In the fourth episode of the second season of Leverage, Sophie makes it a personal mission to help the step-son of a mark while the team tries to execute a long con at a private school. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Leverage.
This show keeps finding new ways to satisfy me.
Boarding schools
There’s so much fun had at the expense of the parents who send their children to boarding school and private school. NAMELY: all of the parents and teachers accepting the presence of the new staff members and their bullshit philosophy. The writers have a lot of fun with the premise here, and not just with the characters who are in the school itself. I mean, seeing Eliot as a gym teacher is a treasure in and of itself, but having Hardison and Parker switch roles? Watching Parker have to hone her improvisational skills in order to walk Hardison through a theft? Nate’s dead-cat-on-his-head character??? THAT BOOK COVER? Oh my god, y’all. I love that the Leverage team exists within their cons with a sense of humor, and I get the sense that they have as much fun as possible being these characters, you know?
Taggert and McSweeten
Sweet mother of all that is holy, I WAS SO HAPPY THAT THEY RE-APPEARED AGAIN. This time, though, they play a much larger role within the story. Now, obviously they exist almost entirely as comic relief, and they do so beautifully. But the writers of this show truly know how to build tension and suspense with every episode, and a lot of times that involves placing some sort of time bomb within the narrative. It’s fun watching the team con people, but how can you keep that interesting? How can you go into an episode and not expect the same thing week-to-week? I’ve touched on how the show has toyed with their own storytelling patterns; hell, they did it in “The Tap-Out Job†in this very season. But even if the episodes themselves don’t stray too far from a formula, they still have to keep us guessing.
While the mysterious hitman fills this role, Taggert and McSweeten feel like the biggest thorn in the side of the team. Conning them is easy – they’re the bumbling cop archetype in the flesh – but that doesn’t mean that their presence makes the cases any easier. Plus, McSweeten’s attraction to Parker isn’t always something the team can leverage in their favor, particularly since Parker is still learning how to communicate with people. So I spent a good deal of “The Fairy Godparents Job†wondering if these guys would ruin plans or distract from the case. SPOILER ALERT: THEY DID. CONSTANTLY.
And it was so beautiful.
Sophie / Widmark
SURPRISE, THE BEST PART OF THIS EPISODE IS SOPHIE. Like… how rude, Leverage! I have feelings! Emotions! Why are you toying with them? Why must you make me experience this kind of heartbreak and love? I never even once thought this show would take Sophie’s bad acting and make it something to crush me with. It’s clear, then, that Sophie is aware that she’s rarely that good at acting when she’s trying to be herself because she rarely can be herself. The appearance of her boyfriend – briefly, in a scene where he dumps her and admits that Sophie isn’t even her real name – makes us rethink who Sophie actually is.
Unfortunately, after years and years of lying and hiding within identities, even Sophie doesn’t know who she is anymore. And it’s a problem! It’s one that she sees within Widmark because the kid is a victim of how he’s perceived. It’s suffocating for Widmark because he can’t escape the gaze of his peers. They think he’s a loser. They blame him for what his step-father did. And it’s killing his self-esteem, so much so that he can’t even do what he’s good at. It’s understandable that Sophie of all people would take Widmark under her wing because she gets this struggle. She’s used to being on the receiving end of misguided perception because that’s her job. When is she ever “real� When is she ever herself? Is there ever a moment in her life where she gets to shed her work and be whoever it is that she actually is?
I don’t know the answer to that. I suspect that there are elements of the “real†Sophie spread throughout this show, moments that reveal what she’s like under the manufactured exterior. But I also think she relies on that mask most of the time, so it’s hard for her to take it off. Goddamn it, y’all, I just have a lot of feelings about Sophie Devereaux after this episode??? I was so ready to go into this season with her and Nate pursuing something with one another, but I’m actually more interested in this development. How can Sophie be happy with herself while still being a grifter? My guess is that she’ll get to do so with her friends. Unsurprisingly, I was utterly pleased to hear her refer to her Leverage teammates as “friends,†but come on! That’s a big deal, and I think that the genuine Sophie comes out when she’s spending time with them.
I also wanted to say that I appreciate this show for giving us Widmark’s full song because it’s a beacon of hope and beauty. It was a delight to get to see his talent on display for everyone, and ALSO IT WAS A REALLY GOOD SONG. How are musical science fairs not an actual thing??? I’d like them to become standard in this country, y’all. SCIENCE.
The video for “The Fairy Godparents Job†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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