Leverage – Keep your eye on the container

(Season 1, Episode 2 – “The Homecoming Job”)

As I said in my CliqueClack preview of Leverage earlier this month, I love this show, and the second episode played out so nicely. It may have not had the big bang of the premiere (although it was close!), but we learned more about the characters, and got to see the team reassemble, banter and play their scams.

It still had all the fun and games, cleverness and humor of the premiere, and an intriguing story to boot. I could literally have paused the DVR every 30 seconds to write down a new quote, Leverage is so well-written. After the break, I’ll analyze the hell out of this second — and awesome — episode.

Learning a little more about Sophie was such good fun. How can she be such a good con actress and such an amazingly horrible actress actress? Such an interesting dichotomy; she’s almost too creative to be penned in by a laundry soap ad.

I love the way they portray Eliot, the little man with the big … violent streak. Don’t be fooled, though; this guy’s got a heart, a code and honor, and he’s not two-dimensional. Some of the best quotes come from Eliot:

• “You ID’ed the guy off his knife fighting style?” — Hardison
  “Very distinctive style.” — Eliot
  (This is even funnier because earlier in the episode, he ID’ed a gun just from the sound of its shots.)
• “What I did before, nobody got hurt.” — Hardison
  “I stole paintings for a living.” — Sophie
  “I never hurt anybody.” — Parker
  “I actually hurt people, so ….” — Eliot

Or maybe the best quotes come from Hardison, the computer geek who, I need to point out, takes his blackness very seriously, or in stride, depending on how you look at it. Either way, we get some hilarious quotes about it:

• “The real piece de la resistance? DirecTV HD total sports package. NFL, NBA, and yeah, I threw in a little bit of hockey ’cause I know you people like that.” — Hardison
  “Hockey ….” — Eliot (the violent one, that’s why it’s funny)
• “OK, I see what this is. This is racial. This is about my ethniticity, isn’t it? It’s because I’m Jewish.” — Hardison (yes, he said “ethniticity,” which made it even funnier.)

The team needed a home base — and a back story — worthy of their mission, don’t you think? I’m loving the new digs, and the painting of Nate is priceless (Hardison painted it!), and fitting since he spent his share of the last heist setting up the offices. Oh, and buying a Tesla. And Parker, that wasn’t a mid-life crisis, because I’d take one too.

There were two clever missions during this episode: the cocktail party and the container. Both were spectacular. In the cocktail party scene, did you love how they steal the card from Charles, the Castleman guy? Slick. My favorite part, though, was how they got the voice sounds to open the safe:

• “Now all I need is -ef, -uh, and -cuh.” — Parker
  “It’s shrimp you stupid fu –!” — Charles, the Castleman guy
  “Oh! There they are. Really loud too.” — Parker

Now, the container mission — was that the best trick ever? It was totally believable, too; with all the commotion and emotions, no one would notice it was the container next door. They top it off by sending the webcam video of Congressman Jenkins and Charles the Castleman Guy to the press … busted! Oh, and we get another Hardison quote:

• “I’m sorry it was too far away for you to punch. I’m sure that really frustrates you. ” — Hardison to Eliot, after Eliot threw a rock to disable the webcam

Finally, we get some warm fuzzies, to top off the episode that has it all. When the team brings the money to Perry, it is really moving when Eliot shakes Perry’s hand and thanks him. He showed such respect, even reverence. It was a short bit, but so nicely done. And a warm fuzzy quote:

• “The world doesn’t work this way.” — doctor at the Veterans hospital, receiving the money from the team
  “So change the world.” — Nate

I can’t leave out the this-and-thats:

• Did you catch the subtle jab at Crocs, when Eliot is pretending he’s in Orthopedics and he looks in horror at the doctor’s Crocs? Perhaps someone needs to alert the good doc that “I Don’t Care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like a Dumbass” is 1.2 million strong.
• Eliot and Hardison took so much pleasure in canceling the mahogany wood panels Congressman Jenkins ordered.
• Nate and Hardison curl up in the conference room with beer and popcorn to watch Parker slipping pages into the bill on the floor of congress. C’mon; that’s fun.
• The banter between the team members is so natural, even thought they haven’t been together that long. Entertainment at its best.

So are you doing a little happy dance with me, knowing that we get to enjoy at least thirteen episodes of Leverage?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 09, 2008 @ 22:35 EST5EDT