In the series finale Nate (Timothy Hutton) is approached by his son's former physician who needs his help to save another patient in danger of dying of the same condition of that killed Nate's son. To retrieve the drug the company refuses to release means breaking into a facility with government level security given the building also houses a federal law enforcement Intenet hub server housing backup files for the FBI, CIA, DEA, and Interpol.
As Sophie (Gina Bellman) prepares a performance of Macbeth across the street from the building to help cover the con and the getaway, Parker (Beth Riesgraf) breaks in through the roof to set off the alarms while Eliot (Christian Kane) and Hardison (Aldis Hodge) come in as security technicians to fix the system With the coms down the team is completely cutoff from Nate and the outside world just as things start to go horribly wrong as two members of the team are shot and Hardison takes a bad fall leaving him with internal injuries and a broken leg.
With the rest of the team dead in a failed escape attempt, a shaken Nate relates the events leading up to car crash to an agent of Interpol (Catherine Dent) who doesn't believe a word of his story. Sterling (Mark Sheppard) arrives with an alternate explanation for the true purpose of the heist - the infamous "Black Book" containing proof and names of everyone involved in an insane amount of corruption during the financial crisis five years ago, none of whom were ever prosecuted in order to stabilize the world's economy.
Although Sterling's investigation proves his theory, it also allows the (not surprisingly) still living and breathing members of the team to make it out of the building for what they came for. Evening knowing that the script was planned for the show's final episode, the apparent deaths of the team aren't sold well enough to be believed (that's less a fault of the writing than knowing how the show loves to play with the audience's perception of events). Longtime fans of the show are going to be expecting the twist. However, the show does have more than one final twist before signing off for the last time.
The team is successful in retrieving the Black Box, thanks to Sterling's help. With the names of thousands of criminals to go after Parker, Eliot, and Hardison will have their hands full for some time (sadly, in episodes we'll never get to see), but they'll have to do it without Nate and Sophie who march off into the sunset to start their new life together.
I've been a fan of the show since it began and I'm sad to see TNT decide not to pick up the option for the show's return. However, I'm thankful Leverage got to go out as originally planned by show creators John Rogers and Chris Downey, on its own terms, and with some nice nods to the show's Pilot episode. I'm going to miss the hacker, hitter, grifter, mastermind, and (especially) thief, but there are always DVD and reruns.
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