A client, Ryan, seeks the Leverage team's help to expose Dalton Rand, a Phony Psychic. Ever since his sister Jodie became widowed, she's been going to Rand to 'communicate' with her husband, believing he can reach the dead. The problem is Jodie is going broke paying Rand's fees, even going so far as talking about selling her house. Ryan wants the Leverage team to convince his sister that Rand's a fake before she wrecks not just her life, but that of her unborn child's as well. The team discovers that Rand has sunk all of his money into a local cable show in hopes of scoring a deal with a network provider for his act—in fact, a representative from a major network will be attending his next show. The crew shows up to the filming to investigate how Rand's pulling off his scheme. Hardison and Tara run surveillance from the van, Eliot infiltrates the control room to bug the equipment for Hardison, and Nate and Parker join the live studio audience. Nate drops a couple of joking answers to Rand's fishing, but the strategy backfires when Rand focuses in on Parker instead and correctly guesses that her brother was killed in an accident while on a bicycle she taught him to use. Parker runs out in tears.
- Hardison: He should be shot.
Back at HQ, the team explains to Parker that Rand's a con man despite his exposure of her secret. All he did was cold read her and use guesses based on her body language. Parker doesn't believe them at first since Rand demonstrated knowledge of the names of family members of people in the audience as well. The team further explains that Rand uses assistants posing as 'guests' and multiple cameras to gather information before the show starts. After getting enough details from the 'selected guests', another assistant backstage guides Rand by feeding him information through an earbud to back up Rand's so-called psychic skills. To seal the deal, Hardison tells her he discovered that there are also hidden microphones taped under the audience chairs to pick up chatter before the show. Parker, now absolutely furious, wishes to kill Rand, but Nate proposes that they should instead give him the success he wants and then expose him in front of the world.
- Eliot: How do we do that?
Nate: We go and steal the future.
The following day, Rand is already angry over the network representative telling him that his act just isn't good enough for national television; he tells her to come back again and he'll have something even better, but things aren't going his way. To top it off, Rand then learns some of his appointments have been cancelled. After hearing the reason for the cancellations, Rand heads to a coffee house to meet with Tara, posing as Bethany Noble, a clairvoyant who developed the power to speak with spirits after having a brain tumor removed. To add insult to injury, 'Bethany' is working for free! Rand isn't impressed, with either 'Bethany's' belief that her powers are genuine, or with her catching him feeding her a false story. Rand tells her that if she really wants to convince him, she can tell him his future.
- Tara: They're calling you by a different name. Do you know the way, Jose? They're saying Jose doesn't pay his tickets. And it'll burn him. Don't ask the officer for help, he has his own problems. But don't worry — you're the life of the party, so celebrate. And bring extra cash because you won't have enough. A day late, a dollar short, and if you don't look both ways, you'll never live to see tomorrow.
Still unimpressed, Rand leaves, warning her to leave his business alone. The team sets about making sure Tara's prophecy comes true: Parker swaps out Rand's coffee order for one reading "Jose" and steals Rand's wallet as they pass by each other; Eliot tows Rand's car; one of Rand's remaining appointments is a police officer; Hardison stuffs fortune cookies at the restaurant Rand goes to for lunch (which he is then unable to pay for, due to the missing wallet); and Nate nearly runs him over as he walks out. This sequence of events convinces Rand that Tara's a true clairvoyant, or at least a better talent than he is. Rand meets with her again and insists on hiring her. Tara refuses at first, saying she knows Rand's a charlatan, but Rand, having pulled 'Bethany's' credit report, convinces her to go along with it so she can pay off her medical bills. Back at the filming studio, Tara (with help from the team) manages to make Rand look even more realistic by taking over feeding Rand information about audience members. Unfortunately, after the show, Rand is kidnapped by a group of people in the parking lot.
The team realizes that Rand's 'psychic abilities' were so good that Nickolas Kusen, recently released from prison and accompanying one of the audience members, kidnapped Rand in order to use his supposed skills to find something. The team tracks down Kusen's hideout and Tara, pretending she found the place with her powers, walks in to join Kusen and Rand. It turns out that Kusen and a partner, Brancato, robbed a bank several years ago. Kusen was arrested, and Brancato hid the money from the robbery. After Kusen was released, Brancato refused to tell him where the stolen money was and, as Kusen puts it, 'passed away without revealing its location'. Brancato was the husband of the woman Kusen accompanied, whom Rand was cold reading. Kusen decided to see if Rand really is psychic; he can lead Kusen to the money and maybe not get killed, or do nothing and definitely get killed. Tara takes charge and leads Kusen and his goons through a series of fake clues planted by the team. Mild Hilarity Ensues as the team dashes around trying to get everything set up on the fly. Eventually, Tara leads Kusen, his goons, and Rand to a storage facility. After getting into the storage unit that Kusen believes holds the money, they find nothing and Tara happily closes the storage door. Kusen becomes enraged, accusing Rand of trying to keep the money for himself. Rand, out of options and with a gun to his face, confesses to Kusen that he's actually a fraud and reveals the tricks to his psychic skills.
- Kusen: I think you're holding out on me. You know where the money is. You just want it for yourself.
Rand: No. No. I-i-it's not... Listen to me. My studio is wired up with microphones and cameras. And I-I make it look like I'm a psychic, but I'm not. You know, I-I cold read people. Yeah, I ask 'em questions, I look at their reactions. It's-It's all I do. It's a scam. OK? I've been running it for years.
After hearing the confession, one of the walls explodes. On the other side of the wall is the set of Rand's TV show, where his confession of being a Phony Psychic is playing on a loop, thanks to Hardison's piggybacking the signal from the unit cameras in the storage room to the live studio feed. Everyone, including Jodie and the network scout, hears Rand's confession and watches as both Rand and Kusen are arrested by the cops for their respective crimes. While the team watches them being driven off by the cops, Nate proposes that both men be put in the same prison just for kicks.
- Hardison: He who sells miracles will have the devil knocking at his door.
Back at HQ, Ryan thanks them for exposing Rand while Jodie apologizes for her behavior. Nate comforts Jodie over falling for Rand's con, and assures her that she'll see her husband again — specifically, she'll see him in their child. Before Ryan and Jodie leave, Parker gives them an envelope full of money, claiming it's the money that Rand conned out of Jodie; Ryan gives Parker a big hug, which she awkwardly returns. Eliot asks where they got the cash, since Rand had sunk everything he had into his show. It turns out that Parker (with help from Hardison) managed to find Kusen's stolen money after all.
- Eliot: Where'd the money come from? Did you guys find the stolen money? Hmm? Did you find Kusen's loot? Without... gestures to himself and then to Parker and Hardison. Unbelievable.
Parker: He who looks for hidden money shall find it, if he is also a thief.
Tropes used in The Future Job:
- Engineered Public Confession: How the team exposes Rand as a fraud. They get Rand admitting that his "psychic" abilities are all a scam and explaining how he does it, and play the confession live for all to see at the taping of his network show.
- Everyone's Baby Sister: For this episode, at least, the entire team comes together to comfort Parker over Rand uncovering the death of her brother and help her understand what he was doing. Even Sixth Ranger Tara.
- Gone Horribly Right: The plan is to first build up Rand's reputation as a psychic so that when they expose him as a fraud, he'll be thoroughly humiliated and his credibility irreparably destroyed. They do such a good job of it that bank robber Danny Kusen becomes convinced Rand's powers can help him find the hidden money and kidnaps him. Whoops.
- Granola Girl: Tara makes use of the trope for her psychic persona of "Bethany Noble," dressing in peasant blouses and a fringed suede jacket and holding her psychic consultations at a coffee shop.
- It's Personal: They were going to take Rand down regardless, but when he singles Parker out for a cold read and manages to dig up a trauma from her past that makes her flee in tears, she wants him dead. Even Hardison says, "He should be shot." Eliot? Was one nod away from doing it.
- Kick the Dog: Rand gets several during the episode. First when he reminds his assistant that the grieving widow can still sell her house ("Never leave money on the table."), and second when he targets Parker for a cold read that traumatizes her.
- Oh, Crap!: Nate isn't initially concerned when Rand focuses on Parker, but when he sees her strong response, he switches to concern. And he can't do anything to stop it because it would risk blowing the con.
- Phony Psychic:
- Dalton Rand uses a setup not unlike what the Leverage team themselves use for their cons. His assistants dig up information online about his marks and at his shows, he has hidden microphones and ringers amidst the audience to help him glean significant details, with one of his assistants feeding him information via earpiece from a control room. This combined with his skills at cold reading - taking cues from small changes in his mark's facial expressions to guide his guesses - enables him to convince people that he has Psychic Powers.
- The con the team runs on Rand involves convincing him that Tara is psychic, which they accomplish in large part by having her feed him a stream of apparently meaningless babble and then engineering events around Rand to make it seem like her cryptic predictions are coming true by pure chance. Once the con goes off the rails, they maintain the fiction of "Bethany"'s visions to help guide Kusen and his thugs where they want them to go.
- Spanner in the Works: Nickolas Kusen inadvertently becomes this to the team when he kidnaps Rand for his "psychic abilities", necessitating them dropping everything to go rescue Rand so that they can continue ruining his life.
