When and Where Does It Air?: Wednesdays at 9/8c on TNT
The Plot: Former insurance investigator Nate Ford leads a crew of thieves who steal from the rich and unethical and give to the poor and suffering.
Things You Should Know Before Watching:
- In the first episode, Nate was approached by the CEO of an aerospace company and asked to recover blueprints that were stolen by a rival company. He was able to pick out a team of thieves and they easily carried out the task. Little did the team know but they were being setup. After narrowly escaping a trap the team worked together to steal back the blueprints and give them to their rightful owners. In addition, the team took down the CEO’s company and became multi-millionaires by short-selling the company’s stock.
- After the events of the pilot, the team decided to stick together to help those who were victimized by crooks.
- Nate was married and had a young son who was gravely ill. The insurance company Nate worked for refused to pay for his son’s treatment, resulting in his death. Soon after, Nate turned to drinking and his wife divorced him. His wife shows up in the last two episodes of season one and actually helps the team get back at Nate’s old employer (Blackpoole).
- In the two-part season finale, Nate finally got revenge on his old employer. It didn’t come easily as his first plan unraveled and forced the team to split up (the team’s headquarters was also blown up). Eventually the team reunited and pulled of a heist that ruined Blackpoole.
- Nate has a serious drinking problem mostly due to the death of his son. When he pretended to be in rehab for one of his scams, he actually went into withdrawal.
- Con-woman Sophie is also an actress with an odd quirk. While she can act very well in the scams the team pulls off, she is a horrible actress on stage.
- Retrieval expert Eliot hates guns and prefers to take out enemies with his hands. He has shown some serious skill, even taking out several guards before a dropped bag hit the ground.
- Parker is a slightly insane thief who is thrilled with taking any risk. Her father was abusive towards her so she blew up her house with him inside. She has poor social skills and can’t talk to people very well.
- Computer specialist Alec Hardison is a genius and self-proclaimed geek. He can hack just about anything and in one episode he was able to pose as a lawyer and actually win a case.
- Hardison has a crush on Parker.
- Nate and Sophie have obvious unresolved feelings towards one another and appear to have had a relationship in the past.
Why Should I Watch It?:
- The show quickly became one of my five favorite shows on television. It has a great mix of action, drama, and comedy and is very addicting.
- The cast is excellent and the characters are well-developed. All five of the series regulars could easily carry a show on their own.
- This is one of the few shows on television that feels fresh and is actually somewhat original.
Why Shouldn’t I Watch It?:
- There is no excuse to give this show a chance. Unless you don’t want to root for main characters who are glorified thieves, there is a very good chance you’ll love this show.
Can I watch it if I didn’t watch the show from the beginning?: Probably. This show is a lot more serialized than most cable shows but if you read through this article you should have most of the basic knowledge you need to enjoy the show. Even if you start with season two, you should definitely go back to season one eventually since all thirteen episodes are phenomenal.
How Can I Catch Up on “Leverage?”: Episodes are available for download on Amazon.com (HD episodes) and 
for a small fee. You can also pick up season one on DVD.
Where did you get the $32 million for the first job? The checks were never shown, and all that’s ever been said was that it was a “multi-million dollar” pay off.
Parker…first name unknown? Parker is a more common first name than last. Truth is, we don’t know which (first or last) name it is for her. Also, that wasn’t her parents/dad she blew up, that was one of her foster families/dads.
The $32 million came from Wikipedia. I didn’t remember how much it was so I took their word for it. I’m guessing they are probably wrong so I have removed that reference.
As for Parker’s name, I believe that was part of the initial character description for her but just to be safe I also took that out. I do think that was her actual dad that she blew up though. The show didn’t really make it clear but I think it makes more sense that it was her real dad.
Thanks for all your help.
Mort
I think it was John Rogers himself (trying to find the article link now) who said it was one of Parker’s foster dad’s that she blew up.
A-HA!
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/03/20/writer_producer_john_rogers_talks_about_
11th paragraph down.
Well…it could possibly be another family member (”the system” usually does look for family first, before shipping kids off into foster families), since they don’t specifically state it was a foster father…but it definitely wasn’t her dad.
Hopefully in Season 2, we’ll get more background on her - and the rest of the gang.
*waiting anxiously*
Though even the writers confused themselves on the amount of the first job. LOL First Eliot asks Parker, “A million dollars and you didn’t spend any of it?” Parker replies she doesn’t like stuff, just money…then Parker and Sophie ask him what he did with his share, and he tells them he’s not going to tell 2 known thieves what he did with a multi-million dollar pay-off. Obviously, it WAS more than just a million. We do see Parker pulling her check out…so maybe the amount will be clear on the DVDs…I hope. They’ve always had me curious to the specific amount, since Hardison’s comment about “This is ‘buy and island and go legit’ money”. LOL
This is a really late comment but I came across this and I was *just* rewatching the Leverage pilot ep and *just* paused the show to check what the exact figure was on the cheques they got - and it’s $32,761,349. Saw it on Parker’s cheque! Crazy load of money.
Thanks I would really appreciate any help I can get