Last night's episode of "Leverage"

aggle-rithm

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aggle-rithm
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I was practically cheering when I saw last night's episode of "Leverage". It was a brilliant summary of the tactics used by fake psychics.

The "psychic" in the episode, played by Luke Perry, appeared to be a composite of John Edward and Sylvia Browne. He had both extremely lucrative (and gullible) private clients, and a TV show called "Making Contact" ("Crossing Over"?). The studio audience was monitored as they waited in line to get clues about what they were there for and other personal information.

The episode explained very well the concepts of cold and hot reading.

It ended a little unrealistically, though...he was arrested for fraud. I don't see that happening, even though he was ripping people off, because it's just "entertainment", right?

Did anyone else see this episode?
 
aggle-rithm said:
I was practically cheering when I saw last night's episode of "Leverage". It was a brilliant summary of the tactics used by fake psychics.

The "psychic" in the episode, played by Luke Perry, appeared to be a composite of John Edward and Sylvia Browne. He had both extremely lucrative (and gullible) private clients, and a TV show called "Making Contact" ("Crossing Over"?). The studio audience was monitored as they waited in line to get clues about what they were there for and other personal information.

The episode explained very well the concepts of cold and hot reading.

It ended a little unrealistically, though...he was arrested for fraud. I don't see that happening, even though he was ripping people off, because it's just "entertainment", right?

Did anyone else see this episode?
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It's the first time I've watched a full episode. Hadn't really liked what I'd seen before but this was great. I must admit I was a bit confused by the ending though. Did nobody notice they were in a storage unit right next to a TV studio? :confused:

But Luke Perry totally played the scumbag I assume John Edward is off-camera to perfection.
 
Drudgewire said:
But Luke Perry totally played the scumbag I assume John Edward is off-camera to perfection.
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Also Sylvia Browne.

When told by his assistant that a client only had a few thousand dollars left:

"She's still got a house she can sell, right? Don't leave any money on the table."
 
Drudgewire said:
It's the first time I've watched a full episode. Hadn't really liked what I'd seen before but this was great. I must admit I was a bit confused by the ending though. Did nobody notice they were in a storage unit right next to a TV studio? :confused:
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Right...shouldn't a studio have more than one layer of sheetrock between itself and the outside world?

Oh, well. Willing suspension of disbelief and all that.
 
aggle-rithm said:
The episode explained very well the concepts of cold and hot reading.
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That was what hooked me. The psychic gives a reading to one of the team and completely convinces her he has a gift, then the rest of the group gives her a second-by-second debunking by explaining the cold reading methods he used on her as she watches him do it.

She goes from being a true believer who's angry at the rest of them for doubting his powers to wanting to kill him. :D
 
I was also thrilled I caught that episode of Leverage. Personally, I think Luke Perry did a better job cold reading than either Sylvia or Chris could ever do! Sylvia and Chris need to take some acting classes.
 
ladyjustice said:
I was also thrilled I caught that episode of Leverage. Personally, I think Luke Perry did a better job cold reading than either Sylvia or Chris could ever do! Sylvia and Chris need to take some acting classes.
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Absolutely! Sylvia and Chris, from what I hear, don't even try to feign empathy. It goes to show you how powerful the need to believe is.
 
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