Leverage: Redemption: The Paranormal Hacktivity Job

July 10, 2021 6:42 PM - Season 1, Episode 5

When a woman believes she is being haunted and runs from her home in terror, Sophie leads Breanna and Parker through a con to convince the two real estate scammers responsible to target Leverage HQ.
posted by oh yeah! (11 comments total)

Meh.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:44 PM on July 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

I think I've said this before somewhere in FanFare, but I'm not exactly a Leverage fan. Don't get me wrong, I've seen every episode. It's just somehow I'm usually left frustrated by the show. To me, this always comes off as one of those properties that could be so much better. It has so much potential, but somehow, it never seems to reach that potential. I don't know if it's the campiness and hokiness and broadness of the characters or something else in the mix or what.

The first two episodes of this revival didn't make me feel that way. They felt like a new and improved Leverage, and left me looking forward to the rest.

This episode, however, seemed to epitomize everything underwhelming and disappointing about the show's original run. (That said, I'm not sure if any of the original episodes was this bad, but my memory of the show isn't the strongest.)

"Meh" is absolutely the correct response to this episode.
posted by sardonyx at 9:53 AM on July 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

I was a big fan of the original series, and I don't recall any episodes being as bad as this one. The hitman character was preposterous. And Parker hating supernatural fakery just begs comparison of this episode to the wonderful fake-psychic episode they did with Luke Perry which this episode can't hold a candle to. I think maybe they were going for a 'this is our wacky comedy Halloween episode, everybody get onboard the fun train!' vibe, but, it just did not work.

Ah well. Finished my errands for the day, so, onward to watching & posting the remaining 3 episodes now.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:21 PM on July 11, 2021

This ep went too silly, and again with under-powered villains. Notably poor performance/ direction of the actors playing the villains.

The hitman/ parade-route plot doesn't make a lick of sense.
posted by porpoise at 5:38 PM on July 11, 2021

This was a not great episode. I understand what they were hoping to get at, but no.
posted by jeather at 4:55 AM on July 12, 2021

Alt title: The Home Alone Job.
posted by snerson at 12:37 PM on July 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

Leverage (both series) runs the whole gamut of guest actors -- amazing to amazingly awful. Agree that the villains this ep were over toward the awful end of the scale.
posted by humbug at 6:44 PM on July 12, 2021

It's The Girls Night Out Job, #2!

Don't draw attention to the secret lair!

Forcing people out of their homes is A Thing in N'awlins, I take it?

I love the plot of this: haunting houses to drive people out, they set up a haunted house... OH, AND THEN IT'S AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT!!!! And then she gets to REALLY haunt the house!

Parker's people skills...lonely and weak-willed...ouch!

"You just happen to have a backstory laying around like that?" "Of course I do!"

"This is called the gloat, it's the best part!"

It is interesting to see how the team deals with the newbies.

Okay, I'm the only one who actually got a kick out of this episode....
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:40 PM on July 24, 2021

Oh, I enjoyed it too - I dunno, something about the previous cons just didn't really sit well - either they were too implausible or too unreasonable or whatever - someone earlier said it was clear they didn't manage to get back their consultants, and it kinda showed? This? Yeah yeah ok it's Leverage: Home Alone, but the original con was fine, except they realized it was only a 30 minute episode if they ended there, and the assassin got grafted onto it for better or worse.

But still, I dunno, less huge mega big stakes, just helping out someone who was getting screwed by con men.
posted by Kyol at 8:01 PM on July 26, 2021

Forcing people out of their homes is A Thing in N'awlins, I take it?

I wasn't previously aware, but apparently, yeah.
posted by porpoise at 8:34 PM on August 2, 2021

For somebody they pitched as "great with drones and building stuff," they really haven't utilized those skills for Breanna much, at least not yet. (Though drones are also really loud and annoying, at least the ones that I've messed with.)

Not a bad attempt at a bottle show, though the Comedy Panel of Hijinks was a bit much.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:38 PM on August 29, 2021