then handle it. We don't have all day.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪

- [DR WOOLSEY SCREAMS]
- Dr. Woolsey!

Oh! [GROANS]

- Oof.
- I got you.

♪

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

My mistake was thinking
I was in "Groundhog Day"

when I was really
in "h*m*" all along.

Yeah, I've never seen it.
But it is amazing

that you can remember all
of these plots to these movies

but not that you loved me
for four leaps.

Sorry about that.

Point is each leap has given me

a different perspective
on the same event.

Now I just have to figure out
what's special

about the janitor's point of view.

♪

- Anything?
- Uh, longest day, October th.

- Could be a clue?
- Nah, it's just a movie.

Dr. Woolsey must be planning
on seeing it.

World w*r II. They land at Normandy.

You haven't seen it?
Anyway, the good guys win.

♪

Ben, someone's coming.

♪

♪ [WHISTLING MELODY]

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪

Okay, that was lucky.

Yeah, it was.

What'd you find?

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

This is what Dr. Woolsey's been hiding.

Generating sustainable energy is a front

for what that nuclear reactor
is really going to do:

make nuclear w*apon.

- k*lling thousands of people.
- [SIGHS]

When you put it that way,
blowing up the reactor

sounds like a better
alternative, doesn't it?

Nobody's blowing up anything today.

[TENSE MUSIC]

Talk to me.

Well, uh, Dr. Woolsey
slipping on that soda

bought Ben five, maybe ten minutes.

- What can we do?
- Nothing.

I mean, he's running out of time.

I can't believe that I'm gonna say this,

but I wish that Ben were stuck
in a time loop.

- We could pull the plug.
- What?

Turn off the quantum accelerator.

But... no, no, we don't know
what that could do.

I mean, it could k*ll him instantly.

Or we could lose him forever,
just like with Sam.

If we let him finish the leap
and he fails,

then he will die, and then
we'll definitely lose him forever.

Let him finish the leap.

Since when did she get a vote?

We can't risk throwing him
off the trajectory

of where he's ultimately going.

Which is God knows where or when

because she won't tell us!

Magic.

You need to trust me.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪

We let him finish a leap.

♪

Who do you work for?

I'm not a spy.

Are you the one that's been
sending the letters?

What letters?

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪

Oh, that.

Um, you've seen them before?

Sort of. I didn't send that.
Or I don't think I did.

♪

Can I see what's inside?

♪

I started getting these
anonymous letters at my house.

They all say the same thing.

"k*ll the project, or I will."

♪

I know who sent this.

At least it's not
that messy in here, unfort...

- Are you sure you're okay?
- I'm fine, Valerie.

But we are definitely
behind schedule now.

Eugene, initiate the hydrogen flow.

- Okay.
- Um... bah, bah, bah.

♪

Okay, initiating hydrogen flow.

Ah, uh...

- wait, where's my...
- Looking for this?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

What's going on?

Noticed earlier
you were missing some pages.

I, uh, think I found one.

♪

You're smarter than you look.

♪

You're smarter than you look.

[TENSE MUSIC]

Eugene, what's going on?

And you're dumber than you look.

What?

I know about the deal
you made with the military.

I found the memo.

♪

I came here to work
with sustainable energy,

to make the world a better place.

When were you gonna tell me we're
making w*apon of mass destruction?

I knew it.

- Colonel.
- Don't look to me.

It's above my clearance.

Eugene, they were going to
take the project away from me

and give it to someone else.

My reactor, my baby...

to someone else.

I had to do it.

Then you'll understand why
I have to do what I have to do.

Don't let him touch any buttons!

You know about the expl*sive device.

The what?

You're not going anywhere, Mallory.

You chose today, demonstration day,

because you knew it would get
the government's attention.

The reactor will explode.

They'll call it an accident,
a design flaw,

and then they'll cover it up
and leave this technology alone.

Unfortunately, the limited
range of your transmitter means

you had to be inside
the building when it happened.

My life doesn't matter
in the grand scheme.

Think of all the lives I'm saving

by keeping this place
from making nuclear w*apon!

♪

I wouldn't sh**t, Colonel!

♪

I'll have to do the math myself.

The pen is the trigger.

Ziggy didn't expect Eugene

because the b*mb went off
when you were in his body.

I was the villain
and didn't even know it.

What?

We all think we're the hero
of our story,

even when we're the villain.

- Eugene, you're right.
- What?

The government will call it an accident

and cover the whole thing up,
but here's where you're wrong.

We won't leave this technology alone.

There will be other
experimental nuclear reactors

that'll replace this one.

Eventually, we'll develop time travel,

maybe even flying cars,

but what you do today
won't change anything

except for the lives
of the people in this room.

The colonel's daughter
has a ballet recital today.

She's gonna grow up without her dad.

Mallory has a sister who won't be able

to get through the eulogy
at her funeral.

Dr. Woolsey is looking forward
to going to the movies

in a couple of weeks.

I have a fiancée who's waiting
for me to come home.

You want to save lives,
start with the people in this room.

You see, in the grand scheme
of things, Eugene,

your life matters,
what you do with it matters,

and you won't get another chance

to do the right thing.

♪

Please.

♪

- [g*n]
- Ah!

[BOTH GASP]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[PEACEFUL FLOWING MUSIC]

♪

[GASPS]

♪

[SIGHS]

♪

Mallory, I'm so sorry.
This whole thing is my fault.

Great technology always falls
in the wrong hands.

One day, it'll be the end of us all.

♪

[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS]

Going up?

[SOFT EASY LISTENING MUSIC]

You know what? I will miss this song.

♪

You will be happy to know

that Janitor Moe writes his
very own science fiction story

based on today's events.
Mallory published an exposé

that blows the government's cover

and forces this place to become
what it was always meant to be,

a power plant for
sustainable energy, and it...

[SCOFFS]

Why am I the only one celebrating again?

That thing Eugene said

about great technology
falling into the wrong hands.

- Don't you worry about...
- Us?

Quantum Leap saves lives, Ben.

We're doing the right thing.

Yeah, Eugene was pretty sure
he was doing the right thing too.

I'm just saying,

if someone from the future
leaped into to judge us,

I hope we turn out to be
the heroes of our story.

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[CHUCKLES]

Oh, my God, I almost forgot.

Um, how do uranium atoms say goodbye?

[ETHEREAL THRUMMING]

Uh...

Tell me on the next one.

Ah, talk about the longest day.

Yeah, we logged a space-time anomaly

and introduced Ziggy to Janis' research,

so what happened today
won't happen again probably.

Good.

I'm glad Janis proved not to be
the villain you thought she was.

Yeah.

Ah, here it comes.

Why did you side with her?

What are you talking about?

Letting Ben finish the leap
is what saved his life.

- It could've k*lled him.
- But it didn't.

But it could have.

[SIGHS]

I told you the fallout
of my choices, it's on me.

Except it's not.

The choices you make affect all of us.

If Ben dies,
the fallout is on all of us.

To Janis, Ben is just
a piece of some plan

that we don't understand, but
Ben is my friend, Magic. The...

That's my family.

Jan just doesn't get a vote in that.

He's all of our family.

Every day that Ben is gone,

the choices I have to make
get harder and harder.

Trusting Janis today could have
been the wrong choice,

and I'd have to live with that.

But that's what I'm...

I would've had to live with that too.

[SIGHS] I'm doing my best, Jenn.

♪

You want to know why
I sided with Janis today?

♪

'Cause it's something
I should've done years ago.

When her mother asked me

not to let Janis be a part
of the Quantum Leap project,

I should've sided with Janis.

I should've said, "Sorry,
but this is her birthright.

She deserves to be here."

Instead, I...

You think you made the wrong choice.

Yeah.

And now I...

We are dealing with the fallout.

- I'm trying to picture it.
- What?

What it would be like
if Janis was one of us this whole time.

Wonder if we would've been friends,

or if Ben would've still gone
to her before he leaped,

or if she would've helped us
bring him home.

I guess we'll never know.

It's too bad we don't get
to go back and try again, huh?

[CHUCKLES DRYLY]

♪

Hey.

Don't you have a prison cell to go to?

Look, I know I said
I shouldn't trust you...

Ditto, so have a great night.

However, when it mattered the most,

your team gave me the benefit
of the doubt,

so I'm gonna give you a name.

♪

A name?

The name of the person
who told Ben to leap in the first place.

What?

Don't make me regret it.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]