{"id":4542,"date":"2015-03-18T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4542"},"modified":"2015-03-10T13:46:57","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T20:46:57","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s03e13-the-morning-after-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/03\/mark-watches-leverage-s03e13-the-morning-after-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S03E13 – The Morning After Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, the team goes after yet another associate of Damien Moreau, and IT SPIRALS TERRIBLY OUT OF CONTROL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You know why this episode is so great? Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a goddamn\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>mess<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an air of realism to the absurd nature of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pulled off in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Morning After Job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because the team has less than 24 hours to pull off this con. Instead of doing so perfectly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a chaotic disaster. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perhaps the messiest end we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen to an episode, and I totally dig that. Not only does it make this feel like a last-minute con, but it helps me to understand just how intimidating Damien Moreau is as an adversary. This is what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capable of. Hell, at this point, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know if The Italian is working for Moreau or not. (I suspect not, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m clearly not ready.)<\/p>\n

This is a brutal and violent episode right from the start, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centered around someone like Mark Vector, who wears his rigid masculinity on his sleeve. And then on other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faces because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of those assholes who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever bother to\u00c2\u00a0deal<\/i> with his anger issues since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much easier to rely on his ego and his status. You know the type. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known the type. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the kind of guys who are eager to fight others to prove some sort of misguided virility, but then they come up with all these bullshit excuses for their behavior instead of being responsible for them. I mean, Mark Vector is a coward, plain and simple. Look how he reacts when David calls him out on the unauthorized trades; he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have a simple uncomfortable conversation without relying on his fist. And his reaction to Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153murder\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is yet another example of this behavior! Watch how quickly HE BLAMES HER FOR THE MURDER. Because someone scratching your face is\u00c2\u00a0absolutely worth murder<\/i>, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it???<\/p>\n

In Mark Vector, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a brilliantly defined mark for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Morning After Job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got one of the most complex cons the team has ever worked running alongside it. Again, you can tell that while they do a damn fine job within their time constraints, this is\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>a very rough con. They had a single night to prepare, and very little leeway time to deal with any obstacles put in their path. Of course, THERE WERE A MILLION OBSTACLES. From the passenger transport (which turns into a miniature case itself) that Hardison and Eliot had, to Agent McSweeten showing up as Vector\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s FBI handler, to Eliot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to answer a police call (BLESS HIS GODDAMN HEART, I LOVE WHEN HE DOES THIS), to the LITERAL SNIPER, this team was thrown one wrench after another.<\/p>\n

And shit, they deal with all of them! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certain that if they had more time, this con would have gone without a hitch. It was designed perfectly to fuck with Vector because the Leverage team came up with a crime that he believed he\u00c2\u00a0couldn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> get out of. That element was crucial because it was obvious that Vector had gotten away with SO MANY other crimes over his life. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s white. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a famous athlete. He took advantage of his fans to build a fortune for himself, and he then used his prestige and privilege to assure that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get immunity in a deal. So how do you break that streak? How do you get a man to believe that his professional life might be over? How do you convince someone that their privilege and wealth is\u00c2\u00a0finally<\/i> irrelevant?<\/p>\n

I fear I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m making this sound a lot simpler than it was, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely not how I read this episode. Like Eliot vocalized at one point, this whole thing felt\u00c2\u00a0wrong<\/i>. And it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just the person in the building across the street or the corrupt cops waiting to get Vector before he could make it to court. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious how far Moreau\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grasp extends. How much does he control? Obviously, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the tech and manpower on his side that allowed him to monitor Vector. Does that mean he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s well aware of the identities of Nate and the team? Will he know they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming for him? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I took away from this episode, more than anything else. The man kind of scares me. If he was willing to treat these people like collateral damage, all so he could kill Mark Vector, what else is he capable of?<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t answer that. DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T ANSWER THAT.<\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about feelings. Because wow, Sophie and Nate have a couple of unbearably cute scenes here, and then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the OT3 brilliance of Parker, post-tasing, draping her arms around Hardison and Eliot. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all quick, relatively subtle moments, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the kind of scenes that fuel SO MUCH speculation and adoration on my part. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not only because I care about these characters or I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m obsessed with shipping them. (I AM. GUILTY AS CHARGED.) There is a thrill and a satisfaction in watching the actors grow close over the course of this show. The same goes for the writing. I never know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written into the script versus what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s improvised by the cast themselves, but it all contributes to a fabric of familiarity between the Leverage team. They know one another so well, and they truly seem like a family. Hell, Hardison and Eliot basically are the bickering married couple, no?<\/p>\n

Go write about that, oh\u00c2\u00a0gods<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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

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

– 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.<\/a>
\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 for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0 MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"