The Team goes up against Greg Sherman, third-generation master Con Artist, who's running a Boiler Room scam to bilk people out of their money. Meanwhile, Nate discovers a new adversary.
Tropes Stolen in this Job
- Answer Cut: "How far out you wanna push him?" Cut to: Ecuador.
- Artistic License: Theatre. Ed Travers says that he played "the front end" of Nugget in Equus, as if he's talking about a stereotypical two-person pantomime horse costume. The whole point of play is that the actors playing the horses aren't costumed like realistic horses. Unless he participated in some kind of avant-garde production.
- Beneath Notice: The Team recruits civilians into the plan because Sherman's so well connected in the con world that he'd spot anyone else. Poetic Justice arrives with the reveal that they're not just ordinary people: they're Sherman's victims, people he's never actually looked in the eye.
- Cassandra Truth: The mark tries telling the FBI that Parker isn't really an FBI Special Agent, she's just a thief. The FBI doesn't believe him.
- Death Glare: Sherman gets a room full of these from his victims as the FBI hauls him away.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first time we see Sherman is him giving a Gordon Gecko-esque speech to his henchmen, saying, "people dumb enough to be conned out of their money don't deserve it," establishing both his tenacity and his complete lack of scruples.
- Famed In-Story: Greg Sherman is a legendary Con Artist from a long line of legendary Con Artists. One of the rare times the Team is intimidated by a mark.
- I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Turns out Parker is a choco-holic. After spending a few days at the local Chocolate Festival, she spends the rest of the episode practically vibrating due to all the sugar coursing through her veins.
- I Know You Know I Know: Sherman catches on pretty quickly that someone's trying to run a con on him, and plays along just so he can rub it in the Team's faces in the end. It never occurs to him that that's exactly what the Team wants him to do; with so much of his energy devoted to sussing out the con, he leaves himself open to basic digital theft at the hands of Hardison.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Nate realizes early on that Sherman is just too good of a con man to try and con. So they let him think someone's trying to con him, while Hardison simply outright robs him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hardison is so drained by all the hacking he needs to do that he actually says he's tired of orange soda.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sherman's Dragon abandons his boss and makes a run for it as soon as it's clear the jig is up. Unfortunately he runs head-first into Eliot, who's just dying to hit someone.
- Self-Applied Nickname: Sherman calls himself "The Mako." Because he's a shark and never stops moving. The Team relentlessly mocks him for this at every opportunity.
- Smug Snake: Holy Crap is Sherman a smug bastard. No tears are shed for his downfall.
- Villain of Another Story: Jack Latimer has apparently been working behind the scenes from the very beginning with the Dubenich job, watching Nate's Team work and positioning himself to benefit from the ruins of the companies they've brought down.
- We Can Rule Together: Latimer lays out a business proposition to Nate: he'll provide Nate with the resources to bring down even more powerful corrupt executives, bigger fish than Nate and his Team could ever hope to land on their own. All he asks is that Nate give him enough notice beforehand to get in position to profit from their downfall. Nate is momentarily tempted, but ultimately decides that Latimer is no better than any of the other corrupt execs he's brought down, and refuses to work with him.
