- A job for the wife of a wrongly-jailed restaurateur lands the team between the FBI and rival mob families.
- Blackmailed restaurateur Ray Palermo was falsely convicted and jailed instead of mobster Nicky Moscone, who didn't even keep his promise to take care of his family. Sophie makes Nate accepts to promise getting the restaurant back for 'widow' Teresa Palermo. The plan is stealing enough cash at Moscone's daughter's wedding, posing as wedding planner, caterer and minister. But is gets complicated because Russian mob guest Sergei and Nicky's bossy wife Heather bring their own plans and his ruthless retinue, including Elliot's nemesis, the butcher of Kiev.—KGF Vissers
- Ray, husband of Sophie's friend, Theresa Palermo, is victimized by notorious mob boss, Moscone; Ray loses his restaurant... and his liberty. Moscone is no easy target, he is being watched by the FBI. When the crew learns Moscone's daughter is being wed at his Mob McMansion, they pose as wedding planners (and a clergyman) to search for sufficient funds to make the Palermos whole. Eliot makes a killer chef, but is anybody expecting the Butcher of Kiev?—LA-Lawyer
- A woman worries about her restaurateur husband as she leaves him alone in the restaurant with two guys with bent noses, if you know what we're saying. When the wife leaves, Goomba #1 shoots Goomba #2 then gives the cook Ray his gun, saying he should claim he did it in self defense. He owed the mob guy money and couldn't say no.
Cut to Leverage HQ, where Mrs. Palermo tells Sophie her sob story. (We know it is because she's actually sobbing.) That was five years ago and her husband still has 10 years left on his sentence. So much for self-defense. Nate watches, displeased that Sophie is picking a friend of hers as a client. He joins them.
Mrs. Palermo says that Moscone never gave them a dime and they lost the restaurant and their house. She saw a notice in the paper that Nicky Moscone's daughter was getting married in a lavish ceremony. She went to PIs, who laughed at her when they heard the Moscone name. She wants the $765,000 he promised them for the restaurant.
Nate is against it. Hardison tells Nate to just take the mob out of it. It's standard breach of contract. The team lobbies him. He folds.
They case the site of the wedding, a mansion. Practically impenetrable. And the FBI is watching from a van around the corner. Hardison and Parker knock on the van, introducing themselves as fellow Fibbies. Hardison says he got the guy's memo, and sent it up the chain. They're welcomed in. (Nate explains to Sophie that FBI guys are always writing memos.) Parker lifts one guy's ID. The FBI has only one bug inside. Amateurs.
Eliot waltzes into FBI HQ wearing the stolen badge. Hardison walks him through finding the Moscone surveillance tapes and burning them to a flash drive. But it's on cassette tape. That's so cute. Hardison sets off a fire drill, giving Eliot cover to get the tapes out.
Hardison reports on the tapes. No, Nate, he can't break the codes on Moscone's Cayman bank accounts. He thinks Moscone has at least $2 mil stashed around the house. They notice the set up for the wedding and listen to a tape of the wife losing her mind over the happy day.
At the mansion, Sophie knocks on the door as "Ruby" the wedding planner, hired by Mr. Moscone. Heather Moscone is dubious they can fix things with two days to go, but Sophie presents her team. Eliot the chef, Nate the priest, Parker the seamstress, Hardison the DJ.
They're supposed to search the house for the hidden money, but Eliot's busy cutting onion and deveining scallops. He presents his creation to Mrs. Moscone, who spits it out (despite the "kiss of basil" on stuffed mushrooms).
The FBI listen in, but can't hear anything over the sprinklers. They think wistfully about what they might hear with bugs planted all over the house. Inside, Hardison plants bugs all over the house. Parker adjusts the bridesmaid's dress, asking the weeping woman how much she weighs and generally whittling away her self-esteem.
Nate keeps searching and stumbles on Moscone and his future-son-in-law who's scared and milquetoast. He went whale watching for his bachelor party.
Moscone tells Nate the priest he offered the kid $200,000 to disappear, but he wouldn't take it. Nate replies that maybe the kid cared for something greater than money. Moscone gets a call from their "friend in Brooklyn."
Hardison gets the feed, Moscone saying he'll give "that bastard" the money at the wedding. They think a deal is going down at the wedding. They have to find the money then get it out under 200 guests, while they run the wedding. Nate rants about how ridiculous weddings are using the phrase "a giant, giant con," which isn't music to Sophie's ears.
Eliot almost married once, but when it didn't work out he liberated Croatia instead. Hardison shares that if it were him, he'd just get fat and open a comic book shop. Ah, differences.
The big day. Parker tries on a bridesmaid dress (it's pink, ruched and horrid). She's trying to make it up to the bridesmaid by filling in. The dress is like a free pass around the house.
Mrs. Moscone's shrieks on the phone to someone and Nate gives her a wide berth. Hardison listens to conversations all over the house.
The guests arrive.
Nate eyes some square men in black suits and sees trouble. Mrs. Moscone greets Sergei. Sophie finds the bride crying alone in her room, upset that her small wedding has been hijacked by her step-mom. Sophie, venting about Nate, tells the bride not to put her faith in a man. Nate gathers the troops and tells Eliot that the butcher of Kiev is there with Sergei. He'll probably remember Eliot. (Flash to he and Eliot grappling with butcher knives amid flames.)
Nate wants to pull the plug, but Sophie says she's staying. "Is this about fear of the Russian mob or fear of intimacy?"
Fine, they stay. Nate officiates, faking it well until he starts talking about contracts and breaking them and how it leads to people being disappointed. Sophie listens to his pointed comments about marriage being hard work, not about rooftops in Paris, but pushing a shopping cart around Home Depot. The groom and Moscone both try to get him to wrap it up, but Nate is on to saying some people don't understand that other people need time until they're ready to start dating again. He saves it just in time as Parker checks the last unchecked place in the house, the screening room.
Moscone and Sergei head off to do their deal. Hardison checks his taps. They head to the screening room, where Parker is stuck and can't get out. She still hasn't found the money. She hides behind the drapes. Moscone takes out a briefcase - an empty one. Sergei is displeased.
Nate tries to figure out what's going on, checking the crowd. He homes in on Mrs. Moscone, and remembers her greeting Sergei and telling someone on the phone that something was in the screening room.
Sergei threatens Moscone, who mentions that he did nothing in retaliation when Moscone shot his brother in the restaurant. But he'll have problems if he doesn't get his money. Nate sends Eliot to the screening room, but he's intercepted by the butcher of Kiev and several sous-chefs.
Nate figures Mrs. Moscone set up her husband to get killed, which would leave her rich.
Back in the kitchen, Eliot dispatches the assassin-chef, using only a pot and his hands against a butcher knife. In the screening room, just as Sergei is about to waste Moscone, Parker pops out from behind the drapes, acting drunk, saying she was supposed to meet the DJ in here. She drags both men out and back to the party.
Sergei leads Moscone away and Hardison saves him by interrupting the bridesmaid's toast and calling for Moscone to give his.
In the kitchen, Eliot is in a rough fight and losing until he grabs a stuffed mushroom and rubs it in the butcher's eyes. It burns. It's the lemon juice. Nate finds the bag of money and tells Eliot to put it in someone's trunk. Hardison ends the wedding, hustling the bride and groom out.
Nate intercepts Sergei, handing him to Moscone's goons.
Sophie follows Mrs. Moscone to her car, but she gets away.
When Moscone comes into the kitchen asking where his wife went, Nate tells him she's gone. As the Leveragites gather, asking Nate what happened to the cash, Moscone gets on the phone to call the Cayman bank accounts that are in his wife's name to change all the passwords. Hardison listens in and the uncrackable code is simply handed over the speaker.
As for the cash, flashback to Eliot putting it in the trunk of the bride and groom so they will have the financial security for life away from the mob.
Hardison cleans out Moscone's accounts. Nate visits with Moscone, telling him people who break their promises get what's coming to them. He takes comfort where none was intended.
Cut to a restaurant, being re-opened for business. They surprise Mrs. Palermo with her business back. Hardison shows her news footage that says Moscone's arrest has cast doubt on Mr. Palermo's guilt and his lawyers are appealing.
Flashback to Hardison pinning a corsage on Parker. A corsage with a bug in it that catches Sergei accusing Moscone of killing his brother and Moscone not denying it. The FBI guys in the van celebrate finally getting something from a bug.
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