The Walk in the Woods Job

The Walk in the Woods Job
Season 2
Episode 5
Airdate	30 Nov, 2022
Written by	Noah Wyle
Directed by	Noah Wyle
Previous episode	“The Date Night Job”
Next episode	“The Fractured Job”
Episode list	Season 2

“	I met more than a few cowards in my lifetime. They're not the people you think they are. They come in loud, they come in bragging, they hide behind title, behind rank, privilege.	”
— Eliot

While investigating the mysterious death of Eliot's friend, the Leverage team infiltrates an infamous enclave of power to take down the corrupt head of a private security company.

Client

Mitchell Bukner

Mark

Austin Kurlander

Summary

Paul Orozco runs a clinic for veterans. One day after the clinic closes, the clinic gets blown up with Paul inside. Paul was Eliot’s friend, and they served in the military together. Eliot goes to attend Paul’s funeral. Here, Mitchell tells Eliot he believes that Paul was murdered. They believe that the person who blew up the clinic and killed Paul is Austin Kurlander.

Austin was awarded a silver star in the Iraq war. He now runs the Silver Guard, a private military company. He also gave Paul the money he needed to start his clinic.

Eliot tells the team he can handle the job on his own, but the team isn’t willing to let him. The team splits up with the girls planning on breaking into Kurlander’s company and the boys checking out Paul’s house. Kurlander disrupts the girls’ plans by leaving his company’s office. They overhear him saying how he’s going to Orpheus Grove. Breanna attempts to hack his phone before he leaves but accidentally hits Sophie with the food truck. Harry almost sets off a trip wire at Paul’s house but finds a secret room. In the room, Paul has a “murder board” dedicated to Kurlander. Harry finds files from Paul’s therapy sessions detailing how Kurlander forced his employees to place explosives in a Venezuela mine, killing striking workers. The team deduces that Kurlander took out Paul before he could expose him.

Parker tells them about Orpheus Grove. Orpheus Grove is a summer gathering for the powerful elite on a civil war memorial, invitation only, no women allowed. Parker is interested in it, for she’s heard rumours of a safe. The team decides to break into the party to steal Kurlander’s phone and expose him.

Harry asks Eliot about his relationship with Paul, and Eliot explains that Paul was a combat medic and saved his life once after he’d been shot twice.  

Orpheus Grove is shielded from outside technology, so Breanna sets up at a historical society where a woman is trying to campaign to save the Mississippi Gopher frogs. Parker and Sophie sneak into the party as service workers and make a bet as to who can get Kurlander’s phone first. All the men attending the party put their phones in a safe, in a tree, which requires three keys to open.

Parker spies someone about to shoot Kurlander, and Eliot tackles them, only to reveal that it’s Paul, who’s not dead. Paul explains to Eliot that he found the bombs in his clinic and was able to set them off when no one was in the clinic and faked his death. Paul knows the truth about Kurlander’s Silver Star. He says that Kurlander froze and let his men die. But then Kurlander threatened to kill Paul and the others if they told the truth. Paul was so scared that he lied, and for further incentive to keep quiet, Kurlander funded his clinic. The team then plans to have Kurlander confess the truth to the people at the party, losing all his respect.

Parker steals the three keys from the necklaces around the men’s necks. The boys, meanwhile, start taking out Kurlander’s security team. Sophie goes to distract Kurlander, but one of his men recognizes her from when she was hit by the food truck. Sophie then pretends to be a part of the team involved with the mine, worried about the truth about what Kurlander did getting out. Sophie tells Kurlander that Paul was Eliot’s friend and Eliot’s now out for blood.

Kurlander’s team catches Harry, and Kurlander assumes him to be Eliot. Harry pretends to be Eliot, repeating what Eliot told him about cowards earlier. Sophie tells Kurlander that Eliot already broke into the safe, and Kurlander runs off to investigate. Eliot then frees Harry.

Parker breaks into the safe, taking everyone’s phones. Harry gets General Lionel Frick to go to the tent where Paul surprises Kurlander by being alive. Paul then gets Kurlander to admit to his crimes. Kurlander tries to shoot the team, but Parker unloaded his gun earlier. They also broadcast his confession over the radio, causing his team to no longer want to work for him. The broadcast is also sent to the police, who come to arrest Kurlander.

Breanna posts about the endangered frogs online, drawing a crowd of conservationists and conserved citizens, and they also raid the grove at the same time as the cops. Orpheus Grove is then made into a protected sanctuary to rehabilitate the frogs.

Guest Cast

• Jonathan Medina as Paul Orozco
• Eric Nenninger as Austin Kurlander
• Jay Patterson as General Lionel Frick
• Selase Botchway as Mitchell Bukner
• Melanie Haynes as Maureen Chesterton Mills
• Labrandon Shead as  Braddock

Aliases

• Breanna: Kimberly Michaels- Tulane grad student
• Harry: Eliot Spencer
• Parker and Sophie: Staff

Trivia

• The "Make Crawfish $1.97/lb Again" hat was created by New Orleans artist Aaron Angelo as a play on a political slogan that was used starting in 2016. The version Breanna wears is an alternate design by the artist. (Page for Breanna's hat on retail site DirtyCoast.com.)
• The campground is obviously based on the Bohemian Grove in California— a gentleman's club founded in 1872. Each year in mid-July it holds a 2 week event at which some of the most powerful men in he world, including US presidents, government officials, media moguls and others, get together for drinking, theatrical rituals, and discussions involving policy.