photo: tnt
Leverage
The Ice Man Job
Original Air Date: September 2, 2009
Brittany Frederick – Staff Writer
brittanyw@thetwocentscorp.com
An armored car full of diamonds is being hijacked in a scene that looks more like it belongs in an episode of 24. This leads to the wounded driver telling the whole sob story to Nate, after being framed for the job himself.
Nate’s faltering a bit because Sophie isn’t around. (In reality, Gina Bellman is on maternity leave.) As in, he’s ordered her a drink knowing she’s not there. Parker is weirded out because she’s not in her usual spot on the couch during the briefing, in which Hardison explains the insurance policy may look attractive to the company’s chief, who needs the money to keep himself afloat.
Team Leverage’s brilliant plan is to con him into turning up with the stolen diamonds by convincing him only they can erase their unique serial numbers, but Hardison will have to take Sophie’s job and Parker will have to be the pretty one. Sophie, in London, has to convince Parker she will not stab anyone when she tries to turn on the charm.
Thankfully, there is no stabbing, but there’s a bit of roughhousing (and cute when Hardison pretends to be Parker’s British boyfriend). The two bodyguards the CEO has just so happen to be the guys who jacked the armored car. It all comes together…especially when they get the CEO guy to admit to the crime.
Nate further turns the screws when (pretending to be Sterling, no less!) he convinces CEO Guy it’ll be a long time before he sees his insurance check. The team then hijacks a laser lab to pretend it’s their super-secret headquarters, complete with Hardison in a big flashy car. This only causes him to get abducted by the bad guys just after he thinks they’ve been fooled completely. Obviously not.
He’s been abducted by the CEO Guy’s psuedo partner in crime, who wants to steal the diamonds again for his own personal gain and cut out the big shot, and wants Hardison to help him do it. Hardison goes to call…yep, Sophie, for help, and Sophie basically tells him he’s in a world of trouble. Now the team has to go rescue Hardison from doing an unwanted job, without Hardison himself, or Sophie. Nate gets CEO Guy to give him the specifics of the vault by breaking out the Sterling impression again, and the team passes this all on to Hardison, who’s still trying to weasel his way out. They realize the only way to get him out is to break into the vault for him.
This leads to the worst fake fight between Hardison and Eliot (now posing as a guard) ever. While that is going on, Parker is legitimately trying to break into the vault. But Hardison moves too fast and Nate can’t hold CEO Guy, and he catches the Russian Other Bad Guys breaking into the vault. The team then turns the security systems on, locking them into the vault altogether with the stolen diamonds until the state police turn up. Touche.
Back home, Nate tells the driver that everything is all cleared up, and present him with a briefcase full of cash to cover his medical bills. They managed to lift it off the CEO Guy earlier. And Hardison, Parker and Eliot are still their old squabbly selves, except for that Hardison wants a hug.
It’s Nate’s turn to call Sophie (everyone else has done it), alone and slightly mopey because she’s gone, of course. He wants to say something Big and Important, but of course he doesn’t get it out. Her response is to throw her cell phone into her drink. Awww. It’s obvious she’s needed and missed, but not so overly needed that the team – and the show – falls apart without her.
Any episode is bound to pale in comparison to last week’s, but I enjoyed this one if only because it was such a change of pace from what we expect from the show. We got to see everyone try a different role, and in turn you get an understanding of just how well they work together and how important they all are to each other, without being beaten over the head with it. I’m convinced that the plot was just a framework to help us look at the characters in a different way. And that was something to see – the idea that the writers have given us fully developed, adaptable characters and not just a formula that falls apart when a piece is missing.
What did you think? Sound off below.
TheTwoCents 
I like you got three hits off last week’s episode. I thought I would post my opinions-to try and generate some more.
I do so hope they handle the Sophie absence with the same intelligence that has driven the show so far. This episode–with them all calling her for advice–was nice. But it could get old very quickly, and I hope that it does not have to happen much. Thankfully, next week is the season ender–so I can imagine they will be able to get this behind them before the season begins again next year.
My hope is that–in the Sophie / Nate Phone Call scene–her throwing the phone in the glass will make for some fun stuff next week. Perhaps they will all get flumoxed at not being able to call her?
I hope it is a good one.