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We just pulled off the wire in the time it takes to order a pizza!

— Hardison


To save McRory's bar, the Leverage team runs the wire scam to take down predatory Irish loan shark Mark Doyle.

The Client[]

Cora McRory, the daughter of the deceased owner of McRory's bar. At her father's wake, she is confronted by Mark Doyle, who demands she repay a loan he made to her father using the bar as security, or surrender ownership of the bar.

The Mark[]

Mark Doyle, a loan shark originally from Belfast. Doyle operates a branch of his family's loansharking business in Boston. Doyle makes loans to people unable to secure them through legitimate means at high rates of interest. He uses assistants Liam and Liam's brother as combined book-keepers and enforcers. Doyle arrives at McRory's during the owner's wake to collect on his debt before returning to Belfast to report to his father on the state of the business.

Locations[]

The Con[]

Guest Cast[]

Aliases[]

  • Tara Cole - "Trish"
  • Nathan Ford - Jimmy Ford
  • Detective Sergent Mickey Donnelly - "Mickey Donnelly"
  • Detective Lieutenant Johnny Cabella - "Johnny 'The Fist' Cabella"
  • Detective Captain Danny McCann - "Danny McCann"

Episode Notes[]

  • This episode draws heavily from the cons used in the 1973 film The Sting. In the movie, the team hooks the mark, Doyle Lonnegan, by cheating him in a card game on a train, then later cons him into making a $500,000 losing bet by running the wire scam. The episode reverses the two, hooking Mark Doyle with the wire, then taking his money in a rigged poker game. Additionally, the mark's name, a play on words, borrows from Robert Shaw's character.
  • According to the DVD commentary, this is a "bottle episode". Designed to save budget money by using one or two existing sets, the irony comes out in the title. Also, the con the team runs is abbreviated as "the wire, in a bottle". It also marks when Nate goes back on the bottle.
  • After the three Boston cops reveal themselves, Doyle refers to them as "gardes". The Garda Síochána are the national police of the Republic of Ireland. In Belfast, where Doyle lives, the police are the Police Service of Northern Ireland, but are commonly referred to as gardes as well, particularly among the Catholic community, which identifies strongly with the Republic.

Trivia[]

  • Jimmy Ford's voice in Nate's flashback is provided is director Jonathan Frakes.
  • Actor Alan Smyth, who plays Mark Doyle, was born in Ireland. Despite this, viewers unfamiliar with his regional accent criticized it as phony.
  • The music used in the poker scene was first introduced in The 12-Step Job.
  • Doyle uses the line "We pick up where the law leaves off," a line that Nate likes to use to describe what the team does.
  • According to a napkin seen in the bar, this episode takes place November 8, 2009.
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