Let's go steal the man on the street... in Africa.

Thanks to the second episode of Leverage last night ("The Scheherazade Job"), viewers were treated t the meat and potatoes episode that make this such a great show. The installment had surprises, anxiety, and of course, a happy ending.

The dynamic I found most interesting in this episode was Nate telling Hardison that he was missing one key element to ever be able to run his own crew. We spent the entire episode waiting to see what that was - in the end it turned out to be something as dual-edged as “do what whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Which, in this case, included hypnotizing a team member so they could remember how he played the violin when he was fourteen.

This showed a very interesting conundrum in Nate. We know he went to jail for the team, but at the same time he is willing to con, hypnotize, and lie to the team if it means a successful mission.

We also got to see the mysterious Italian woman who is blackmailing the team into helping her again. I loved her asking Nate to dinner and him imagining her having him strangled over a glass of wine. She is clearly ruthless, but I think I would be more frightened of her if they gave her a bit more of a background.  Did they ever give her a name?

Don’t get me wrong, she is amazingly well played by Elisabetta Canalis. But I find it hard to be really scared of a mysterious, hot, Italian woman. I mean, aren’t there romance novels written around attractive, mysterious, Italian women?  Or, at least some adventure movie featuring some teenage boy in Italy?

Lastly, I would kick myself if I failed to mention the tiny glimpse we saw into Eliot’s softer side. I wish they had spent a little more time with him and the client so we could see what a softy he is inside, but I will take what I can get.

Overall, it was an excellent episode. I am glad to see the show getting off to a great start with four really good episodes. There won’t be an episode next week, but the show returns on July 11, and we will recap and review it once it airs. 

What did you think of the episode? Did you like the peek into Eliot’s softer side?  Check out Leverage quotes from both of this week's hours and comment away now!

Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.