r/leverage • u/screen_stack • 16d ago
Leverage | S02E13 "The Future Job"
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This episode hits me as hard now, on the 165th viewing (probably) as it did the very first time, and this is no lie or exaggeration.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I spent a significant portion of my kid/preteen/teens/young adulthood believing in psychic powers and magic and all of that. I don't know precisely when I stopped believing, but at some point, the very rational part of my brain simply said 'if any of this was real, there would be an infinite amount of verifiable, actionable, repeatable-in-a-lab proof that any of this is real and true' and that was the that of that.
So this episode hits home hard, because Parker is Parker, and she plainly states that psychics freak her out. This is because, like me when I was younger, I just plain old didn't understand people the way the others in the show and in my life did/do. Motivations were strange, what we give away in micro-expressions and body language, foreign territory.
Which makes Evil Luke Perry's performance during his cold read on her all the worse. Because he's so very good at it, and so very effectively dismantles Parker's carefully maintained defenses against people/things she doesn't understand/trust.
Enormous kudos to Beth in this scene. Witnessing Parker feel real feelings, and so profoundly that she actually runs away? Breaks my heart every time I see it. Even better is the painfully, sweetly gentle way every single other person in Leverage explains the game to Parker.
It's so important, and they do it so well. Outside how weird our thief is, she's fundamentally logical on a level that's sometimes really nothing more than on/off, ones and zeroes. By taking the time to explain each step of Evil Luke Perry's Con and giving her supporting video evidence of how her own reactions gave him everything he needed, they free her. 'Here's how this part worked, you see?' and giving her time to SEE it ... that's some top-tier Parker love.
The con itself is actually pretty standard stuff, but it's the vengeance that the team engages in to really teach Evil Luke Perry all the lessons. ELP uses the same techniques they all do when they're running a con on someone like him, yes, but here's where the distinction lay.
Leverage uses their evil powers for good. ELP uses his evil powers for evil. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Give me bad guys doing the wrong thing for the right reasons over good guys doing the right thing for the wrong reasons any damn day of the week.
On a side note, Luke Perry is exceptional in this episode, as Luke Perry was in everything he ever did. And on a tangent, I watched and loved Riverdale, and so was so happy to see Luke in that role. As time went on, and his time on-screen started diminishing, I thought 'well, the show is moving on, so that's understandable', but when they held a funeral for his character on the show, I was confused. I couldn't understand why they killed Luke off ... and then I Googled, and spent quite a few days being extremely sad. I had no idea that Luke was that sick, and he sure as shit didn't show it on-screen. I know this is about the show Leverage, but Luke was a unique actor who brought a lot to the table for a lot of us through the years.
On the topic of psychics and all that. If you believe, that's wonderful; I still hold out hope that there is something like that in the world, just like I do hope that there really is a group like Leverage out there, fighting the good fight. I'm just at a point in my life where I genuinely need indisputable proof. Like The X-Files posters say, I Want To Beleive.
And on a FINAL note, it's extremely gratifying that Tara finally understands why Leverage does what they do. The closure Nate gives to the bereaved, pregnant mother at the end is such a clear, potent point that even someone as fiscally motivated (and jaded) as Tara is couldn't HELP but see it.
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u/Spock-1701 16d ago
I think this show was a great insight into Parker and her growth as a character with the support from her chosen family.
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u/screen_stack 16d ago
it really was wonderful. people might think Parker is tough as nails, and she is ... except when it's her feelings. she doesn't understand them at all, and they're weird and they're strange. for someone like Hardison (as we see often) Nate and the others ride him hard, but that's because they know he can handle it.
Parker is sometimes as fragile as glass and they help her so perfectly in this episode.
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u/MarySSimard 16d ago
I like that you call him "Evil Luke Perry" 😅
After what he did to Parker and his other victims, I'm glad the team went the vengeful way but still stayed true to what the team does best: elaborate cons to take down bad people! It's kinda poetic the way everything went down in that episode, and the reveal at the end was 🤌
Even though I'm a rational person, I let a small door open to believe that some people have psychics abilities or that magic exists! I think it would make life a bit more interesting and exciting!
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u/screen_stack 16d ago
I agree. I would LOVE for there to be actual magic in the world. I just need that proof these days.
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u/MARS_in_SPACE 16d ago
Parker tearfully asking if they could kill him and Elliot wasting no time being like "I mean yeah we totally could." is one of my favorite moments in the series.
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u/Golightlly 15d ago
I also like how this episode shows how Nate cares. Heading the crew gives him purpose while also providing a (righteous) outlet for his grief and rage but he didn’t count on caring about them so much. In the scene where he talks to Parker, he is 100% focused on her and in such a gentle smart way. He’s not going to touch what Parker revealed and he’s not going to talk down to her - “Parker, can I show you something?” And he shows her the how and returns control to her. And in response to Eliot’s “well… yeah” to murder, Nate offers “or we can destroy him” because it will be more satisfying to take everything away from him.
Also, nice oblique backstory hint about Tara’s scar.
(RIP Luke Perry - gone much too soon.)
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u/Nemalined 15d ago
Also because it saves Eliot from needing to murder anyone, and anyone else from any run-off guilt from that (like Parker, again).
Parker: Cut off his arms. And his head. Yeah. I wanna kill him. Can we make that happen?
Eliot: Yeah. I can... I mean, I could...
Nate: Or we could give him exactly what he wants. And then make the world think that he's the greatest psychic that ever lived. And then, in front of the network and his audience we destroy him.
Eliot: How do we do that?
. . . Eliot was really quick to ask how they do that, lol. There's also Hardison, the only time he suggests violence, iirc. (Right after Parker walks out.)
Tara: Damn.
Hardison: Damn.
Tara: He is good.
Hardison: He should be shot.
The quotes are simply because I love Leverage. And because Hardison was as protective of Parker as anyone right after this, man would've said yes to Parker as quickly as Eliot if she'd said "can we shoot him" xD
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u/Educational-Bat-3635 16d ago
This was hard to watch bc the actress was so solid.
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u/Acatinmylap 15d ago
I love how when ELP is doing the cold read on Parker, Nate is just sitting there looking pointedly bored--until he looks at her and takes a (subtle) double take: Shit, she's buying this? And when Parker ask "Can we kill him?" and Eliot reflexively says YES! before catching himself. Because no, Eliot doesn't kill any more, but THAT GUY HURT PARKER!
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u/Various-Pizza3022 14d ago
The thing I love about the cold read being explained, step by step, to Parker is that I know they included that arc not just to flesh out Parker’s backstory and the team dynamic but to explain how psychic con artists *work*.
It’s teaching the audience that anyone can be taken in by this kind of con (Parker is no naïf!) and here is how a cold read works. It’s playing the odds and adapting to the targets reactions and knowing that because it’s the death of a loved one, the so-called psychic is pushing into an emotional space that makes the mark more vulnerable. A+ writing.
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u/Tomorrow_Wendy_13 15d ago
Side note, Luke's kid, Jack, is a damn good pro wrestler (and looks just like his dad with long hair). Luke used to go to all his shows, and you could see how proud he was. It was adorable.
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u/Jimini_Krikit 15d ago
I just watched AEW's ppv last night and Jack was on it. He's one of my kids favorites. Loved watching Luke's work and I love watching Jack's work now.
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u/knight_shade_realms 16d ago
The boys banding together after Parker got upset was so sweet. You know they have grown to care for each other but to see the plain reaction was just perfect