Yeah, this was kinda weak. It was a bit of a caricature of the whole witch-trials thing, even to the extent of admitting that witches were hanged in Colonial America but tossing in the cliche of stake-burning despite that, because they needed the rainstorm climax.
Also, if William was sick enough to drop dead in the middle of the courtroom, giving him CPR would not have miraculously cured his disease. It's not like he drowned. The toxins that caused his heart to stop would still be there in his system. So that didn't make much sense.
Another thing that didn't make sense there was Ian saying "William died in the original history, so there's not much you can do." Um, hello, isn't the entire point of Quantum Leaping to change the original history? "Put right what once went wrong?" That line might have worked in a different time travel show, but it's deeply out of place in this one.
And yeah, it's inconsistent that they were terrified of "Elizabeth" for saving a life, yet totally okay with her predicting rain. Although I guess it's excusable since it was fear of the drought that made them so paranoid. Also, Ben was smart to cast it in terms of God's judgment.
The worst part was turning Ian into a believer in seances and astrology. They're supposed to be the scientist of the group. That whole "don't judge what you don't understand" speech in defense of mysticism was inappropriate, because it's the same kind of superstition that drove the persecution. Yes, there's science we don't know yet, but science is about challenging every postulate and not accepting it unless the evidence solidly supports it and rules out the alternatives.
Also, it's disingenuous to do a story about the witch trials but gloss over the profound misogyny that drove them. The accusations of witchcraft were not about fear of drought or disease, they were about fear of women exploring and expressing their own sexuality in ways outside of men's control.
