Leverage is an American television drama series which aired from 2008 to 2012. At least, that’s what Wikipedia said. I binge-watched the whole thing on Netflix, well after it aired. To give a quick and dirty description, it’s about a bunch of ex-criminals working with a less-than-honest ex-insurance investigator to right wrongs outside of the law, vigilante style. The motivation for doing so is usually a sense of justice or retribution against those who did bad things and got away with it.
The premise is rather childish, but the show luckily never tries to play it too seriously. There are more serious moments, but overall it’s a rather light hearted show about a gang of eccentric people going on little adventures in a variety of contexts. Character development is decent, though many of the characters will still come across as cartoonish at times.
I don’t really recall why I watched the entire series, some seasons multiple times. I think I just needed something playing in the background to create some noise while I worked on other things, and Leverage ended up being that show. It’s highly formulaic, so the first episode is really the only one with some actual plot. All other episodes are basically the same; client sob story, gang tries to scam criminal, there are some setbacks, and in the end the bad guy is defeated. Sometimes this is extended via a two part episode, but otherwise the formula is the same. Internal conflict does occur, hence the drama label, but most of it is manufactured and very neatly wrapped up before the end of the episode. If you are looking for a deeply interesting storyline, this show isn’t it. If you want a popcorn spy-thriller themed drama where the good guy always wins, then this is for you.
The problems I do have with the show, however, is with some of the messages they send. Sure, it isn’t some children’s cartoon, so I don’t care much if it has some political themes I don’t agree with. We are all adults, we can handle it. But I can still criticize such messaging as being overly cynical. The criminals excuse their own behavior, which includes theft, assault, kidnapping, and even corporate espionage, with the shield of fighting for the greater good. The problem? They inadvertently cause massive damage to countless innocent people through their actions, sometimes trying to handwave this by illustrating their victims as arrogant rich people victimizing others. Great… but just because what appears to be a well off dude is mean to customer service doesn’t mean I want him to be robbed blind.
This vigilante mindset creates a very dichotomous good vs. evil dynamic, another way of saying us vs. them. Such thinking creates highly tribalistic tendencies, and leads to a social fabric that excuses bad behavior when directed towards a group the majority doesn’t like. Even worse, the show crosses wires at points with their messaging, where in one episode(I think it’s actually the second episode…) they portray corrupt politicians as their enemy, while in another much later on they use that very same corruption in government to attempt to change a corporation building it’s way toward a monopoly. It’s actually very telling; whoever is working in their interests is represented as possibly not completely moral, but at least somewhat good at heart, while anyone they are fighting against is irredeemable and completely deserving of whatever illegal havoc is wrought upon them.
But enough of that… the other problem is the techniques they use to fight their enemies. They range from ridiculous fight sequences where one of their men takes out an entire squad of people(who have… guns… ) to a man hacking by typing really fast. Most of the stuff they do is highly unrealistic, and no amount of handwaving by saying one guy is just really skilled at combat or that the other is some kind of genius can change the fact that some of the things they do is absolutely preposterous on the kinds of timelines they present. Perhaps that is for the best, though… a popular television show that gives useful information on how to commit crimes might be a problem.
Overall, this is a decent show to watch if you don’t take it too seriously, especially if you need some background noise. Just don’t go to it for some insightful moral lessons, because the very premise is based on criminals excusing their continued criminal activity in pursuit of the greater good. Not exactly great role models.