- While Nate and Sophie try to con a corrupt Judge, they are taken hostage during a botched bank robbery.
- Corrupt country county judge Roy was to be robbed of his dirty gains in favor of the victimized families, but while Nate and Sophie are in the bank to get the cash it's clumsily robbed by two amateurs, retired army veteran Derrick Clark and his adolescent son Michael. Nate is shot soon after thinking up impersonating an FBI team, so the trio outside must improvise before the real agents arrive in about 45 minutes.—KGF Vissers
- One of the most satisfying cons is in Juan, California: the crew seeks to bankrupt a dirty judge. But Judge Roy is also an arrogant, lecherous bigot who claims to be the horse in "his one horse town". Eliot drives a truck with Louisiana 08 brake tags (y'all would call them "inspection stickers") as Hardison and Parker man the van; Sophie and Nate are inside of Imperial Valley Bank of Juan with Judge Roy. Who knew there would be a bank robbery the same time as the con, trapping Nate and Sophie? Bank Robbery 101-- SOP calls for the FBI; this is the debut of Agents McSweeten and Taggert.—LA-Lawyer
- Caper time, my friends. Get ready to score another one for the good guys.
We open inside a bank. In walks Ford, wearing a string tie and cowboy hat. He is trailing a right proper slime ball, who slaps employees on the behind and acts like he owns the place. Mr. Slime Ball leads Ford into the vault, where he hands over a large amount of cash to our hero. "You know what they say: Launderings a dirty business," Ford quips in a cowboys country-fried accent.
Alec, meanwhile, is complaining about cheap hotels and the heat to Parker. She is hardly sympathetic. He gets a call from Eliot. "I just wish we could do more than bankrupt that corrupt son of a bitch," Eliot quips. In other words, Mr. Slime Ball is the team's target.
Back inside the bank, Ford notices a bank robbery in process. He looks at Sophie, who is posing as an employee. "You've got to be kidding me," Alec says from the van. Nope. Two nervous men -- one old and one young -- pull guns and begin stuffing bags with cash. Mr. Slime Ball takes the briefcase of cash from Ford and hides it under a desk.
Eliot speaks to Ford through an ear microphone and we learn that Mr. Slime Ball is a judge. Speaking of, Judge Slime Ball stands and starts sweet talking the older robber, who promptly tells him to sit the hell back down. Ford and Sophie, in the meantime, begin speaking through their mics. "We help these guys get what they want, then we get everyone out safely," Ford whispers. "We have to be the police."
Sure enough, Alec and Parker emerge from a black car wearing FBI jackets. They don fake badges around their necks and duck under the police tape. "We'll be taking over this crime scene," sheriff, Alec says. The sheriff is only too happy to cooperate. Inside, the hostages have taken notice of the (faux) Feds arrival. "Better make sure our under the table money stays under the table," Judge Slime Ball says. Ford just nods like a cowboy is wont to do. Outside, Alec has hacked into the bank's security camera and runs a facial recognition search on the crooks.
Bingo! Derrick Clark, our older gentleman robber, is U.S. military recently retired. Turns out Clark cleared out all his bank accounts that morning. "Who takes his money out of the bank only to come back later to rob it?" Ford asks. Good question. In order to find out, Eliot heads to the family's home. Perhaps the kinfolk can help.
Sophie, in the meantime, has figured out that the younger robber is Clark's son, Michael. The young man gets a cell phone call and begs the caller not to "hurt her." But who is "her?" Eliot checks in with news that the family's house has been broken into and mom has gone missing. So "her" is mom. Upon hearing the news through his earpiece, Ford confronts Michael, who explains that the kidnapper demanded $100,000 dollars or they would kill his mother. Ford promises that will not happen as long as Michael and his father "do exactly what I say."
So now we know why father and son are in such desperate need of money. Michael then opens up to Ford (why we aren't exactly sure). He explains that he was running meth for some local thugs when a shipment went missing. Blaming Michael, the drug thugs took mom and demanded the return of their goods. Unfortunately, Michael doesn't know what happened to the missing meth. "This is all my fault," the boy whines.
Turns out Clark has admitted much the same to Sophie (again, not sure why). She explains that Judge Slime Ball has been taking bribes from various dirty members of society and that the team is here to scam him. That gives Ford an idea. Pay off the drug thugs with the bad judge's money. Why, it's just crazy enough to work! But time is running out. The real FBI is on its way, so the team has roughly 45 minutes to get in, get the money, pay off the crooks and diffuse the hostage situation. No time to waste.
So while Alec distracts the local yokel cops, Parker breaks into the bank through a side door. She shimmies through a vent when Clark appears. Dad has learned of the briefcase and kicked it out from under the desk (being careful not to let Judge Slime Ball notice). He hands the cash to Parker, who shimmies back out. "My wife's life depends on that money getting where it needs to go," Clark says.
Unfortunately, Judge Slime Ball soon notices that his briefcase is missing. Furious, he wrestles the gun from Michael. It accidentally goes off! And Ford is hit! "You guys are trying to rip me off!" the judge says. "I see what's going on here. The four of you are conspiring against me!" He's not exactly correct, but it's close enough for government work. Clark explains they need the money for a ransom, but the judge ain't buying it.
Sophie pleads the judge to let Ford go to a hospital. "He's bleeding!" she cries. No dice. No one is leaving until Slime Ball gets his briefcase back. More bad news: the judge notices the earpieces. He looks up at the security camera: "You get your guys, when I get my money!" He then crushes Sophie's and Ford's communication devices. Now what?
Eliot makes the handoff of the briefcase. "There's more than we asked for," one of the punks says with delight. Eliot takes the opportunity to disarm the meth dealers in a flurry of martial-arts style punches and kicks. It's almost too easy. "Who are you?" Mrs. Clark asks. "Well, maam," Eliot quips, "we'd be the cavalry." And such a dreamy one, too.
So now Eliot has the woman AND the money. Looks like everything is going to be OK, right? It will be shortly. Alec enters the bank with pizza boxes for the hostages -- one of which contains Judge Slime Ball's money. Alec then gets down on his knees, pretending that the judge is not cooperating. The local yokel cops see the act and believe it. They burst into the bank, guns drawn on the town's corrupt judge. "You guys got this all wrong!" the judge says. "I'm the hero here!"
Judge Slime Ball then notices that the pizza box full of money is missing and the briefcase is back. Inside the briefcase, the sheriff finds bags of drugs. "Crystal Meth!" the sheriff says. "My God, what have you gotten yourself into?" The judge is apoplectic. We then discover that Clark and son have been hustled out of the bank and put into paramedic's clothing. Sophie tells the cops that the judge was behind everything. Alec, meanwhile, has doctored the security tapes to corroborate her story.
Case closed! Judge Slime Balls life is ruined and the entire Clark family is safe. All in a day's work.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content