QUANTUM LEAP Post-Mortem: Martin Gero and Dean Georgaris Break Down the Newest Hurdle for Ben and Addison

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, October 11 episode of QUANTUM LEAP.]

In the aftermath of the twist that Ben (Raymond Lee) missed three years of time, QUANTUM LEAP’s second episode of season 2 delivered another heartbreaking twist: After grieving Ben, Addison (Caitlin Bassett) has moved on with Tom (Peter Gadiot).

“Our show has a primary relationship—a love story between Ben and Addison,” co-showrunner Dean Georgaris tells Give Me My Remote. “One of the things about great love stories is you want to try to make them as complicated as possible. And it’s very difficult to make anything complicated if those two people essentially don’t have anyone else to talk to besides one another.”

When the writers set out to figure out season 2, “we were really looking for ways that we could test the relationship between Ben and Addison,” Georgaris recalls. “Ways for it to feel like the universe itself is testing it, that felt natural, that would allow for a lot more emotional exploration for both. As [co-showrunner] Martin [Gero] always says, we have this magnificent cast, led by Raymond and Caitlin, and they spent a season essentially with one dynamic. And now we are using two other characters to allow them to go through a whole host of feelings and experiences as two people who care about each other.”



But introducing Tom to shake up the core dynamic of the show—and getting fans to accept him—admittedly, is “terrifying,” Georgaris says.

“It’s exciting and it’s terrifying and it’s challenging,” he reiterates. “But I think it all comes from character. When audiences are sophisticated, audiences understand the human heart, and I think as long as they can relate to the choices that our characters have made—and perhaps not right away, perhaps they make a snap judgment, but then they learn a little bit more [about the dynamic]. I think that process actually becomes very exciting. And I think it can allow an audience to really get to know the characters in a different way.”

“It’s almost as if the audience [will go] along for the ride of, ‘Oh, this is a much more complicated relationship than I thought,’” Gero adds. “And real life, and real love, is messy.”

The writers were also very aware how Tom was worked into the show. “One of the big things for us was everyone loves Tom,” Gero shares. “All of the characters we love love Tom. And that small detail is so beneficial because we know this is a guy that’s been around all the rest of our cast—you can trust that they are good judges of character.”

“So I think it’s about placing him in the world the right way,” he continues. “What’s really beautiful about the season—episode 4 and episode 6, specifically—you have these conversations, where Addison is able to get some of this off her heart in a way that it is like, ‘Yeah, I understand.’ And then we also get to know Tom better, and he’s a hard guy to hate. So I think just that balancing act, as well as how we balance it on the Ben side, as well, is the trick to, hopefully, not alienating all of our Ben and Addison shippers.”

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