Hmm. I think I need to watch Sarah Connor again before I can have a real response, but I think I had the opposite reaction that you did: I wasn't that into Sarah's plot, and I was really into John's plot and seriously irked that Riley's suicide/suicide attempt was halfway through and they didn't come back to that storyline in the episode. My two things I said out loud were: "Oooh! Riley flashback to the future!" and "Whoa. Didn't see that coming," at her slitting her wrists. It's kind of a brilliant tactical move (although she maybe wasn't thinking of it that way): If she lives, she wins because John will be completely focused on her and not listen to Cameron. If she dies, she still wins because John will still be focused on her and not listen to Cameron, and possibly even blame Cameron. I really want everyone to show up at the hospital or the cemetery (depending on which way it goes) and that to be the way they find out. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed that the Riley/Jesse vibe was waaaaay toned down in the episode from what was in the preview (which is a good example of what you can do with editing, because it's not like there was anything in the preview that wasn't in the ep), and I kind of wanted more from the Riley-Cameron showdown. Someone in the community I read said, "Cameron's choices of tattoos are interesting. One is a solitary predator the other is a social group predator. And she hasn't decided. It's like her subtle way of saying something." Which I hadn't noticed, but which is cool.

I also didn't like this episode of Leverage as much as I liked the previous two. Only now that I'm writing this do I think maybe I shouldn't watch TV while PMSing. I was also cooking while watching, so it might be the kind of show I like better if I just watch straight through without doing anything else. It might be because I knew it was coming, but I thought Chris's song was sort of shoehorned in for the cross-promotion rather than used because it was appropriate for the scene. It's not a goodbye song, and knowing that made it not work for me to play over the goodbye scene. (Also, they cut it just before it swings into a more energetic/upbeat part, which left me hanging.)