Oh, those nasty, nasty contractors. Having grown up around the world of contracting, this episode wins on the believable bad guy who deserves whatever Team Leverage can do to him front. Taking advantage of the victims of natural disasters? Run of the mill for a GC.

I do have to admire the simplicity of the scam Retzing & Sons pull, though.

1. Swoop in on stunned victims of natural disaster.
2. Convince victims to take out an equity loan to cover repair work.
3. Dawdle. ((This part comes naturally to most GCs. They must teach it in Contractor 101.))
4. Do shoddy work. ((Ibid.))
5. Wait for victim to default on loan payments, and since equity has been sucked out of the house thanks to shoddy, delayed word, they have little choice but to default.
6. File a contractor’s lien.
7. Profit.

See? Better than underwear gnomes. There are more steps, but none are missing.

I’m not sure where tonight’s episode was in shooting order, but Nate’s drinking seems a little less under control than in some episodes which have already aired. It is of course possible that the manner in which Nate took the Scotts’ plight so personally – the father seeing the true victim as his son – effected Nate for the duration of the job. It’s also possible his self-control will wax and wane for the foreseeable future as a character trait. And we shouldn’t discount the possibility that his self-control is writer-deterministic. ((Example of a writer-deterministic trait: how strong is Buffy Summers? Depends. Does she need to defeat a dozen vamps in 30 seconds, or should she struggle against one for a full episode? Whatever the story demands, the writers shall provide.))

Nate’s behavior throughout was more reckless because of his personal feelings, likely abetted by the booze, and it took all Sophie’s efforts to keep the team assuaged. However, the problem with the show’s formula is that the team never loses. Tearing up the $500K check and giving Dennis $100K never felt like risks to me. To the team – especially Parker – they were monumental risks, but sitting in my recliner with my frosty beverage at hand, I was as confident as Nate that all would work out in the end. If Leverage is to elevate itself beyond entertaining diversion to really compete with its kindred show – Thursday’s Burn Notice – the team’s got to lose sometimes. I need to wonder if Nate’s drinking has cost the team money or put them in real danger. I need to worry about the Detective Lieutenant riding Nate’s ass.

That said, I still enjoyed this one a lot. It does aim to be a light-hearted diversion and hits its mark successfully. As I said, this was a big bad who really deserved it, and it helped that the family was massively screwed up. You’ve got Henry and Randy, both utter morons to the point where Henry thinks Sophie is *French* when she says, “Gutentag”. They treat Dennis with contempt, despite the fact he’s the brains of the family. That got the nerd-hackles up in me. Then, just when I was feeling the tiniest bit of sympathy for Dennis, thinking maybe he’s just an honest guy doing his father’s bidding, he shows his true colors. Openly admitting the despicable way they’ve bilked 400 people out of their homes, and doing it in a way that makes it clear this is an innovation he brought to bear with his Duke MBA, ((Well, duh. Any basketball fan can tell you Dukies are d-bags.)) makes him the greater villain. Man, this was a cathartic job.

TNT’s really pulling out all the stops on Tuesday nights to get the Whedonverse tuned in. Christian Kane, of course, is a draw. But they’re really pulling in the vets to make guest appearances. Danny Strong and Sam Anderson are both familiar faces from those worlds. What with Bones reruns now following Leverage, I think I see a trend.

I thought Strong was particularly, well uh, strong, tonight. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, and it was nice to see him stretch beyond his usual nebbish roles to be a smart, conniving badass. I’d have to go back to the “Superstar” episode of BtVS to find a performance in which he seemed to enjoy himself so much.

Unfortunately for him, Team Leverage is smarter and badass-ier.

Some other thoughts:

• “Do you put milk on the fortune cookies?”
• Sophie as a medalist in the luge: cute. The *actual* medalist, seeing her face replaced on the Internet as Hardison is doing it: brilliant. That is now the funniest computer hack Hardison has performed.
• I like the Toblerone touch. Really sold it.
• I was quite amused by Parker’s monotone calls for help when she was hanging from the lift chair. They reminded me of Willy Wonka’s calls for help when Augustus Gloop fell in the chocolate river. ((Particularly amusing as Willy Wonka had been name checked a few scenes earlier.))
• Parker’s swan dive into Eliot’s arms, of course taken without knowing he was there. Now, that girl is reckless.
• I don’t know and don’t care if the names of the classic scams the guys mentioned are real. They’re funny: “the London Spank,” “the Genevan Paso Doble,” and “the Apple Pie: it’s like the Cherry Pie with lifeguards.”
• Dennis to his brother Randy: “I’m sorry, we’re losing you. Your strip joint must be driving through a tunnel.”
• Yet another technical solution from Hardison that might cause death or death-like symptoms.
• Hardison has a Roshambo tell.

What did everyone else think?