In Review: Quantum Leap (S1 Ep 10) Paging Dr. Song

Synopsis: In Paging Dr. Song Ben leaps into Alexandra Tomkinson, a medical resident in a Seattle hospital. As victims from a train crash pour into the ER, Addison reveals Ben’s complicated mission. He must go up against hospital bosses to save lives and Alexandra’s career.

The Story

Ben finds himself in 1994 and is immediately thrust into action as Alexandra Tomkinson, a first-year Doctor at a Seattle hospital. Having just delivered a Baby and still finding Bras a little hard to get used to with the underwire Ben finds himself at the center of a crisis the victims of a train crash start to roll in fact. His mission is to save three specific people, but the side mission is to save the hospital from the arrogance of its administrator Dr. Harper who is insistent on using a drug that is hours away from being proven to be dangerous for patients with pre-existing conditions. Added to that he also has to try and fix the relationship between Dr. Tomkinson’s mentor Dr. Sandra Turk and her father who has been admitted as a patient because of a Brain Tumor. 

Back in 2023 Magic and Jenn are not getting much out of Janis Calavicci, until they mention the Leaper from the future that threatened Ben. Now having found a little common ground to operate on. At least initially. Janis agrees to be more cooperative but only if she can speak to Ben or Addison first. 

The Acting

This was a really compelling watch with some really strong performances. Raymond Lee did brilliant work as he found himself drawing on his human connection to people in order to try and get through the various different crises that he is presented with. We even see scenes of him becoming more doubtful of himself. But for me, the best scenes are between Ben and Louis Tann a patient who is fearful for the fate of his wife but happens to have a big shard of metal in his head that needs removing sharpish. The exchange of stories between Ben and Louis is nicely done and a very important element in keeping Louis calm because if he freaks out the removal of the shard could prove fatal. Both Raymon Lee and François Chau the actor playing Louis do an excellent job of selling both the intimacy and intensity of this scene while Tiffany Smith plays the competent doctor that does the operation. 

Overall

Paging Dr. Song is thus far one of this show’s strongest offerings and could very easily sit next to any number of the classic episodes of the series. We get some nice story continuation from last week with the whole Janis Calavicci storyline. And the conversation that she has with Addison at the end of the episode is going to fans wittering over both virtual and real water coolers until we hopefully find out more next week. However, the main storyline featuring Ben and Addison is the glue that holds Paging Dr. Song together.

This felt very much like a Quantum Leap story.