“Happy New Year…and a rec (gimme some “Leverage!")”

Hi all,

Though it is exciting to watch the old year turn into the new year, it is less than exciting to watch what’s on tv these days (even on cable). And with the debut of the second season of “True Blood” being months and months away, the box in the front of the room has returned to being a conversation piece. However, there is one show on tv now (every Tues at 10 pm on TNT) that is really amazing. Called “Leverage” it’s described on its website as thieves who act as modern day “Robin Hood” types. The group of thieves ‘steal’ (though in today‘s world, bankrupting through losing stock options is an interesting twist) from the rich (ones that have committed despicable acts) and give to the poor (people who have been wronged by the rich people). The show, “Leverage” has been called another “Ocean’s 13” by, I think, Entertainment Weekly but in my opinion, that’s not quite enough to describe this cool, smart, innovative new show.

The team of thieves is led by former insurance investigator Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton) who is wrestling with some really powerful inner demons. It seems that his old insurance company boss denied Ford’s insurance claim, allowing his son to die. So, Ford turns from good guy to bad to help people he sees as being like himself, I e. having been hurt in some way by big, powerful men/corporations. With a cool team of experts, Parker (Beth Riesgraf), a daredevil thief (don’t miss seeing her ‘early years’ which shows up briefly in one episode flashback), Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge ) a computer ’geek’ who can not only understand Klingon but also says that ‘when people’s rolodexes were put on satellite, a whole ’nother playground opened up for him‘, Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane ), the old Wolfram and Hart attorney from Angel who still plays it cool (and supernatural at times) as the main fighter for the group and Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), who can act well only when she’s stealing. So, yes, the cast is impressive. Great actors playing interesting roles with depth to each and every character. Though the characters are on the ‘other’ side of the law, I found myself as a viewer always rooting for the bad guys and sometimes even forgetting that yes, they’re breaking the law.

With some great flashback sequences at the end of each show (to show how some switches went down to orchestrate the entire con), a healthy heaping of witty banter and just a built in ‘smartness’ to each episode plot, the show feels almost Whedonesque at times. I began watching “Leverage” as an on demand feature a couple of weeks ago (after it was advertised during another good show “The Librarian” (hey, does he work at the same university as Indiana Jones?) but now, I am looking forward to watching “Leverage” each week for a new interesting and compelling episode. The only thing missing from “Leverage” are vampires (there are some supernatural ‘elements’ to the show, for example, how Kane can fight bad guys with blazing speed but I guess nothing is perfect. OK, remind me again how many days there are until season 2 of “True Blood” starts?


Take care and have a great new year all,
Christine Prebler

PS--Two more things. First, I do hope that “Leverage” gets renewed for a second season. It is smart, funny and cool. I’m hooked. Second, one last interesting fact. Timothy Hutton’s character once studied for the priesthood. This opens up all kinds of issues dealing with religious themes. One show was even about helping a Catholic priest. I won’t talk about the entire episode just in case you haven’t seen it, but the end has a really ‘catholic feeling’ wrapup. Great show. Good stuff. More, please!