Hustle: Episode 3

The episode started out with Mickey and Stacie, disguised as fumigators, shooing a couple of store-owners out of their shop because of a rat infestation (rats courtesy of Albert). After the couple leave, Mickey and Stacie stripped out their jumpsuits into sophisticated suits just as Danny Blue rushed in. Moments later, a woman named Meredith Gates walked in and had a serious conversation with Danny (or "Mr. Pomeroy" as she called him) about splitting the cost of a painting 50/50, £250,000 each.

Flashback to a week earlier: Danny prepared to leave the hospital, arm in a sling (after his accident from Episode 2) but stopped when he overheard some gallery owner talking big figures. He did some investigating and soon decided to pay a visit to the gallery. At the gallery, Danny realized that Meredith Gates, the super-snobby and greedy owner would be the perfect target. He kept a close eye on her but was soon distracted when he posed as an art collector and started a conversation with an art journalist, Bea Watson. Bea told Danny about Gate's obsession with Piet Mondrian paintings and how much money and pride she put into the pieces under her collection.

Meanwhile, Mickey fretted over the idea of the group being under a jinx. His worry was not helped when Albert and Ash revealed they accidentally conned a desperate man out of what little he had (a big no-no for the group because they only target greedy people that can afford to be conned). Bad behavior brings bad luck, so they look for some way to fix it. When Danny asked the group to take part in a new con, Mickey hesitated to say yes because of the bad luck. Danny, ever so confident, went on to explain anyway: They would find someone to fake an abstract Mondrian piece. If they can convince Meredith Gates that a new abstract painting was discovered that pre-dated Picasso, the man currently considered to be the father of abstract art, she would be all over it. Such a piece would flip the art world upside-down. Mickey reluctantly followed along, only because the group really needed the money (for reasons they decided not to disclose to Danny).

The group hired another con-artist to join in, emphasis on "artist". They found the art forger, Tip Jones, in a vegetative state, drooling and all. It was not until Albert whispered to him that the con would mean £100,000 did he quit his act. Tip agreed to it but, in order to do his job, he needed some special supplies (to properly feign authenticity) and an original Mondrian for reference. Mickey and Stacie (disguised as a sexy, flirty Mondrian-lover) pull some quick swiping at Meredith's gallery and they get their hands on an original for Tip.

After a huge build-up of suspense (including the event noted in the first paragraph where Meredith and Danny, whom she thought was an import-export guy that owned his own store, agreed to split the cost of the painting 50/50), the moment of truth came when Meredith, Danny, Stacie (as "Mr. Pomeroy"'s assistant), Bea (she was recruited to verify the authenticity of the painting), and Mickey (as "Mr. Hook", the man who "discovered" the new Mondrian painting). After a lot of speculation over the authenticity of the painting, Meredith decided she didn't want it because Mondrian would have never used such a high-quality canvas to do an experimental piece. Bea proposed the idea that perhaps it was a commission gone wrong: Mondrian had a nice canvas to do a proper piece for someone but the commission fell through so he painted over it. To test the theory, Meredith took it to her gallery's security x-ray. The x-ray showed that underneath the abstract piece was another landscape, just like Mondrian's earlier work. Ecstatic, she offered Mr. Hook a ridiculously high sum, swiping it from under Mr. Pomeroy's nose. Danny did a great job of acting pissed off and Mickey couldn't help but smile when he shook hands with Meredith to seal the deal.

The group went back to Tip to give him his share of the money. Tip then informed them that he wanted all of the money, threatening that he had someone outside that would phone the police if they didn't. Well, the group is always one step ahead of everyone, so Mickey surprised Tip when the fraud squad walked in and confronted Tip about faking his vegetative state. The group walk out with their share of the money, only to find that the person getting ready to call the police for Tip was Bea Watson, the art journalist. The group wasn't surprised to see her, though, because she had a lot of "tells" (like poker "tells) that showed that she wasn't genuine. Well, she sped off, happily thinking that she had taken the original Mondrian (which the group wanted back because they needed to return it to the gallery) but it turned out that Ash had faked a car accident earlier. While Bea rushed to check on him, Albert swapped the original Mondrian with something else. At the end of the episode, the group took part of their winnings (a huge part) and went back to the man that Ash and Albert wrongly conned and gave him £100,000, more than enough to cover expenses (this was the only reason why Mickey agreed to the con, because the group needed the money for this). The jinx was over.