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Last night I dreamed I saw Anthony Stewart Head, in full Utherian dress, in MacBeth. (I think he was Duncan, not MacBeth himself, but it was a little unclear.)
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I've been watching Leverage on my Wednesday mornings, and I enjoy it. I totally love capers and snark. However, I find I still prefer Hustle, the British con-artistry-is-glamorous-and-in-some-cases-not-excessively-immoral show.
REASONS I LIKE HUSTLE BETTER THAN LEVERAGE:
- The cons in Hustle are accomplished more by psychology than by tech. They're not less farfetched for that; just differently farfetched, and with fewer explosions.
- Speaking of which, I get more pleasure from money poured into long, loving shots of beautiful people languidly, yet sassily, conning their way into a penthouse suite, to the accompaniment of brass-led jazz, than from money spent on making large buildings go boom. Or, if there's going to be bullet time, I enjoy it more if it's for a discussion of how the con is progressing rather than in a fight scene.
- Hustle is not as desperately anxious about inviting the audience to identify with (gasp! shock! horror!) con artists. Hustle says "The first rule of the con is that you can't cheat an honest man" and takes down nasty people. Leverage's characters are like Robin Hood meets the Make-a-Wish foundation; the team doesn't simply take down nasty people, they AVENNNNGE the Hard-Working Salt-of-the-Earth Characters(tm!) who have been WRONNNNGED! With a lot of tag text about how they're the good guys, and the mastermind needs to keep the thieving instincts of the rest of the team in line. Hustle doesn't go after your tear ducts with a buttonhook before the teaser with five minutes of waiting for the hard-working nightschool-attending bus driver to fall down dead from the unsafe herbal supplement he popped before having the heartwarming conversation with his tart-yet-affectionate hardworking wife. Hustle shows you glamorous thieves having fun and being awesome at their jobs without trying to tell you that the meringue in front of you is in fact a complete breakfast of ethical instruction.
- Yet even while Leverage is so earnest about telling the viewer "it's okay to root for the thieves! really, it's okay!!" their thieves are much nastier pieces of work than the ones on Hustle. The Leverage characters are lone wolves who were originally brought together by avarice; the Hustle characters are part of an unconventional but close-knit subculture of grifters who look out for each other and share a code of behavior. I have more of a kink for the "hearts of gold" fantasy than for the "motley crew of Trauma Sues" fantasy. I like watching chosen families that will actually hug each other.
- On Leverage, the black guy is the techie. On Hustle, the black guy is the mastermind (and only once plays an African prince.) And gets the mastermind billing, and the mastermind love interest storylines.
- Timothy Hutton (the headliner of Leverage is a perfectly fine actor, but he doesn't do anything special for me. Physically he's distractingly like Tom Hanks; as an actor he is undistracting. Adrian Lester (the headliner of Hustle) makes me happy. (Can I tell you how bummed I am that he will not be the eleventh doctor? VERY BUMMED.)
- Robert Vaughn, genre granddaddy from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., is in Hustle. Media fandom history for the win!
So, in short: I recommend both shows, but Hustle hits my personal kinks harder.
REASONS I LIKE HUSTLE BETTER THAN LEVERAGE:
- The cons in Hustle are accomplished more by psychology than by tech. They're not less farfetched for that; just differently farfetched, and with fewer explosions.
- Speaking of which, I get more pleasure from money poured into long, loving shots of beautiful people languidly, yet sassily, conning their way into a penthouse suite, to the accompaniment of brass-led jazz, than from money spent on making large buildings go boom. Or, if there's going to be bullet time, I enjoy it more if it's for a discussion of how the con is progressing rather than in a fight scene.
- Hustle is not as desperately anxious about inviting the audience to identify with (gasp! shock! horror!) con artists. Hustle says "The first rule of the con is that you can't cheat an honest man" and takes down nasty people. Leverage's characters are like Robin Hood meets the Make-a-Wish foundation; the team doesn't simply take down nasty people, they AVENNNNGE the Hard-Working Salt-of-the-Earth Characters(tm!) who have been WRONNNNGED! With a lot of tag text about how they're the good guys, and the mastermind needs to keep the thieving instincts of the rest of the team in line. Hustle doesn't go after your tear ducts with a buttonhook before the teaser with five minutes of waiting for the hard-working nightschool-attending bus driver to fall down dead from the unsafe herbal supplement he popped before having the heartwarming conversation with his tart-yet-affectionate hardworking wife. Hustle shows you glamorous thieves having fun and being awesome at their jobs without trying to tell you that the meringue in front of you is in fact a complete breakfast of ethical instruction.
- Yet even while Leverage is so earnest about telling the viewer "it's okay to root for the thieves! really, it's okay!!" their thieves are much nastier pieces of work than the ones on Hustle. The Leverage characters are lone wolves who were originally brought together by avarice; the Hustle characters are part of an unconventional but close-knit subculture of grifters who look out for each other and share a code of behavior. I have more of a kink for the "hearts of gold" fantasy than for the "motley crew of Trauma Sues" fantasy. I like watching chosen families that will actually hug each other.
- On Leverage, the black guy is the techie. On Hustle, the black guy is the mastermind (and only once plays an African prince.) And gets the mastermind billing, and the mastermind love interest storylines.
- Timothy Hutton (the headliner of Leverage is a perfectly fine actor, but he doesn't do anything special for me. Physically he's distractingly like Tom Hanks; as an actor he is undistracting. Adrian Lester (the headliner of Hustle) makes me happy. (Can I tell you how bummed I am that he will not be the eleventh doctor? VERY BUMMED.)
- Robert Vaughn, genre granddaddy from The Man from U.N.C.L.E., is in Hustle. Media fandom history for the win!
So, in short: I recommend both shows, but Hustle hits my personal kinks harder.
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