LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Recap: The Weekend in Paris Job

It’s always a good time for a heist, but TWO? In the third season premiere of Leverage: Redemption, “The Weekend in Paris Job,” what starts as an “easy-peasy” art theft turns into something quite a bit more difficult. And to make things fun, while hiding out from their first mark, they stumble across a new one. And pull the most counter-intuitive con yet.

The Leverage team is feeling familiar and yet not. Hardison (Aldis Hodge) is back in the thick of it, but is he happy about it? Harry (Noah Wyle) helps out from a distance, but Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) doesn’t get any screentime at all. It’s the O.G. gang reunited for a Parisian jaunt where stealing an owl leads to saving a town back in the U.S.

Sophie peeks out a window past cream drapes. She's wearing a tailored pastel blue suit with coordinated blouse. Leverage: Redemption Episode 301 "The Weekend in Paris Job" — Leverage: Redemption – Image Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime

Leverage: Redemption, “The Weekend in Paris Job”

The Leverage: Redemption premiere opens at Sommersby’s Auction House in Paris, France. Hardison and Parker (Beth Riesgraf) step into a hallway; Hardison gives the team a go on the con. As they walk, he shares with Parker that he thinks they needed more prep for the job. Parker gives a heist recap. Their mark is Gustav Ekimov (Artur Zai Barrera), a Russian money launderer who uses art to finance terrorism. The con: steal the art.

They cross paths with Sophie (Gina Bellman) on the arm of a Frenchman, laughing and chatting in French. Hardison greets her. As they chat, Sophie passes a wallet to Hardison, who passes it to Parker, who extracts the access card they need and pops it back in the man’s pocket. They part ways. Parker continues a previous conversation, bemoaning the fact that they were in London for two weeks and never stole a thing. Hardison reminds her of Sophie’s rule: No “criming” while she’s visiting her step-daughter, Astrid (Alexandra Park), the Interpol agent.

Parker and Hardison slip into the now-accessible door. A security guard spots them, but Eliot (Christian Kane) intercepts him and drags him away, commenting as he does so that Sophie’s reconciliation with Astrid is awkward, just like his with his father. Sophie steps out of a nearby door, giving Eliot somewhere to stash the guard. She admits that giving Astrid a meaningful but stolen gift was a mistake.

This Is All One Long Pan BTW

Spotting a Sommersby’s staff member in the hallway, she greets him in German, pickpockets his phone, and throws it to Hardison as he walks by. He stops to help Parker climb into a ceiling vent. That done, he clones the phone, reassuring Sophie that she’s making good choices. Eliot’s fighting another guard in the next hallway. He gives Hardison access to the guard’s pocket to stick the stolen phone in and kicks him through a door.

Springboarding off the comment about choices, he asks Hardison if he’s talked to Parker about his. Hardison shushes him harshly, opens a door, revealing Parker hanging from the ceiling over a display case with a small gold owl inside. She asks what Eliot meant, and Hardison scrambles for an answer, throwing out a vague reference to Breanna. Sophie backs him up, reminding everyone that Breanna’s visiting some college campuses with Harry and his daughter.

Done Changing

Changing the topic back, Sophie asks Hardison what gift he’d get someone who works at Interpol. Parker drops out of the ceiling, hands Sophie the owl, and states, “Nate (Timothy Hutton) and Astrid are the same.” Sophie wonders out loud if there’s just too much change all at once. Parker’s concerned about more changes. She says she’s done changing. Hardison tries to talk to her about that, but Eliot interrupts as he joins them. Eliot brings the conversation back to Gustav Ekimov, whose owl they’ve just stolen. Turning around, Eliot points out that a very drunk Ekimov is about to walk into the room that is now owl-less.

The team runs, jumping into a catering van and speeding away. Ekimov’s men follow in two sedans and shoot at them while Hardison’s working on finding an escape route. Parker says they’ll have to lose the pursuers first, and the van’s not fast enough. Eliot throws a bag of flour over his shoulder and opens the back doors. He throws the bag of flour at the car, triggering the airbags and knocking out the goons in the front seats. Eliot takes the rest out but sustains a bad knife wound to his left bicep in the fight.

Not a Normal Crowd

Outside a large estate house on the outskirts of Paris, Sophie observes guests arriving from a distance. In the back of the van, Eliot is duct-taping his arm to slow the bleeding. Parker steals two sets of wait staff uniforms for Hardison and herself. Hardison informs the team that all the CCTVs within a mile’s radius are shut off. He also discovers the estate house has an entrance to the Paris Catacombs, which excites Parker. They’ll use the catacombs to escape.

Eliot acts as Sophie’s security as she mingles. When Hardison’s looking for an identity for her, he finds a new one named Violet Cesario that makes Sophie laugh nervously. Eliot’s casing the room and identifies more than the usual armed security.

A woman’s voice cries out to be let go. Security drags Isabelle Dulotte (Tyla Harris) in. She’s accusing an American man in a suit of killing the farms around her town. The American directs the guard to take her to the vault to be dealt with after the party. The guests only chuckle and carry on.

Neddleton, Mississippi

Hardison discovers Isabelle is from Neddleton, Mississippi. She gets Harry on the phone, and he’s just passed Neddleton. Explaining that their host has something to do with that town, she tells Harry to drive back and investigate. Sophie decides it’s time to meet their host. She checks in with Hardison and Parker, who tell her the vault has a very big guard standing watch.

Parker reminds Hardison that the catacombs run under the house. Despite his dislike of “claustrophobic tunnels filled with thousands of skulls and dozens of generations of dead people,” he allows that it’s a way into the vault. Knowing the concrete is made of limestone, he heads for the kitchen.

Arizona Mike

Sophie finds the host, who introduces himself as Arizona Mike (Jack Coleman). Eliot realizes Mike is known for his hot wings. Mike explains that when he started out, he discovered supplying his own chickens for the wings required a lot of water. That led him to be the “water guy” at these resource auctions. Sophie uses the Victoria Chenenkov alias, representing the Russian Kirchtov Investment Group’s interests in Europe and America.

Hardison and Parker find the catacomb path right below the vault floor. As they’re setting up, Parker returns to the conversation Hardison said was about Breanna. He tries to introduce the idea of doing something different, but Parker’s perspective doesn’t dovetail with his. Instead, he focuses on the job at hand, explaining that limestone reacts to carbon, so forcing water through a charcoal filter will melt the mortar between the stones.

Mike gives Sophie and Eliot a tour and explains which countries are auctioning which resources at this summit. Sophie questions the number of government officials present. Mike explains that a lot of deals get made on the side, out of sight, and with no questions asked.

Water Is Life

In the vault, Isabelle sits on a crate. A sound comes from the ground. She looks down, and the floor’s paving stones suddenly fall away. Parker pops up and is dismayed at the empty vault. She introduces herself to Isabelle and asks what’s up with Mike. Isabelle explains that he stole the water from their town’s aquifer.

At the party, Mike reveals he has a tanker of water sitting in the port of New Orleans that’ll be up for auction. He walks away, and Sophie calls Harry. He’s in Neddleton and tells her the aquifer’s collapsed and there’s a visible sinkhole as proof.

Down in the vault, Isabelle is refusing to leave. She wants to get evidence that Mike is breaking the law. Parker tries to force her to leave, but Sophie says it’s okay if she wants to stay. She has a plan.

Bringing the Heist to the Vault

Parker and Hardison approach a guard upstairs and convince him that some of the rich guests want him for an Eyes Wide Shut scenario. Once he leaves, they enter Mike’s office. While Parker breaks into the safe and Hardison breaks into his computer, they finish their conversation. Hardison admits that he feels done with heists. He doesn’t like getting shot at. Parker passes Hardison the bank papers she finds in the safe and asks if even jumping off buildings isn’t fun anymore. He says it’s fun only because he loves doing things with her.

Having hacked Mike’s computer, Hardison accesses all the auction participants’ accounts and makes micro-deposits into them. Meanwhile, Sophie approaches Mike and offers the owl as their investment. Mike says everything is paid for through digital accounts. Sophie reminds him that she represents Russians, and they don’t put anything online because it can be seized. Eliot acts freaked out that Mike is handling these transactions through online accounts. He tells Mike that Interpol’s probably tracking all the accounts. All his auction participants need to check to see if there have been microdeposits made, testing the accounts for authenticity.

Mike returns to the main room and asks everyone to check their accounts for microdeposits. Stunned, he realizes that Sophie’s owl is the way to go. He has the auction participants ante up valuables and place them in the vault.

Stealing’s Still Fun

Harry calls Sophie to report he’s at the port but doesn’t have a way in. Sophie gives him a pep talk, encouraging him to try something on his own. Meanwhile, Isabelle watches as a lot of expensive art pieces roll into the vault with her. Upstairs, Eliot wonders how Sophie knew the guests had art stored in Paris. She replies that he knows violence the way she knows rich people.

The team regroups to discuss the plan. Sophie identifies the pieces they need to steal. Harry calls, dressed as a mariachi band member, and tells them the tanker is already sold. Eliot notices Ekimov arriving. Ekimov confronts Mike, calling him a thief. Sophie sends Parker, Hardison, and Eliot to get Isabelle out, whispering something to Parker before she leaves.

Sophie approaches Ekimov and Mike, offering to translate. Ekimov says someone stole art from him. Their van is outside Mike’s house. He’s waiting on security footage to identify the thieves. Mike insists there are no thieves in his house.

Eliot tells the others that he’s lost so much blood, his left arm doesn’t work. Parker proposes Hardison do the fighting to make things fun again and handcuffs Eliot to a railing. While she picks the vault’s lock, Hardison gets beat up. Upstairs, Sophie suggests the thieves are targetting Mike as well as Ekimov, stealing the art and antiquities now stored in his vault. Mike leads the crowd down to the vault.

The Escape

After Hardison tries the Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the guard, Eliot breaks the railing. Between the two of them, they defeat the guard. Parker opens the vault, and they all lock themselves in with Isabelle. Just then, Mike leads Sophie, Ekimov, and the auction participants to the vault door, where they find the unconscious guard. As they enter, Ekimov gets a message that the image of the dark-haired woman thief is incoming. Sophie draws their attention to the hole in the floor of the safe.

Mike realizes Isabelle’s gone. Ekimov shows him a photo of her, having received it allegedly from security footage but actually from Hardison. Mike argues there’s no evidence she stole anything. Ekimov finds the owl Parker planted in the vault. Mike recognizes it as the owl Sophie showed him. But Sophie’s gone already, hopping down the hole into the catacombs while Ekimov confronted Mike.

Before jumping in the van, Sophie calls Astrid and lets her know about the auction participants heading back into Paris carrying a load of undeclared assets and incriminating evidence. She wishes her a happy birthday, and they leave.

Parker and Hardison peek out of a hole in the floor of a vault dressed in matching uniforms with a black vest over a blue shirt and a red neckerchief. Leverage: Redemption "The Weekend in Paris Job" Episode 301 — Leverage: Redemption – Image Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime

Home From a Weekend in Paris

Back in New Orleans, Harry debriefs the Leverage: Redemption team on the fallout from the con. Sophie observes that damage was done to Isabelle’s town. They got on Arizona Mike’s case too late. Hardison agrees, stating that he wants to get out in front of the bad guys rather than cleaning up after the fact. He’s taking six months off from Leverage to figure out how to do that. As a last note, he reveals that Violet Cesario is Sophie’s dating profile name.

Hardison has a chat with Eliot and a serious talk with Parker. They conclude that things are changing, and everything changes at its own speed. However, pretzels are perfect.

Leverage: Redemption Season 3 streams on Prime Video with new episodes every Thursday.

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Diana Keng

Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.

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