(4/5 stars) Leverage December 7, 2008 John Rogers and Chris Downey have created a wild ride of great characters that form a full circle of thieves-turned-Robin Hoods.
A band of gypsies gone rogue that include a mastermind, a grifter, a hacker, a hitter and a thief come together to fight for those who have been taken advantage of has been done before.
There are so many underlying stories to give the episodes a continued stream of antics.
Timothy Hutton (Nathan Ford) and Christian Kane (Eliot Spencer) are the veterans of the cast, bringing their movie and television experience.
Gina Bellman (Sophie Devereaux) is an import from the UK with a TV and filmography repertoire that proves her wide ranging acting skill.
Beth Riesgraf (Parker) has limited experience as a full time cast member of a series but she will quickly win over the viewers.
Aldis Hodge (Alec Hardison) just turned 21 as the pilot filming got underway.
The baby of the bunch will prove his worth as the comedy/computer geek.
Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton), "Brains", is a former insurance investigator whose son becomes extremely ill.
When an experimental procedure was regarded as the last resort, his company refuses to pay, allowing the young boy to die.
After losing his son, divorced from his wife, and losing his job at IYS, he drowns his life in the bottle.
Nate connects with others skilled in different areas to form a team that runs cons on those not likely to get retribution from those who have stolen from them.
The skills of planning that he developed while working for the insurance company makes him the leader who can delegate the cons.
After successfully completing their first con, forcing their first mark to own up, the team agrees to stay together.
His skill at manipulation has high risk consequences to the clients.
The team is exposed to very dangerous situations that propel Nate to switch gears in the middle of a scam to insure that the client is rewarded.
His alcoholism plays a major role in his conduct, and with his unwillingness to discuss his problems, it puts tension within the team that adds to the job of getting the mark.
Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) "Grifter" met Nate Ford when he was with IYS and was pursuing her as an art thief.
Their relationship has intertwined between good guy-bad guy to love of the heart.
Sophie Devereaux is not her real name, as her list of aliases is longer than a legal pad of paper.
She loves the arts and entertainment, although her acting career is often stifled by the fact that she cannot act.
However, put her in grifter gear where she immerses herself in a character to pull off the con, and she is award winning.
Proficient multi-lingualist and a quick study of accents, she is able to move fluently among those unsuspecting of who she really is.
Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), "Hacker" has computer skills that make him indispensable when a door needs unlocked, a computer needs hacked, or electronics are involved.
He is a geek science fiction fan who was raised by an older foster parent who is more mild mannered than superman.
The dry sense of humor he brings to the team is sometimes not even heard as he often spills his frustration through comedy that is revealed only to himself.
He is the least complicated character that can become rigidly intense when his electronics are in jeopardy.
He prefers to stay locked inside, but when he needs to be a physical, presence in the outside world and invest himself in a con he is flustered and hard pressed to stay focused.
Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), "Hitter", schooled in martial arts and weapons makes him invaluable in the field.
The team's protector, he is called in to make sure the bad-guys goons are intercepted before physically harming the group.
His protection is old school as he is less likely to confront with a gun but rather enjoys the physical contact of a fight.
His past is hidden deep inside and rarely does he open up to any of the team regarding his personal life.
Parker (Beth Riesgraf), "Theif", was raised in foster care and unlike Hardison's experience; hers contained child abuse which escapes in her inability to be socially connected to other human beings.
She demonstrates her physically abilities when using her skills of concentrated strength acrobatics to maneuver using her gear to enter and exit highly secured areas.
Her socially lacking skills leave her brain without an edit button so she speaks freely without thinking about who hears or what they think.
Each character's skill is indispensable for the group to complete the cons and get the justice no one else is able to get for the client.
The fact that things go wrong at different points during each show keeps the audience guessing as to how they will succeed.
The writers bring mystery to the gun fight, since when you know the "who done it" they can concentrate on an altered brainteaser with the issue of how the group can get back what the client has lost.
"Lovejoy" comes to mind in the writing of the twist and turns that plague the group.
The director (Dean Devlin) has given a quick feel to some of the scenes that dictate the pace of the show.
Devlin directs the first two, the last two, and one episode in the middle of season one, and does an excellent job bringing this group to life.
The camera work is not too cinematic but more home spun and great for television.
Some directors too often want to bring big screen complex visuals to the small screen which are unnecessary and used more often due to a lack of script content.
That is anything but the case for "Leverage," as the scripts have continued storylines and new weekly cons for the gang to bring about righteousness for those who lost everything from money to integrity.