{"id":4606,"date":"2015-04-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4606"},"modified":"2015-04-13T17:26:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T00:26:35","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s04e17-the-radio-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/04\/mark-watches-leverage-s04e17-the-radio-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S04E17 – The Radio Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventeenth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of Leverage<\/i>, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ready. <\/span>I was not ready<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Latimer plot that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been spread over this season is a strange one, though I am definitely intrigued by it. It presents a terrible conundrum for Nate and the team because for every case they solve, they risk giving Latimer more money. At this point, Nate has easily avoided all of the absurd offers that Latimer has pitched his way. He knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not worth it. With that in mind, I was meant to be surprised when he suddenly took up Latimer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest case. What made it worth it for him? Why help someone who is more or less guilt tripping you into making him money?<\/p>\n

I can see now why the Fords were motivated to take jobs that were clearly too risky. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that Jimmy or Nate is a fool. They both knew what they were getting into in some sense. So what brought them to this point? Initially, after we find out that Nate wanted to free his father, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re led to believe that Jimmy Ford hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t changed at all. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still self-centered and greedy. How could he refuse a heist that would net him $2 million? We knew from his past appearance that he wanted to pull off one last job that would set him for life, so I believed the red herring.<\/p>\n

I mean, why wouldn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> I believe it? Jimmy Ford is cold and detached throughout this episode, clearly uninterested in being rescued or rebuilding a relationship with his son. For the most part, he sits at a desk, sifting through one file after another with methodical precision. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on around him. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care if he can escape. And when Nate tries to get him involved? Well, Jimmy acts like the team is nothing more than an annoying fly, buzzing around his head. Now, I read this as his irritation at Nate for, once again, getting involved when he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t asked. He seemed so averse to the idea of being rescued that I figured he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do anything to escape on his own. Perhaps he realized that Nate would never be on his side ever again, so he viewed his son as nothing more than an adversary or an obstacle.<\/p>\n

I honestly had an entire review formulated in my head that was about Jimmy Ford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loyalty to the business, about how he valued money and the game more than\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, pretty much everything. Even during Jimmy and Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big argument, I was certain that these two would not see eye-to-eye about their role in this world. And then Jimmy Ford blurts out that he took this job to save his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life and what the fuck<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I was wrong. I was wrong about all of this.<\/p>\n

And even now, thinking about Jimmy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confession and what comes after it, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how much I was wrong about this man. How much did he know? How aware was he that this was all gonna go south? Did he know this would be his last job? Perhaps not literally, but he did this after<\/i> his son betrayed him (justifiably so, I should say) and sent him on a ship back to Ireland. Why? Why would he do this?<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the heartbreaking part of this: we probably won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever find out beyond what this episode tells us. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what happened in the last year of Jimmy Ford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, but he chose to do a dangerous, risky, and foolish job all so that his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life would be spared. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking back to that moment at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Three-Card Monte Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where Jimmy told Nate that he was proud of his son, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough to go on. That pride was enough for Jimmy to prioritize his son, to put him first, even when there was still a chance he could survive himself.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one hell of a story to be told.<\/p>\n

This is such a complex episode otherwise, though the Nate\/Jimmy dynamic takes up the bulk of it. The entire time, I, like the rest of the characters here, was trying to figure out Latimer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game. I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the hell the patent is for, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that will appear in the season finale. I assume that Latimer will benefit in some way from what happened here, but why? How? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET ANY OF THIS. Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partially because I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out who was actually<\/i> interfering with the con the entire time: VICTOR DUBENICH. From the goddamn pilot episode!!! WHAT THE FUCK! I mean, I can guess that this is all a revenge plot because the dude is in prison, but how? How did he organize this? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Latimer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s connection to this? Did Latimer even know that he<\/i> was being used? WHAT HAS THIS SHOW DONE TO ME?<\/p>\n

Before I wrap things up (which I need to do ASAP because I need the finale in my life right now)<\/i>, I did want to add that Eliot is SO FANTASTIC in this episode. The entire Boston Cowboy Cop routine was one of the funniest things this whole season and a clever reference to Die Hard<\/i>. But what tickles me most about it is how Agent Powell ate the performance up PERFECTLY. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even question any aspect of it. Cowboy!!! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so beautiful, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Radio 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. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>– Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’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, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"