Challenge 2 - Previously on… Leverage 1x8 - The Mile High Job
I started watching Leverage five days ago (originally this said yesterday, I've had to backdate it, lol) because I needed something new to watch after stalling on Misfits because I'm still wallowing that Nathan left after the second season, lol. And I've really enjoyed Leverage so far, clearly, since I'm already on episode 8 (this was written four days ago, currently I'm on episode 3x13, so, yeah, enjoying it a lot). :D
I've contemplated recapping episode 1x3, which had been so far my favorite, but then this one came along and oh, wow, I loved it so much. It had so many funny moments and I've always had a thing for media set on planes (no idea why, I just really like that setting).
So, here we go…
We start with an already familiar set up, a couple has lost their kid because a corporation has been negligent with dangerous fertilizer in the water supply and said corporation (Genogrow) is now stone walling them even though there's a lawsuit going, the CEO having laughed them out of their office when they wanted someone to acknowledge what actually happened. Nate says the corporation is hiding something and that there's a smoking gun they're going to find (I'm mentioning this because it'll come back in an unexpected way later).
Which of course means that the team takes the job and we cut to Genogrow Headquarters at 4am in the night. Sophie enters the lobby in a club outfit all smiles and speaking French, telling the security officers that she's trying to find a rave party and that her GPS isn't working. But those nice, smart lads, they're gonna help her, right? :D I love Sophie and her little acts so much, she's amazing, I always laugh so much when she does her numbers, it's definitely one of the biggest appeals of this show. :D
As those smart boys are leaving their desk to help "Michelle", we see on their monitors that there's an uninvited guest coming in through the ceiling, Parker of course, who lets in Nate and Eliot. Nate does some exposition about Haldeman, the CEO guy responsible for everything, who's office is on the 30th floor.
So that means elevators, but the elevators are key card locked and this is where Hardison would come in if he were available, which he clearly isn't. I was very confused about this for a little bit, since he's just not there and Nate just says he doesn't want his name to be said out loud and I thought I missed something. But of course, this mystery is revealed later.
Since Hardison is not there, they have no way of using the elevators, so, stairs it is, yikes. And this is the point where I would just give up, cause 30 floors? Definitely not, no thanks, never gonna happen. I get ready to pass out after four, lol. But of course, they are well trained thieves, so, they brave the stairs and find… another locked door only accessible via key card. Ooops. They all want to kill Hardison, which, understandable, and Parker breaks out the C4.
We cut from the bomb to a microwave in the Leverage Headquarters, where Hardison makes himself a meal and I was even more confused at this point, because I was like, if he's right there, why is he not on the computer helping them? But yeah, again, it'll be revealed later (though I find it a little flimsy that he would game an entire night and then at 4am come to HQ to make himself a hot pocket. But then again, it's Hardison, so, I buy it. :P).
Parker picks the lock to Haldeman's office and they are searching said office for any kind of incriminating evidence against him, while Hardison is watering a plant in HQ. I feel like that should be significant somehow but it's not? Or at least not as far as I can see, lol.
At the same time as Parker tries to boot up Haldeman's computer, Hardison turns on the computers in HQ and finally realizes what is going on, putting an earpiece in and telling the others a story about his electricity going out, lmao, okay, his excuses take some work. :P
But at least he's here now and can help them, but unfortunately, Haldeman also chooses that moment to arrive, cause apparently everybody is just casually awake at 4 in the night in this show, yeah, sure.
Hardison is hacking into their security system and there's a tense moment where everyone needs to skedaddle and of course Parker is left standing in the middle of the office but also of course she's not there when Haldeman comes in, cause it's Parker. :D Haldeman talks on the phone to someone about assets on a flight to the Cayman's that leaves in an hour.
Nate surmises that Haldeman is gonna bankrupt the division responsible for the kid's death, making it impossible to prove anything ever, so he says they need to be on that flight, even when it leaving in an hour makes that seem pretty impossible. But of course, nothing is impossible for the team, so they get going, Parker already waiting for Nate and Eliot in front of the office.
Eliot: "How does she do that?"
Nate: "I don't even ask anymore."
It's Parker! That's the answer, lol. Have I mentioned I love her too? Cause I do.
Hardison gets the team an elevator down and they all still look grumpy that they had to take the stairs up (very understandable). In the lobby, Sophie, sorry, Michelle, is still entertaining the security guards and what follows is one of my favorite scenes which gotta be one of the funniest moments of the entire show so far when the others just run out of the elevator into the lobby, screaming "It's right behind us, it's creepy, it's chasing us!" giving the security guards the shock of their lives and themselves the opportunity to just run out of the building without any questions asked, leaving those poor boys behind with their guns drawn, eternally confused. :P
That was so funny, omg, I loved it. :D And Sophie just going with it, running out with the others, cause of course she does.
Now they're at the airport, with Hardison getting tickets for the plane, two in first class, and of course both Nate and Sophie have several ID's on them, two of them with matching surnames (Tom and Sarah Jane Baker, in a very obvious nod to Doctor Who after Nate already had the ID's of Peter Davidson and Sylvester McCoy. I love these kind of homages, they're hilarious. :P). And again, of course Sophie has wedding bands on her. You know, just in case. Like any good grifter and thief.
Eliot says he doesn't need a ticket, he got an Air Marshal badge, so, great for him. Parker gets to be a flight attendant after one of the flight's attendants gets a phone call from Hardison telling her that her kitty, Fidget, has been picked up by animal control and that she needs to come immediately to claim him. She is very distraught, immediately leaving (after a little unnoticed swap and grab of her carry on bag, of course) and I love her already, poor bb, she's adorable, I hope she doesn't get into trouble for bailing on her job and not notifying anyone (or maybe she did notify them and Hardison intercepted the call? Whichever it is, I hope she'll be fine).
Parker changes into the flight attendant's uniform from kitty lover's bag and Sophie asks how she knew there would be one in there (which, hmmm, feels like she should know that over the boys, it's kinda hard to believe she never impersonated a flight attendant. But then again, maybe she just always had a uniform with her or stole it from somewhere else). Either way, the guys' answer to how they know it is hilarious:
*in unison*
Nate: "Worked airport security."
Eliot: "Slept with a flight attendant."
At the security checkpoint, Nate and Sophie's bag gets checked and there are some 'interesting' items in there, which Sophie claims is due to having grabbed the bags from lost and found and having been too much in a hurry to check them, lol.
Meanwhile, Hardison is in Nate's office checking his online game habit (poker, chess, sudoku, just what's expected, lol). Nate tells him to go back to Genogrow and find the smoking gun because they're going to take that company down.
On the plane, everyone gets seated and Parker tells the other flight attendant that Becky (ah, that's kitty-lovers name) got promoted, lol. Again, hope she'll be fine after this and not get into any trouble, but I guess they can brush it off as a prank or some official investigation thing? I have no idea, lol.
Nate and Sophie try to get their cover stories straight and squabble over their own background because Nate says they met 8 years ago while Sophie says 10. Well… Then Parker goes on the intercom to say some not so helpful things about the plane crashing and being on fire, which, honestly, should have clued me in to what exactly would happen in this episode, lol.
Who in the world had the bright idea to let Parker do the security instructions anyways? I knew from the first word that this was not gonna end well. :P Eliot agrees with me, facepalming throughout her speech. :D
The plane lifts off when Nate outlines their plan of finding out what the assets are and stealing them without anyone noticing in the 5 and a half hours of the flight. Everyone gets comfortable (more or less in Eliot's case with a sleeping passenger on his shoulder, lol) and we get introduced to our other player, a lady asking Parker for ginger ale for her nervous stomach (I only realized she was a major player here when she asked the second time, shame on me, lol), with Parker refusing and telling her to hurl into the paper bag if she has to, cause she's got a system and she's not gonna change that. Okay, so I love Parker but that was a little rude.
Hardison tells them over the comms that the comms still work (lol) and that he's about to head into Genogrow, kicking off one of the funniest side stories in this episode, his brief stint as a Genogrow employee, though at first, he comes in as a maintenance worker to gain quick access, changing in the elevator, majorly confusing Steve (yes, I remember his name cause he gets mentioned a lot later). :P
On the plane they're now checking all the carry on bags for everything that could qualify as assets, with a bored Parker literally throwing snack packs at passengers in between, lmao. Worst flight attendant ever. :P Though she also talks to ginger ale lady (I do not remember her name) and basically tells her that everyone could die at any second, flights are not that special in that regard (the funniest thing for me about this is that of all the ways to die that she mentions here, car crash, house fire, electrocution, drowning, autoerotic asphyxiation, guess which one is the only one someone I personally knew actually died from? Hint, it's the one that's only there for comedic effect, but yeah, that does happen, and no, that shouldn't be funny but, well, there you are). Which, I mean, she has a point but depending on the level of anxiety this poor woman has, I'd say she might make it even worse. Though, after this, I'm guessing she'll either be totally over her fear of flying or never ever fly again anyways, lol.
Sophie stumbles into another passenger so that Nate can check his bag and this prompts another discussion between them about Nate forgetting details. Yep, that's a thing now. Lol
Hardison talks to another Genogrow employee, Cheryl, or more like, she does the talking about how much of an asshole Steve is, getting the conversation into World of Warcraft, which is how Nate learns that Hardison bailed on the job to play the new expansion pack. I never got into WoW, but I do get bailing on something for a game, yup. :D Hardison now fakes a meeting to get Haldeman out of his office and actually does a great job of it, claiming a tummy ache in the middle so that he can bail and leave Steve in charge to keep Haldeman busy. It works and he gets into his office undisturbed.
Parker tells the others that she found a hatbox full of Euros, uncut diamonds and a stolen Stradivarius, which she is clearly itching to steal for herself, lol. Turns out, all the thieves go to the Cayman's to stash their merchandise, cause of course they do. Hardison tells them that there are two Genogrow employees on the flight, one Marissa, accountant, in coach and one Dan, head of security, in first class, with Marissa obviously being ginger ale lady, which Parker realizes with a really cute pout, like seriously, adorable. :D
She gives Marissa a cushion and asks her why she flies in the first place if she hates it so much, which, yeah, that's a good in right there. Of course, Marissa says it's not by choice, it's a business trip and tells her freely she works for Genogrow and when Parker says someone else on the flight mentioned they work there, Marissa clearly has no idea but says she's not surprised cause nobody ever tells her anything. I really like her, she's cute, I'm glad she's not the bad guy here which for a second I thought she might be.
Nate and Sophie stage a fight in front of Dan, so that Sophie can engross herself to him, talking over a shared glass of wine. Meanwhile, Nate learns from Hardison that Dan called Haldeman right before the flight, so they think he's likely in charge of the assets, though Hardison says he's standing outside Marissa's office and there's people there packing up everything, so he assumes she's the target here, making her the asset Haldeman wants liquidated. Oooops, that's not good.
Sophie thinks they should tell Marissa that she's in danger but Parker says she's already not okay, so that's a bad idea. Sophie is the one to say that she's the smoking gun they were looking for (see? I said that would come back, lol, I love it) and Nate says to tell her, but thinks Eliot should do the talking since he has a badge.
Eliot leads Marissa through the plane to a secluded space in first class, using his badge to get her to come with him and for the flight attendant to let him through. He first talks to her about Genogrow and she tells him that she found irregularities directly linked to the kids' death (she doesn't know about that though). She talked to Haldeman about this, which explains how she's the smoking gun and why he wants to get rid of her. He sent her on this trip to 'correct' the 'error', or, more like, to kill her, whoops.
Before Eliot can break the news of this to her delicately, Parker swoops in with a can of ginger ale and tells Marissa that the guy in 1D wants to kill her. Okay, well, that's not how you do that but it was funny. :D Sophie takes over to calm Marissa down and Nate tells Eliot that he needs to introduce himself to Dan.
Hardison meanwhile is quite bored listening to Cheryl and Steve fight about carrot on the cob (lol) and when Nate tells him he needs Haldeman's hard drive he gets the bright idea to pretend it's his birthday to get Haldeman out of his office for the birthday party. I mean, it is a pretty good idea and does get him what he needs.
Sophie and Marissa drink some wine at the first class bar, in full view of Dan, who obviously follows them when they leave to 'stretch their legs' as Sophie says, giving Eliot the opportunity to intercept Dan and beat him up in the toilet, with Parker slapping an 'out of order' sign on it afterwards, lol. This was about the moment when I thought this was a bit too easy and that maybe Dan was the good guy here and Marissa the bad guy but Dan had a ceramic knife on him, so that wasn't very likely.
I wasn't totally wrong though, since it gets revealed (through something Hardison found that I honestly didn't really understand, but okay) that the actual goal was not to just kill Marissa but to kill both of them and Eliot says the easiest way to do that would be by killing them in transfer.
Sophie: "You mean bring down the plane they're on? You mean bring down the plane we're on?"
Dun-Dun-Dun! And there it is! Big whoopsie.
Now everyone is understandably very stressed as they need to find a bomb that's probably either in Dan's bag or Marissa's luggage. Parker is already on it before Nate can even tell her to go into the cargo hold to check and Nate and Eliot go to talk to Dan, unsuccessfully though, since as Eliot says, if he knocks people out they tend to stay knocked out. Yeah… But they find his luggage tags, so, all is not lost.
Parker tells the other flight attendant that her crawling into the cargo hold is due to a medical emergency. I love how that flight attendant only ever communicates in eyerolls and exasperated stares, lol. In the cargo hold, Parker doesn't find anything in either Marissa's or Dan's luggage, but then Hardison gets the idea to have her check the electrical system and ta-da, there's some kind of device there, right under the cockpit.
Hardison: "This device you found, is it anywhere near an orange box?"
Parker: "Yeah."
Hardison: "Oh god, they tapped into the black box."
Parker: "No, no, it's not black, it's orange."
Lol. I mean, she has a point, but I also did know that the black box of a plane is orange due to it being easier to find in case of, you know, boom, crash, debris (I watch a lot of those kind of shows). Right when Parker realizes that the boom, crash and debris applies to her, right now, the device starts sending a virus into the planes electronic system. Not good.
Nate and Eliot go into the cockpit, with Eliot saying he's an Air marshal and Nate's an engineer a second before everything goes horribly wrong and the plane goes into a nosedive. We get the obligatory shots of passengers screaming, with Marissa and Sophie being the most prominent ones, of course.
Hardison has a little crisis of faith whether he can help them or not but Nate talks him through it and he gets himself together and tells Parker to sever the wires between the device and the black box.
A few tense minutes follow in which Parker severs the wires and the pilots count down how high in the air they still are. When the device is finally disconnected, the system can be restarted, which Hardison's code does. They're only 5000 feet in the air, so flying further is out of the question, they need to land somewhere. Nate points to a highway in the middle of water and then joins the screaming passengers with Eliot to strap in for the landing.
The pilots frantically prepare for what's definitely not going to be a smooth landing and there's a little moment between Nate and Sophie where she asks him if he's gonna remember this one and he just answers "oh, yeah". I mean, that's kind of a given.
There are cars shown on the highway, but when they actually set down there are none, so I elect to believe they saw the plane coming and stopped without there being huge accidents. Hopefully. I wonder if a water landing would have been safer under the circumstances, but that's probably just opening a whole other can of worms. Like the plane sinking and all that not so great stuff.
Hardison does a little dance when he sees on the TV that the plane set down safely and it's adorable. "I was so scared. I wanna cry, call my mama." He's such a sweetheart, I love him. Nate tells him he needs to get out of Genogrow since Haldeman is about to find out his smoking gun isn't dead and Hardison stages a scene of getting fired right in front of the door where all the other employees are stills celebrating his birthday.
Cheryl: "He was always so thoughtful."
Steve: "I never liked that guy."
And thus concludes Hardison's brief stint as an office worker, lmao, it was memorable to say the least. :D
Back in HQ, they're all watching Haldeman get arrested, yay, thus concludes another successful case. Hardison is still in the doghouse though, even when he tries to sway them all by saying he saved their lives from 3000 miles away. Which, to be fair, he did.
Nate and Sophie have a little chat about how they were both right because they saw each other for the first time 10 years ago but only met each other properly 8 years ago. I mean, that's an important distinction to make if one wants to do that.
And that's it, that's the episode. I really enjoyed it a lot, it was so much fun and the case was engaging and had its interesting twists and turns. Everyone had their little important moments, especially Hardison and of course, there was a plane involved, so, there really isn't anything I could want more. :D
I've contemplated recapping episode 1x3, which had been so far my favorite, but then this one came along and oh, wow, I loved it so much. It had so many funny moments and I've always had a thing for media set on planes (no idea why, I just really like that setting).
So, here we go…
We start with an already familiar set up, a couple has lost their kid because a corporation has been negligent with dangerous fertilizer in the water supply and said corporation (Genogrow) is now stone walling them even though there's a lawsuit going, the CEO having laughed them out of their office when they wanted someone to acknowledge what actually happened. Nate says the corporation is hiding something and that there's a smoking gun they're going to find (I'm mentioning this because it'll come back in an unexpected way later).
Which of course means that the team takes the job and we cut to Genogrow Headquarters at 4am in the night. Sophie enters the lobby in a club outfit all smiles and speaking French, telling the security officers that she's trying to find a rave party and that her GPS isn't working. But those nice, smart lads, they're gonna help her, right? :D I love Sophie and her little acts so much, she's amazing, I always laugh so much when she does her numbers, it's definitely one of the biggest appeals of this show. :D
As those smart boys are leaving their desk to help "Michelle", we see on their monitors that there's an uninvited guest coming in through the ceiling, Parker of course, who lets in Nate and Eliot. Nate does some exposition about Haldeman, the CEO guy responsible for everything, who's office is on the 30th floor.
So that means elevators, but the elevators are key card locked and this is where Hardison would come in if he were available, which he clearly isn't. I was very confused about this for a little bit, since he's just not there and Nate just says he doesn't want his name to be said out loud and I thought I missed something. But of course, this mystery is revealed later.
Since Hardison is not there, they have no way of using the elevators, so, stairs it is, yikes. And this is the point where I would just give up, cause 30 floors? Definitely not, no thanks, never gonna happen. I get ready to pass out after four, lol. But of course, they are well trained thieves, so, they brave the stairs and find… another locked door only accessible via key card. Ooops. They all want to kill Hardison, which, understandable, and Parker breaks out the C4.
We cut from the bomb to a microwave in the Leverage Headquarters, where Hardison makes himself a meal and I was even more confused at this point, because I was like, if he's right there, why is he not on the computer helping them? But yeah, again, it'll be revealed later (though I find it a little flimsy that he would game an entire night and then at 4am come to HQ to make himself a hot pocket. But then again, it's Hardison, so, I buy it. :P).
Parker picks the lock to Haldeman's office and they are searching said office for any kind of incriminating evidence against him, while Hardison is watering a plant in HQ. I feel like that should be significant somehow but it's not? Or at least not as far as I can see, lol.
At the same time as Parker tries to boot up Haldeman's computer, Hardison turns on the computers in HQ and finally realizes what is going on, putting an earpiece in and telling the others a story about his electricity going out, lmao, okay, his excuses take some work. :P
But at least he's here now and can help them, but unfortunately, Haldeman also chooses that moment to arrive, cause apparently everybody is just casually awake at 4 in the night in this show, yeah, sure.
Hardison is hacking into their security system and there's a tense moment where everyone needs to skedaddle and of course Parker is left standing in the middle of the office but also of course she's not there when Haldeman comes in, cause it's Parker. :D Haldeman talks on the phone to someone about assets on a flight to the Cayman's that leaves in an hour.
Nate surmises that Haldeman is gonna bankrupt the division responsible for the kid's death, making it impossible to prove anything ever, so he says they need to be on that flight, even when it leaving in an hour makes that seem pretty impossible. But of course, nothing is impossible for the team, so they get going, Parker already waiting for Nate and Eliot in front of the office.
Eliot: "How does she do that?"
Nate: "I don't even ask anymore."
It's Parker! That's the answer, lol. Have I mentioned I love her too? Cause I do.
Hardison gets the team an elevator down and they all still look grumpy that they had to take the stairs up (very understandable). In the lobby, Sophie, sorry, Michelle, is still entertaining the security guards and what follows is one of my favorite scenes which gotta be one of the funniest moments of the entire show so far when the others just run out of the elevator into the lobby, screaming "It's right behind us, it's creepy, it's chasing us!" giving the security guards the shock of their lives and themselves the opportunity to just run out of the building without any questions asked, leaving those poor boys behind with their guns drawn, eternally confused. :P
That was so funny, omg, I loved it. :D And Sophie just going with it, running out with the others, cause of course she does.
Now they're at the airport, with Hardison getting tickets for the plane, two in first class, and of course both Nate and Sophie have several ID's on them, two of them with matching surnames (Tom and Sarah Jane Baker, in a very obvious nod to Doctor Who after Nate already had the ID's of Peter Davidson and Sylvester McCoy. I love these kind of homages, they're hilarious. :P). And again, of course Sophie has wedding bands on her. You know, just in case. Like any good grifter and thief.
Eliot says he doesn't need a ticket, he got an Air Marshal badge, so, great for him. Parker gets to be a flight attendant after one of the flight's attendants gets a phone call from Hardison telling her that her kitty, Fidget, has been picked up by animal control and that she needs to come immediately to claim him. She is very distraught, immediately leaving (after a little unnoticed swap and grab of her carry on bag, of course) and I love her already, poor bb, she's adorable, I hope she doesn't get into trouble for bailing on her job and not notifying anyone (or maybe she did notify them and Hardison intercepted the call? Whichever it is, I hope she'll be fine).
Parker changes into the flight attendant's uniform from kitty lover's bag and Sophie asks how she knew there would be one in there (which, hmmm, feels like she should know that over the boys, it's kinda hard to believe she never impersonated a flight attendant. But then again, maybe she just always had a uniform with her or stole it from somewhere else). Either way, the guys' answer to how they know it is hilarious:
*in unison*
Nate: "Worked airport security."
Eliot: "Slept with a flight attendant."
At the security checkpoint, Nate and Sophie's bag gets checked and there are some 'interesting' items in there, which Sophie claims is due to having grabbed the bags from lost and found and having been too much in a hurry to check them, lol.
Meanwhile, Hardison is in Nate's office checking his online game habit (poker, chess, sudoku, just what's expected, lol). Nate tells him to go back to Genogrow and find the smoking gun because they're going to take that company down.
On the plane, everyone gets seated and Parker tells the other flight attendant that Becky (ah, that's kitty-lovers name) got promoted, lol. Again, hope she'll be fine after this and not get into any trouble, but I guess they can brush it off as a prank or some official investigation thing? I have no idea, lol.
Nate and Sophie try to get their cover stories straight and squabble over their own background because Nate says they met 8 years ago while Sophie says 10. Well… Then Parker goes on the intercom to say some not so helpful things about the plane crashing and being on fire, which, honestly, should have clued me in to what exactly would happen in this episode, lol.
Who in the world had the bright idea to let Parker do the security instructions anyways? I knew from the first word that this was not gonna end well. :P Eliot agrees with me, facepalming throughout her speech. :D
The plane lifts off when Nate outlines their plan of finding out what the assets are and stealing them without anyone noticing in the 5 and a half hours of the flight. Everyone gets comfortable (more or less in Eliot's case with a sleeping passenger on his shoulder, lol) and we get introduced to our other player, a lady asking Parker for ginger ale for her nervous stomach (I only realized she was a major player here when she asked the second time, shame on me, lol), with Parker refusing and telling her to hurl into the paper bag if she has to, cause she's got a system and she's not gonna change that. Okay, so I love Parker but that was a little rude.
Hardison tells them over the comms that the comms still work (lol) and that he's about to head into Genogrow, kicking off one of the funniest side stories in this episode, his brief stint as a Genogrow employee, though at first, he comes in as a maintenance worker to gain quick access, changing in the elevator, majorly confusing Steve (yes, I remember his name cause he gets mentioned a lot later). :P
On the plane they're now checking all the carry on bags for everything that could qualify as assets, with a bored Parker literally throwing snack packs at passengers in between, lmao. Worst flight attendant ever. :P Though she also talks to ginger ale lady (I do not remember her name) and basically tells her that everyone could die at any second, flights are not that special in that regard (the funniest thing for me about this is that of all the ways to die that she mentions here, car crash, house fire, electrocution, drowning, autoerotic asphyxiation, guess which one is the only one someone I personally knew actually died from? Hint, it's the one that's only there for comedic effect, but yeah, that does happen, and no, that shouldn't be funny but, well, there you are). Which, I mean, she has a point but depending on the level of anxiety this poor woman has, I'd say she might make it even worse. Though, after this, I'm guessing she'll either be totally over her fear of flying or never ever fly again anyways, lol.
Sophie stumbles into another passenger so that Nate can check his bag and this prompts another discussion between them about Nate forgetting details. Yep, that's a thing now. Lol
Hardison talks to another Genogrow employee, Cheryl, or more like, she does the talking about how much of an asshole Steve is, getting the conversation into World of Warcraft, which is how Nate learns that Hardison bailed on the job to play the new expansion pack. I never got into WoW, but I do get bailing on something for a game, yup. :D Hardison now fakes a meeting to get Haldeman out of his office and actually does a great job of it, claiming a tummy ache in the middle so that he can bail and leave Steve in charge to keep Haldeman busy. It works and he gets into his office undisturbed.
Parker tells the others that she found a hatbox full of Euros, uncut diamonds and a stolen Stradivarius, which she is clearly itching to steal for herself, lol. Turns out, all the thieves go to the Cayman's to stash their merchandise, cause of course they do. Hardison tells them that there are two Genogrow employees on the flight, one Marissa, accountant, in coach and one Dan, head of security, in first class, with Marissa obviously being ginger ale lady, which Parker realizes with a really cute pout, like seriously, adorable. :D
She gives Marissa a cushion and asks her why she flies in the first place if she hates it so much, which, yeah, that's a good in right there. Of course, Marissa says it's not by choice, it's a business trip and tells her freely she works for Genogrow and when Parker says someone else on the flight mentioned they work there, Marissa clearly has no idea but says she's not surprised cause nobody ever tells her anything. I really like her, she's cute, I'm glad she's not the bad guy here which for a second I thought she might be.
Nate and Sophie stage a fight in front of Dan, so that Sophie can engross herself to him, talking over a shared glass of wine. Meanwhile, Nate learns from Hardison that Dan called Haldeman right before the flight, so they think he's likely in charge of the assets, though Hardison says he's standing outside Marissa's office and there's people there packing up everything, so he assumes she's the target here, making her the asset Haldeman wants liquidated. Oooops, that's not good.
Sophie thinks they should tell Marissa that she's in danger but Parker says she's already not okay, so that's a bad idea. Sophie is the one to say that she's the smoking gun they were looking for (see? I said that would come back, lol, I love it) and Nate says to tell her, but thinks Eliot should do the talking since he has a badge.
Eliot leads Marissa through the plane to a secluded space in first class, using his badge to get her to come with him and for the flight attendant to let him through. He first talks to her about Genogrow and she tells him that she found irregularities directly linked to the kids' death (she doesn't know about that though). She talked to Haldeman about this, which explains how she's the smoking gun and why he wants to get rid of her. He sent her on this trip to 'correct' the 'error', or, more like, to kill her, whoops.
Before Eliot can break the news of this to her delicately, Parker swoops in with a can of ginger ale and tells Marissa that the guy in 1D wants to kill her. Okay, well, that's not how you do that but it was funny. :D Sophie takes over to calm Marissa down and Nate tells Eliot that he needs to introduce himself to Dan.
Hardison meanwhile is quite bored listening to Cheryl and Steve fight about carrot on the cob (lol) and when Nate tells him he needs Haldeman's hard drive he gets the bright idea to pretend it's his birthday to get Haldeman out of his office for the birthday party. I mean, it is a pretty good idea and does get him what he needs.
Sophie and Marissa drink some wine at the first class bar, in full view of Dan, who obviously follows them when they leave to 'stretch their legs' as Sophie says, giving Eliot the opportunity to intercept Dan and beat him up in the toilet, with Parker slapping an 'out of order' sign on it afterwards, lol. This was about the moment when I thought this was a bit too easy and that maybe Dan was the good guy here and Marissa the bad guy but Dan had a ceramic knife on him, so that wasn't very likely.
I wasn't totally wrong though, since it gets revealed (through something Hardison found that I honestly didn't really understand, but okay) that the actual goal was not to just kill Marissa but to kill both of them and Eliot says the easiest way to do that would be by killing them in transfer.
Sophie: "You mean bring down the plane they're on? You mean bring down the plane we're on?"
Dun-Dun-Dun! And there it is! Big whoopsie.
Now everyone is understandably very stressed as they need to find a bomb that's probably either in Dan's bag or Marissa's luggage. Parker is already on it before Nate can even tell her to go into the cargo hold to check and Nate and Eliot go to talk to Dan, unsuccessfully though, since as Eliot says, if he knocks people out they tend to stay knocked out. Yeah… But they find his luggage tags, so, all is not lost.
Parker tells the other flight attendant that her crawling into the cargo hold is due to a medical emergency. I love how that flight attendant only ever communicates in eyerolls and exasperated stares, lol. In the cargo hold, Parker doesn't find anything in either Marissa's or Dan's luggage, but then Hardison gets the idea to have her check the electrical system and ta-da, there's some kind of device there, right under the cockpit.
Hardison: "This device you found, is it anywhere near an orange box?"
Parker: "Yeah."
Hardison: "Oh god, they tapped into the black box."
Parker: "No, no, it's not black, it's orange."
Lol. I mean, she has a point, but I also did know that the black box of a plane is orange due to it being easier to find in case of, you know, boom, crash, debris (I watch a lot of those kind of shows). Right when Parker realizes that the boom, crash and debris applies to her, right now, the device starts sending a virus into the planes electronic system. Not good.
Nate and Eliot go into the cockpit, with Eliot saying he's an Air marshal and Nate's an engineer a second before everything goes horribly wrong and the plane goes into a nosedive. We get the obligatory shots of passengers screaming, with Marissa and Sophie being the most prominent ones, of course.
Hardison has a little crisis of faith whether he can help them or not but Nate talks him through it and he gets himself together and tells Parker to sever the wires between the device and the black box.
A few tense minutes follow in which Parker severs the wires and the pilots count down how high in the air they still are. When the device is finally disconnected, the system can be restarted, which Hardison's code does. They're only 5000 feet in the air, so flying further is out of the question, they need to land somewhere. Nate points to a highway in the middle of water and then joins the screaming passengers with Eliot to strap in for the landing.
The pilots frantically prepare for what's definitely not going to be a smooth landing and there's a little moment between Nate and Sophie where she asks him if he's gonna remember this one and he just answers "oh, yeah". I mean, that's kind of a given.
There are cars shown on the highway, but when they actually set down there are none, so I elect to believe they saw the plane coming and stopped without there being huge accidents. Hopefully. I wonder if a water landing would have been safer under the circumstances, but that's probably just opening a whole other can of worms. Like the plane sinking and all that not so great stuff.
Hardison does a little dance when he sees on the TV that the plane set down safely and it's adorable. "I was so scared. I wanna cry, call my mama." He's such a sweetheart, I love him. Nate tells him he needs to get out of Genogrow since Haldeman is about to find out his smoking gun isn't dead and Hardison stages a scene of getting fired right in front of the door where all the other employees are stills celebrating his birthday.
Cheryl: "He was always so thoughtful."
Steve: "I never liked that guy."
And thus concludes Hardison's brief stint as an office worker, lmao, it was memorable to say the least. :D
Back in HQ, they're all watching Haldeman get arrested, yay, thus concludes another successful case. Hardison is still in the doghouse though, even when he tries to sway them all by saying he saved their lives from 3000 miles away. Which, to be fair, he did.
Nate and Sophie have a little chat about how they were both right because they saw each other for the first time 10 years ago but only met each other properly 8 years ago. I mean, that's an important distinction to make if one wants to do that.
And that's it, that's the episode. I really enjoyed it a lot, it was so much fun and the case was engaging and had its interesting twists and turns. Everyone had their little important moments, especially Hardison and of course, there was a plane involved, so, there really isn't anything I could want more. :D