Leverage's summer finale brings back Mark Shepard as Sterling, a fan favorite who always spices things up, in what is a pretty normal episode. There are some notable differences--the lack of a real bad guy (the step-dad wasn't overtly evil in the mold of other villains), Sterling helping the team throughout most of the episode instead of chasing the them--but everything else is the usual. Nate plays at the chess tournament, Sophie helps him win, Parker steals the weight, Hardison does tech support, and Elliot hangs out with Sterling. In the end, the episode is bolstered by Sterling getting his daughter back, an expected but potent twist.
One thing that would have been cool is if the episode had actually been shot in Dubai. Covert Affairs had an episode earlier this year shot in Istanbul and it looked great. I don't think Leverage has that kind of budget, but we can hope.
Score: 8.7/10
