LEVERAGE: The Experimental Job

Since the Fall left us deprived all good things in the Leverage universe, I’m so very happy to have it back with me, even if only for a short time.

Before we begin these new recaps, it seems somehow pointless to fully follow the overall narrative, but I’ll try my best. Also, any evil speech of evil (trademark John Rogers) might be ignored just for the sake of time, and my sanity.

As we open this week’s evil crime of evil, it seems that a homeless man has been listening to too much loud music and stumbles out from his cell to find a bunch of preppy college kids. Already I’m feeling like this is going to remind me of my days of college in Massachusetts (we’ll get to that later), but I have to wonder why a kid who clearly has enough smarts to look like a guy right out of The Preppy Handbook is dumb enough to leave his subjects for an experiment in his house. Clearly, he’s book smart, but not necessarily street smart. Pity.

(It should also be pointed out that I find the logic failures far too easily, and that one up there, it’s just one of many.)

As I did spend time on a college campus, I have to wonder how any student could get to experiment on someone with PTSD, and how the school’s IRB (Internal Review Board) let them get away with it. If I were the school and there were a dead body from something a student had been doing, I’d be ready to shut down that experiment.

*ignores that plothole for the sake of the rest of this review*

So, I’m guessing that our evil genius’s name, Zilgram, is supposed to be a hybrid of Zambardo (The Stanford Prison Experiment) and Migram (the crazy electroshock ones at Yale)? If so, well played.

After we learn more about our evil genius for the episode, we’re treated to a lecture about the Order of the 206, which sounds like it’s a fictitious version of The Skulls. With CIA directors and MI6, I’m going to go with that plan. At this point, I’m going to resist making any further parallels.

But the evil genius is back to showing us his plan, this time with some poor guy who’s being forced to listen to “Ride of the Valkyries” at ninety decibels. That’s a perfectly good waste of Wagner if you ask me.

Back at Leverage HQ, Hardison is getting a lesson in quail hunting, though it does make me wonder how a geek like Hardison never played Duck Hunt to save his life before. As Hardison finds out more about quail hunting, we also learn that Eliot is able to tell the difference between helicopters from the “whoops” they make. Of course, it also means that we have some very high level CIA type who is helping our evil genius for the episode. Either that’s a good thing or a very bad thing. I don’t want to ponder it more right now.

Finally realizing that someone in the team needs to get on campus, Hardison is chosen to be a new student at our unnamed college. If someone like Hardison had actually gone to my alma mater, I’d have been a very happy girl.

In Hardison and Zilgram’s Game Theory, we’re treated to Nate as a professor, all the way over from Holyoke (here I go suspending disbelief again) who puts Zilgram on the hot seat in a modified Prisoner’s Dilemma. Hardison stands up to put this particular dilemma in check (it only makes me wish I studied Economics a little) before finding his way into the inner circle of Zilgram and his toadies.

While that’s going on, Parker is learning about the inner workings of the Psychology department, which still seems to think that shocking subjects is acceptable. Parker with a taser is always funny, but it makes the social scientist in me leery if that’s still the perception of some of the discipline.

It’s not enough for our team to have Hardison figuring out how the Order of the 206 works, we also get Eliot going under as a homeless man to see what the experiment is really all about (hint, curing PTSD is not it). I’m sure that Eliot will last just as long as he needs to, but I hope that Hardison is equally prepared to be involved with a bunch of preppy guys who are really not worth his time.

Parker’s idea of a pep talk during the Farm House party is partially hilarious and the other part sad. Hardison, with the next break, please teach Parker the finer points of fandom and how your clan in World of Warcraft (or whatever game you were playing) are not “pretend friends”.

Moving on, Hardison entering this crazy quasi-frat means all of the TV is treated to some shirtless Aldis Hodge. I think we’re all thankful for that, right? I could have done without having to watch more of that hazing, though, especially when it was intercut with all the hell Eliot was going through as part of the experiment (it will not do me any good to talk about how much of a creep I found that interviewer).

That time with Hardison in the frat and Eliot in the experiment does give us more time to watch and laugh at how the two of them compete against each other. That time also gave us a look at Hardison being more like himself than ever with the Order (if Hardison didn’t excel at playing “Black Ops” I don’t know what I would I have done). It also gave the fans a sweet moment where we can watch Parker get irrationally angry at Hardison and some random girls who he’s befriended during this con.

Now, it’s time for the evil genius to try and outsmart our team, which means I’m greeted to some kick-ass Eliot (always a good thing) but that also means it’s time for Hardison to take a beating (not something I enjoy). Parker saving Hardison (or at least being there as an aid) is another sign that I love them for all the right reasons.

It is really the age of the geek. Especially with a kick to the face for one of the Dustman. Watching our evil genius fall into fake police custody, well, that puts a smile on my face. Zilgram, you deserve it for being an idiot with too much hubris.

As for the ending, I don’t know what to make of the CIA man saying that the team is now on the team’s path, but I’ll watch it and hope nothing worse can happen to any of them.

Leverage airs Sundays at 9/8c on TNT.