What I Watched Last Night: Leverage/Top Chef

Leverage: The Lost Heir Job

Leverage opened this week with a nice scene between Nate and Sophie, and a well done concealment of Gina Bellman's pregnancy (Chinese robe with very long sleeves), followed by an introduction to the Client, a woman who's charity is getting screwed out of an inheritance by an evil lawyer. I love any time Nate is the face of the con, and I triple love when Parker gets roped into being on the public end too; this time as the "long lost daughter" of the millionaire whose will is being called into question. Nate introduces her as a meth addict ("Oh yeah, I love meth"), but the real daughter turns out to be the client, which comes a little out of left field, but is hinted at throughout the episode (with helpful flashbacks during the big reveal). Oh yeah, spoiler alert. Anyway, the real gem is the guest appearance by Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine, Shark) as the client's lawyer...and that's all I'm going to say. Seriously, watch this episode; it's a series of well done cons, including the Lost Heir, which is a classic.

Top Chef: Vivre Las Vegas

I loves my Food Porn, and I really love Competence Porn (thanks to John Rogers for that term), and Top Chef combines both of those into one terrific hour of television. Kevin is waaaaay out in the lead, and I'd be surprised if he didn't win the whole thing, but he'll definitely stick around until the final three for sure. I was a little sad to see Jesse go in the Quickfire, as she seems to have the talent, just has caught some bad breaks. Even not knowing who many of these French chefs were, the cheftestants sure did, and their excitement was palpable as they cooked their takes on some classic French proteins and sauces. From what I saw, I expected someone from the Ron and Robin pairing to go home, but it was Hector's inability to cut and slice meat that sent him packing his knives. Ashley's grown on me, so I was glad to see her stick around, although I agreed with the judges that she shouldn't have just let the French guy take the lead.

So help me, I think I'm going to have to catch another episode of Tool Academy over the weekend.