Throughout five seasons, Leverage packs a lot of story into 77 episodes. Each episode is a different job, though each season features one major arc. There are a lot of enemies and allies to keep track of, but the heart of the show is the relationships between the team.
Against all odds, a group of thieves used to working alone manages to not only stick together for years but become a family. They learn the value of seeing the big picture, how each of their respective specialties fit together, and how to trust one another. There are many standout episodes of the series, but for fans who want a refresher in just how well the team works, and just what kind of impossible feats they pull off, these episodes make for a great binge before the characters return in the Leverage revival.
S1.E01 - "The Nigerian Job"
It's best to start Leverage at the beginning. The pilot episode makes for a great first episode to binge. Not only does it give informative introductions to each character, but also the entire premise of the show.
Nate is hired to steal plans from an aerospace engineering company under the assumption that he's returning them to their rightful owner. The team put together is the best in their respective fields: Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. It's not until the client double-crosses them that Nate realizes the truth of the job and gets a grifter — Sophie — involved. Leverage is born.
S2.E07 - "The Two Live Crew Job"
When the team is hired by two Holocaust survivors to recover a painting stolen from their family during World War II, it's not a regular heist. Another team of thieves is after the painting.
Up until this point in the show, it's clear that the Leverage team is the best at what they do, but this episode shows that if the right team is put together, they'd have a tough batch of rivals, including recurring character Chaos. "The Two Live Crew Job" also prepares the audience for Sophie to temporarily leave the team as she struggles with her identity under the weight of so many aliases.
S2.E13 - "The Future Job"
In the second season, with actor Gina Bellman on maternity leave, Sophie takes her temporary leave. Her friend Tara shows up to take on the grifter's role, and she's definitely got a different style than Sophie. Her addition, even if it's only for a few episodes, changes up the dynamic and makes for some engrossing storylines. This episode is one of her best.
In it, the group takes on a psychic (played by the late Luke Perry) who is really a con man taking advantage of people's pain. He even manages to get under Parker's skin. Tara poses as a real psychic, and he hires her as a consultant, hoping to gain a little fame. She does too good of a job, getting them both kidnapped by bank robbers who want to know where their old partner hid the money, forcing the team to protect their own and expose the psychic for who he really is.
S3.E11 - "The Rashomon Job"
The Rashomon style of storytelling — exploring the same story from multiple points of view — can be a difficult device in television, especially when it comes to continuity issues. Leverage leans into those issues here, creating one of the best episodes of the series, as it explores the same night from the point of view of all five members of the team before they knew one another.
Parker, Sophie, Hardison, and Eliot each try to steal a jewel-encrusted dagger from a museum gala on the same night. Each of them claim that they did in fact steal it, but as they recount their stories (with hilarious differences, revealing how they initially saw one another), it's clear that none of them succeeded. Nate, for his part, knows exactly what happened that night, putting the pieces together as the insurance investigator on site.
S3.E16 - "The San Lorenzo Job"
The team pulls off a lot of spectacular jobs during their time together. One of their most impressive, however, is stealing a country's rule right out from under a dictator.
After Damien Moreau pursues them, the group heads to San Lorenzo to take him on. They do it by helping an honest man — a teacher — win his country's election instead of Moreau and his political puppets. The episode gives a peek into Eliot's past and into Sophie and Nate's future, providing just as much character development as it does spectacle.
S4.E04 - "The Van Gogh Job"
Leverage has two episodes that are outside of the norm. As the team gets the story of mysteries from the past, the cast actually plays the characters in those stories. One is the alternative to this episode, "The D.B. Cooper" job in season 5, which gives the Leverage take on the classic cold case. This one concerns itself with a love story and a missing painting.
Charlie Lawson, played by the incomparable Danny Glover in the present day, meets a white woman in the '30s, and they fall for one another hard. World War II and racism, however, get in the way. When they can't be together, he gives her a Van Gogh he found while serving in France. The episode recounts the story of their relationship and just where the painting ends up.
S4.E07 - "The Grave Danger Job"
The dangerous nature of conning powerful people means the team puts their lives on the line every day. Some episodes make that more clear than others. "The Grave Danger Job" showcases a fascinating crime, but is also a hugely emotional storyline as Hardison is literally buried alive.
When the team try to take down a funeral home that is selling identities to drug cartels, it's the cartel that comes after them. Hardison is the one caught, placed in a coffin, and left in a cemetery to die. It's an adrenaline-fueled rush to find him that leaves the audience on the edge of their seats, not to mention a fantastic performance from Aldis Hodge.
S4.E09 - "The Cross My Heart Job"
When the team takes on a job, it's typically because a desperate client approaches them. They spend a lot of time on research and preparing to take down each episode's bad guy. "The Cross My Heart Job" differs from that usual approach.
Instead, the team is in an airport, on the way home from their previous job, when they find themselves in the middle of a plot to steal a heart from a little boy who needs a transplant. They commandeer a restaurant in the airport, try to foil a kidnapping, and retrieve the heart for the boy, all before the heart loses its viability. This episode has a lot of the usual elements of a Leverage episode, but it really ups the stakes.
S5.E09 - "The Rundown Job"
Much like "The Cross My Heart Job," this season 5 episode features a lot of typical show elements but is a whole new format. Instead of the usual con or the usual team, this episode sees a handful of changes.
Parker, Hardison, and Eliot feature in the episode as a trip to DC involves Eliot's old friend asking for their help to stop someone from releasing a deadly virus. They aren't conning anyone, but racing against a clock to save the city. It's like a fast-paced action movie. The episode also shows how this particular trio functions as a group, and it's a preview of how they would fare without Nate and Sophie leading. The three have one of the most compelling relationships in the show, and "The Rundown Job" only solidifies how much they've grown together.
S5.E15 - "The Long Good-Bye Job"
If a binge is taking place before the revival, it has to end with the original series finale. All of the show's hallmark twists happen in the hour, but there's also a hefty dose of emotion and a ton of callbacks to the pilot episode.
The finale also shows fans exactly where everyone is left before the revival picks up, with Sophie and Nate retiring, and Parker leading the new version of the Leverage team.