The Snow Job - Recap

At the Scott residence in Holgan, MS, Wayne tries to convince the sheriff not to kick him out of his own house. The sheriff says that the new owners have foreclosed and points out Henry Retzing and his two sons, Randy and Dennis, who have just arrived to inspect their property. Wayne says that he hired them to fix his house but now they’re taking it from him and walks over, asking for some time. As soon as he gets close enough, he punches Henry. The sheriff and his men wrestle Wayne to the ground while Henry smiles in satisfaction.

Later, Nate meets with Wayne in jail. The homeowner explains that after Katrina, he hired Henry to repair his home before leaving for an tour of duty as a National Guardsman. Henry convinced him to take out a home equity loan to finance the repairs. When Wayne returned, he discovered that Henry didn’t make the repairs right so the home lost value, and he couldn’t make the payments. Wayne asks Nate if he has any kid, and Nate says that he did. As Nate remembers watching his son die, Wayne talks about how it’s his son who is paying the price.



At Leverage HQ, Eliot wonders where Nate is. A heavily hungover Nate comes in and Alec runs the briefing. Henry has contracts all over Florida, and stretched out the job for the Scotts. Once they refused to pay him for the shoddy work, Henry put a contractor lien on the property. He became the creditor and took ownership of the home when the bank foreclosed. Meanwhile, Sophie studies Nate and wonders if he’s drunk. He assures her that he’s just hungover. Alec figures they can get at Henry through his sons. Randy is the oldest and a playboy who like to ski, while Dennis is the business school graduate. Nate interrupts and asks Sophie how her luge is, but she walks out in disgust.



At the Powder Bear Ski Resort in Aspen, Randy is at a lodge when Sophie comes by on the phone, while Eliot lurks nearby. She sets a journal down and “accidentally” forgets it. Once she leaves, Randy goes through her papers and looks up her name on the Internet. Meanwhile, Alec hacks the web page of Ute Ausgartner, a champion luge runner, and Photoshops Sophie’s face onto one of their photos. Meanwhile, Sophie finds Nate drinking at the bar. He insists that he’s blending but quickly leaves when she gives him a disgusted look.

Randy comes over and gives Sophie her journal back, claiming he’s a huge fan. She says that she and her partners have purchased the resort and plan to renovate it. Sophie invites him to buy in and Nate says Randy only has $200,000. He offers $500,000 sight unseen but says that he’ll have to see the plans first. Sophie takes Randy around the lodge and explains what they have planned

Meanwhile, Eliot meets with the real resort manager, Mike Rothman, and poses as a resort designer. Alec shuts down the lift, leaving Parker “accidentally” falls off the chair and hangs on. Rothman gets a call about the lift and goes to check on Parker, who is claiming to be injured. Once he’s gone, Eliot sets up the office to make it appear that he’s the resort manager. Sophie brings Randy in and shows him their renovation plans. He’s impressed but says that they have to go to Miami to have his father write the check. Once Randy leaves with Sophie, Eliot packs up and leaves.



In Miami, Sophie and Randy meet with Henry. Parker and Eliot sneak in to get video while Randy explains his promotional plan to his father. Henry is impressed and says that they have to think big. When Dennis comes in, he complains that his father is ignoring his part in developing the company’s business plan. As Nate listens in, the earbuds suddenly go dead from interference. Nate tells Eliot to plant a booster on the second floor. Meanwhile, Henry is glad to give Randy the money and tells Dennis to sign the checks. Sophie goes with him and compliments him on his power and business acumen, and starts flirting with the younger son

Parker goes into the house via the second floor, hacks Dennis’ computer, places the booster, and plants a bug. She then leaps out the window and leaps into Eliot's arms, and they get to the car with Nate and Alec. Meanwhile, Dennis signs the check but warns Sophie that Randy’s big ideas never turn out well. Sophie continues flirting with Dennis, who readily hangs over the check. He insists that he turned his father’s company into what it is today, and set up the whole foreclosure scheme. Sophie gets him to boast that he has run the scheme on over 400 homes, and Nate tells Sophie not to take the check. After a moment’s hesitation, Sophie rips it up. Following Nate’s instructions, she tells Dennis that she has an opportunity for serious investors, an opportunity she’d never offer to Randy.



Outside, Nate tells the others that he’s unilaterally decided to take the company and get everyone’s homes back. While Eliot and Parker object, Alec determines that the interference indicates that the police bugged the house.

Later at their temporary headquarters at the Miami Grand Hotel, Nate pours himself a drink while the others argue. Eliot is worried that the police are involved, while Sophie asks how Nate plans to tell the Scotts that he’s giving up the chance to get their home back. Nate insists that they have a chance to represent hundreds of victims who couldn’t ask for their help, and they’re going to go with the Glengarry Glen Death scam.

The next day, Nate meets with Sophie and Dennis. He tells Dennis that he runs a con where they buy out life insurance penalties from dying people. The target gets an immediate payment before he dies and his group gets the profit. Nate explains that he has a confidential insurance database of sick people and big policies. He offers Dennis the list in return for his investment. Dennis refuses, saying they can’t know when the people will die, and wants independent confirmation. He asks for a doctor to verify prognosis and Nate agrees. Nate agrees but insists on keeping the list until Dennis pays $10,000 up front. Nate agrees and tells him to pick a person, and Dennis picks a woman in Miami with a brain tumor.



Randy calls from a strip bar to complain that Dennis isn’t following the plan. Dennis puts Sophie on the phone and she says that they’ve gone with a different plan. When Randy threatens to go to their father, Dennis cuts him off.

That night, Nate is driving down the street and drinking when a policeman pulls him over. Nate hides his flask and takes a mint, but a plainclothes detective gets into the backseat. The officer, Lt. Stone, explains that he’s with a racketeering task force and wants to know why Nate is in town. Nate figures that they’re going after the Retzings on RICO because they can’t get the family on fraud. Stone warns the Leverage team off, but Nate figures that he’s fishing. Stone just smiles and gets out, and then tells Nate that he knows he’s a thief and a drunk, and he doesn’t trust him. He slams Nate’s head into the steering wheel and leaves, and Nate takes another drink.

At the Feola County Hospital, Nate comes in and explains to Parker that she has to be the patient because Dennis picked a woman and he already knows Sophie. Alec warns that he can’t put in an image that will fool a doctor. Eliot suggests that they get another chamber and scan a brain there, and then send the signal to Parker’s MRI machine. Nate goes into motion and outlines what they need to do… including stealing a brain.

The next day, Nate is in the waiting room. Alec prepares to hack the computer while Eliot finds a corpse with a brain. Sophie offers some acting advice to Parker, who doesn’t see the point since all she’s doing is pretend to die. Dennis arrives with his doctor, Kwon, and they go into the MRI monitoring chamber. Meanwhile, Eliot and Alec argue over who will inject wax into the corpse’s brain to simulate a tumor. They play rock-paper-scissors and Alec loses. He inadvertently thrusts the needle all the way through the corpse’s head.



Nate and Sophie take Dennis and Kwon to the monitor room. Alec hacks the monitor and feeds in the image of the second brain. Kwon confirms that Parker is terminal and is surprised she’s still alive. However, Dennis still worries that they can’t exactly predict the patient’s death. Sophie talks to him privately and tries to reassure him, while Nate fakes a call from Chicago confirming that one of their listed patients died. Dennis wants his take in return for the $10,000 he paid, but Nate tells him it was only a holding fee. Nate gives him in and writes him a check for $100,000. Parker, listening in, goes running out to confront Nate and Eliot manages to pull her back just in time. Meanwhile, Dennis says he needs to move some accounts around and Nate objects, saying they need solid investors. He tells Dennis to keep the money and stalks off, and Sophie goes after him.



Back at the hotel, the team asks Nate what he’s doing. He tells them to trust him but Eliot objects, saying that he’s drunk. Sophie asks for a minute alone with him and the others leave. She asks him if the drinking is helping him, and Nate insists that he’s the same person she knew two years ago. Sophie calls him on it and Nate admits that he isn’t. After a moment, Sophie gets up and leaves.

The next day, Dennis calls to tell Nate that he’s in. Nate says that he missed the deadline until Dennis offers $5 million. Nate agrees and Dennis tells him to meet him at a bank. Meanwhile, Henry learns of the transfer and tells Randy, and then transfers the money to a different account that Dennis can’t reach. Outside, Stone listens into the conversation and tells his prepare to move in.

Eliot and Alec are at the bank and call Nate to tell him that Henry and Randy are there. Someone smashes the window of Henry’s Hummer and he goes out to check on it, while Randy receives the papers and signs off. As he goes out, he sees Dennis and Nate come in. Henry confronts his son, ignoring Nate, and tells Dennis that he has transferred all signatory power to Randy. All of the funds are transferred off-shore. When Randy comes over and says that his father is standing up for his family, Dennis attacks him. As the two brothers fight, Nate tells the team to get out.



Back at home, Dennis and Henry receive calls informing them that their checks have bounced. They realize that Randy signed off on Sophie’s deal, and inadvertently signed over a controlling interest in the company. They’re unaware that Alec hacked the bank’s printer and substituted the contract for the signatory papers that Randy unwittingly signed. Parker and Sophie then had Randy sign the papers after Henry stepped out. Dennis explains that Randy transferred 51% of their shares to Sophie’s group. Henry insists that it’s temporary and they’ll get the company back, but Stone comes in and informs Henry that he’s under arrest. Henry’s transfer of money to keep it from Dennis raised a red flag and they’re arresting him for RICO violations. Dennis wonders how Stone was looking out for the transfer, unaware that Nate offered the detective a deal: two days to get the goods on Henry.



As a shell-shocked Henry is taken away, Dennis receives a call from Nate. He tells him to look at the names on the list. Nate explains they were the names of the homeowners that the Retzings conned, and now they’ll get them back into their homes. Dennis says that he won’t get away with it, but Nate reminds him that he declared their home as a corporate asset as a tax break... and they’re going to reclaim it.

Later, the team turns the Retzings’ home over to the Scotts while the police escort Randy and Dennis out. Sophie congratulates Nate and points out that he didn’t used to go for theatrics. She warns that he’s still a mess and may not stick around to back him up. He wonders if she’s threatening to bail on him, and Sophie asks him for a reason to stay.

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