Join TV’s most talented master thieves as they jump on board the final roller coaster ride of complex heists and high-stakes action. In this grand finale the team of former top-criminals have relocated to new headquarters in Portland, Oregon and are embarking on some of their biggest ‘unorthodox’ cases to date. This final chapter of the show explores the trust among each of the members, and a new optimism in Nate as he looks in to the future instead of the past...

The final season of Leverage contains 15 episodes spread over 4 DVDs. For those that haven't seen the show before, it's a little like a modern day The A-Team. Five con-artists offer their unique services for hire to anyone that needs their help. Payment isn't a problem either, as they operate by seeing justice is served. It's not gone into in this season how they actually make their money, but as they are con-artists it's a pretty safe bet that they're never short of cash.

To be honest it's not overly important that you've followed the show in the past to enjoy this season. Of course, you'll get more out of it if you've been watching since the start, but it is still possible to start here and not be totally lost.

Season 5 features cameos from guest stars including; Cary Elwes, Matthew Lillard, Treat Williams, Neil Hopkins, Adam Baldwin and Fred Ward. In addition Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation's Riker) directs three episodes.

Of this season's 15 episodes, highlights include (and for the titles I'm using the original American broadcast titles as the DVDs we received had no menus or any indication of the episode titles):

The First Contact Job: An ex-employer of an entrepreneur, looks for the teams help after his boss steals his designs and tries to take all the credit. When they look into it they discover he has a habit of doing this to quite a lot of his engineers and inventors. The team end up trying to discredit him by making him believe that he is about to be the first human to communicate with aliens from another planet.

The D.B. Cooper Job: Agent McSweeten asks for the teams help in solving an old case that is still his dying father's obsession: the 1971 plane hijacking by D. B. Cooper, who mysteriously vanished and was never seen again. This is an interesting episode which sees the team also playing characters from the 1970s as we flashback to see events unfold. The great Ronnie Cox guest stars in this episode.

The Broken Wing Job: Parker is injured and out of action. However, after watching too much daytime TV, she starts to get cabin fever. Thankfully she thinks she spots a crime in the planning on the security cameras in the restaurant that acts as cover for the teams new base of operations. Every day two men come into the restaurant and appear to be planning something big. Can Parker work out what it is and save the day?

The Frame Up Job: Sophie and Nate attend an art exhibition at the home of a recently deceased art collector. The main attraction is a mysterious painting that was the work of modern artist (now dead) who kept the painting for him alone. This work of art is priceless, and when it goes missing the chief suspect is ex art thief Sophie. Can she work out who stole it and get it back? There are quite a few neat touches to this episode, which pay off with repeat viewing.

The Toy Job: A large toy company is about to release their next big seller onto the market. However, it's not safe, but they don't seem to care. The team is called in and set about launching their own toy to ensure that the dangerous toy is ignored by the public. However, when Parker is in charge of stealing a consignment of old toys that never made it to market, she ignores the product her team chose and opts to bring back a large consignment of creepy looking dolls. Now the team have to try and market something they don't think they can really sell.

The Long Goodbye Job: This opens with Nate in custody recounting how he got his team killed. With the bodies being pulled from a river, we flashback to see how Nate's job went so terribly wrong. There's real jeopardy here as this is the last episode of the show... so when we discover that Nate is the only one of his team left alive there's more of a chance that this isn't some elaborate hoax - as we don't have to bring the team back for an episode next week.

The press release claims that there will be some extras on the finished discs (Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentaries and Gag Reel) but these weren't on the DVD-R review discs we received.

It's another great season with some well realised stories. The show ends well with enough closure to ensure fans of the show aren't left hanging.

8

Darren Rea