LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Recap: The Digital Frankenstein Job

Nobody likes a bully. The Leverage: Redemption team takes one down in Season 3 Episode 2, “The Digital Frankenstein Job,” by doing the improbable. This time, she’s no heavyweight, mobbed-up, terror broker. Instead, she’s a corrupt judge whose idea of justice is spelled out in dollar signs.

It’s a Hardison-less, Breanna-led episode which plays out in Harry’s domain, the courtroom. Come along for a story of immoral hobbyists, life imitating technology, and bad bourbon. For fun, marvel a bit at Eliot pulling off two grifts simultaneously.

Eliot stands in front of a wood panelled wall with a scowl on his face, a gavel raised in his right hand, holding his blue suit jacket closed with his left. Leverage: Redemption Season 3 — Leverage: Redemption – Image Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime

Leverage: Redemption, “The Digital Frankenstein Job”

We open Leverage: Redemption episode two with a man in a hoodie waving off a waitress at a diner. Another man comes in and addresses the waitress as Cheryl (Mia Frost), saying he just wants to talk. She reminds him there’s a restraining order. When she calls 9-1-1, he pulls out a gun. The hoodie man tackles him from the side. The gun goes off in the struggle, hitting the hoodie man in the gut.

At a later date, Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle) questions the hoodie man, now in a suit, on the stand. The gunshot victim testifies that he’d been at the diner after a double shift at the hospital as a pediatric nurse. He states that the second man came in and pulled out a ghost gun — an untraceable firearm put together using a kit or random parts. The opposing lawyer objects that he isn’t qualified to identify the weapon as a ghost gun.

Judge Marlene Gannon (Rachael Harris) doesn’t respond to the objection as she’s browsing a bourbon site on her computer. When her attention is brought back to the trial, she sustains the objection despite Harry offering qualifications for the witness’s expertise. Harry turns to his co-counsel, who wonders if the judge hates the case, them, or both. Behind him, in the gallery, Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) sits, wide-eyed, texting quickly. She gets up and leaves after Harry spots her.

First, Kill All the Hobbyists

The CEO of Covert Craft, Steven Pointer (Andy Cohen), is next, and he claims the company sells a build-your-own kit for personal weapon hobbyists. When he splits hairs regarding selling guns versus selling kits that build guns, Harry is skeptical of the difference, and opposing counsel accuses him of badgering the witness. The judge sustains the objection and warns Harry about trying her patience.

After court adjourns, Harry’s co-counsel, Elton (Satya Nikhil Polisetti), tries to put a positive spin on the case, pointing out that one of the jurors, Juror #7 (Anthony S. Goolsby), a landscape architect, has been taking notes. Harry tells him that if the judge is bought, it won’t matter what verdict the jury turns in. He tells Elton that he knows for a fact that Judge Gannon can be bought. He hands Elton testimonies to review and says he’s going to see some friends.

The Cavalry

When Harry walks into Leverage HQ, Parker (Beth Riesgraf), Eliot (Christian Kane), and Breanna are waiting for him. With Sophie (Gina Bellman) visiting Astrid (Alexandra Park), they decided to help him out. First, they sent a Trojan Rolex to Pointer, who stored it in his safe. Next, Eliot went in as Militia Mountain Man, a social media personality with over 200,000 followers, thanks to Breanna’s bespoke bots. Pointer rolls out the red carpet for someone he thinks will promote Covert Craft’s kits.

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While Pointer gives Eliot a tour and pitch, Parker breaks into his office through the ceiling. When a security guard looks like he’s going to go into the office, Eliot causes a disruption, forcing the guards to subdue him by hitting him with a flashlight, spraying him with mace, and siccing a robot on him.

At HQ, Parker hands Harry a folder she took from the safe. They discovered that, a few days before the trial began, Pointer gave his employees a thousand dollars each to donate to the judge’s re-election campaign. Harry can’t help but laugh hysterically because this proof of bribery is actually perfectly legal. In order to find the judge guilty of accepting bribes, they’d need a video of someone handing her the bribe, stating it was a bribe, and her accepting the bribe, promising to find in their favor because of the bribe.

The Franken-Seed Is Planted

Parker rolls her eyes, stating that if any one of them was caught on video giving a bribe to a judge, they’d be arrested. Breanna suggests the person paying the bribe doesn’t need to exist. By hacking into the Louisiana DMV, she’s used their database to create the image of someone who radiates power and wealth. It’s a white guy she’s named Frank, short for Frankenstein. Using motion capture tech, she can puppet Frank to do or say anything she wants.

Her con is for Frank to arrange the quid pro quo in a secretly recorded online meeting, and then a bag of money with a hidden camera will confirm the bribe’s acceptance. Harry admits that all that evidence might get Gannon thrown off the trial. Breanna states they’ll need to manufacture an urgent need for cash. Harry says bourbon is the white whale here.

Bottom’s Up

At the Bourbon Showcase, Gannon’s calling visitors over to her Mardi Grain Bourbon booth. Harry makes his entrance just as Parker and Eliot, sporting crazy accents, start arguing over their casks. Eliot, in his Latin American accent, proclaims that his casks are Old Magnolia casks, catching Gannon’s attention.

Back at HQ, Breanna practices Frank’s big pitch speech. The AI-generated audience cheers the introduction of a 3-D printer the size of a shoebox.

Gannon approaches Eliot, declaring that all the Old Magnolia casks were destroyed during Prohibition. Once he convinces her that his are the real deal, she wants to buy them. He sets the price at $20,000 each, cash.

Sophie returns to HQ and debriefs the con with Breanna. Breanna explains that she’s made Frank such an online presence; billionaires are clamoring to fund his startup. She finds it all very disheartening. Rick Bellamy (Jack Tynan), a local billionaire, calls Frank up to video chat, and Breanna slides into character, manipulating Rick into setting up a group video chat with Gannon. Sophie is impressed.

Making Frank Real

Things go well in the video chat with Gannon until Pointer crashes in and insists on speaking with Gannon in a private breakout room. Breanna hacks into it, where Pointer warns Gannon that she doesn’t really know Frank. Gannon returns to the main chat and insists on meeting Frank in person.

Breanna agrees to the meeting despite Parker indicating it’s a bad idea. Once the meeting ends, Parker asks how they can make someone who doesn’t exist suddenly exist. Breanna has another idea.

Retracing her composite-making steps, Breanna finds Tim (Christoph Sanders), who matches Frank’s look most closely. Dressed like M.I.B., Breanna and Parker track him down at a pool cleaning job. They recruit him to be a body double for Frank.

Eliot and Sophie set up a grift to convince Gannon that the casks he has are legit. She hears Sophie setting up a buy and barges in, insisting Eliot attend her fundraiser. She promises the money will be there.

At Leverage HQ, Harry, Parker, and Breanna prep Tim for the fundraiser. It’s not going well, and Breanna’s about to lose it. Parker calls a break and tells Harry to take Tim for a walk while Parker talks Breanna down.

Fundraiser Fun

Harry spots Tim’s arrival at the judge’s fundraiser. Sophie and Eliot are at the bar. Breanna and Parker monitor Tim’s movements through his button camera.

Tim’s first encounter with Gannon is successful, despite some of his former pool-cleaning bosses being present. Eliot sees Pointer walk in and fills Sophie in on the Mountain Militia Man identity he used with Pointer before. Pointer heads straight to Tim, where he tries to poke holes in his story. Tim draws from his self-help tapes and passes Pointer’s sniff test. Afterwards, he takes the satchel of cash to her office. Waiting for her to join him, he notices an eagle sculpture and makes a decision.

Harry trails Gannon to her office, but she comes out almost immediately, texting someone frantically. He sneaks in after she’s left and reports that Tim and the money are gone.

Running Amok

Pointer badmouths Tim/Frank to Gannon when she asks where Tim/Frank’s gone. Breanna gets to work deep-sixing Covert Craft’s reputation online. Parker notes that the money is still at the party. Breanna sees that Tim is calling Eastway Bank. Harry figures something out and leaves to make a phone call. He finds Tim in a washroom trying to pay off the bank that’s foreclosing on his mother’s house.

At the fundraiser, Eliot runs a double grift. He approaches Pointer as the Militia Mountain Man and apologizes for the disturbance he caused. Then he walks to the judge and slips into his “Cask-iana” Jones identity. Sophie watches, amused.

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Breanna arrives at the party and joins Harry at the washroom door. She gives Tim a motivational speech, convincing him that the algorithm picked him because he’s capable of making a difference. This gets Tim moving. He meets Gannon in her office and initiates the bribe payoff. However, Pointer storms in and takes the money, promising to turn Tim/Frank into the feds.

Outside, Eliot intercepts him and insists on discussing the Reckoning. Pointer dismisses him and pushes past.

Clinched

At the diner (from the episode’s start), Pointer joins a man at a booth, addressing him as Special Agent Finch. He tells him that Frank Stanford tried to destroy his company by bribing a judge. He pushes the bag of money at him. “Finch” opens the bag and finds one of Covert Craft’s guns inside.

Flashback: Eliot slips the firearm into the money bag when he encounters Pointer outside the judge’s office.

In the diner, Pointer’s waving the gun around, causing other diners and staff to panic. “Finch” asks him why he’s trying to bribe a member of the jury for his trial. He’s not a Special Agent. He’s Juror #7, the landscape architect.

Flashback: Sophie on the phone at the fundraiser. First, she takes a call from Pointer, promising to put him in touch with someone in the FBI to report the attempted bribe. Then, she switches to a more cultured tone and tells a landscape architect the Sultan would like a water feature. She promises to send him an address where he can meet with the house manager.

Pointer realizes he’s been set up. He sees the Leverage Team sitting at a nearby booth. When he tries to run, the police nab him almost immediately.

Key art for Season 3 of Leverage: Redemption showing Sophie, Parker, Hardison, Harry, Breanna, and Eliot posed with their roles (Grifter, Thief, Hacker, Fixer, Maker, Hitter) labeled. Behind them is a gold and blue sky, New Orleans buildings, a red food truck, and two helicopters — Leverage: Redemption – Image Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video

Justice Served Poolside

In court, the jury tampering comes to light, and Judge Gammon has to declare a mistrial. When Elton asks Harry how he can repay him, Harry hands him a folder and asks him to take on Tim’s mother’s foreclosure case. Elton watches Gannon leave the courtroom, commenting that it’s a shame that tomorrow, she’ll be back on the bench taking legal bribes. Harry points out that she needs to stand for re-election, and a single scandal could ruin someone like her who runs on a platform of morality.

Judge Gannon arrives home to a crowd waiting at her front door. A reporter asks her about a picture of her pool cleaner leaving her fundraiser with a bag of money. Gannon tells her that the man in the photo isn’t a pool cleaner, it’s Frank Stanford, who tried to bribe her. Pointing to her campaign sign, she reminds them that she stands for manners, merit, and morals. As she’s making her exit, Tim walks out from the side of the house with his pool-cleaning supplies, wearing nothing but yellow swim shorts.

Her husband and aide walk into the house, locking her out. The reporters surround her. Harry and Parker are nearby to witness the judge’s downfall and salute Tim for his service to his country.

Pouring One Out for Frank

At HQ, at dinner with Breanna, Sophie reads the obituary for Frank Stanford. In lieu of flowers, Breanna had mourners donate to victims of gun violence. Despite her disillusionment with merit versus appearances, Sophie tries to convince her that her skills prove that she is better equipped for the world than someone like Tim. Her gem of a line for the episode is “Fortune favors the beautiful, but it can also be cruel to the sincere.”

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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