Comments on: TV Series Review: Leverage – Season 1

By: Kivitasku

Kivitasku — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:24:55 +0000

There’s nothing wrong with having a show with a focus away from character development, and in any case Leverage does have some, which just happens slowly and isn’t all that profound. In an episodic show focused on the gig-of-the-week you don’t usually even want the characters to change too much.

I like character development, but I also enjoy cop shows like Law & Order which have none of it, and the way I can just drop in at any time, miss as many episodes as I like, and still be entertained and not feel lost. One of these shows had a bit of an arch when one of the main characters had cancer and I just thought it a pointless distraction; I wasn’t watching the show for the characters!

Leverage is not like that, just like The Mentalist wasn’t – it seems the case shows built around a concept or quirk tend to be a little more character-oriented. And that’s cool.

I’m not expecting the characters to always act in a moral way, but I kind of want to re-watch the first series to pay more attention to what the writers are saying with their set-ups. I’ve been watching the second season and the commentary on the economic crisis and infotainment have been so pointed that it’s kind of throwing me.

By: lilacsigil

lilacsigil — Wed, 12 May 2010 02:40:31 +0000

I adore this show, and I will choose to read “character development is subtle at best” to mean “and that’s deftly done”. I love the way that we almost never have to have Very Special [Character] Episodes, but learn so much from offhand comments and reaction shots. This is a show that is (rightfully) confident in its cast.

I agree that the morality is a bit wobbly sometimes – the Serbian orphans episode, in particular – but I think the way the group reacts to and argues about what is right or wrong makes this usually a point of interest rather than problematic. Usually.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:31:45 +0000

It’s the trying to treat Nate and focussing on him instead of working on Hurley, who was her target and the whole reason for the therapist ploy in the first case, that I see as her endangering the job. The team must address Nate’s alcoholism, I agree, he is after all their decision maker and him being drunk on the job, as we frequently see him, is a risk for all of them. But it was the timing, during another job, when her thoughts should have been elsewhere, that makes me see Sophie’s behaviour as unprofessional and irresponsible here. Due to the set-up of her being the only one to freely move between the in- and outside world she was the only one who had control over all aspects of the operation, making her the one who could least afford to go off and crusade against something not directly related to the matter at hand.

As for the fixing people thing, no, I don’t think so either. But she likes shiny things, and she likes Nate, and making Nate shiny would make liking him so much better. If that makes sense.

By: Kivitasku

Kivitasku — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:32:49 +0000

To clarify: Sophie may have been irresponsible in pretending to be a therapist; like I said I didn’t notice her endangering the job. Nate was still the really dangerous one – he’s also the one who decides at the end of the episode to continue drinking and not seek help even though his alcoholism could potentially put all of them in danger.

By: Kivitasku

Kivitasku — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:27:57 +0000

Really?? That’s interesting, because I LOVE Sophie, and though she may have been irresponsible, she seemed to be doing as much good as the regular treatment (which is deeply flawed). Come to think of it, of course, she is not a professional nor responsible, being a thief. I didn’t notice her actually endangering the job, though. I may have to watch it again.

Also I don’t really think what she and Nate have is love so much as wanting-to-love, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for a TV show to acknowledge such subtleties. And I really doubt that Sophie goes around fixing people just to expand her dating pool. Oh well.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:11:15 +0000

Seeing as I lost my comment virginity, and actually do have an opinion on this one… ‘The 12-Step Job’. While I enjoyed that episode very much (I adored Parker in this one), I did not at all like Sophie. Yes, the story did give us more characterisation, but is was this episode that established my dislike for Sophie. Her behaviour was imo irresponsibly unprofessional. Instead of concentrating on the job and focussing on Hurley, or concentrating on the job and paying attention to all her ‘patients’, she used the convenient set-up to try and therapy Nate, ignoring and risking the success of the job. Her motivation for doing so aside (and I’m not sure it’s only his well-being she has at heart, but also at least partly a desire to ‘save’ him so he’ll stop being contrary and recognize/confess his love for her), that situation was neither the time nor the place, and a grifter of her calibre should not let her feelings get in the way of the job like that.