Leverage

Leverage is a great caper style TV show. It basic premise is a small  group of not very nice people getting together to do bad things to bad people for nice folks who were taken advantage of. Because of that, each episode always leaves me feeling happy with the results and that there should be folks like this in real life. Or at least proper enforceable laws to prevent the bad people from doing bad things.

The characters are nicely acted and each have their own character arcs over the series. There is the mastermind with a drinking problem, grifter who fails at being an actor, hacker with phobias and allergies, thief with social interaction issues, and the hitter with an aversion to guns. They face against new bad folks each episode, find their weaknesses, and exploit them to turn the tables on them for the benefit of getting compensation for their victims. Most times the bad guys end up being arrested for the now exposed bad activities. Many guest stars play the bad guys and occasionally as people the main characters know from their past. There is always a twist or two in the show where it seems like they cast will not succeed but in fact they did plan for it, seen through a flashback.

Each season has a shorter run than series mainstream tv, 13 to 18 episodes. In all 77 episodes were made. There is currently a revival and continuation with nearly all of the characters called Leverage: Redemption, which I also very much enjoy.