Day Three Hundred and Twenty-one - Leverage: Season 1, Episode 4, "Preachy Miracle Blues"

You know, I want to love Leverage... the problem is, several episodes in, I think I'm only ever going to be in "like mode" with the series.

It has a hippish jazz soundtrack that heavily features the bass line, is very much in tune with the "punish the corporate overloads" zeitgeist of income disparity America, and manages to pull off most of its capers (at least the ones we've seen for far) in forty minutes of "To Catch A Thief" theatrics. There's just the right amount of intra-team rivalries and friendships, none of the bad guys are ever all that sympathetic, and there's a soft wit that pervades but doesn't overpower... but therein lie some of Leverage's weaknesses.

Take this episode, for example. Billed as a personal job for an old friend of Nate's, The Miracle Job is about trying to scam a manic real estate developer into giving up his plans to first tear down a church... and then stop him from turning the "miracle" they used to scare him off into a religious themed amusement park which is just so off the scales ridiculous, that the episode loses me right there.

I mean, seriously, it felt like I was watching an updated version of The A-Team what with all of its melodramatic villains and corny solutions... and, in a way, Leverage is just that, only transplanted into the modern day and without the US Army making a bumbling chase in the background.

Not that I don't mind seeing DB Sweeney make a guest appearance as the priest, but I've seen him in too many roguish roles to take him seriously as a man of the cloth (rather like how Ray Wise can never do the same in Psyche, as hard as he tries).

There are a few good points to the episode, though... early on, when Nate visits his preacher friend in the hospital, there's an intercom announcement in the background that is a nice, subdued reference to his son dying previous to the series. Also, there's finally a direct mention of the tension between Nate and Sophie, which anyone can see in just about every episode, considering how much they try and emphasize the chemistry.

Still, despite its occasional strengths, Leverage is just an "alright" series, never burgeoning on genius or compelling. It's the kind of show that you can easily have on in the background and never really care about. Sure, it's fun... but ultimately, it's just generic and sterile and, well, empty. It's not bad, but it will never be great, I think.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Thirteen - Leverage: Pilot, "It Takes A Thief Meets the A-Team... Week to Week."

I've been on a pilot kick recently, for two reasons: first, with NaNoWriMo eating up the majority of my time, I really don't have time for movies, and second, instead of just going down the list of one particular series, I want to give the blog a variety of different programs. Granted, so far, it seems to be either Anime or Adventure series, but still... due diligence. I'll try and slide in a few documentary or reality shows this coming week, but today it's another modern actioner... Leverage.

Part of TNT's lineup of feel good action-dramas, Leverage rides the fine line between black hats and vigilante justice as a former insurance investigator rounds up half a dozen of his former adversaries to take down corrupt individuals and corporations who have beaten down regular folk like us. Like the A-Team, Mission:Impossible, and It Takes a Thief, each weekly episode covers a confidence job set to balance the scales between the evil takers and the little folk they've wronged through the use of the specialist skills of each team member, be they cat burglars, grifters, hackers, etc..

In this first episode, the team is assembled at the behest of a supposedly wronged aerospace engineer who convinces team leader Nate (Timothy Hutton) to take down a high profile competitor by making it personal. I say "supposedly" because, after the job is done, the engineer double-crosses them... revealing that he was the corrupt big bad all along.

I do like the series, for several reasons.

First of all, as evidenced in this and every other episode, Leverage plays for the little guy. It's a feel good show that feeds on my innate desire stick it to the man through superior mental skills. A very "nyah, nyah, we got you" sort of juvenile fantasy.

Second, it definitely banks on its cool factor. Whether it's the hip jazz soundtrack or the very Ocean's Eleven mentality when it comes to cinematography and pacing, Leverage keeps its quirky stable of characters amped with style and likability. You don't just want them to succeed, you want to watch them exude that certain je ne sais quoi as they go from first act setup to second act false finish to third act "we had you all along." It's very formulaic and predictable, but fun... all to smokey club tunes that sit well with an Old Fashioned.

Finally, I like how its packaged. Like other episodic adventures that were mentioned previously, its a bite-sized adventure that gives you a gamut of emotions over the course of the forty to fifty minutes or so of content. There's mild tension where necessary and satisfying comeuppance in the climax and falling action when the tricks and misdirects are revealed. Sure, it's beyond predictable, but that's sort of pleasing in its own way.

If you're into these sorts of episodic, feel good actioners, Leverage definitely works. The pilot here establishes everyone in a balanced fashion and gives you a satisfying series of twists and turns. Worth watching for groundbreaking content? Probably not, but it is the kind of series that is easy to have on in the background, good for its palliative effects after a long day of being ground down by the system.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~