Leverage (2008-2012)
It seems I haven't mentioned any movies or series I have watched in my earlier years. Most of what I have posted here is what I had watched recently or rewatched. But today I'm picking one of my favorite series from years ago. I'm not sure if many of you have seen or heard of Leverage (2008-2012). During my college years, I caught a glimpse of its trailer on TV a few times and I got curious. I had some knowledge of detective series and stuff but nothing like this. Let's take a look.
Leverage (2008-2012)
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My college days were fun in a different way. During my first year internet was as shitty as you can imagine and not too available. It'd take overnight to download any movies. Even at times, I'd prefer to buy DVDs than wait to finish downloading. These things turned out better later on. The first series I started with was Supernatural - how can I not since I was awed from the very first moment I saw its trailer. But Leverage happens to be my second favorite. At the time, I was not thinking about directors or cast - the only motivator I had were the trailers that looked exciting. And I'm still not going to mull over that. All I can say is that the series had a great cast; at least the major roles.
Leverage is a modern-day "Robin Hood and his band of thieves" story. I'm not talking about the new series - that one is disappointing. Detective shows and films will tell you how to solve a crime but this show is different. Every episode, except for the finales, shows how to successfully pull off a heist. Don't compare it to Money Heist. A group of five individuals who prefer to work alone but come together to do a job but then they decide to stick together. They rob the rich and give to the people that were robbed. Every episode is different - different villains, different strategies. Not one strategy had been applied twice.
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There are five main roles in the series. There's a mastermind, a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a hitter - all of them were beautifully played. The show revolves around the mastermind and, to be honest, he's my favorite character in the show. It may seem obvious to pick him as a favorite character but the mastermind aka Nathan Ford is slightly different. Ford is the most turbulent character here. Rough childhood, and a somewhat pleasant adult life, and then the biggest tragedy hits him with full force and he's off the rocker. He faces dilemmas - he's a smart, honest man but with the mind of a thief. In the first season, he's a drunk but doesn't admit he's a thief; in the second season the role is reversed, he's a thief who denies being alcoholic. By the third year, he admitted he was a great thief and an alcoholic which gave him more edge. Every other character seemed composed whereas Ford is far from that - he's almost always unhinged. Even so, his band of thieves trusts him and knows that they'll make it back each time.
I loved this show so much and to me at that time it was an eye-opener and the feeling is still the same. Even after many years of searching, I didn't come across a show like Leverage; though I got wind of another series based on heist or robbery, I haven't checked it out yet. The new Leverage show is trying to live off of the glory of the former - that is the conclusion I came to. After watching the first season the only good thing that I could think of was that I got to see the grifter, the thief, and the hitter. The series ended with only five seasons and I say it's a good thing. The last season was not that good and it seemed that the creators had run out of bad guys and/or jobs to pull off. So it was a good decision to end there.
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