The Runway Job - Recap

At the Golden Panda Clothing Company in Boston, Asian workers are slaving under poor conditions to make clothing. When one woman becomes ill after taking high-dose vitamin supplements, she discovers that her hair is falling out and then collapses. The other workers gather around and the owner, Russell Pan, comes out from his upstairs office. His wife, Gloria, goes down and tells them all to get back to work, and then tells the sick girl to go outside to be ill.

Theresa Kwon, an immigrant advisory worker, brings the ill girl, Florence Ong, to Nate and explains that Florence OD'd from the vitamin supplements that the owners give to keep the workers functioning. The Pans bring in immigrants legally, but keep them on minimum wage, force them to work to pay for their passage, and assure there's no one they can talk to due to the language barrier. Florence wants to make enough money to bring over her parents, and Theresa admits that she can't do anything without a formal complaint, and Theresa doesn't want to endanger her position. Nate agrees to take the case. As they leave, Tara comes in and explains that Sophie said he meets with the clients there. Nate abruptly tells her he does it with Sophie, not Tara, and leaves.

Parker, Alec, and Eliot call Sophie and note that Nate doesn't trust Tara, and the whole thing won't work if Nate doesn't accept Tara. Sophie insists that Tara is the best and they have to get Nate on board, and he doesn't always know what's best for him. She asks them to do it for her, and they quickly cut the connection as Nate and Tara arrive. Alec begins the briefing on Russell Pan and his wife Gloria, who made their fortune making cheap knockoffs of fashions. Gloria has no formal training but has been submitting her fashions to major shows. Nate figures that's their way in and walks away, leaving Tara to wonder what he means.

Tara goes to work as a designer, Caprina, with Parker as her photographer. They make a fake fashion magazine cover with Tara on it. Parker then goes to work at the Pans' manor as a pool cleaner. When they leave, she slips in and puts their fake magazine among the others, and then plants a hidden transmitter. Later, Gloria reads the article on Tara. Parker and Alec make a fake movie promoting Tara's appearance at Fashion Week, a fashion show, and broadcast it on Gloria's TV using the transmitter. Gloria takes the bait and Tara watches, impressed. She then dresses for the part with Eliot as her assistant.

Tara and Eliot set up an "accidental" meeting with Gloria and introduce themselves. Tara offers to look at her work and claims that it's impressive. Tara invites her to Fashion Week to show off her designs. Tara then tells Nate she's taken his bait, and he prepares to steal a fashion show.

Parker infiltrates the fashion show while Alec taps into their communications and calls out the director, Kerry, on a fake incident. Parker then takes over and claims to be Kerry's replacement. She goes after Kerry's assistant, claims she missed an important meeting, and Alec faxes the woman the new guest list. While the assistant checks the guest list, Parker slips Tara's pass in with the others. Eliot comes in to pick them up and briefly flirts with the girl.

Later, they bring in Gloria. Nate, claiming to be the editor of the fashion magazine sponsoring the event, arrives and says that his premiere designer was arrested. With a little encouragement, Gloria is glad to volunteer her talents. Nate wants to see her designs and Gloria invites him to her office to see the designs stored on her computer at the plant.

The team looks at her drawings and Nate agrees to feature her as the designer at the show. Russell comes in and Gloria tells him the news. Russell is reluctant to have his wife show her designs, warning they're not ready. As they talk, Nate looks out the window and sees Florence. Meanwhile, Gloria insists on going ahead and Nate and Tara say that they'll need $200,000 to rush the designs in time for the show, while Nate only wants $50,000. He has no choice but to go along with Tara when Gloria and Russell go for the $50,000 offer. As Gloria gets the money, Russell objects but Gloria tells him to shut up. He warns that their partners will object but she tells him it's his job to deal with it.

Outside, Nate says that Tara rushed the con and they should have slow-played it, but Tara insists that he needs to communicate with her. She goes to call Sophie and complain about Nate's lack of communications. Tara is ready to quit but Sophie asks her to give Nate some time and she owes Sophie. As she cuts off, Tara notes that Nate is sexy, much to Sophie's concern. Nate then informs them that Gloria called to say she has the rest of the money. However, her call was cut off. They figure Gloria is either at the house or the plant. They call Eliot and send him to the plant, while Nate and Parker go to the house. When Tara insists on going with them, Nate insists on her staying put and takes her earbud.

Nate and Parker arrive at the house just as a car pulls away. Nate spots plastic explosive on the door and they duck just as the bomb go off. As they recover, Parker confirms the car that pulled away was the Pans' car. Alec tracks it and manages to gets a photo off of a traffic cam.

Alec searches the Pans' office for their financial records. Tara arrives unexpectedly and recognizes the corporate ID. Meanwhile, Alec gets security footage from the Pans' house from right before the explosion and sends it to Nate. Realizing that that Pan's partners are involved, Nate tells Eliot and Tara to get out. They head for the door but three Chinese men with cleavers comes in. Eliot realizes that they're Tong members, and Nate figures that the money they took from the Pans belongs to the Triad, the Pans' secret partners. Tara runs off, fakes a surrender, and distracts one Tong man, knocking him out with an iron. The other two come after Eliot, who takes them down.

As Nate and Parker driver to the plant, Alec gets a shot of the Pans' car and discovers that only Gloria is in the car. He checks the financial and identification records on Russell, and realizes that Pan is someone else.

The first Tong man comes back after Tara, and Eliot steps in and blocks. Tara helps out and together they take the last man down.

Alec identifies Russell as Nicholas Chow, who works for the Triad and buries his enemies alive.

Russell and his men arrive in the warehouse and prepare to execute Tara and Eliot. Nate interrupts them and tries to defuse the situation. Russell demands his money and explains that he's been carrying Gloria for 20 years. He killed her with the bomb and now has to return the money to his superiors. Alec tells Nate over the radio that he can get the money there in 15 minutes, but Nate explains to Russell that they spent the money and Alec should stay put. However, he offers Russell the designs for next year's fashions immediately, so that he can make the counterfeits early and get the edge on other counterfeiters. Nate says that they'll steal the fashions from one of the designers, but Russell figures they'll go to the police. Tara volunteers herself as a hostage, saying it's only $50,000, 5-0, and Nate has no choice but to go through with his proposed plan.

The rest of the team regroup and accuse Nate of putting Tara at risk just to con the Triads. He insists that knows what he's doing, but they need designer plans within an hour. Alec determines that there's one show left involving designer Andre V, and they send Parker and Eliot to get the designer's plans. Meanwhile, Nate takes Eliot to makes Gloria's dreams come true.

At the Fashion Week show, Parker takes back over as director but there's been a security breach. Only models and clothes are getting in. Eliot realizes the only way they're getting in and Parker catches on in a minute. They go through clothing and Parker eventually picks something with the aid of Eliot, who has developed his fashion sense from dating models. Parker gets backstage, plugs a flash drive into the designer's laptop, and steals the designs. Before she can get away, Andre V spots her and tells his people to get her ready. Parker is quickly surrounded by make-up artists who prepare her for the show and send her out on stage. She "finds her face" and hits the runway, but trips as she leaves. Meanwhile, Eliot slips backstage on a clothing cart and grabs the flash drive.

At the factory, Russell suggests that Tara shouldn't trust Nate. She agrees and tells Russell that Nate is a conman and a thief is who is going to try and play Russell. When he wonders why she's telling him the truth, Tara points out Russell will kill them all, and she has a better way to fix Russell's problem.

Eliot gives Nate Andre V's designs. After Alec confirms the files are there and compresses them for e-mail, Nate takes the flash drive and heads for the plant. Eliot tells him to be careful with Tara, but Nate insists she's a pro and knows what to do. Nate gives Russell the drive and he checks it on his laptop. Once he's confirmed they're valid, he e-mails them to his designer and tells Nate that he's called the police and reported Nate for selling stolen designs. Tara has suggested to Russell that he call the police and set up Nate for Gloria's death. Nate admits that he didn't trust Tara, and Tara says that it's all about Nate's ego. The police arrive and Tara leaves with Russell's men. Once they're gone, Nate says that they won't believe Russell's story. The police come in and search Nate, find the flash drive, and put it into the laptop computer. Detective Sullivan then turns to Russell and shows him the file… with a picture of Russell from his Interpol most-wanted file. Alec prepared a second flash drive with the Interpol file, and Nate switched the flash drives to set up Russell. Nate then claims he's an undercover agent and shows his fake ID, and gets himself escorted out.

Outside, Nate explains that the files Russell transmitted were actually Gloria's designs. Alec rigged the real design file to switch itself for Gloria's designs. Russell's Triad manufacturers will make the lousy designs and end up bankrupting themselves. Nate explains that Tara managed to signal Nate by saying 5-0 and tell him to bring in the police.

Without Russell to back her, Gloria ends up working in a clothing plant as a laundress.

Nate and Tara give Florence the $50,000 so she can bring her parents to the States and have decent jobs waiting for them. The factory went into receivership and they convinced the judge to let Theresa run it. The workers are now well-fed and taken care of. Florence embraces Nate and Theresa extends her thanks as well. Once they leave, Nate gives Tara her cut and her ear bud. He says that he'll try to communicate better with her, and Tara admits that the team is the best she's ever seen. When he leaves, she mutters that he's not as good as he thinks he is.

Later, Nate calls Sophie. She says that Nate should trust Tara on Sophie's behalf, and wonders if Nate would have made the same play if Sophie was involved. Nate admits he wasn't, and snaps at her saying that he's only there because she convinced him to come back… and then she left on him. Sophie cuts off in the middle of his rant and Nate is left alone.

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