User Reviews

For the con, Harry Wilson pretends to be the inventor of the card game. With his masquerade, he looks like George R. R. Martin. Is this a little homage to Game of Thrones?

The quest to find a hidden game card leads the team to a Renaissance-type fair at a castle. The castle, owned by the man whose company is making medically-necessary life-saving drugs too expensive for those who need them, is also where lovers of the card game are gathering for a tournament. Breanna, the team's youngest and newest member (played by actress Aleyse Shannon), gets to shine when her extensive knowledge of the game allows her to face off against the the villain.

The jousting scene with Glenn the Savage will make viewers laugh and cheer, as actor Christian Kane, as Eliot Spencer, once again entertains and makes his Kaniacs proud with self-deprecating humor and his amazing agility as a seasoned stuntman. His final few seconds with the sword are shown in slow motion, which was a stroke of pure genius. I have no doubt this scene will get a lot of replay!

#TheCardGameJob is my favorite #LeverageRedemption episode of the first-8. Great ensemble dynamics from the #Leverage team pairings. #HarryWilson and #Parker looking for a vault, with Parker unable to recognize visual clues from Harry to remove her ear bud so they could talk (which was so like Parker of the original #Leverage series), and Harry providing advice to Parker on mentoring a Gen-Z #Breanna's age, as a dad of one. Breanna holding her own with the mark in the card tournament. For me, the funniest pairing in this episode was a pouting #EliotSpencer and #SophieDevereaux picking out costumes (E: "don't want to be an elf!"; S: "woodland fairy?"; E: "SOPHIE!"); Eliot's deflating dragon and excellent swordplay and fighting (for which #ChristianKane gained appreciation from an actual swordswoman reviewing this episode); Eliot trying to stop Sophie from performing, with Sophie swatting back; Eliot's dismay at having to endure Sophie's bad acting; and Sophie's turnabout when her performance became part of the con. Loved seeing guest #FrenchStewart and the quirks and depth he added to his character. Guest #MaxSheldon portrayed the smarmy vulture capitalist well ("nothing is beneath you, Carter"). Hope the Spirit's Ruse card game can become available to the fans - and loved its comparison to rock-paper-scissors. All Eliot has to do is find the "tell" to win.

The charm of the original Leverage was always watching how they tricked their mark. It looked like it was going one way and then at the end we would see how all of the different pieces connected together to fool their mark and gain the upper hand. This was NOT that kind of episode. Instead it depended on whiny crying at the end by the new charater to "win the day." To me, this was in keeping with the spirit of the show. As others have noted in their reviews, the person who wrote did not do so in keeping with the original theme and charm of the original Leverage.

There were some cute bits. Eliot getting to sword fight for real, after the fake jousting with an inflatable dragon. Everything with him and Sophie. Parker having to cope with becoming a mother-surrogate to Breana. And the last card game, which I couldn't imagine with Nate as part of the team. Say what you will about Hutton, but he brought a soberness to the team, and Brenna and Harry add a completely different and relaxed vibe. They're less of a team like they were under Nate, and more of a bunch of friends hanging around (literally, in Parker's case) because they like each other, and fighting bad people who are much worse than they are. And the little bits with Springer, Carter, and Bolo ("You do know his name is Jeffrey, right?")

I could have lived without Breanna's telling Springer and the others essentially that she's gay. But oh well, 2021 TV, amIrite?

The problem is that I saw all of this in 'Ready Player One'. A designer hiding clues in his game and fading away. A rich guy cheating to get an edge up in finding the clues and taking over the game and corrupting it. Every time I got into the episode, the RPO ripoffs took me right back out again.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?

This wasn't a bad episode, but it seemed a little childish at times. A good bad guy, but a concept that seemed way too played out. When these nerds are in their element, it rarely leads to good TV. We want them out of their element.