Leverage is one of my favorite shows on TV. The show is fun and manages to pull off and Oceans 11-type caper every week, and still make it enjoyable to watch. Part of that reason is due to the characters. The Grifter, the Hitter, the Hacker, the Thief and the Brains, they all seem very cliched, but the depth often surprises you, along with some great chemistry between the team.
With that being said, this weeks episode allows us to see the team come together to save one of their own, in Parker, along with getting a little bit of history on the thief.
At the start, we see Parker trying to evade numerous guards, and sensors in a building. We don't see her working with the team at all, and it looks like she is about to get caught. Meanwhile, Nate and Sophie are having an intimate moment when Nate asks Sophie, or whatever her name is, about the famous kiss from last season. When she tells Nate that he is still working off the slap, Nate gets a call from an older gentleman saying Parker is in trouble, and she is going to lose to a very complex security system, one that even Hardison is afraid of.
Nate immediately gets the team into action to go save their friend, as they head to Parkers place to find out what is going on. Parker's place is an empty warehouse with a bed, some clothes and plenty of blueprints (typical Parker). Nate gets the blueprints and heads out with the team without the usual calm demeanor of having a plan. He sends Sophie and Hardison in to cause some commotion, and give Hardison the opportunity to hack into the security system, while Nate and Eliot go find out who Parker is working for.
It turns out, Parker had a mentor, in Richard Chamerlain, who is one of the greatest thieves to ever live. He tells the team that he has a real family, and they were in danger, so Parker went in so he didn't have to. Nate doesn't seem happy that this guy made Parker go in, no matter what the problem was, given such a low probability she will come out. Clearly both men care for Parker, and both have put her in plenty dangerous situations before, but Nate is her family, and this other guy was her family.
With Sophie causing chaos by telling everyone they are fired, Hardison does his hacker thing to help the best he can. Meanwhile, Eliot uses a scaffold to climb up the side of the building. But, before Parker can just leave, she figures out that the company hired this thief to steal a fungus than will kill all the wheat in America, making this company's wheat the only one that will survive. So, Parker goes back in with the approval of Nate, and the team, but without the approval of her old mentor, who is just focused on getting out, not helping people.
With the help of Eliot, in some great fight scenes, she is able to overcome the security and steal the fungus, as the HASMAT alarms go off, and soon after, chemical crews get there. The head of the company plans on killing Paker and her friends, who have entered with the HASMAT suits to avoid cover. When she confronts them, she pulls the classic villain move and explains her plan, and tells them they are about to die, only to find out Nate and his team switched out with a news team, and the news team got everything she said on tape. Very clever, Nate!
After it's all over, the bad guys are in jail and the team is out, Nate gives a cold goodbye to Parkers former mentor, and Parker says that she has a family of her own now. It was quite touching.
Overall, I loved this episode. While it didn't explore the overall arc we were presented with at the beginning of the season, it was an episode that reinforced the chemistry with the team, and how they are willing to help one of their own. It was also really tense and you see Parker just about to get caught, and Nate, the man with a plan, completely plan less until the end. It was a great episode, that was very watchable.
So, what did you think? Sound off in the comments!
