By Jamie Ruby
TNT's hit series
Leverage returns tonight with all new episodes. The show focuses on a group of con artists - Sophie (Gina Bellman), the grifter; Hardison (Aldis Hodge), the hacker; Parker (Beth Riesgraf), the thief; Eliot (Christian Kane), the hitter; and Nate (Timothy Hutton), the mastermind - who now use their skills to help those in need.
Leverage is one of my favorite shows on tv - it's smart - the cons that they plot always are full of twists and often leave you guessing, and the season premiere, "The Very Big Bird Job," is no different.

The team has relocated to Portland, Oregon as their previous base of operations and old identities have been burned. Of course that doesn't stop them from moving onto the next case, even if they may need to come up with some new plans.
In the premiere the team go after a shipping executive, played by Cary Elwes, who's been cutting corners, which resulted in a plane crash and a death, after the wife and daughter of the pilot come to them wanting justice.
The dynamics this season will be changing somewhat as now Parker and Hardison are in a relationship and Nate and Sophie have already started one and continue to grow closer. At least in the premiere, in my opinion, it was a positive change and allowed for some nice moments.

As always the acting is fantastic and the episode had me laughing throughout. The cast all plays well off of each other and you can tell they are having a blast. It was nice to see Hardison and Parker's relationship blossoming and I enjoyed learning a bit more about Eliot.
Elwes was a great addition as a guest star, I've always enjoyed him and even though he plays a more evil persona in Leverage, his character was a lot of fun. Also the outcome/twist at the end of the episode is hilarious.
The premiere of
Leverage is definitely a good one and a great start to season five.