S01.E12: The Golf Job

[tessaray]

An old friend visits, sparking a self-doubting Harry to uncover an unlikely client on the links at his exclusive golf club.

Original air date: October 8, 2021
 

[Zonk]

A bit of a one note character for James Masters. I would have liked to see a more fun villain from him, maybe recurring.

The interludes of Sophie and Parker in the vatican were amazing. I guess they are doing a few episodes this season that are light on certain characters to squeze out one or two more episodes? It actually makes for a nice change of pace, mixing the team up now and then.

Does Drew Powell keep getting hotter or do I just belong in horny jail?

[Lugal]

The real draw in this one was the return of Hurley and Drew Powell delivered.  I liked Hurley a little more in control of himself and actively helping on the cons, although during his breakdown the first things he asks for are cocaine and tacos.  "I had a serious taco problem!"

Parker and Sophie's interludes are fun. I love when they can throw in the random stuff like that because it makes it so much fun to imagine what they're doing, it works like the Noodle Incident.  Did they say they were in Colombia? 

I was fine with James Marsters as a once-and-done villain, although I wouldn't mind seeing more of Sarah the padawan-lawyer.

Also, nice shout out to the South Korean Leverage series: "Lee Tae-joon and his crew are killing it over there!"  First, I want to see that show in North America, and second if they do another season there, I want to see Hurley appear on it!

Edited October 10, 2021 by Lugal

[MissLucas]

I feel bad because I have no idea who Hurley is (I did a Google search but my mind still refuses to come up with any memories) but I enjoyed the episode. Loved Eliot nearly slipping in a 'Dammit Hardison!' - he's missing his buddy. Agreed that James Master's character was a bit one-note.

The randomness of the Sophie and Parker interludes was hilarious. But this was clearly Harry's episode and he did a pretty good job despite some snafus. I wonder what will happen to Sarah - even though she ended up on the right side of the law her path getting there was a bit dodgy. I hope she does not lose her job. I would like to see her again. She was a good foil for Harry.

[DearEvette]

Yeah, Hurley has been on the show twice before.  He was initially a mark in the "12 Step Job" where he was initially thought to be a crooked investment broker but he was basically a gambler with other people's money trying to get them more but losing it and he had a really an addictive personality.  He was not a bad person just had his demons.  He showed up again in the 'Boys Night Out Job.'

I thought this one also had some nice easter eggs.  First since it was mostly Harry, Elliot and Hurley it had a bit of a 'Boys Night Out' vibe because it was centered on just the guys.  Also that job had Hurley being conned by the Mexican mafia and a someone named Sister Lupe where he thinks he was bringing in statues of the Virgin Mary to a church but they were being used to smuggle in drugs.  So Sophie and Parker doing a church job felt like a little wink toward that as well.

I thought James Marsters' character was slimy and evil enough that he got a great comeuppance.  I like that when the FBI was taking them all out, the crooked lawyer and the hired muscle thugs went meekly but he was struggling.  LOL. 

Awww, Elliot let out a "Dammit Hardi-" only to realize Hardsion wasn't there to be to dammit'ed.  I know how he feels.  I need a real in person Hardison fix!

I liked the young lawyer.  Harry made her go all Karen for a good cause.  LOL.  I especially like that girlfriend always had her mace at the ready.  I wonder if we'll see her again.  She seems like a recurring type the show likes to keep in their pocket.

 

[Maelstrom]

I loved this one so much I had to watch it twice. So many great lines and callbacks flying fast and furious, I'd laugh at something and miss two more jokes.

Hurley!! He was on my shortlist of characters I wanted to see back, so this made me very happy. And he's part of the gang now, helping other crews! I love it, because he always wanted to help people and do good things anyway (he was just real bad at it on his own, lol). And I loved seeing how close he's become everyone, such as being able to read Eliot so well on the course - "all this quiet and sunshine is making you suck" HA - and figure out how he could help him complete the con - by annoying him, of course!

And I LOVED the shoutout to the South Korean Leverage team. I've been a big fan of Korean shows for years now, and I've been dying to watch their 2019 remake of the original Leverage series but alas, it has yet to be available anywhere in North America. So I will continue waiting, and in the meantime appreciate that Hurley name-checks several of the characters from the remake here in this ep.

OK, now that all that's out of my system - a strong ep with serious "Boy's Night Out" vibes. Clearly this was filmed the same time as "Paranormal Hacktivity Job". I'm not a fan of split-cast filming because it generally detracts from the fun of an ensemble show but this ep pulled it off. The little appearances of Sophie and Parker mid-con were a fun way to bring them into this even while they worked their own job (I got a kick out of Sophie's vaguely southern/midwestern accent while wearing a fake mustache/goatee and a priest's robes).

Sarah was a very likable and sympathetic character, and I'd definitely be up for future appearances. Her talks with Harry about good and bad lawyers were really interesting and helped flesh out Harry that much more by reminding him that lawyers can (and should) do good in the world. Bao (I hope I'm spelling that right) was another great character, and the actor really sold it for me even though he didn't have a lot of lines. I only wish we had gotten to see more of him.

Damn, that mark was something else - as if being a human trafficker wasn't bad enough, he just comes out and brags about it. What a bastard. Seeing the crew take him down was a real pleasure.

Finally, so many callbacks to the original - tacos and gambling, Eliot getting a sandwich named after his baseball player alias, Hurley jokingly calling Parker Sister Lupe at the end ("I don't think she's a real nun!"), there were too many to remember. And the little mini Librarians reunion with the three boys on the golf course (Drew Powell guested in a second season ep that I've forgotten the name of).

[Lugal]

On rewatch, I caught a few things I missed, like Sophie's "nurse" went by the name Carol Hathaway, which was apparently Julianna Marguiles character on ER.  According to Noah Wyle, only he and the writer caught that through all of filming.

When Hurley was talking about the Korean team, he mentioned to Elliot that "Roy named his dog after you."  I found some clips of Korean Leverage on Youtube and Roy Ryu (their Hitter) does in fact have a little dog, but my Korean isn't good enough to tell if he's named Elliot.

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Damn, that mark was something else - as if being a human trafficker wasn't bad enough, he just comes out and brags about it. What a bastard. Seeing the crew take him down was a real pleasure.

"The Jack Hurley I know is only addicted to one thing: wiping the smile of that guy's face!"

[blueray]

I liked this episode, as it's just the guys episode. I do wonder if we'll get the what the girls were doing. But maybe no context is the best. I laughed out loud at the scene were Sophie just starts "dramatically crying". And of course Parker was jumping in from the ceiling behind her.

The whole time I was watching James Masters I kept thinking that he is Milton Fine to me, only to look him up after and remember that he was also Spike in Buffy. He really does just play jerks doesn't he. This of course was no exception. Actually Spike maybe the best of the bunch...

Edited October 15, 2021 by blueray

[gaucho91]

Carol Hathaway...that was awesome!

[Johannah]

The greens were a bit rough for a country club.  I've been on cheap courses that weren't that bumpy.

that's my only negative. 

Love all the stuff already mentioned and want to add Hardison sending Breanna to hackers camp or whatever it was.  And she can't answer her phone until she passes.

another great outing.

[aradia22]

I'm very curious about whatever Sophie was doing while they were pulling the golf con. It felt very old-fashioned to require a full mantilla. 

Harry was lucky he managed to convince the young lawyer to help him. On the other hand, it was frustrating (if realistic) that Bao seemed to reject them again and again. I'm actually not entirely sure if/when he agreed to help beyond the phone.

I feel like we didn't actually get a ton of James Marsters this episode. I wish they'd saved him for a better written villain.

I'm not sure I totally get the human trafficking scheme. Did it not involve sex work? Even domestic labor or childcare? How profitable is the nail salon business? Also, I feel like I didn't understand the plan well enough to enjoy the twist this episode. 

Not knowing anything about golf, that did seem more like any old park.

I did laugh at Sarah getting to use the pepper spray.

[Lugal]

2 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I'm not sure I totally get the human trafficking scheme. Did it not involve sex work? Even domestic labor or childcare? How profitable is the nail salon business? Also, I feel like I didn't understand the plan well enough to enjoy the twist this episode.

It's a lot more profitable than it would have been if he had to pay his workers.

[Llywela]

10 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I'm not sure I totally get the human trafficking scheme. Did it not involve sex work? Even domestic labor or childcare? How profitable is the nail salon business? Also, I feel like I didn't understand the plan well enough to enjoy the twist this episode. 

Human trafficking is not just about sex work. It is about forced labour, any forced labour, and it is big business. I'm in the UK, and I've seen news reports over here around the busting of human trafficking schemes where the forced labour involved might be anything from the beauty industry, as seen in this episode, to cockle picking. As @Lugal says, any industry is going to see huge boosts in its profits if they don't have to pay their workers.

[aradia22]

I think it was the lack of scale. They said in the episode that was the "biggest" of the nail salons and it had around 10 employees. We don't know how many other nail salons he owns. He was pressing them to spend less than 2 hours on clients but we got no sense of how many customers they had a day. Charging $20... even $40 per client, how much could they be making a day? We also saw how he was barely scraping by with his golf hustle. I only assumed sex work was involved with the mention of "seedy hotels" but apparently it was entirely nail salon-based business which again, seemed strange to me when there are other businesses with higher profit margins even when you actually pay your workers. It did feel like falling back on a stereotype to choose nail salons.

[AzraeltheCat]

I like this episode but there is NO WAY a young lawyer would not know what a partner in her firm looked like.  Even if he was out on paternity leave when she was hired, she would've looked at the website because that's what you do when you're interviewing, you gather intel.  

[andromeda331]

I love Hurley and glad he came back. I love him figuring out how to get Eliot to play well by getting him angry. Even Eliot's chili.

[GingerPudding]

CK played an evil lawyer on Angel, but I can't remember if Lindsay ever crossed over with Spike on the show. I was hoping there would be some little nod to that, but I didn't spot anything. 

[Llywela]

3 hours ago, GingerPudding said:

CK played an evil lawyer on Angel, but I can't remember if Lindsay ever crossed over with Spike on the show.

He did, yes. In the final season, Lindsay and Spike had a sub-plot together. If I remember rightly, Lindsay fooled Spike into believing he was 'Doyle' and basically acted out Angel and the real Doyle's initial arc from season one, claiming to have visions and sending Spike out as a champion to save the helpless. The gang were disgusted when they found out. Sometimes in shows like this when actors who've worked together before cross paths, there are tongue-in-cheek references, but this episode chose not to go down that road, for whatever reason.