In the sixth episode of the second season of Leverage, the team infiltrates a corrupt food company through magic – er, ILLUSIONS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Leverage.
I just love this show so much, y’all.
It’s clear from the final scene of “The Top Hat Job†that this specific con had to be difficult. It wasn’t just necessary to have them blow their cover in the first five minutes. (Though that was a nice narrative touch. Who expected that???) We had to see them narrowly come up with a way to con Erik Casten. Why? Because Nate needed to win. That isn’t something I would have understood at the beginning of the episode. Of course they had to win! They always do! But Sophie’s badgering of Nate to go on a date or see someone was part of a possible character development for him.
Possible. DON’T MAKE IT POSSIBLE, I DON’T WANT TO SEE HIM BREAK.
That’s not to say that “The Top Hat Job†is Nate’s story. I kind of feel like this is Hardison’s, as if this were his time to shine. Given that this heist was so technical in nature, I’d say that Hardison’s skills were put to the test, and he managed to impress Eliot in the process. WHICH IS A HUGE DEAL, OKAY. If you can impress Eliot, I feel like you’ve set the bar as high as you can go. Right??? I don’t think the heist itself could have happened without Hardison.
The con? Oh, well, we need to have a goddamn conversation about Nate and Parker, who proved to be the most entertaining aspect of this episode. It’s been such a treat to see Parker adapt to a world like this one because she’s being asked to be a grifter more and more with each case. And that’s an important development for her character! This is someone who was mortified by most social interaction. Parker had no skills to improvise in public in the first season. Take “The Stork Job†for example. In that episode, she had to be coached for practically every line while she was undercover, and she ended up stabbing her mark with a fork. (Which I’m still a big fan of, for the record.) How frequently does that sort of coaching take place within this episode? It’s a rare thing! Instead, we get to see just how wonderful Parker and Nate are as magicians. Their chemistry is hilarious, and PARKER’S FACE WHEN SHE GETS A TRICK RIGHT is so goddamn awesome y’all.
That’s not to say that this goes without a hitch, because, again, this actually had to be practically disastrous in order to play a part in Nate’s development this season. Christ, let’s start with the cover being blown in the first scene at Lillian Foods. Right off the bat, we’re shown that this heist is going to be one of the biggest challenges the team has faced. Normally, they don’t have to deal with an ex-CIA security team, and it just makes matters a billion times worse. So the writers take this premise and they throw one absurd obstacle after another at Hardison and Eliot, which Hardison finds solutions to one after another. AND THEN NOPE, CASTEN ACTUALLY DELETED ALL THE FILES THEY WANTED ANYWAY.
I feel like the resolution to this dilemma is the weakest one I’ve seen out of these 19 episodes, especially since it rests on Casten caring about the possible consequences of him “downloading†all the patents to his phone. But if we’re really setting Nate up to fail – if Sophie’s line to Eliot is foreshadowing for a moment when Nate doesn’t win, then this needed to be a close call. I admit I’m concerned for his character because I know that alcoholism can be triggered by trauma. JUST… I AM NOT READY. I don’t even want to think about how this could happen. I WILL STAY IN DENIAL BECAUSE IT’S BETTER THAT WAY.
(PS: I love this show so much.)
The video for “The Top Hat Job†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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