TV Verdict

The recent Leverage episode “The Two Live Crew Job” is easily the best episode of the season so far. I dare say it might be the best episode of Leverage to date. Any episode that opens with someone strapped to a bomb is bound to be a good one. Such is the case here, where we see Sophie holding a lovely vase of flowers that will explode should she move even a tiny bit.

Of course, in true Leverage fashion, Sophie escapes the bomb. Too bad I can’t say the same for her apartment. Then the gang fakes her funeral since they’ve reasoned the bomb was personal. Whose bright idea was it to let Parker speak at a funeral?

Bombs, and fake funerals aside; the element that made this episode a winner was the fact that the gang meets its match in the form of another gang. I’m talking a gang complete with hitter, hacker, thief and grifter. They might as well have had an audience wearing team jerseys and foam fingers.

SEEING DOUBLE

The main premise of the episode is that the gang is supposed to retrieve a priceless work of art for their client. The only problem is the other crew gets there first. Score one for…the other guy. Nate and

the crew figure out where this rival crew is going to strike next and plan to get their first. This is when the fun truly beings.

This episode has one of the hottest fight scenes ever. The fight between Eliot and the female hitter was pretty hot too. Oh, is that the one you thought I was referring to? No, I was talking about the fight between Hardison and the other team’s hacker, who goes by the name Wesley Crush…I mean Chaos. I’m sorry but there is just something hot about a geek who knows his way around a keyboard. Seriously, when those two stared each other down and started doing battle, I thought I was going to die laughing.

Watching these two teams try out do each other was incredibly fun. I didn’t even care what the plot was. I just wanted to see each member go head to head with their counterpart. I was not disappointed at all. I really hope they find a way to bring this crew back again or at least find a way to write Wil Wheaton into a future episode or two. This gang needs a good nemesis.

The episode wrapped up with an almost kiss between Sophie and Nate. He was going in for the smooch and she pulled away. What does this mean for future episodes? I suspect it doesn’t mean much. Sophie seems to have a lot of soul searching to do so I don’t think we’ll see those two getting hot and heavy anytime soon.

So to recap: bomb, fake funeral, opposing team of con artists, nerds with computers, Eliot hits a girl, Wesley Crusher, Nate tries to kiss Sophie. I’m really glad I DVRd this episode.

Photos: TNT