Leverage, "The Bank Shot Job": I mis-counted the men!

Quick thoughts on Tuesday night's "Leverage" coming up just as soon as I do things by the book...

Not that I ever had super-high expectations for this show -- as I said in my review a few weeks back, it seems like an entertaining trifle at best right now -- but to have to resort to the bank robbery hostage crisis cliche in the fifth episode? That's not a good sign for what kind of stories they have lined up soon.

(Then again, I look at shows like "Chuck" and "Burn Notice" and how they spun their wheels for most of their first seasons before figuring things out in year two and try to hope that this is just growing pains.)

Still, the idea of doing a "Leverage" version of the old staple -- what happens when thieves are stuck in the bank with the robbers? -- wasn't a bad one, and it allowed Hardison, my favorite character by a long stretch, an opportunity to shine. But the denouement didn't make any sense -- Wouldn't the local cops notice that one of the FBI agents was now dressed like a hostage? And how was Parker simultaneously posing as a hostage and driving Hardison away as an FBI agent? And even if the other hostages all agree to screw the evil judge, won't their stories contradict enough to prevent a conviction? -- and I'm really starting to think that including Elliot in the mix was a poor idea.

All due respect to Christian Kane, but there's a reason caper shows and movies don't generally include an ass-kicker on the team, and it's because the fun of the genre is watching the team outwit their opponents. If you introduce a character whose primary purpose is to beat people up -- and who, it's been established, will come out on top of any kind of fight, no matter how long the odds -- that takes a lot of the fun out of the mix. Yes, they still primarily saved the day and nailed the judge through brainpower, but there's at least one problem per episode that Elliot has to take care of through brute force (in much the same way that every "Superfriends" mission always had an underwater component so Aquaman could seem useful), and it always feels lame and tacked-on.

What did everybody else think?