TNT | 584 mins | Not Rated
Created by John Rogers and Chris Downey, Leverage follows a team of Los Angeles based thieves, computer experts and con-artists. They are led by former insurance investigator Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton) and use their skills to right corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on common citizens. Early on, we learn that Nate has a very personal reason for leading this crusade. A former fraud investigator for IYS insurance, the company refused to pay for experimental treatment for his son, which led to the young boy’s death. Distraught, Nate turned to alcohol, which eventually cost him his job and his marriage.
While visiting Chicago, Ford is approached by a man named Victor Dubenich (Sam Rubinek), who wants to hire Nate to steal back stolen research from a rival corporation–a corporation insured by the same company that Nate once worked for. Unable to resist the offer, Nate recruits the very best to help him out. He assembles the thieves and grifters he’s spent his whole life chasing. Parker (Beth Riesgraf) is a thief, cat-burglar, and explosives expert; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) a computer/Internet specialist and hacker and “recovery specialist,” skilled martial artist and weapons expert Elliot Spencer. The team has little difficulty stealing the research and destroying the computer copies but once the job is done, they quickly learn they’ve been double-crossed and Nate decides it time to get even.
At that point, he brings in one final team member. Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) is an actress and an expert con-woman. Nathan calls her “the best actress you’ve ever seen…when she’s breaking the law”–when she tries legitimate acting work like theater or commercials, she is absolutely terrible. When they finish getting their revenge on Victor, the team decides to continue their work seeking justice fir the little guy.
Anyone who grew up watching The A-Team might think of Leverage as a modern, flashier version of that series (minus Mr. T.). Each episode has Nate and his team at the center of a new con; they pretend to be everything from priests to caterers at a mob wedding to help those that are unable to use the legal to seek justice.
Watching the same group of people pull a con week after week is a premise that could get old pretty quickly. However, similar to the A-Team all those years ago, the producers have made the members of Leverage Consulting & Associates (the team’s moniker after the first episode), relatable. She may be a master thief but Parker always manages to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, Elliott has a tendency to lash out and punch things when he gets frustrated. Alec is the nerd that tends to fade into the background and Sophie is still nursing dreams of becoming a legitimate actress. Nate is like a lost puppy; still heartbroken over the loss of his sin and struggling with alcoholism, you want to make it right for him but just can’t. As a group, these actors have an undeniable chemistry that makes them a joy to watch.
The first thirteen episodes of season one show a lot of promise; however, if Leverage is to become a long running series there are a couple of things that will likely need to be addressed: be careful not to let the characters interesting quirks turn into meaningless shtick and the writers are going to have to work hard to come up with new cons each week. The minute the show starts recycling old plots, the audience will turn away in droves.
Leverage isn’t one of the greatest shows to ever grace of a television screen but Timothy Hutton and the rest of the cast have certainly provided audiences with an interesting and entertaining experience during the first season. It will be interesting to see whether the cast and crew can maintain the momentum in the second season.
The series is shot in high-definition, which means that even though the set is delivered on standard DVD, the image quality is still very impressive. The colors are bright with almost no over saturation and there are no visual distractions to speak of.
The four disc set is offered with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and it is more than adequate. The soundfield is well spread out with a focus for dialogue on the center channel. The music track is comprised mostly of low bass notes that do well through the subwoofer and the myriad of explosions are even more emphatic.
Leverage: The First Season has the following special features:
• Audio Commentaries: Each episode also has an audio commentary track featuring some of the people behind the show (usually Dean Devlin, Chris Downey, and John Rogers as well as writers and directors). The tracks are informative and it’s clear that everyone involved loves the show.
• Leverage: Behind the Scenes (12:39) Largely presented by producer Dean Devlin, this featurette offers viewers a backstage look at the series. We get the requisite interviews with cast and crew and a look at the process of making each episode.
• Anatomy of a Stunt Fight (3:23) Christian Kane takes viewers through his four stage fight sequence from the season finale.
• The Cameras of Leverage (2:07) This is basically a music video for the two cameras used during filming of the first season: Red Digital Camera: Red One, and a Sony XDCAM PMW EX-1. Oddly enough there’s no information given at all about the cameras.
• Leverage Gets Renewed (2:50) A get together of the cast of the show when they find out that they have been renewed for a second season.
• Beth Riesgraf’s Crazy Actress Spoof (5:00) The actress who plays Parker does a spoof of her herself meeting with the writing team to go over her proposed changes to the character for the 2nd season of the show.
• Deleted Scenes: Each disc contains some deleted scenes from the respective episodes.
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