Mark Vector runs a corrupt hedge fund
Episode: Leverage 3.13 – “The Morning After Job”
Original Air Date: September 5, 2010
Mark Vector, a former hockey player, now runs a corrupt hedge fund and has ties to Moreau. One of his fans and clients, Weibe, feels he’s gotten a raw deal from Vector. He gets beaten up because Vector thinks Weibe was involved in a complaint that got the SEC after him. Weibe hires the Leverage team.
It’s a case Nate is happy to take since it dovetails with his mission to take down Moreau. In the end, Nate decides to ditch the Italian woman and go after Moreau on his own, which, as it turns out, is what she had planned all along.
Is Parker dead?! Vector sure thinks so!
I’m not really going to focus on summarizing the plot of this one since it’s been so long since it aired (it’s something I want to move away from anyway). Instead, I’ll focus on the other aspects of the show like dialogue and filming. For example, in this episode, the show used a different format: We don’t actually know the whole plan in advance — instead we cut back and forth between Nate narrating the plan and the actual con. Granted, it’s not exactly completely new to the series, but in this case instead of the usual flashbacks that reveal something we didn’t know, we get the story told and shown at nearly the same time. It’s certainly an interesting way to tell the story.
Eliot and Hardison find themselves in an episode of COPS
There are a couple of subplots that are worth exploring. When Hardison and Eliot pretend to be police in order to get some documents about Vector, Hardison takes it too far (as usual) and they end up having to transport a criminal from one station to another. Their trip basically becomes an episode of COPS, complete with a domestic squabble and an escaped prisoner (who actually turns out to be instrumental to the Leverage team). Speaking of escaped prisoners, well, maybe more like escaped informants, it turns out that Vector’s handler is McSweeney. Of course this complicates things since Parker is playing a dead girl (she makes Vector think he’s killed her in order to get him to do something stupid). He totally believes her, however, when she says the make-up she’s wearing is part of her undercover disguise. I love that he and his partner (who isn’t in this episode) keep riding to promotions on the coattails of the Leverage team.
McSweeney's back, and he's happy to see Parker
Finally, I have to mention a few bits of dialogue. It should come as no surprise that Parker has some of the best lines. When speaking about the Italian woman, she says, “Maybe she’s his little imaginary Italian friend, you know, like Pinocchio,” referring to the fact that only Nate has seen her. Eliot replies, “How old are you?” And speaking of Parker’s immaturity, Nate later rhetorically asks the team about Vector, “Who does he call?” (in reference to Vector’s lawyer, actually) to which Parker of course replies, “Ghostbusters!” It only just occurred to me that the song is by Ray Parker, Jr. Coincidence? Probably not, I’d bet. Finally, we get some more insight into Parker’s personality: “Ya know, I’m really starting to like tasing people. Is that a problem?” Yes, Parker, it probably is.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
