Rating: ★★★★★★

Airdate: July 17, 2011, 9/8c on TNT

Charlie Lawson and Dorothy Ross, the star-crossed lovers

Season four of Leverage continues to push the series creative boundaries with “The Van Gogh Job.” But I’m giving this episode 4.5stars (though technically our system won’t let me!) based on the performances of Aldis Hodge and Beth Riesgraf, especially Riesgraf. Chris Downey’s wonderful script also deserves special mention.

Leverage is very much a procedural show, following a tried and true formula, so it can be refreshing or it can backfire when a show strays from that formula. So far this season Leverage has broken from its successful formula, and the results have been terrific. This episode features flashbacks that serve to mirror current dynamics between the team and while commenting on society.

The more light-hearted moments of the show are what we have come to expect and love from Leverage. Hardison (Hodge) is his usual hypochondriac self as he is exposed to dust and mothballs and nasty, dirty tissues. Watching Eliot (Christian Kane) play with the touchpad computer, messing up the image of Hardison is hysterical. We also get not one, but two Eliot fights. In the first one he defeats his opponent – well makes him run away anyway – with a pink, toy baseball bat. I’m always eager to see how Eliot will top the last fight. We don’t actually see the next fight. Eliot’s gleeful face when he realizes the fight is on had me laughing out loud. We don’t really see this fight, but we do see Hardison and Sophie’s (Gina Bellman) wincing faces and hear the slap of fists hitting flesh. And that made me giggle too.

Charlie confides in Parker

The heavy hitting guest star is Academy Award winning Danny Glover as a star crossed lover returning to find his lost love. The caper is the search for the Van Gogh painting Charlie Lawson (Glover) is supposed to have stolen in WWII. The episode moves back and forth between the team searching for the painting and Lawson telling Parker (Reisgraf) his story. It’s clear Lawson picks Parker to tell his story to because he sees her and Hardison (Hodge) as a mirror image of himself and his lost love, Dorothy Ross. The flashback is what Parker visualizes as Lawson relates the tale of how he and Dorothy fell in love and how he came into possession of the painting. The most interesting part is how Parker casts her own friends in the story: Parker is Dorothy and Hardison is Lawson, the other the star-crossed lovers.  Nate (Timothy Hutton) is the sheriff, Eliot as the army sergeant, and Sophie is the sheriff’s war bride.

Hodge and Riesgraf shine in this episode as they get to play very different characters. Hodge’s French is superb and Riesgraf’s heartfelt, emotional portrayal of Dorothy is moving.

Hodge and Riesgraf turn in spectacular performances

Chris Downey wrote this episode and I’d be remiss if I didn’t commend him on a well-crafted story. We had the usual elements of Leverage combined with a love story and underscored by a society that would not tolerate an inter-racial relationship. The social commentary is very understated and it works better for that subtlety. It is shocking when the sergeant doesn’t reward Lawson’s bravery because he is “a Negro.”It’s a sad commentary on how the army and society worked during the era of WWII, and beyond for that matter.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and I’m happy to see Hardison and Parker becoming closer. It’s wonderful to see Parker really start to warm up to the idea of having feelings for Hardison. I hope she heeds Lawson’s final advice not to waste time…

Tune in to Leverage Sundays at 9/8c on TNT.

All photos © 2011 Turner Broadcasting/TNT

[nggallery id=89]