we start off with Victor Dubenich begging Nathan Ford for his help in retrieving stolen aircraft plans from his rival. he points out that the rival uses the same insurance company Nate used to work for, the insurance company that refused treatment for Nate's sick son and let him die, so of course Nate's going to do it.
Dubenich has hired a crack team of criminals who ALWAYS work alone: Alec Hardison, the computer geek; Eliot Spencer, who was a Green Beret and then did a lot of hitting people for various reasons after leaving the military; and Parker, the thief, who is kind of like if Louise Belcher didn't have loving parents. his idea is that Nate can be the mastermind who figures out how to use them and get the stolen plans back.
he makes the plans! they do the plans! they develop respect for each other, but they're never going to work together again, because they work ALONE. ...and then the next day, Nate wakes up to a phone call from Dubenich saying he never received the plans, so they're not getting paid, unless he meets him at a particular warehouse. when he gets there, the other three are there too: we've been double-crossed!
they escape the warehouse, but end up in the hospital with state police watching them. of course, they figure out an exciting plan to elude them, and when they get back to Nate's place, they find out that they weren't stealing the plans BACK for Dubenich... they were just straight-up stealing the plans. Nate says, "We're going to do something about this." Eliot says, "What's in it for me?" "Payback, and if it goes right, a lot of money." Parker says, "Well, what's in it for ME?" "A lot of money, and it if goes right, payback." Hardison? "I was just gonna send a thousand porno mags to his office, this sounds like more fun!"
but how will they do that? Dubenich knows their faces! "Don't worry," says Nate, "I know the perfect person." he takes them to a performance of the scottish play, with a truly horrendous attempt at Lady Macbeth. "she is extremely awful," says Hardison. Nate says, "This is not her stage." at the stage door, we meet Sophie Deveraux, a grifter and an art thief.
Sophie goes into Dubenich's office and convinces him she can get him connected to African officials who need airplanes like his. ("This," Nate tells Hardison, "is her stage.") the plan also includes Eliot dressing up as an IT guy and telling the receptionist that he likes to work out so he can be built enough to cosplay Klingons at conventions. Dubenich thinks he's figured it out, and he accuses all the African officials of being paid actors out to get him... except he's got it wrong, they're real and they're furious, and now the evidence is out that he's a piece of shit! our heroes walk out like this.
at last, they've been paid for their work! they can walk away from each other forever... right?
the episode ends with the five of them talking to a bereaved couple, telling them that the world is full of powerful people who push people like them aside, "and we... we provide leverage."
home: carlotta
by abby, fucking around in 2023. made with love, powered by sugarfree red bull.
