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Sometimes it feels like finding a decent one-hour television drama series that doesn’t revolve around the work and personal lives of doctors, lawyers, cops, or some combination of the three is about as likely as finding a reality show filled with well-adjusted, warm-hearted contestants. And yet they do exist (though I remain skeptical about the reality shows).
While it’s not as overplayed as the doctor/lawyer/cop formulas, the team of criminals as Robin Hood-style outlaws isn’t ground-breakingly original, either. Hollywood has already begun work on a big-screen remake of one of the genre’s prime examples, ‘80s classic The A-Team. As with that series, the greatest strength of TNT’s series, Leverage, are the strong ensemble cast and the complex scams they run.
Timothy Hutton anchors the ensemble as Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator who was driven into a bottle by the death of his son, after his own employers refused to pay for the boy’s treatments. When he finds himself at the head of a crew made up of his former quarries, he begins steering them to use their illicit skills to help average folks go up against powerful corporate and institutional interests. It was a wise choice to bring in a veteran actor for this role, easily the least flashy yet the most essential to keeping the series moving. I was also pleased with the subtle approach taken to Nate’s alcoholism. It doesn’t go unmentioned or ignored, but it never reaches after-school special levels of emotional exaggeration.
His team of brilliant—if a bit morally conflicted—oddballs includes Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a skilled actress whose talent only applies when she’s working a grift, Parker (Beth Riesgraf), a superb thief with no real social skills, Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the team’s muscle, and Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), the resident computer and electronics expert.
Each actor plays his or her role well, and part of the fun of the first season comes from watching the relationships develop between the characters. Parker’s social awkwardness comes off a bit forced and wonky in the first few episodes, but it begins to pay off toward the end of the season, especially under Sophie’s tutelage. In fact, some of the most inspired moments throughout the season involve various characters’ attempts to teach their specific skills to others who don’t naturally take to them.
With the likes of Bernie Madoff filling the evening news, it’s a good time for a show that paints business tycoons and their various corporate shenanigans as the primary opponents. Watching our team of “heroes” sink the fortunes and reputations of one rich crook after another carries an undeniable satisfaction, and the specifics of each con are well-illustrated enough to make figuring out the puzzle fun. The production team does an interesting job of blending fiction with old-school con artist know-how and scarily advanced technology. However, as the series progresses, it will need to stretch beyond the formula of find a victim, set up a con, face setbacks, and improvise a new con that will pull everything together. But hey, you’ve got to establish your rules before you can start breaking them, so it’s easily forgivable.
Of course, it won’t be long until the next crop of variations on the doctor/lawyer/cop template arrive. In the meantime, it’s refreshing to enjoy a change of pace like Leverage.
DVD Review:
The Leverage DVD set presents all 13 episodes of the first season with commentary tracks from the producers, writer, and director of each. It also includes a couple of making-of featurettes, including a brief interview with the show’s con man consultant, Apollo Robbins. I’d like to see more with him in the future, as he provides an interesting window into the subculture. There are also deleted scenes for several episodes, many featuring various ad libs from Hodge, whose improv skills bring an unexpected benefit.
