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* BodybagTrick: Inverted. Instead of sneaking out in bodybags, the team hides the fact that Parker, Hardison, and Eliot are all still in the building by putting very realistic dummies in bodybags.
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Changed line(s) 44,45 (click to see context) from:
Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Sterling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
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Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Sterling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
Changed line(s) 118 (click to see context) from:
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Sterling's ultimate choice - to fall on the side of order, or of justice. For the first time in the series, he chooses justice.
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* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Sterling's ultimate choice - to fall on the side of order, or of justice. For the first time in the series, he chooses justice.
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** Ultimately, for the first time in the series, he chooses justice, commenting that it's "always easy."
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Changed line(s) 20,21 (click to see context) from:
Parker fires a grapple over with a crossbow and slides down to the Highpoint Tower. She hides to not be seen by the guards alerted by the alarm, but Nate can't talk to her any more because the earbuds won't work. She gets to the Steranko control systems.
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Parker fires a grapple over with a crossbow and slides down to the Highpoint Tower. She hides to not be seen by from the guards alerted by the alarm, but Nate can't talk to her any more because the earbuds won't work. She gets to the Steranko control systems.
Changed line(s) 40,41 (click to see context) from:
Nate sits down and points out that there haven't been any announcements, no alarms, no 'ding' - it's too quiet to be a hospital. The files she was reading had Interpol coding, not local police. Her motions indicate both that she's used to having a gun in a shoulder holster, and she's used to reaching for her phone but stopping herself because she's in a cellular dead zone. Therefore, he's in the Interpol office in Highpoint Tower.
to:
Nate sits down calmly and points out that there haven't been any announcements, no alarms, no 'ding' - it's too quiet to be a hospital. The files she was reading had Interpol coding, not local police. Her motions indicate both that she's used to having a gun in a shoulder holster, and she's used to reaching for her phone but stopping herself because she's in a cellular dead zone. Therefore, he's in the Interpol office in Highpoint Tower.
Changed line(s) 52,53 (click to see context) from:
As they arrive at the server room with Nate handcuffed again, Agent Casey checks the file manifest; the Black Book file has just arrived. Sterling deduces that Parker's still in the server room, having snuck in while the guards were investigating the roof. He tells Casey to open the door; it's biometric, and she isn't cleared, so Sterling opens the door. He asks Nate if Parker even knows that Nate got Hardison killed; Nate shoulder-checks him as the guards charge in to sweep the room, only to find it empty.
to:
As they arrive at the server room with Nate handcuffed again, Agent Casey checks the file manifest; the Black Book file has just arrived. Sterling deduces that Parker's still in the server room, having snuck in while the guards were investigating the roof. He tells Casey to open the door; it's biometric, and she isn't cleared, so Sterling opens the door.it instead. He asks Nate if Parker even knows that Nate got Hardison killed; Nate shoulder-checks him as the guards charge in to sweep the room, only to find it empty.
Changed line(s) 64,65 (click to see context) from:
Sterling goes back into the server room and finds, in one of the cabinets, that a hard drive has been stolen. In a flashback, we see that the coroner van drivers were Eliot, Hardison, and Parker; as they walk away from the van they change into security guard suits. Nate bumping Sterling was to keep him from noticing that the three team members went in with the other guards. Hardison steals the hard drive and they escape.
to:
Sterling goes back into the server room and finds, in one of the cabinets, that a hard drive has been stolen. In a flashback, we see that the coroner van drivers were Eliot, Hardison, and Parker; as they walk away from the van they change into security guard suits. Nate bumping bumped Sterling was to keep him from noticing that the three team members went in with the other guards. Hardison steals the hard drive and they escape.
Changed line(s) 88 (click to see context) from:
** Parker dons a cap for the first time since the pilot and jumps off a roof as Eliot and hardison comment that she's "twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag". Then she strips off her shirt in an elevator.
to:
** Parker dons a cap for the first time since the pilot and jumps off a roof as Eliot and hardison Hardison comment that she's "twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag". Then she strips off her shirt bag".
** As in the first episode, Parker changes costume in anelevator.elevator as Hardison and Eliot look away; however, this time they're going up in the elevator to steal a hard drive instead of going down in the elevator to escape with one.
** As in the first episode, Parker changes costume in an
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Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of Highpoint Tower's phone lines. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan to get her onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
to:
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of Highpoint Tower's phone lines. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan how to get her to get onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
Highpoint.
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* InTheBack: In Nate's telling, the fake cop shoots Eliot in the back as he's running toward the van. He didn't actually, which Nate knows because he ''was'' the fake cop.
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Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* RefugeInAudacity: One last time from Nate. "WHY WOULD I LIE?!"
to:
* RefugeInAudacity: RefugeInAudacity:
** One last time from Nate. "WHY WOULD ILIE?!"LIE?!"
** And of course the plan. They're up against a ''Steranko'', and the plan is to break in so they can break back out so that Nate can get caught so they can break back in so they can break back out ''again''.
** One last time from Nate. "WHY WOULD I
** And of course the plan. They're up against a ''Steranko'', and the plan is to break in so they can break back out so that Nate can get caught so they can break back in so they can break back out ''again''.
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* GrandRomanticGesture: Nate lets the team know that he and Sophie are retiring.
-->'''Sophie:''' ... we?\\
'''Nate:''' Well, that depends on your answer to this.
-->'''Sophie:''' ... we?\\
'''Nate:''' Well, that depends on your answer to this.
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* MakesUsEven: Sterling pays Nate back for "The Queen's Gambit Job".
-->'''Sterling's Note:''' This makes us even. Tell Sophie to drive carefully.
-->'''Sterling's Note:''' This makes us even. Tell Sophie to drive carefully.
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* StatusQuoIsGod: One last time, ''Sterling Never Loses''. He figures out what Nate did and how he did it and ''chose'' to let Nate go in the end.
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* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Nate gets one last show when he explains how he knew he was still in the Highpoint Tower.
Changed line(s) 102 (click to see context) from:
* OhCrap: "The security in there is a Starenko."
to:
* OhCrap: "The security in there is a Starenko.Steranko."
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* SuddenlyShouting: The RefugeInAudacity.
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** Parker dons a cap for the first time since the pilot and jumps off a roof as Eliot and hardison comment that she's "twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag". Then she strips off her shirt in an elevator.
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* OhCrap: "The security in there is a Starenko."
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* RefugeInAudacity: One last time from Nate. "WHY WOULD I LIE?!"
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Deleted line(s) 104 (click to see context) :
* TwistingTheKnife: "Does Parker know that you got Hardison killed?"
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* TwistingTheKnife: "Does Parker know that you got Hardison killed?"
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* CallBack: Many, to earlier episodes (especially the pilot), mostly in Nate's first version of the story. A JustifiedTrope, as Nate is making up the story and using pieces from their earlier escapades in it.
** Parker has the leather beret from the first episode.
** Eliot refers to Parker as twenty pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag.
** Nate is wearing a headset as he acts as MissionControl.
** Parker pulls her shirt off in the elevator to change clothes as Eliot and Hardison turn their backs to her.
** Parker has the leather beret from the first episode.
** Eliot refers to Parker as twenty pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag.
** Nate is wearing a headset as he acts as MissionControl.
** Parker pulls her shirt off in the elevator to change clothes as Eliot and Hardison turn their backs to her.
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Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
Flash back to a month ago, where a woman is telling Nate that a company has found a cure for the disease that killed his son, and is going to kill another boy, but the company won't release it because there isn't enough money in it. Nate agrees to go steal the cure.
to:
Flash back to a month ago, where a woman is telling Nate that a company has found a cure for the disease that killed his son, and son. Another boy is going to kill another boy, dying from the disease, but the company won't release it the cure because there isn't enough money in it. Nate agrees to go steal the cure.
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of the communication nexus. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan to get her onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
to:
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of the communication nexus.Highpoint Tower's phone lines. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan to get her onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
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Changed line(s) 94,96 (click to see context) from:
** Nate's arrest is a con to bring Sterling into play as one of the people who can unlock the server room.
** The supposed deaths of the team are a con to get the team into the building as the crew driving the coroner's van.
** Nate then cons Sterling into thinking that Parker is still hiding inside the server room, so that Sterling will go open the door, letting the team in.
** The supposed deaths of the team are a con to get the team into the building as the crew driving the coroner's van.
** Nate then cons Sterling into thinking that Parker is still hiding inside the server room, so that Sterling will go open the door, letting the team in.
to:
** Agent Casey knows that Nate is lying to her about what his actual goals were and what actually happened, not realizing that Nate's arrest is a con actual goal was to bring Sterling into play as one of the people who can unlock the server room.
** Thesupposed deaths of the team are a con to get the team into the building as the crew driving the coroner's van.
** Nate then consmissing body makes Sterling into thinking think that the con is that Parker is still hiding inside in the server room, so that Sterling will go open waiting for the door, letting file; Sterling's attempt to catch Parker is actually what lets the team in.
** The
** Nate then cons
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Changed line(s) 68,69 (click to see context) from:
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van arrives to take Nate off to a life sentence in a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
to:
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van SUV arrives to take Nate off to a life sentence in a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
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* TrojanHorse:
** Mentioned by name as Sterling realizes he was the Trojan horse that allowed the team to get into the server room.
** The coroner van acted as a Trojan horse to get the team inside the building and in position to get into the server room.
** Mentioned by name as Sterling realizes he was the Trojan horse that allowed the team to get into the server room.
** The coroner van acted as a Trojan horse to get the team inside the building and in position to get into the server room.
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Changed line(s) 54,55 (click to see context) from:
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? He then asks Nate what the second question is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
to:
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? He then asks Nate what the second question is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, [=IDs=], because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
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* DiesWideOpen: During the first telling of the story, Nate looks in the back of the van and sees Hardison, Eliot, and Parker, all lying dead with their eyes open.
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* BatmanGambit: Much of Nate's plan is built on knowing how Sterling will react, so that he can use Sterling's access to the server room to get the rest of the team in to steal the hard drive.
Changed line(s) 85 (click to see context) from:
** As in the first episode, we see Sophie doing a horrible job acting as Lady Macbeth...except it's part of the con, and when we actually see her doing it, she gets a standing ovation.
to:
** As in the first episode, we see Sophie doing a horrible job acting as Lady Macbeth...except this time, it's part of the con, and when we actually see her doing it, she gets a standing ovation.
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
The lab is in the Highpoint Towers, which is incredibly secure due to having a cloud backup site for law enforcement data such as FBI, DEA, and Interpol. Parker and Eliot start trying to infiltrate the building, only to find that their earpieces are cutting out due to cell phone jamming, and that the building has a Steranko security system that has learned from their last attack on it. They flee before the system can recognize them.
to:
The lab is in the Highpoint Towers, Tower, which is incredibly secure due to having a cloud backup site for law enforcement data such as FBI, DEA, and Interpol. Parker and Eliot start trying to infiltrate the building, only to find that their earpieces are cutting out due to cell phone jamming, and that the building has a Steranko security system that has learned from their last attack on it. They flee before the system can recognize them.
Changed line(s) 44,45 (click to see context) from:
Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Stirling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
to:
Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Stirling Sterling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
Changed line(s) 54,55 (click to see context) from:
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? And, for his second question, he asks Nate what it is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
to:
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? And, for his second question, he He then asks Nate what it the second question is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
Changed line(s) 68,69 (click to see context) from:
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van arrives to take Nate off to a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
to:
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van arrives to take Nate off to a life sentence in a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
* {{Flashback}}: Much of the story is told in flashbacks, [[UnreliableNarrator some of which are even what actually happened]].
Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
'''Nate''': It is. Justice or order. One day, you are going to have to make that choice.
to:
'''Nate''': It is. Justice or order. [[{{Foreshadowing}} One day, you are going to have to make that choice.]]
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->''Mr. Ford, how did your friends die?''
-->-- Ellen Casey, interrogating Nate
Nate wakes up in a chair, sitting at a desk, with a woman across from him asking him what his mistake was.
Flash back to a month ago, where a woman is telling Nate that a company has found a cure for the disease that killed his son, and is going to kill another boy, but the company won't release it because there isn't enough money in it. Nate agrees to go steal the cure.
The lab is in the Highpoint Towers, which is incredibly secure due to having a cloud backup site for law enforcement data such as FBI, DEA, and Interpol. Parker and Eliot start trying to infiltrate the building, only to find that their earpieces are cutting out due to cell phone jamming, and that the building has a Steranko security system that has learned from their last attack on it. They flee before the system can recognize them.
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of the communication nexus. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan to get her onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
Nate and Sophie discuss her directing a play, and she feels she's just where she belongs. They kiss.
As they kiss, we cut back to the present, with the woman saying that Nate was pulled from the river, semi-conscious and saying he made a mistake. She asks how his friends died.
He realizes he's handcuffed to the chair and asks where he is; he's told he's in the criminal holding room of Trinity State Hospital. The woman, Ellen Casey, is there to evaluate his state of mind after the head injury he suffered, and find out what happened in the attempted break-in at the Highpoint Tower. There were shots fired, and then a car crashed into the river.
Flash back to the start of the robbery. Sophie has to go on as Lady Macbeth because the lead actress is gone. She's worried about how well she'll do, but Nate tells her she'll be great because the matinee audience is cover for the getaway; she proceeds to massively overact and do a horrible job.
Parker fires a grapple over with a crossbow and slides down to the Highpoint Tower. She hides to not be seen by the guards alerted by the alarm, but Nate can't talk to her any more because the earbuds won't work. She gets to the Steranko control systems.
The guards in the lobby are dealing with alarms all over the building when they get a call from Nate pretending to be from Steranko Security Systems. He asks for the building passcode, which they provide, and says he'll send a pair of techs over. He then intercepts a call from Steranko, provides them with the building passcode, and asks them to turn off the alarms. Eliot and Hardison come in as the promised techs, and the alarm turns off. They say they have to go upstairs to fix the problem, and meet up with Parker in the elevator.
A police officer enters the lobby, saying he got an alarm call, and that he has to go walk it. The officer calls on his radio and finds there are no confirmed technicians on site. He grabs two security guards, and they find the team trying to break in. He sends the security guards after them, saying he'll go cut them off. Eliot makes short work of the guards.
Parker and Hardison force open some elevator doors and plan to escape down the shaft as the cop catches up to them. He fires down the elevator shaft, hitting Hardison and then Parker, who drops Hardison down the shaft. They're both badly injured but Parker gets them to the van that Nate and Sophie are in. The officer catches up to them and is about to shoot as Eliot comes up behind him, disarming him. As Eliot heads for the van, the officer pulls out another gun from his ankle holster, shooting Eliot. Parker, Eliot, and Hardison clasp hands as they lay dying while Nate tries to get away.
The police have a drawbridge blockaded, but Nate breaks through the barricade, clasping hands with Sophie and aware that the three in the back are all dead. The drawbridge is going up, and the van isn't going to make it.
Nate is pounding on the desk as Casey tells him that the bodies were taken from the van and their identities confirmed. She leaves him to think about this as she goes out to the Interpol office he is actually being held in, in Highpoint Tower.
Casey discusses the case with an underling and says she wants the bodies brought over. She goes up on the roof and finds a wet spot with a broken balloon, then talks to a guard about the police officer. She investigates the theater, being asked to be quiet because the evening performance is running - the matinee had an awful stand-in as Lady Macbeth, but the lead is performing now, and she's amazing.
She returns to Nate and says the police are satisfied and will take him into custody as soon as the doctors sign off. She then leans in and asks why he's lying to her; he wouldn't have needed three weeks given access to the Shanghai Tunnels. We flash back to her investigating the theater and finding that they'd cut a hole into the tunnels, which led to the basement of the tower. She says the elevator was the way in, not the roof, and gives her theory of what happened.
Flash back to Hardison firing a water balloon at the roof, activating the alarm, as Parker climbs up the elevator shaft. Things proceed as before, except Parker isn't there.
Nate stands up and screams, "Why would I lie? Why? I screwed up, I got them killed. I lost everything, the only thing I ever had!" Casey responds that he probably figured out he's not in a hospital, and asks how.
Nate sits down and points out that there haven't been any announcements, no alarms, no 'ding' - it's too quiet to be a hospital. The files she was reading had Interpol coding, not local police. Her motions indicate both that she's used to having a gun in a shoulder holster, and she's used to reaching for her phone but stopping herself because she's in a cellular dead zone. Therefore, he's in the Interpol office in Highpoint Tower.
Agent Casey is impressed, and asks if the roof alarm was just to get the guards away from the 20th floor so Parker could get to the server room. She's puzzled because all those files are dead, not from active cases. Nate agrees: no ''active'' cases.
Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Stirling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
Nate was after the most secret file at Interpol, the Black Book. It holds the information on all the people who looted the economy during the 2008 financial crash, stealing 1/3 of the world's wealth. Interpol and the other law-enforcement agencies decided not to prosecute, because they felt that doing so would do even more damage to the world's financial system.
The Black Book file is transferred to the Portland Interpol office once a month, for a few hours, while maintenance occurs elsewhere. Sterling realizes that that's why Nate chose Portland.
Agent Casey points out that he doesn't have the file, and his friends are dead, but he's still lying to them. She gets a phone call, that the coroner's van just arrived. At Sterling's instruction, she tells them to pull it straight into the garage. Sterling then pauses, and asks how many bodies; he is told 'three', and realizes that somebody wasn't in the van. He decides to go up to the 20th floor, bringing Nate and every guard they have available.
As they arrive at the server room with Nate handcuffed again, Agent Casey checks the file manifest; the Black Book file has just arrived. Sterling deduces that Parker's still in the server room, having snuck in while the guards were investigating the roof. He tells Casey to open the door; it's biometric, and she isn't cleared, so Sterling opens the door. He asks Nate if Parker even knows that Nate got Hardison killed; Nate shoulder-checks him as the guards charge in to sweep the room, only to find it empty.
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? And, for his second question, he asks Nate what it is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
Flash back to the team reacting to Nate and Hardison telling the rest of the team that the Black Book is why they're in Portland; they're upset at having been lied to. Nate explains that the file is in that building for three hours, once a month. Hardison says he has the security cracked except for one thing - the biometric lock on the server room. "And it's not like they're just going to let us in."
Cut to the start of the break-in, with Sophie sending her understudy on to do a horrible job as Sophie takes on the roles of everybody that building security and Interpol call, including switching voices and accents mid-call as Agent Casey demands to speak to the current role's supervisor.
Nate comes in as the police officer. He lets Hardison and Eliot out of the building, pretending to shoot Eliot so the camera can see it.
Agent Casey can't believe that Sophie was playing so many roles, but Sterling does. A flashback shows that the amazing lead for Lady Macbeth was, in fact, Sophie.
Sterling goes back into the server room and finds, in one of the cabinets, that a hard drive has been stolen. In a flashback, we see that the coroner van drivers were Eliot, Hardison, and Parker; as they walk away from the van they change into security guard suits. Nate bumping Sterling was to keep him from noticing that the three team members went in with the other guards. Hardison steals the hard drive and they escape.
Sterling realizes that he's the Trojan horse who let them in. Casey says the building is in lockdown, but Sterling says that there's still a way out - the tunnel, which Casey thought was the way in. Casey sends guards across to the theater to check the audience, which she's sure they're hiding in. The guards scan the theater, not finding the team, because they're on stage in costume.
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van arrives to take Nate off to a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
Nate gets in the van, and Sterling tosses the prisoner transfer paperwork on his lap. On it is written: "Now we're even. Tell Sophie to drive carefully." Sophie, in the driver's seat, asks what it is; Nate says, "Nothing."
Agent Casey says that letting Nate go couldn't have been easy; Sterling says that justice is always easy.
Back in the bar, the team is looking at the hard drive with the Black Book on it. Nate announces he's out, depending on what Sophie says next. As the crew kibitzes, Nate gets down on one knee and proposes to Sophie, calling her Laura. She says yes.
Hardison says he'll dump the hard drive on the darknet so that everybody can go after the people who wrecked the economy, acting as Leverage International. Sophie asks Eliot to keep Parker and Hardison safe; he says he will until his dying day. With the team in tears, Nate and Sophie leave, with Sophie commenting that Laura isn't her real name.
In a CallBack to the pilot, a crying couple is saying that a company killed their son and wants to just pay them off, as if their son had a price. Parker, sitting in a chair flanked by Eliot and Hardison, gives Nate's speech: "People like that...corporations like that...they have all the money, they have all the power, and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now, you're suffering under an enormous weight. We provide...[[TitleDrop leverage]]."
----
!!Tropes stolen in this job:
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Nate and Sophie decide to retire from their lives of crime. However, Parker, Hardison, and Eliot decide to take over Leverage and continue their work, with Hardison having plans to expand their group into "Leverage International".
* BookEnds:
** The last episode ends the same way as the first episode, but with the smaller team left by Nate and Sophie leaving.
** As in the first episode, we see Sophie doing a horrible job acting as Lady Macbeth...except it's part of the con, and when we actually see her doing it, she gets a standing ovation.
* FakingTheDead: Complete with fake bodies made out of ballistics gel.
* GrandFinale: This is the last episode of the series, with a multi-level con to get the list of people who need Leverage's attention more than anyone else, and with Nate and Sophie going off to do their own thing as Parker, Eliot, and Hardison carry on the good fight.
* GrapplingHookPistol: Parker has a crossbow version in the first telling of the story.
* InMediasRes: We start the episode with Nate apprehended and being questioned about the apparent deaths of his team members.
* KansasCityShuffle: Nested at multiple levels.
** Nate's arrest is a con to bring Sterling into play as one of the people who can unlock the server room.
** The supposed deaths of the team are a con to get the team into the building as the crew driving the coroner's van.
** Nate then cons Sterling into thinking that Parker is still hiding inside the server room, so that Sterling will go open the door, letting the team in.
* RampJump: Subverted. In the first telling of the story, Nate tries to jump the van over an opening drawbridge. While we don't get to see the result, it's clear he doesn't make it and that's how Sophie allegedly died.
* ThreesomeSubtext: In Nate's fictional first story, Parker, Eliot, and Hardison all die holding hands. In the real ending, Eliot makes it clear that Parker and Hardison are what he's needed all along.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Sterling's ultimate choice - to fall on the side of order, or of justice. For the first time in the series, he chooses justice.
-->'''Sterling''': Order had to be restored.\\
'''Nate''': That's why you joined Interpol? Screw justice? You're the order guy?\\
'''Sterling''': It's not a choice.\\
'''Nate''': It is. Justice or order. One day, you are going to have to make that choice.
* UnreliableNarrator: Nate lies an awful lot about just what happened during the initial heist.
----
-->-- Ellen Casey, interrogating Nate
Nate wakes up in a chair, sitting at a desk, with a woman across from him asking him what his mistake was.
Flash back to a month ago, where a woman is telling Nate that a company has found a cure for the disease that killed his son, and is going to kill another boy, but the company won't release it because there isn't enough money in it. Nate agrees to go steal the cure.
The lab is in the Highpoint Towers, which is incredibly secure due to having a cloud backup site for law enforcement data such as FBI, DEA, and Interpol. Parker and Eliot start trying to infiltrate the building, only to find that their earpieces are cutting out due to cell phone jamming, and that the building has a Steranko security system that has learned from their last attack on it. They flee before the system can recognize them.
They decide to come in from the top of the building, finding the Dolan Theater across the street, with access to the Shanghai Tunnels that they can use to get control of the communication nexus. Sophie decides to stage Macbeth there with her theater group, as Nate and Parker plan to get her onto the roof of Highpoint without killing her.
Nate and Sophie discuss her directing a play, and she feels she's just where she belongs. They kiss.
As they kiss, we cut back to the present, with the woman saying that Nate was pulled from the river, semi-conscious and saying he made a mistake. She asks how his friends died.
He realizes he's handcuffed to the chair and asks where he is; he's told he's in the criminal holding room of Trinity State Hospital. The woman, Ellen Casey, is there to evaluate his state of mind after the head injury he suffered, and find out what happened in the attempted break-in at the Highpoint Tower. There were shots fired, and then a car crashed into the river.
Flash back to the start of the robbery. Sophie has to go on as Lady Macbeth because the lead actress is gone. She's worried about how well she'll do, but Nate tells her she'll be great because the matinee audience is cover for the getaway; she proceeds to massively overact and do a horrible job.
Parker fires a grapple over with a crossbow and slides down to the Highpoint Tower. She hides to not be seen by the guards alerted by the alarm, but Nate can't talk to her any more because the earbuds won't work. She gets to the Steranko control systems.
The guards in the lobby are dealing with alarms all over the building when they get a call from Nate pretending to be from Steranko Security Systems. He asks for the building passcode, which they provide, and says he'll send a pair of techs over. He then intercepts a call from Steranko, provides them with the building passcode, and asks them to turn off the alarms. Eliot and Hardison come in as the promised techs, and the alarm turns off. They say they have to go upstairs to fix the problem, and meet up with Parker in the elevator.
A police officer enters the lobby, saying he got an alarm call, and that he has to go walk it. The officer calls on his radio and finds there are no confirmed technicians on site. He grabs two security guards, and they find the team trying to break in. He sends the security guards after them, saying he'll go cut them off. Eliot makes short work of the guards.
Parker and Hardison force open some elevator doors and plan to escape down the shaft as the cop catches up to them. He fires down the elevator shaft, hitting Hardison and then Parker, who drops Hardison down the shaft. They're both badly injured but Parker gets them to the van that Nate and Sophie are in. The officer catches up to them and is about to shoot as Eliot comes up behind him, disarming him. As Eliot heads for the van, the officer pulls out another gun from his ankle holster, shooting Eliot. Parker, Eliot, and Hardison clasp hands as they lay dying while Nate tries to get away.
The police have a drawbridge blockaded, but Nate breaks through the barricade, clasping hands with Sophie and aware that the three in the back are all dead. The drawbridge is going up, and the van isn't going to make it.
Nate is pounding on the desk as Casey tells him that the bodies were taken from the van and their identities confirmed. She leaves him to think about this as she goes out to the Interpol office he is actually being held in, in Highpoint Tower.
Casey discusses the case with an underling and says she wants the bodies brought over. She goes up on the roof and finds a wet spot with a broken balloon, then talks to a guard about the police officer. She investigates the theater, being asked to be quiet because the evening performance is running - the matinee had an awful stand-in as Lady Macbeth, but the lead is performing now, and she's amazing.
She returns to Nate and says the police are satisfied and will take him into custody as soon as the doctors sign off. She then leans in and asks why he's lying to her; he wouldn't have needed three weeks given access to the Shanghai Tunnels. We flash back to her investigating the theater and finding that they'd cut a hole into the tunnels, which led to the basement of the tower. She says the elevator was the way in, not the roof, and gives her theory of what happened.
Flash back to Hardison firing a water balloon at the roof, activating the alarm, as Parker climbs up the elevator shaft. Things proceed as before, except Parker isn't there.
Nate stands up and screams, "Why would I lie? Why? I screwed up, I got them killed. I lost everything, the only thing I ever had!" Casey responds that he probably figured out he's not in a hospital, and asks how.
Nate sits down and points out that there haven't been any announcements, no alarms, no 'ding' - it's too quiet to be a hospital. The files she was reading had Interpol coding, not local police. Her motions indicate both that she's used to having a gun in a shoulder holster, and she's used to reaching for her phone but stopping herself because she's in a cellular dead zone. Therefore, he's in the Interpol office in Highpoint Tower.
Agent Casey is impressed, and asks if the roof alarm was just to get the guards away from the 20th floor so Parker could get to the server room. She's puzzled because all those files are dead, not from active cases. Nate agrees: no ''active'' cases.
Sterling enters and pours Nate a drink, agreeing: no ''active'' cases. He's furious that Nate got the team killed for this. Nate tells Agent Casey that Stirling has a story for her. Sterling tosses Nate a handcuff key.
Nate was after the most secret file at Interpol, the Black Book. It holds the information on all the people who looted the economy during the 2008 financial crash, stealing 1/3 of the world's wealth. Interpol and the other law-enforcement agencies decided not to prosecute, because they felt that doing so would do even more damage to the world's financial system.
The Black Book file is transferred to the Portland Interpol office once a month, for a few hours, while maintenance occurs elsewhere. Sterling realizes that that's why Nate chose Portland.
Agent Casey points out that he doesn't have the file, and his friends are dead, but he's still lying to them. She gets a phone call, that the coroner's van just arrived. At Sterling's instruction, she tells them to pull it straight into the garage. Sterling then pauses, and asks how many bodies; he is told 'three', and realizes that somebody wasn't in the van. He decides to go up to the 20th floor, bringing Nate and every guard they have available.
As they arrive at the server room with Nate handcuffed again, Agent Casey checks the file manifest; the Black Book file has just arrived. Sterling deduces that Parker's still in the server room, having snuck in while the guards were investigating the roof. He tells Casey to open the door; it's biometric, and she isn't cleared, so Sterling opens the door. He asks Nate if Parker even knows that Nate got Hardison killed; Nate shoulder-checks him as the guards charge in to sweep the room, only to find it empty.
They take Nate down to the coroner's van, where one body bag has been pulled out onto a stretcher. Sterling unzips it, finding Hardison's body. He tells the agents to stand back and shoots the body, then reaches in to pull out a clump of ballistics gel - it's a dummy. He then has two questions for Agent Casey: did she talk to the Portland police and the coroner's office on the phone? And, for his second question, he asks Nate what it is. Nate asks where the coroner van drivers are. A guard says they were told to bring them in, without checking their IDs, because Agent Casey had cleared them. Sterling again removes Nate's handcuffs, and asks who played the patrolman. Nate smirks.
Flash back to the team reacting to Nate and Hardison telling the rest of the team that the Black Book is why they're in Portland; they're upset at having been lied to. Nate explains that the file is in that building for three hours, once a month. Hardison says he has the security cracked except for one thing - the biometric lock on the server room. "And it's not like they're just going to let us in."
Cut to the start of the break-in, with Sophie sending her understudy on to do a horrible job as Sophie takes on the roles of everybody that building security and Interpol call, including switching voices and accents mid-call as Agent Casey demands to speak to the current role's supervisor.
Nate comes in as the police officer. He lets Hardison and Eliot out of the building, pretending to shoot Eliot so the camera can see it.
Agent Casey can't believe that Sophie was playing so many roles, but Sterling does. A flashback shows that the amazing lead for Lady Macbeth was, in fact, Sophie.
Sterling goes back into the server room and finds, in one of the cabinets, that a hard drive has been stolen. In a flashback, we see that the coroner van drivers were Eliot, Hardison, and Parker; as they walk away from the van they change into security guard suits. Nate bumping Sterling was to keep him from noticing that the three team members went in with the other guards. Hardison steals the hard drive and they escape.
Sterling realizes that he's the Trojan horse who let them in. Casey says the building is in lockdown, but Sterling says that there's still a way out - the tunnel, which Casey thought was the way in. Casey sends guards across to the theater to check the audience, which she's sure they're hiding in. The guards scan the theater, not finding the team, because they're on stage in costume.
Sterling and Nate chat about Nate's improved acting skills as a black van arrives to take Nate off to a secret prison. Sterling asks Nate if he has any last requests; Nate asks him not to tell anyone he got the black book. Sterling says that if he doesn't warn people, the rich and powerful people mentioned in it won't know to defend themselves; Nate says that's the point.
Nate gets in the van, and Sterling tosses the prisoner transfer paperwork on his lap. On it is written: "Now we're even. Tell Sophie to drive carefully." Sophie, in the driver's seat, asks what it is; Nate says, "Nothing."
Agent Casey says that letting Nate go couldn't have been easy; Sterling says that justice is always easy.
Back in the bar, the team is looking at the hard drive with the Black Book on it. Nate announces he's out, depending on what Sophie says next. As the crew kibitzes, Nate gets down on one knee and proposes to Sophie, calling her Laura. She says yes.
Hardison says he'll dump the hard drive on the darknet so that everybody can go after the people who wrecked the economy, acting as Leverage International. Sophie asks Eliot to keep Parker and Hardison safe; he says he will until his dying day. With the team in tears, Nate and Sophie leave, with Sophie commenting that Laura isn't her real name.
In a CallBack to the pilot, a crying couple is saying that a company killed their son and wants to just pay them off, as if their son had a price. Parker, sitting in a chair flanked by Eliot and Hardison, gives Nate's speech: "People like that...corporations like that...they have all the money, they have all the power, and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now, you're suffering under an enormous weight. We provide...[[TitleDrop leverage]]."
----
!!Tropes stolen in this job:
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Nate and Sophie decide to retire from their lives of crime. However, Parker, Hardison, and Eliot decide to take over Leverage and continue their work, with Hardison having plans to expand their group into "Leverage International".
* BookEnds:
** The last episode ends the same way as the first episode, but with the smaller team left by Nate and Sophie leaving.
** As in the first episode, we see Sophie doing a horrible job acting as Lady Macbeth...except it's part of the con, and when we actually see her doing it, she gets a standing ovation.
* FakingTheDead: Complete with fake bodies made out of ballistics gel.
* GrandFinale: This is the last episode of the series, with a multi-level con to get the list of people who need Leverage's attention more than anyone else, and with Nate and Sophie going off to do their own thing as Parker, Eliot, and Hardison carry on the good fight.
* GrapplingHookPistol: Parker has a crossbow version in the first telling of the story.
* InMediasRes: We start the episode with Nate apprehended and being questioned about the apparent deaths of his team members.
* KansasCityShuffle: Nested at multiple levels.
** Nate's arrest is a con to bring Sterling into play as one of the people who can unlock the server room.
** The supposed deaths of the team are a con to get the team into the building as the crew driving the coroner's van.
** Nate then cons Sterling into thinking that Parker is still hiding inside the server room, so that Sterling will go open the door, letting the team in.
* RampJump: Subverted. In the first telling of the story, Nate tries to jump the van over an opening drawbridge. While we don't get to see the result, it's clear he doesn't make it and that's how Sophie allegedly died.
* ThreesomeSubtext: In Nate's fictional first story, Parker, Eliot, and Hardison all die holding hands. In the real ending, Eliot makes it clear that Parker and Hardison are what he's needed all along.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Sterling's ultimate choice - to fall on the side of order, or of justice. For the first time in the series, he chooses justice.
-->'''Sterling''': Order had to be restored.\\
'''Nate''': That's why you joined Interpol? Screw justice? You're the order guy?\\
'''Sterling''': It's not a choice.\\
'''Nate''': It is. Justice or order. One day, you are going to have to make that choice.
* UnreliableNarrator: Nate lies an awful lot about just what happened during the initial heist.
----
