"The Mile High Job" begins with one of the most awkward openings of the entire series. After a brief client meeting/introduction to the case, the show cuts to the team breaking into the offices of an agricultural company named Genogrow to find the evidence that its fertilizer killed a young girl. Yet the break-in is a clumsy affair, as the team is working around the unexplained absence of Alec Hardison and has to cope with the electronic security without him. It's a fun set-up but it's awkwardly done, especially as the entire team - Hardison included - is present at the client meeting. Are we really to expect that Hardison would leave the team in the lurch knowing that they had a job in progress?
Nevertheless, the separation proves key to the plot, in which the team is forced once again to improvise in a hurry. During the break-in they discover the agricultural company's CEO is preparing to scramble any attempt to investigate the deaths by "bankrupting" the division involved with the fertilizer (thus creating a ticking-clock scenario, even if the details don't make any sense) and dealing with the "assets" which are on a flight shortly to leave for the Cayman Islands. After an entertaining sequence in which Nate, Sophie, Eliot, and Parker establish roles for themselves while they're in the airport (which includes a cute nod to Doctor Who) they infiltrate the flight and begin sorting through the passengers and searching their carry-on luggage.
Meanwhile Hardison is tasked with re-infiltrating Genogrow on his own in order to find the evidence that the team was looking for during their original break-in. This gives Aldis Hodge a chance to flex his acting skills Gina Bellman-style with a couple of performances that allow him to pose as a corporate drone. He's the MVP of the episode in this regard, as it gives him his best opportunity yet to demonstrate his ability to switch between an overtly comedic performance and the more standard dramedic one typically required by the show. That Hodge does it so effortlessly is an element that the show would exploit further in future seasons.
It turns out the flight is a whole set up that leaves the team in mortal danger. It's not a spoiler to say that they get out of it in the end, which they do in suitably dramatic style. And while it involves a lot more CGI than a television show in 2009 should be employing given its poor quality, it's another reflection of the show's willingness to go big in service to an entertaining tale. While another draft of the script could have smoothed out some of the bumps in the plot and the structure, even without one it's still a solidly entertaining episode that showcases why the Leverage crew is the best at what they do.
Nevertheless, the separation proves key to the plot, in which the team is forced once again to improvise in a hurry. During the break-in they discover the agricultural company's CEO is preparing to scramble any attempt to investigate the deaths by "bankrupting" the division involved with the fertilizer (thus creating a ticking-clock scenario, even if the details don't make any sense) and dealing with the "assets" which are on a flight shortly to leave for the Cayman Islands. After an entertaining sequence in which Nate, Sophie, Eliot, and Parker establish roles for themselves while they're in the airport (which includes a cute nod to Doctor Who) they infiltrate the flight and begin sorting through the passengers and searching their carry-on luggage.
Meanwhile Hardison is tasked with re-infiltrating Genogrow on his own in order to find the evidence that the team was looking for during their original break-in. This gives Aldis Hodge a chance to flex his acting skills Gina Bellman-style with a couple of performances that allow him to pose as a corporate drone. He's the MVP of the episode in this regard, as it gives him his best opportunity yet to demonstrate his ability to switch between an overtly comedic performance and the more standard dramedic one typically required by the show. That Hodge does it so effortlessly is an element that the show would exploit further in future seasons.
It turns out the flight is a whole set up that leaves the team in mortal danger. It's not a spoiler to say that they get out of it in the end, which they do in suitably dramatic style. And while it involves a lot more CGI than a television show in 2009 should be employing given its poor quality, it's another reflection of the show's willingness to go big in service to an entertaining tale. While another draft of the script could have smoothed out some of the bumps in the plot and the structure, even without one it's still a solidly entertaining episode that showcases why the Leverage crew is the best at what they do.
