The Bad Influence Speaks

Leverage: The Blue Line Job

Season 5, Episode 2

 

A hockey players son enlists the team to help is father who may not survive another injury on the ice. Treat Williams guest stars.

Nate: That's actually terrifyingly, exactly right.

 

Parker: How are we going to keep that guy from fighting?
Nate: That's what we have Eliot for.

 

Eliot: You're right. I got no family, not like you mean, but I had brothers. I had a lot of them. I didn't know all the names of them, but I knew their faces and I knew their rank, and I did things I didn't want to because they counted on me. Bad things for good reasons. And you know what I learned? Bad choices are bad choices, doesn't matter why you made them. And they tear you apart from the inside out, and you don't even notice.

 

Sophie: You having a staring contest with a turtle?
Nate: No, I just won a starting contest with a turtle.
Sophie: Is it weird that I find that oddly attractive?

 

Pete: Who are you guys?
Eliot: Enforcers are put on the ice to make sure things don't go too far. If they do, they step in. Regulate.
Nate: Every player on this ice is an enforcer.

Comments:
-So are Parker and Hardison actually sleeping together now? Obviously they're living together (unless all the team is living there). That seems like a massive step for Parker to take.

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Leverage: The (Very) Big Bird Fan Job

Season 5, Episode 1

 

The team reunites in Portland to take on a air freight executive whose company had gotten away with a crash caused by outsourced maintenance. What to tempt him? The Spruce Goose of course! Cary Elwes guest stars.

Parker: Thief Juice: It's a mouth crime.

 

Sophie: We're moving to Portland? No warning. Anything else?
Parker: Hardison and I are dating.
Hardison: Yeah. We just got back from an around the world trip.

 

Nate: Portland is very, uh, odd.

 

Sophie: No, London has fog. Fog is mysterious; rain just ruins my hair.

 

Hardison: To Do: Hack the U.S. National Artifacts website. Yea. What else?

 

Sophie: Parker, why does the money always come before the people?

 

Eliot: I'm only going to say this once, boys. Give me the teddy bear.

 

Parker: This is the part where you get punched.

Comments:
○It feels like forever since I've seen my favorite thieves.
○Was that Adam Baldwin as Eliot's friend? I love seeing the clips with Eliot's friends. You get to see that he has more of a past than just violence.
○Okay, I'm impressed with Parker. I can never successfully insert a USB into a port on the first try. It's always upside down.
○"Damn it, Hardison. You can't..." Eliot's so very concerned with the menu and brewing its charming. I guess we all know what he's going to be sidetracked with this season.

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Leverage: The Last Dam Job

 

Season 4, Episode 18

To bring down Dubenich and Lattimer, the Leverage team are going to have to think outside the box and bring in ringers to help them along. Wil Wheaton, Clayne Crawford, Richard Chamberlain, Saul Rubinek and Kari Matchett guest star.

Hardison: Well, he upped the crazy. I didn't think he could do it.

 

Chaos: Say my name.
Hardison: Chaos.

 

Hardison: You already packed?
Chaos: Who else are you going to call? I want my usual fee plus expenses and Parker dresses up as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica.
Hardison: That's not going to happen.
Chaos: I'll accept Sophie as Councillor Troy.

 

Hardison: You got me a Batcave? A Batcave!

 

Quinn: Can I hit him?
Eliot: Which one?
Quinn: Either one.
Eliot:See it's not just me.

 

Nate: The Gambler? You're basing your life philosophy on a Kenny Rogers song?

 

Quinn: How many fingers do you need to type? Round down.

 

Chaos: They are ready for your kung fu, but they are completely unprepared for my drunken mastery.

 

Hardison: Wow, this must be how Eliot feels. I just realized this is how he feels all the time. You just want to hit something.

 

Eliot: You know a lot of things Nate, but you don't know how this is going to change you.
Nate: You handled it.
Eliot: You have no idea who I was before all this started. That guy, kid, he had God in his heart, and he had a flag on his shoulder, clean hands, and I ain't seen him in the mirror in over 10 years. And believe me, I get up every morning looking for him. So you can trust me when I tell you when you pull that trigger and two men die. The guy you kill and the guy you used to be.

 

Sophie: The last time I underestimated you I was right.

 

Quinn: Well, next time give me the gun. I'm your huckleberry.
Eliot: Here.
Quinn: A little late now.
Eliot: I love that movie.
Quinn: Who the hell doesn't?

 

Hardison: I hate you with the white hot heat of a thousand suns.
Chaos: I dream you died and I wake up laughing.
Hardison: Sci-five?
Chaos and Hardison: No.

 

Thug: You know I have a gun.
Eliot: I know. That's what makes it fair.

 

Victor: You didn't kill the man responsible for your son's death!
Nate: My son would be ashamed of me if I was a murderer. My father, on the other hand, he'd buy me an ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leverage: The Radio Job

Season 4, Episode 17

 

 

Nate is pulled in to save his father who is trapped in the U.S. Patent Office during a heist. The team comes along to help, but what if the theft isn't the point? Tom Skerritt and Saul Rubinek guest star.

Hardison: Why y'all always pushing me off of stuff? Don't I get a say? I vote no.

 

Hardison: This is the entire security system? Budget cuts were the best thing to happen to thieves.

 

Hardison: Hello and welcome to the island of misfit inventions.

Comments:
I can't believe Leverage went all Die Hard on us. That was fantastic. It was played beautifully from the detective's desire to believe to Eliot's slight look of disbelief that he was going along with the plan. I could kiss Chris Downey and John Rogers for writing this episode. We even had the "Yippie ki-yay" line though cut off so not to disturb the censors. One of the things I've always loved about Leverage, besides the acting, are the pop culture references. They warm my geeky little heart.

Next week's season finale with Wil Wheaton as Chaos, and Clayne Crawford as Quinn should be an amazing geeky, fight filled extravaganza.

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Leverage cartooned

I was playing around with instructions from How To Geek on "How to make Photoshop cartoons in about one minute" and was practicing on multiple photos and screen captures to make sure I had the process down (and wouldn't need to look it up again). I gave it a try with a Leverage screen capture and decided to do it with a shot of each of the principal characters. Here they are:

Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) from "The Mile High Job"

 

Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) from "The Queen's Gambit Job"

 

Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) from "The Runway Job"

Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) from "The Studio Job"

 

Parker (Beth Riesgraf) from "The Morning After Job"

 

Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) from "The Van Gogh Job"

 

James Stirling (Mark A. Sheppard) from "The Queen's Gambit Job"

 

 

Note: As usual, the rights to these images are retained by the creators and producers of Leverage and TNT.

Leverage: The Gold Job

Season 4, Episode 16

 

Hardison takes over the con when the team goes after crooked gold processors.

Nate: Pattern of perfidy?
Hardison: Uh-hmm.

 

Parker: That's his very serious arm cross.

 

Nate: Okay, guys, we're going to do this the plain and simple way. Let's go steal some gold.

 

Eliot: So you knew the vault was empty? Hardison, I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen to me very carefully. You ever pull this again and I'm going to personally make sure you're off this team because I'm going to break every bone in your body.

 

Parker: I had a lot of psych exams as a kid. They're actually pretty easy. Well, sometimes I made my doctor's cry, but....

 

Hardison: You're just jealous of the puppet master.

Comments:
I think Beth Riesgraf said she ate 3 or 4 of those Fruit Loop covered donuts filming that scene. I think I'm jealous of that fact. They look pretty tasty.

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Leverage: The Lonely Hearts Job

Season 4, Episode 15

 

When a wealthy man comes to the Leverage team for help, they discover a grifter ring pulling a sweetheart scam and step in to shut them down. David Ogden Stiers guest stars.

Sophie: And you're one to laugh. You don't even bother to learn their names. They're just waitress, nurse, stewardess.
Eliot: First of all, it's flight attendant, all right? They don't like to be called stewardess. And, second, I know their names.

 

Nate: All right. All right. Listen. Next time I promise I'll use the word argument instead of fight. Promise.

 

Eliot: Sometimes it's fun to kick a man when he's down.

 

Eliot: Want me to teach you about the wines again?
Hardison: Just hurtful. Just making assumptions and presumptions that I don't know what I'm...yes, I need you to teach me about the wines again. Yes.

Comments:
This one of those episodes where we see so much more from Eliot and the vastness of his skills. Is there anything the character can't do (besides understand computers)? The flowers were a great touch at the end. I'd mock Eliot and Nate getting twitchy over the man crying, but I'd have the same response (to anyone crying). Nice argyle socks by the way.

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Leverage: The Boy's Night Out Job

Season 4, Episode 14

 

It's the guy's turn as their quiet night of poker goes awry with the return of Hurley (The 12 Step Job), a clash of drug dealers and a not-so-nun.

Hardison: Hey, it's a valid strategy.
Eliot: It's not a strategy, man. It's just annoying when you bet every hand.

 

Bonanno: You married, Shelly?
Shelly: To the constitution of the United States of America.

 

Hurley: You just cold-cocked a nun in church. Talk about making amends.

 

Irish Thug: Father?
Nate: Yes?
Irish Thug: Why is there a nun's habit here without the nun inside?
Nate: Rapture.

Comments:
I'd been seeing this listed at "The Guy's Night Out Job," but when it downloaded to my iTunes it showed as "They Boy's Night Out Job" and the TNT site lists it the same.
Shelly (and I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right) is fantastic. I hope we get to see more of him. It was also great to see more of Eliot. Normally he is shown kicking ass, bickering with Hardison (which I do so love), seducing a woman, or the rare highly emotional scene. I liked that he was shown more playful and joking with a buddy.

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Leverage: The Girl's Night Out Job

Season 4, Episode 13

While the guys stay in for a night of poker, the girls go their separate ways but pull together to right a possible theft. As usual, the results are explosive. Jeri Ryan guest stars.

Nate: Yes, I want to be like my father. Good insight, Sophie.

 

Sophie: Look, I just sent you a picture.
Hardison: Let me guess. It's a picture of another handsome dude. Okay, it's a bomb. Whooo.

Comments:
Jeri Ryan has killer legs. Just absolutely amazing.

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Leverage: The Office Job

Season 4, Episode 12

 

There's bad paper going on at a greeting card company. Is it really the boss who's risking the buyout or someone else?

Nate: This guy is about 5 hours away from getting away with a scam. It's embarrassing.
Hardison: I thought we were using false emotion.
Nate: Wait. What? No. I know he's not embarrassing. Okay, whatever. I got most of this down. De-fragiling. Cheese accounting. I just don't know what sandwich has to do with it.
Hardison: Hmm.
Nate: Sandwich. "Sandwich." What does that have to do with it?
Eliot: It's a....
Nate: What?
Eliot: It is an actual sandwich. It's a real sandwich. It's a real sandwich.
Hardison: Was a real sandwich.
Eliot: Man.

 

Nate: Functioning alcoholic. Functioning! She always leaves that part out.

 

Sophie: No, I didn't leave them to gad about. I just faked my own death to go on a voyage of self discovery.

 

Eliot: Nobody throws Hardison off a roof...except maybe me.

 

Hardison: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. I ate the damn sandwich. I ate the damn sandwich fo sure. Boy can cook. He can throw down. If he wasn't going to beat my ass, I'd thank him.

Comments:
This wasn't a favorite episode of mine. I think the real interest/fun lay in the side story of Hardison and Eliot arguing over the sandwich. I mean who hasn't had that argument at work? Okay, it doesn't happen much at my current workplace, but that's because most of us have our own small fridges. Though it was fun to see Nate and Sophie arguing. The look on Gina Bellman's face as she said, "Shrew!? Shrew!?" was priceless.

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