In the twelfth episode of the second season of Leverage, the team is forced to work with their nemesis in order to help Maggie. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Leverage.Â
Trigger Warning: For discussion of transphobia and alcoholism.
Jesus christ, THIS SHOW.
Let me start off with my sole criticism of this episode: that joke Hardison made about Internet brides lying about being women… nope. This is not a joke anyone should be making, and the fact that it’s made so casually here is really disappointing. You can’t even explain it away as a necessary part of the grift. If you are unfamiliar with this harmful act, I suggest that you do research on the term “trans panic†and how this leads to the physical harm of trans people, mostly trans women of color, most of whom are black. This very same “panic†– that the person hid their “real†gender from someone – is often used by bigots to defend their assault and murder of a trans person. And that’s what this joke invokes: the idea that trans folks are lying about their gender in order to deceive people.
I don’t feel like it’s my place to explain this further, so I suggest you read up online about this from folks far more qualified to talk on this topic than I.
Maggie and Nate
Ugh, my heart hurts so much watching Nate make these decisions, and now, I find that his journey with his alcoholism is a lot closer to what I went through. He’s ashamed. He hides alcohol in his coffee, though in this case, everyone knows he’s doing it. Virtually no one knew what I was doing. But I understand the act. It’s easier to be in denial this way, and Nate moves through this entire episode in denial of what he’s truly going through. Maggie tries to get him to talk about it, but Nate finds it easier to surround himself with work than to be honest.
OH, NATE. His relationship with Sophie is practically non-existent. (Notice how Sophie urges  Eliot and Hardison not to reveal that they were talking to her.) Then, when he swoops in to save his wife from a complicated heist that she is framed for, he can’t even tell her the truth. Oh, and if he was even remotely entertaining the notion of being with her after all this? SURPRISE, SHE’S ACTUALLY DATING THE MARK. Oh my god, y’all, things just kept getting worse here! But I wanted to see how Nate reacted to this, given what had happened in his life in the past year or so. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t exactly deal with all of this well. Good lord, those early scenes with Maggie were so uncomfortable! (Bless Tara Cole, because ALL OF HER FACES WERE PERFECT. I love that she bonds with Maggie in a few minutes and is utterly uninterested in Nate’s mangst. Yes, that is a combination of man + angst. MANGST. It’s 75% of the plot of Supernatural, if you’re curious.
Eliot
ANYWAY. I did want to briefly acknowledge how satisfying it was to see Eliot act as the group leader once Nate was kidnapped. It was great seeing him step into this so quickly upon realizing that this was his speciality. There’s a thrill in watching these characters come together in practically no time to do what they do best in order to pull off a con. And shit, y’all, this one was a doozy, given that Hardison had to hack a set of elevators while Parker had just fifteen seconds to switch the bomb and the Fabergé egg case. SO GREAT, Y’ALL.
Sterling
Few tropes excite me more than villains/antagonists being forced to work with the good guys. (Shout out to Avatar: The Last Airbender, who may have my favorite version of this.) Sterling’s role is not passive here, and I appreciated that the writers came up with a plan that kept him in the action. Of course, there’s a lot of humor derived from this, especially since Sterling can’t stop commenting on EVERYTHING. But the writers don’t ever ignore that there’s going to be friction between him and the Leverage team; sure, most of that comes out through humor. However, this episode is a great example of the subtle serialization present in Leverage that makes watching this show an unending treasure. You would not get an episode as exciting as this one without the story built around Sterling.
AND NOW IT’S GOTTEN EVEN BETTER. Holy shit, Sterling works for INTERPOL??? That can’t possibly good for the Leverage team, can it? I don’t see Sterling permanently joining the Leverage team at any point; he works much better as an antagonist. SO WHAT IS IN STORE FOR HIS CHARACTER NEXT?
It’s so weird watching two shows with him on it, by the way.
The video for “The Zanzibar Marketplace Job†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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