History Leverage / TropesAToD

'''A - D''' | [[Leverage/TropesEToI E - I]] | [[Leverage/TropesJToM J - M]] | [[Leverage/TropesNToS N - S]] | [[Leverage/TropesTToZ T - Z]]-]]]]]

* CuffsOffRubWrists: Sophie rubs her wrists after being unhandcuffed in "The Three-Card Monte Job" while pretending to be an apprehended criminal to break into a police station.

** In "The Big Bang Job," after Hardison [[spoiler: disables the EMP bomb]], Parker tells him she has a craving for pretzels. [[TheyDo They're officially dating as of "The (Very) Big Bird Job."]]

* In "The Frame Up Job," Spencer accuses Nate and Sophie of stealing a priceless painting. They didn't but later need it to prove someone else guilty of murder. As Nate heads in its direction, Sophie exclaims, "We're going to steal it?!" and Nate replies, "No, just borrow it."

** In the episode "The Bottle Job", when asked if they're going to steal a wake, Nate insists that they're only borrowing it, if only out of respect.

** "The Broken Wing Job" takes place in the brewery and the HQ. The rest of the team is in UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}} doing [[NoodleIncident God-knows-what]], but Parker is at home trying to foil a robbery thanks to a sprained knee.
** ''The Frame-Up Job'' takes place entirely at the estate of a deceased millionaire. Bonus points for this only having Nate an Sophie in this episode.

* BoxedCrook: The Italian's plan for Nate and the team in Season 3.

*** TheChick: Parker, though she's not a normal chick.

* BorrowedWithoutPermission: {{Inverted}} in one episode:

* CuffsOffRubWrists: Sophie does this in "The Three-Card Monte Job" after pretending to be an apprehended criminal to break into a police station.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
** Occasionally the creator throws some outright CardCarryingEvil antagonists at the team, with reviewers predictably declaring it TheWarOnStraw. He then gives references, showing that yes, criminals actually ''did'' try this stuff and '''[[KarmaHoudini got away with it]]''' - hence his catharsis by siccing Nate and the team on their fictional counterparts.
** In "[[http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/07/leverage-303-inside-job-post-game.html The Inside Job]]", a head researcher at an agricultural company tries to infect most of the natural wheat in the world with a catastrophic blight so as to sell GMO wheat.
** In "[[http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/08/leverage-306-double-blind-job-post-game.html The Double Blind Job]]", a drug company CEO tries to sell a toxic drug -- knowing that many who take it will die -- because he knows he'll make far more money selling it than he'll be fined for selling it.

* BlackTieInfiltration: Basically, if their mark is a high-society figure, it's a good bet that infiltrating a party will be a major part of that episode's con. Usually, Sophie poses as a guest in order to get information from the mark or just distract them, Nathan poses as a guest to keep an eye on events and give orders as necessary, and Eliot poses as a janitor or other staff so he can leap in if the situation becomes violent. Parker, who does most of the breaking-in, may or may not pose as one of the wait staff. Hardison, the MissionControl, is the one team member least likely to show his face at these parties.

[[{{Series/Leverage}} Main Page]] [[Leverage/TropesEToI E To I found here]]. [[Leverage/TropesJToM J To M found here]]. [[Leverage/TropesNToS N To S found here]]. [[Leverage/TropesTToZ T To Z found here]].

* CryingWolf: This is weaponized against TheMark in "The Order 23 Job"; the crew target Eddie Maranjian, an investment manager who swindled several people out of their savings but is going into witness protection since he offered to give the government information on his criminal associates. The team trick Eddie into thinking there is a viral outbreak, causing him to escape the hospital he is in and lead them to where he hid his money. When the team reveal themselves to him, Eddie tries to tell the government agents what happened but no one believes his story over the much more plausible explanation that he simply tried to escape custody. This is lampshaded by Nate when he points out that Eddie himself never considered that no one had any reason to believe him.

** Really all the one-upmanship that happens in that episode is this. Eliot and Mikel's AwesomeByAnalysis stalemate, Chaos and Hardison's DuelingHackers mayhem... it's hard to see how any team could have won that episode, [[HilarityEnsues and that's hilarious.]]

* CrazyPeoplePlayChess: Nate's first opponent is this in "The Queen's Gambit Job". He literally sleeps through most of the match, only waking up to make a single move. And he's so good that Nate tries to very quietly move and press the chess timer. It doesn't work.

** "The Radio Job" has Eliot on the radio, stalling the cops outside by playing out what is basically the plot of the first ''Film/DieHard'' movie. Crosses into an outright ShoutOut when he even drops a few of Bruce Willis' lines ("Welcome to the party pal!" and "[[CurseCutShort Yippy ki-yay mother-]]")

** Chaos acts ''extremely'' creepily towards Parker in "The Ho Ho Ho Job" and "The Last Damn Job", basically sexually harassing her in both episodes; extra Ick Points given Parker's unique thought-process and difficulty in responding to many ''normal'' social overtures. Luckily, in "The Last Dam Job" [[PapaWolf Archie is unwilling to tolerate Chaos' crap towards his daughter.]]

** Larry Meeker from the TieInNovel ''The Bestseller Job''. He's a {{nerd}}y, retired computer programmer who falls in love with Sophie after seeing her on stage, and follows her all over the world trying to get her autograph. Sophie is both appalled and flattered. [[spoiler:However, after he and Sophie are kidnapped and nearly killed by a particularly nasty villain, Larry decides to switch his allegiance to a less challenging target, like Creator/LindsayLohan.]]

* CorruptHick: The judge in "The Bank Shot Job."

* CourtroomAntic: Hardison's part of the con in "The Juror #6 Job." He started by bringing in a massive amount of information so boring and irrelevant that the judge was falling asleep, when by that point she should definitely have been demanding an ''actual justification'' for why it was important. Then he discredited his opposition's expert witness by bringing up the fact that he was on the no-fly list, which he only knew by hacking into their database and so had no proof of, and claiming that [[LogicalFallacies if the government didn't trust him to fly how could they trust his testimony]]. The judge ignored their objection and didn't give so much as a DisregardThatStatement.

** In "The Mile High Job," Nate and Sophie, posing as a married couple, steal another passenger's luggage as their own to board a plane. The TSA officer finds handcuffs and a whip in the carry-on: Sophie says [[AllWomenAreDomsAllMenAreSubs the whip is for her and the handcuffs are for Nate]].

** "The Juror #6 Job" and [[UpToEleven "The Queen's Gambit Job"]] are full of them, and the whole series has them to a lesser degree. Nate is referred to as either a "White Knight" or a "Black King". (Obviously, he's black--Leverage Consulting & Associates moves second.) Not for nothing, the show does [[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150216493236710&set=a.428124991709.228160.31248741709&type=1#!/photo.php?fbid=10150200492176710&set=a.428124991709.228160.31248741709&type=1&pid=7437381&id=31248741709 work with this.]]

* BachelorAuction: The client in "The Lonely Hearts Job" met his [[MayDecemberRomance wife]], who has since gone missing and the team deduces she was a grifter, so they infiltrate another one run by the same organization. [[spoiler:The auctions serve as an operation ring for grifters]].

* ContrivedCoincidence: In "The Cross My Heart Job" the team is just returning from a job the the Caribbean with no money or equipment when Nate spots a desperate woman who places her cooler down, takes an identical one, and her original cooler is snatched up by a man's luggage. She is in need of help and they help save her, her daughter, and another child's life.

* CripplingOverspecialisation: This is why [[spoiler:Victor Dubenich's]] plan's fell apart in Season 4. He figured out how to stop every member of the team but ''only'' the members of the team. When they recruited outsiders who they wouldn't normally work with all his protections were useless.

* CryingWolf: This is weaponized against TheMark in "The Order 23 Job"; the crew target Eddie Maranjian, an investment manager who swindled several people out of their savings but is going into witness protection since he offered to give the government on his criminal associates. The team trick Eddie into thinking there is a viral outbreak causing him to escape the hospital he is in and lead them to where he hid his money. When the team reveal themselves to him, Eddie tries to tell the government agents what happened but no one believes his story over the much more plausible explanation that he simply tried to escape custody. This is lampshaded by Nate when he points out that Eddie himself never considered that no one had any reason to believe him.

** Nate's dead son, who needed medical treatments were denied by the very insurance company he worked for, resulting in quitting his job, divorcing his wife, and becoming an alcoholic. Not necessarily in that order.
** In "The Future Job" it was revealed by a fake psychic that Parker had a dead younger brother who died in a car accident when they were both little. What makes it especially painful to her is that she was the one who taught him how to ride a bicycle, which was what he was doing when he was hit.

** In "The Three Days of the Hunter Job" Parker has to set the hook by getting caught trying to lift the mark's press credentials. The problem is, being a master thief she makes the lift perfectly. She then has to go back and get caught, which she complains about.

** Parker's muscle memory is so ingrained that while hopped up on antidepressants she ''accidentally'' stole a gun out of a bad guy's holster without him noticing.

** In "The 12 Steps Job," the team fakes Jack Hurley's death by car bomb so that the various gangs he defrauded will stop hunting him. They set him up with new identification at Hardison's usual level of thoroughness, down to Sam's Club membership and Netflix subscription.
** In "The Big Bang Job" they do something very similar with Yasmin, the DOD engineer Damien Moreau tried to have assassinated at the beginning of the episode. After saving her from the bombing of her laboratory, they inform her that for her own safety she will need to remain dead, although in this case it seems like more of a temporary measure until Moreau has been run out of the country.

** His dialogue in "The Tap Out Job" to Sophie and the "Gone Fishin' Job" to Hardison before they return to the militia camp illustrates that he has no illusions about the nature of his work, but he also knows that he is particularly suited to it and that it's sometimes entirely {{necessary|evil}}, so he shoulders the responsibility. He takes the pain so others don't have to, because he is the one who CAN take it.
** It is repeatedly indicated that in the past Eliot committed acts for which there is no excuse or justification and it is the guilt over this that drives him to do what he does. WordOfGod describes him as a man who has accepted that he is eternally damned.

* DisguisedHostageGambit: In "The Bank Shot Job," Nathan is about to con a corrupt judge out of thousands of dollars when the bank is robbed and the robbers take everyone hostage when the police arrive. The robbers turn out to be father and son who only rob the place to get money to pay off some thugs holding the father's wife for ransom. The judge figures out that he is being scammed and when he disarms the robbers, he uses the gun to shoot Nate. When the cops storm the bank in the end, [[spoiler: the team has arranged things to look like the judge was the sole robber and hostage taker. All the witnesses back them up since the judge is reviled by everyone and the cops will not investigate further since they hate his guts as well and there is a conflict of interest in any investigation they might pursue]].
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: In the finale of Season 4, Nate is holding Latimer and Dubenich at gunpoint. Nate reasons that if he kills one of them, the other goes free and becomes a KarmaHoudini. Latimer and Dubenich are already pissed at each other, so he [[TakeAThirdOption takes a fourth option]] (his third option was to shoot them both dead) and spares them, but sets the gun at the edge of the concrete platform they're standing on and walks away. Both Dubenich and Latimer go after the gun and get into a struggle causing them to fall off the platform.]]

** Although he's often willing to let other people assume this about him (because it's to his advantage), Eliot Spencer subverts this trope. He knows fashion, plays chess, cooks like a master chef, and can think on his feet in bad situations. This is lampshaded in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job" when Eliot assumes control of the team when Nate is kidnapped and is able to figure out plenty of details from the proof of life video sent to them.

** Parker grew up on in the foster system with a series of terrible foster parents -- one of whom she may have blown up after they stole her favorite toy. She had a brother who died at a young age in when he was hit by a car while on his bike -- she taught him to ride. She was driving getaway cars when she was 10. After being caught for car theft when she was 12, she was thrown into juvenile detention. She trained under the greatest thief in the world as a teenager who kept her away from his real family because he thought she wouldn't fit in. To top it off, WordOfGod indicates that she also has UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome, meaning that she never really fits in in social situations.

* TheCheerleader:
** In "The Reunion Job," the con is put in jeopardy by a former cheerleader named Nikki putting the moves on their mark, prompting Sophie to make several disparaging remarks about cheerleaders. In fact, [[spoiler: "Nikki" is an assassin trying to get them out of the way so she can kill their mark]]
** The mark in "The Gimme A K Street Job" is a former cheerleader who's capitalized on her firsthand experience to build a multi-million-dollar business centered entirely around cheer. Mostly via shamelessly exploiting cheerleaders for her own profit.