Movies & TV heists Recapturing the Magic of Leverage: Heists, Cons, and Competence Porn Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. By Rachel Ayers | Published on April 15, 2025 Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime I’m a die-hard fan of the TV show Leverage, which originally aired from 2008 to 2012—since then, the show has been revived as Leverage: Redemption, with most of the main cast (plus a few new characters) returning for two seasons, with a third season premiering later this week on Amazon Prime. As we’ve previously discussed on this site, Leverage is the epitome of one of my favorite niche genres, “competence porn.” John Rogers, one of the creators of the original show, coined the phrase as a way of describing stories about highly specialized experts competently managing a complex and evolving situation for our enjoyment. In this case, the stories center around a five-person team, all with their own areas of expertise. Parker (Beth Riesgraf) is a classic cat burglar who can steal anything, Hardison (Aldis Hodge) is a computer hacker, Eliot (Christian Kane) is the hitter, there to do the fighting whenever it’s necessary, and Sophie (Gina Bellman) is the consummate grifter, or confidence artist. They team up with an insurance investigator, Nate (Timothy Hutton) who serves at the team’s mastermind, coordinating all their skills. Together, they work to bring down the rich, powerful, and corrupt, targeting predators who take advantage of ordinary people without regard for the ruin they leave behind. The show works on a lot of different levels, but there are four particular aspects that make it one of my favorite shows of all time. First of all: it’s great competence porn—perhaps the greatest competent porn?? The characters are all so skilled, sometimes seeming supernaturally good at their jobs. Even when things go horribly wrong, it’s clear that they’ll get each other back on track. Secondly, the dynamics between the characters all feel very organic and enjoyable, from Hardison and Parker slowly falling for each other and Sophie and Nate’s “Mom and Dad” dynamic with the rest of the group to Eliot and Hardison’s brotherly bickering. Then of course, if you love a great heist, Leverage features dozens of excellent capers, at least one per episode; a lot of these are based on real-world cons, and the creators hired con-sultants with experience to work with the writers’ room, which helped to add layers of verisimilitude. Fourth and finally, the cherry on top: the fact that the gang unfailingly goes after jerks who have taken advantage of vulnerable people means an incredibly satisfying ending each time a villain, thinking themselves beyond the reach of the law, finds themself faced with sweet, sweet justice… After a break of almost 10 years, Leverage was rebooted on Freevee in 2021, and most of the original cast returned. (The character of Nate was written out of the show due to the actor Timothy Hutton’s legal entanglements at the time.) Two new characters were added: a lawyer/corporate fixer named Harry Wilson (played by Noah Wyle, who also worked with Rogers in The Librarians), who came on board when he realized how much his unscrupulous fat-cat clients were hurting people, and Breanna Casey (played by the delightful Aleyse Shannon), a foster sibling of Hardison’s, who takes over as the team’s primary hacker/maker while Hardison coordinates an international Leverage effort (an easy way to keep Hardison involved in the show while allowing for actor Aldis Hodge’s commitments to other film and TV projects). The new characters quickly fall into a rhythm with the rest of the crew as they carry on their good work, and one of the things I appreciate about Leverage: Redemption is that it’s a show that’s focused on slightly older characters than we get on most series. They aren’t the young thieves they were in the original run, and it’s nice to see the original characters grappling a bit more with their pasts. Everyone gets a turn to consider their lives—the mistakes they’ve made, the choices they’ve come to regret, the relationships they want to repair—and think about the kind of difference they want to make going forward. Maybe they can’t make up for the bad things they’ve done, but they can still make the choice to do better every day going forward. If you, like me, are eagerly awaiting Leverage: Redemption Season 3 (I mean… wasn’t the end of Season 2 a banger?!), but you could use a few more heists and hijinks in the meantime, I have some good news! I only recently learned that Leverage has, to my delight, truly gone international, with a K-drama version that originally aired in 2019. It turns out there are more heists to be had, around the world, than ever before. Directed by Nam Ki Hoon and written by Ji-Hyung Min, Leverage: Fraud Control Operation (레버리지: 사기조작단) has all the class conflict and the fun found family dynamic of the original Leverage. As I’m writing this piece, the show isn’t currently streaming anywhere, but the DVD is available in Region 1 formatting, and if you can get your hands on it, it includes a whole new set of adventures and heists. The con is back on, this time in South Korea, and while some things are different, the major beats are all in the mix. You will definitely recognize the Hijinks-Are-Ensuing-Now! bouncy crime jazz music, which plays whenever the shenanigans are at their most thrilling and/or ridiculous. Also, we still have a mastermind, a grifter, a thief, a hitter, and a hacker. Our Korean team includes mastermind Lee Tae Joon (played by Lee Dong-geon), grifter Hwang Soo Geyong (Jeon Hye-bin), thief Go Na Byeol (Kim Sae-ron), hitter Roy Ryu (played by Kwon Kim and who, adorably, has a dog named Eliot), and finally hacker Jung Eui Sung (Yeo Hoi-hyeon).  In Leverage: Redemption, they do mention a Korean team, so it makes sense to assume that the shows take place in the same universe (at least in my mind!), though there’s no official crossover. The Korean cast makes a charming addition to the world of Leverage International. While the blueprints for each role are clearly the same and it’s impossible not to compare them, the new characters themselves manage to feel fresh and complete, rather than carbon copies of the first Leverage team. Tae Joon is more likeable than Nate, and it’s lovely to see him adopt his new family after witnessing his sweet interactions with his son, as well as grieving his loss. Soo Geyong, while melodramatic on stage and stunning in a con, also has an energetic sense of humor and a general youthful liveliness, where Sophie is more mellow, wry, and thoughtful. Eui Sung leans more into the dorkiness of his character, which is played for laughs possibly more than is necessary, but has a youthful sweetness as well. Na Byeol has a more caustic temper than Parker, occasionally cussing a bleeped-out blue streak while her companions look on, wide eyed. (“Gosh!” is the strongest swear that makes it into the subtitles.) And Roy displays a brotherly fondness for his teammates that develops much more quickly and with more warmth than Eliot’s eventual loyal, stubborn affection. At the start of the series, Lee Tae Joon investigates fraud for an insurance company, but also spends a great deal of time with his son, who is desperately ill. He’s drawn into a plot to steal a new medication that might be able to save his son’s life, and recruits thief Go Na Byeol and hacker Jung Eui Sung to help him steal the medicine. It turns out to be a set-up, though, and he takes the fall in order to give the others a chance to escape. After some time in prison, he’s released, and once again recruits his thief and hacker, along with a beautiful grifter he knows, Hwang Soo Geyong, and the security coordinator, Roy Ryu, who was fired after the theft. And thus, our K-drama Leverage team is ready to combat injustice! There are 16 episodes, and it typically takes 2 or 3 episodes to fully resolve each heist/plotline. The end of each episode tends to ramp up the drama leading toward an intense cliffhanger—in fact, the pacing is one of the elements of the Korean adaptation that feels the least like OG Leverage. The gang faces setbacks each time—sometimes silly or minor ones but they occasionally get knocked all the way back to square one—making the whole show feel more precarious and dramatic but a bit less like true competence porn. It doesn’t appear at this time that there are any plans for a second season, but if the show does get rebooted, I certainly wouldn’t mind spending more time with this found family. And if you’re looking for other shows that combine competence porn and great heists but can’t score a copy of Leverage: Fraud Control Operation at the moment, I have another recommendation: Consider watching White Collar, in which con artist Neal Caffrey agrees to work with FBI Special Agent Peter Burke, solving crimes instead of committing them. Both men are incredibly good at what they do, and they spend six seasons juggling the ever-evolving blend of mistrust and affection that underlies their partnership. There are also a few regular “team” members in the mix. FBI agents Diana Berrigan (Marsha Thomason) and Clinton Jones (Sharif Atkins) help Peter wrangle Neal’s chaotic impulses, while Neal’s bestie, Mozzie (Willie Garson) pulls him in the opposite direction. Rounding out the regular cast is Peter’s wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen), who binds them all together with a loving friendship, and the fabulous Diahann Carroll as Neal’s glamourous friend and landlady, Ruth. While Neal and Peter do go after rich and powerful baddies, given that they are coming from opposite sides of the law, there’s a lot more push and pull about right and wrong, who deserves help, and just where you can find those grey moral areas than we usually deal with on Leverage. And although the exasperated father/son dynamic between Peter and Neal is great fun to watch, I do at times miss the deeper trust that bonds the Leverage team. But regardless, there’s still bouncy crime jazz in the mix, so check it out! Moreover, if you love thrilling cons and capers and really miss the character dynamics of Leverage, you can always swing back around to Hustle! This show features five sophisticated con artists and ran from 2004-2012, and the Leverage creators have cited it as a source of inspiration—the style and format of Hustle is certainly reflected in Leverage episodes. (And, of course, bouncy crime jazz is very much a key part of the show.) The mastermind (or, at least, the leader) of the group is Mickey Stone (Adrian Lester), who works with seasoned grifters Ashley Morgan (Robert Glenister), Albert Stroller (Robert Vaughn), and Stacie Monroe (Jaime Murray). With talented new recruit Danny Blue (Marc Warren) joining the gang, they are unstoppable…erm, well, mostly. Their hijinks tend to go sideways, especially when they break the cardinal rule of hustling: you can’t cheat an honest man. They also seem to use all the tricks of the trade to avoid paying for their drinks (which, come on guys, small businesses run on tight margins, you just stole half a million dollars and you can’t pay for a bottle of champagne?). Sometimes the show leans more into the dramatic staging of the swindle, and while these musical or stylistic cutaways are fun, there’s fewer of those “But this is how they actually did it!” reveals that I love so much in Leverage. But the heists are classic and fun, and watching five wily grifters playing off each other from moment to moment is endlessly delightful. I think that ought to be enough to keep everybody entertained until the new season of Leverage: Redemption rolls out in a couple weeks. But what will we watch when it’s over, and we’re waiting to hear word of Season 4?! Please leave your suggestions in the comments![end-mark] The post Recapturing the Magic of <i>Leverage</i>: Heists, Cons, and Competence Porn appeared first on Reactor.