Leverage (TV Series) The San Lorenzo Job (2010) User Reviews

Spoiler: Thieves don't win elections. We steal them.

[nannyjo · 10/10 · 19 July 2017]

"The San Lorenzo Job" is one of my favorite episodes. Even though I'm not sure why, I try never to miss this episode when it airs.

Is it because.....

.....it does a great job satirizing American politics? Politics is one of my least favorite subjects and this episode shows why. Political ads and pre-election junk is all about manipulation – manipulation of emotions, and manipulation of facts. It seems that most elections are just stolen anymore by one party or the other.

.....each of the team members is doing one of their best con jobs yet? Sophie leaping into action as the fiancé of the floundering candidate; Hardison hacking an entire country, Parker using her thieving skills and braving the steam vent to save the General; Eliot using his contacts and abilities to save those contacts and friends; and Nate running the best behind the scenes cons.

.... I ALWAYS love the story of the underdog winning? The man was so far down in the polls that the corrupts people didn't even bother to arrest him. Michael Vittori has a wonderful growth during the course of the hour from an uncertain school teacher who just wants to do the right thing to the president of a country. You just know things will get better for him.

.... it has some of the best lines/scenes? Eliot and the puppy, " I have twenty-four year old genius with a smart phone and a problem with authority. You never really stood a chance." "Thieves don't win elections. We steal them." " if stealing a country were easy, everyone would do it." And my favorite "We be the cavalry."

... it is the episode where they finally catch Damien Moreau and get rid of the annoying devious Italian? (yes, I admit it is very wrong but I wasn't sorry to see her get shot in the previous episode :o(

Maybe it is all of these things. I just really like this episode.

Too bad it's become a political template

[lotekguy-1 · 9/10 · 15 August 2022]

The undoing of Moreau was so adroit and gratifying after the prolonged buildup that the episode almost earned one of my rare 10s. Unfortunately, seeing it anew in 2022 comes with the appalling realization that Ford's campaign strategy and analysis of the modern path to power felt more fictional when it first aired than it does now. I fear it may have inspired unintended consequences.

Season 3: More consistent tone and fun as it improves in small but important areas

[bob the moo · 13 June 2011]

I've been rather hard on this show over the previous two seasons – mainly over the way it seemed content to just exist, produce easy TV and then retire to an eternity of filling the afternoon schedules in the lack of anything else. I don't say I've been "unfair" because this has been true for the first two seasons and even this third one has elements of it. The main difference for me here is that it does actually have a whack at having a season-long narrative as well as improving in several other areas. The plots remain the same (helping people who have been wronged by the rich/powerful) but in the background we have the gang being forced to try and take down a powerful criminal banker, Damien Moreau.

The opening double episode that set up this plot offered me hope that it would be well used but unfortunately they conclude that episode by deciding they will flush out Moreau by simply continuing to help people each week! And so they do and we're back to the case per week format without much mention of Moreau. This improves at the usual points (mid-season break and the final 3 or so episodes) and it works well enough but I would have liked it to have been better integrated into the whole season. The individual episodes are generally better and I found I enjoyed more of them. Some of them still have the "sad-eyed member of public" establishing scene that plays out overly worthy, tragic music – I guess such scenes are the cost of doing business but the stronger episodes manage to setup without such cloying melodrama.

The various plots are mostly nonsense but, melodrama aside, they seem to be slowly getting better at the light touch that such caper productions need. The humour is better and more consistent than before and it makes it easier to go with the plots because they are quite fun. It still can't shake off the rather "low-rent" feel that it has though and I'm not entirely sure where that is coming from. Perhaps the camera/film? Because it doesn't quite have the slick "look" that it could do with as an extra touch. It still does have some weaker episodes (such as the one with the mine) but there are also stronger ones such as The Rashomon Job which was a hoot start to finish.

The cast are decent but also, if I'm honest, a little bit of a limiting factor in how slick and glossy it can look. I like Hutton but he is no George Clooney in terms of the type of presence and charisma that his role requires; the sub-plot regarding his alcoholism is just something I wish would go away. Bellman is equally not brilliant but good enough – the various characters and voices she has to affect show her limits, which is a bit of a problem for someone supposed to be a great grifter. Kane also continues to look like a Division 1 footballer with that haircut and it doesn't help that some of the plots have him looking all sincere and deep (he can't do either), but he is very good at the physical work and also mock annoyance with Hodge. Speaking of whom, Hodge remains my favourite because, although his geek material is easy, he does seem to fit and he looks good in the role and commands attention. Riesgraf also has better material this season and is funnier for it. The various guests are TV-grade but do OK; Canalis cannot act but has the legs, Wheaton is one for the geeks (and also a link to director Frakes) while Visnjic is OK in the main villain role but perhaps not as impacting as I had hoped for.

Overall Leverage is still a genre-show that sticks to its formula but this third seasons sees that formula working better thanks to an improved freshness in the writing and a more consistent tone. The melodrama is a limiter and it still isn't as slick as the material could do with it being, but it is fun and showing a bit more awareness of what viewers want from it.

Stopped making sense

[jimmietee · 6/10 · 27 February 2022]

Why, if they know Damien knows them, would they go to the island?

And why, if it was a British Colony do they all speak with a Spanish accent? That's not how any of this works. Do the writers think everyone in Caribbean.naturally speaks Spanish?

Ridiculous.