{"id":4416,"date":"2015-01-26T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T16:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4416"},"modified":"2015-01-22T10:40:38","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T18:40:38","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s01e06-the-miracle-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/01\/mark-watches-leverage-s01e06-the-miracle-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S01E06 – The Miracle Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, more of Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past is revealed when he takes a job to help his best friend. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For nonconsensual drugging<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fascinating to me that an episode like this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one that openly questions the morality of the Leverage team \u00e2\u20ac\u201c takes place so early in the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a complicated one, possibly the most so out of these first six episodes, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so satisfying to watch. We learn that Nate was, in practically every sense of the word, a good guy. He was studying to be a priest before he began to work for an insurance company, and now? Well, the irony is not lost on this show. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leading a band of thieves to do good in the world.<\/p>\n

But\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>he doing good? That very question is often played for humor, particularly when it comes to Hardison. (I did notice that not even once did Parker ever question her own moral stakes in this episode. My god, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written so CONSISTENTLY. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like a Parker flashback episode, THANK YOU.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a delight to see how willing the\u00c2\u00a0Leverage\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>writers are to go for comedy. Like Eliot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little flashbacks? Other shows might make those moments deadly serious, but this show makes them into these brilliant little gags. However, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that there can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be introspective aspects to these stories. The humor and the drama are not mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

So what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got here is a con, a heist, and then a con and a heist to undo the very con and heist that the team put into place. THAT IS SUCH A JOY TO WRITE. But the complications here force the audience to examine whether Nate is more obsessed with his own savior complex or if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for Father Paul and his church. Initially, it comes across a lot more clear cut than it ends up being. Andrew Grant is disgusting, predatory, and irritating. Which is something I appreciate! Even amidst a rather complex morality tale, the villains are defined without any doubt. We know what Andrew is doing is wrong. We know it is an injustice that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s losing his church, and that this neighborhood of Los Angeles is losing an important part of their community. (I feel like when this show is done, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to write a novel solely on this show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s politics of revenge. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that other people would understand why gentrification and development of neighborhoods is a bad thing, but it seemed painfully obvious to me. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so intriguing to me because the writers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spend much time at all in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Miracle Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explaining this dynamic; they just expect us to sympathize with Father Paul, as we should!)<\/p>\n

Because of this, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to find comfort in Sophie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant\u00c2\u00a0con of Andrew. She exploits his insecurities and plays off of his greed. (Well, he also has an anxiety attack induced by speed due to Parker. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something we should acknowledge, too.) The episode is written in a way to make it\u00c2\u00a0seem<\/i> like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fairly straightforward, too. But it does that thing that makes it feel like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over, and then there are still fifteen minutes left, and SOMETHING IS GOING TO GO SO HORRIBLY WRONG, ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T IT? I had\u00c2\u00a0no idea\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>how wrong this would go, but I appreciated that the writers realized that faking a miracle would have disastrous consequences. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the point of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Miracle Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d: our intentions don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always give us the result that we want.\u00c2\u00a0Nate believes that a fake miracle will deter Andrew Grant and give Father Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parishioners a reason to rally around the church. Everyone wins, right?<\/p>\n

Except that the team misjudged just how greedy Andrew Grant was. They misjudged the public reaction to a miracle. They misjudged just what a huge deal this was going to become. And I love that this then becomes the first time they have to UNDO a con. But they HAVE to because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to make matters\u00c2\u00a0worse<\/i> than they were before. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that this show acknowledges this, not just for the story as a whole, but so that we can understand Nate better. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at a point in his life where his morality is still a huge part of who he is; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still the Good Guy to everyone around him. But his whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153means to an end\u00e2\u20ac\u009d philosophy seems born out of circumstance. I feel like he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have become who he is now if his son hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t died, you know? The show invokes his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death and the dissolution of his marriage multiple times, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reminder of the trauma that this man has been through. It makes sense, then, that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get lost in doing good. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of his identity, at least in how others perceive him. But\u00c2\u00a0wanting<\/i> to do good is not enough to\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i> do good, you know?<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just so satisfied by these episodes, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I admit that I was eager to start watching\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i> again after a week off from writing so I could attend Arisia, probably more so than anything else that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading and watching. Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m endlessly thankful that I get the opportunity to write about such serious things all the time. I definitely appreciate it, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always wanted to do. I like being personal and honest with y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a joy to this show \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a sunny disposition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that I\u00c2\u00a0particularly<\/i> enjoy, mostly because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing else I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading or watching that comes close to this sort of tone or outlook. Yes, this episode is morally complex, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still about people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c mostly thieves! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c trying to right the injustices in the world that are so often overlooked by our society. Gentrification, corporate theft, and greed are\u00c2\u00a0always<\/i> the villains. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice. Goddamn, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so pleasing to watch this and imagine that this is the world we\u00c2\u00a0could<\/i> live in.<\/p>\n

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

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

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