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I thought we were supposed to hate the guys we take down.

Eliot Spencer


From TNT: The LEVERAGE team infiltrates a high-tech home to steal a revolutionary computer chip, only to have the family’s child abducted from a carnival during the heist.

The Client[]

Geoffrey Thorne, an employee of Fluidyn, who invents a high-tech chip that will revolutionize computing, during his off-hours. His chip is stolen by his boss John Connell, who claims it is the intellectual property of Fluidyn, and Thorne is fired. Thorne sues Fluidyn to regain the chip, but loses when Connell lies about its existence.

The Mark[]

John Connell, Vice President of Sales for Fluidyn. A recent widower, Connell has a pre-teen daughter, Molly, to whom he pays little attention, but rarely allows to leave home. Because Molly reminds him of his wife, Connell usually leaves her in the care of an Eastern European nanny, Daria.

Connell steals a high-tech chip from one of his employees, Thorrne, then lies about its existence when he sues the company, claiming instead that Thorne was fired for other reasons. This allows Connell to retain the chip for himself and sell it to Russians on the black market. The grieving Connell plans to use the funds to pay for lavish renovations to his home (which were started by his wife) that have left him nearly a million dollars in debt.

The Con[]

In order to get John Connell out of his house so Parker can steal the high-tech chip, Nate and Sophie run an abbreviated version of the Roman Wedding. Sophie slaps Nate and threatens to quit the renovation job which gets the attention of John. They all go outside so they can hash this argument out while Parker breaks into the panic room and steals the chip.

After Molly is kidnapped, Nate reveals they were trying to con Connell and decides to make him and Molly their new clients rather than just stealing the chip back for Jeffrey. Eliot searches for the girl while Nate negotiates with Daria. Parker takes out the sniper, but Eliot is incapacitated and Molly is moved before he can save her so Nate hands over the chip to Daria. Meanwhile, Eliot regains consciousness and Molly is able to give him a clue that she is near a lot of mirrors. He finds her in the funhouse and after taking out the two Russian guarding Molly, while sustaining quite a few injuries, he rescues her. The team then goes to Daria, who has been trapped in her car by Hardison controlling its electronic brain. Nate distracts her while Hardison opens the window and steals the chip back. They then leave Daria locked in the car for the police while Molly is reunited with her father, with Connell promising to reform. The chip is returned to Jeffrey.

Episode Notes[]

  • This episode is one of the only ones where Eliot connects with someone on the job (Molly) and creates an emotional attachment that encourages him to continue, not just for the team but for the girl in need.
  • John Connell is one of the few sympathetic marks as the team comes to realize his criminality and selfish behavior are because he is blinded by grief over his wife's death.
  • This episode was directed by Frank Oz, famed as the voice of The Muppets' Miss Piggy and Star Wars' Yoda. In the episode, Hardison builds a green, frog-like safe-cracking robot and names it the Parker 2000, which may be a nod to Miss Piggy's friend, Kermit the Frog.

Trivia[]

  • Parker 2000 appears briefly again in "The Broken Wing Job".
  • Parker (person) cradles Parker 2000 like a baby, alluding to her and Hardison's burgeoning relationship.
  • The codenames Molly suggests for her and Eliot using the earbuds, Perky and Botasky, are from the manga Cat Shit One (published in the US as Apocalypse Meow).
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