‘Leverage: Redemption’ Recap – ‘The Tournament Job’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoiler for Episode 203 of ‘Leverage: Redemption’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
​
One would think that the world of video games would be fairly innocuous and relaxed. After all, these are fantasy worlds where a player can lose themselves in a story of their choosing, and if they so desire… they can enjoy the company of others in their adventures through the power of the web. All of which sounds amazingly fun and free of the nastiness of the world and the people eager to exert control and cause trouble in the name of their ego. But alas, that’s simply not the case. For the world of gaming can be quite toxic at times since the anonymity of this world motivates some to be pretty gross human beings when it comes to what they say and do online, and there are those out there, eager to exploit the gaming world for their own benefit. 
​
Which means that this world too… is one that we hope to find justice within, and of course… the best way to enjoy that, is through Leverage: Redemption, the one show that always makes that wish come true. For there is no frontier that Team Leverage won’t venture to, as evidenced by the next episode of this dynamic Amazon Freevee series. For ‘The Tournament Job’ saw the squad be recruited by a concerned sister, named Jane, to see if her brother, Tam, was indeed okay. For he had been recruited by an E-Sports wizard named Kyle Fury… and no one had heard from him in a while. Which motivated her to make an impromptu visit to check in on him, and when she did, she noticed he looked distressed and scared and well, it’s a good thing she reached out to the team out of concern, since they came to learn that Kyle was bad news.

For he was all about crafting a winning team in the most illegal and unethical ways imaginable. Such as doping his teams with high yield stimulants and using fear and punishment to ‘get the best’ out of them. Which meant the team needed to take this guy down a peg. Because this was all about feeding his garbage ego and burning anyone else in the process, and these gamers didn’t deserve that kind of treatment or to have their freedoms taken away. But their mission was no easy task. For Kyle had all the bases covered and trusted no one, making it appear as though the team was in over their heads. But you can never count this team out, and with a little guile of their own and some playing along… they were able to expose Kyle and save Tam and his friends and help keep the video game world fun by getting rid of a cancer within it. 

But while that made for a satisfying episode of this series, one that featured a pretty scary villain since Kyle was pretty darn evil, what really made this episode quite special, were all the unique journeys that our heroes went upon to complete the mission. Since Breanna was forced to learn on the fly the difficulties that come with being the ‘Inside Man’, and she adapted quite well. Not to mention, Harry’s ability to lose himself in the gamer role he unleashed here, led to some serious laughs and what had to be great fun for Noah Wyle. And of course, Eliot really shined here as the moral core of this mission. Since he went the extra mile to take care of a bunch of scared kids really, reminding us of the good man he truly is. Plus, it was great to see Sophie settling further into her leadership role, and uh… Parker’s Schwarzenegger impression and Sarah Connor persona here was the stuff of legend.

If anything, this was just… a wild and fun episode when all is said and done. One that almost felt akin to a palate cleanser of sorts. Since let’s be honest, while the other episodes always balance the dark and the light… the last two heavies the show featured, were a little on the uglier and darker side. Making this the perfect episode to just lighten the mood and give us all plenty to smile about. And smile we most certainly did, thanks to one happy, happy ending and a new hobby for Eliot and well… you can never go wrong with an episode of this show that leans into the fun. And now that we’ve reached the end of this delightful and engaging tale, it’s onto the next mission and all the wonders and lessons it will undoubtedly send our way. Until next time.

---

Powered by JustWatch