“Sometimes bad guys are the only good guys you get.”
- Parker
There are some episodes you remember better than others on rewatch. I have to admit, I didn’t entirely remember the plot of this episode when I started watching it. The team is running a rip deal scam on a local corrupt judge. And oh lord do I want him to suffer for being a misogynistic pig who thinks he’s abo e the law. Sophie and Nate are in the bank getting money from the judge while Parker and Hardison are in the van monitoring things. Eliot is off getting out of town when a father and son pull out guns and hold up the bank. The judge, who has the briefcase full of money from his safety deposit box, slides the case out of view when the robbers start demanding money. Whatever is in the tills isn’t enough for them to do what they need and the sons tarts getting agitated when it gets near 5:00. Nate thinks it will be a good idea to help the robbers so that at least everyone gets out safely. The judge goes to try and talk the father down (flaunting his “I’m the law” attitude) while Nate and Eliot have a conversation that the local sheriff thinks is aimed at him. Nate decides that they can’t let local law enforcement handle the situation. They need to put their own people on the ground. Well and the judge doesn’t impress the father at all. I don’t blame him. The guy is scum and I wouldn’t believe him if he said he could call off the sheriff and the deputies and just let them walk out of there unscathed and uncharged.
Parker and Hardison show up as FBI (though not the same personas they used in “The Wedding Job” and they try to take over from the local law enforcement folks). Inside the bank, the robbers are getting really agitated and Nate orders the gang outside to get any background on them that they can find. Hardison works his magic and finds out that the dad, Derrick, is ex-Navy and that he just emptied out all his accounts that morning. Eliot pays a visit to the house and finds that it’s been broken into and there’s been a struggle. He also ID’s the son as Michael. So while Sophie offers to try and open the safe (posing as the branch manager0, Nate pulls Michael aside for a chat as well. Between the two of them they start to fill in the whole picture. Michael was running meth for some drug dealers and not long ago, a shipment worth $100,000 went missing. The dealers think Michael took it and so they give him the option of returning it or paying $100,000 to get his mom back. Sophie offers to help Derrick and explains why they were at the bank in the first place. Nate suggests they use the judge’s dirty money to pay off the drug dealers all while not breaking their covers. Yeah, good luck with that.
Parker gets into the old money drop chute on the side of the bank while Hardison distracts the locals with bizarre demands including twelve large pizzas and dog food. Parker take the briefcase from Derrick and hands it off to Eliot who goes to wait for the meth dealers. Meanwhile, the judge tries to talk to Michael and things take a turn for the very worse. In the struggle (Michael has a gun), Nate gets shot and Sophie blows their cover by yelling his real name. The judge catches on and starts ranting. He accuses Sophie and Nate of conspiring with Derrick and Michael to fleece him out of his money. See, I knew I detested this guy for a reason. He takes control and orders everyone to shut up and says no one leaves until he gets his money. That of course is going to be an issue since Eliot is off meeting the dealers in exchange for the mom. So, the gang is going to need to get the money back from the dealers in order to make a safe escape.
This necessitates Eliot being Eliot and beating the crap out of the meth heads. It wouldn’t be an episode of Leverage if he didn’t get to beat the crap out of someone. And empty bullets out of a gun. He just doesn’t like them. While all that is going down, the judge has determined that Sophie and Nate have a person on the outside and he crushes their earpieces, leaving the trio stranded on the outside. Hardison is trying to work some magic with the surveillance cameras but it’s taking longer than they’d like because not only do they have an unstable judge in the bank but the real FBI is en route.
The pizzas arrive and it’s time to the rest of the plan into play. Hardison gets in with the pizzas and Nate signals to the judge that he should really let them in since it has the money. The judge opens a box with the money in and then with a bunch of well-placed distractions, someone slips the briefcase back under the table and it now contains meth packets. Oops. And it turns out that Hardison was doctoring the security footage to show exactly how Eliot and Sophie say it went down. The judge is continuing rant but the local cops believe what is being said by the onlookers. Parker and Eliot switch clothes with Derrick and Michael who escort Nate out to the ambulance and once they are away from the bank, it’s revealed that Michael’s mom is driving the bus. So they get a happy reunion and the team took down the creepy judge. Hooray!
Eliot is stitching up Nate in the back of the ambulance after Parker and Hardison take their leave and our dopey FBI agents show and get to take credit for the bank bust and catching the meth dealers. So all in all, not a bad deal for everyone involved. While I despised the bad guy this episode, it’s still a decent episode and it just shows how good our team is to be able to switch up their cons so quickly and adapt to changes. Sure the team isn’t invincible but it’s still proof that they are the best in the business for a reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment