This Overlooked Series Perfected the Art of Daring Heists and Bold Gambits

The mid-2000s saw a dramatic shift in television. The rise of “prestige TV,” fostered by cable networks like FX and HBO, saw complex narratives led by morally gray characters like Walter White in Breaking Bad, Vic Mackey in The Shield, Don Draper in Mad Men, and the list goes on. Most of these shows were also high concept. Game of Thrones flipped the script on what people expected from fantasy, while Lost hooked viewers with an island full of mysteries. But not every TV show followed these edicts. One series, Leverage, went against every established rule of “Prestige TV” – and though it’s not as well remembered as these series, it still has its fans.

Leverage features Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton), an insurance investigator, who is devastated when his son succumbs to a terminal illness that could have been prevented if the company he’d worked for didn’t refuse experimental treatment. Nate joins a group of thieves consisting of genius hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), skilled fighter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), sophisticated grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), and antisocial thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf). The group conducts a series of heists, but only against those who take advantage of the innocent.

‘Leverage’ Was an Entertaining Watch Due to Its Structure & Cast Interactions

Image via TNT

Part of the fun of watching Leverage is seeing how Nate’s team pulls off their heists, and the show doesn’t disappoint on that front. An episode of Leverage usually begins with the team getting to know their mark. Then they apply their specialized skills. Toward the end of the episode, flashbacks reveal how everything fits together. It’s a structure often used in heist films, but in Leverage it is often executed hilariously. Take Season 3’s “The Rashomon Job.” True to the Akira Kurosawa film it’s named after, each member of Nate’s team recounts how they tried to steal a priceless artifact before they became a team. It’s funny, action-packed, and shows each character at their best.

Leverage has one of the most dynamic ensembles in television history. Hardison and Parker end up slowly developing a relationship. Though the dangerous nature of their job (and her slowly developing social skills) impedes things, they end up together. Sophie struggles with an identity crisis, as her true passion is acting, but her acting prowess is only great when pulling off a con. Spencer seeks to redeem himself after committing some dark acts in his past. Leverage was willing to let its characters grow in ways other shows wouldn’t, making it stand out.

The 10 Most Forgotten TV Dramas of the 2000s

OMG, how did we forget these Y2K gems??!

The Final Three Seasons of ‘Leverage’ Shook Up the Show

Keeping in line with the escalating nature of the heist genre, the final three seasons of Leverage raise the stakes for its crew. Season 3 sees Nate imprisoned and the team falling under the guidance of a mysterious woman called “The Italian” (Elisabetta Canalis), who blackmails them into taking down criminal bankroller Damien Moreau (Goran Višnjić). Season 4 would see them encountering Jack Latimer (Leon Rippy), who offers to hire them, but is working really for Victor Dubenich (Saul Rubinek), who Nate’s team took down in their first con together.

But Season 5 featured the biggest shakeup: Nate leaving the team after proposing to Sophie and placing Parker in charge. The series finale, “The Good Bye Job,” breaks from tradition by having Nate seemingly captured and having to recall his team dying. In reality, he tricked his old enemy/ally Jim Sterling (Mark Sheppard) into thinking his team was dead, getting access to a hard drive called “The Black Book.” It was the kind of con Leverage was built on, and it was only fitting for the series to end on the biggest caper yet.

The Legacy of ‘Leverage’ Continues in ‘Leverage: Redemption’

Leverage eventually continued in the new age of streaming television, thanks to Amazon’s Freevee channel. Leverage: Redemption follows Parker, Spencer, and Hardison as they reunite with Sophie after Nate’s death. Taking over Nate’s role as “The Mastermind,” Sophie leads the team in heists against the corrupt. Redemption once again shook things up with two new characters: Hardison’s foster sister Breanna (Aleyse Shannon), a genius hacker in her own right, and former corporate lawyer Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), who seeks redemption for his past.

Redemption manages to succeed where most revivals fail by keeping most of the cast intact and using the same mission statement. That’s due to producer Dean Devlin and creators John Rogers & Chris Downey having an active hand in the creative process. Devlin even had a specific vision in mind for Leverage:

I just wanted to do the type of show that I grew up with and loved. I missed Mission: Impossible and The Rockford Files. Television today tends to be more dry, dark and edgy. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s not the type of show I was interested in. So when TNT said they wanted to get a TV show out of me, I said I wanted to do a throwback type of show. I wanted to have fun. I don’t want to live in a dark world.

Even if Leverage didn’t enjoy the explosion in success that Breaking Bad or Mad Men did, Devlin deserves credit for sticking to his guns & turning out some great television.