"I once saw a horse kill a clown."

I didn't watch very much this week.  Read a lot and wrote more than usual instead.  [Curious thing on the elevator today – I was the only person (of 6) not wearing earbuds.]

We did catch another episode of "Leverage" and it was the best one yet.  It's been close to a month since we last watched but I didn't have any trouble picking back up with the characters.  Clearly it was better written than I initially gave it credit for.

This particular episode provided exposition on the backstories of 3 different characters.  1 was the basis of the episode but the other 2 were artful additions.  We were introduced to a new multi-episode nemesis (I'm presuming) from our hero's past.  And then there was the flashback.

Flashbacks were over used by "amateurs" in the last decades and are on the list of devices to never use.  I believe that list is just to separate out the people who can think from the people who can't -- sometimes you need a flashback and if you do it right it's awesome.

This flashback was done correctly.  1) There was absolutely no other way to provide the information about the character other than a dull monologue.  2) It was wicked short.  3) It was immediately relevant and was further paid off before the end of the story.  4) It delivered the information visually -- in this case the words, "I once saw a horse kill a clown," didn't describe what really happened but the words over the video made it work on multiple levels.  5) It was the only flashback in the episode.  The other expository elements were addressed using different tools.

All in all, very entertaining with just a hint of Psych's offbeat humor (which I love).