‘Leverage: Redemption’ Recap – ‘The Muddy Waters Job’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Fifteen of ‘Leverage: Redemption’.
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We are taught at a very early age in life, that our image and what people think of us, is unimportant. Instead, it is our actions and the legacy we leave behind that matters more, and we do our best to hold to that lesson, until the world shows us that few bother to take it to heart. For it doesn’t take all that long for us to realize when we set out on our own, that image is everything for a great deal of people and it is so important to corporations and businesses, that they will do whatever it takes to be seen in a good light. Which is a reality that leaves us beside ourselves, wherein we can decide to let that ugly truth break us and join the masses or do our best to stick with a lesson we know to be just and true.
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If anything, the power of image and perception and what it can do it to us emotionally is top of mind today, because it served as the focus of the next episode of Leverage: Redemption. For ‘The Muddy Waters Job’ saw Harry Wilson’s own daughter, Becky, come under fire from what appeared to be nothing more than a petty thug who was out to harm her stepfather, Ethan. An oil magnate that likely was in someone’s crosshairs for taking his company in a green and productive direction and well, Harry thought it best to have the team step in and help out Ethan and his daughter and his ex-wife Grace. But it didn’t take long for the team to learn that Ethan… wasn’t the hero he made himself out to be.

For the man that scared Becky on that fateful night, was trying to bring Ethan’s company to justice. For they lied about an oil leak and changed their image to cover it up and well, once the team confirmed that Ethan was lying and was as sleazy as they come, an angry Harry went all in on bringing him down. Which in turn led to one risky mission aboard one of Ethan’s rigs to prove without a doubt that his company lied to the masses and was still poisoning people and well… for a brief moment there, it truly seemed as though our heroes would be triumphant in teaching Ethan and his company a lesson. For they exposed the truth and were about to help so many find financial compensation for Ethan’s lies. But what’s when the power of image and perception came into play.

Because Ethan had done such a good job of putting on the disguise of being a great human being… that Grace saw this as nothing more than an attempt to discredit her new husband and to top it off, rather than properly deal with the consequences of his actions, Ethan just had more people killed by having his own rig destroyed. Making it clear to all of us how important image is to people and how far they will go to maintain it in the real world and how easy it is to fool us with a positive image. Since this PR push claimed the logic and sanity of Harry’s ex, and seeing the bad guy win in such a powerful manner, put Harry at that crossroads in question, and rather than explore the positive side of this conundrum… the writers’ room saw this as a chance to potentially explore something quite bold. Specifically, how being burned in that manner could break a person and motivate them to give up.

Because at the end of this tale, Harry joined forces with R.I.Z., who helped in Ethan’s disgusting act to destroy the rig. Making it seem as though he snapped in this moment and decided that if good deeds and honesty couldn’t bring justice around for a guy like Ethan, and lies and distractions could fool Harry’s family… what then was the point of doing good? Which is a valid question and Harry will either find that answer in the finale, or he’s already figured it out… and he snapped in a healthy way here and wants to bring bad down from the inside. Which is quite the cliffhanger, one that serves as the perfect exclamation point to a perfect episode. For this one really did hammer home the power of image and how a façade could potentially break someone and well… the only way to know for sure if Harry is putting on an image of evil to fool the folks at R.I.Z., is to continue the journey and see how this season ends. Until next time.

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