Leverage Review: Bring on the Cheese!
Nate and the team had their hands full when tasked with bringing down a man who pulls the strings from the shadows to hurt good people in "The 15 Minutes Job."
If you have ever asked, “What would Nate Ford be like if he used his powers for evil instead of good?, you got the answer in the form of Reed Rockwell, professional career assassin. When Hardison, Parker, and Eliot went through the details about who Rockwell was, we were set up to really hate him.
He had his own team, his strong guy dressed a lot like Eliot, and he had all the makings of a great bad guy. I even wondered if we might be meeting this year’s recurring villain when the episode opened.
Sadly, a good concept was all the character had, as he turned out be boring and one dimensional in delivery. Even if I forgive the writers for dropping the ball on Rockwell, I'm hard-pressed to forget the amount of “Gee, Scooby, let’s get back to the Mystery Machine” attitude that was used. In fact, there are three scenes that were so cheesy that they almost made me lactose intolerant.
The first was when Eliot was pretending to mug Parker and Rockwell walked by without a word. Parker and Eliot were shocked to find a woman standing there whacking Eliot with her umbrella in the arm. When this was written, I'm sure it was hilarious; I just wish it had been a bit more dairy-free on screen.
The second was the very next scene: we got to see Sophie chasing a runaway baby stroller, as she stopped to gawk at Rockwell for not helping and the stroller was presumably crushed by a car. She then looked the direction the stroller went, only to shrug it off like she couldn’t be bothered.
Lastly (but the most offensive) took place when Hardison and Parker went to the police archive to retrieve the film negatives. From the records keeper not hearing Parker right behind her (multiple times) to Hardison coughing to cover Parker rattling a file cabinet, this scene should have come with crackers or wine.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the cheesy goodness when used as small tidbits to move the story along throughout an episode; but, the thing I enjoy most about the show is how clever the team is. I look forward to seeing this revealed each week at the end of the episode when we get the breakdown of how they pulled off the job.
Granted, this installment was better than last week, resulting in the Leverage equivalent of a Twinkie: sweet and entertaining, yet no nutritional value whatsoever. But, like all Twinkie devourers, we keep coming back for more!
Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.
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Rank: Regular Character
July 16th, 2011 9:13 PM
Pardison! I liked that the con was harder and more complicated than normal but the quality wasn't up to par. Mysterious/Bad Guy!
Rank: Regular Character
July 12th, 2011 10:10 PM
I LOVE this show. I love the characters and how they interact. I smile from the time the show comes on to the time it ends and then I usually find myself watching the same episode multiple times and still enjoying it as if it were the first time I've seen it. I love that it's so fun and different then the usual dark cop drama type of stuff (which I also happen to be a huge fan of but Leverage is a nice reprieve).
All that being said, I've been kinda disappointed with this season so far. I kept hearing (and at first bought into) the hype that this was their best season yet. So far I just haven't really seen it. I enjoyed the premiere.It left me a tad confused at times, but I enjoyed it for what it was, despite it being light on the humor. The second episode I literally fell asleep on and this one was better than the last two but still not nearly as good as any of the episodes in the previous three seasons.
I love that they are giving Parker and Eliot more scenes together, because
Rank: Guest Star
July 11th, 2011 11:58 PM
The problem with this show, and particularly this episode, is that the writers think we care more than we do about Nate's problems. Every episode now, Sophie is pushing Nate's struggle's down our throats and I couldn't care less.
July 11th, 2011 12:33 PM
It's true the series has gotten away from the usual darker side of taking care of bad guys. On the other hand, it's nice to see a lighter, humorous side before they go into the darkness again. I miss seeing Eliot fighting - Christian Kane with fists and hair swinging is always a pleasure to watch. I'm going to be honest and say I haven't enjoyed the last 2 shows as much as the last 2 seasons but, I still love the show and the characters and even the "cheesy" humor. I had to grin at the Hardison-Kane-Parker interchanges about Star Trek-Star Wars and CGI Yoda. That's the brother-sister stuff we love!
July 11th, 2011 9:22 AM
I like Leverage. I "loved" the Nero Wolf series co-produced by Timothy Hutton so I'm already a fan of his, but the thing I really enjoy about Leverage are the characters and their personalities. A great mix! I laugh at their antics and enjoy watching how they (Nate) figure out how they're gonna foil the "bad guy" at his own game and how it all plays out. To me this is a different twist than is seen is most of the "law and order" type productions out today, a refreshing change of pace, different, clever and entertaining!