{"id":4655,"date":"2015-05-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4655"},"modified":"2015-05-08T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:23:09","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s05e15-the-long-goodbye-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/05\/mark-watches-leverage-s05e15-the-long-goodbye-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S05E15 – The Long Goodbye Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the final episode of Leverage<\/i>, we say goodbye. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to finish Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For death, blood, grief<\/b>.<\/p>\n

In the end, it seems fitting to me that Leverage<\/i> conned us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a meta-fictional end to a show that taught us to question perspective or point-of-view, right up to the point that they used it against us. I think this would be an interesting episode to re-watch because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to track the points where Nate lied to us, the very people he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gotten to trust over five seasons.<\/p>\n

I suppose I could start at the beginning.<\/p>\n

One Month Ago<\/b><\/p>\n

Is anything<\/i> at the start of this episode real? If we accept that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Long Goodbye Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was the writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to view the audience as the mark, then I think that you could easily discard the entire premise with Dr. Giallo. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fake, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a means to an end. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of a story meant to draw us in because it promises closure to Nate Ford, giving him the one thing he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been able to get throughout Leverage<\/i>: revenge on the system that allowed his son Sam to die. I realize now that things were never this simple, nor was this quite Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal to begin with. But it drew me in all the same, and I was caught, hook, line and sinker.<\/p>\n

The team was going to get that drug released, and they were going to save lives.<\/p>\n

There are a ton of callbacks to the first few episodes of the show, from the Steranko system to the dual building approach of the con. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m realizing now that those aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just finale-worthy inclusions, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of the con on us. We question none of them because they feel so right<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the scene with Parker and Nate on the roof of the theater works so well. On one level, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly meant to foreshadow the eventual evolution of the Leverage team, but it also keeps our attention elsewhere. We think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing the true story, unaware of our own manipulation.<\/p>\n

That is, until Ellen Casey returns.<\/p>\n

Now<\/b><\/p>\n

And asks Nate one question.<\/p>\n

Does he remember how his friends died?<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a bluff. It had to be. She couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be telling the truth. This was an attempt to get Nate to reveal the details of the con and implicate them all in the process, right? Right???<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Look, there were no bodies. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m savvy enough to know that I needed to see some sort of body or confirmation of death to start freaking out. I knew that Nate could have easily been bluffing his reaction to his friends\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d At the same time, this was a series finale, and it was possible, I suppose, that this would be the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final act. So I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect what came next. I watched the con go down. I felt an exhilaration watching this team do what they do so well, my reaction informed by the knowledge that this was the last con I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ever see them pull off regardless of the outcome. Even when the unexpected variable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the police radio \u00e2\u20ac\u201c came into play, I knew the team had faced worse countless times before.<\/p>\n

And then Parker got shot and Hardison fell and his leg was bent the wrong way and this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t right. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. The team had been injured; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen it. How many times had Eliot or Nate been shot at? How many times had they been stuck in seemingly impossible situations? All the fucking time. But Hardison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fall was not something they could con themselves out of; Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gunshot wound was not a simple abrasion.<\/p>\n

It was worse than just bad<\/i>. With Hardison nearly unconscious, Parker rapidly losing blood, and the team without what they needed, this con was already a bust. So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s precisely when the writers drop the worst thing in our laps: Eliot gets shot through the back, plunging into the van, and this is not something you can come back from. Did I ever think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get to see Eliot screaming for Hardison and then holding his hand in joy, knowing that he got in the van, only to watch my OT3 to end all OT3s IMMEDIATELY DIE TOGETHER???<\/p>\n

I was so ready to tell this show to fuck off forever.<\/p>\n

Now<\/b><\/p>\n

Then the confirmation comes through. The body bags. The identification of the corpses. The video evidence of Eliot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gunshot wound. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all there and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny it anymore and I am fucking upset<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at this point that the writers begin to erode away that very same certainty that I gained. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brilliant move because it prevents the audience (YES, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M INCLUDING Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL BECAUSE IT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER) from stewing in grief and anger for too long. The details of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first\u00e2\u20ac\u009d con begin to erode. Why is there red plastic on the roof? Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Nate ever reveal the use of the Shanghai tunnels? Why did the team start their con a full month before the heist<\/i>?<\/p>\n

AND WHY THE FUCK IS NATE BEING HELD INSIDE A FAKE HOSPITAL WITHIN HIGHPOINT TOWER?<\/p>\n

The Real Mark<\/b><\/p>\n

Aside from us, there never was an attempt to release the drug that Dr. Giallo needed. Did she ever exist? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, as it would make sense that Nate would hide the truth within a fiction that sounded <\/i>like the truth. Who would doubt Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to help the very doctor who helped Sam Ford? No one, including us<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Leverage <\/i>has always been a show about going after the rich and the powerful and turning the tides of privilege, access, and accountability. Knowing the ending, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Nate wanted his final con to not only be a work of grandeur and absurdity, but to be a chance to guarantee that there could be a future where these ideals could still be supported. The Black Book \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the list of all the rich people who embezzled money and were responsible for the market crash that ruined people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives in the early 2000s \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was the real<\/i> aim of the heist. Why? Because it was the ultimate list of Leverage-style targets. Because it was the ultimate list of injustice. Because those who were supposed to protect the powerless and marginalized turned a blind eye to these crimes so that the world could \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go on,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d despite that it more or less ended for the millions of people who footed the bill for these monsters.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the perfect way to go out.<\/p>\n

The Real Heist<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever been so thrilled to discover that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been lied to and manipulated in my entire life. The reveal that not only is everyone alive, but that Sterling basically let them into the server room, was one of the most victorious things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d experienced in a long, long while. Jesus christ, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! I know that the team often uses their opponents weaknesses against them, but this is just ridiculous<\/i>. They take advantage of Interpol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ignorance, particularly Ellen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfamiliarity with their team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s style. In Sterling\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case? They play off his certainty, well aware that Sterling would be steps ahead of them from the beginning.<\/p>\n

This reveal was a spectacle, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Now we know why there was that scene tacked on to the end of this season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premiere: Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secret was that he always<\/i> wanted them in Portland to get the black book. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not fantastic solely because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a positive outcome; the writers imbue these scenes with an emotional weight. When we see what really happened at the theater, it matters because SOPHIE WAS THE ONE GIVING THE PERFECT PERFORMANCE AS LADY MACBETH. Oh my god, she was so fucking good<\/i>. It was Sophie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coaching that enabled Nate to grift Ellen and get her (and us) to believe that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d led his friends to their deaths. It was the Leverage team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gambit Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that influenced Sterling to let Nate and his friends go without prosecution.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no redemption given to Sterling here, though, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fitting choice for his character. The Leverage team sought to act in the name of justice for people whom rarely got<\/i> justice, and that was always a choice. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no neutrality in that act, and I think that was a vital point for this episode to make. Over the past five seasons, these characters went out of their way to choose to bring justice to this world. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait for it to arrive. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hope things will better. You have to do the difficult, exhausting, and sometimes emotionally painful work to undo injustice in this world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard for me not to relate this to a lot of the things going on in my country because I know too many people who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t willing to do any<\/i> sort of work at all. Or, possibly worse, they demonize those who are trying to bring justice to their communities.<\/p>\n

The work that Leverage has done is not ending, though there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closure here in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Long Goodbye Job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d From Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal of marriage to the passing of the torch, this final episode closes a huge chapter in all<\/i> of these character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives. Nate and Sophie are out, but only because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the right time. Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been grooming Eliot, Parker, and Hardison to do this job on their own. Why else does Sophie ask Parker if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay with them leaving? Because she knew the influence she had on Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life over the years, and she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to abandon her best friend.<\/p>\n

But the time came for Nate and Sophie \u00e2\u20ac\u201c er, Lara (!!!!!!!) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to move on from a life of capers, heists, and cons. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of sad, sure, but I like the idea that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to build a life together. I love the fact that this episode ends much like Leverage <\/i>started. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the overhead shot of the team splitting. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the deliberate framing of the trio as the new Leverage team with Parker in Nate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s place. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the head tilt and the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153leverage\u00e2\u20ac\u009d spoken with purpose.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much injustice in the world to stop now, right?<\/p>\n

On Monday, I will resume my reviews\/videos of The Legend of Korra<\/i>. You can read my reviews of the first season here<\/a>; the videos for those episodes (and all future episodes of The Legend of Korra<\/i>) can be downloaded here<\/a>. The first review of season two will also contain information about how these reviews will be scheduled due to complications from my European tour and my move to New York City this summer. As always: I cannot thank this fandom enough. For the past few months, the Leverage<\/i> community has consistently downloaded more videos than Supernatural<\/i> and Star Trek<\/i> COMBINED. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve commented in droves; you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sent me wonderful shit over Twitter and Tumblr. And y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all have helped me get through one of the darker and more frustrating periods of my life. I will be forever thankful for the joy and brilliance you gave to me even when you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I needed it.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Leverage<\/i>. Thank you to this cast and these writers and the producers and everyone who brought this show into my life. It means everything to me.<\/p>\n

You can downloaded the video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Long Goodbye Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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":"