The Miracle Job - Recap

At a church, Father Paul meets with his assistant, Lily, and rehearses his speech to the council to block the sale of the church. As they walk down the street, thugs assault Father Paul, knock him to the ground, and beat him before running off. Lily calls 911 for help.

At Leverage headquarters, Eliot and Hardison try to avoid saying how bad Sophie's play was. Parker has no such problems. Nate is overly effusive, until Sophie explains that she played the part as a man. He gets a call from Maggie, his ex-wife, who tells him about Father Paul's beating. Nate goes to the hospital and visits his old friend, and figures that the beating is no coincidence. Father Paul confirms escrow closes on the sale on Monday. When there's a medical emergency nearby, Nate looks uncomfortable and Father Paul admits that he knows how uncomfortable that Nate is in a hospital. Father Paul invites him to the last Mass on Sunday, but Nate says that it won't be the last. As Nate leaves, Father Paul confirms that he dislocated the shoulder of one of his attackers.

Nate assembles the team at the church and tries to convince them to take Father Paul's case. They immediately agree, and Hardison confirms that the buyer is Cannity Corp., which has concealed its real identity. Nate sends Eliot and Hardison to check the local talent, while Parker checks the realty companies. Hardison is reluctant, but Eliot insists he can use the fresh air. As Sophie leaves, she sees Nate look pensive as he remembers the baptism of his child in the church. She asks if he'll be okay, and Nate insists that he owes Father Paul.

Eliot and Hardison check out a park walkway tunnel and a local gang confronts them. They insist they didn't beat up any priest, but Hardison notices one of them has a dislocated shoulder. The others are unhappy that he did it, and tell their fellow ganger to answer. The ganger says that he got an anonymous call and payment, but he gives them the telephone number. Eliot leaves the gang to deal with their errant member.

Later, Hardison briefs the team and tells them that he tracked the phone to a booth near Andrew Grant, a real estate developer who builds condos. He owns Cannity's shell companies and loves media. He survived a helicopter crash last year, and takes antianxiety pills regularly. Grant loves media attention, including the ribbon-cutting on his project the next day, and Nate figures they can in with him as publicist.

Sophie visits Grant at the site of his newest project, but he ditches her. She notifies Eliot and the others, who are undercover as workers. Parker switches his antianxiety pills for caffeine pills mixed with speed and then Eliot trips his assistant, Tomas. That gives Sophie time to get in the elevator with Grant, who heads for the ground floor. En route, Hardison sabotages the elevator so it stalls between floors. Grant can't call out, and Sophie continues to apply pressure on him. The man gets increasingly stressed and starts screaming. Sophie tells him that the press is still downstairs waiting for him and he panics, and Sophie has Hardison send them the rest of the way down. She tells him to pick her up. When they get to the bottom, the press finds Grant holding Sophie and claiming to have rescued her. He gets her out and "saves the day," and promises that she'll have his interview.

Later, Sophie conducts her interview, but Grant immediately breaks it off and demands to know how she set things up. Grant wants her to be his new publicist and Sophie quickly agrees. She insists on having complete access to his business and he shows her the lifestyle center that he's going to build on the site of the church. He is hiding his involvement, but has bribed the council. At the team meeting, Sophie warns that they can't pull it off in three days, and Eliot says that they'll need a miracle. Nate proposes that they go steal a miracle.

The team discusses miracles and Nate admits he went to seminary school with Father Paul. Hardison is reluctant to something immoral, but Nate figures that even Grant won't build on a holy site. However, they have to make sure that Father Paul doesn't learn about it. Parker suggests they use the press to make sure the news about their "miracle" becomes public, and sends Parker to keep Father Paul at the hospital, up to a point.

At the hospital, Parker runs extra tests on Father Paul to keep him there. Meanwhile, Sophie leaks a story to the press about Grant's involvement with the lifestyle center to put pressure on him. She talks to Tomas and asks his opinion, and he notes that it will help get rid of the gangs. When Grant comes in, Sophie tells Grant to make an official announcement at the church and spin it as new opportunities for the community. Grant agrees and Tomas goes to set up the press meetings.

Father Paul is preparing to leave when the regular nurse tells him that his test results are bad and he'll have to stay for further testing.

Hardison makes multiple polystyrene sculptures of the church's St. Nicholas statue, rigged to bleed on cue. The results are less than impressive, so Hardison brings out his stigmata paintball gun. Afterward, Sophie asks Nate how he feels about talking to Maggie again. He claims that he's good, but admits that he still feels guilty about Sam. Sophie reassures him that he never cheated on her, and Nate admits that he was tempted. She doesn't believe it, and reminds him that he was always the good guy, even back when he was on Sophie's trail. He wonders about now, and Sophie doesn't know. She says they have to figure it out, and their hastily corrects herself and says that he has to figure it out. As she goes, she tells him not to take too long.

At the church, Grant gives his opportunity speech to the press, Lily runs out and tells everyone that the statue is crying. As the press confirms it, the team slips away and Nate figures that Grant will halt the project. However, as they walk by, they realize that the event has drawn a major reaction from the community, who have gathered to see the miracle. Nate insists it's a win, but Father Paul arrives and demands answers. Nate tries to deny his involvement, but Father Paul quickly realizes that he's lying. All Nate can tell him is that he has it covered.

Sophie checks in at Grant, who says he's having a crisis of conscience. Now he plans to create Bibletopia, a religious theme park that they'll build around the church. He's even created bobble-heads. Grant figures the miracle is a scam, but is glad that the scam will make him millions. Sophie tells the rest of the team about Grant's plans. As Nate tries to come up with a new plan, Vatican priests arrive to confirm the miracle. Nate warns Sophie that if they find out the truth, they'll close the church and figure Father Paul is responsible. She tells Nate that he'll have to undo his own con.

As Father Paul greets the priests and prepares to tell the truth, Nate gets him into a confessional and asks for forgiveness for the con. They discuss Sam's funeral briefly, and Nate admits they faked the miracle. He insists the ends justify the means, and wonders if Nate is trying to kill himself. He forgives Nate his sins and wonders if he may have to lose his church to save Nate.

Grant and Tomas arrive, and Sophie tells him that the Vatican is here. Grant figures he'll win whether the Vatican declares it's a miracle or figures that it's a fraud. As Grant glad-hands the priests, Tomas looks guilty. He goes to confession, and Hardison is ready to go with him.

As the priests go to get the equipment, the team tries to figure out what to do. Nate has an idea and says that they're going to make the statue disappear in the middle of Mass in front of the priests and the entire congregation.

The next day, Father Paul conducts the mass while Sophie, Grant, and Tomas arrive in the back to watch. As Father Paul gives his sermon, Nate watches from the congregation and Eliot, Parker, and Hardison sneak in underneath. When Father Paul has everyone bow their heads in prayer, Parker descends from the ceiling on a line, attaches it to the St. Nicholas statue, and waves to the one child who notices. She ascends with the statue and a few seconds later, everyone realizes it's gone. The girl claims an angel took it. Father Paul realizes that Nate is involved and runs outside. He opens a van and finds the statue, and Hardison helpfully finds the registration papers which say it belongs to Grant. Grant denies it and asks Tomas to testify on his behalf. Tomas tells the press everything, denouncing Grant. Nate knew about it because he was in the confessional earlier when Tomas confessed, and told Tomas to do the right thing. The police take Grant away

Later, Father Paul meets Nate in the church, and points out that he used him. Nate points out that Father Paul broke the seal of confession to learn about the fake miracle, and told everyone. Father Paul admits that he's not happy that five thieves saved his church, and invites Nate to his next sermon. When Nate says he isn't sure if he'll be there, Father Paul says he has faith in him. After Father Paul leaves, Nate lights a candle to Sam and meets the rest of the team as he leaves. As they go, Sophie notes that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of thieves.

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