‘Leverage: Redemption’ Recap – ‘The Turkish Prisoner Job’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 208 of ‘Leverage: Redemption’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One particular reality about our world that many have struggled to reconcile over the past few years, is that there are police officers, who are not as noble as we expect them to be. And what makes that difficult for people to handle, is the sheer fact that there are high expectations that accompany wearing the badge and the gun. For the people that do so, are supposed to represent the best of us, and use their strong moral compass, and fine understanding of people to keep the streets safe, and diffuse dangerous situations, and protect us and serve us and make us proud in the process. So, to see what we’ve seen the past couple years is jarring.
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But shocking as it may be, the proof is undeniable that there are cops out there, who embody none of that. Instead, the ones that have been in the spotlight have represented the worst of us and have rattled our communities and left us wondering… what comes next? For if corrupt officers are running about and performing acts that break the law… who watches the watchers, and who holds these guys accountable? Well… as it turns out… there are ways to punish police officers who go against their oath to protect and serve and whether we like it or not, it comes down to an obvious hero to set things right… and that’s us. Which may seem like a daunting task since uh, they have the gear and we do not. But thankfully, fiction can help us understand how we can in fact, be the hero in this instance, as evidenced by the next episode of Leverage: Redemption on Amazon Freevee.

For ‘The Turkish Prisoner Job’ is a story that plunges the team in the midst of a nightmare involving crooked cops. For a good and honest man named Romero Delgado is thrown in jail one fine day and when this is brought to the team’s attention, they quickly come to realize, he has fallen victim to some dirty cops up to some shady acts. The kind they have repeated multiple times in Romero’s neighborhood and well… with Harry in charge, the team went undercover to do the one key thing that needs to be done to defeat dirty cops… expose them for the crooks they actually are. Which of course they did, in a marathon long con manner. One that entertained and wowed as they sucked these suckers into quite the scheme. 

But truly, all smoke bombs and awesome prison yard fist fights, and fake deaths, and fake gators aside… the core lesson here really was quite moving and powerful. In that, the police are indeed public servants and if we the people see them doing something out of place or committing illegal acts… we have to speak up. We have to raise hell and we need to tell anyone that will listen what’s happening in our town and shine a light on it. Because that’s what cops like these absolutely hate and it does make a difference. As evidenced by the protests and trials that followed some of the darkest acts, we’ve ever seen a police officer commit on video. And while that isn’t the perfect answer, we have to start somewhere and that’s a fine a start as any.

In the end however, this was just, another intelligent episode from this wonderfully brilliant series. One that took the time to tackle a taboo and polarizing topic in our world since there are indeed dividing lines regarding how people view the police and their role in society. But as is always the case, this episode handled such discussions in a supremely objective and enlightening manner and of course, used a touch of humor to never allow for it to be overwhelming, and it deserves a round of applause for once again tackling the tough topics other shows shy away from. Plus, it was also incredible to see an alum from The Walking Dead in this tale, since Alanna Masterson from that series played Kira Simone here and it was just great to see her play the heavy for a change in a manner so compelling, that hopefully we are quick to act the next time we see a police officer serving their own interests over the public trust. Until next time.

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