Someone's been listening to my thoughts. Leverage's season finale answered questions and made right their badly put evil-insurance company scheme.
So it really was the CEO who was an evil little prick. He came in and made the illegal mandate that all claims be denied at all times. ILLEGAL. Then, when Nate's son was seriously ill and Nate+wife had exhausted all monies and put their house in hock, the CEO personally refused to help out the family. Thus, Nate had gone through all options before coming to beg the company for help. In which case, the company would not be remiss in helping out.
Ok, so I can still watch Leverage without getting mad about the subplot. This is good.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
What's wrong with a little BS?
I like Timothy Hutton. He's a good actor. His work on the Nero Wolfe mysteries series was pretty good and somehow managed to save the books from being tossed into the heap like the works of Erle Stanley Gardner.
So now he has Leverage. A show that's pretty ok. Sure, it's "take from the big bad rich and give to the saintly poor," a cliche if ever there was one, but it's not bad. A couple of the episodes have been awful, but on the whole, the first season's had a good run. The characters are interesting and quirky, and the plots have some good twists (though I'm never surprised, unfortunately).
The one thing that bothers me? The one thing that's ruining my enjoyment of the show?
Nate and his sorry background plot. Here's the gas: Nate (played by Hutton) was an insurance investigator working for some big fancy-schmancy insurance company. He was the good guy who ran around and caught thieves and swindlers. Pretty good at it too, he was. Then, his son fell ill with cancer. The evil insurance company denied an experimental treatment, causing the son to die a presumably horrible death.
Now, here's the rub. The show makes it seem like the insurance company can deny treatment. This is not true. Insurance companies can deny PAYMENT for a treatment that is not covered under their policy. Leverage pins Nate's son's death on the CEO of the big bad insurance company. In reality, Nate is responsible for the death, since he COULD have taken out a loan to pay for this treatment himself. There was no one preventing the ACTUAL TREATMENT from occuring, as long as it was paid for by someone. The insurance company denied PAYMENT, so Nate should have come up with the money on his own. Hospitals will not deny necessary treatment and will actually find ways for families to pay for such treatment.
Also, CEOs of insruance companies do not make decisions of approval or denial. Leverage makes it seem like the CEO went out of his way just to screw Nate over.
Yeah, right.
So now he has Leverage. A show that's pretty ok. Sure, it's "take from the big bad rich and give to the saintly poor," a cliche if ever there was one, but it's not bad. A couple of the episodes have been awful, but on the whole, the first season's had a good run. The characters are interesting and quirky, and the plots have some good twists (though I'm never surprised, unfortunately).
The one thing that bothers me? The one thing that's ruining my enjoyment of the show?
Nate and his sorry background plot. Here's the gas: Nate (played by Hutton) was an insurance investigator working for some big fancy-schmancy insurance company. He was the good guy who ran around and caught thieves and swindlers. Pretty good at it too, he was. Then, his son fell ill with cancer. The evil insurance company denied an experimental treatment, causing the son to die a presumably horrible death.
Now, here's the rub. The show makes it seem like the insurance company can deny treatment. This is not true. Insurance companies can deny PAYMENT for a treatment that is not covered under their policy. Leverage pins Nate's son's death on the CEO of the big bad insurance company. In reality, Nate is responsible for the death, since he COULD have taken out a loan to pay for this treatment himself. There was no one preventing the ACTUAL TREATMENT from occuring, as long as it was paid for by someone. The insurance company denied PAYMENT, so Nate should have come up with the money on his own. Hospitals will not deny necessary treatment and will actually find ways for families to pay for such treatment.
Also, CEOs of insruance companies do not make decisions of approval or denial. Leverage makes it seem like the CEO went out of his way just to screw Nate over.
Yeah, right.