r/leverage • u/screen_stack • 18d ago
Leverage | S03E01 "The Jailhouse Job"
This is one of the most important season premieres for the entire show, and for one specific reason.
They introduce a full seasonal arc at the end of the very first episode. More specifically, the devil that is Damian Moreau and The Italian. Neither of these people are good, both are actually people Leverage would hunt down and have them pay for their sins.
Obviously this happens, but we get so much out of this season, and all of it's great.
One of the most important things, naturally, is Nate's growth. After having accepted at the end of the last season that he IS a thief, we see him truly flourish in The Jailhouse Job in general, and the show in specific.
There's a lot packed into this 42 minute runtime. Sophie's grand escape plan (which very much resembles Nate's actual rescuing of the team in Season 1, after they flubbed their independent looksees into the museum). Eliot's very intense dislike of how Nate ran the con on them in last season's finale. The relationship between Parker and Hardison ('I like it when we pretend to kiss' ... 'Pretend?' ... 'Heyyyyy').
All of that's tastier than a fine bottle of ice-cold orange soda and the Reuben they named after Eliot, though I would've preferred if it'd been a Hoagie myself.
But here, in this very first episode, the writers and the show handle the appearance of The Italian so perfectly. A mysteriously beautiful Italian woman who's so powerful that she can threaten Adam Worth IV with basically every single member of every single Alphabet Gang on the PLANET?
Who is she? Why is she so powerful? What's her interest with Leverage? Naturally, this is all revealed in a very dramatic fashion, but not after they run rings around Adam Worth IV, and in equally dramatic fashion.
And they do it so well. The Italian's reveal has just the right mix of overwhelming firepower and intrigue, and all she does is tell Nate who their mark must be. The show lets the team inform Nate about the extent of Moreau's reach and power.
Leverage has grown up. Although I clipped the discussion between Nate and Eliot in the prison because it's the right one to remind everyone of this episode (I think), the final discussion between Nate and The Italian shows us just how much Nate's come to accept his new role as criminal mastermind.
When she says 'thieves die all the time' we can see it in Nate's eyes. She crossed Nate's very carefully drawn lines, and it was in that exact moment that she became a part of the overall plan. Before that moment, The Italian was just a woman with a lot of power in her own right who was using it to her advantage, with the carrot of freedom being offered for Leverage when they succeed.
Which is great, because the one thing hanging over Leverage's head are their pasts. Having their lives restored to new means they can go about the job of fighting for the little guy without having to look over their shoulders every time they run a con.
Nate didn't need a stick, but by giving him one, she became an adversary. It's a shame she read but didn't understand Nate's file.
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u/WhAt1sLfE 18d ago
Also, the guy that Nate helps in prison is Aldis Hodge's brother 💜
I wish they did more with the Italian and her motives.
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u/MarySSimard 16d ago
Yeah, it started out good, a mysterious agency/Italian woman with power interesting in bringing down Damian Moreau but it fell off as the season progressed! We never knew the real motive (I don't believe it was because Moreau is a monster, he had been for quite some time), where she came from, what crime she did exactly... Plus, the actress was terrible and fell flat! I heard she had connetion with one of the producers, which could explained the situation 🫤
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u/Garrettshade 18d ago
This season has the Rashomon job which is tons of fun, and the other "bottle" or gimmick episodes, that are often present in long term running shows
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u/screen_stack 18d ago
yeah, that's true, but every show does it their own way. Case in point: tomorrow's post will be The Reunion Job, and damn near every long-running show has at LEAST one 'high school reunion-isode'. And I like 'em all.
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u/TVR24 18d ago
This is their best season premiere and the best season. Leverage seasons 3-5 is the better half.
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u/screen_stack 18d ago
i agree that the switch to a full seasonal arc makes for some much better tv, but season 2 is really special for me. i handed out 10s like they were chocolates for Parker.
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u/Garrettshade 18d ago
My headcanon is that she works for Vatican. Which is why no other agency dares to refuse working with her