A new episode, new review! Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” is totally different from all the episodes of the show we’ve seen before…and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Ready?
Here we go!
Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” is a rare episode. The team is barely secondary – being generous – in their own show while the focus is taken by Jenna, a person not even remotely related to the team. Jenna is anyone, she can be anyone. And we understand that this is just the intention of the episode.
It’s clear that Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” is a tribute and a nod to the #MeToo movement. Unfortunately, corruption and pigs who sexually assault women just because they feel they can are the order of the day, happening at every level, from a Hollywood producer’s agency to any office. And I like that the show highlights it.
Series and movies try to reflect reality, no matter how hard it is, and Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” is a reflection of that. In fact, the episode not only shows the sexual assault and what this means for the survivors but also how their union, speaking with one voice, puts an end to the abuser. Together. This is a clear nod to the #MeToo movement, as we already discussed.
And we like that the show is brave and reflects this. Also, we get the point of Jenna, a normal girl, being the lead, because it can happen to anyone. From here, we appreciate and admire the intention of the series and the episode as a tribute to those strong women who raised their voices after years of forced silence.
That being said, Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” didn’t feel like an episode of our favorite show. It felt disconnected from everything we saw previously and a waste of time. We don’t understand how the show lost so much time in its last episodes of the season to do a tribute episode like this one.
Don’t get us wrong, as we said before, we appreciate the effort… but we don’t think it was the time and the way to do it. I think if the team had starred with Jenna it would have been a perfect episode. But finding the team secondary to their own show is…anticlimactic, for lack of a better word. It totally freaks you out.
Basically, because you don’t feel like you’re watching Leverage: Redemption 2×11 “The Belly of the Beast Job” if not an episode of any other show, and that, with so little left for the end of season 2, is not a good sign.
So our thought is that if you want to watch Leverage: Redemption, skip this episode and come back next week. But if you just want to have a good time watching a random series, sit back and enjoy. We said what we said.
Leverage: Redemption Season 2 streams on Amazon Freeve.
Disagree. Loved the juxtaposition and was like watching a young Parker and Harrison.
Felt like a backdoor pilot thrown in there to test the waters for a possible “Leverage: International” spin off series. I enjoyed it but I don’t think the potential series would take off (hey, prove me wrong though because redemption has been more than I expected as well so far).
I kind of wondered for a while if Jenna was supposed to be Sophie’s daughter (who was hinted about earlier in the season). But then nothing came of it so probably not.
I would love to see new blood like this join the team. Prepare for the phasing out of the original actors as they age out of acting. And the message of the episode is so damn important it’s worth the detour.