- Title: Leverage – The Van Gogh Job
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A couple of weeks back I was hard on Leverage for its missed success in attempting a whodunit. This week once again finds the show drifting out of its comfort zone but the results are much more satisfying.
When criminals converge on a 80 year-old man (Danny Glover) who is believed to be in possession of Van Gogh’s lost $100 million dollar painting the team shows up to help. At first refusing their assistance, the WWII soldier agrees to tell is story to Parker (Beth Riesgraf) as the story is retold using the Leverage cast standing in for various members of the story including Hardison (Aldis Hodge) for the narrator and Parker for the woman he loved and lost.
Although there’s no mark to con here, the plot does involve an expensive heirloom and a client very much in danger. The story also help continue to move Parker and Hardison’s relationship forward. The flashbacks are fun, allowing the cast to try out different roles, but the best sequences are the simple scenes in the hospital room between Riesgraf and Glover. Sometimes messing with a successful formula offers mixed results, and sometimes, it delivers one of the more memorable episodes of a series.