| “ | Nothing's more dangerous than the confused when they think they know something. | ” |
— Tobey Earnshaw | ||
After one of Parker's aliases (Alice White) is called for jury duty, Nate forces her to attend to learn how to follow instructions and consider other people. While there, she notices some strange things at the trial. It seems someone is trying to buy a favorable verdict, but not if the Leverage team can steal it first.
The Client[]
- Gloria Vargas, wife of Ernesto Vargas. After the FastLife supplement produced by William Quint's company causes her husband to have a fatal heart attack, Gloria sues Quint.
The Marks[]
- William Quint, CEO of Live Herbally, the maker of the FastLife supplement that killed Ernesto Vargas
- Tobey Earnshaw, heiress to Earnshaw Pharmaceuticals
The Con[]
After realizing that Earnshaw and her team are attempting to manipulate the trial of William Quint over the wrongful death of Ernesto Vargas, Parker continues to act as the trial's Juror #6, "Alice White." Hardison and Eliot uncover evidence that Earnshaw's team have bought off the jury foreman, so Parker frames him for the theft of the other jurors' valuables, getting him removed as foreman and herself instated as the new foreman. Meanwhile, Nate aims to con Quint into a settlement by stalling the trial and having Sophie pose as the chief marketing officer of an existing company, Mumbai International Ltd, and having her push Quint to settle so Mumbai can purchase his company on much more favorable terms than what Earnshaw offered him.
Seeing that her man on the jury is out of play, Earnshaw buys off Gloria Vargas's lawyer in order to force a mistrial, so Hardison steps in as Vargas's new lawyer, "Joseph Miller," and attempts to stall until Quint takes Sophie's offer. In her warehouse, Earnshaw orders her team to look up Joseph Miller. When Quint expresses uncertainty about the sale to Earnshaw, she dismisses his concerns, so Quint pulls Sophie aside during the trial to inquire about her offer, attracting Earnshaw's attention through the cameras.
Sophie urges Quint to settle and offers to let him video call with Mumbai International's operations in India that evening while Hardison continues to stall the trial. The team hires a friend of Eliot's to act in front of a greenscreen and pose as an employee of Mumbai International, but before Quint can take the offer, Earnshaw and her company purchase Mumbai International Ltd. The team realizes that Earnshaw has been surveilling Quint, so Nate declares the only thing left to do is win the trial for Vargas.
The next day, as Quint pulls out of a parking lot in his car, Eliot distracts and then takes out two of Earnshaw's men tailing Quint before activating a device to fry the electrical systems in Quint's car. Nate pulls up on a bike to a delayed Quint and offers to "help" him fix his car while pickpocketing Quint's phone and tossing it to a passing Sophie.
In court, Hardison calls into question the credibility of the defense's medical expert by revealing that their expert is on the no-fly list due to drunk and belligerent behavior, and delivers his closing remarks. In the jury room, Parker asks the jurors to vote on the verdict, and through her video feed, Earnshaw watches triumphantly as all jurors raise their hands in favor of Live Herbally. When one of Earnshaw's team suggests they tell Quint, she responds icily that Quint's phone GPS shows him visiting her competitors, looking for a better offer.
Quint finally arrives at Earnshaw's warehouse, where Earnshaw reveals that she knows about Mumbai International and coerces him into selling her Live Herbally. Earnshaw and Quint both return to the courtroom in time for the jury's verdict.
The Reveal[]
As the jury foreman, Parker reveals that the jury has found in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $5 million, to Earnshaw's shock. Knowing that Earnshaw had her own cameras, Hardison spliced together footage of the jury's lunch order (unanimously in favor of pizza) with Parker's audio asking them if they were in favor of Live Herbally and transmitted the doctored clip to Earnshaw's feed. With Quint's pickpocketed phone, Sophie had gone to Earnshaw's competitors in order to leave a fake GPS trail that Earnshaw could blame on Quint.
Nate walks up to Earnshaw in the courtroom and holds up the white king from her chessboard, then drops it to signify her defeat.
Locations[]
- Los Angeles, California
- Leverage Headquarters
Guest Cast[]
- David Shatraw as Henry Lewis
- Armin Shimerman as Dr Patemkin
- Brent Spiner as William Quint
- Lauren Holly as Tobey Earnshaw
Aliases[]
- Alice White (Parker): This character became the first long-term alias used by Parker.
- Olivia Smyth-Patel (Sophie)
- Joseph Miller (Hardison), an attorney
Episode Notes[]
- In addition to Alice White, the members of the jury are:
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- In this episode, Eliot mentions that he plays chess, but in The Queen's Gambit Job, he questions its status as an Olympic sport.
Trivia[]
- Former Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Jonathan Frakes, the episode's director, and Brent Spiner (William Quint) along with Armin Shimerman from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, reunite in this episode. Kitty Swink, who is Armin Shimerman's real-life wife and also appeared in DS9, plays Judge Kerry Durham in this episode.
- Timothy Hutton (Nate Ford) and Lauren Holly (Tobey Earnshaw) previously worked together in the 1996 movie, "Beautiful Girls".
- Alice White's alias lists her as a book-keeper, vegetarian, 5'7", 30 yrs old, DOB 4-1-1978, 115 lbs, and born in the USA. She has at least one married sister in Arizona, and a Facebook page. Ironically, Hardison chose April Fool's as her alias's birthday.
- Joseph Miller (the alias) went to Georgetown and Harvard. He is 5'11", 152 lbs, 30 yrs old, born in the USA, and has the same birthday as Alice, 4-1-1978.
- The chess piece that Earnshaw picks up while contemplating the trial appears to be a clear knight. Assuming the clear pieces are representative of the white side, this plays into the motif of Nate as either a black king or a white knight.
Episode Media[]
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