In the eighth episode of the fourth season of Leverage, the team aims to take down one of the world’s worst (and most talented) con men. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Leverage.
In a way, I feel like this is a companion to “The Two Live Crew Job,†in the sense that the team goes up against an adversary who is so skilled in what they do that they cannot use their normal techniques to con or grift the mark.Â
ALSO: GREG SHERMAN ISÂ TERRIFYING.
Greg Sherman
Let’s start off talking about him because what the fuck. I thought the Wicketts in “The Grave Danger Job†were pretty brutal and unforgivable, but Greg Sherman, y’all. How do you even start talking about someone as deplorable as him? Here’s a man who has privilege, is well aware of it, and does not give a shit about it. He knows he is an entitled demon, and he doesn’t care. He has money and power, he uses it because he can, and I JUST HATE HIM EVEN MORE THAN PRACTICALLY EVERY VILLAIN ON THIS SHOW. How much you wanna bet that he probably lied about his family history of conmen and grifters? He seems like the kind of guy who would do that.
But that’s irrelevant, actually, because all that matters is that Greg Sherman runs a killer boiler room con and has been avoiding the authorities for years. Why is that important? Greg Sherman’s success is what the team ultimately uses against him.
The Con
I fell for the giant red herring in this episode, which was LITERALLY EVERYTHING. The entire episode is a sleight of hand, and it’s only upon finishing “The Boiler Room Job†that I’m able to appreciate it completely. I figured that if any group of people would be able to expertly con the con expert, it would be the Leverage team. Still, that’s the source of the unbearable tension in this episode: at any given moment, Sherman could reveal that their cover was blown. They had to perfectly con him so that his astute sense of observation was never triggered. It was unbearable to watch! Hell, even I suspected that perhaps Sherman was aware of what was going on the whole time. I mean… Count Chocula? I thought the chocolate tasting ceremony was pretty convincing, but this whole episode wasn’t like other cons. Each part had to be perfect, and the full con had to be perfect. The team has never been perfect about executing their grifts or cons in the past, and they routinely misjudge things or nearly screw it all up. But they’ve usually got a lot more leeway to mess up, and that’s not the case here.
So I thought it was pretty smart to do shit like take Sherman all the way to Ecuador to give him the “evidence†he needed to believe the whole false cocoa report nonsense. I mean, this was still a great con! It’s just that Sherman is way too observant.
That’s exactly what ends up being his weakness.
Revenge
In the end, the moonwalking bear wins. While Sherman is hyper-focused on picking out all the tells of the con, Hardison just steals $30 million from him, and sets him up to be caught for securities fraud. It’s so deceptively simple that all on its own, it’s a beautiful form of revenge. Sherman’s ego got the best of him. But what makes this such a special con is who the team chose to be part of the entire venture. I assumed that they just hired the best actors they could find to fill the fake trading office, which meant they got a ton of bad talent. Instead, in a beautiful twist of irony, Sherman ends up being surrounded by the very people he cheated out of millions of dollars, and they get to laugh at him, knowing that he’ll spend a great deal of the rest of his life in jail, all while losing his fortune.
Bless the Leverage team.
Parker
Parker high on chocolate is so beautiful because I deeply, deeply understand her.
Jack Latimer
WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK. WHY IS THE SHOW REVEALING THIS SO EARLY. HOW IS THIS OKAY. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS REALITY? Y’all, someone was spying on the Leverage team SO THAT THEY COULD USE THE STOCK MARKET TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF WHOMEVER THE TEAM TOOK DOWN. That… that is so messed up. Jack Latimer was so certain that Nate would be interested in supporting this guy. Like???? My god, Latimer has been following the Leverage team since the ACTUAL FIRST EPISODE. How much money has he made? How much has he benefited from the destruction of the numerous corporations and businesspeople in the last four years?
I can’t even wrap my head around how messed up this is. Does Latimer truly believe that Nate’s sense of moral goodness will compel him to agree to the kind of arrangement he’s offering? This is a team notorious for not taking cuts from their work, so why would they enable that behavior in someone else? I guess the question then becomes whether or not Nate is willing to compromise in order to take down some truly disgusting evils in the world.
What the hell has this show become, y’all? I’m so in love with this season.
The video for “The Boiler Room Job†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates / Appearances page.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra, series 8 of Doctor Who, and Kings. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
- Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook! I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com. All Mark Watches videos for past shows/season are now archived there!
