1x08 The Mastermind Job

Excellent mid-season finale. Can't wait for the next 8 episodes to drop in the fall. What I love about Redemption is that it understands what made the original Leverage so good and uses it - that shouldn't be a surprise considering that both shows were created by the same people and have the same executive producers, but it's been 8 years since Leverage wrapped, so it wasn't a given that everything would come together as nicely as it did. We could've used more Hardison, but I understand Aldis had other commitments. Hopefully he'll pop up more often in the second half of the season. Breanna is a good character though and I enjoyed watching her. She and Harry fit in with the rest of the team really well. Nate's presence was heavily felt throughout these 8 episodes (and especially in this one) and even though I was never fully on board with his and Sophie's romance (she could do better), I did tear up a little when she realized that Nate never mentioned her to anyone because she was too important to him (on the other hand, that means that he was apparently like "yeah, fuck these guys" when it came to blabbering about the OT3). I kind of like that there isn't really a clear mastermind/team leader in Redemption - Sophie and Parker seem to split that role most of the time, but overall the whole planning aspect feels more like a team effort this time around. The cons were super entertaining and creative as always, and you can tell that everyone involved had a lot of fun making this, which is always nice to see. I'm looking forward to more shenanigans and I definitely wouldn't be mad if they decided to do another season after the first one wraps. I honestly feel like I could watch this chaotic bunch forever and not get bored.