| “ | We need all the crime | ” |
— Harry | ||
Breanna passionately works to help a grad student whose groundbreaking research was stolen by her teacher, a world renowned physicist, and drags the rest of the team along for the ride.
Client[]
Emma Camore
Mark[]
Dr. Daniel Gray
Summary[]
Emma Camore comes in during Dr. Daniel Gray’s lecture, accusing him of stealing her work. When he asks her to give a demonstration to prove the theory is hers, she experiences a panic attack and runs out of the class.
Emma explains her situation to Breanna and Sophie. She had developed a math formula that could lead to developments in clean energy, and her research was stolen by Dr. Gray while she was a PhD student of his. Gray made her claims look illegitimate as he filed a complaint against her, saying she had a mental episode. Breanna presents the job to the rest of the team, explaining that Dr. Gray is an all-around bad guy, stealing his students’ work for his popularity.
Harry recognizes the school as he did his undergraduate there. Harry proposes that the team go forward with legal measures, and he’ll use his alumni status to get them a hearing with the Judiciary Committee. Harry does allow them to steal back the hard drive Gray stole from Emma, as they will need physical proof of the crime.
Eliot goes into the university campus to turn off the cameras but ultimately gets caught by a security guard, Floyd, whom he isn’t willing to take out. Harry then distracts Gray while Parker and Breanna break into his office. Parker and Breanna find Emma’s hard drive along with her notes. Gray returns to his office, and Parker hides while Breanna is caught. Breanna pretends to be an interested student in Gray’s PhD program and impresses him with her knowledge.
Back at the base, the team discovers that Gray is going to sell Emma’s research to a big oil company, Kelsco, who would ultimately hide the revolutionary findings. The team decides to delay Gray’s selling the research while Harry talks to Dean. Eliot locks Gray in a closet while Sophie distracts the Kelsco worker, Jeff. Sophie pretends to be a scientist and puts Jeff under a fake lie detector test. She ultimately makes Jeff feel guilty about what he does and who he works for, so he cancels the prospective deal with Gray.
After Floyd finds Eliot has trapped Gray in the closet, he introduces Eliot to the rest of the union workers, which all dislike Gray.
Harry manages to talk to Dean but is unable to get a hearing as Dr. Gray is too influential within the school for them to afford to lose him.
The team then decides to change plans and convince Gray to step down from his position by making him think Emma’s work is worth more than he initially thought. Sophie goes undercover as a visiting Professor, and Breanna makes Dr. Gray think Emma stole Sophie’s research. When Gray goes to talk to Sophie, Emma helps Sophie pretend to be a scientist by talking through the earpiece. Sophie further implies that Emma, then Gray, stole her research. She says that what she has left is worth billions and she already has a buyer. Gray offers to be her partner, and Sophie agrees, having him on the hook.
Sophie takes Gray to her buyer— Hardison playing an eccentric billionaire. Hardison notes that the university would own any of Dr. Gray’s work and convinces him he should resign. Later, however, Dr. Gray changes the plan suddenly and decides to sell the research to tech millionaire Darren Nash. The team runs to the university to put a stop to the sale of the research. Eliot gets the union workers to help the team, and they stress Gray by locking him in an area. Darren says they’ll reschedule and goes into the elevator with Dean. Emma misses the elevator, and the team hooks her up to the repel equipment. Breanna stops the elevator, and Emma repels down into it. Inside the elevator, she proves to Darren and Dean that the research is her own, showcasing a presentation of how it works. Darren steps away from making his deal with Gray as he doesn’t support him stealing others’ work. Harry produces the evidence they have of Dr. Gray stealing Emma’s work, and Dean agrees to have a hearing.
At the end of the episode, Floyd gives Eliot a patch from the workers union, and Breanna says she enjoyed being at the university.
Guest Cast[]
- Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison
- Rob Benedict as Dr. Daniel Gray
- Walter Coppage as Dean Denziger
- Erin Ruth Walker as Emma Camore
- Ron Flagge as Floyd
- Jose Miguel Vasquez as Darren Nash
Aliases[]
- Sophie: Dr. Diana Williams
- Hardison: Steven Finkel
- Parker: Regan
- Eliot: Ralph
Episode Notes[]
- When pretending to be a Ph.D. student, Breanna says her recommendations are Drs. Tennant and Whittaker, referencing actors David Tennant (the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors) and Jodie Whittaker (The Thirteenth Doctor) from Doctor Who.
Trivia[]
- The scenes at the university were filmed at the uptown campus of Tulane University, the major research university in New Orleans.
- There is an overhead shot of the team heading in separate directions. This iconic shot is used frequently in the show, as it was first used twice in The Nigerian Job
- Sophie’s goofy science professor alias is a throwback to the character she played in “The First Contact Job”
- The promotional display for the University of Louisiana in the elevator that Emma uses as a blackboard features launch photography of a Proton family launch vehicle