[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Leverage: Redemption Season 3 Episode 5 “The Grand Complication Job.’”]
RIZ Securities boss Alexandra Bligh (Lucy Taylor) popped up in a major way in the Thursday, May 1, episode of Leverage: Redemption. She had grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) kidnapped and pitted the crew’s thief, Parker (Beth Riesgraf), and Sophie’s stepdaughter Astrid (Alexandra Park) against each other, instructing the former to steal a watch and the latter to stop her in order to get her back.
What she didn’t know was fellow grifter Tara Cole (Jeri Ryan, making her first Redemption appearance after recurring on Leverage) was with Sophie when she was taken, and therefore the crew was able to work against Bligh. And in the end, Sophie was rescued and Bligh was under arrest. But has she been taken off the board for good?
“Well, I would’ve thought she was gone for good after the last time, so I think you have to take your hat off to Bligh in that she’s relentless,” executive producer Dean Devlin tells TV Insider. “So I mean, I’d like to think she’s off the board, but I don’t know. That is a very powerful woman and a powerful woman that has absolutely no sense of nostalgia. I think it was Elon Musk who said that empathy is an Achilles heel. Well, she doesn’t have that one.”
Well, if she becomes a threat again, maker Breanna Casey will be ready. “I think Breanna’s maybe like, ‘I’m going to set up whatever it takes,’” Aleyse Shannon says. “Bligh is slippery. I don’t think Brianna trusts [she’s no longer a threat].”
The episode also ended with longtime nemeses Parker and Astrid seemingly reaching an understanding, bonding over times the latter had nearly caught the former. And, most notably, as Astrid called out, Parker did refer to her as family when facing off against Bligh, even if the thief tried to protest doing so.
“She’s very territorial, isn’t she? Over Sophie and her friends. So she doesn’t really like Astrid coming around. She doesn’t trust her. But I think by the end, there’s a real revelation that occurs when it’s like, ‘Okay, wait a second. We would both kill for this person. We would both do anything for this person,’” Riesgraf notes. “Now that Parker knows she can trust Astrid, I think for her, that’s everything. Parker’s had nothing to lose until she came into this group. And still, if any of them are in danger, she goes right back to that and has not a hesitation about doing the right thing. If it means losing your life, so be it. So I think when she sees that Astrid feels exactly the same way, she’s like, ‘Okay, alright, I guess I’ll allow you in and maybe this could be fun.’ And they have a competitive sisterhood about the relationship, which is really fun.”
Adds Devlin, “It is a tough thing when one of their careers is to put people like Parker in jail, but neither of them grew up with siblings. Parker had one but lost him in a bike accident. And so there’s a lot of need that gets filled by their relationship. But at the same time, they’re both jealous of each other’s relationships with Sophie. So there’s a weird thing that happens. I see it with people all the time. You could be in your 30s or 40s, but you go home to your parents’ house and suddenly you’re 13 again. And so I think there’s that element of when they’re together around Sophie, they kind of revert to earlier versions of themselves.”
Bellman points out that the days of Sophie feeling maternal to Parker are over. “She’s been running international crews. She’s a powerful woman in her own right. The final episode this season, she’s really in her power,” she teases. “I feel like in a way Sophie’s always going to look out for her crew, but I think that relationship has evolved. So I think it’s really nice that Sophie gets to be maternal with Astrid, and hopefully that’s something that can develop.”
What did you think of the heist drama bringing back Bligh? Let us know in the comments section below.
Leverage: Redemption, Thursdays, Prime Video
