Episode Reivew: LEVERAGE Season 3 Premiere

Tonight, the best show on TV made its Season 3 premiere, and "The Jailhouse Job" and "The Reunion Job" were great episodes to kick off the new season of Leverage.

Obviously, the Leverage Crew had to break Nate out of jail since he fell on his sword at the end of Season 2, but we also got an extra job when they realized that the prison holding Nate was filled with minor offenders in order to hold on to lucrative state contracts. They cook up a scam to clear the name of an inmate while taking down a dirty warden. The Crew is at its best when they're taking on this kind of corruption, and "Jailhouse" was no different.

The Crew also had to deal with bringing Nate back into the fold, and this tension was the main focus of the drama. Even though Nate sacrificed himself to save the team, they still feel betrayed by his actions, and he has to earn their trust back. I was expecting this first episode to focus more on this plot point, but it felt like it was glossed over. I'm sure Nate getting back into the Crew's good graces is going to be an ongoing storyline throughout the season, but I would've liked to see them spend a little more time on it.

Speaking of ongoing storylines, it looks like we're going to be getting our first real season long arc this time around since "Jailhouse" introduced Elisabetta Canalis as "The Italian", and she's basically blackmailing the Crew to do her dirty work. I loved the first two seasons of Leverage, but I'm glad that we're going to be getting a true storyarc for once. I just hope it's a good one.

"The Reunion Job" was also a pretty strong episode because it seriously brought the funny compared to "Jailhouse". The con itself, taking down an IT tycoon who is working for the Axis of Evil, started off OK, but the episode got exponentially better when the Crew decided to use his high school reunion to pull off the job. Cue jokes about the 80's and high school, but the best parts were the flashbacks of Hardison and Eliot during their younger days. "Reunion" was just good, old-fashioned Leverage fun.

Other Odds and Ends: We got a ton of great Pardison moments (naked Parker, making out in the van, and the oh so sweet shot of them dancing at the high school reunion). We knew we were going to get some great moments this season, but I was surprised that we got so many so soon. Also, Parker + remote-controlled helicopter = pure awesomeness. I'm already missing Tara, mostly because I'm not a huge Sophie fan, but her brainwashing Eliot to serve her tea was pretty sweet.

If "Jailhouse" and "Reunion" are indicators of the rest of the episodes, then we might be in store for the best season of Leverage ever.