One of the things that makes Leverage such a fun show to watch is the premise of each episode, which has its team of supremely talented criminals taking down despicable bad guys. An important factor in the show's success, though, was its willingness from the start to fiddle with that premise in ways to keep the episodes creatively fresh. The comparison here is with the classic Mission: Impossible TV series from the 1960s which is one of the show's most obvious ancestors. After an inaugural season with a variety of storylines, M:I settled into three seasons of episodes that largely followed a predictable formula of set-ups and takedowns, with more consistent efforts to vary the standardized plots only coming with their attempt to refresh the show in the fifth season.
By contrast, the fifth episode of Leverage begins with the climax of a con. The mark is a corrupt small-town judge whom the team had convinced to turn over to them a large sum of money. As he accompanies the judge to the town's bank to withdraw the cash, Nathan Ford notices two men acting suspiciously. The men are there to rob the place, and when Nate stops to protect Sophie (who is posing as an account manager) the three of them are trapped in the bank when the robbery begins. With Nate and Sophie in trouble, the rest of the team is forced to improvise in order to work out the meaning of the robbers' odd behavior and avert a catastrophic showdown.
Shaking things up allows the show to maintain its narrative tension and to keep the audience guessing. It's also a great way to highlight the characters' creativity, as the team is forced to adapt on the fly to circumstances they didn't anticipate. It makes for a suspenseful episode, especially when the situation spirals out of control and exposes the team to the mark. The episode benefits in this regard from the casting of Michael O'Neill as the corrupt Judge Roy. A character actor with a long resume full of law enforcement roles, he is clearly relishing a turn as the heel and plays the part to perfection. It makes for one of the best episodes of the first season, and serves as an early demonstration of the variations viewers would see in the seasons to come.
