Season two of “Leverage” premieres Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 9/8c on TNT.
Last December when I received a screener for a show called “Leverage,” I honestly had no idea what the show was about and I definitely didn’t think I would like it. Since it aired on TNT I figured it would be another average drama. I decided to give the show a chance since there wasn’t a lot of shows airing new episodes at the time. In about five minutes, I had instantly fallen in love with it. “Leverage” was by far the best new show of a disappointing year in television. Flash forward six months and I couldn’t wait until the day I received my season two screener. I finally got it yesterday and popped it into the DVD player just a few minutes after receiving it. The first episode (”The Beantown Bailout Job“) is good but probably ranks in the bottom half of the show’s episodes.
If you somehow haven’t seen this awesome show yet, I strongly suggest you give it a chance. If you don’t know the concept, it’s basically a modern day Robin Hood tale. Nate Ford (played by Timothy Hutton), a former insurance investigator, now leads a team of thieves who only steal from powerful and corrupted people who have victimized everyday men and women. His team includes Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a grifter who always gives a great performance in the cons but can’t act at all on stage; Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the muscle who prefers to use his fist over guns; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), a tech specialist; and Parker (Beth Riesgraf), a slightly insane thief who loves to take risks. The show is a mix of action, drama, and comedy that should appeal to most viewers.
For those of you who haven’t seen the show yet, feel free to go ahead and watch season two from the start. “Leverage” is slightly serialized but as long as you read my starter guide, you should be good to go. Men will probably enjoy it more than women but I do think most viewers will love it. If I had to compare it to another show or movie, I would say it is “Ocean’s Eleven” with more of a USA Network type of humor mixed in.
For those who have seen it, I would say the season premiere is below average compared to the other episodes of the show. It’s still better than 99% of the episodes that air in any given week but just not quite up to the quality of season one. More than likely the main reason behind the below average episode lies in the tight production schedule. Season one aired all the way through February and production started in April. That didn’t give the production team a lot of time to come up with ideas and thus some elements of the premiere are a little lacking. For example, Eliot’s weekly fight isn’t nearly as creative as some of the ones from season one. Also, there isn’t quite as much humor sprinkled in. This isn’t a huge deal since the episode is still a must-watch but I do think future season two episodes will be much better.
The story picks up six months after the events of the season one finale. The team had just broken up because of the con gone wrong in the first part of the finale. Nate now lives in Boston and is planning to get back into the insurance game until he witnesses the attempted murder of a bank whistleblower. Sophie invites the other team members to her newest play in Boston and the team (minus the reluctant Nate) quickly gets back in the game. They eventually take over Nate’s apartment and get to work helping the bank whistleblower.
In summary, despite the below average episode I encourage everyone to watch this show when it returns on July 15. I have “Leverage” ranked #4 on my list of top shows (only behind “Lost,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “Chuck”) for a reason. It’s the best show of the summer in my opinion (yes, even better than “Burn Notice”) and a definite must watch for all action, drama, or comedy fans.
