Claire hands over her credit card to the "IRS agent"
Episode: Leverage 3.07 – “The Gone-Fishin’ Job”
Original Air Date: July 25, 2010
A woman named Claire is delinquent in paying her taxes, so a man shows up claiming to be with the IRS. He isn’t, and he proceeds to take her credit card and humiliate her in front of her daughter (as an aside here, I’d like to think that I wouldn’t just hand a stranger without any credentials whatsoever my credit card, but then I’m not a fictional character). Of course the money doesn’t get to the IRS, but he does max out her credit cards. She comes to the Leverage team to get her money back.
Parker enjoys the pinata she got from a previous job
The man wasn’t working alone, and Claire isn’t the only victim. He was working for a man called Whitman, a former IRS agent who now harasses people in debt. Since Whitman is hiding his money in a bank under another company’s name, Hardison and Eliot will make him think his money isn’t safe by posing as IRS agents investigating his account. Meanwhile, Sophie will sell him a new way to launder his money — through a gym that Nate “owns.” Whenever they need more money laundered, they just add fake members to the roles — and violà! Now the money’s legit!
The FBI arrests Whitman
There are the usual complications: Hardison and Eliot get captured by an anti-government militia who think they are real IRS agents. And Whitman runs the militia so he figures out he’s being played. Hardison and Eliot escape, but Hardison can’t let the militia get away with what they’re up to (plus they have a bomb that they plan to set off, killing innocent people) so Nate shows up to help. He uses the militia’s radio frequency to announce that the ATF are closing in, causing them to run to the bank where Whitman stores his money. Unfortunately for him, the real ATF shows up with the FBI, having been tipped off about what Whitman is up to. Claire gets her money back, plus more for the others Whitman has taken from.
Parker runs off the gym members
Parker had some fun moments in this episode. In order to get Nate into the gym, they have to get the actual members out. Parker runs a spin class and drives everyone away one by one until there is just one left. Watching her competitiveness kick in was very funny. She also got to deliver Nate’s signature line in this episode — “Let’s go steal a whoo-whoo!” she says, referring to the train Nate sends to rescue Eliot and Hardison. And we find out that Parker shouldn’t be allowed to drive: “Who knew a Sedan could hit 140,” she says after arriving at the bank just before Whitman. To which Sophie replies, “Parker, you are never to get behind the wheel of a car again.” So Parker’s a speed freak. Nice!
Hardison requests a cigarette that he later uses to detonate the militia's bomb
This was, however, very much a Hardison and Eliot episode. Their interaction with the militia really highlighted their differences — Hardison the indoor geek and Eliot the outdoor hitter. Hardison keeps distracting Eliot by swatting at bugs and generally complaining. Eliot, however, takes control of the situation — even beating Hardison at rock, paper, scissors (Hardison still has a tell. I love that they made a reference to that again). But then when Hardison decides to stop the militia, he has a plan — “Oh, we got a plan,” he tells Nate. “It’s called CWA.” Eliot then explains, “Can o’ whoop-ass.”
Then when Eliot tells Hardison that fear is necessary because otherwise you can get too cocky, Hardison replies, “Oh, I have fear. And doubt. And really serious regrets. I should be fine.” Finally, once everything is done, they sit together in Nate’s apartment playing Wii Fishing (or something similar). “It’s just not the same,” Eliot complains. “You’re right,” Hardison agrees. It’s better.” I love the rapport between Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge. They really play well off each other and this episode showed that quite well.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
