Leverage Review: "The Cross My Heart Job"
When Nate Ford makes a promise, you can rest assured he'll keep it, even when his team has nothing to work with and only 108 minutes to do it as depicted in "The Cross My Heart Job."
Okay, let's all agree that the production team took some serious liberties with its representation of airport security. If anyone has traveled recently, that much was clear. A huge deal in an entertaining episode? No. But worth pointing out.
Honestly, I was willing to go with them on anything from the moment Eliot and Parker saved the little girl while Sophie was distracting the waiter in the restaurant. Does anyone else wonder exactly what Sophie packs to travel when she mentioned she didn't have handcuffs "for this job," but always has a pair of heels?
Nate did an amazing job of keeping himself together, given how close to home this job hit. His warning/threat to Chesney about destroying him and everything he had built or touched showed us exactly how far Nate has come since the pilot and reminded us why he is the mastermind of the team.
For his part, Chesney was every bit the hard ass James Tolkan is known for playing. I would love to see him back again facing off against Nate after he gets a new heart. Tolkan's skills are still sharp, as it's hard to appear intimidating when you are connected to tubes and lying in bed, but he did it. Honestly, it was fun to see Tolkan on screen again; I haven’t seen him in anything for years!
This is the second episode this season that featured the team working on a timed deadline. However, the difficulty was raised to an 11 as they were working inside an airport with none of their gear. I didn't know how they were going to pull off finding the heart in 108 minutes.
I was surprised that there was no mention of Latimer. It’s hard to see him as a significant bad guy or threat when he has barely turned up and is never mentioned. Maybe this year the team isn’t really up against a single bad guy.
Overall, it was a good episode, containing everything we love about Leverage - the team worked like the gears in a clock while the bad guys were foiled and there was some great witty banter along the way!
Next week is the summer finale. Dean Devlin Tweeted that the show would be back around the holidays for a few episodes (last year they aired three in December), so I am expecting it to send us off with something great.
Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.
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August 24th, 2011 10:51 PM
Great episode. Who played the guy who in the beginning did the dead drop, and near the end stole the (wrong) cooler from Parker? I don't see his name listed on the credits or IMDB... is he the guy from Dr. Who???
Rank: Guest Star
August 24th, 2011 3:36 PM
Funniest ep. of the season. Many highlights.
Biggest highlight of the show is one of a more personal nature. I just happened to be watching this on DVR when the house started shaking from earthquake in VA. I live in South Jersey (300 miles from epicenter) and never experienced anything like this but, I knew instinctively it was an earthquake. TV rocked a bit on its narrow stand but didn't fall over. Overall, an interesting experience. Most importantly the power wasn't interrupted so 10 minutes later I was back to watching Leverage.
Episode highlights:
-Paging Kirk Picard
-Eliot giving Hardison a female's ID and telling him to "man up"
-Hardison's feigned indignation over "sex change"
-After Sophie's twisted ankle distraction, Parker wondering aloud whether the next distraction was Eliot with a broken wrist then later Nate catching on fire
-Hardison asking if Eliot ever had to fight with a Nerf Sword in response to having to use an archaic computer
-Eliot respondi
Rank: Regular Character
August 23rd, 2011 3:47 PM
I don't remember Nate being this intense.
Rank: Regular Character
August 23rd, 2011 12:40 PM
Nate was intense,handled himself well and yet was so intimidating I shivered. I loved the unexpected moments of this episode, Hardison not having any tech gear whatsoever(I was expecting him to pull out something that he forgot he brought with him). Sophie encouraging Nate to drink and not being preachy(their friends with bennies works for them), and Parker wearing a bra!
I always giggle when Hardison acts. He and Eliot's banter is always a blast and grumpy Eliot grunting at Parker is always a highlight. I was half expecting the server at the restaurant to be involved and what was the eighth contingency plan?
Rank: Regular Character
August 22nd, 2011 7:38 PM
Flight Sim and Kirk Picard!
Rank: Staff Member
August 22nd, 2011 6:32 PM
Hi Linda,
Agreed, it was a great laugh but not close friends with the real world, hehe
Jim
Rank: New User
August 22nd, 2011 1:32 PM
I agree the airport security would never be like that in today's real world. Having just traveled through O'Hare, Phoenix, Seattle, and Omaha this past month, I am sure that Cincinnati is just as careful. That being said, we burst out laughing when Hardison opened up the Microsoft Flight Simulator in the tower. What a hoot!