(Season 1, Episode 5 – “The Bank Shot Job”)
Hrmmmm …. This episode was originally supposed to be aired as the seventh episode on January 13. I was really looking forward to “The Wedding Job,” which was slated for tonight. It sounded like a fun romp, with the gang undercover as wedding planners. Did I get my fun romp anyway?
By the end of the episode, I definitely did; this one started off really slow for me, though. I missed the flashbacks of the individual team members in their past roles, and I craved more Eliot.
I think being on the same set for most of the action hurt this episode a bit. Parker and Hardison were fun as the FBI agents, but still not very quotable, which is something that I normally love about this show. I also felt like the team should be more clever than to let some hick judge figure them out and hold Nate and Sophie at gunpoint. Perhaps the helplessness was there to fool us viewers, because we did get a particularly clever ending for this episode.
You can always count on Leverage to throw in the clever, and you’ve got to watch closely or you’ll miss it; you miss it, you won’t get this show. A few from this episode:
“OK, the fun is about to begin,” I thought, when Parker was going to rob the bank that was in the process of being robbed. I was disappointed that they didn’t capitalize on this more, though; it was so quick and not used to its fullest potential, something the show has been so good at up until this point.
Eliot kicking the crap out of the kidnappers with his usual speed and precision did redeem this episode somewhat, and the mother’s “Who are you?” was priceless. I just didn’t have enough Eliot this week, though, and I missed especially his flashbacks, which usually are a good example of the random funny Leverage does so well.
Heck, Buffy had “Inca Mummy Girl” in season one, and even “Double Meat Palace” in season six; Supernatural had “Bugs;” I guess we can give Leverage a little leeway with “The Bank Shot Job” and realize that the greatest of the greats have had their stinkers, and this really wasn’t a stinker, per se, just their weakest episode to date and not up to the standards that the show has set for itself with the first four episodes.
Sure, it wrapped itself up pretty well — OK, really well — (Hardison framing the judge with one simple kneel was classic, not to mention the meth in the briefcase and Parker’s and Eliot’s switcheroo with Derek and Michael), but it was such a slow start, with so many scenes that they didn’t capitalize on, that it simply fell short. I admit, the reveals at the end of how they pulled the frame-up job off had me laughing out loud with appreciation, more so than some of the other episodes where the procedure was more obvious.
So I wonder why TPTB decided to rearrange the order of the episodes. It looks like they’ll be airing the scheduled episode, “The Stork Job,” next week, and I do hope we get to see “The Wedding Job” at some point.
What did you all think about this episode of Leverage?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 31, 2008 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
I’ve missed an episode or two, but I really liked tonight’s epi. I really like Micheal O’Neal, and that may have had a lot to do with it (He played against type, at least on his roles in the Unit, The West Wing, and his one-off in 24).
Parker is still my favorite character (just for her quirkyness), though Elliot (Because of Kane) and Hardison are awesome as well.
I disagree, I thought this was another amazing episode. While the bank robbery due to family member being taken hostage has been done many times before, it has never wrapped up so nicely like it was last night. I loved the series of Hall & Oates jokes, especially when Hartisan asked the officer to stay and talk about them. Also, is this the first time torrenting has been mentioned on a tv show?
*POST AUTHOR*
Agreed, the ending was spectacular, it was just a slow start for me.
So you missed one of the best quotes of the episode when Hardison said he couldn’t get a good signal and it took him and hour and a half to torrent the latest Doctor Who episode and Parker says that downloading is illegal. That was the best moment.
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re right — that was a great quote!
I still maintain that Doublemeat Palace was a great episode of Buffy. The entirety of season 6 plays much better on DVD than it did at the time.
It’s strange that you think this one started slow – I thought it was a good way to break up the formula, with the episode beginning at the end of the con and going from there.
We didn’t have to go through the usual “we have a client” and briefing with lots of TV screens and so on, it got right into the action.
Definitely less quotable lines and I really missed the bizarre flashbacks. Nothing could have compared to the “monkey” and “I once saw a horse kill a clown” flashbacks from a couple of eps ago, but they should have tried.
I personally though last week’s “Miracle” episode was the weakest so far, but frankly, they’re all the best I’ve seen from a new show in ages, so I’ll stop complaining…
Oh, one good trick: at the beginning when the bank robbery started, I could have sworn it was part of the plan, a way to get away clean with the briefcase full of money. (I’m pretty sure “Hustle” has used that one before.) Having the judge accuse them of exactly that later in the episode had me laughing…
loved it :)