“	We're all goin' to hell...	”
— Alec Hardison

When the downtown church of Nate's childhood best friend Father Paul is about to be razed by a profiteering real estate developer Andrew Grant, the Leverage team must steal a miracle in order to save it. But as the story progresses, the question arises as to who exactly is saving whom.

The Client

• Father Paul

The Mark

• Andrew Grant

Locations

• Los Angeles, California
  • Saint Nicholas Church
  • Leverage Headquarters
  • Unnamed Hospital

The Con

Father Paul is rehearsing a speech to the City council on the way to ask for an injunction on the sale of his church when he is attacked by thugs and ends up in hospital.

Eliot and Hardison go and look for the people who attacked Father Paul. They are accosted by a gang and the leader forces a member to talk after Hardison picks him out as the one Father Paul punched in the shoulder.

Sophie poses as a reporter, Parker and Eliot conspire to trap Sophie and Grant in an elevator. Grant's claustrophobia makes him yell in panic and Sophie cover for him with the press. Grant is so impressed with the way Sophie controlled the media he hires her as his latest PR agent.

Hardison prepares a fake statue of St. Nicholas which he has prepared with a chemical that in the presence of candles smoke will create the illusion of the statue crying . Sophie leaks the story about Grant buying the church to build a shopping mall and convinces him to do a press conference to spin it at the church.

The 'miracle' works so well that the Vatican sends a team of investigators making Father Paul want to pull the plug on Nate's scheme. Grant, however plans to build Bibletopia a religious theme park

To avoid Grant getting his Bibletopia and stop the Vatican from discovering the fake and excommunicating Father Paul, the team steal back the fake statue during the Sunday Mass.

The Reveal

Everyone rushes out of the church and discover the statue in a van. The team frame Grant for faking the miracle pretending it is his vehicle. The police show up and Grant is handcuffed. He asks his assistant for an alibi but Tomas tells everyone about Grant's underhanded dealings. Nate had gone to confession and stepped into the priest side of the confession box. After Father Paul left, Tomas stepped in having a crisis of conscience, and Nate counselled him to 'do the right thing'.

Guest Cast

• D.B. Sweeney as Father Paul
• Scott Lowell as Andrew Grant
• Andres Saenz-Hudson as Tomas

Aliases

• Kristy Connelly (Sophie)

Episode Notes

• St. Nicholas is a Greek saint revered in both the Roman and Eastern rite Catholic churches. A fourth-century Bishop, St. Nicholas was known for secret gift giving; it was a series of corruptions of his name, traveling through Dutch, that gave us the contemporary name Santa Claus. St. Nicholas is known for having supposedly slapped an Arianist at an ecumenical council. His feast day, December 6, is celebrated widely in Europe.
• In religious iconography, St. Nicholas is typically portrayed wearing a bishop's vestments, with mitre and a long white beard. The statue of St. Nicholas used in the episode closely resembles the most famous statue of the saint, which is in the courtyard of his original church in Demre, Turkey.

Trivia

• This episode introduces the team's trademark "Let's go steal a... " line, when Nate suggests they steal a miracle.
• The episode introduces the first appearance of the "bro handshake" between Eliot Spencer and Alec Hardison.
• This episode introduces the unseen Maggie Collins, Nate's ex-wife, via a telephone call. Maggie's first appearance is in "The First David Job".
• Sam Ford's funeral occurred 2 years, 3 months, and 15 days before this episode.
• Gina Bellman, who was born in New Zealand, uses her Kiwi accent in this episode.
• Iglesia Catolica Santa Cruz (Holy Cross Catholic Church) in Los Angeles stands in for St. Nicholas church.

Differences in the Spanish dub

• The title El Milagro translates simply to The Miracle.

Production Media