{"id":4445,"date":"2015-02-12T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4445"},"modified":"2015-01-28T14:54:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T22:54:26","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s02e05-the-three-days-of-the-hunter-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/02\/mark-watches-leverage-s02e05-the-three-days-of-the-hunter-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S02E05 – The Three Days of the Hunter Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, the team switches their roles for a case that involves conning a manipulative media personality into ruining her own career. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For suicide, ableism<\/b><\/p>\n

This show continues to impress me, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all!<\/p>\n

Monica Hunter<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, that was all a clear reference to Nancy Grace, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not familiar with this particular media phenomenon, then this episode is a good place to start to understand why Nancy Grace is so despicable. Her specific brand of fear mongering is a form of manipulation, as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to criticize about how she approaches stories or what sort of victims make \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d victims. At heart, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of respectability politics wrapped up in her intentions, and Nancy Grace truly believes that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a dichotomy to human morality, at least for her television show and media empire. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a right kind of victim \u00e2\u20ac\u201c often white, straight, cis, traditionally attractive, a good ol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 American \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the wrong kind, which is anything she can use to denigrate people and moralize from her ridiculous pulpit. While Monica Hunter is cleverly designed to make us think of Nancy Grace, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean we should ignore the ways in which this episode rightly dismantles this type of reporting.<\/p>\n

Look, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bias in everything we do; everything we do is political. (The absence of politics\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i> a political stance, and apathy and disinterest support the status quo.) Monica Hunter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior supports a very specific narrative about the world. For instance, her public humiliation of Ray Pennington is highly ableist. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy for Monica to blame a tragic bus accident on someone who has (or had) a mental illness because our society places stigma on those with mental illness. And even Ray\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suicide attempt itself is a reference to actual people who have committed suicide in the wake of Nancy Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s media onslaughts. Monica is irresponsible about what she reports because it gets her ratings, not because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concerned with actual victims\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so far from her radar, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! Her own reputation is more important than any sort of justice.<\/p>\n

So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perfect case for the Leverage team, who honestly try to bring about justice to those who have been left without it. They know that Monica\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report on Ray ruined\u00c2\u00a0his<\/i> reputation and his mental well-being. So how the hell do you get that back? Well, you ruin Monica to the point where all her reports are suddenly cast into suspicion. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an ambitious case for the team, which made it all the more fun when this turned into a vehicle for Sophie.<\/p>\n

Switching Roles<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh my god, IT WAS SO PERFECT. Eliot was the hacker; Parker, Hardison, and Nate were the grifters; and Sophie was the one in charge. And you know what? They fared pretty damn well, considering just how chaotic this particular con got. I mean, as soon as Monica jumped over the fence to the military base, I thought this would all be over. How? How could they con their way out of a military base? No, scratch that \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how could they help a black man dressed like Hardison was out of a military base? (On that note, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so endlessly pleased by the way this show engages with race. Hardison often uses people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s racist assumptions and stereotypes against them within cons. The writers are also aware enough of Hardison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blackness to call attention to it in situations like this one. Since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set in our world, it felt appropriate for Hardison to express fear over being black and committing a federal crime.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always a thrill to see how these characters come up with cons on the fly, and goddamn, this one was ESPECIALLY amazing.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be completely fine with the team switching roles again, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO ENTERTAINING.<\/p>\n

Sophie<\/b><\/p>\n

Again, I was satisfied with the way\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i> has serialization within a narrative that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to allow it. Episodic-style television like\u00c2\u00a0Leverage\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201c where there are cases resolved every week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c usually stays away from the sort of detail-oriented storytelling we have here. It makes so much sense to come off of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Fairy Godparents\u00e2\u20ac\u009d job, where Sophie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boyfriend dumped her, to have a story like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Three Days of the Hunter Job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where Sophie tries to find comfort through experimentation. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if being the con operator will help her feel better, but Nate allows her to do it anyway. He suspects that this is what she needs: a distraction and a reminder that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good all on her own, that her value is not tied to someone else. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the answer to her insecurities, of course, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a step in a direction that helps her find her ground. Often times, surrounding yourself in work can help keep your mind off of something like this, but I also think that Sophie wanted to be challenged, too.<\/p>\n

It was a nice change of pace for her, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more comfortable being a grifter rather than sitting back and observing from the sidelines. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good at that, too, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not precisely what she wants. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that point at the end of the episode where she tells Nate that she feels lost, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a touching moment between the two of them. So what will help her feel grounded? More work? A better sense of self? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Three Days of the Hunter Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give us the answer to that question, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not supposed to. Sophie still has a long way to go on this journey.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Three Days of the Hunter 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, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>.<\/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":"