Cyrus hires the team to stop Manticore
Episode: Leverage 3.02 – “The Reunion Job”
Original Air Date: June 20, 2010
An Iranian dissident gets roughed up by a group of government-hired thugs while trying to organize a protest on the Internet. To track the protestors, the government is using a program called Manticore, created by Larry Duberman (played by Arye Gross, aka Perlmutter from Castle), a computer mogul who’s stuck in 1985. When Hardison tries to hack Manticore, he discovers he can’t — because the whole thing is run from Duberman’s 1985 system. Wow, seeing those old computers, with the 5¼ inch floppies… You kids these days, with your fancy iPodPhone-thingies that have more processing power than my first four computers combined… Get off my lawn… Wait, where was I? Oh, yeah, computers from 1985…
Duberman takes Sophie to his Roman room
In order to hack the system, they have to crack Duberman’s “Roman room,” his method for remembering passwords. And that involves his high school, which is where the reunion comes in. Sophie, posing as a coordinator, manages to move up the date, and of course Duberman wants to lord over all his former classmates how great he’s become. Unfortunately for him, the Iranians aren’t happy with him, so they send an assassin, Melinda Miles, aka Nikki from the class of ’85 (played by Kari Wuhrer — do I really need to say who she is?). While Sophie and Nate try to get the passwords from Duberman, they also have to take out the assassin, and Eliot’s not around. Fortunately, Parker has a taser — “Catering, what a business,” she tells a surprised Duberman after she tases “Nikki.” And of course Sophie and Nate get the needed passwords so Hardison and Eliot can shut down Manticore.
"Nikki" threatens Duberman
I really enjoyed this episode. It had a return of the humor and witty dialogue that wasn’t in the first episode of the season (although that was great in its own way). For example, Nate, who pretends to be Duberman’s high school nemesis, Drake McIntyre, keeps calling Duberman “Doucherman,” which he rightly guess is what Drake actually called him. Yes, it’s childish — but it’s exactly what you’d expect from someone like Drake McIntyre. The whole reunion really felt like a reunion, complete with cheesy 1980s music (composed, I assume, by Joe LoDuca since I didn’t recognize any of the actual music) and a king and queen (“Drake” and “Grace,” Sophie’s role). And, of course, Duberman making a complete ass out of himself by swinging around the gun that he took from the assassin. It makes me really glad that I’ve missed my own reunions.
I wonder why Eliot might have wanted to take home ec...
We also got some insight into Eliot’s love of cooking, previously displayed in “The Wedding Job.” It seems he had a home ec teacher in high school who taught him all he knows. While discussing their high school experiences, Hardison says Eliot was probably a quarterback or something. He was, as we see in a flashback, and his friends can’t figure out why in the world he’d want to take home ec. It become pretty obvious when she appears on the screen with her low cut dress showing ample cleavage, and says to him, “Knives are like people. It’s all about the context.” As I recall, that’s exactly what Eliot told Nate back in “The Wedding Job,” though in a different context. It’s always cool to see shows refer back to previous episodes like that.
Parker and Hardison have their own dance together
And of course I have to mention Parker and Hardison. I’m glad to see a return to their potential relationship, although I don’t think it should ever actually happen for the sake of the show. When the king and queen of the reunion are announced, they have to dance in front of everyone. And while Nate and Sophie dance on the dance floor, Hardison and Parker also dance, with Parker on a harness hanging from the ceiling and Hardison on the catwalk above the gym. Of course it couldn’t be quite a normal dance.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
