LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Recap: The Swipe Right Job

When you do what the Leverage: Redemption team does, catching frauds and exploiters in their own webs, you just can’t turn it off. In Leverage: Redemption Season 3 Episode 6, “The Swipe Right Job,” Sophie (Gina Bellman) discovers her most recent dating app match catfishes vulnerable dates. At the same time, Harry (Noah Wyle) is dipping his toe in the dating pool as well. This comes in handy.

From the sidelines, Parker’s (Beth Riesgraf) theories on the evils of dating apps border on the surreal. Elliot’s attempts to explain his relationship experiences are a masterclass in digging oneself into a hole of self-actualization. Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) runs the op from headquarters, thoroughly disgusted by their mark’s depraved abuse of those desperately seeking love.

Leverage: Redemption, “The Swipe Right Job”

Sophie’s on a date with Neal Trividi (Maulik Pancholy). He shows her a sapphire ring he retrieved at great physical risk and insists on giving it to her. When she asks how he got into the gem business, he tells her his sister motivated him to make something of his life. He offers to fly Sophie to Havana in his private jet on their next date.

At headquarters, Harry’s daughter, Becky (Auden Wyle), begs him over a video call to let her see his dating profile. He assures her his dating life is going well and says goodnight. Sophie enters. They compare notes. Harry’s date ate an entire fish head while Sophie argues that her date was even fishier. The ring he gave her is a fake, and he made an obvious business overture.

Breanna deep dives on Neal. He made millions by pretending to be a billionaire to people he met on dating apps. He takes their money as investments that he never pays back and then hits them up for more to pay for “protection” from his enemies. She pulls up the profiles of the partners he’s landed, both men and women. Sophie wants to know who lost the most money to Neal’s scheme.

She meets with the ex-partners. One, Roger (Sean Hankinson), an accountant, is still deeply in love with Neal. Another, Jolene (Jessie Terrebonne), hates him, and when they parted ways, she stole cash and gems to even the score. However, they turned out to be counterfeit.

Let’s Go Steal a Dream Date

The team regroups, has a quick discussion about how they find romantic partners, and then, Sophie lays out the plan. They’re all going to Havana for her date.

Elliot and Parker con a pilot into leaving the airport and take his place on the plane. Unfortunately, Elliot’s never flown a plane before. Uh-oh. Sophie arrives, a new cover story in place that she’s an owner in a thriving mining enterprise. As she approaches the plane, Neal’s sister, Reena (Annet Mahendru), steps out of the car. She tells Sophie that Neal’s already in Havana. Reena will accompany her instead.

On the way to Havana, Reena shares that she manages Neal’s savings. It’s a bumpy ride. Parker, as the flight attendant, dumps the pretzels on Reena at one point.

Upon arrival, Reena leaves to do some work while Neal whisks Sophie away to the hotel’s aquarium-surrounded restaurant. Neal pours champagne while dropping hints about his investment connections and the dangerous people who target him. Sophie innocently asks him for some business advice.

The Apps Are The Enemy

In the lobby, Elliot and Parker stand watch. Parker muses about how dating apps aren’t helping Sophie and Harry find partners. Elliot notices Reena on her phone and overhears her saying something about a British woman showing the person on the phone a video of Neal. Parker tries to warn Sophie, but the coms aren’t working because the hotel’s walls have ferrocement and block transmission like a Faraday cage.

In the restaurant, Neal is very interested in Sophie’s ruby mine in Myanmar. His bodyguard interrupts to hand him a phone. He steps away to talk to Reena, who warns him that the British woman Roger warned them about must be Violet (Sophie’s pseudonym). Neal returns to the table and tells Violet/Sophie that he’s just heard a very interesting story. In the lobby, Elliot and Parker see a couple of goons arrive. Elliot intercepts them on the stairs while Parker runs to rescue Sophie.

An Empire of Lovers

Neal interrogates Sophie, believing one of his marks hired her to come after him. He tells her that his empire of lovers may not be as precious as gems, but they are far more loyal. Once she’s done her champagne, his goons will take her to the local police. Neal has a close relationship with them, and they’ll punish her for her betrayal. Leaving, he calls Roger to thank him.

He leaves the area, and Parker pokes her head out of a nearby door, sickened by the lovey-dovey talk Neal pours over the phone. She grabs a fire hose. At the table, Sophie chats with the silent bodyguard. They hear a shot fired and jump. Sophie describes what could happen if her rescuers puncture the aquarium glass with their bullets. Water starts pouring in under one door. Sophie advises the guard to run out the other one. He leaves. She opens the first door, revealing Parker holding an open bottle of champagne and the running fire hose.

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Back at headquarters, having escaped Cuba in the hold of a boat owned by one of Elliot’s friends, a smuggler, Sophie shudders at the memory of being covered in shrimp. Breanna and Harry reveal that Neal rewarded Roger for his loyalty by making him his new money manager. Roger still believes the money is legitimately made in the gem industry. Sophie believes they can get Roger to follow the money and realize the truth on his own.

Now that Sophie, Parker, and Elliot are burned, they need a new lure. Harry’s the guy. Breanna makes him over into Arthur Bennett, a public interest lawyer with old money. Meanwhile, Sophie coaches him on how to run a long con.

Leverage: Redemption, Setting Humanity Free

Waiting for Roger to arrive at work, Parker and Elliot discuss dating apps again. They’re wearing FBI jackets. Roger arrives, and they spring into action.

At headquarters, Breanna’s makeover is complete. On his plane, Neal checks his matches on the app and swipes right on Arthur Bennett.

Parker and Elliot knock on Roger’s office door. They intimate that an estate Roger recently began managing is a front for money laundering. He protests that the money tracks back to a billionaire. Parker questions whether all the money is the billionaire’s. Roger suspects Reena and wants to warn Neal, but Parker and Elliot point out that it would make him an accomplice if Neal turns out to be the criminal.

Introducing Arthur Bennett

Over dinner, Harry flirts outrageously with Neal. Suddenly, Becky’s there. Harry goes over to her. She congratulates him and tells him she’s proud of him. Telling him she loves him, she hugs him and leaves. When he turns back to the table, Neal’s seat is empty. Panicking that he’s lost Neal, Harry turns and finds him standing behind him. Neal says he overheard the conversation and thinks it’s beautiful that “Arthur” and his daughter are so close. They return to the table to finish the dinner and date.

The next day, Neal texts 66 times, leaves a voicemail, and sends a dozen red roses. When he phones again, Harry answers. Before Neal can invite him to Havana, Harry invites him to the Bennetts’ ancestral estate.

Walking through a pasture with horses, they meet up with Reena. Harry tells Neal that he’s donating the land to charity. As an aside, he mentions there are untapped oil reserves under the land, and he doesn’t want to deal with it. He walks away on a phony phone call, leaving Neal and Renna making meaningful eye contact.

Trouble in Paradise

As they picnic in a pasture, Reena tries to steer the conversation to proposing that she and Neal manage the land for Arthur. When Neal persists with cutesy romantic talk, she asks to speak with him in private.

Alone, they argue over the approach. Reena wants a business deal. Neal wants to marry Arthur and then inherit everything when Arthur mysteriously dies. Reena tells him he would never have been successful without her. He gets on his phone and texts Roger, telling him to lock Reena out of the accounts. Reena screams in frustration and storms off.

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Back at the picnic, Harry’s concerned that the con will require him to marry Neal. Sophie reassures him and tells him it’s time to reveal his true self. As they walk through the stables, “Arthur” confesses to Neal that he’s already given away all his worldly assets. Neal proposes Reena’s idea of buying this last property from Arthur and maintain it for him. Reena ambushes them at the stable door, pointing a gun at them and flanked by the bodyguard.

Crying Wolf

Forcing them into a vehicle, Reena and the guard drive them to an airplane hangar where they’re tied up. Reena demands $20 million from “Arthur,” but Neal explains the fortune’s gone. Reena hits Neal with the gun’s handle. He promises to get her the money from Roger. She dials Roger with Neal’s phone and holds it up as a video call. In a call very similar to the fake one he sent to marks before, Neal begs Roger to transfer three million dollars to Reena.

Roger doesn’t believe Neal. He tells him he followed the money and discovered the entire scheme. Roger admits he’ll be lonely but needs to learn to love himself. He says goodbye to Neal. Neal begs “Arthur” to help him out with some money. Harry informs him he doesn’t even have his restraints anymore. Parker pops up, having cut Harry’s zip ties. Elliot takes care of the bodyguard. Breanna sneaks into the room. Reena starts to run but returns at Neal’s pleas for rescue. The two of them board a plane. Breanna calls ahead to the Mumbai airport.

Propped Up No Longer

At the Mumbai airport, Reena presents her bag for inspection. It’s full of counterfeit cash and gems, courtesy of Jolene. Flashback to the plane where Breanna stashed the items Jolene stole in Reena’s bag. The Mumbai police drag the siblings away.

At headquarters, Sophie sits down with Roger. She lets him know that Neal can never pull his scam on anyone again. Roger thanks her and admits that he’s ashamed of being fooled. She tells him she wishes she were more like him. Because of her own loss, she is quick to spot all the red flags in potential future partners. Roger loves wholeheartedly, flaws and all. They promise each other they’ll keep trying.

Parker and Elliot sit at the bar. She’s changed her thinking on the dating apps. With Hardison’s help, she plans on creating their own dating app that saves humanity. Harry and Becky are at the other counter. Becky helps Harry select his next match. Sophie bids Roger goodbye, joins the others, and shares a smile with Harry.

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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