9 Moments of Goodness: Eliot, Parker & Hardison Save the Day, Leverage “The Rundown Job” 

[WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LEVERAGE EPISODE 9 “THE RUNDOWN JOB”]

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed Leverage‘s “The Frame-Up Job” and the massive amounts of Nate/Sophie chemistry dropped on us during that portion of the summer finale, I have to say “The Rundown Job” owned me. Not only was it a lot of fun but the stakes were rather high. It was ridiculous that these three (the thief, the hacker & the hitter) could save the country from an airborne influenza virus in one afternoon in Washington D.C., but I don’t care. I love it when the show gets epic and this was epic.

Adding to the cool factor was the presence of Firefly and Chuck star Adam Baldwin. We briefly saw him in the season 5 premiere so it was great to see him give us a more substantial guest star appearance. And you can’t deny the chemistry that exists among the “kids” of the show — Parker, Hardison and Eliot. The banter in “The Rundown Job?” Quality. Eliot doling out some major beatdowns plus car chases, explosions and Parker riding on the top of a subway train? Magnificent. All the special Hardison and Parker moments? Priceless.

9 Moments of Goodness that made watching this episode such a good time:

“The Rundown Job” Synopsis: Eliot, Hardison and Parker join Colonel Vance in a race to stop a terrorist from launching a biological attack on Washington, D.C.

Eliot, Hardison & Parker take down guards at the Castleman security vault

• The elevator opens and there’s Hardison doing his geek thing and a brief conversation ensues before Badass Eliot shows up and kicks the guards’ collective asses. Great start to an episode.

Parker is able to get past the lasers and steal the diamonds

• I love how all three teammates were able to use their considerable talents to get the job done. Eliot had his fists and his experience with Colonel Vance; Hardison had his brains; and Parker, the expert thief, is able to do whatever extreme task it takes to get to the golden object. At the Castleman security vault, Hardison disables the motion sensors but isn’t able to account for the lasers. That’s okay. Parker’s able to gymnastics her way past the intricate pattern of lasers and steal the diamonds.

Parker and Hardison “kiss for luck” cuteness

• Every time Parker has to do something dangerous or difficult, Hardison asks for a “kiss for luck.” She usually says she doesn’t need or believe in luck. But it’s adorable anyway. He does eventually get that kiss.

Eliot and Hardison steal a truck which is a NSA mobile response intelligence unit

• The two work so well together. Eliot flashes a real badge (he stole it from Colonel Vance), Hardison puts on one of his voices and the two easily make off with the truck. They basically give away their plan yet their dupe is none the wiser. Such a fun scene.

Eliot gives Hardison (and Parker) a pep talk after they find out what’s at stake

• This was a great Eliot episode, don’t you think? He led his team well. He did what he had to do to get results and that means he had to give a scared Hardison the pep talk of a lifetime:

Eliot: “You scared?”
Hardison: “You damn right!”
Eliot: “I’m not. I got the best thief and the smartest guy I know chasing this guy. Hey, listen to me. You’re the smartest guy I’ve ever known, Hardison. I need that brain to get me to him. Cause you know if I lay my hands on him, it’s done. Get me to him.”

• Eliot is a guy that keeps things — and his emotions — close to the vest. Well, he knew he had to lay it out there for Hardison to get back in the game. Great moment. I love Christian Kane and Aldis Hodge so much.

Parker saves Hardison after he steps on a pressure plate set to go off

• This involves Parker climbing all over Hardison so she can disconnect the wires. No kiss for luck again here. She doesn’t believe in luck. I believe in this couple’s hotness factor. They rule.

Hardison uses his geek power to warn Vance and feds away from an ambush

• I don’t know how Hardison continues to do it time after time. He somehow taps into the bluetooth speakerphone link of Vance’s cell and since the phone’s connected to the car, he’s able to use the vehicle’s horn to honk out an SOS. Vance and the feds are able to get away just as the trailer explodes. Tense. And oh so amazing. Go Team Spencer. Yeah, they sort of sent Vance right  into the ambush but we can overlook that, right?

The trio of awesomeness finally stop Dr. Udell

• Sure Eliot gets shot…twice, but love how Parker easily snagged the briefcase containing the biological warfare. Handcuffs are no match for her. She also saved the day by holding on to one of the diamonds from the previous case. It enabled them to cut through the glass so Hardison could disarm the dirty germ bomb. Unfortunately, there’s a fail safe that is set to release some of the virus so that even though the country would be safe, the city won’t.

Parkers kills any chances of the virus getting out

• First of all, let’s talk about the fact that Parker and Hardison finally get their kiss for luck. It was yet another cute moment. Then, shortly after that, there’s another fantastic scene featuring these two characters. Parker grabs the briefcase, goes into the tunnel and then sets fire to it, which is the only thing that’ll kill the virus. Hardison follows her out and is happy his girlfriend was able to save the day with mere seconds left on the clock:

Hardison: Don’t do that to me. I can’t lose you. Do you understand? I can’t lose you. Don’t scare me like that.”

• We know Parker and Hardison have been dating and thankfully the show has let us see the proof every once in awhile this season. But I just couldn’t get enough of their closeness during “The Rundown Job.” And it’s not just them. I love the way Parker, Hardison and Eliot worked together. This is easily my favorite episode of the season.

Some of my favorite quotes courtesy of writers Chris Downey, John Rogers & Josh Schaer

• “What’s up, Eliot?” “Who?” “I’m not talking to you.”

• “Hell, we may even get Eliot to smile.”

• “Why did you quit anyway?” “Started running with some different people. Like a hacker. And a thief.” “Click.”

• “Who are you?” “Right now, we’re the good guys.”

• “Is she asleep?” “She bores easily.”

• “Three tries? Damn!” “He didn’t always wear a suit.”

• “Oh no, go back to the scene of the crime crawling with Feds. Good plan. Loving the plan.” “Just do one of your voices.”

• “It’s got every database: NSA, CIA, FBI…it’s got hard back doors into most commercial systems, live feeds into every security camera on the grid. Man, if this wasn’t such a gross violation of our civil liberties, I would be in love right now.”

• “We agreed we’d all change. Better or worse. We’d change together.”

• “B-I…NGO!”

• “I kept one diamond. Sorry.” “Babe, all is forgiven.”

• “Promise you’ll at least consider working with us again?” “I work with them now.” “Honor among thieves?” “Something like that.” “The world could always use some more good guys.” “Yeah, we’ll too bad we’re the bad guys.”

• “I don’t do hospitals.” “I told you, he takes getting shot very lightly.”

A couple more notes: 1) Love Christian Kane/Eliot’s new ‘do. Christian got his hair cut and he looks great. 2) I don’t know about you guys, but it was so difficult to watch the scene with the dead pigs.

All new episodes of Leverage return November 27 on TNT.