Leverage: The 1st Season (2009, Paramount)
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Not since the late ’60s Robert Wagner series, It Takes a Thief, has a television show about thieves been so much fun. Combining elements from that great show and the very successful Ocean’s Eleven films, TNT’s Leverage has all of the makings of a long running show. The first season has just been released on DVD, and I highly recommend it as a good way to sit back and be thoroughly entertained.

After years of sub-par movies and tiny supporting roles, Timothy Hutton landed a role that does his talent proud. He stars as Nate Ford, a former insurance fraud investigator whose son died while he stood helpless as doctors tried to save the boy. Denied the right to a lifesaving procedure by the insurance company he works for, Nate is bitter, divorced, and has turned to the bottle to help him get through his pain. Nate gets lured into overseeing an operation to recover stolen plans for a devious corporate executive (guest star Saul Rubinek). He agrees to manage a three-person team of thieves: Eliot Spence (Christian Kane) a highly skilled fighter and weapons expert; Parker (Beth Riesgarf) an expert thief; and Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) a computer whiz and expert hacker. After successfully completing their mission, the team is double crossed and nearly killed. Nate puts together a plan for their subsequent retaliation. He brings into the fold a fourth member, lovely grifter Sophie (Gina Bellman) with whom he has a complicated relationship dating back to his days in te insurance business. After completing this revenge mission and making enough money to retire, Nate convinces his group of con artists that they could actually go on doing what they did, but helping people who have been ripped off by greedy corporations or all around nasty people.

Leverage has a winning formula for success. Each episode has its own standalone story: The Leverage team finds some unlucky soul and helps them out of a jam. At the same time, each episode continues the arc of Nate’s story. Will he get revenge on his old bosses? Will the team get caught by his old rival, James Sterling (Mark A. Sheppard)? Plus there are romantic overtures between Nate and Sophie and Hardison and Parker that add sparks. (more…)