Leverage: Redemption - The Too Many Rembrandts Job

It's been more than eight years since the final episode of Leverage aired. The core cast, last seen in "The Long Good-bye Job," all return for the new series with one notable exception. The choice to move forward without Timothy Hutton, whose character acted as a central spoke all the other parts of the show played off of, leaves a large hole at the center of the new series which Leverage: Redemption honors in its first episode. "The Too Many Rembrandts Job" opens with Sophie (Gina Bellman) long out of the game still mourning the loss of Nate who died one year earlier. Hoping to raise their friends spirits, Parker (Beth Riesgraf), Eliot (Christian Kane), and Hardison (Aldis Hodge) attempt to lure Sophie into a small museum theft. At first uninterested, Sophie notices a man in need of help leading to the band coming back together for "one job."

While working in Noah Wyle as repentant lawyer Harry Wilson, who will become the first new cast member for the series, the premiere does struggle at times to recapture the feel of the old show. However, once the mark has been identified (Harry's unscrupulous boss played by Reed Diamond) and con the con begins things begin to feel more familiar. And by the time we get the story's first twist, causing the team to make new plans on the fly, it feels like old times. Director Dean Devlin, who is also one of the writers credited for the episode, adds in plenty of callbacks for fans of the old show while still leaving room to explore what the various characters have been doing since we last saw them. Hutton's absence is deeply felt, with no one character taking over the role of mastermind it becomes a group effort to take down the baddie of the week.