An elderly couple want their Klimt back
Episode: Leverage 2.07 – “The Two Live Crew Job”
Original Air Date: August 26, 2009
In this episode, the Leverage team is hired by an elderly couple. The husband’s father smuggled a Klimt painting out of Nazi-occupied Europe (if they mentioned the specific country, I missed it), but then it went missing until recently when it was purchased by a software company CEO. The security in his office is so good that the team decides to take the indirect action of going through the back wall. Unfortunately, when they get the painting, it turns out to be dogs playing poker. Someone else beat them to the painting! (“Nazis! Maybe they want the stuff back that they stole. Ya know, secret Nazis,” Parker says later).
Starke realizes there's another team involved
Sadly it’s not Nazis (not even secret ones); it turns out there’s another team in town, a temporary group lead by Sophie’s old associate, Marcus Starke. Their ultimate goal is actually a Van Gogh, so the Leverage team decide to beat them to it and trade it for the Klimt for their client. And this is where the episode gets great! The interactions between the corresponding team members make this one of the best episodes of the series. For example, when Eliot and Raquel, the hitter for Starke’s team, first meet, they never actually fight, but they both play out potential fight scenes in their heads. And when they finally do fight, it becomes obviously sexual very quickly and even ends with them kissing and Eliot putting handcuffs on Raquel.
Apollo and Parker discuss birds
Parker and Apollo, the thief, have their own battle, stealing from each other as well as their mark. They also later have a conversation about the best birds to use for setting off motion detectors. Finally someone that Parker can relate to, and he has to be working for another rival team. Nate never actually gets to interact with Starke (well, no, that’s not right — Starke actually pretends to be Nate at one point, but it’s not quite the same as the other interactions), but we do get to see the two of them briefing their teams. The editing work here is spectacular — cutting between Nate and Starke saying more or less the same thing to their respective teams, and even ending with both of them saying, “Now, let’s go steal ourselves a masterpiece.” Who knew that someone else would use Nate’s line?
Hardison and Chaos face off, gunslinger style
Hardison’s rivalry, however, is definitely the best of the bunch. It’s someone he’s dealt with before — Colin “Chaos” Mason, played brilliantly by Wil Wheaton. Their battle begins when their com signals get crossed and Hardison tries to track the signal. Chaos sends a zombie virus back at Hardison. They then exit their respective vans, holding keyboards, while spaghetti western music plays. “Chaos, I heard you were in jail. I guess I was wrong,” Hardison says. “Hardison, I heard you sucked. Guess I was right,” Chaos replies (it’s amazing how well Wil Wheaton plays a total jerk since he’s clearly not one based on his blog and other writings). They draw their keyboards just like gunslingers and begin tapping furiously. Hilarious!
I haven’t written specifically about dialogue for a few reviews, but in addition to what I’ve already mentioned there was some more worth mentioning. Towards the beginning of the episode, Sophie discovers a motion-sensitive bomb in her apartment. When the rest of the team come to rescue her, Parker tries to grab the vase of flowers that the bomb is in. “Whoa, Parker, please don’t poke at the motion-sensitive bomb,” Sophie says. Only Parker would need to be told that.
Sophie finds a motion-activated bomb
Then, later, when Sophie pretends to be dead (to get the upper hand on Starke, of course), Parker keeps acting as if she really is dead. “It’s like you’re stalking us,” she says to Sophie. “Parker, I’m not really dead,” Sophie explains. Parker then pokes Sophie to make sure. “I’m not dead!” Sophie says “Okay!” Parker replies. And, of course, Parker is the only one who gets Hardison’s geeky reference: “The CIA computer guys call him the Kobayashi Maru…” he says of Chaos, then adds, “None of y’all got that, seriously?” Parker did: “Star Trek,” she says. Nice touch, given who they’re talking about.
In the end, of course, the Leverage team gets the upper hand, trading one of Starke’s own fake Van Goghs for the real Klimt. They even manage to set up Chaos for the forgeries, planting them with the original in his “checked baggage” on his attempt to fly out after betraying Starke (he was the one who actually tried to kill Sophie, unbeknownst to Starke). Hardison FTW!
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
