In this week’s episode of Leverage, “The Tap-Out Job”, the gang heads to Nebraska to con a corrupt mixed martial arts promoter. I was somewhat taken back by the premise of this episode. The gang, with the exception of Eliot, seemed completely out of their element and so did the writers.
As a Nebraska gal myself I have to ask, have any of the writers even been to Nebraska? I can understand a hick reference or two but I felt the writers went out of their way to make Nebraskans look like complete…well…hicks. Did you see the extras? I haven’t seen that much plaid flannel since I was in Seattle in the early 90s. News flash, not everyone in Nebraska wears plaid, especially in areas like Lincoln and Omaha.
I have to admit though that one of the best lines was when Hardison said, “I can retask a satellite, I can get a level three NSA clearance but I can’t hack a hick.”
The idea behind the con is to get the mixed martial arts promoter to invest in a fake cable network. To convince him, Sophie acts as a producer who is the area to cover the concert of a teen pop star. It just so happens that the martial arts promoter is going to be at that concert. This forces the gang to actually infiltrate the production of the concert.
My question is why would a middle-aged mixed martial arts promoter be attending the concert of a teen pop princess? That was kind of a weird and unlikely coincidence. That coupled with the multitude of hick references had me feeling a twinge of disappointment as I watched the episode unfold.
Nate is claiming to be a martial arts promoter himself, Bill Wells from South Dakota. The con is running as smooth as ever until the Nebraska promoter’s lackey talks to his cousin in South Dakota who has never heard of a Bill Wells. I had to laugh at this point. If you have kin in Nebraska then it stands to reason you have kin in Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and South Dakota. Looks like the writers got one thing right.
While I had many issues with this episode, none of it really mattered in the end. I liked the episode because it highlighted Eliot’s fighting and his character. I liked that Sophie, who does not understand the sport at all, bonds with Eliot rather than being at odds with him. She tries to understand and he does a great job of explaining the internal strength necessary to be a good fighter.
In the end, the gang whips up another con to take down the bad guy. As if we ever doubted them. Now the gang can go back to civilization where people are served food other than chicken fried steak and pork rinds.
Photos: TNT
27. July 2009 at 6:24 pm
“My question is why would a middle-aged mixed martial arts promoter be attending the concert of a teen pop princess? That was kind of a weird and unlikely coincidence.”
I swore I saw him messing with his phone…I’d have to re-watch…but I figured it was implied he got the ticket “right then”, just to go meet her there because he was already suspicious *or* (like any good businessman/woman) wanted to check her out more throughly. If she wouldn’t have been there, he would have known sooner they were going to con him.
Overall, def. one of the best eps. though. Especially for all the CK fans.
27. July 2009 at 8:01 pm
Seriously, didn’t you love the panoramic in the scene at the golf course? I mean, the golf course already had too many trees and hills, but then you get to see all the many many many many forests in the background. I grew up in Lincoln, now live in Portland where of course it is being filmed, and sheshes, it looks extremely like Portland.
And yes, that was a lot of hick references. But, hey, I’ve had friends asked if they rode cows to school… nobody really knows where Nebraska is or what its like.
29. July 2009 at 12:54 pm
Living in Lincoln, I couldn’t stop laughing at all the hick jokes. They were so ridiculously over the top.
3. August 2009 at 8:29 am
Yeah if I remember the episode right he WASN’T going to the concert. They claimed she was producing the concert as a way to boost her creds, and the promoter lied and said he (already) planned to be at that concert, intending to go check out her alibi further. Which put them in a spot since, obviously, she WASN’T producing the concert. He tried to catch them in a lie and they had to scramble and take over the concert to cover their tails. He wasn’t already planning to go to the show. That would be creepy.
4. August 2009 at 7:58 am
Ahhh, I missed that. Totally makes sense and yes, it is much less creepy. Haha!