Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton) is a former insurance fraud investigator, who had a talent for retrieving stolen art for his company. When the company refused to pay for experimental treatment that might have saved his son’s life, Nate turned to alcohol, which eventually cost him his job and his marriage. Utterly lost, Nate received an unexpected job opportunity: steal back stolen research from a rival corporation–a corporation insured by the same company that Nate once worked for. Putting together a group of top flight thieves, it becomes his mission to target the rich and powerful who have used their position to hurt innocent people and hide behind the law.
The thieves and grafters consist of Parker (Beth Riesgraf), a thief, cat-burglar, and explosives expert; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) a computer/Internet specialist and hacker and “recovery specialist,” skilled martial artist; weapons expert Elliot Spencer, and Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a would-be actress who is horrible on stage, but once she’s involved in a con, becomes the greatest grifter in the world.
At the end of last season, Nate found himself arrested and carted off to jail. As the third season opens, Nate is still locked up. Though his team members have an escape plan, he steadfastly refuses. Nate knows he’s done wrong, and must pay the price. In jail, he learns that the warden and a group of judges are working together to lock up those convicted of minor crimes for long periods. When a new friend is targeted for assassination, Nate allows the team to help him escape. Once out, he’s able to expose the warden, and have his new friends case reconsidered.
With Nate a wanted man, the team is preparing to leave the country when they are approached by a European woman. She pulls Nate aside, and informs him that the entire jail episode was a test. She has an important job for the team: take down an international crook Damien Moreau (Goran Visnjic), who deals in trades in illegal goods. Moreau’s power is so great, that no country has been able to touch him. In return for taking the job, the mysterious lady will make sure the police don’t bother Nate about the prison escape for six months. If, in that time, he manages to take out Moreau, he’ll be free. If not, he’ll go back to jail and the rest of his crew will have fatal ‘accidents.’ While Nate decides they’ll continue working as usual, he also picks cases that will allow them to get as close to Damien Moreau as possible.
The Moreau case marks the first time that Leverage had an overreaching theme. While in theory, it’s a great idea for the team to have a case ‘hanging over their heads’ as they deal with other things, the case is actually forgotten about a bit too much. Besides, the idea that this mysterious woman would appear out of nowhere and threaten them is a bit ludicrous. Nonetheless, the Moreau subplot is a good one. He will be back in season four.
The third season contains sixteen episodes, and the writers don’t seem to be getting stale. Happily, the characters are still evolving, and we continue to learn more about them as episodes pass. We slow learn about the team member’s pasts, without any of it having to dominate significant time. This approach allows the action, one of the series’ best assets, to stay front and center.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 image looks solid. The colors are bright and inky. The level of detail is nice, though it won’t be mistaken for HD. There is some minor aliasing, mainly in the background, but that’s the only digital defect worth noting.
The series is equipped with a Dolby Digital 5.1 English soundtrack. The infrequent explosions and gun fights make use of the entire soundstage putting. The rest of the time, the track does a good job of bringing incidental sounds to various corners of the room.
Every one of the episodes comes with a commentary track from several participants, including creators Dean Devlin and John Rogers (the latter of whom is present on every track), stars Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf, director Jonathan Frakes and new writers John Aboud and Michael Colton. The tracks can be fun, but overcrowded—there are often too many voices speaking at once, and potentially good information are drowned out. Additionally, there’s a collection of decent featurettes covering different aspects of the show’s production: the first, “On Set with Michael Colton and John Aboud,” profiles the new writers. The pair are responsible for some of the seasons, lighter offerings (including “The Reunion Job,” one of Season Three’s best).
