The Leverage team spends Christmas with their family

“You know that’s not really Santa, right?” – Nate
“Obviously. Santa lives at the North Pole.” – Parker

Leverage returned on a high note … a Christmas episode and Wil Wheaton. I enjoyed Wil’s appearance as Chaos last season in “The Two Live Crew Job,” but … is it OK to say this? I thought his performance was better this go ’round. Maybe it was because I recognized the Evil Wil Wheaton laugh from The Big Bang Theory and it made me smile. I loved Team Bizarro and Team Leverage battling it out, but something about Chaos on his own gave Wil a chance to shine (“Parker, you look yummy in that elf costume.”). Oh, the highs and lows, eh, Chaos?

Was there anything not to love about Parker, the figurative and literal elf of the bunch? From decorating the tree with her past stolen goods:

“Careful, you’ve got like millions of dollars of loot on that tree.” – Sophie
“Happy birthday, Jesus.” – Parker

to her unrelenting holiday good cheer, and finally getting her white Christmas. It was heartwarming to see Parker gleeful and not bitter … yet still socially awkward.

Eliot was super-Grinchy as Santa, which was funny, but he’s shown over the past three seasons that he has a soft spot for kids, so I was glad to see him redeem himself at the end with his little sidebar with the annoying kid. It would not have been true to Eliot’s character if he didn’t give the kid the gift he wanted; attention to detail by the writers is always a plus.

As always, the case was clever (loved the switcheroo) but the Scrooge story line with Dooley was just hokey enough to work. Leverage was truly suited to a Christmas episode:

“You are high on the holiday spirit.” – Frank
“Yes, I am. And pills mixed with morphine. I can’t believe you let me drive here.” – Dooley

Perhaps my favorite part of the episode, ’cause I’m a sucker for holiday spirit (except Charlie Brown….), was the ending when Nate and Sophie gave the team gifts.

“You bought us gifts?” – Eliot
“I wouldn’t say bought, exactly. Obtained.” – Sophie

It would have been boring if they actually went out and bought them, right? The team all but outright admitted that they are each others’ family. The whole dynamic was far more effective than Sophie giving Nate her name, probably because I don’t want the Sophie / Nate coupling to become a reality. Her trusting him is just one step closer to that.

Regardless, I’m anxious to see how the season ends, but with only two episodes left I don’t have long to wait.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 12, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT