Leverage: “The Bank Shot Job”
30 December 2008
by R.A. Porter
Ai-ight. That’s more like it. At this point, I’m wondering whether Rogers, Downey, and Devlin have a mind probing satellite in geosynchronous orbit. A satellite tuned to my brain waves so they can put a show on the air specifically tailored to my tastes. Because this one? This one was exactly up my alley.
Here’s my checklist:
- Twists that feel organic.1
- Massive geekery from Hardison.
- Sophie doing an accent that sounded *unlike* her own accent.
- Timothy Hutton in a cowboy hat.2
- The team acting like a *team*.
- Eliot getting in at least one good one-liner before kicking someone’s ass.
- Parker being Parker.
- Hardison being Hardison.
Add to that a fantastic scene-chewing turn from HITG Michael O’Neill and you’ve got a near-perfect hour of television.
Look, I’m not going to try to convince you this is important or meaningful; it’s not. I’ve been rewatching The West Wing, and even the weaker years still have spine tingling moments that a show like Leverage is never going to achieve. But you know what? It’s not TWW. It’s not FNL. It’s an hour of light action that aims squarely for entertainment and hits its mark far more than it misses it.
The original rip deal the team was pulling on Judge Roy doesn’t seem very well thought out, as I’m pretty sure he would have gone gunning for Nate when he realized he’d been scammed, but that’s a small complaint about an otherwise excellent episode. Each thread, neatly tied in a bow by the end, where even the Feds who came into town aren’t going to be overly concerned about what happened because they’re getting a big drug bust.
Some other thoughts:
- I really enjoyed the crosstalk between Eliot and Deputy Arnold as Eliot’s talking with Nate over the wireless and Deputy Dawg’s being all officious.
- Parker and Hardison showing up in the product placement Hyundai when they returned in FBI windbreakers.
- Hardison’s pack of Chupacabras.
- “Old Virgil up there, he’s a crack shot.”
- Deputy Dawg following SOP he learned from his online seminar in crisis management.
- Boss Hog!
What did everyone else think?
- Remember the rules of drama: ending with a deus ex machina is cheap, but any setup is allowed. [↩]
- I think it’s the stark contrast with the clean cut, WASP-y roles of his youth that makes me appreciate that. [↩]
Tags: electric entertainment, tnt
posted by R.A. Porter in → Reviews
December 31st, 2008 at 2:26 am
I happened to catch this episode and it was good, but so far, the show hasn't really captured my attention…not like Burn Notice even did.
Not sure what it is, but maybe it's unrealistic with the way they can do EVERYTHING, or maybe it's the ease of which they help people. I know BN is like that, but these guys are thieves and stuff, and suddenly they are a booming business. It all seemed too nice and neat.
On a side note, interesting that you are rewatching TWW…not sure if me mentioning that got you into it or not, but I'm on the first disc of season three right now, been watching it straight through myself. It's still amazingly good to this day.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:37 am
It wasn't you, it was the Amazon Gold Box special! We *finally* bought TWW a couple months back when it was crazy cheap. We're close to the end of season six right now and it's basically all new to us. I was vaguely aware of what was going on the last few seasons, but neither of us watched much past season four. It's pretty exciting.
As for Leverage, I think it either hits your sweet spot or misses. For me, this is like distilled The A-Team and Mission: Impossible and it's like mainlining the coolness of youth. Besides, I don't think you can say it's too easy for them to do things when Nate got shot.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:48 am
Yeah, true, but he did get shot in a job they hadn't planned on taking place
We didn't watch the last few seasons of TWW either, mostly because Sorkin left. But I did see the final few episodes if I recall.
January 1st, 2009 at 8:32 am
We love TWW at our house too. Burn Notice is also a favorite, especially with the junior partner. And we all agree that Leverage is right up there in terms of being enjoyable entertainment. The Bank Job just might be the best episode yet.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Two things:
1) I just returned from a holiday vacation and finally watched this ep. Very good stuff… even tho I was tired and probably missed a lot of the smaller bits and clever nuances. I hope they re-air it or do a Leverage marathon at some point as the show keeps improving with each episode.
2) Can we please stop with the acronyms for TV shows? What is HIGT and TWW? I get obvious (recent) ones like FNL, but I'm lost over figuring out others, especially if you’re referring to an older show.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Oops! Didn't see the actual first mention of The West Wing. Blame the jet lag.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:01 am
LOL! Sorry about that. TWW is The West Wing.
As for HITG, that's not a show, it's an acronym for "Hey! It's that guy!" Back in the day, Fametracker used to do a regular feature on character actors like O'Neill who show up all over the place and have solid careers. Some of us still fondly recall and use the acronym.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:18 am
This is the episode that got me fully hooked on the show. I will admit to watching it 4 times last week, when there was nothing else on at 1am-2am-4am and I was still up. Don't ask.
top moments:
Eliot breaking out the "Boss Hog" reference after Hardison broke out the "Sheriff Coltrane" reference
Hardison: "You're adorable."
Hardison running down a scary long list of demands that he couldn't possibly have been given in that short a phone call, and everyone scrambling to find something to write on when he asked "No one's writing this down? Seriously?"