{"id":4389,"date":"2015-01-21T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T16:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4389"},"modified":"2015-01-12T14:39:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T22:39:55","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s01e03-the-wedding-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/01\/mark-watches-leverage-s01e03-the-wedding-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S01E03 – The Wedding Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the third episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, a con at a wedding unearths uncomfortable feelings in Sophie and Nathan. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

OKAY LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT THIS.<\/p>\n

The Con<\/b><\/p>\n

I appreciate that the show is defining what exactly constitutes a case for the Leverage team. I, too, was a little shocked that Nathan seemed so uninterested in the Palermo case. It was a clear injustice, one that they might be able to reverse with a little ingenuity. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some wrong that needs to be righted, however. You can see this in the past two episodes, but the injustice at the heart of the story can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have an solutions by traditional means. It takes a bit of a discussion, but the team points out that Ray\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife\u00c2\u00a0has\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>no means to get the money that Nicky Moscone paid for. Therefore, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly something the Leverage team can offer their services for.<\/p>\n

However, what makes this episode feel so special is that everything is so MESSY. After two episodes of expert cons and deft escapes, the Leverage team is placed into a situation where they are constantly forced to re-evaluate their plan and their goals. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually fascinating to me that the show does this so early into the run, too! I mean, I initially thought that the scenes where Sophie and Nathan both used their cover to go on tirades about marriage and faith to be tonally inappropriate. These people are so good at their jobs; why are they suddenly forgetting the point of the mission?\u00c2\u00a0Because everything is a mess<\/i>. Even though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re deliberately contrasted with the bumbling FBI agents, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re perfect. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the humor here, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a sign of the seriously high stakes of this particular con. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hiding in plain sight in a mobster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mansion on his daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wedding day. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absurdly ambitious, you know?<\/p>\n

And once the Butcher of Kiev shows up, all their plans go to hell. He represents a wild card within the heist narrative, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s with his appearance that most of this falls apart. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the endgame (when the team was planning it) was the same thing as what\u00c2\u00a0actually\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>happened by the conclusion of this episode. I think that they all had to improvise in one way or another. They couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have known about the conversation that the Butcher and Moscone would have in the screening room; they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have known about Heater\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s betrayal; they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have predicted the WAVE OF FEELINGS that would be unleashed by the wedding itself.<\/p>\n

They adapted. And in Eliot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, that means taking out an assassin with an appetizer. BLESS.<\/p>\n

Hardison and Parker\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have to ask me if I ship them because YES. (Oh my god, I ship so many people on this show already??? Sophie\/Nathan, Eliot\/Hardison, Hardison\/Parker, Hardison\/myself. How is this happening in the third episode?) Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, there is so much tension between them here and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m totally into it. (Not into Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fatphobic comments, though, not just because it was needlessly cruel. Is her character supposed to be that mean? It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even seem to fit who she was.)<\/p>\n

Sophie and Nathan\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

SO, I NEED MORE OF THEIR BACKSTORY. I had wrongly assumed that maybe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hooked up a few times after they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d met years ago, but this episode reveals that their relationship was far more serious than I expected. First of all, that means that Nathan\u00c2\u00a0has\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>dabbled in the dark side, so to speak. He knew that Sophie was an art thief, and yet he still pursued her. Up to a point, that is, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what happened that caused them to separate. But I do know that Sophie still longed for Nathan, so much so that his return has re-ignited the feelings she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fostered towards him this entire time. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to parse through all of the things said by both parties during \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Wedding Job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but I got the sense that Sophie wanted something more from Nathan, but he did not reciprocate the desire to marry Sophie.<\/p>\n

SOOOOOO WHEN IS THAT BACKSTORY EPISODE.<\/p>\n

Eliot<\/b><\/p>\n

Okay, I find it incredibly adorable that Eliot is ALSO a fantastic cook. WHO DEEPLY CARES ABOUT HIS LEMON JUICE. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reminded of my commentary for\u00c2\u00a0The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i> and how that show had such a fascinating choreography for the fights between Terminator models. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll echo that sentiment, except to say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually quite refreshing to see how the show refuses to put a gun in Eliot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands and how that makes the fights a million times more thrilling. (I wonder, though. Is there a specific reason Eliot dislikes guns so much?) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also interested to see if the show will ever go into detail about who it was that Eliot once liked enough that he considered marriage. DO TELL.<\/p>\n

All in all, this was a fun episode! I think I liked the previous two more, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also very early into\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i> at this point, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m perfectly fine letting the show settle into whatever narrative it wants. Again, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cool that the writers were willing to portray them as flawed, even if it was mostly for humor.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Wedding Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
\n– 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!<\/a>
\n– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features will be\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, seasons 2 – 4, and series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b>
\n– The 2015 Mark Does Stuff tour is being announced!!! Check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"