Leverage Season 2 Review

• Series Title: Leverage
• Season: 1
• Episodes: 15
• Discs: 4
• Network:  TNT
• Cast: Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aldis Hodge, Jeri Ryan, Mark Sheppard (semi-regular)
• DVD: R1, NTSC DVD

The second season of Leverage reunites the crew and moves the show to Boston, although they filmed in Portland, Oregan. But where the first season had Nate and his tame thieves going after corporate criminals – in the second season, the cases they work tend to be more personal – a corrupt wrestling trainer and promoter, a loan shark mobster, even Nate’s wife finds herself framed for a multi-million dollar art theft. Also, Sophie temporarily leaves the group, only to be seen from the shoulders up in the occasional video call. She’s replaced by Jeri Ryan as Tara. And while Ryan is good, she never quite develops the chemistry that existed between Sophie and Nate. Sophie returns at the very end of the season.

The last two episodes on the set are a two-parter, ending in a cliff-hanger with Nate getting shot during a con and none of his team realizing it. He also offers to let himself get arrested and then turn state’s evidence as long as his team is set free.

I liked seeing Portland as Boston – it was a nice change from L.A. and led to some beautiful scenes. In cloudy scenes, the colors are more muted and the details have a look that avoids sharp shadows or harsh lighting – it’s like natural portrait lighting and it’s gorgeous. In sunny scenes, because of the higher latitude – both Timothy Hutton and guest stars with brunette hair get red highlights – it looks gorgeous. Also, it’s nice to see outdoor scenes in different places one usually doesn’t see on TV or in the movies.

Overall, I didn’t like season 2 of Leverage as much as season 1 – I preferred the corrupt corporate bad guys, and I really missed Sophie, but at the same time I re-watched these because I wanted to figure out if I wanted to finish buying the series and get seasons 3-5 or if I wanted to pull it from my collection, because I hadn’t seen Leverage in a while. Well, I definitely want season 3! Season 2 also still manages to have some very good episodes, and it’s still just a fun, enjoyable series to watch.

Recommended.