The Underground Job - Recap

At a mine in West Virginia, Troy Owens comes out and reports to his friend Nick that he detected elevated methane levels. Nick reminds him about his son Cory's birthday party. The owner, Dan Blackwell, drives by and tells them to get back to work, and then goes to his trailer. There's an explosion and Troy turns to see Nick get killed as fire erupts from the mineshaft. Blackwell tells his assistant Clark to call his lawyer.

Two years later, Troy comes to the team and explains to Nate that a build-up of methane gas caused the explosion. The miners want to be able to work safely, but Blackwell used the government money that went to mine safety to line his own pockets, and the mine is even worse than it was two years ago. Nate promises to find the money and put it back where it belongs.

Hardison briefs the team and confirms that Blackwell put the money into a PAC for Attorney General Debra Pierce. Blackwell has received hundreds of citations, but has appealed them and has Pierce keep the appeals going forever. Nate figures they can get Blackwell to take the money from the PAC, and then flag both of them for misuse of campaign. Sophie and Nate figure they can run a variant on the fiddle game by convincing Blackwell there's something valuable in his mine and selling it to them.

Troy takes Eliot into an unoccupied section of the mine and assigns a young worker, Cary, to show Eliot around.

Sophie and Hardison pose as federal inspectors and come to see Blackwell. He has Clark take them in to inspect the place. Nate then storms in and offers to buy Blackwell's mine. Blackwell refuses and orders Nate out. Outside, Nate calls Parker and tells her to go to work. She is infiltrating Pierce's office with some tips from Sophie on how to run a grift. Parker quickly persuades Pierce to take her on as a campaign consultant for free, and then plants a bug.

As Cory shows Eliot around, he complains that he's doing busy work because he's too young. When Eliot wonders why he isn't in school, Cory explains that his father died in the explosion and he works to support his mother and sister. As they tour Section C, Eliot puts in a booster signal for their earbuds.

Clark shows Hardison and Sophie around the mines and Hardison uses a device to claim he's doing dust readings. Sophie and Hardison gloat over their results and Clark notices.

Pierce sets up a new account for online donations with help from Hardison

Clark tells Blackwell what he saw and that Sophie and Hardison were up to something. Blackwell figures that they're tied in with Nate, and has Clark determine where they're going for lunch. Sophie meets Nate there as Blackwell watches from a booth. After Nate leaves, Blackwell confronts Sophie and demands answers. She explains that Nate has bought the land near Blackwell's mine, and plans to buy his as well. Sophie claims her company has developed a process for extracting coltan, a metal used for manufacturing cell phones and computers. American companies want a domestic source, and Nate has bought Sophie's process. Blackwell promises to go to his partner to deal with Nate.

Parker plants Nate's application form among Pierce's papers. Blackwell calls to tell his partner to delay the application, and Pierce finds it and agrees to stall it until Blackwell can deal with Nate. He then calls Sophie and offers to buy her process, and asks for a demonstration. They take samples, planted earlier by Eliot, and confirm that there's coltan. Nate taps into Blackwell's files and reads off the results to Sophie via earbud, and she asks Blackwell for so much that he'll have to tap into the PAC funds. Nate orders Eliot, but he insists on staying to fill until the next day. As he goes, Eliot notices that Cory is using an old lunchbox. Cory admits that it belonged to his dad and his dad before him. When some miners discuss the scoop, Eliot tells Cory to learn how to use the machinery so he can get ahead.

Thanks to Parker's efforts, and Hardison's electronic tampering, Pierce feels she has a comfortable lead so she'll let Blackwell use the PAC funds. Blackwell arrives and asks for the money, but Pierce refuses to give him the PAC funds. He decides to shut down the mine and calls Clark to lay off the workers so he can use the payroll to make up the difference. Nate, listening on the bug, realizes that Blackwell plans to have Clark plant a bomb. Now they have to convince Blackwell that Sophie is running a scam.

The next day, Eliot searches the mine for the bomb while Nate calls Blackwell at Pierce's donor party and tells him to meet at the mine so that he can show him how Sophie is ripping both of them off. Blackwell calls Clark and leaves a message telling him not to plant the bomb. Sophie and Parker then move in on Pierce. Parker provides all of her notes but most of them are normal things for anyone except Parker. She does remember that Pierce met with Blackwell for a closed-door exercise session. Hardison brings up the audio files from the bug and they explain to Parker that they were having sex. Sophie figures they can work with that.

In the mine, Eliot is switching out oxygen meters. Hardison hacks into the monitoring systems to track elevated methane levels, while Eliot marks certain beams with a white X.

Sophie meets with Pierce and hints she's having an affair with Blackwell, and that Blackwell is using the PAC funds without Pierce's knowledge. Once Sophie leaves, Pierce checks her account and discovers that Blackwell has removed $500,000.

Nate takes Blackwell into the mine and Section C. He demonstrates that Sophie salted the mine with coltan. Meanwhile, Eliot realizes that Cory is in the mine. Hardison locates the bob and Eliot goes to get it.

In Section C, the beams come down and a blast of dust sprays into the chamber as debris comes crashing down, blocking the only exit. Nate's signal is cut off and Hardison notifies the others. As Parker prepares to go, Pierce informs her that she's transferred the money back into her account and had Blackwell locked out.

Eliot finds Cory, who says that he's there to learn the machinery. Eliot takes him to Section C.

As Sophie leaves, Pierce informs her that she's called the state police and is going to have Sophie arrested for impersonating a federal inspector. Parker comes up and distracts Pierce long enough for Sophie to escape. Pierce calls the state police and tells them to meet her at the mine.

Clark finds Eliot and Cory and prepares to eliminate them. Eliot grabs a pickaxe and fights back.

Nate checks the oxygen meters and warns that they only have two hours of air left in the chamber for both of them. When Nate notes that the intercom doesn't work, Blackwell admits that he didn't use any of the government money to improve the mine. He admits that he paid off Pierce to protect himself, and then knocks Nate out with a board.

Eliot takes out Clark and goes to the sealed-off chamber. He moves the debris and Blackwell brushes past him to get outside. The state police immediately arrest him and find the bomb in his pocket, thanks to Eliot slipping it into his pocket earlier. Hardison set up the entire fake explosion and cave-in. Nate followed the white Xs to avoid the blast, and the fake oxygen meters showed Blackwell what they wanted him to see.

Blackwell is put in the police car and finds Pierce there. She explains that the police heard everything. Nate rewired the intercom and then got Blackwell to confess, and Hardison broadcast it on the loudspeakers. The state police heard and arrested Pierce. Pierce is unaware that she transferred money to the new account that Parker set up, and the team has the $500,000 in government funds. Parker is happy to know she pulled off a grift, until Nate tells her she can't keep the money. She goes into the van to sleep after a busy day stealing souls.

Eliot finds Cory and admits that he's not a miner, and that he came there to make the mine safe. He tells Cory to stay safe with Troy's help and they awkwardly embrace. Troy returns and Nate informs him that the board has made him the mine supervisor. The team gives Nate the embezzled government money from the account, and they leave after Eliot suggests that Troy put Cory on the scoop.

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