- Title: Leverage: Redemption – The Bucket Job
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The second-half of the season kicks off with an unusual job for the Leverage crew who are hired not to take down a mark but use their skills to give give a small town librarian (LeVar Burton) with stage-four cancer a day as a spy and a hero. Burton’s character is named Robert Blanche for the longtime Leverage cast member who made multiple appearances on the show as Lt. Patrick Bonnano before passing away in 2020. The twist for the episode comes from pulling the thread from earlier in the season as Bligh (Lucy Taylor) and her goons are following the team and discover that the librarian is actually a missing spy with incredibly valuable information.
Turning Burton from mild-mannered librarian to retired spy turns out to be a fun twist as the librarian is constantly surprising Eliot (Christian Kane) with his skills. It’s also not often Eliot finds someone who understands what he’s been through (at least not someone on the team’s side), so the Blanche reveal allows for a couple of nice moments between the pair. When Eliot is captured, and tortured for information, Blanche is able to track down the rest of the Leverage team and help in a rescue mission before making use of some of the tricks from the con to provide for the librarian’s public death, the destruction of the the valuable information, and send Bligh and her goons packing without what they came for. The episode is also notable for Harry (Noah Wyle), who wears perhaps the worst disguise from any Leverage episode, being offered chance to return to the fold from his old firm.
