Latest news with #Leverage
Pink Villa
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Is Lee Dong Gun dating 16-years-younger Kang Hae Rim? Know about his love life after Jo Yoon Hee divorce
Lee Dong Gun, might have found Love once again. He is rumoured to be dating another actress following his divorce with Jo Yoon Hee. The Leverage actor is reportedly in a relationship with actress Kang Hae Rim for quite some time now, however, their considerable age difference has been making headlines. As per a May 29 report by SPOTV News, the duo appears to be growing more comfortable in the public eye, displaying a carefree attitude in their recent appearances. Lee Dong Gun and Kang Hae Rim's public sightings Lee Dong Gun, a 45-year-old actor, has allegedly been spotted on public dates with 29-year-old girlfriend Kang Hae Rim, who is 16 years his junior. Reportedly, they were seen enjoying quality time in Seoul's Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam area, showing affection by holding hands and with Lee Dong Gun placing his hand on the Somebody actress' waist or shoulder, seemingly unfazed by public attention. Despite their bold displays of affection, both parties have refrained from confirming the relationship. Agency and insider comments on the alleged relationship Lee Dong Gun's agency, WPLUS Entertainment, stated, "It's a private matter and so it's difficult to confirm.' Kang Hae Rim's agency, Andmarq, echoed similar sentiments mentioning that they will not be able to share information regarding the matter. However, according to insiders, the rumored romance between the two actors is indeed true. As reported by SPOTV News, the sources claim they were aware of the relationship for some time, noting that the couple never made an effort to conceal their relationship. Apparently, their romance has been widely known within the entertainment industry for a while now. They are also speculated to have introduced each other as romantic partners to close friends. Lee Dong Gun's previous married life and divorce with Jo Yoon Hee Lee Dong Gun's first time in the spotlight for his relationships was when he married actress Jo Yoon Hee in September 2017. They welcomed a daughter together in December of the same year, and legally parted ways in May 2020. Their romance blossomed on the set of the 2016 drama, The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop. Their agencies later confirmed the relationship, and the couple tied the knot a year later. Unfortunately, their seemingly perfect love story didn't last long.
Geek Girl Authority
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Recap: (S03E08) The Cooling Off The Mark Job
Fans of Leverage: Redemption and the O.G. series are pretty familiar with the various roles in a con — the mark, the roper, the inside man. However, in 'The Cooling Off The Mark Job,' a contingency role, 'the cooler,' comes into play when a mark gets away and finds the crew's HQ. The twist here is that the crew is still out on the con. Instead, he finds their old friend Hurley (Drew Powell), and things get complicated. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous Leverage: Redemption episode, 'The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job' Hurley's coming off a con-gone-wrong, and that's a novel situation as well. After all, he's a bit of a jack-of-all-cons, lending a hand to various crews across the global Leverage organization. What does a Mr. Fix-It do when he feels broken? This is what Leverage: Redemption is all about. Image Credit: Prime Video Leverage: Redemption, 'The Cooling Off The Mark Job' Hurley arrives at Leverage headquarters and looks up at the Val's Juke Joint sign with a somber expression. Flashback to a con in Rio. As he and his team enjoy 'The Gloat,' the mark escapes the police and runs into traffic. Hurley jerks back into the present and heads inside. The space is empty. He shouts a greeting, setting off the intruder alarm. A laser cage appears, and Hurley passes out from the knockout gas. Out on a con involving cowboy hats, Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) checks to see who tripped her alarm. When she realizes it's Hurley, she calls him to apologize. After turning off the cage, she hands the phone to Sophie (Gina Bellman). RELATED: Falling Skies Season 4 Premiere Thoughts and Recap Sophie explains to Hurley that their mark ran off before they could close him for the full take of three million. They only got two. As she's inviting him to make himself at home, a gun-wielding man runs in and threatens to kill Hurley unless the con team gives him back his money. Thinking quickly, Hurley claims to be looking for them too because they stole his money. He throws his phone away, killing the line, leaving Sophie stunned on the other end. The Cooler Hurley introduces himself as 'Mark' (lol). The other man says he's Clay (Alex Boniello). Out on the job, Sophie tells the team that Clay found Hurley at the headquarters. Parker's (Beth Riesgraf) confident that Hurley knows what to do to cool off the mark. Harry doesn't know what that means. Sophie explains, 'In the very unlikely event that the mark finds the crew after the blow-off, someone has to stay behind and convince him to accept his losses and move on.' Elliot (Christian Kane) tells Harry that everyone has a different technique to cool off a mark. Sophie comforts people. Elliot gives them a win. Parker shoves them off buildings, telling them, 'You can't grow until you go.' RELATED: Read our Fallout recaps At headquarters, Hurley's pouring shots for Clay and himself. Hurley puts in a team com earpiece and chats him up. Breanna and Sophie inform Hurley that Clay embezzled his three million from their clients, a church. Sophie advises Hurley to start cooling Clay down. Breanna wants him to find the last million so they can go home. Harry goes to visit Reverand Dupree (Taprena Michelle Augustine). The church needs the money to turn the lot across the street into a community center. They trusted Clay with their nest egg. Now, the real estate company plans to sell to a developer unless they come up with all the money by midnight. Harry urges her to have faith. The Next Move Clay asks Hurley how far he's willing to go to get his money back. Hurley says he's all in, with nothing left to lose. Clay warns him that things might get ugly. He heads downstairs. Left alone, Hurley tells the team he wants to run another con on Clay and take him on a quest. He doesn't believe Clay's willing to accept his losses and move on. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Leverage: Redemption 's Parker Elliot sneaks into headquarters. Hurley hits him over the head with a bottle. Clay's got a gun pointed at Elliot and demands to know where his money is. Elliot claims the con crew stiffed him, too. He grabs Clay's gun and tells Clay that Parker is on her way to his office to take the million he held back. Clay runs out. Elliot switches the gun's bullets for blanks. He smells the booze on Hurley, a recovering alcoholic, and warns him against making poor choices. Elliot gives him the gun loaded with blanks and tells him to give it back to Clay to build trust. Clay brings Hurley to the Bayou Bluffs Real Estate offices. He explains they were just getting into development when things went south. He introduces Hurley to Denise (Nicolle Ashley), a deaf property salesperson. It's her last day. Clay signs fluently in conversation with her. A sound from the manager's office attracts his attention. He and Hurley go to investigate. The Near Miss Parker breaks into Eiger's safe and steals a folder randomly to make the theft look convincing. Clay sees her leaving the office and pulls out his gun and chases her. She escapes through a ceiling panel into the vents. Clay insists on following. While crawling through the ventilation system, Hurley freezes, imagining a widow pointing an accusatory finger at him. Coming back to himself, he realizes that Clay has fallen through a hole in the vent and pulls him up. RELATED: TV Review: Leverage: Redemption Season 3 Giving up the pursuit, they return to the office kitchen where Hurley starts cooling Clay down. He offers Clay another scam, promising him that a big score is just around the corner. Clay doesn't look enthused or convinced. Sophie, Harry, and Breanna listen in from the mobile headquarters, urging Hurley to rope Clay in for the missing million. Clay tells Hurley they're not the same and walks away. Hurley follows him, asking where he's going. Clay says he's going to the police. The team gets there first. Dressed like detectives, Breanna and Harry head into the Economic Crimes Unit and convince Detective D. Lancer (Robert Walker-Branchaud) that they're from Internal Affairs. He offers to meet them in the backroom of a nearby bar. Once he's gone, they set the office up to look like Breanna is Detective Lancer. Harry clears out before Clay arrives. What They're Not Seeing Clay comes in, claiming to be a victim of fraud. Breanna says the con crew is well-known to police and pulls out a folder on Sophie and Harry. When the phone rings, she turns her back, and Clay steals the folder. RELATED: Read our Cross recaps In the mobile HQ, Sophie prepares. She mentions to Parker that Hurley is drinking again. Whether he internalizes or externalizes the feelings he's dealing with, things could go wrong. She advises Parker to tread lightly as she's his Leverage manager. Parker has faith in Hurley, but accepts the advice, seeing as Sophie's experience with Nate (Timothy Hutton) gives her expertise in these matters. Clay finds Sophie alone in a motel room. When he demands his money, she throws a duffel full of shredded paper at him, claiming Harry double-crossed her. She tells him Harry got all three million, causing Clay to panic. He calls his Swiss bank to check the balance. Breanna intercepts the call and uses his password to transfer the last million back to the church. Once they've confirmed the transfer, Sophie offers Clay a chance to get Harry. Instead of rising to the opportunity, Clay breaks down in tears. Hearing this, Hurley runs out of the mobile unit. He bursts into the motel room, claiming to have followed Clay to protect him from Sophie. Clay tells him he didn't steal the money for himself. He was trying to help Denise. Saving Clay Back at headquarters, Hurley appeals to the team to help Clay. He sees himself in Clay. Hurley wants them to run a con to keep Clay and Denise from losing each other. While Elliot protests that they don't do love cons, Parker urges Hurley to run it. Clay feels guilty about getting Denise the job in real estate, moving her up from the valet parking desk. Because she sold a penthouse unit in an uninsured development destroyed by a hurricane, her client lost their investment. The Bayou Bluffs manager, Barry Eiger (Jonathan Gregg), threw her under the bus, and she plans to move to Seattle to live with her mom. RELATED: A Leverage: Redemption Primer: Get Ready to Steal Season 3 Elliot caters the cake for Denise's last day party. Hurley convinces Clay to talk to her, offering to be his Cyrano with an ear com on a separate channel from the team. Sophie and Harry arrive as Veronica and Carl Lundermeyer, real estate tycoons. They interrupt the party to whisk Denise away. Informing her that because she's a sales associate, not a licensed broker, the non-compete clause doesn't apply to her, they urge her to come work for them, as she can bring all the clients with her. As they leave, Sophie spots Eiger eavesdropping from a nearby cubicle. Clay's frozen with anxiety despite Hurley's help. Hurley gives him a pep talk and shoves him out the door. Elliot's got his feet up in the break room when he spots a custodian pushing a cart by the door. He leaps to his feet and follows. Complications Clay finds Denise and starts to confess his love to her. Elsewhere, Elliot shadows the custodian. From a different direction, a woman in a yellow dress, carrying a huge balloon arrangement that obscures her face, enters the office and turns. Elliot informs Parker and Breanna that he's spotted two contract killers in the office. RELATED: The Librarians Sequel Coming to the CW Breanna learns they're known as The Party Girl, identity unknown, and The Janitor, aka Nathan Clegg. Going through the decoy folder Parker stole, Breanna discovers that Denise's client is a front for a cartel. Elliot prepares to take on the assassins. He starts with The Janitor, who has a Japanese blade hidden in his mop handle. At Hurley's insistence, Clay tells Denise that she can't leave. He needs her to stay, but before he can express that, he blurts out that there are killers looking for her, repeating what Hurley is saying. Hurley appears and suggests they leave. Clay and Denise argue in sign language as to whether to escape down the stairs or the elevator. Sophie and Harry approach the other office staff and offer them each a $50,000 signing bonus. This gets them all out of the office. The boss follows. Cleaning House Elliot beats The Janitor with a roll of bubble wrap. Leaving the fight room, he sees the balloons. It's a trap, and The Party Girl ambushes him, jumping on his back, laughing maniacally. Hurley makes it to the parking garage alone. A third assassin appears, but Hurley refuses to give up Denise's location. As the assassin prepares to shoot, Sophie warns Hurley it's going to get loud. All the car alarms simultaneously go off. Hurley punches the assassin. Parker appears out of nowhere and hits the assassin with a taser, knocking him out. Flashback to Sophie and Harry escaping to the parkade with Clay and Denise. They find the valet station, and Denise hands out keys. Everyone punches the alarm buttons. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps Cut to Elliot in the office, lifting the unconscious Party Girl over his shoulder. He reassures everyone that he's okay. 'Can't Grow Until You Go' At headquarters, Clay and Denise have a candlelit dinner. Parker and Hurley watch from a balcony. Hurley regrets they weren't able to take down Eiger. Parker hints that they might've. Flashback to Harry and Breanna in Detective Lancer's office, handing over the green folder full of incriminating evidence of a money laundering scheme. Lancer storms off, insisting he'll arrest Eiger immediately. Hurley laughs delightedly at the news. He asks Parker how Clay found the headquarters in the first place. Flashback to Clay during the first con. Parker bumps into him and slips the address into his pocket. In the present, Hurley looks confused. Parker explains that she'll never give up stealing stuff and that she's gotten good at running the crews. However, she's never done the feelings piece well. She admits that she sensed that Clay wasn't really a bad guy, but she was more concerned about Hurley. She sent Clay in his direction to help him find his way after Rio went bad. Hurley chuckles, realizing he was the mark she wanted to cool off. He hands her his beer bottle and thanks her. Leverage: Redemption Season 3 streams on Prime Video with new episodes every Thursday. Prime Video Renews FALLOUT for Season 3 Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.
Geek Girl Authority
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Recap: (S03E07) The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job
It's been a while since the Leverage: Redemption team fried up a big fish in a little pond. In Leverage: Redemption Season 3 Episode 7, 'The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job,' they stumble across the hamlet of Gillon, Louisiana, where the mayor has been filling his pockets with money collected from people passing through in the form of traffic tickets and fines for breaking frivolous bylaws. As a lovely sidenote, Sophie (Gina Bellman) has a Hallmark moment with the town's handyman/vet/tow truck driver. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous Leverage: Redemption episode, 'The Swipe Right Job' It's another Hardison/Aldis Hodge-light adventure. In addition, Noah Wyle's Harry Wilson only contributes via text message. Ostensibly, he's in court all week, but Wyle might've been filming The Pitt just as Hodge had other work obligations like Cross and City on a Hill . Still, with a hint of The Magnificent Seven and a whiff of Spartacus , the active Leverage: Redemption team members work their magic on a town that could be better than their municipal leaders. Image Credit: Sam Lothridge/Prime Video Leverage: Redemption, 'The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job' An exhausted Eliot (Christian Kane) drives home in his 2008 Dodge Challenger. Sophie rides in the passenger seat, bemoaning her dating life, and Parker (Beth Riesgraf) is in the back seat searching for food. At headquarters, Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) wanders around in a panda onesie, questioning how Sophie could be doing dating 'wrong.' Sophie says that a lifetime of lying and grifting has made her overly distrustful. Breanna admits that she's created dozens of online bots to build fake interactive histories to use in future cons. However, she also uses them to mess with real people occasionally. RELATED: The Librarians Sequel Coming to the CW When Sophie starts questioning Eliot about what he lies about to romantic partners, he steps on the gas to get home faster. Suddenly, a hidden police car pursues them with its siren screaming. The team reports that they've been pulled over. Breanna reminds them that law enforcement might take exception to some of the items from the previous night's con that are in the car's hidden compartment. The sheriff, Pinkus (Carl Palmer), demands Eliot's license. Eliot hands over one for Luke Newman. Pinkus tells him to pop the trunk. When Eliot questions this, Pinkus warns him he's already getting a $300 ticket for speeding in a construction zone. He threatens to tack another hundred on for the look Eliot's giving him. The situation escalates quickly due to Pinkus's aggressive manner. He impounds the car and arrests Eliot. Breanna looks up the township, Gillon, and discovers it collects $2.5 million each year by ticketing passing motorists. Gillon, LA Parker and Sophie ride into town with the tow truck driver. He and Sophie strike up a conversation about Yeats's poetry. He gets a call about a kitten with a possible broken leg. Turns out he's the town vet who also drives the tow truck. He drops them outside Ethel's Diner to wait for Eliot. Sophie's a bit smitten. RELATED: A Leverage: Redemption Primer: Get Ready to Steal Season 3 Parker's still hungry, so she and Sophie wade through the biker gang outside to get into Ethel's. Inside, a man scolds a younger man about how he handles the loans at the town's bank before shooing him away without any breakfast. As Ethel (Julie Ivey) passes by his table, the older man grabs her and complains about the peppers on his omelette. She takes the omelette away without a word. Sophie and Parker watch from the counter. In the courthouse, Eliot and other defendants are directed to plead guilty or no contest when they face the judge, and they'll get to leave with a slap on the wrist. Eliot wants Harry to help him. Sophie says Harry's in court all week but tells Breanna to try to get a message to him. Pissing Someone Off In the diner, Sophie chats up Ethel and finds out the loud older man is Armin Brewster (Cedric Yarbrough), the town's mayor. He's been mayor for 15 years. Ethel used to run the town paper before it shut down. Brewster walks over to greet Sophie and Parker. Sophie comments that whoever's in charge should deal with the riff-raff outside. He tells Ethel he forgot his wallet and leaves without paying. Ethel tells the women the last thing you want to do is piss off the mayor. RELATED: Read our Cross recaps Breanna lets Eliot know that Harry says to plead no contest, pay the fine, and get home. Eliot asks the courthouse sheriff, Pinkus, what happens if he pleads not guilty. Pinkus says he'll get stuck in a very small cell for a very long time while they send a call out for the magistrate. He warns Eliot that the last thing he wants to do is piss off the judge. A Mayor's Court Sophie and Parker arrive in the courtroom just as Pinkus announces the judge, who turns out to be Armin Brewster, the mayor. Parker theorizes that the mayor and the judge are twins, or possibly clones. Harry informs Breanna by text that it's legal in several states for the mayor to sit as judge. Once Brewster gets started, he racks up the fines until Eliot's on the hook for a thousand dollars. In addition, he recognizes Parker and Sophie from the diner and charges them another thousand to get the car out of impound. Sophie decides it's time to add Mayor Brewster to their collection of toppled mayors. RELATED: Falling Skies Season 4 Premiere Thoughts and Recap Heading back to the diner, Sophie asks Ethel about the history of Gillon and Brewster. After the mill shut down, Brewster made himself mayor and turned the town into a speed trap. He squeezes the townsfolk when he can't make enough off fining people driving through. If anyone tries to challenge him for the mayorship, he sics the biker gangs on them. The only oversight committee, the town council, has only three people on it. Two of them are Sheriff Pinkus and Clyde Brewster (Craig Frank), Armin's younger brother. The third is Ethel's brother — the town vet and tow truck driver — Jack (John Charles Meyer). Let's Go Steal a Town Eliot's keen to come back in a week to run a con after he's gotten some sleep. Sophie insists they can quickly and easily Field of Dreams Brewster, separating him from his campaign war chest, and setting the town up for a fair election. The plan is to portray Eliot as a racecar driver-turner-track designer representing Apex 300, a race track development company looking to turn Gillon into a racing mecca. Parker's a daredevil driver, Helena von Strom, the future face of Apex 300. Sophie's the rainmaker, Tia Salabianchi, the influencer with the ear of the Apex 300 board. Sophie approaches Clyde Brewster at the First Bank of Gillon as Tia. She proposes the purchase of the old mill grounds and the property between it and the highway for a mysterious consortium, offering $50 million. As she takes a fake call from the Apex 300 board, Clyde looks her up and gives Armin a call. Armin has Pinkus with him and sends the sheriff to the mill. Good With My Hands Sophie spots Jack fixing a truck and comes over to talk. They quote some Yeats at each other, and he offers her a bed. At his bed and breakfast. Obviously. Sophie regretfully declines, saying that she's leaving town that night. RELATED: TV Review: Leverage: Redemption Season 3 When Sophie returns to the bank to meet with Clyde, he brings her to a room to meet with Armin. She furthers the grift, but he leaves without biting. Over the coms, Eliot comments that something's not right. He's headed to the mill on a bicycle. When he arrives, he finds the biker gang set up. He beats them up, sending them off on their bikes to lick their wounds. He discovers a kilo of cut cocaine on the ground. Parker drives up and takes the cocaine with her since the police are on their way to arrest Eliot. Again. Sophie knocks on Jack's door. He wonders if she's actually willing to trust him. She states she's interested in peeking behind the facade of the house. She spends the night and enjoys a proper cup of tea the next morning. Jack tells her that he and Ethel believe in the town and want to give it a chance to thrive. He says the only time they made any progress was when Armin went on holiday and the council elected a temporary mayor. The Missing Pieces Regrouping with Parker and Eliot, Sophie shares her Jack-made pastries while Eliot informs them that the bikers push drugs at the local truck stop. They realize Armin's been turning a blind eye in exchange for their muscle. If a racetrack were to draw attention to Gillon, the bikers' gig would be over. RELATED: Read our Fallout recaps Parker decides they need to turn the bikers against Armin. Sophie says that's a part of it. She goes and waits for Armin in Ethel's. He sits down and gloats that they read him wrong. Money's not as important to him as power. He believes she'll be running out of town by nightfall. She disagrees. She won't be the one running. Eliot finds the biker gang and plants the idea that Armin is running a cartel deal under their noses. They break open a trailer at the truck stop and find barrels full of bags of flour that Sophie and Parker seeded with the kilo they left with Eliot. The bikers head out to find Armin. Phase Two Eliot enters the bank wearing a clown mask, triggering panic in the tellers and clients. While everyone is distracted, Parker steals the keys to the vault. She empties several safety deposit boxes, taking all the bikers' money. Clyde realizes what's happened after Pinkus takes Eliot away. He runs outside and tries to get away in his car. It doesn't start. Sophie sits down in the passenger seat. She promises to fix everything for him in exchange for his vote on the council. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Leverage: Redemption 's Parker In the courtroom, Jack addresses Armin, having called an emergency council meeting to elect a temporary mayor to replace Armin. He nominates Eliot/Luke Newman. Clyde votes with Jack against Pinkus and runs from the room. Jack takes the gavel from Armin before he can run after Clyde. Armin runs out of the courtroom and straight into the bikers. Pinkus pulls the bikers off Armin, giving him a chance to escape. Sophie, Parker, and Ethel watch Armin peel out of town. Ethel points out that the biker gang is still set up in town. She asks how they can clean the town up with them around. 'Where's the cavalry?' she asks. Sophie states they'll turn up. With a deep sigh, she states, 'I trust.' Building Trust Breanna uses her bots to create buzz and excitement about Eliot as Mayor Newman. At the diner, Sophie waitresses while Ethel revives her paper online, writing about the town and what it has to offer. Breanna sets Ethel's article up to go viral and heads up to Gillon to join the team. RELATED: Prime Video Renews Fallout for Season 3 Montage of Eliot doing mayor stuff while the bikers terrorize the town. In the bank, the bikers discover their money is gone. Breanna's there to 'push them over the edge,' on Sophie's advice. She tells them there was a break-in and recommends that next time, they put their money in a chequing account. They storm out and head to the courtroom, where they try to shake down Eliot. Eliot refuses, and they walk out. He warns Sophie that the bikers are going to do something extreme. The bikers head to Ethel's and pour gasoline all over the walls and windows. They light a torch, and the head biker holds it up, threatening to burn the building and possibly the whole town down unless they get rid of their new mayor. Ethel can't see how the town will survive. Sophie explains that the plan was always to have the people of Gillon rise up and take their town back. Jack and the town firefighters arrive in the firetruck. The rest of the town arrives on bicycles, en masse. They face off with the bikers who drop the torch and leave. Outside Gillon, Parker pulls Armin and Pinkus over for speeding in the construction zone. She finds the stolen bank money in the trunk and arrests them. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps In Gillon, Ethel launches her campaign for mayor with a peach-themed festival and a proposal to turn the old mill into a multi-purpose recreation and live concert venue. Clyde thanks Sophie for bringing him and his horticulture degree onto the project. Guilty or No Contest In the courtroom, a magistrate informs Armin and Pinkus that Mayor Newman has split mayoral and judicial duties forever. She accuses Armin and Pinkus of working with the bikers to sell drugs over the last ten years. Their choice is to plead guilty or no contest. Outside, Ethel bids Breanna, Parker, and Eliot goodbye, thanking them for their help. She tells them they're welcome in Gillon anytime. Sophie decides to stay in Gillon with Jack for a few days. For his popovers. Leverage: Redemption Season 3 streams on Prime Video with new episodes every Thursday. The New BALLERINA Trailer Is Pure Fire Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.
Chicago Tribune
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Leverage: Redemption' review: Breezy caper series with a moral compass is back for Season 3
With a taste for heists and a soft spot for anyone wronged, the team on 'Leverage: Redemption' operates outside the law, targeting unscrupulous individuals in need of karmic payback. Back for a third season on Amazon, the show's swindlers-with-a-moral-compass include Noah Wyle, who joined the ensemble when the series was rebooted in 2021. More recently, Wyle has been giving a wonderfully unfussy performance on the hospital drama 'The Pitt,' which just wrapped its first 15-episode season. But it's fun to see him doing something lighter on 'Leverage.' Though he plays an attorney, his actual purpose within the team has never been clearly spelled out. That's fine, and better than fine when he gets to go undercover in service of the con, whether as an eccentric CEO of a cryonics company or a pool hustler with incredible sideburns, because it's in these moments that Wyle gets to be silly. That fits the tone of this breezy caper series from John Rogers and Chris Downey, where details and logistics are less important than a jaunty overall approach that gives audiences something that's been in short supply both in fiction and the real world: Consequences for the rich and corrupt. A man stealing water from an aquifer and then selling it back to the area's residents? A local judge with a taste for gifts rivaling Clarence Thomas's? A company that's more or less a chop shop selling human body parts? The team has found their next project. They're able to scam the scammers because they have very specialized skills and seemingly unlimited funds. That's not exactly a galvanizing message, but there is one episode that features ordinary people coming together to push out a nasty crook of a mayor, albeit with considerable 'Leverage' shenanigans making it possible. As a series, it has its head screwed on straight. I mean, right now? With everything that's happening? As someone puts it, a con is just a set of artificial circumstances designed to elicit an intended response. It's impossible to hear those words and not think of the stock market in recent weeks. Aldis Hodge and Aleyse Shannon play the group's hackers (the former is once again largely absent from the season, I'm guessing due to scheduling conflicts with his other Amazon series, 'Cross') and I was bummed at the inclusion of stray bits of dialogue along the lines of 'I can run an AI algorithm.' The team may wink in the face of 'rules,' but their existence is predicated on a clear ethical framework and they'd never be so blithe and cavalier about the many issues surrounding artificial intelligence. These casual references stick out in a bad way. It's surprising because the show tends to do the little things so well. In one episode, a food bank charity raises money at a gala where the theme is Marie Antoinette. So wrong, so absurd — no notes! In another episode, the team's cat burglar (Beth Riesgraf) and muscle (Christian Kane) impersonate FBI agents in windbreakers, and it works as a legit parody of these kinds of swaggering portrayals. The brains of each operation is the grifter (Gina Bellman) and she's the steadying presence amid the wild card personalities of her compatriots. Something about the energy and storytelling flags in the final two of the season's 10 episodes, but it's a minor quibble. I can't express how satisfying it is to watch a television show that doesn't pretend we have to accept that systems are permanently rigged and we're all doomed. It's also deeply ironic that this show exists on this streaming platform. Hell, any streaming platform, for that matter. These are not companies particularly interested in notions of 'fairness' or 'balancing the scales,' and yet somehow this show exists. Hustling the hustlers? I'll take it.
Mid East Info
22-04-2025
- Business
- Mid East Info
A secular decline in the USD, if with annoying headline risks – Saxo Bank MENA - Middle East Business News and Information
John J. Hardy, Global Head of Macro Strategy, Saxo Bank US President Trump has been out lashing out at 'Mr. Too Late' Fed Chair Powell to cut rates, which triggered a fresh slide in the US dollar. It is all feeling like a bit too much in the near term, and it is worth noting that, while the US dollar did fall and US long yields did rise (further erosion of the faith and credit of US long-term debt), the short end of the US yield curve remained rock-steady. I like the argument that this is less about the beginning of a campaign to get Powell fired and more about Trump looking for scapegoats for weak US equity markets, his declining popularity and an incoming US recession. I'm sure at least the US Treasury Secretary Bessent would prefer to flex the power of the US treasury on issues like exempting US treasury holdings from the banks' Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) to improve treasury market liquidity to lower long US yields. In theory, the Fed has this power, but it is in a gray zone. While near term direction in the USD is just impossible because of headline risk and how far we have traveled so quickly of late, it might be a good idea to repeat the key drivers of USD weakness in this update. Chief among them is the 'end of US exceptionalism' theme as Trumps' tariff threats and attempt to restructure the terms of the US relationship with the rest of the world are a profound disruption of the US dollar system that underpins global finance. This means an exodus from US treasuries and US equities as portfolio managers second guess the incredible over-allocation to US-based assets. That allocation was always the flip-side of the US dollar's status as the primary global reserve currency: the decades of massive US external deficits showing up in US capital markets in the form of massive foreign investment in US-based assets. With Trump calling time on US deficits both trade and (theoretically) fiscal, the capital flows would need to slow and even go into reverse as the deficits decline. An erosion of the US dollar's status would mean an erosion of its value. The more mundane driver of USD weakness over the coming perhaps three to nine months is the risk of a US recession due to a combination of: fiscal drag (at minimum net zero real growth in public outlays even if DOGE impact may prove smaller than thought) a widespread weak consumer sentiment and a debt-stressed lower half of the income distribution. The negative wealth effect for the highest 10% of incomes and most wealthy that drives nearly 50% of consumer spending corporate management uncertainty remaining high and investment held back as long as tariff chaos clouds the outlook. What could brake the USD decline in the very near term, besides excessive positioning, would be a sudden clarification/breakthrough or change of tone from Trump on trade negotiations with key partners like Japan and the Eurozone. Longer term, bulls on the US economy will point to hopes for Trump to switch from a focus on trade to one of deregulation and tax cuts. But the overwhelming geopolitical structural shift that drives our expectation of a secular decline in the US dollar dominates. Looking ahead It's a bit late in the week to run down the usual 'weak ahead' list, and this is a very headline-prone market. But a couple worth mentioning: tomorrow we have the global April PMIs starting in Australian, but the France, Germany and Eurozone surveys usually get the most attention. Otherwise, the calendar is rather quiet, if not on the equity front, where reports could drive swings in risk sentiment. Tesla is a key one for the speculative space that is out tonight after the US close. On the geopolitical front, note that we have the IMF meetings all week (the kind of US hegemonic institution that the Trump administration is likely set to gut its commitment to), the G20 meeting of finance ministers tomorrow and Thursday in Washington D.C. could generate interesting signals as well. Further out, we will watch the Canadian election on Monday with great interest as the Liberal Party advantage in the polls is looking a bit slimmer.
