All NON-spoilery parts of the article are below. Click the link for the rest if you want all the details, but they ARE very spoilery. Be warned.

On paper, Leverage might look like a dark action series about conmen, thieves and hackers. But in reality, it’s a clever mix of action, humor and human drama. The victims on the show are every day, hardworking people who have no one to turn to when they’re being taken advantage of, or worse, put into danger. That’s where Nate and the gang come in. They’ll do what they have to in order to save the day, even if it means getting a little creative.

“One of the other things I think that people enjoy is the Plan B of it all,” says star and team leader, Timothy Hutton. “I mean, the team often sets out with a very specific way they’re going to go about going after somebody, and they have to change courses in the middle. And all doing their parts, some by infiltrating, some by sneaking into a building or something or taking on another character, and I think all that becomes a lot of fun for audiences.”

Fun is a huge component in an episode of Leverage. Some of that comes from the unexpected plot twists, but much of it comes from the chemistry between the characters.

Says Tim, “I think it’s something that developed as we went along. We found that, as a group, we kind of enjoyed riffing off each other and getting a banter going. Some of the humor on the show is improvised and that started with the pilot and found its way through the whole first season and is happening in the second season we’re filming now. We all like each other enormously and you know, they are interesting, quirky, dysfunctional characters. And put five of them together and there’s going to be some comedic moments.”

Another thing new for this season is the locale of the series. After filming in Los Angeles, producers packed up their tent poles and moved the show to Portland where they’ve been both welcomed and scorned. But for Hutton, the move was a welcome change.

“[I] love filming up here. Just really, really am having a great time being in this city. I ride my bike to the set everyday. I have my dog here. I’ve got a place here for the time that I’m going to be up here, because it’s six months. And it’s just a great city to be in, to be working in. And for the series it provides so many different looks. We have, you know, water, ocean, river. It’s a big port town. So you have that. It’s just an incredible place, Portland. We’re hoping that if there is a third season that we would be back here.”

Link: http://www.tvverdict.com/2009/06/23/timothy-hutton-gains-a-little-more-leverage