S01.E11: The Jackal Job

[tessaray]

The Leverage team explores the failing memory of a legendary grifter to try and find her greatest score before her abusive Elder Guardian gets his hands on it and takes over her life.

Original air date: October 8, 2021
 

[SnapHappy]

This episode was fine, just not my favorite.  I just don't get why Stella never looked for Jo & their daughter.  All those wasted years, just doesn't make sense.  What was Stella doing for money?

I did love when Parker did her crazy, acting out with Harry.  I love her in those roles.  

[DearEvette]

This is a nice episode.  Joanna Cassidy (who played Stella/The Jackal) looks great.  Holy cow she has aged beautifully.

I really liked the flashbacks and watching the relationship between Stella and Jo unfold.  Having Sophie be the stand in for flashback Stella reminds me of the 'Van Gogh Job' episode where Parker/Hardison played the star crossed lovers in the flashback.

And yes, my only quibble is... why did Jo and the daughter never come back for Stella?  Eddie was dead and no longer a threat.  Were they assuming his associates might come after the gold and were still a potential threat and so they stayed hidden? 

Two really good Sophie-centric episodes in a row.  Also she and Breanna make a good team.

[MissLucas]

Joanna Cassidy looked so great it was almost distracting. Plots dealing with scumbags who abuse vulnerable elderly people always make me incredibly angry so I was glad for the distraction. On the plus-side we got a bit more insight in Breanna's past and it was a nice touch that she was better suited to deal with Stella than Sophie who is normally the people person but was hampered by her fan-girling.

That said, it really made no sense that Jo and her daughter never came back or that Stella never went looking for them. I was also surprised that Stella had not come clear to Jo once they were settled in New Orleans. How did they finance their lifestyle? Stella could not go on grifting though I think she returned to grifting afterwards? Clearly most the cons the team listed took place after the separation *confused*

[roctavia]

So when Parker was transported in Harry's box of stuff (Loved the they're like portable vents!) she popped out of the box with a stethoscope on... perhaps a nod to ER since it was Harry's stuff?  It's fun looking for all of these little easter eggs :P

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by roctavia

[Maelstrom]

Another solid episode! A good one for Sophie and Breanna as well. Nice to get a few more tidbits more of B's backstory. The parallels between Sophie and Stella were nicely done - Sophie was such a mystery in the original run, even more so than Eliot, that it's been so wonderful in this reboot to give to know her more, and separately from Nate for that matter. She's such a fascinating character, and her connection with Stella was a good way to give us more of a glimpse into Sophie, who she is and how she views herself. I would imagine that Alzheimers/memory loss for a grifter would be especially hard, since grifters live as so many different people and the loss of identity would be even worse than for a regular person.

Parker does love playing crazy, doesn't she? I also loved the "Boxes are just vents that move!" revelation.

Fun to see the Lucille Food Trucks actually being used for food. And I do believe that was the DB Cooper song playing in the bar during the flashback! I love how seamlessly they're able to slip in callbacks. It's like a hug from the writers :D

[blueray]

Well that was kind of a tear jerker. I am glad they got the scumbag. Though I also was confused about why she didn't go after them or why they didn't go find her (seeing as she never left it would have been easy). She still was in the same house. And if it was because Jo murdered someone, it was defending Stella. Which makes me realize how did Jo get the gun? It fell out of the box and was on the ground. The original version made sense as she was in reach, but Jo came in through the door. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I wonder if, prior to meeting Jo, she was "The Jackal" as portrayed by Glenne Headly in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

 

[DoctorAtomic]

I really liked this episode to that it might be my tops of the series. I like the 70s England crime time period. The brilliance was that the Jackal *didn't* raid the safe. Not knowing the gold was actually in the car, that's the right move to make. 

I'm not so sure who actually shot Earl because Stella wasn't a reliable narrator, nor did she know who got rid of the body. 

Parker is now "The Parker" where she can 'consider this to be a personal favor'. I mean, wow. 

I totally knew the switch with the gun in the umbrella though. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I recall her being "THE Parker" in "Girls' Night Out."

[Johannah]

Another great episode.  

Agree with you all in wondering why Stella and Jo didn't get back together.  I thought maybe Stella couldn't find Jo, but after she came back, that wasn't the reason.  I'm sure they got rid of the body somewhere, but that wouldn't separate them.  Doesn't make sense.  I doubt the husband's gang would follow him to the US for revenge.  They didn't seem the loyal type if it took too much effort - and no guarantee of the money or goods.

Harry is getting good at ad-libbing the cons, like with Parker acting crazy.  And also, "I have a table like that one..."

Parker's part in this one was small, but great.  Movable air vents!  "Do you think Hardison would put me in a box?"  "I do not have to hear that."

Did we know Breanna was gay?  It was nice learning more about her and her past.  She was really great this episode.

Sophie reflecting on Nate was sad.  She still misses him so much.  I may have teared up a little.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Johann

[marceline]

21 hours ago, Johann said:

Did we know Breanna was gay?  It was nice learning more about her and her past.  She was really great this episode.

Sophie reflecting on Nate was sad.  She still misses him so much.  I may have teared up a little.

I thought I'd missed that about Breanna. If this was new information, then I liked the reveal.

Sophie saying "With Nate it was quick..." makes me wonder if he died from an illness like the cancer that took his son.

[jelaine]

8 minutes ago, marceline said:

I thought I'd missed that about Breanna. If this was new information, then I liked the reveal.

Sophie saying "With Nate it was quick..." makes me wonder if he died from an illness like the cancer that took his son.

I think I remember them saying something in the first half about a heart issue related to his drinking.

Or I'm hallucinating. Either or.

[P2C2E]

Breanna has been coded as queer throughout. For me, The Card Game Job was the most obvious episode. I use queer simply because we don't know whether she's gay, bi, pansexual etc. But she's definitely not straight. 

 

[Lugal]

36 minutes ago, marceline said:

Sophie saying "With Nate it was quick..." makes me wonder if he died from an illness like the cancer that took his son.

I guessed it was something like cirrhosis due to his drinking.

[Llywela]

9 hours ago, jelaine said:

I think I remember them saying something in the first half about a heart issue related to his drinking.

Or I'm hallucinating. Either or.

No, you're not hallucinating. Sophie definitely said in an earlier episode that his heart gave out.

[chaifan]

The plot about the corrupt guardian was very very very similar to I Care a Lot, which was on Netflix last year.  So much so, I have to believe they lifted it right from the movie.  If you haven't seen it, do.  It goes further into how this guardian scam works and will scare the bejeebus out of you if you see yourself in that position someday.  It's excellently done.

Not a bad episode.  Lots of plot holes, as pointed out above.  But it was a good way to get Breanna involved in an episode besides having her behind a computer. 

 

 

[seacliffsal]

Welp, it seems like I'm the only one who didn't care for this episode.  Although they made connections to "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (one of my most favorite movies) this episode's Jackal didn't seem like she did everything that the "world's greatest grifter" would have achieved.  The back-story was set in 1971 but the movie is from 1988.  There was a photo of the home from the movie (and they even said it was located in Beaumont-Sur-Mer) so it seemed like a clear connection, but it also sounded like Stella didn't do or go anywhere after Earl was killed.  So, when was this brilliant career?  Anyway, I was way easily distracted during this episode as it didn't hold my attention.

[Llywela]

8 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

it also sounded like Stella didn't do or go anywhere after Earl was killed.  So, when was this brilliant career?

It was all a bit messier than we've come to expect from Leverage, right? I figured Stella must have gone back to being a world-famous grifter after losing her family, but kept that house as her home base and then eventually retired to it. It would potentially explain why Jo and the daughter never found her, if they perhaps came looking at a time when she was away stealing stuff. But that's just a rationalisation, the episode didn't explain it at all.

[Mabinogia]

This was my least favorite of the season. I still enjoyed it, but while I feel like I could watch some of the other eps over and over, this one I'm fine not seeing again, even though I love Gina Bellman so it was fun seeing her in the flashbacks, I just wasn't engaged in the story at all. 

 

[aradia22]

I was excited for this one based on the premise (legendary grifter + elder abuse). 

It was surprising that Antonio wasn't part of the con and was really just a nurse. But then again Phil thought Stella was just another target. 

If there was a weakness this episode, it was what Parker said. Phil looked like a used carman sleaze. He had none of the charisma of an actor. His acting was too "realistic" in that he just seemed like a guy. 

I was scared that something was wrong with Nana but they sidestepped it by having Brianna's experience come from her own grandmother. 

I wish they'd gotten a different actress for Stella's flashbacks. It could have been a real Cold Case kind of episode but Gina threw it off. I didn't think she had the right chemistry with the flashback actors, she was probably too old for the character, and it was distracting to have a familiar actor walking through the flashbacks. tbf, the direction was also bad. I did not understand so many of the camera angles/coverage. The camera seemed to be flitting around inhibiting the viewer's ability to connect to the emotions of the characters. I did like the outline of the story. I just didn't think the execution worked. 

"A box is basically a vent that moves!" Parker puts the cat in cat burglar.

Did the makeup artist seriously just paint Josephine's arm for the bruise? It almost looked metallic. 

I knew it was going to be in the painting from the moment Stella snatched it back from Phil. Too obvious.

They really better not make Harry and Sophie a couple. 

[AncientNewbie]

Usually I can't get past my own legal nitpicking of law-based plot points, so I'd like to thank the people that set this in Louisiana, because I'll believe anything about how their legal system might work.