- Title: Leverage – The First Season
- tv.com: link
Grifter. Hacker. Hitter. Thief. Four thieves agree to work under direction of an honest man helping those who can’t help themselves. As the show’s tagline states “sometimes the bad guys make the best good guys.”
Insurance investigator Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton) and four thieves are brought together by an unscrupulous executive (Saul Rubinek) who planned to use them for his own ends. After turning the tables and completing their mission, the team begin to work together as modern day Robin Hoods by going after those who have been taken advantage of by the system and those in power.
The first season’s episodes include a corrupt Congressman (Robert Pine) and a private security firm laundering money out of Iraq, taking down a mobster (Dan Lauria) at his daughter’s wedding, a family of unscrupulous contractors (Sam Anderson, Jonathan Chase, Danny Strong), trying to prevent a murder on a plane, the team stealing a jury and faking a miracle, Elliot’s (Christian Kane) attempt to help the girl who got away (Jaime Ray Newman), putting an end to an Eastern European adoption scam, finding themselves trapped in the middle of a bank robbery, and taking on Nate’s former boss (Kevin Tighe) with the help of Nate’s ex-wife (Kari Matchett) by stealing what he prizes above all else.
The first season sets up several of the show’s relationships including the flirtations between Nate and Sophie (Gina Bellman), the friendship of Elliot and Hardison (Aldis Hodge), and the first glimmer of a possible relationship down the line for Hardison and Parker (Beth Riesgraf). Several of the show’s recurring characters including Sterling (Mark Sheppard) and FBI Agents Taggert (Rick Overton) and McSweeten (Gerald Downey) also make their initial appearances on the show.
The extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, featurettes on the stunt and camera work of the series, deleted scenes, a Leverage spoof with Beth Riesgraf, a look at the cast getting the news that the show has been renewed for a second season. Also included is commentary for each episode from including series creator Dean Devlin, writer/director John Rogers, director Jonathan Frakes, director Rod Hardy, director Craig R. Baxley, director Marc Roskin, writer Amy Berg, writer Chris Downey, writer Rebecca Kirsch, writer Melissa Glenn, writer Jessica Rieder, writer Albert Kim, and others.
Fans of con artists and shows that enjoy throwing in a twist or three per episode should definitely give this first season collection a look. The characters are what really move the show along, but the cons and the inventiveness in scripts from episode to episode are usually very entertaining as well.