Nathan: My job is helping people. I find bad guys.
Sophie: Well go find some bad guys. Bad guys have money. Black King. White Knight.

As Nathan Ford sits in an empty lounge waiting for a flight, self-medicating from his stash of mini bottles, he’s approached by Victor Dubenich (Saul Rubinek) with a job. Victor knows quite a bit about Nathan.

Victor runs development at Bering Aerospace and claims five years of development on a new short haul domestic airliner have been stolen by his rival at Pierson Aviation. He’s hired three thieves and needs “one honest man” to take charge of them. Nathan only agrees when Victor tells him Pierson is insured by his old company. This job isn’t just about money: it’s about revenge.

What Nathan doesn’t see is that Victor’s a stone-cold bastard.

The team of thieves is unstable and requires the steady hand of Nathan to keep it from blowing apart. Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, and Parker are all thieves Nathan had tracked in his former life and each is a lone wolf with some issues. He manages to corral the cats long enough to steal Victor’s plans from the Pierson computers – in a set piece to rival many movies – and get out. Until the next day, when Victor tells him the plans never arrived.

The team meets at an abandoned Bering facility because they were never paid. After a bit of squabbling, they realize they’ve been setup by Victor and run for the exit, but not quickly enough. Nice practical EFX here, blowing the building up in a nice, meaty explosion, knocking our heroes out. When they come to, they’re in adjoining rooms in a local hospital, handcuffed.

Nathan, as always a step ahead, knows the strengths of each of his team and manages to get them all out. That’s when the fun begins. They could run, but far better to exact revenge on Victor.

Realizing Victor’s running scared, Nathan figures they can take advantage of that and run a game on him. He convinces the others to help him run a con on Victor by appealing to their unique natures. To Eliot, he promises “payback. And if it goes right, a lot of money.” To Parker: “A lot of money. And if it goes right, payback.” Hardison’s the easy sell. He enjoys this stuff.

With one more addition to the team – bad actress but great grifter Sophie Devereaux – they’re set. They use Victor’s arrogance and overconfidence against him, running a scam with *Nigerians*. It’s a clever game, where they let Victor see only as much of it as they need him to in order to think he’s the one in charge. Real Nigerians, slight-of-hand, and an oversold scheme take Victor for everything. The plans are returned to Pierson free of charge and the heroes walk off with buy-an-island money thanks to Hardison’s skill playing the market when Bering’s stock goes into freefall.

But while the money may be retirement money, but these are thieves, people who thrive on the adrenaline rush of the job. They can’t very well walk away. They also can’t walk away from the team. Each of them realizes how much better they were together. So they convince Nathan to stay. He can pick he jobs, he can run the team, they can rob from the rich and…well maybe not *give* to the poor, but help out the downtrodden.

For a premise pilot, writers John Rogers and Chris Downey get all the players in place quickly. Other than Sophie, the team is assembled, and their personalities painted in broad strokes by the 6:30 mark. Eshewing heavy character exposition, additional texture is provided through dialog – the value Parker places on money over revenge, or how Eliot is the one to try talking to Nathan about his son. For a plot-heavy show, there’s some really subtle character work here from all parties.

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R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at Sketch War, his personal blog, Tumblr, and stalked on Twitter.

Tags: electric entertainment, tnt

posted by R.A. Porter in → Reviews