Pilots for television shows are part proof-of-concept, part half-refined idea. Often developed as a testing ground for a proposed series, they reflect the ideas and characters at their rawest, before the actors perfect their chemistry with one another and the writers develop for the audience the backstories and personal details that make the characters into the familiar faces that they become over the course of its run.
One of the things that makes the "Leverage" so notable is how so many of the elements that would characterize the show were already well developed from the start. As the pilot, the premise is unique to the show: Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator, is hired by an airline executive to supervise a team of criminals he brought together to steal back a set of plans from one of his rivals. Each of the specialists the executive hired - a computer hacker, a thief, and a hitter - is known for two things: being the best at what they do and their reputation for working alone; Ford's job is to manage them as a team and keep them honest. The job that plays out both serves as the audience's introduction to the characters, both in terms of their roles and their distinctive personalities. Then, with the job completed, they part ways, never to meet again.
All of that takes place in the first quarter of the episode. The rest of it involves the discovery of hidden motives, a double-cross, and the team working to get revenge. It's over the remaining two-thirds of the show that we see the team not just working together, but coming together as a team, as they learn how to trust one another for the long term. It's here where we see the elements that would come to characterize a "Leverage" episode: the set-up of the con, the adaptation to complications, and the pay-off. Watching it unfold makes for great viewing, and it especially helps to have an actor of Saul Rubinek's caliber playing the foil, as his combination of intelligence and duplicitousness makes him for both a formidable challenger and an especially enjoyable downfall.
By the end of the pilot all of the elements that would characterize the show - the sharp writing, the character relationships, the late-episode twists and the final payoff - have been demonstrated in a way that would be repeated numerous times in the episodes to come. It's a particularly effective formula that would be refined and played with with over the five seasons that followed, proving adaptable enough to work through a number of variations. It's a testament to all of the work that went into its development that not only does it work as a great introduction to the show, but it also stands as one of its best episodes. That's not something that can always be said for even the greatest shows in television history, and it shows how they got it all right from the start.
One of the things that makes the "Leverage" so notable is how so many of the elements that would characterize the show were already well developed from the start. As the pilot, the premise is unique to the show: Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator, is hired by an airline executive to supervise a team of criminals he brought together to steal back a set of plans from one of his rivals. Each of the specialists the executive hired - a computer hacker, a thief, and a hitter - is known for two things: being the best at what they do and their reputation for working alone; Ford's job is to manage them as a team and keep them honest. The job that plays out both serves as the audience's introduction to the characters, both in terms of their roles and their distinctive personalities. Then, with the job completed, they part ways, never to meet again.
All of that takes place in the first quarter of the episode. The rest of it involves the discovery of hidden motives, a double-cross, and the team working to get revenge. It's over the remaining two-thirds of the show that we see the team not just working together, but coming together as a team, as they learn how to trust one another for the long term. It's here where we see the elements that would come to characterize a "Leverage" episode: the set-up of the con, the adaptation to complications, and the pay-off. Watching it unfold makes for great viewing, and it especially helps to have an actor of Saul Rubinek's caliber playing the foil, as his combination of intelligence and duplicitousness makes him for both a formidable challenger and an especially enjoyable downfall.
By the end of the pilot all of the elements that would characterize the show - the sharp writing, the character relationships, the late-episode twists and the final payoff - have been demonstrated in a way that would be repeated numerous times in the episodes to come. It's a particularly effective formula that would be refined and played with with over the five seasons that followed, proving adaptable enough to work through a number of variations. It's a testament to all of the work that went into its development that not only does it work as a great introduction to the show, but it also stands as one of its best episodes. That's not something that can always be said for even the greatest shows in television history, and it shows how they got it all right from the start.