Leverage Review: Mockumentary Meets Mischief

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One thing I can say about "The Office Job" is that it set a new standard for Leverage team member, as they worked a caper into the format and style of the highly successful sitcom.

As a Leverage story went, this one was mildly entertaining and enjoyably quirky. Peter Stormare as Gunter the German filmmaker was a lot of fun. Nate pulling him into the caper and using him to help reveal the true villain was creative and would not have worked on many jobs they do.

As I don’t watch The Office, I'm betting many of the workers that Nate and his team met were similar to those in the namesake show. Additionally, I wasn’t sure what to make of the “confession” shots where they sat down with one team member and had them talk to the camera. While it did generate one of the funniest quotes this week, it did slow down the action each time we cut to it. 

Making Like The Office

These scenes likely work well in a sitcom, but in an action show like this it’s a bit tougher. Then again, I might be blurring the lines between the use of the confessions and Nate and Sophie’s passive aggressive antics this episode. Those two being snarky with each other really pulled me out of the story and I was thrilled at the end when they seem to make up.

I did, however, enjoy that the CEO turned out to be a hapless patsy and not the real bad guy. This was a surprise, as usually Hardison has good evidence to support the team going after someone before they actually do so. 

Who knew that Eliot was such the cook? The sandwich he described made me hungry enough that I had to get a snack! And bravo to Hardison for being brave enough to eat Eliot’s sandwich. Then again, does anyone really make a sandwich to eat “later” if you’re not packing a lunch? While I don’t support work-place grazing, I can see how Hardison might have gone trolling for a snack given Eliot's skills. 

I wasn’t surprise that there was no mention of Conrad this week. We have seen this pattern before where an episode seems to stand on its own and doesn’t play into the larger storyline. I’m guessing that we will see more of Conrad next year. 

Overall, it was a good Leverage episode and appeared to be even be a decent The Office episode. If you saw references or jokes that I missed in regards to the latter, please comment below and share them!

The Office Job Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 (50 Votes)

Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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Leverage Season 4 Episode 12 Quotes

Hardison: High-five for morale.
Eliot: [raises hand]
Hardison: Gimme my damn soda! [grabs soda]

Nobody throws Hardison off a roof... except maybe me.

Eliot