After three seasons, Leverage still remains a very likable show. It will never be touted by all the critics or win many awards, but it has a charming quality that makes it watchable under any circumstance. The characters are as good as it gets, individually and as a group. Whatever plot comes along will work as long as the characters are used correct.
Take "The Long Way Down Job," for example. The pieces of the plot don't matter one bit--not the bad guy, his profession, or the various other people. But there's a big mountain with lots of snow. And put the characters on it, give them the objective of recovering an item, and the episode works. The characters continuing to be awesome is far more of a reward than this new arc of someone bugging Nate, but I'm also hoping the plot has more meat than that of Moreau.
Character development has always been suspect on Leverage and shows of the same type. Often, character development comes in spurts, as necessary changes to the show's dynamic, rather than an organic development out of the plot. It's a glaring problem in "The Long Way Down Job" when Parker decides to break down over their inability to bring the body back, a random act that has no bearing other than the fact that she does this and it presumably will lead to more between her and Hardison. But even if it did come out of nowhere, it is character development, so we'll see what happens from there.
Another thing to watch out for is Nate and Sophie. After there tryst at the end of last season, things are awkward between them. By the end of the episode, they agree to keep things buried, and for now they will continue to do what they've been doing.
Score: 8.8/10
