[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/levmold_2296.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A musical...[[ItMakesSenseInContext about bread mold]].]]
->''"We are the worst fairy godparents in the world."''
-->--'''Sophie Deveroux'''

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Kay Maher, a volunteer nurse at a local clinic, seeks help from the Leverage Team to deal with Daniel Fowler, a man she had asked to invest the clinic's money when it turned out he was running a scam, causing them to close and nearly killing a child. Kay trusted him because she works at the private school his stepson, who is a nice kid, attends and many other parents there had invested with Fowler.

Hardison briefs the team (minus Sophie who just broke up with her boyfriend) on Fowler. He's the C.E.O. of FTP Fidelity but got caught in a Ponzi scheme which caused the clinic to close down, since he lost all of their money. The FBI put him under house arrest and froze all his assets before he got the chance to flee to the Maldives. As Sophie enters, Hardison piggybacks on the FBI's surveillance and find Fowler has some issues with his stepson, Widmark. Looking for ways to lure him out of his home, the team needs to know more about Widmark by stealing his school. They replace headmaster Jerrod (after Hardison gives him all-expense-paid tickets to Botswana) with Nate (as an interim headmaster), along with Sophie and Eliot as teachers despite the students' parents arguing about Jerrod's absence. They try different things to see Widmark's talents but utterly fail to see any in him since he hasn't joined a club for five years, and is pretty hopeless at...anything. Meanwhile, Hardison and Parker are trying to install a motion detector outside Fowler's penthouse when the FBI comes up in the elevator. They hide but as they watch Fowler open the door to see what the feds want, a hitman points a gun at them attempting to shoot Fowler but Parker stops him. Hardison gives chase while the FBI agents confront Parker. But luckily, they turn out to be Special Agents Taggert and [=McSweeten=], who recognize Parker and Hardison from the previous encounters.

Nate is frustrated that Eliot and Sophie can't seem to help Widmark and can't believe Hardison and Parker ran into the only FBI agents who would recognize them. Nate tells Hardison and Parker to keep an eye on Fowler with the FBI since he'll be gunned down by the hitman. Just then, they see Widmark singing on a vid cam and realize they found a way in. The next day, Sophie asks the students to sing for a science fair musical. Impressed with Widmark's talent, she decides she's going to put him in the finale. However, Mr. Sanford, father of Widmark's bully Skyler and head of the concerned parents association, and the other parents are not too happy with their decision. He even refers to Fowler for his crimes but Nate reminds them that Widmark himself has not done anything to them. Despite the plan, Sophie insists on bringing the best out of Widmark instead of 'using him' since Widmark's life has been very miserable due to his stepfather's actions. Meanwhile, Hardison and Parker are with the FBI agents discussing the plan and checking the security cameras.

On the day of the show, Hardison lets Taggert take care of Fowler, and realizing [=McSweeten=] is falling for Parker, Hardison sends her along with them while he stands guard at the apartment. After the FBI watchdogs leave, he breaks inside. Back at the auditorium, everyone's ready for their performance but Sophie realize Widmark's missing and finds him crying inside the bathroom. Unable to get a hold of herself, Sophie tells the truth that she conned him into being brave. She used to have no friends like him but now she does. Widmark asks why the other kids make fun of him. Sophie explains that they see him as his stepfather and he's not able to show them who he is now. She gives Widmark advice that acting is all about telling the truth rather than lying to everyone of his true self. With Parker's help, Hardison manages to override the security system and breaks open a panel in Fowler's wall to find a small case, but when he opens it, it's empty.

Nate is puzzled that the case is empty and realizes that someone other than themselves and the FBI knows about it, meaning the hitman was actually after the FBI since Fowler hired the hitman in the first place. Hardison opens a hidden panel inside the case and finds a cell phone. Nate remembers that Fowler was scolding Widmark for it since he was using his stepson's phone. Parker casually asks [=McSweeten=] about searching Fowler before they left and learns he was carrying a bag with some tapes and a camera, presumably for the performance. Eliot finds the hitman and starts fighting him backstage while Sophie insists on continuing the show until Widmark performs. Hardison tracks the phone to Skyler, the kid who's been picking on Widmark. But Nate sees Mr. Sanford casually replacing Fowler's bag and realizes that Fowler and Sanford have been in contact. Nate then pretends to trip while taking the bag that Sanford replaced.

It's finally Widmark's turn and despite his earlier nerves, he delivers a shining performance with a snappy song about his science fair project, bread mold, that has the audience giving him a standing ovation. Eliot manages to take down the hitman while Nate finds that the bag contains a different identity and new life in Bogotá for Fowler. Eliot manages to confront Sanford and snatch his bag while Sophie plays one of the tapes after presenting the prizes when the performance ends. To everyone in the auditorium's shock, the tape plays that Sanford was in on Fowler's scheme. Fowler rushes outside, only to be caught by Taggert after Nate trips him with his cane and then gives the bag that contains the fake ID to Taggert. Sanford tries to stop Sophie but is arrested by [=McSweeten=] just in time.

The next day, Kay's clinic is saved and handed back more money than before since Fowler sent $20 million to an account under his alias so the feds couldn't find it. He even made a deal with Sanford to kill the two FBI agents and forge a new ID in exchange for the tapes. Widmark and his mother appear helping the clinic out, as his mother needs a job. Kay thanks them and shows them inside. Nate is impressed with Sophie since this is the first time that a con relied on her telling the truth, but Sophie reminds him that if she starts telling the truth all the time, she won't be Sophie Devereaux.

!Tropes stolen in this job:
* TheAce: Judy Kim spells every word Sophie gives her, can make up snappy songs on the spot, and is insufferably polite the whole time.
* AmazonBrigade: Eliot appears to be training one made up of schoolgirls at one point.
* {{Antidisestablishmentarianism}}: While trying to get Widmark going as a speller, he goes up against Judy, who gets every word Sophie throws at her, including...
* BlatantLies: When Skyler protests that Widmark keeps getting the easy words, Sophie tells him point blank that they're all random.
* ContinuityNod: Taggert and [=McSweeten=] are back, and moving up in the world after the [[Recap/LeverageS01E03TheWeddingJob Moscone case]] and [[Recap/LeverageS01E08TheBankShotJob breaking up a meth ring while stopping a bank robbery]].
* CopKiller: The gunman who the crew initially think is out to kill Fowler has actually been hired ''by'' Fowler to kill his FBI guards [=McSweetin=] and Taggert so that he can blow the country and start a new life.
* HiddenDepths: Parker turns out to be a pretty good sketch artist, being able to draw the hitman's face from memory. She thought everyone could do that.
* IHaveManyNames: Sophie, as a professional con artist, has tons of different identities. When we finally see her new boyfriend, he's breaking up with her because he doesn't feel like she ever tells him real information about herself, and the conversation reveals that he thinks her name is Katherine. She starts to tell him her name is actually "Sophie," but instead ends up morosely rattling off a list of her aliases to herself as he leaves: Alice, Karen, Michelle, Elizabeth...
* KickTheDog: Fowler barely applauds for Widmark's performance at the science fair, and when Widmark gets a standing ovation, he doesn't join in.
* LonelyRichKid: Widmark, the wealthy mark's stepson and only major child character in the episode, is shown to be isolated and bullied since his stepfather was revealed to have stolen money from most of the other parents at his school. Sophie observes that "his [step]father sees him as a loser; his mother sees him as this fragile, little baby; his schoolmates see him as the boy whose father stole Christmas." (He mentions that he used to have friends before his stepfather's scheme was revealed.)
* NotListeningToMeAreYou: Hardison starts to tell Eliot how he made a metal detector, but Eliot's not listening.
-->'''Hardison''': What did I just say?
-->'''Eliot''': You were explaining how you're still a virgin?
* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Eliot gets the attention of a hitman he's about to attack with "Yo, what's up?"
* ScottyTime:
-->'''Nate''': Sophie how long would it take you to stage a musical?\\
'''Sophie''': Six weeks.\\
'''Nate''': You have two days.
* TemptingFate: Nate comments how they have a job in a cushy school, with no gun runners, mob bosses, or Interpol, and it'll be a breeze. Yeah, shoulda kept your mouth shut, Nate.
* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: Hardison comments on this when Parker puts food on a set of blueprints.