Mark Howorth is defeated in a fixed match
Episode: Leverage 2.02 – “The Tap Out Job”
Original Air Date: July 22, 2009
In this episode, a man named Jack Howorth hires the team after his son, Mark, is denied a chance to fight in the UFC because the owner of the small-time mixed martial arts league where he fights rigs his match and he is hospitalized. After some digging, Nate realizes that the way to con the owner, Rucker, is to make him think the team can offer him a TV deal. Posing as a fight promoter, he and Sophie, playing a producer, manage to convince Rucker they are legit, using Eliot as their fighter.
Unfortunately, everyone in Nebraska knows everyone else, and one of Rucker’s assistants also has a cousin in South Dakota, which is where Nate claims to be from. He’s never heard of Nate. Rucker realizes that the Leverage team are cons and calls them on it. Understanding there’s not much they can do if they actually want to help the Howorths, they agree to let Eliot fight and take a dive in return for which Rucker will leave the Howorths alone.
Eliot's inner monster has been unleashed
During the fight, Eliot goes down suddenly, apparently drugged by Rucker. Sophie hysterically exclaims that Rucker has now let loose a monster and Eliot proceeds to beat down his opponent (Tank), not stopping even when he taps out. Eliot finally relents and Tank rolls over, apparently dead. Rucker freaks out, grabs some cash, and takes off, fearing he’ll be held liable.
That was exactly what Nate wanted to happen. Tank isn’t actually dead, just paralyzed temporarily. They just wanted Rucker running with the cash so he could get picked up by the police, who Hardison has called, crossing state lines — with guns placed in his trunk by Parker. As it turns out, even if he were able to return, the IRS would want him for failing to pay taxes on his all-cash business. Since Rucker bet everything on Tank, including the gym, Hardison (who ran the Internet sites where he placed the bets) now owns the gym and turns it over to the Howorths.
Hardison the director is not happy
This was a decent episode — not one of the strongest, but not the worst. Parker showing off the MMA moves Eliot taught her to Hardison and then refusing to let him go even when he tapped out made for a memorable scene, as did Hardison and Parker directing a local concert to fool Rucker into thinking Sophie was an actual producer. Eliot managed to downplay his training to make Rucker think he was just a barely trained newbie which is pretty impressive considering how good he truly is. Nate’s role as the arrogant fight manager fit his personality perhaps a little too well.
There was some fun dialogue in this episode, of course, but not nearly as much as usual. Hardison’s remark that he can “bend it like Beckham” in reference to the rigged golf ball Rucker uses in a round against Nate made me laugh, especially considering the incongruity of a soccer reference in golf. Sophie and Parker’s conversation about the contents of the hotel mini-bar was also great: “Pork rinds? How do you peel a pig?” Sophie asks, but apparently she figures it out because later she remarks that they’re actually pretty tasty. But probably the best line of the episode was Hardison complaining about the tight-knit community that trips up their plans: “Look, you know what I can do? I can retask a satellite. I can get a level three NSA clearance, but I can’t hack a hick.” Great line, but not quite enough to fully rescue the episode.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
