{"id":4472,"date":"2015-02-24T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T16:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4472"},"modified":"2015-02-03T11:44:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T19:44:29","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s02e13-the-future-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/02\/mark-watches-leverage-s02e13-the-future-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S02E13 – The Future Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, the team goes after a con man who uses his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153psychic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d powers to exploit people. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of death and grief.<\/b><\/p>\n

What a fantastic episode, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been saying a lot, I know, but GODDAMN, this show just never stops being good. Specifically, the writers ground \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Future Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ground this story by showing us the emotional toll of Dalton Rand\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s type of manipulation. It was bad enough watching Jodie fall victim to him, all because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still grieving the death of her husband. Like many of the antagonists within the\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i> world, Dalton preys on those who often have little recourse once they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been harmed. How could you ever get justice against someone like him? These people gave him their money willingly, everything he does is legal, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stigma around the use of psychics in this country. So even if Jodie eventually realized she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been conned, she most likely would hear nothing but criticism from everyone she knew.<\/p>\n

And then he goes after Parker.<\/p>\n

Now, having the mark go after one of the main characters is obviously a great way for us to understand the villain\/hero dynamic of the story. Anyone who hurts our PRECIOUS BABIES deserves to be destroyed. But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fantastic about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Future Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is that Parker is not merely a device to build sympathy or to get us to care. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten hints about Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s childhood before (in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Stork Job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for example), but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Future Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d makes part of her past a lot more explicit: she lost her brother to a tragic accident, one that she still blames herself for ever occurring. And the way we learn this? By watching Dalton manipulate Parker into revealing the truth through body language.<\/p>\n

To say it was heartbreaking is an understatement. Parker is, generally speaking, the kind of character who is not quick to show her vulnerability. Which is, of course, not to say that she\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> be vulnerable. And seriously, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an intriguing character. The writers allow her to be multiple things at once; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not written as a monolith or as a one-note source of humor. To me, it shows care. It shows me that the writers want to give us a character who isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just entertaining, but is a whole person.<\/p>\n

I certainly want to see more of this in the future, and not just for Parker. What about Hardison? Eliot? What were their lives like before they joined the team? I think most of the non-case stories we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten this season revolved around Nate, so I hope the show expands the other characters, too.<\/p>\n

Anyway, THIS CON IS SO GREAT. Tara Cole is a delight as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d psychic, and christ, JERI RYAN IS SO GOOD IN THIS ROLE. Of course, I miss Sophie. DEARLY. I hope she comes back soon, but, again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so pleased that the show was able give us a character like Tara so suddenly without making the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dynamic feel weird. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an easy thing to do! But Tara feels like she was meant to be a part of the Leverage team. IF SOPHIE COMES BACK, CAN TARA STAY? BECAUSE Y E S. Could you even imagine how good the team would be with TWO professional grifters?<\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for another time. The con that the team runs on Dalton is one of the more incredible ones they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done. Convincing him that Tara was a REAL psychic? A work of art. However, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually curious how they were going to plan to out him as a fraud prior to him getting kidnapped. Were they always going to use the storage unit con? Probably not, I imagine, and they had to make do with what they were given. AND THEY DID SO BEAUTIFULLY. I was so confused by the kidnapping because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what? Just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 they did such a good job conning Dalton that SOMEONE ELSE TRULY BELIEVED HE WAS A REAL PSYCHIC. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just too perfect y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Future 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":"