Lost in Translation 475 – Leverage: Redemption (2021)

The underdog is a popular archetype in fiction. From Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion in the original Star Wars trilogy to Neo in the Matrix trilogy to the tales of Robin Hood, audiences relate to the little guy taking on the powerful and winning. It’s a way to vicariously push back against the problems of reality, a fantasy where the powerful and corrupt get what they deserve.

Enter John Rogers and Chris Downey, the creators of Leverage, and Dean Devlin, the producer. With the pilot episode airing in 2008, the series featured a team of criminals who use their skills to help people against the rich and powerful, providing leverage. The series starred Timothy Hutton as Nate Ford, Gina Bellman as Sophie Deveraux, Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, Beth Riesgraf as Parker, and Christian Kane as Eliot Spencer. Jeri Ryan joined the cast briefly in the second season as Tara Cole as Gina Bellman stepped away for maternity leave. Each character had a set role on the team. Nate was the Mastermind, creating the plan to take down the mark. Sophie was the grifter, the one to get close to the mark using social engineering. Hardison was the hacker, handling and dealing with computer security and creating the needed props for the con. Parker is the thief, able to get in and out of any security system and safe. Eliot is the hitter, the muscle, knowing not just who to hit but when to hit. Tara stepped into Sophie’s role, but also had some cryptography knowledge.

The pilot starts with Nate, a former insurance investigator, being hired to keep a reign on group of thieves.contracted to retrieve research, The job has a bonus for Nate; he gets to give his former employer, an insurance company that withheld funds for a medical procedure that his fatally ill son needed. The thieves – Sophie, Parker, Hardison, and Eliot – have worked alone in the past. Nate provides them the plan they need, using each person’s skill set. The group would have been successful if they weren’t betrayed. The betrayal, however, brought the group together as a team as they exact revenge, getting a sizable payout that would allow them to retire.

The problem is, none of them want to retire. They miss the work, but without money as a motive, they need to find a new reason to continue. They decide on working for the little guy, the people who are stepped on by the powrful and corrupt. Becoming “Leverage Consulting & Associates”, the team took on a number of marks, from insurance companies to corrupt politicians, from corrupt cops to organized crime. The team even wound up facing an evil version of themselves.

The characters themselves have their issues. After the death of his son. Nate became more controlling, leading to the end of his marriage. He also became a functional alcoholic. In the second season, Nate gives up drinking, becoming more of a control freak and darker in his plans. Sophie has been grifting so long that she has many long-term cons and identities, including Sophie Devereaux. Parker grew up in foster homes and was never properly socialized; during the run of Leverage, she struggles with understanding emotions, including her own. Eliot has a dark past, getting involved in off-the-books operations. Hardison comes across as the one with the fewest issues, having been raised by a foster parent his lovingly calls “Nana”. He still goes overboard when he needs to act as the grifter, getting carried away with the role. As the series progressed, the crew became a found family, helping each other grow. Parker, in particular, started figuring out how to be human and eventually becomes an item with Hardison.

While the team has no problem taking down corrupt law enforcement, when they run across honest and competent officers of the law, they will do what they can to avoid them while assisting. In the second season, Detective Bonanno (Robert Blanche) was the recipient of a number of tips from the team, along with getting help from the Leverage crew to find the arms dealer who almost killed him. FBI Special Agents Taggert (Rick Overton) and McSweeten (Gerald Downey), while being obstacles for the crew, have benefited from their work and believe Hardison and Parker are fellow agents.

Leverage ran for five seasons, ending in December 2012. The final episode saw Nate and Sophie retiring from the business and getting married, with Hardison, Parker, and Eliot expanding their work into Leverage International. Nine years later, in 2021, Leverage: Redemption is streamed via IMDB TV. The series brings back Sophie, Parker, Eliot, and Hardison, and introduces two new characters – Hardison’s foster sister Breanna Casey, played by Aleyse Shannon, and disgraced lawyer Harry Wilson, played by Noah Wyle. Breanna, like Hardison, is a hacker, though not as experienced. She’s also more into hardware than Hardison, making up for the gap. Harry becomes the teams fixer, smoothing things while also handling some of the grifter elements.

Redemption begins with Parker, Eliot, and Hardison doing what they can for Sophie on the one year anniversary of Nate’s death. They run across Harry, who is having a crisis of conscience being the lawyer for a millionaire making bank on the opiod crisis. The crew comes up with a con involving a fake Rembrandt and help the victims of the pharmaceutical company. The job ends successfully, with Sophie feeling more like herself being back in the business, though she’s not entirely sure she wants to stay. Harry joins the crew, though the team isn’t as sure about him.

The nine years in-universe saw changes to the the crew and to Leverage International. The company now has offices in multiple countries, except Canada, with a chain of food trucks using Eliot’s recipes providing cover for surveillance. The technology has grown, allowing Hardison to print forgeries, though he still has to research artists’ styles to make the forgery work. However, the rich and powerful are also ahead on the technology curve, with better security and more money to use to protect their assets.

The first season sees Harry’s growth and redemption, from disgraced lawyer working for the rich and powerful to using his knowledge and experience to help those oppressed and exploited by his former employers. The Leverage crew’s trust of him improves with each job they work with him, though Harry isn’t as open as they’d like. By the end of the season, Harry has turned himself around and earned the trust of the crew.

The original Leverage was series of weekly forty-five minute heist movies. The draw was the competency porn, a crew capable of bringing down the powerful. The reason audiences kept coming back week after week was the interaction between the characters. Each member of the Leverage crew grew over the course of a season and the series. The series became more than just the heists. Leverage: Redemption carries on with both the competency porn and the character growth. Even the established characters are changed by the end of the season.

Leverage: Redemption is a return to familiar characters and situations, yet still brings a fresh look to both. The series keeps the strength of the original and builds upon it. The introduction of two new characters helps show how far the original crew has evolved and presents a new dynamic. Breanna isn’t Hardison, even while filling the hacker role. Harry isn’t Nate, but still has baggage from his previous life. Leverage: Redemption is a note perfect reboot.