‘Leverage: Redemption’ Recap – ‘The Double-Edged Sword Job’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Seven of ‘Leverage: Redemption’.
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One thing that we can all agree upon, is that technology has indeed made our lives easier. Because we are basically at a point where we can press a button and get whatever we want and that really is quite the accomplishment for humanity, since we’ve gone from hunting wooly mammoths to ordering a steak with an app. But while a great deal of us love technology and use it to meet new people and share our thoughts instantly and accomplish any other goals on our daily lists, there are some who are quite fearful of technology and its potential. For they believe this kind of unfettered access will eventually backfire on all of mankind and that our privacy will be thrown out of the window because of it and well… the fact of the matter is, they’re half right in their concerns.
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Because in the wrong hands, yes, technology could be used for evil purposes and even now, it is. Since there are scammers out there using technology to rob people of their fortunes and/or infect their computers and phones for a ransom. But you’ll note that the phrase ‘wrong hands’ was used to describe some of the problems that accompany our impressive tech and there’s good reason for that. Because computers and phones and every device we created, work on commands. Which means they do what we tell them to and that also means… it isn’t the devices we need to fear, but the people that teach them to do their nefarious bidding. For they are the ones making tech look bad and well, that does bring about an important question. In that, how does one stop people like that from abusing technology in such a twisted manner? And it just so happens, that the next episode of Leverage: Redemption, takes the time to try and answer that question.

For ‘The Double-Edged Sword Job’ saw Team Leverage swing by the tiny little berg of Arlo, Louisiana to follow up on a troubling development. For an old friend from back in the day, that the team worked hard to keep safe from an abusive ex… recently told the team he’d found her and well, the only way that could have happened… was a failure on Hardison’s end. Because he scrubbed her images from every known database, and that in turn, kept her safe for years on end. But after a little digging… it turned out that Hardison didn’t fail her. Instead, someone else changed the game for facial recognition software and that someone, was a dirty little weasel named Joseph Cheng, who used his skills for evil by figuring out how to create a super database of images that could determine the location of anyone, anywhere with minimal computer effort. 

Which of course meant, that the team needed to take him down a peg or nine before he sold this software to the mysterious Riz Security Corporation and that led to the answer in question. In that, in order for us to make scammers and abusers of information afraid to even think about committing such an act… it has to be viewed as completely and utterly unacceptable by the majority of people. Something that isn’t the case right now. Which likely means that a simple way of making that happen, would be through some kind of hefty legislation, one that genuinely protects consumers from having their images be sold, so that no corporation or innovator would dare try to do what Joseph did here. But that, will take a monumental effort in our modern world where the dollar is king. Which means that in the meantime, it’s up to us to stand against these guys. But before we discuss how, it should be noted that there are some heroes out there trying to fight the good fight against technology abuse akin to the Leverage team.

Since there are YouTubers out there who purposely keep scammers on the line and humiliate them to the masses to help raise awareness of what they do so we can all recognize the warning signs. But alas, not everyone knows of those videos, which means that until that day comes when data and technology are respected by all … our best bet to combat these jerks, is to stand tall and trust our gut. So, if we get a call about our car’s extended warranty or one informing us that there’s a virus on our computer… we challenge that and push back and don’t let them instill any fear in us. Because bullies like that, can’t handle being bullied back, as evidenced by Joseph’s fate in the closing minutes of this tale and well, once again, this is just another brilliant episode from an outright brilliant series. One that really did examine a side of technology we don’t talk about enough and well; it’s best we savor the wonder of this one. Because after next week, there will be little to discuss until Leverage: Redemption returns from its midseason hiatus. Until then.  

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