#I really need to make my leverage scenes out of context post

[independent-fics]

Yes it was kinda slang but also I’m gonna believe it’s more than that. Just processing that Hardison called Eliot baby in the very first episode.

[antichilde]

common ground

satoru gojo x fem reader, 2.7k words mdni

contents: 18+, fluff and smut, upperclassman gojo, inexperienced reader, thigh riding, vaginal fingering, no use of y/n, one shot… for now. haha, just kidding. unless..?

warnings: somnophilia, use of the word cunt, gendered language (gojo calls you ‘pretty girl’), semi-public sex

notes: let me know if you’d be interested in a part 2. based on a dream i had but i swear i don’t even like gojo that much

ao3 post

You dream of Gojo, warm and solid beneath you. It’s not the first time you’ve dreamed about him, nor will it be the last, but something about this one feels different. All the little details that your mind usually skips over have been filled in: his steady breathing, the scent of his cologne, the softness of his shirt as you clutch at the hem. It would appear that your mind has conjured them all for you to enjoy.

You can’t pinpoint when you become aware of the fact that you’re not completely asleep, but as you doze it registers that this is all a little too real to be a dream. There’s no sense of urgency or sudden revelation in your exhausted mind, just the knowledge that you should probably get up in the near future.

Gojo stirs when your eyes flutter open, your lashes tickling the skin of his neck. “Good morning.”

It’s very clearly not morning. The light streaming in from the windows has the distinct golden quality of late afternoon.

“What time is it?” you ask, rubbing sleep from your eyes.

His glances over at the clock. “A little after five. You were out for about an hour.”

Following his gaze, you recognize the familiar scenery of your dorm’s common area. How did you even…?

It’s at this point that the full context of your situation finally registers: you’d taken a nap on your upperclassman and long-time crush, Satoru Gojo. That on its own would be embarrassing and grounds for merciless teasing, but add to it the fact that you’ve been clinging to his shirt and possibly drooling all over him? He’s never going to let you live this one down.

His arm wraps around your waist as you start to sit up. “Hey, take it easy. No need to get up right away, I’m not going anywhere.”

“But—“

“But nothing. You need to rest.”

Trying to squirm out of his iron grip, you shift on his lap and another humiliating truth makes itself known.

One of his thighs is wedged between your legs. Based on the low buzz of arousal registering in your hips and cunt you’re almost certain you’d been grinding on him in your sleep.

Dropping your head back down onto his shoulder, you try to gauge the situation. Just because you can feel that you’re wet doesn’t necessarily mean that he feels it, right? Unless you’ve already soaked through the thin fabric of your panties, in which case you’re about to die of embarrassment.

“Where’s everyone else?” you ask tentatively.

“Out. They’ll be back in a couple hours.” Gojo’s lips curl into a little smile. “Why do you ask? Are you worried about getting caught in such a compromising position?”

“I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

His smile widens into a full-blown grin. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Can’t have our classmates seeing the wet patch you left on my thigh. That would definitely give them the wrong idea.”

Of fucking course he knows. You’ve had enough of this. Gojo’s grip is as unbreakable as ever, but if you really make a scene you know he’ll let you go.

“That’s it. I’m getting up,” you say. It’s all the warning he gets before you try to escape. Gojo’s eyes widen as you thrash around in his arms, his glasses sliding down his nose.

“Hey, what are y—!”

He tightens his grip on your waist, using it as leverage to hold you at arms length the same way one would a feral kitten. This inadvertently drags your hips along his thigh, pulling a borderline pornographic moan from you. Both of you freeze.

For a moment the only sound is the slight creak of the fan blades whirling overhead.

“…Everyone is actually out, right?” you ask, staring hard at his collar. There’s no way you’re going to be able to meet his eyes right now.

“Yeah.” You can hear the smirk in his voice, smug bastard. “It’s just us.”

He loosens his hold on you, setting your full weight down on his thigh. The stimulation draws a whine from you, considerably less loud but just as embarrassing, and his fingers twitch, digging into you before he makes himself relax them.

“You still wanna get up?” he asks, running the pad of his thumb along your waistband. “Because you can if you want to, or you can keep riding my thigh. It’s up to you.”

Okay, so he’s giving you an out. That’s nice of him, even though there’s no way you’re going to take it. This is so humiliating.

Leaning forwards, you return to your original position, burying your face in his collar. He laughs, cradling you to him.

“Aw, don’t go getting all shy on me now. It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

“What was I doing before I woke up?” The question comes out muffled, but he seems to understand it anyway.

“Well, let’s see…” Tapping a finger against his lips, Gojo reflects on the past hour. “At first you were just sleeping quietly, then you started making all these cute little noises. And then… Y’know it might be easier for me to just show you. Would you like that?”

Nodding against him, you shudder as his fingers tighten on you.

“It was like this,” he says, guiding your hips into a slow rhythm. Your eyes flutter closed, moaning softly into the fabric of his shirt.

“You like that, baby?” He stops, patting your thigh. “C’mon. Let me see that pretty face.”

It takes you a moment to work up the nerve but you manage to sit up, your eyes glued to the collar of his shirt.

“Look at me.”

Again, you do as you’re told. Gojo’s glasses are still low enough that he can peek over the top of them, his brilliant eyes drinking in the sight of you. Without thinking, you reach out to push them up the bridge of his nose, your fingertips skimming over his cheekbones.

You shift on his lap, dropping your hands to your sides. “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“Wow, you really are dumb sometimes.” Gojo says, flicking your forehead affectionately. “If you need it spelled out, no, I’m not uncomfortable. It was cute.”

Wincing, you rub at the spot where his fingers made contact. “Was that really necessary?”

You can’t help the way your breath hitches when he reaches out again, this time gently cupping your cheek to hold your face still. The pad of his thumb traces a little heart over the skin of your forehead. It’s enough to lull you into a sense of security, your body relaxing into his hold. You close your eyes, only to snap them open again as he flicks you for a second time.

“Ow! What the hell, Gojo?”

“Sorry,” he says, grinning unapologetically. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“You’re such a bully.”

You swat his hands away and he laughs, leaning against the back of the sofa and folding his arms behind his head. Your eyes travel over him, stopping just below his hips. “And you’re a liar. That doesn’t look very comfortable to me.”

He follows your gaze to the very obvious bulge in the front of his pants.

“Oh, right, that,” he says, his tone conversational. “Yeah, it’s pretty bad. I might die, actually. You wanna help me out?”

“I’ve never done anything like that before.” You can’t seem to look away, your teeth worrying at your lower lip.

“You don’t have to,” he says. “It’s only fun if you’re into it.”

It’s not a question of whether or not you’re into it, more whether or not you’re brave enough to try. You reach out tentatively, glancing up at him for approval before you touch him. He gives you a little nod, catching your hand with his own when he sees the hesitation on your face.

“Do you want me to show you how?”

“Yes please,” you reply shyly.

When he guides your palm to his cock, the first thing you notice is how hard he feels beneath your fingers. It catches you by surprise, which is stupid because it’s literally called a hard on. Still, it’s an unfamiliar sensation, and you let Gojo set the pace.

“Like this,” he says, squeezing your hand just enough to tighten your grip on him. A little noise catches in the back of his throat and without thinking you clench your legs around his thigh again. Your reaction makes him smile.

“You like that, pretty girl? Knowing you’re making me feel good?”

His voice is a little strained, and you take the opportunity to experiment with your strokes, relishing the way his brows knit together when you press down harder.

“Fuck,” he murmurs, his fingers digging into your side. “Keep going, just like that.”

He licks his lips, using his leverage to rock you against him again. You feel him twitch beneath you when you moan breathlessly.

“So fucking cute. It was driving me crazy, feeling you grind on me. You know, you said my name too— I thought I was imagining it at first but you said it again.”

Though one-handed, the grip on your hips is brutal as he rolls you against him in a way that makes you see stars. The rhythm of your fingers falters as you squeeze your eyes shut, feeling a familiar pressure build between your hips. He must feel you start to clench around him again, because he gently nudges your hand away from him.

“Sit back. I want to see you cum.”

He pauses, waiting for you to confirm that’s what you want as well before continuing. His hold on you relaxes, his finger tracing little shapes into the soft skin just below your waistband.

“Like this?” you ask, straightening up.

“A little more.” His voice is tight, though it’s clear he’s making an effort to hide it. You nod, doing as he says, and reach behind you to stabilize yourself.

“Such a good girl,” he murmurs, drinking in the sight of you. “Now lift your skirt.”

His hand slides so that his palm is flat against the small of your back. You’re slow to let go of his thigh, worried about how you’re going to support yourself, but he shakes his head.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you, pretty girl.”

When he sees you hesitate a moment longer, he guides you so that you’re sitting upright again. “Too much?”

“No, not at all.” You fiddle with the pleats of your skirt. “I was just trying to remember which panties I’m wearing. I don’t know if they’re cute ones.”

That draws a smile from him, though he tries to hide it. “Trust me when I say I will not be focused on your panties.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” he says, and you force yourself to relax, leaning back and letting him support your weight. Your fingers catch at your hem, pulling it up, eyes darting up to his face and searching his expression. You’re not sure what you expect to find there— despite his reassurance, part of you is convinced that he’s not going to like what he sees. The way his pupils dilate would suggest otherwise.

“Fuck,” he groans, reaching out with his free hand. He stops just before his fingers make contact with you. “Can I?”

You nod, whining as he brushes his thumb over the soaked fabric of your panties. Though you’re no longer right on the edge of your orgasm, you can still feel its pressure in your abdomen. Whatever you’d been doing in your sleep must’ve gotten you seriously riled up.

“So sensitive,” Gojo murmurs, tracing around the outline of your clit. His slender index finger hooks around your underwear, pulling it to the side. “And so pretty too. God, you really are wet, aren’t you?”

Your reply is lost as he begins touching you in earnest, his keen eyes taking in all your little reactions and adjusting his motions to match. Soon you’re coming apart at the seams, trying your best to keep yourself quiet and failing miserably. Your increasingly shrill noises seem too loud in the empty common room, but as soon as Gojo slips a finger inside of you your mind goes blank and any concerns about the public setting fall away. His thumb works at your clit in quick, tight circles.

“Gojo, I—“ Your hands shoot out, locking around his forearm in your desperation to find something to cling to.

His pace doesn’t falter even as he adds another finger. “You gonna cum for me, pretty girl? Gonna make a mess all over my lap?”

Nodding, you squeeze your eyes shut as the wave inside you finally crests, biting your lip to muffle your cries of his name as you cum. Your orgasm hits you hard, your body clenching down around Gojo in a way that draws a few choice curses from his lips. He works you through your high, filling the room with slick, rhythmic noises that would’ve embarrassed you had your mind not been otherwise occupied. As the pleasure begins to fade Gojo withdraws, bringing his fingers to his lips and tasting you. Panting, you let the hand on your back guide you forward until you’re slumped against his chest, his strong arms wrapping around you.

“You did so well,” he murmurs, giving you a little squeeze. You feel his lips press against your temple, lingering for a long moment before he pulls away. As you open your mouth to reply, the unmistakable sound of a door slamming cuts through the quiet air. Both of you tense, Gojo’s hands tightening again.

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath. “I guess they’re back early.”

You try to sit up as you had after your nap, but once again his grip is too strong.

“Hey, calm down. I’ve got you.”

“What if they heard us?” you hiss, craning to get a better look down the hallway.

“They didn’t,” he says, and though part of you wants to question this, the authority in his voice calms you. “And before you ask, they won’t see us either.”

There’s a rush of wind and Gojo shifts underneath you, sprawling flat on his back. With a noise of surprise you collapse on top of him, startled by this sudden change in position, and are confused to see that the common room has shifted into the inside of one of the student dorms.

“You warped us?”

“Being the strongest has its perks.”

Laying there in his arms, safe and warm, you realize just how sleepy you are despite having woken up from your nap less than an hour ago. Gojo seems to pick up on this, though you’re not sure how.

“Tired again?” he asks, stroking your hair.

“No, I’m fine.”

Shaking his head, he gives your forehead another flick. This one is much lighter, and he tilts his chin so that he can press his lips to the spot immediately afterwards.

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that? Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

“But you haven’t even gotten to cum yet. That doesn’t seem fair.”

Pushing back so that you’re straddling him, you roll your hips experimentally and watch with satisfaction as the corner of his mouth twitches. You can still feel how hard he is beneath you, his erection digging into your inner thigh.

“Another time,” he says firmly, speaking more to himself than to you. “For now, just give me a kiss and we’ll call it even.”

A kiss. Somehow that’s what flusters you more than anything else he’s suggested so far. He’s already kissed you a few times, though you’re not sure if those really count since they weren’t on your mouth. Your eyes fall to his lips, studying them for a moment. Like everything else about Gojo, they’re pretty to an unimaginable degree. Leaning forwards, you plant your hands on either side of his shoulders, your palms sinking into the soft fabric of his pillows.

He doesn’t rush you as you close the gap between the two of you. For once there are no games or teasing, and he kisses you sweetly as his hand moves to cup the back of your neck. You can’t meet his eyes when you pull away, instead returning to your default position and resting your head on his shoulder.

“Thanks,” he says with a contented sigh. “That was perfect.”

[vickyvicarious]

Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List

Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.

This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:

PROS

References

Continuity

Nate

Representation

Themes

New Characters

General Vibe

CONS

'Maker and Fixer'

Episode Twins

Sophie's Stagefright

Thiefsome

You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.

PROS

References

There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.

We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.

Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.

Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.

Continuity

Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.

It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.

Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.

There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.

Nate

Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.

Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.

Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.

That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.

Representation

Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!

Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)

Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.

Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.

Themes

I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).

New Characters

Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.

As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.

General Vibe

A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.

CONS (no, not that kind)

'Maker and Fixer'

So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.

Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.

Episode Twins

This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.

Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.

The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.

The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.

I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.

The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.

Sophie's Stagefright

Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.

This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.

Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.

I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.

Thiefsome

...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.

I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.

The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.

The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.

But then there was this.

I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.

Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.

Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.

But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.

But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.

Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.

And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.

It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.

Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.

.

That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 2, Episode 14, The Three Strikes Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Dean: Hi I'm Dean Devlin, Executive Producer and Director of this episode.

John: John Rogers, Executive Producer, Writer of this episode.

Chris: Chris Downey, Executive Producer, and this is the Three Strikes Job.

John: This is the first half of the big season finale which we like to do. And we are meeting our favorite recurring character Detective Bonanno, played by our friend Mr. Blanche, right?

Dean: Yes, Robert Blanche.

Chris: Robert Blanche.

John: Fantastic find; local actor. And it was interesting because really as we had come to- first time dealing with split season, first time Sophies not around, we had to- you know, we really hunted around for the character we would be emotionally anchored to for the season finale; you don't want it to be a random vic. And- cause last year was the whole Nate arc- 

Chris: Right.

John: And having- Robert having established his character made him really beloved, made it easier.

Dean: And we've never really done a pre-opening like this that's quite this violent.

John: Yes.

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: So it was a little bit out of our tool box, but yet we tried to do it in a way that it didn't seem like a completely different show.

John: This is the edited version. In the original version, a toddler wanders through the field of fire and is brutally mowed down.

[Laughter]

John: I'm glad we cut that out, that was weird.

Dean: That wasn't good.

John: Just seemed odd.

Dean: Especially when the toddler pulled out a gun and-

John: And was doing the [unintelligible] the dubs were cool though. I liked those.

[Laughter]

John: So this is Sonny at the toll booth; there's no two ways around this.

Chris: Oh, yeah.

John: How tough was this to shoot?

Dean: You know, it was actually pretty easy. We had about six cameras shooting simultaneously; we did it 3 different times and moved the camera each time. And this van you may recognize from Beantown Bailout-

John: Yes

Dean: Which also got shot up. So whenever we need to shoot up a car, that’s the car.

Chris: And did we add-? Or did we-

Dean: Now here’s the interesting thing-

John: We putty it in.

Chris: We putty it in? Oh.

Dean: The actor was not available this day to shoot. So that’s a different actor made up to look like Robert Blanche.

Chris: Oh wow, that’s great.

John: That's great. So our local Portland actor has a double? A stand in? 

Dean: Has a double. [Laughs]

John: Wow, that's great. Oh, she's fantastic. And now this is- again, one of these sorts of things where we’re trying to anchor all of Nate Ford’s emotional cues. And you actually tried to shoot this identically, if I remember correctly.

Dean: That's right. We wanted to try and match the look and feel of the hospital scene from the pilot, but just skewed enough so that we know we’re someplace else.

John: Paul Blackthorne's name. And this was a lot of fun. This was a big giant episode concept.

Dean: One of the things you have to understand is- you gotta know when we do these two-part season finales, they're really shot like a movie, cause you shoot them all at the same time. And this one is, as you will see - far more ambitious than what we did in season one. Yet because it’s at the end of a very tough season where the writers actually ended earlier than normal; we only have four days to prepare to shoot this two-part season finale.

John: Yeah. We actually started prepping off outlines.

Chris: Yeah.

John: And then I think I turned in the first half? First half first? Second half- 

Dean: Yeah.

John: I think I kept in order at least. And then, you know, turn them each in. And by that point, nicely enough, the Portland crew was such a well oiled machine that they knew what they wanted. Also, we had learned by this point to really try to find anchor locations. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: To build and tie our acts around. So knowing that we were gonna do the baseball scam, they knew they could start processing all that was needed.

Dean: This is also the first time in season two that we brought back this recurring nightmare of him reliving the death of his son. The idea was that he had to some degree resolved it at the end of season one, but yet it’s still there just below the surface, and then suddenly kicking in to the end of season two it comes back up again.

John: And it was really the last trigger. If you’ve been watching the arc all the way through, we’ve been playing with his control issues and the fact that he's drinking again, and that feeling of helplessness has triggered him back into his addictive behavior. I mean, he’s already kind of bathing in his addictive behavior at this point in the previous episodes, but this is what really pushes him over the edge.

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: Also normally we like to have fun kick in pretty early after the opening scene, but yet this- because we're trying to set up a larger emotional arc in this two-part season finale. We have an emotional opening with Bonanno getting shot, then we have another emotional beat where he’s reminded of his son, and here another emotional beat where he’s trying to connect with Sophie and his frustration of not being able to reunite with her is bubbling. So we really actually took a long time on this before we let the fun kick in, which is not usual.

John: Because we were really gonna screw with Nate Ford in these two episodes, and you really feel like you just can't, ‘Oh, remember that stuff you should have noticed in previous episodes? That’s why he's doing this.’ We really needed to reset it.

Chris: One of the reasons that I think this plays so well is that if you watch them back to back, which I'm so glad they were broadcast that way on TNT, is that this scene here really pays off in part two.

Dean: Yeah.

Chris: And it’s- you know, it's a little ways to go if you have to wait a week between them. 

John: Yeah.

Chris: But now it really plays like a movie.

Dean: And big kudos to Jeri Ryan because she had- she only had a few episodes to create an arc, and really everything she did in the previous episodes come together in these last two. 

John: Yeah.

Dean: She’s really part of the team by now.

John: Yeah. And that bit where she drinks his booze in order to get it away from him was actually the first physical bit we ever pitched talking about the character. We were trying to figure out a way to differentiate between Sophie and Tara, and the idea where Sophie is a little more sensitive, a little more coddling...

Chris: More empathetic.

John: More empathetic, yeah. Tara will just basically drink you out of your own problems. 

Chris: Right.

John: This was a tough day. Mainly because Tim really dug in on this.

Dean: Yeah.

John: This rage- this was a tough day. You know, he’s angry. And you can hear him- 

Chris: Yeah.

John: And you can- he really- this was a small set for them to be screaming at each other on. It was really nice.

Dean: Yeah. And it really helped the other actors as you’ll see just in the way they are reacting. I mean, you see Christian is really messed up by this. 

John: Yeah.

Dean: And it was a great way to-

John: Yeah cause one of his best friends in the world is sitting eight feet from him screaming at his face. 

Dean: Yeah.

John: I mean, you know. And yeah, they're all really digging in on the idea that Nate Ford has gone off the rails. 

Dean: But once they jump in, then the fun begins again. 

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: And now we start to get into that rhythm of, ‘Ok.’

Chris: You can see his little look on his face right here is the cue for the fun on Hardison.

John: Yeah. As soon as- yeah, as soon as the sarcastic ‘these guys are goons’ face comes up.

[Laughter]

Dean: Now by the way, those goons faces on the board are actually people who work here at post production at Electric.

[Laughter]

John: So don't be alarmed if you see them at your local bank or supermarket.

Chris: And I'll call out another couple of people whose faces are on this, too, you two guys a little later.

John: Oh yeah, we’re a little later. Exactly. This was also fun because this was something we kind of picked up on if you watch the second season episodes. A little bit more of detective Nate Ford. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know, he was a guy who hunted bad guys.

Dean: Right.

John: And we put him back in the context a couple times this season of hunting bad guys. You know, and this one in particular he figures out exactly the situation in which case they should pursue. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: Good crime scene photos. Big shout out to Derek.

Chris: Gruesome, yeah.

John: Gruesome, yeah. Nice.

Dean: But because we shot this scene before we had shot the scene with Bonanno getting shot-

John: We had no footage, that’s right.

Dean: We had no footage, so we had to make up fake crime scene photos and hoped that they would somehow-

Chris: Derek had those crime scene photos pretty easily, don’t you think?

John: That was a little disturbing.

[Laughter]

John: ‘I just went out and did it in a back alley in Chicago.’ This is also fun because this is one of the few times we’ve had Hardison of all people go, ‘I don't want to do this one. This one seems like a bad idea.’

Chris: Yeah. Now look at this shot.

Dean: Now this actor here- those of you who may have seen my film Flyboys, he was one of the pilots in Flyboys. And he did me a solid and came and did this little guest spot. And this is Richard Kind, who I had not worked with since Stargate-

John: Wow.

Dean: -and has been a family friend forever, and I think one of our most underrated actors in this country.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, it's the kind of part you typically don't see him in. I mean he plays kind of a nebbish-y guy. 

John: Yeah.

Chris: And boy, did he just bring a gravitas and a menace and really built a whole backstory to his character. 

John: Well let's talk about it- that’s where this story comes from. We really wanted to do our city of industry, corrupt east coast port town. I grew up near Boston, you grew up in New York- 

Chris: Yeah.

John: -and, you know, this is very much based around that, sort of, north of Boston, Route 1 type of town. 

Dean: Right.

John: And so getting an east coast actor, just a guy who could bring you that kind of New York power family vibe made a difference. And he showed up- he loved the script, showed up with three ideas. Three lines of dialogue, in three scenes that gave this character backstory, depth, and pathos. It’s like, ‘Wow, that’s a very good actor.’

Chris: And what the fact to do is Brad Culpepper the Third. I mean that he was from a long line-

John: Yes. And he dug in on that and he found something that just made you, you know-

Dean: He also came up with this concept that he wasn’t in it for the money, he was in it for the power and the legacy. 

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: Which is an interesting distinction.

John: Yeah, exactly. There is- he really dug in on the evil speech of evil. The idea that he is not a bad guy in his own head in any way shape or form. This was- what hotel was this? Was this the Governor?

Dean: This was the Governor Hotel. 

John: They really did us a solid this episode, they did a fantastic job.

Dean: We ended up shooting three different episodes at the Governor, and then they were our host for the Leverage convention.

John: Oh, also the wrap party.

Chris: Which was fantastic.

John: I don't remember that much.

Chris: The Leverage convention, which was awesome.

John: I can't believe you people missed it.

[Laughter]

John: We’re gonna assume nothing horrible happens. The horrible irony of when we try to recall these DVDs. 

Chris: Oh, no, please.

[Laughter]

John: Lovely little- this was a great neighborhood; they put up with us. And this was a lot of fun, whenever you can play the annoyed brother vibe between the two of them.

Dean: Oh, I could watch it all day long.

John: Yeah. This was also the night we found out we got picked up for a third season.

Dean: That’s right.

Chris: Oh yeah, that’s right.

John: This is fun, that’s Beth in the rig on the ledge. If you go to my blog, you’ll see the pictures of her doing this. It’s insane. There's just no way we should be allowing her to be on the edge.

Chris: Oh that’s great.

John: That’s city hall, by the way, in Portland. That’s city hall.

Dean: That is, that is.

Chris: They let you just jump off the roof in city hall?

John: You know what- if you're in Portland, show up, ask, and they'll let you. I'm sure there will be no repercussions to me saying that. And this is kind of fun, Paul Blackthorne as the shadowy character that you kind of touch on. And this is all based on- his character’s actually based on a guy down in Florida-

Dean: Yes.

John: -who got an arms deal with the US government, who was like a bar guy.

Chris: Yeah, he was kinda like a party kid. 

John: Yeah, who somehow got a 300 million dollar contract with the US government selling recycled arms from Eastern-

Chris: Recycled arms from Eastern Europe, yeah.

John: That’s Beth on the rappelling line. Remember that? We shot that.

Dean: And I’ll tell you, this is an example of how Beth, even alone, just completely captures your imagination. She has no one else to act with here except for our AD off camera reading dialogue, and yet she's completely engaged in the story, in the character.

John: Yeah, this was a lot- this was- actually you wrote this whole chunk.

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: Oh, here's another great local guest star.

John: Yeah. And that was another thing that Portland gave us. There's a lot of great local theater guys, a lot of local great actors who can really land a joke.

Dean: Yeah, it was so surprising.

Chris: I love that he has the ice tea, it's such a great-

[Laughter]

Chris: Such a great touch.

John: I like- and also the sort of- I don't know if it’s the weird veiled hostility between Hardison and Eliot gets turned outward whenever they run one of these cons- 

Dean: Right.

John: -but that guy is going to be the subject of their rage at each other. This guy was really great. 

[Laughter]

Chris: And this is a crime lab bit. I mean, let’s be honest, there are eight different CSIs on; we wanted to have a little fun.

John: Yes. We were kind of making fun of the CSI- the whole idea that CSI shows up at your house. I had my house broken into, they didn’t show up.

[Laughter]

Chris: The fact that the beat cop could be-

John: Bossed around by-

Chris: Bossed around by CSI guys was born out of those shows

John: And this, by the way, the bit with the balloons, was Richard. 

Dean: Great.

John: Just awkward, just trying to shift it, trying to ground it. And again, this- what amazes me when we got into the research of it, was how cheap it was to buy these guys. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: I mean really- like $10,000 gets you somebody's kid in city politics.

Dean: That's true.

Chris: The promise of a job when you're out of the office. You know, I mean, that's what brought down the Illinois governor.

John: Yeah, that's right. That’s right. And that's what is kinda fun is we do- oh, I love this bit.

Dean: Comedy frame.

John: Comedy frame! What is this? A locked off comedy frame.

Dean: Exactly.

John: Locked off frame, two people come in facing each other-

Dean: And I love this little smile right there on Christian’s face .

[Laughter]

Dean: He was just enjoying the bit until he realized, ‘Oh wait, I have to perform in the bit.’

John: Is that on the X? Is that- how did you get the RED so low?

Dean: Oh we just put it right on the floor on a sandbag. 

John: Oh that's good. 

[Laughter]

John: Thanks to these nice folks for letting us trash their home, by the way.

Dean: Yes. And for those of you who may have noticed in the wide angles, just the little numbers on the evidence things on the floors.

John: Yes, that they’ve scattered all over the ground. Yeah no set-dec did a great job.

Dean: You can see the numbers in the background.

Chris: Oh those are great!

John: And- and earning his pay-

[Laughter]

John: Nicely done.

Chris: That’s a nice little transition there.

John: It is a nice- almost like you put some thought into this.

Dean: And I swear I didn't. And this is our line producer’s wife .

John: Yeah.

Dean: Who also did a guest star in last year’s two-part season finale.

John: Last year’s finale! 

Chris: Oh, that’s right!

John: I like the idea she was on vacation in LA last year.

Dean: Exactly.

John: And now she’s back and involved in another Leverage scam. In my head it's the same person.

Dean: And this is an interesting scene for their arc, because, you know, Beth - Parker - really didn't trust Tara coming in.

John: Well she's not part of the family.

Dean: And only in this scene does she actually start to earn her trust, and they start to bond.

John: And we also wanted to reset the fact that, again, Parker is good in the short con. If you throw a surprise at her she doesn't handle it well, because talking to people doesn't even go well. Interestingly enough, she relates to people better in character than as Parker. 

Chris: Yes.

John: Yeah. And so until Tara gives her- so yes, the awkward- we really pulled up every political trope we could find. 

Chris: Oh, sure.

John: I think we sat down - adultery, pregnancy, corruption. Then we just went through the Times one day, just pulled up every scandal from that summer.

[Laughter]

John: And the 4-18 months. And there's actually a mayor’s conference, too.

Dean: That’s right.

John: We found out where the mayor’s conference was.

Chris: It's in Vegas. Sure that's where you would have the mayors conference, and that’s where he would meet her.

Dean: I like the little turn Parker makes here, after she’s been coached part way through it, now she gets it. So now she’s feeling comfortable doing it.

John: Now she understands, yeah.

Dean: And you can see her-

Chris: ‘Yeah, I'll just wait out there.’

John: And that is an actual office- that's a conference room at the city hall?

Dean: That sure is.

John: That we rappelled down into.

Dean: We had to use it as the mayor's office, cause the actual mayor's office was too small.

[Laughter]

John: That's right.

Chris: Oh, yeah.

John: Infamously the mayor took the smaller office in the city of Portland cause he just felt like he only needed that much work space.

Dean: That's right. Mayor Sam Adams who’s been incredibly helpful to this show, and we’re very grateful.

John: Yes. Very cool guy. I don't regret that duffle bag full of cash at all.

Chris: That is a great shot there.

John: That is a great shot. That really establishes that space. 

Chris: She’s- jeez.

John: She's beautiful, yes. I was referring to the setting, but-

Chris: Sorry, I was just-

John: Yes, Jeri Ryan was very beautiful, too.

Chris: I was just lost in Jeri Ryan.

John: It happens. And this is the great speech. And again, we listened to transcripts and looked at testimony. I mean if you look at Blagojevich-

Chris: Blagojevich, sure.

John: The remarkable bluntness with which they announce their terms and prices always amazes me.

Chris: Yeah. And it almost sounds like movie dialogue, but it’s not! It’s just the way they talk!

John: Yeah.

Dean: The evil speech of evil.

John: And we come up with evil speeches of evil, and then when you go find the real ones it's like, really? You said that? With a straight face? Alright. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: No, research is your friend. We really- you know, this is a remarkable static act with an awful lot going on. I never noticed that before.

Dean: Well I think- again, this is- when we separate our team into different locations, but yet having them communicate, it really gives a sense of energy to it. 

John: But we only have, like, three agendas.

Dean: Right.

John: You know, running it at any one time. This was a tight little shot. I remember this. This was- we were in that back bedroom, and trying to shoot. And then you had to- you had a totally different blocking, if I remember correctly.

Dean: Yeah, instead of being in the room with him, we decided we’d squeeze him through the doorway and make him feel like he’s in an even tighter space than he was by framing it that way. But it also gives a chance to use this hallway and bring in our guest performer.

John: Yeah. And the clue that travels over two different episodes. Hopefully, again, I'm glad that they aired these back to back because it would be tricky to-

Chris: Yes it’s- to track- there's a lot of stuff that this really did play like a movie.

Dean: And once again, we got to the-

John: Oh, the big smile.

Dean: -comedy frame.

John: Yes.

[Laughter]

John: That’s for all you young filmmakers out there, that is the comedy frame. And then the look- just the look of pity on his face. Yeah. 

[Laughter]

John: And the badge on the- there's no reason the CSI guys should have a badge on a shield. Chris just loves the badge on the shield- the badge on a chain. 

Dean: Exactly.

Chris: He likes that.

John: He really likes that look. If he can be doing like a 1970s- if he could be doing the British version of Life on Mars, he’d be the happiest man alive.

Dean: Oh yeah.

[Laughter]

Chris: Now I got a question for you. So was- now we had a Maltese Falcon joke, just one line in-

Dean: The previous episode.

Chris: -the previous episode. Did that give you the idea for the Maltese Falcon? Who came up with the Maltese Falcon bit?

John: No, you know it was- it was literally, I was trying to figure out, ‘What's the MacGuffin? What’s the maltese falcon? You know what, it'd be actually kind of fun to just call it that.’

Chris: Just the Maltese Falcon, OK.

John: Cause it’s so famous now, it's a little meta. And, you know, the fact that it would be called something rather than a shorthand for something- 

Chris: Right.

John: Cause we use that in the writers room all the time.

Chris: Yeah, we do.

John: The maltese falcon, what's the thing? Macguffin, Hitchcock famously defined it as. And this is Nate deciding to bail on the pitch and making- and this is tough. He’s basically processing offscreen dialogue and acting like he’s coming to a decision. 

Dean: I love Richard’s reaction to it, it's like ‘What?’

John: We just went for the whole-

Chris: ‘You just paid all this money, you don't want to engage in graft with me?’

John: Behind though-

Dean: Even out of focus he's stealing the scene.

John: I know. He's really upstaging the hell out of- out of focus. Look how far back he is. Aaand you're back. 

[Laughter]

John: And we've announced our agenda.

Chris: We've announced our agenda, we know our- and here we go.

Dean: Now this place was great, this ballpark. We wanted to shoot here all year and hadn’t really found a way to do it.

John: And that's why I give full props to Chris, is cuz I had the crime story back half of this done, and I could not figure out what the con on the mayor was. And you had fallen in love with this location you had seen- you were like-

Chris: This was great, I had gone to a game here.

John: We can finally pay off this location. And that’s- again, that's an advantage of being a city where you get to know- cause the baseball con was always a half an episode.

Chris: Right.

John: And we could never quite get it to be a whole. And then it was like, ‘Oh, we need half an episode. Boom.’

Chris: Well also there's a lot of public corruption around building ballparks, and we did a little research that minor league ballparks bring 30 million dollars into the local economy.

John: That was great. The day we did research and found out it was just a flat 30 million for almost every ballpark, it’s like, that’s just a great number.

Chris: Yup.

Dean: And by the way, I think some of the best special effects we’ve ever done are in this two-part season finale, but I don't think you'd even notice it. For instance all these shots in the ballpark, we had to erase and change all the signage-

John: Oh, that’s right.

Dean: -because we didn't have permission. And then later, we had to put in the crowds that were reacting. So there are amazing special effects in this, but they are so real you didn’t even know.

John: That’s right. Utterly seamless. If you see them, we screwed up. Yeah, and this particularly since those aren’t lockoff, the camera is moving, you know, the character is wiping in front of it, yeah.

Dean: And again, I love what David is doing in this scene, he is just channeling Smithers.

John: Yes.

[Laughter]

John: And there’s Paul Blackthorne, he’s really doing the job for us as evil European dude. He has a large black car- 

Chris: Yeah.

John: He's got a halfway rolled down window. We know what his job is in the story, we know what his job is in the narrative. 

[Laughter]

John: But what I love here is the fact that Richard there's just so dismissive. I mean the body language here besides- Why is this a good shot? Because you don’t have to turn around to get both of them.

Dean: Exactly.

John: He’s very casually powerful. 

Dean: Right.

John: This is a man who’s used to the world running the way he wants it to run.

Chris: Right, in this little burg of Bellbridge.

John: Yes.

Dean: And this is such a terrific location, and we were there early in the morning, got this great light. I was so excited to shoot this. 

Chris: And they have a nice-

John: Story shcmory. Pictures.

Chris: They have a nice rapport here, too. They have this kind of easy going, you know, banter.

Dean: You know, so much of this episode- these episodes, was wish fulfillment. We wanted to be in that ballpark all year, we wanted to get near the water under the bridges...

Chris: Yes.

John: You also- in case you're skipping through the commentaries, you’ll notice this happens in Bellbridge, Massachusetts. Bellbridge is the corrupt town in Chris’s episode, Order 23.

Chris: Yes, yeah.

John: We decided to create just one imaginary Massachusetts city we could crap on for an entire season.

Chris: Yes.

John: Just to make sure we had clearances, and we always knew- 

Dean: Exactly.

John: So please, if you're from a real Bellbridge, don’t be angry. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: Yeah, their rhythm here is lovely. They are partners by this point, in a very different way. And the fact that Jeri has established that over six episodes is pretty cool. How tough is it to shoot in a ballpark, my friend?

Dean: Well some of this we actually stole footage at a real- during a real game, but the rest was very easy because they were so cooperative. I mean, this is the actual locker room and they let us have it for the day, and gave us equipment and were-

Chris: And those are the- are those the uniforms?

Dean: Just terrific. Those are the actual uniforms. The ‘P’ is actually for Portland. 

[Laughter]

Dean: But in our show it’s-

Chris: Palmerstown.

John: And I love the fact it's actually the Portland Beavers, because if we come up with a comedy mascot we couldn't have beat beavers.

Dean: No.

John: And by the way the Portland Beaver? Good guy.

Dean: Very good guy.

John: Very good guy. Really cool. We hung out, everything.

Chris: Oh apologies to Crash Davis here, but boy does he do- he does-

John: Oh he's so digging in.

Chris: Does a great Bull Durham.

John: Really digging up. This is- we went back and forth- are we doing Major League or Bull Durham here?

Chris: It's pretty Bull Durham here. 

John: It’s pretty Bull Durham.

Chris: The journeyman catcher who shows up unannounced, it’s- 

John: Yeah, and also the idea that these- you know, talking to a lot of these guys who play this level ball, the precarious nature of their lives- I mean the guys who are kind of on rota from a major league team make a lot of money. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: The guys who are journeymanning this out, a lot of them have day jobs, man.

Dean: What I love about this is that Eliot himself doesn’t like baseball. Because we’ve already established what a big, giant sports fan he is. 

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: About how excited he was about all the sports channels in- both season one and season two.

John: But it's hockey- and it’s always hockey and football. And interestingly, we gave him your problem with baseball.

Dean: Exactly.

Chris: Yes we did, it really worked great.

John: I love baseball and I'm like, ‘I have no idea what he wouldn't like.’ And you said, I don’t like-’ Oh.

Chris: Oh, and John did a beautiful job directing this.

John: This is my directing debut right here 

[Laughter]

Chris: Mark it down folks.

John: Japanese power drink commercial. Because it really was one of those things I had in mind and it's like, ‘Alright describe it. You know what? I can't describe it, I'll just shoot this.’

Chris: I think I originally wrote it as it’s like a car- like a local car ad. 

John: Yeah.

Chris: Oh my god, how great is this Japanese sports drink commercial?

John: Also, again, you're lucky to have Chris Kane because a lot of actors wouldn't do the comedy beat in the commercial.

[Laughter]

Dean: Nails it.

John: He nails it. Look at the big smile! 

Dean: And he enjoys it!

John: Look at that, having a good time.

[Laughter]

Dean: But he hates baseball, and then he comes in here and the minute he cracks that bat you just see- you know, heroin to the junkie.

Chris: He really did- he gave it a real arc, you know. 

John: And also, I like the fact that this is the first time he uses a baseball bat for what it's actually meant for.

Dean: Right.

[Laughter]

John: He's been beating people up with baseball bats for like 20 years, and never really hit a ball with one before. Also, by the way, cool digital ball.

Chris: Oh watch this.

Dean: Exactly.

John: There you go.

Chris: Oh that is great.

Dean: I'm telling you some of our best digital effects-

Chris: That’s fantastic.

John: Oh look at that look.

Dean: And the second one- watch the indentation on the pad on the wall when the ball hits it. Small thing for effects artists, but really lovely, just oh that little indentation.

John: Oh that’s nice, the shadow. And there we are.

Chris: Oh there you go folks, there's Dean and John.

Dean: Oh dear, oh dear.

John: We’re also doing the voices here on the radio shows. On the DVD there should be about nine takes of this scene. Because the two of them, at one point it got very weird and sexual with her speaking Spanish, and Hardison getting all ramped up.

[Laughter]

John: It- this was definitely one of the ones where you just, like, park the camera and let the two of them go.

Dean: Yeah.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

John: Interesting, one of the challenges of shooting the greenscreens is color temperature.

Dean: Yes.

John: We actually had a little bit of trouble with this shot because- most people don’t understand, there’s a lot of different greens that go on green screens. It was not dead right, doing the special effects goes from easy to unspeakable.

Dean: Exactly, and so this one had- a lot of work had to go into being able to see what was on the screen.

John: Ironically, a lot of this was harder to see than the incredibly complex crowds and baseball stuff.

Dean: The stands, exactly.

John: This was a lot of fun. Outside real city hall, outside Portland city hall, at a coffee shop across the street at some ungodly hour of the morning.

Dean: Yeah, this was the first thing we shot that day.

John: And again, this is- it was interesting how originally there was an entire subplot where, how they’d been lured there, how the mayor- and you don’t need it.

Chris: Yeah. This is much better.

John: Yeah.

Dean: He just sees them, he walks across the street.

Chris: Yes.

John: We even took that bit out. We originally had him see them.

Dean: I love the really, really bad heist.

[Laughter]

John: The bad lift.

Dean: Smithers stumbles into the table.

John: And Kind just drops the look there a little bit.

Chris: A little disgust right there.

Dean: Just a little squint.

[Laughter]

John: And the turnaway when it’s like, ‘Oh horrible lift.’ They don’t even have to- they both know what happened, they both know it was unspeakable. 

Dean: Well, you know, amateurs to pros, you know?

John: And this was fun, these are based on real blueprints.

Chris: Yeah, real blueprints for-

Dean: This was that other shot was the beginning of the day. This was the last shot of the day, and we’d run out of time. So I had to shoot this all in one shot.

John: Oh this is a one-er!

Chris: This is a one-er, take a look at that.

Dean: This is a very hard steadicam shot. While it’s not that impressive of a shot, it's a very difficult shot.

John: And also-

Dean: Cause you’re doing all the coverage with one camera.

John: And you're banging focus like crazy.

Chris: You’re getting a lot of information, right.

John: And also the actors can’t mess up.

Dean: That’s right.

John: At no point can they stop, can they drop a line, can they, you know.

Dean: The only thing we did is one little reverse at the very end on David’s character. But as you can see all of this-

John: To give you a cut, or?

Dean: Just to give us a cut in case we needed to combine.

Chris: It’s interesting how great these end of day one-ers come out.

Dean: Yeah.

Chris: And they're born of necessity.

Dean: That’s what so interesting about television is, you know, it really forces you to be creative.

John: Yeah. Oh there you go, I see what you did.

Chris: Oh here's the ballpark.

Dean: Now this is a mixture of stuff that we staged and stuff that we stole during an actual ballgame. But all the-

Chris: The actual ballgame you shot before, I think, the script was written.

John: I think I sent the outline saying we would be at the ballpark. And so Dean had to come up with a shot list based on basically our friendship- 

Chris: This is great.

John: -figuring out what I would probably put in the script.

Dean: These are all real things there. 

John: Yeah.

Dean: That we shot. Now all the crowds, though, we added digitally.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Oh that’s great.

Dean: So in all these wide shots when you see these full crowds, they had about- there was a scattered amount of people. In all the shots where it’s full, that’s us.

John: Yeah.

Chris: That’s great.

Dean: For all these shots here. And of course all the signage is changed digitally.

John: And Kane went down, caught a couple pitches, and actually on the shot we have him hit, he actually connected, put it on the warning track. It was a good day for Chris Kane.

Chris: That’s a beautiful shot, too, there; love that.

John: That's a beautiful one, yeah.

Dean: And this actor is actually a state senator.

[Laughter]

Dean: Who had helped pass the legislation for us to-

John: I actually think we’re the bad guys at this point. Seriously, we’re doing an episode about graft and corruption and- 

Dean: Well the hilarious thing is, he wanted to play the corrupt mayor.

John: I know. And we were like ‘You know dude, that's probably not the best idea for you to play the corrupt mayor.’

Chris: I can see the campaign commercials.

Dean: All those crowds, digital. 

Chris: Wow, that’s great.

Dean: I mean that's really something.

John: And look at that, through a moving shot.

Dean: And then all the signage behind them is changed as well.

John: And that’s our-

Dean: And if you notice, that’s Hardison’s orange drink on the sign.

Chris: Oh that’s great.

John: Oh my god, that's right.

Chris: And to do with- with a moving camera is very difficult.

Dean: Very difficult.

John: And this is a conference on the mound from both Major League and Bull Durham.

Dean: And the pitcher is actually our second AD.

John: Kyle, yeah.

Dean: Yeah.

John: That's right, you give him a nice hero shot here, too.

Chris: Oh, that's a great shot of Kyle.

John: I also love- This helps lock in the arc where he’s like, ‘I'm now fully committed to winning baseball as much as I am to winning fights.’

Dean: Exactly.

John: No this was a lot of- and this is a lot of fun. This was- it's amazing what you can do with implication.

Dean: Right.

John: You know, just put two people in the same geography and let the characters draw their own conclusions. 

Chris: Yeah, let them do the math.

John: A lot of time you'll try to oversell the con, and what you have to remember is people create narrative about the world around them, you know?

Dean: Oh and I love this bit.

John: Yeah this is a lot of fun, the stuntie really took a hit. And down!

Chris: Oh, oh, oh!

[Laughter]

John: I love he does kind of the -

Dean: Notice that the ref is cross eyed; he's a real ref! 

[Laughter]

Dean: That is not something that- I didn't ask him to act cross eyed.

John: I love this- that dude is dead. That dude is dead. He’s plainly just- he's not getting up. Right now they're asking people to leave the park quietly.

Chris: I think he did that in one or two takes, I mean, he just got it.

Dean: Yeah.

John: He just- it was a beautiful fall.

Dean: By the way, this is another one-er and this is a very difficult scene to light for television where you don't have that much time. And our DP was really creative in the way he made the sun blazing through the back to light up pretty much the entire set.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Now was it easier because you're working with the RED camera for something like this? Available light...

Dean: The RED helps, but at the end of the day it’s about your DP and your gaffer, and we really have, really, two of the best guys in the business.

John: And again, this is also- so much help to be able to do the research on this. Where it’s like, ‘Well, how could he possibly communicate in code how much money-?’ No, he would write it down and give it to him.

Dean: Right.

John: That's what they do, apparently, I had no idea. 

[Laughter]

Dean: Right.

Chris: Yeah.

John: Or they'll just say it, unaware. And this yeah, this was a lot of fun, because also- Richard really found the idea that he was supposed to help Nate feel overconfident. 

Dean: Right.

John: You know, he's supposed to play into it a little easy. And he's- now he's totally into it.

Dean: I love how cross eyed the ref is, that's so great. I mean, the umpire, that's just so great.

John: Boom! That was a good solid hit. That's- Chris Kane put it on the warning track ladies and gentlemen.

Dean: And if you listen carefully in the background, you can hear the crowd chanting ‘Roy, Roy.’

[Laughter]

John: Oh he's become a hometown hero in roughly two weeks. What's the next shot up? Oh there we go, back at McRorys.

Chris: Now- now we're back.

John: Now this is one of our lovely roundy- and oh, this is great. One of our roundy-rounds where we just basically- script kids, when you want to communicate pipe and reset, the way to do it is have somebody not give a crap about the pipe that you're talking about. 

[Laughter]

John: He has his own agenda, it makes it instantly amusing.

Chris: Somebody comes in irritated.

Dean: And boy did he knock this out of the park. 

Chris: Yeah, yeah.

Dean: Kane, who didn’t care- I mean Eliot, who didn't care about baseball at all, is so proud of himself and he's so mad they didn't share his moment of glory.

John: His joy. They named a sandwich after him. Also, that’s a nice beat that they all chose. It’s like, you know, alright, you gotta give it up. That's a nice moment; boom, boom, and the fistbump.

Chris: You got a sandwich named after him.

Dean: Eliot has a hoage? No a reuben.

[Laughter]

John: I also like- I had not noticed before because I was kind of- Nate’s taking a phone call and I was watching it for that beat, the, sort of, fun that Jeri Ryan’s playing there, it's like, ‘OK, I'm part of the family now, this is genuinely amusing.’ 

Dean: Now this is a fun reveal shot. 

John: One of the cross cuts that I gave you again as your birthday gift. Moving in opposite directions?

Dean: Moving in opposite directions so that they are always looking at each other screen direction wise.

Chris: Right, right.

John: Cause we know awful things happen when you cross the lines.

Dean: If you cross the line, cities fall.

[Laughter]

Chris: No, but I mean, when you do phone calls that's an important thing to do.

Dean: For me I think so. I’m old school.

John: What I love is the fact that he starts the incredibly confident powerful guy that we know. And by the end of this swing around, Richard lets himself just kind of look- just 

Dean: Now he's-

Chris: Nice reveal there.

John: Yeah, and nice reveal on that blown out window. And now he's just a pawn, he's just a broken little man, you know. And that's very- the last shot is plainly Nixon. 

[Laughter]

John: It’s plainly like- what's that famous shot of Nixon at 2am in the oval office?

Dean: Right.

John: It’s that look at him. And he did all that in one take, conveying pipe to Nate.

Dean: And now we switch to our handheld, because our guys are in trouble. And I love how much Nate is overcompensating. Whenever Nate’s overcompensating, you know something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. 

John: And his addiction is taking over. Be it booze or control.

Dean: And in this case, both.

John: Yes. He's not really got his head on in this particular case. Yeah, everyone's arguing with him, everyone- and this is another great thing, when Nate spins out you don’t ever have a problem with the plot, because the problem with the plot is the point of the plot. 

Chris: Right.

John: Like with, ‘That doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense.’ Exactly! Tell that to Nate!

Chris: Yeah.

John: It's important for him to know.

Dean: Our editor did- Brian Gonosey, did a very interesting choice here from cutting from Nate to Nate. Which we almost never do, and it gives it, kind of, strange, nervous energy.

Chris: Well you're kinda-

John: It's claustrophobic.

Chris: You get the sense of people's eyes on him.

Jon: Right.

Chris: A lot of people looking at him.

Dean: But it’s not- again, that kind of cut we don't normally do on the show, and it really makes this a nervous scene.

John: Yeah, you’re going-

Dean: Nate to Nate to Nate to Nate.

John: Yeah, cause you're hopping- Jeri to Parker, you're seeing him plead his case. Jeri to Beth, Jeri to Beth, you know, you're seeing him through their eyes. And then back to the reactions where they know, yeah.

Dean: Something’s wrong.

John: And each one of them is making a very specific decision at that point.

Dean: Again, this port- these guys were so great to let us shoot there.

John: Oh man.

Dean: Gave us such wonderful access.

John: That’s the real port, that's not stock, baby, that’s-

Dean: That’s right, that’s the real deal.

John: And- and a lot of fun doing the TSA stuff, doing the Homeland Security stuff. The research on this was as horrifying as you'd imagine. Most of this is security theater, your ports are not secure, sleep tight America. 

Dean: And this actor was also discovered in that same improv group that we found the actor from the doctor episode.

Chris: Oh that’s interesting.

Dean: The Order 23.

Chris: John, you made a good point about how Order 23 pays off. A question about Order 23, about security at the courthouse. 

John: Yes, in Order 23 there's a beat like ‘How do they get the gun in there?’ And it’s because the courthouse has not been refurbished, because the budget on the town-

Dean: Right.

John: The city is so poor. And that's also why he felt confident hiding the money there. 

Chris: Right, right.

John: That pays off here in the- you find out the reason there's no money for the city is the mayor has grifted it all.

Dean: Right.

Chris: All the security money that he got, federal anti-terrorism money went into his own pocket.

Dean: And I love how Eliot is now playing a celebrity.

[Laughter]

Dean: And he's so proud that he's a celebrity.

John: And we also flipped roles for once, cause Hardison is usually not the one who’s annoyed, it’s-

Dean: Right.

Chris: Yeah, no it's true, he is.

John: It's really he’s- and it’s really both, ‘Get back on the job,’ and, ‘I'm not the center of attention.’

Chris: Yes.

Dean: These two are magical together.

John: Yeah, that's a great- this is a great noir set up.

Dean: Yeah, even with the black car in the distance, which is a bit of red herring.

Chris: Look at this shot, I mean this is a movie shot.

John: Beautiful. Now how do we- was this at night? Or were we during the day here on this?

Dean: This was at the end of the day, so we actually spilled into night and had to light it to keep it looking like this. And that's an actual oil tanker that they allowed us to shoot at.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Wow.

John: And then that- this walkway is actually exactly where we just located it. It's directly below the docks. And it really was- a lot of the fun was walking around the location going, ‘OK, this scene can happen here, this scene can happen here.’ And we didn't get too poisoned shooting in this warehouse. We all had funny coughs for about a week, but we were OK.

Dean: They warned us about spiders and raccoons under this- 

John: Yeah.

Dean: So we were looking for eight-legged raccoons at some point.

John: At some point we were very worried there would be a horrible combination.

Chris: Oh really? Wow, I missed this part.

John: Well you weren't up here for shooting at the oil tanker, getting poisoned by fumes.

Chris: Yeah, yeah. I looked at the schedule and went, ‘What’s the day you hang out in the baseball park?’

John: I noticed that. You came for the baseball park-

Chris: ‘Oh, I’ll come for that.’

John: You really didn't hang out with us in the oil tanker hold. Yeah, black lung kicking in. 

[Laughter]

John: This is a great cross cutting by Brian, this kind of- what he's doing is he's finding some- finding an odd rhythm here. It's not danger, it's unease.

Dean: Right.

John: You know, every shot is a little too short, it's a little too- yeah. And again, sort of end of day shooting, everything in the warehouse from the moment they walk in- like they get to the oil barrel, through the end of the episode pretty much, you did in a one-er. 

Dean: Yup.

John: One direction one way, one direction the other.

Dean: Your easy bake oven reference is awesome. I don't know how many people under the age of 40 are gonna get it, but god I love that reference.

John: Who under 40 watches television anyway? 

Chris: I appreciate it so much. Made me laugh so hard.

John: They've still got those. I got one for my niece.

Chris: With the one little bulb that actually makes the cake. 

John: Who knew? I love, Parker is constantly finding crates full of guns.

[Laughter]

John: I'm fairly sure she could open a gift with purchase from Neiman Marcus and it would have guns in it.

Chris: And by the way, kudos to you to find- when we put this thing together, to find the transition between corrupt mayor and arms deal in the docks. I mean, the thing was built around certain setpieces.

John: Yeah. And also it sort of made sense these- when you research, the amount of legal arms dealing that goes on in the states is magnificent. 

Chris: Right, right.

John: And when you find out these guys run these things out of Boston, New York, Miami, you know.

Chris: Right.

John: It's got to be somewhere.

Dean: And this is one of the rare times where our team is really losing at the end of an episode.

John: Oh yeah, they’ve got to lose. They really- they have- and this was interesting, because it really was one of those times where we sat back and said, ‘In what version of this show are our guys the bad guys that get caught?’

Dean: Right.

John: Just write this section of this show like that show. Like we're writing NCIS or we’re writing CSI or something. And really put our guys in the dead seat. And man he just radiates rage.

Chris: Yeah.

John: And it's not just because Richard Kind is a bad guy, it's because he's lost control.

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know, that is Nate Ford in a world he doesn't want to live in.

Dean: Now we got them in this impossible situation, and- but we can’t end the show without a little bit of fun. 

John: Yeah.

Dean: And the win within the loss here is, I think, is truly inspired.

John: Oh yeah, managing to get them out of there. 

Dean: Yeah.

John: That was a lot of fun. I can't remember where the idea from- the idea of the multiple exits came from. We were playing around in another episode with ambiguity, somebody- signal of, like, time and ambiguity, and that held over, because you use all the parts of the animal, and that hung out and that's of course-

Chris: That's Katie O’Grady.

John: Katie O’Grady.

Chris: She’s a terrific Portland actress. She runs an acting school up there. 

John: Yup, yup. And she really came in as kind of one off, and it’s- after two episodes it’s like, ‘Yeah, I could see this character coming back. I could see this fed,’ you know. A lot of Portland actors did that. A lot of Portland actors turned one day into a recurring role. 

Dean: Yeah.

John: The- and just barely buying him enough time. And that's the important thing here, is that each character is finding a little piece of the solution. That was the fun of this episode is, there's a famous fighter pilot saying which is, ‘Stay alive for the next 10 seconds.’ That's all you have to do. In the next 10 seconds, your wingman will get the guy, or the guy will get out of position, and that's all they are trying to do for this section of this script.

Chris: Yeah.

Dean: Thers a great turn here where he reveals that he was somehow part of this attempted assassination of one of the family- the extended family. 

John: Yeah.

Dean: And the rage that comes out of Nate is everything that’s built up over the entire year. 

John: And what's really interesting is, because you shot this all in one piece- this is not split up into takes, this built in real time.

Dean: That's right.

John: You know, this really builds from that confession- and I was out of position the first time he did the wrench, and I was like ‘What the hell just happened? Did Tim just crush Richard Kind’s head?’

Chris: It's his friend! They're friends!

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, they're friends, but the wrench wasn't in the script. Tim just picked up the wrench!

Dean: Right.

Chris: He just picked up a wrench. And we were like, ‘Is that a rubber prop wrench?’

Dean: I love her character is like, ‘Then just kill him.’ I mean, she has no moral position on this, she just wants to get out alive.

John: Yeah, this- like we were talking the other day, where Sophie still exchanges Christmas cards with people she's ripped off, Tara Cole has walked out of a lot of burning buildings with metal suitcases full of bloodstained cash. 

Dean: And never looked back.

John: And never looked back. And in that moment she is absolutely serious. If you're gonna kill this guy, get it done. You know, but she’s not gonna coddle him.

Dean: Now this may be one of my favorite bits that you guys have ever come up with, and it starts with a great turn.

John: It’s like- you know why? Cause it’s a locked off comedy frame, my friend.

Chris: That is.

Dean: Locked off comedy frame. But it's one of the oldest gags in television. 

John: It is.

Dean: Is that slow turn look.

Chris: The turn look.

John: And then the turn reveal, and this- 

Chris: ‘Oh no. Oh no, you're not gonna do it. Oh no, no way, Jose.’

[Laughter]

Dean: And once again, Aldis Hodge showing why he is a truly, truly special talent. This part is not written.

John: No.

Dean: This part is just him going- 

John: The printed page ends with, ‘They turn and look at the van.’

Dean: Right.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: Yes and- 

Dean: All of this is him being brilliant.

John: And that means also that Beth and Chris had to find the timing to when they were both gonna turn.

Dean: Right.

John: And that's the thing is, they work together a lot, now they've got a lot of, sort of, physical cues from each other. But yeah, this is all him, this is all him going off. And this is born of 207 when we shot him and Will Wheaton versus each other; they spent the whole day in the van alternating. And so Aldis was making a joke about the fact he has a very weird relationship with that van, cause he's in it and nobody else is.

Dean: And he even brought back in the fact that everyone teases him that the van smells.

John: Yes, exactly.

Chris: That the van smells, we made that a recurring thing.

John: So that's become a recurring thing and it was really- it was really the actors discussion of his character that led to the bit. 

Dean: Now a lot of people may miss this-

John: Oh this is my favorite bit-

Dean: -but just watch Parker when the doors shut.

John: Yup.

Dean: Because Parker is so close to Aldis she gives a kiss goodbye and leaves the little lip print.

[Laughter]

John: I never noticed that before. 

Chris: Oh she did, she leaves the lip print, that’s great.

John: Not in the script. 

Dean: One of my favorite camera moves right here. ‘Aaaaand, let’s begin.’

[Laughter]

John: There is- definitely been working together long enough now that we know- and now that jazz music is in the background, we’re up and running.

Chris: There you go.

Dean: It all kicks in. And again, how Richard was able to now change from that dark to humorous. Literally turning on a dime.

John: And this is him-

Chris: Oh there's so many speeches he made saying goodbye.

John: This is him doing the- that is Kirk saying goodbye to Spock.

[Laughter]

John: By the way, from the Wrath of Kahn, that is the speech he's doing right there.

Dean: And we- my favorite digital effect.

John: No van, no van there.

Dean: All painted.

Chris: Oh that’s great.

John: ‘I’ll miss you.’ No and that was- but of course, again, you were blowing stuff up at a dock.

[Laughter]

John: Without any real permission or notifying the authorities. It’s really I think I'd be disappointed now if you called ahead. 

Dean: That’s right.

John: And this is the reveal, and this was really tricky, trying to figure out the timeframe, how they could get around, how quickly they get around.

Dean: So we had to use the bomb as the time signature.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Right.

John: Because the- when we got there originally, this was structured slightly differently, but the exits in the physical locations didn't match. But that’s why TV is great, you have a writer on set-

Dean: Exactly.

John: So you can actually have the director walk around with you and go, ‘This isn't gonna work.’ ‘Sure it will.’ ‘No it won't, fix it.’

[Laughter]

Chris: Well I think originally the thing went inside the- 

John: Yes, yeah. And we couldn't do that, and you couldn't see the blow, and then you had to blow all three doors simultaneously if you did it, and it would've been madness. And Katie's look of rage there is magnificent. 

Chris: That’s great, as the car goes by.

John: It really- ‘I am an angry, angry fed.’ And this is also one of the times when we don’t let Nate off the hook.

Dean: Right.

John: You know and Aldis is genuinely- yeah.

Chris: Yeah, he managed to transition from the fun of saying goodbye to the van, to actual rage.

Dean: Genuinely pissed off. And now another bit of John Rogers directing on this episode is the car getting away.

Chris: Nice!

John: The car- yeah, this is-

Dean: Right here, here we go and then look at this nice power slide.

Chris: Oh, good job.

John: I caught the reflection in the side of the car that was suction cup bounce and they actually hold on. You didn't give me the wet down one.

Dean: And this is my favorite reveal of a character ever.

John: I have no idea how you did this! Did you lower him by rope? How does he get in the shot?

[Laughter]

Chris: Well he comes in-

John: And we’re coming around, this is all a one-er and… he… is… there.

[Laughter]

John: He just- it is one of those things where, much like- 

Chris: How would he fit inside?

Dean: [Mimicking Mark Sheppard] There's no one else that can make an entrance-

John: Quite like Mark Sheppard.

Dean: -like Mark Sheppard.

[Laughter]

John: And by the way, we decided to make him- because we were cooking up a threat, and- we’ll actually continue talking about this in the next episode...

Chris: In the next episode.

Dean: Please stay tuned for the second part of this. 

Chris: Stay tuned.

Dean: But this was a lot of fun, and thank you for listening to the first half. Stay tuned for part two.

[frenchphobic]

long fucking post on why a c!dream is a shitty person and probably should not have a redemption because it is unpog

honestly i just want to refute dream apologists thats why im making this post. i think that dream as a villain is interesting but i think that trying to make him out to be secretly a good guy is just bad ngl. also /roleplay and all

tw for abuse and mentions of suicide

dream as a villain

dream is a villain. he is chaotic evil according to wilbur, deliberately does not stream to appear less sympathetic (and yet), and is set up as an antagonist to tommy who bears the title ‘hero’. dream is not a good person, no matter how you look at it or try to justify his actions.

‘but he wants to unite everyone to be a big family :((’ the ends dont justify the means believe it or not. having a vaguely positive goal does not excuse the actions you’ve done. it also goes hand and hand with saying dream is correct for punishing tommy the way he did because he acted up. if i socked you across the face and then suddenly said ‘sorry there was a roach on ur face’ does that make it okay? probably not i still punched you, enacting an unnecessary amount of violence. thats a very simple analogy i will admit and there are more complex comparisons. another example off the top of my head is say a child just scribbled all over you walls with crayons. would hitting them be a justified answer? if u said hes thats really fucked of u go seek help u loon. violence as a punishment is very toxic, just because it gets the job done does not mean it is okay. at the end of the day, you still committed this act and the harm you caused is real, having a good motive doesnt suddenly make it okay.

‘but tommy causes all of the conflict’ the disk war wasnt even caused by tommy, it was sapnap and then tommy got involved. and the reason why tommy even caused conflict was because of the discs, because he wanted them back. and most of the time there was a level of antagonism from another party, such as schlatt exiling him, dream taking the disks in the first place, dream threatening l’manberg. and if dream wanted to end the conflict so badly, why didnt he just give tommy back his disks? tommy upfront said everything started with the disks, so he wants them back so he could end the conflict. notice how after tommy got his disks back he has been staying out of conflict, apologizing to everyone, and the only bad thing hes done is try to scam people but everyone does that. this would have been the most peaceful option, yet dream chose the path that would further antagonize tommy which then draws everyone else into conflict. why did dream need to have leverage over tommy so badly? why did he want to hold power over tommy so badly? its because of control, and that’s ultimately dreams end goal. sure he wants a big server family, but would said family have a free will?

‘but dream is sad’ the thing is dream is completely at fault for everything that happened to him. he pushed away sapnap (and george ig). he tried to take control over the server and their possessions. literally everything that happened to tommy. literally everything involving ranboo. villains can be sympathetic, i am not arguing against that. but it does not mean that they should be left off the hook. that doesnt mean u should ignore the shit theyve done because ‘oh no theyre sad’ because it doesnt make anything better. dream had this shit coming for him.

now people also skirt around calling dream an abuser. which is fair ig, its a very loaded word. its much easier to say manipulated. that being said, dream can classify as abusive. and no, tommy is not abusive. abuse is about control and a power imbalance. dream has power over tommy, but tommy does not have power over dream, at least not in the way dream does. he’s taking back power to stand up for himself, dream uses power to control.

the reasons i listed for why dream is from the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project so if u want a source on that, there you go.

using coercion or threats: dream often threatened tommy, such as the pit thing and often employed violence on him. while normally this could be attributed to Normal Minecraft Player Go Smack. minecraft mechanics cannot always translate to real world since violence is pretty normal in minecraft however we also need to consider the context of the scene. dream gave an order, tommy refused, dream applies violence, tommy submitted. thats why its a threat, it has tangible effects that can correlate to real life.

using intimidation: dream blew up logsteadshire as a punishment. dream also destroyed tommys items anytime he visited. dream also hit tommy with his axe i believe. he killed mushroom henry, one of tommys pets.

Using Emotional Abuse: dream guiltripped the shit out of tommy for just hiding things and pinning the blame on tommy for just wanting his own private items. he definitely played mind games on tommy, pretending to be his friend. honestly i probably dont even need to go as in depth because it was so obvious.

Using Isolation: putting him in exile in the first place. destroying the bether portal so no one could visit tommy anymore. i really dont think i need to expand upon that.

Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming: dream in tommys stream when he got trapped said that exile wasnt that bad. he does shift the blame onto tommy for logsteadshire being blown up, even though dreams reaction was entirely unjustified for not listening and hiding.

Using Economic Abuse: see this is where i attempt to parallel minecraft mechanics to real life. obviously, there is no monetary system in place, so when i mean economic, i will use valuables such as armor, food, etc in place of currency. the idea behind economic abuse is to limit the victim’s resources so that they are dependent on the abuser and cannot escape. dream only really allowed tommy to have the armor he gave him while not giving access to armor so he does not regain a sense of power, and in the prison stream, dream holds all the potatoes which puts him in a position of power over tommy. this argument is more ambiguous i feel cause the whole minecraft mechanics thing is kinda weird so u don’t necessarily have to take this part in.

i feel like i need to emphasize this very strongly because dream is not a good person. abuse cannot and should not be a response to someone. its an awful mentality to have. i just want to prove the point that dream is not a good person, his reasons absolutely do not justify his actions.

what makes a good redemption

redemption arcs are tricky. when done right they are great. when done poorly, its a slap in the face. rn im going to establish a formula to what makes a good redemption with an example.

the most well known example of a good redemption is zuko from atla. first, its the magnitude of what theyve done and why. zuko did commit some shitty actions, since he was in a position of power in the fire nation but its because he is a child being abused and wanted to regain honor. zukos real awful acts was season 1 and the whole betrayal thing. thats not to say that zukos actions suddenly are okay, he did shitty things. but its something that can be traced to a higher entity or seem less malicious then the other villains. the thing also about the magnitude of actions is that there is a certain point of atrocities that there is no redemption. some people simply cannot be redeemed because the actions they commit are so ingrained in their character or the action itself has serious moral issues that it would just be wrong.

the next is acknowleding what they did was wrong. a genuine reflection on the self and analyzing what they did and why it was not okay. zuko realized what he did to uncle iroh was bad for example. he turned his back on his father, realizing he didnt and shouldnt seek acknowledgment from someone as heinous as him. its pointing out your actions and going ‘hey, this wasnt right i should not have done this’ and not even excusing ur actions. its also going straight for the root of the problem and figuring out to stamp it from the source. just because a character is sad does not mean they are reflecting, sometimes they are attempting to garner pity. it has to be direct and clear acknowledgement of the injustice.

and finally, an important part about redemption arcs is the actual redemption part. its when you make amends. zuko made amends with katara by trying to help her get revenge, he fought against the fire nation and tried to make things more peaceful in his rule. he apologized to iroh. an important part of the amends section is that it does have to be a genuine desire to change and become a better person, not to change a person’s perception of you. the thing is u cant expect a person youve hurt to forgive you. you cant expect people to be sympathetic towards you nor should u attempt to make urself sympathetic. u shouldnt be expecting a pat on the back or an award. redemption is about internal and character change.

why dream should not be redeemed

ive already established the key points to a good redemption (imo) but heres where dream falls short. his actions are extremely heavy so redemption may not even really be possible. abuse is not something you can wave off so it does cross to the point of fucked up. acknowledgement of what he did was wrong? all he said was that he changed, yet never explained why he changed or was too vague. he needed to label specifically what he did and bring it up. attempting to make amends? he’s been doing the exact opposite in fact he continues to manipulate tommy and ranboo. its not a genuine change. he is still repeating the cycle and has given no indication of ceasing. at the moment he does not have any signs of redemption.

and the thing is most of the attention around a dream redemption comes from either justifying his motives (which i do want to emphasize does not make anything suddenly okay) and because he is sad in prison sad face. these are not good reasons. its gonna pain me severely to bring this up but snape from harry potter does have some form of sad character ig yet he very much abused his authority to bully children as old as 11 just because he said ‘aight gonna die’ doesnt suddenly make his general bigotry and abuse suddenly okay there is a threshold. again im so sorry for using harry potter as an example none were coming to mind and i needed a popular one i do not like harry potter please dont say i do i would pass away.

and the last thing to consider is the audience. keep in mind that the audience is composed of minors and while yes there are adults, minors are the main component of the fandom. keep in mind that there are quite a few people who can relate to tommys character because they might be in the same position or have gone through his experiences. tell me what kind of message does it send to that audience that abusers can be redeemed. this is not a narrative u should push to this audience in these situations and the writers are seemingly aware of it. remember how in exile tommy spiraled into a suicidal mentality? consider how fucked of a message it would be if he just committed suicide instead of escaping abuse and attempting to recover from his experiences. tommy did an excellent job in not going that route and having a message of ‘it will not get better’. its the same thing here. victims are not obligated to care for or forgive their abuser, and portraying an abuser as sympathetic might fuck with the message a lot, even change their perception in that ‘oh, maybe my abuser was right, maybe they had a reason for treating me the way they did’. this is not to say that every victim watching this will internalize this message, but people also look up to these characters. there can be a degree of influence from the story onto oneself and thats the dangerous part.

conclusion

all in all dream is a shitbag asshole and probably shouldnt get a redemption because it would not be pog thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[bardicindignation]

Oh oh oh oh for the meta !!!

#3 - What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

(I’m so curious because you have these super detailed world building set ups so I’m like ... is this ever the case for you??)

Ahhh thank you so much for the ask!!!!

oh gosh...(yeah I do go for the super detailed world building set ups, don't I? 😅😂) let's see...

Well, I'm sure if I really took the time to wrack my brains about this I could come up with several, but then I'd have to either choose or resign myself to a ridiculously long post so...alright, so, I have this star wars au floating around in my head right, and most of it is fairly serious, generally speaking, but it also contains these three (so far) scenes that are just complete and utter crackfic.

I've written a grand total of one (1) of them, which I posted on April Fools day and you can read here if you're so inclined.

As for the other two, I'm putting them under the cut bc this is still getting really long:

1) basically, I have this one scene where Ventress winds up killing Maul, then melting down his legs and then having them made into a tea set which she then gives to an extremely bemused Obi-Wan for his birthday (yes this is extremely weird, no, I don't know how the fuck I thought of it but it's strangely hilarious to me, so there you have it) which is ridiculous on it's own but then you've got

2) which is a follow up to the april fools day snippet, in which anankin-undercover-as-darth-vader convinces tarkin that Quinlan Vos is his own, entirely fictional, cousin Sergei who just so happens to look exactly like the definitely super dead Jedi Knight and who is also an extremely loyal informant for the empire. A few years later, a few more 'Imformant Sergei" incidents have happened (Anakin saw the opportunity to troll the hell out of Tarkin and ran with it; Quinlan is more than happy to facilitate this, and so is everyone else who's working with them. All incidents are recorded and safely stored to show ahsoka when they finally track her down) and what happens is this:

For leverage against the rebellion reasons, palpatine has ordered Princess Leia (roughly 15 years old at this point) taken hostage by "Vader's" "sith" apprentice, Mara Jade (who's been secretly actually Anakin's second jedi padawan since she was about seven, which Leia is aware of but Bail isn't). Rex (who is completely unaware of the whole "massive undercover rebellion right underneath the emperor's nose" thing and therefor the fact that leia isn't actually in much of any real danger) goes to investigate and try and rescue her.

Stuff happens, Palpatine orders Mara to kill Leia and Mara (who had already been planning to fake her own death, bc as she grew into her strength in the force, Palpatine had started paying more attention to her which was getting dangerous. she'll join luke and obi wan in secretly living in the secret rooms in "Vader"'s star destroyer lol) explodes the building that she was holding Leia in, successfully faking BOTH of their deaths.

Rex runs into the girls on their way out, and when a group of storm troopers spot them he decides to head them off so that Mara and Leia can escape.

This turns out to not be immediately necessary, bc said storm troopers are actually Cody and an assortment of other de-chipped clone troopers. Cody gets as far as explaining that to Rex, when Tarkin shows up.

He, predictably, zeros in on Rex bc he remembers him from the clone wars and doesn't like him and because he's Tarkin, he decides to order Cody to take off his helmet and execute him.

Cody, obviously, isn't going to do that and goes with the only option left to him: break his cover. So he and his troopers all draw their blasters on Tarkin, at which point Tarkin calls his own troopers to surround them.

Then he starts monologuing: blah blah glory of the empire, blah blah, traitor, blah blah, 'if only you demonstrated the same loyalty that Informant Sergei does without any kind of programming.'

That makes Cody snort, and Quinlan, who's been lurking this whole time waiting for an opportune moment, can't possible pass over the dramatic entrance potential and reveals himself like, "hah, bitch you wish!" and blows his OWN cover.

So Tarkin is about to lose his shit, Cody's panicking, Rex is both panicking and completely confused, at which point Anakin-as-Vader along with a bevy of stormtroopers who include Appo, Boil, Kix, the 212th's medic, and Obi-Wan shows up.

Cue Rex's confusion and panic squaring itself when this, for some reason, makes Cody relax.

Tarkin's like, "Ah Vader, you're just in time to assist me in doing away with these traitors"

And internally, Anakin's like 'fuck fuck fuck' but externally he's like, "Traitors? whatever do you mean?"

And Tarkin tells him what just happened and Anakin thinks fast and goes:

"Oh, yeah they're definitely not traitors, they have until just now been on an important mission for me among ancient...sith...ruins! And it appears that they have all been exposed to a sith toxin which causes confusion, aggression, and muddled loyalties."

And Tarkin maybe buys that? but either way, he goes,

"Well, in that case, they're useless to us now, so we might as well put them down and be done with it."

And Anakin, maybe panicking a little, goes, "Do you really think that I would send such valuable assets into such a situation without having some kind of treatment on hand?"

Tarkin: Oh, and what treatment would that be?

Anakin, mind going blank: Medic, tell the Grand Moff about the cure.

Kix, trying to murder his general with the force of his glare alone underneath the helmet: Yes Sir. The...only cure to such a...toxin...is...a...special tea! Brewed...in the...legs of the vanquished enemy of...the ancient and powerful Jedi...Ben."

Obi Wan, Anakin, and everyone who still has the benefit of a hemet: *tries not to laugh audibly but are about to rupture something containing themselves*

Rex: What? the fuck?? is happening???

So, Tarkin buys it, and Anakin and his men 'subdue' Cody, Quinlan, Rex and co. and bring them back to their shuttle, where Mara, Leia, and Luke reveal themselves and they explain everything to Rex, who at this point is more or less certain that this entire day has been some sort of bizarre fever dream.

And I'd love to write the whole thing out! but to do that and have it make any sort of sense I'd have to write just...so many chapters of context and everything leading up to it which is...a lot of stuff. So maybe I'll get to it eventually, but it's not event the first star wars au on my list of stuff to write, not even taking into account all the stuff for other fandoms, so it's probably going to be a long time until I get to it, if I ever do 😅

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Nigerian Job

(PART ONE)

leverage 1.01

note: there are A LOT of scenes in this one, but they are all important in one way or another in terms of notability, character-building, etc

Dubenich: I’m sorry Mr. Ford, sorry, I know who you are I’ve, uh, excuse me. I’ve read all about you. I know for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing and you saved your insurance company I don’t even know how many millions of dollars but I just know that when you needed them… What happened to your family is the kind of thing--

Nate (slams glass down): You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We’re coming up on that pretty quick.

- - - - -

Dubenich: I’m serious. Look, look at the people I’ve already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?

Nate (going through file): Uh, yeah, I’ve chased all of them at one time or anoth-- Parker? You have Parker?

Dubenich: Is there somebody better?

Nate: No, but Parker is insane.

Dubenich: Which is why I need you.

Nate (laughs): No. I’m not a thief. (closes file)

Dubenich: Thieves I got. What I need is one honest man to watch them.

- - - - -

Hardison: I’ve been doing this since high school, bro, I’m Captain Discipline.

[Flashback]

(New York City Hotel, Five Years Ago)

Manager: They came straight from the airport and up to their room.

Security: So you never actually saw any of them then.

Manager: No, but the credit card numbers checked out.

Security: Break it down!

(Doors open to reveal Hardison sitting on a couch drinking orange soda while three beautiful women dressed as Princess Leia fight with lightsabers)

Security: Does that look like Mick Jagger to you?

Hardison: This is not the room you’re looking for.

what a fucking GEEK oh my god

like, his flashback is so tame compared to the others???

like, his version of criminality is hanging out with cosplaying pretty girls and watching them fight with lightsabers, all under the guise of pretending to be mick jagger

- - - - -

Hardison (holding up an earpiece): It’s a bone-conduction earpiece mic, works off the vibrations in your jaw.

(Hardison tosses it to Eliot who holds it to his ear)

Hardison (whispering): You can hear everything.

Eliot: You’re not as useless as you look.

eliot being subtly impressed with hardison is my religion

- - - - -

Hardison: I don’t even know what you do.

[Flashback]

(3 Years Ago Eliot, wearing glasses and drinking from a mug of tea, enters a room full of men in Belgrade, Serbia)

Eliot: I’m here to collect the merchandise.

(Most of the men pull guns. Eliot takes a long sip of his drink. Outside, the windows flash with gunfire. Moans and the sound of a body falling fill the air. Inside, Eliot calmly takes another drink. One man sits at a table surrounded by bodies that litter the ground. He places a baseball card on the table. Eliot smiles)

am I the only one that wants to know the context of this???

- - - - -

(Parker drops down between Eliot and Hardison, hanging upside down from scaffolding)

Parker: Can I have one?

Hardison: You can have the whole box.

(Hardison holds the box of comms up for her. She takes one and pulls herself back up)

Eliot: What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?

Hardison: Age of the geek, baby. We run the world.

Eliot: You keep telling yourself that.

(Parker puts the comm in her ear, smiling)

ot3 moments from day one baby

also eliot goes from ‘baby’ to ‘oh god, I’m baby’ in 0.0000005 seconds

- - - - -

[Flashback]

(19 Years Ago in Kansas City, a ten year old Parker stands in her living room watching her foster parents fight. The foster father turns to Parker, holding a stuffed bunny while the foster mother stands in the background, crying)

Bill: You thought I wouldn’t find this? You don’t get bunny until you do what I say. So be a good girl or, I don’t know, a better thief. (walks out of room)

Foster Mother: Bill!

(Parker walks outside and down the walk. Behind her, the house explodes. She hugs her bunny and smiles)

for the LONGEST time I thought she blew up the house with her foster parents until I saw that john rogers confirmed they weren’t home at the time

also this gives HEAVY insight as to how even the smallest part of Parker’s childhood was

abusive, emotionally manipulative, etc

- - - - -

(Parker adjusts her repelling gear, caressing it as if it were a lover)

Parker: Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003

Nate: You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?

- - - - -

Eliot (examining earpiece): Is this thing safe?

Hardison: Yeah, it’s completely safe, it’s just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness.

Eliot (puts earpiece in): You’re precisely why I work alone.

shut up eliot you’re about to be so far gone for them it will be amazing

- - - - -

(Parker dives off the roof)

Parker: Yeehaaaa!!

(Eliot and Hardison run to the edge and watch her fall)

Eliot: That’s twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.

what’s the opposite of foreshadowing? because I’m thinking about the long goodbye job and it’s reference to this (also the SIGNIFICANCE in that episode in how both hardison AND eliot repeat this line, finishing one another. because they both are on the same wavelength by that point, so in tune with one another and in constant awe of parker.)

- - - - -

parker just ??? drops the fucking glass ??? onto the sidewalk below ??? like ??? what if it hits someone ???

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, you got any chatter on their frequencies?

[Electrical Room]

Parker: No. Why?

[Unfinished Office]

(Nate checks records)

Nate: There’s eight listed on the duty roster, there’s only four at the guard post.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: I can’t even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who’s who?

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: Haircuts Parker. Count the haircuts.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: I would have missed that.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: What?

[Electrical Room]

Parker: Nothing.

mastermind father and daughter in episode ONE

- - - - -

we love to see eliot beat up four guys in the time it takes hardison’s bag to fall to the ground

- - - - -

Eliot (empties gun and smiles): That’s what I do.

(Hardison looks impressed. Behind him, the door clicks open. He and Eliot smile and enter the server room together)

the FLIRTING ENERGY in this scene

- - - - -

Eliot: Did you give them a virus?

Hardison: (chuckles) Dude, I gave them more than one virus.

hardison doesn’t half-ass, pass it on

- - - - -

Parker: Problem. Those guards you ganked?

[Electrical Room]

Parker (looking at monitor): They reset all the alarms on the roof and all the floors above us. We can’t go up.

[Hallway]

Eliot: Every man for himself then. (starts to move away)

Hardison: Go ahead I’m the one with the merchandise.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: Yeah, well I’m the one with an exit.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: And I’m the one with a plan. Now I know you children don’t play well with others but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now get to the elevator and head down. We’re going to the burn scam.

[Elevator]

(Eliot and Hardison enter an elevator and begin changing their clothes)

Hardison: Going to Plan B.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate (packing his things): Technically that would be Plan G.

[Elevator]

(elevator doors open and Parker runs in. She begins changing while the men look away)

Hardison: How many plans do we have? Is there like a Plan M?

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: Yeah, Hardison dies in Plan M.

[Elevator]

Eliot: I like Plan M.

there are SO MANY things about this scene I want to discuss but here are the top ones:

1- nate calling them out as children? amazing

2- eliot and hardison canonically changed in the elevator together BEFORE parker dropped in, but they weren’t necessarily looking away in a backs-turned way when she came in (when they were still getting finished getting dressed)

3- parker being completely nonchalant changing with two men in the elevator? she must not really care about being naked in front of other people (as seen later in what I think is the morning after job (?), for example)

4- the boys look away to be polite but there is definitely interest in BOTH of their faces

5- so this is what the burn scam entails

- - - - -

parker takes shotgun while the two boys are in the back. I need to see the scene of them awkwardly sitting together in the back. possibly bickering.

- - - - -

Nate: All right, all right. The money will be in all your accounts later today.

Hardison: Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?

Eliot: Yeah, well, one show only, no encores.

Parker: I already forgot your names.

Hardison: It was kind of cool, being on the same side.

Nate: No, we are not on the same side. I am not a thief.

Parker: You are now. Come on Nathan, tell the truth. Didn’t you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?

(they all walk away in different directions)

smh you’re all 0.000005 seconds away from becoming a family

“no encores” my ass

+ I love how hardison is the FIRST one to (immediately) bring up how awesome they worked as a team

- - - - -

(Nate walks slowly down a toward a large room where voices are coming from)

Hardison (holding gun): You mind telling me what happened to the designs?

Eliot: What makes you think I know what happened? Stupid.

Hardison: Look, forget you man. You did it when we were coming down from the elevator.

Eliot: Yeah, that makes sense doesn’t it? You had the file every second.

Hardison: Hold up Kujo, I did my part, I transferred the files.

Eliot: You better get that gun out of my face...

Hardison: What did you do?

Eliot: …or else I’m gonna feed it to you.

Nate: Hey!

(the men turn, Hardison pointing the gun at Nate)

Eliot: Did you do it? You’re the only one that’s ever played both sides.

Nate: Yeah, you seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at him.

Eliot (looks at Hardison): Safety’s on.

Hardison: Like I’m gonna fall for that.

Nate: No, no, actually he’s right, the safety is on.

(Hardison looks at the gun and Nate grabs it)

Nate (to Eliot): You armed?

Eliot (shakes head): I don’t like guns.

(Eliot looks pointedly past Nate’s shoulder. Nate turns, pointing the gun at Parker who is holding a gun on him)

Parker: My money’s not in my account.

(She walks around Hardison, raising her gun as Nate lowers his)

Parker: That makes me cry inside in my special, angry place.

Nate: Okay, Parker. (slowly reaches out to lower Parker’s gun) Now did you come here to get paid?

Hardison: Hell no. Transfer of funds man. Global economy.

Eliot: It’s supposed to be a walk away. I’m never supposed to see you again.

eliot could have IMMEDIATELY taken the gun away but it made hardison feel safe so he was humoring him

and how easily nate took the gun away? interesting, for a former insurance agent

“you armed?” “no, I don’t like guns” eliot sweetie I love you

also parker’s entrance tho

- - - - -

Nate: Then the only reason you guys are here is because you didn’t get paid. And you’re pissed off. (laughs) As a matter of fact the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that we’re not. Getting. Paid.

(a look of realization goes through the group and they all start to run. Nate opens a garage door and directs them out. Hardison trips on the stairs and Eliot pulls him to his feet)

Nate: Come on, come on, get up. Let’s go, hustle. Go.

(the others exit and Nate looks back to see a ball of fire headed toward him)

eliot: I hate you all, I work alone, I don’t care about any of you

eliot 0.000005 seconds later: hauling hardison off the ground so he doesn’t die in an exploding building because ‘I guess he’s by boyfriend now’

- - - - -

Nate: Have we been processed?

(Eliot waves ink covered finger tips at him)

Eliot: They faxed our prints to the State Police.

[Hospital Room B]

Hardison: Yo, if the staties run us man, we’re screwed.

Parker: How long?

Hardison: Thirty, thirty-five minutes depending on the software

- - - - -

Nate: Parker! Get me a phone. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to get out of here together.

Eliot: This was a onetime deal.

Nate: Look guys, here’s your problem. You all know what you can do, I know what all you can do, so that gives me the edge, gives me the plan.

[Hospital Room B]

Parker: I don’t trust these guys.

[Hospital Room A]

Nate: Do you trust me?

Eliot: Of course. You’re an honest man.

Nate: Parker, Phone.

[Hospital Room B]

Parker: This is gonna suck.

(she sticks her fingers down her throat and bends over)

Hardison: Oh. Hell no

the amount of times eliot brings up that it was supposed to be a one-time thing is HILARIOUS considering just how fast he imprints on them lmfao

also how they all immediately trust him, I’m soft

- - - - -

(Parker nods compliantly. The doctor and nurse leave the room. Officer checks her handcuffs then leaves. Parker and Hardison hold up the phones they stole. After a quick glance, they switch phones. Parker holds up the keys she stole and tosses them to Hardison before standing up and talking to the vent into the next room)

domestic pardison

- - - - -

(Hardison leads Eliot to a police cruiser that Nate and Parker are already inside of. As Hardison guides Eliot into the backseat he hits Eliot head on the top of the door frame. Eliot turns and growls at Hardison)

Hardison: Walk it off. Walk… get inside. Get inside.

(Eliot gets in the car)

I love chaotic (pre)boyfriends

- - - - -

Eliot: I’m gonna beat Dubenich so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed.

Parker: You won’t get within 100 yards. He knows your face. He knows all our faces.

Eliot: He tried to kill us.

Parker: More importantly he didn’t pay us.

Eliot: How is that more important?

Parker: I take that personally.

Eliot: There’s something wrong with you.

okay to be fair eliot at least is open to and listens to parker’s reasoning before concluding she’s crazy

- - - - -

Eliot: What’s in it for me?

Nate: Payback, and if it goes right a lot of money.

Parker: What’s in it for me?

Nate: A lot of money, and if it goes right, payback. Hardison?

Hardison: I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, hell yeah man, let’s kick him up.

these characterizations are so on point

- - - - -

SOPHIE’S INTRO LMFAO

+ how everyone else is horrified but nate just looks entranced

- - - - -

[Flashback]

(In Paris seven years ago, Sophie is cutting a painting out of a frame with several empty frames nearby. The door burst open and Nate enters with a gun in hand)

Nate: Freeze.

(Sophie grabs her gun and shoots Nate in the shoulder. He responds by shooting her in the back. They both clench at their wounds)

Sophie: You wanker!

so are we, as a fandom, EVER going to talk about this scene ???

- - - - -

(so apparently there’s a 250 text block limit for posts on tumblr so I guess I have to make more than one post for this now. the following part will be reblogged on this post immediately after. reblog that version instead please lol)

[therealsaintscully]

‘Something’s fucky’ observations, HLV version

[Reminder: if you like me, but not my tjlc-related posts, you can block tag ‘johnlockendgame’ to avoid them]

This was originally posted in response to another post, but I decided to post it separately for posterity.

- Sherlock’s suspicions about Mary and Mycroft - My current reading of HLV-TAB, based on M-Theory, is that both Mycroft and Mary are double agents and are aware of each other’s actions. They have an unspoken agreement to not expose each other’s status as such. Mary, who noticed that Magnussen began harming Mycroft’s colleagues, realized that if Sherlock ever exposes Mycroft he will discover the truth about her too and/or that Mycroft is sending Sherlock towards CAM so he finds the truth about her. Either way, she doesn’t trust Mycroft and goes rogue (planning to shoot CAM but ends up shooting Sherlock), determined to defend herself, Mycroft be damned.

- Sherlock getting John’s attention in HLV (waiting in the dosshouse next to Isaac Whitney) - we see in TLD that Sherlock knows where to find John two weeks in advance. If this is an EMP situation TLD happens in his head, but I suggest that this happens in TLD because Sherlock had done it HLV. I wouldn’t find it far fetched that Sherlock, expecting John to look for some excitement, knew Isaac Whitney is a neighbour and plants himself right next to him in a dosshouse - he knew John would be there.

- Others have pointed out before that CAM is the personification of an Appointment in Samarra when he visits Sherlock he visits him at Baker Street instead of meeting up in his office. That would make CAM the grim reaper who came to collect Sherlock’s soul, but I argue that Mary is the grim reaper.

- It’s interesting that Sherlock uses Molly, Anderson and Mycroft to survive the shooting, but not John. These are people he’s supposed to be ambivelant about - why not figure out how to survive using John, whom he fully trusts?

- Sherlock actually saw John, Mary and Janine at the hospital - he may not have spoken much, but he did hear and see them. Mary wears the butterfly scarf when she threatens him at the hospital, and I believe this is why she wears the scarf in the tarmac scene (the butterflies become omnious when you notice her wearing  the black butterflies dress in T6T). It’s after Janine leaves the room that things get REALLY fucky - she may have played with his medicine, as LSiT suggested.

- I think certain situations after Mary’s shot, like the conversation with CAM in the restaurant, are happening when Sherlock is still in control of his MP; he’s running a controlled scenario at Appledore and on Christmas (the wall clock at his parents’ kitchen seems to be keeping perfect time considering), Mary’s pregnancy duration makes sense if she’s around 7-8is months pregnant on New Year’s (Sherlock would know when the baby is due). He doesn’t ‘lose his mind’  (like John wonders at his parents’ house), or if you will, a grasp on reality, until the plane takes off.

- Papa Holmes doesn’t seem to lose his glasses anymore, even when unconcious. Nice touch ;)

- AGRA is Sherlock’s invention, it’s an idea Sherlock creates and explores later in T6T when he can’t find answers in the Appledore and TAB scenarios. 

- Appledore is the Garden of Eden, the place that houses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Appledore means ‘Apple tree’, Sherlock describes what’s inside it as ‘forbidden knowledge’ earlier in the episode, it’s white and heavenly and angelic, there are some bird of paradise looking plants there, and Sherlock is determined to go there in order to learn about good and evil and ‘make a deal with the devil’, CAM - the snake/satan. Sherlock falls from from grace after learning about the truth of Appledore and CAM’s vaults.

I was surprised by the religious imagery here - Sherlock isn’t religious, but going further in these posts I’ll point out signs of religious imagery filtering through to Sherlock.

There’s some weird ass technology at Appledore, like a disappearing TV screen CAM vanishes with a hand gesture (seriously, there’s nothing there. Give it a rewatch, gif is mine).

By the way, who’s POV is it in this video CAM is showing them? Mary’s? It’s not Sherlock’s - we can see Sherlock’s back.

Update: I’ve received comments about that screen, claiming it’s a holographic screen, but look at this gif - John watches it (the screen is there), turns around (the screen disappears), asks ‘you put me in a fire for leverage?’, CAM speaks and moves towards the screen that is no longer there and supposedly removes it again.

There are two interesting items on CAM’s table: one lonely, tempting Apple (well, it is the Garden of Eden) and Sherlock’s mirror thingy. Yes, the same one that will be heavily featured on T6T.

- CAM mentions Mary’s wet jobs for the CIA - this isn’t the last time Sherlock explicitly considers Mary has an American connection/is an American. Think about Mary with American accent after running away in T6T .

- I wonder if Sherlock telling John that the mission to Eastern Europe is six months long, as Mycroft estimates (and Mycroft is never wrong), is bleeding from ‘real life’ in which Mycroft and John discuss Sherlock’s survival chances/expectancy. If it is, perhaps that’s why the airplane takes off - Sherlock decides to go up to a higher level and explore his situation (he takes drugs, supposedly, but perhaps he actually moves from Mind Palace to Dream Manor).

- I wonder if Sherlock comes up with Rosie in his mind and symbolized it with Mary wearing a Rose brooch.

- What if ‘Miss Me’ doesn’t actually mean what we think it does, in the context of  “notice or feel the loss or absence of ”, but is actually supposed to be the opposite - did you miss me, did you fail to notice me, to connect the dots about me.

Think about who asks that question throughout S3 and S4 (arguably, all in Sherlock’s Mind Palace) - Moriarty, Mary (in her posthumous video messages) and even Mycroft in TAB (’so, did you?’).“Missing” is a contranym, after all, one word with two opposite meanings.

- “Who needs me now?” “England”, is Sherlock in his scenario exploration assuming Mycroft (=“England”) is behind bringing Sherlock back. This is being called back in TAB when Mycroft summons Mary, who tells Mrs. Hudson “England” needs her.

- The East Wind is Coming - 1) If the East Wind is indeed the end of the official ACD canon, in which Sherlock’s saying to Watson that the world is about to change, I sort of admire Moftiss for using this as the bookend, a tell, to tell us that this is where thing will stop making sense in ACD terms. From that point on, they break out of canon and arguably the story into their own ‘canon’ - the final problem of Sherlock becoming ‘human’ (I’m grossly oversimplifying it). We’re propelled immediately from the airport to Theatre of Absurd we’ll see in S4, because Sherlock is breaking the rules of the story (by shooting CAM, instead of Mary shooting CAM like in canon) - the East Wind is coming, and now we’re heading slowly into post-canon. 2) I love that I’m getting the sense that Sherlock’s brain makes John low-key threaten Mary by saying the East Wind is coming in an ominous tone. Translation: ‘Hey, wife, Sherlock is about to realize just how super gay he is for me and I for him so wrap up warm’.

Thoughts? I’m sure I’m not the first one to find some of these things, let me know if you deserve credits. Screengrabs are from here and CAM’s gifs at Appledore are mine.

[soiruntotheriver]

(9) In summary, when things get hard, does Silver go back to what he knows: being out for himself, lost in creating his “perfect” life, even if it means losing the person who loves him/he loves, all stemming from his repression in realizing his feelings, in repressing his past, an inability to stand being truly seen, and therefore an inability in being an honest, equal partner?

 Alright, my dude, you’ve got me doing a deep dive on this one haha. I actually went back and re-watched the last three episodes and took notes to sort all this out in my head. Hopefully it all makes sense. This is all about Flint and Silver’s motivations and the actions they take to achieve their goals towards the end of the series. It’s gonna be a long one, so buckle in. As Jack Rackham once said: “Please forgive me, I will go on from time to time, but generally in the service of thoroughness...” I’m gonna post this under the last of your asks, as I believe it addresses most of your points. If I leave anything out please let me know.

Alright so, *crack knuckles* here we go: 

For context: Rackham and Max have gone to create an alliance with Marion Guthrie in Philadelphia, Billy has gone to Rogers to show him how to divide Flint from Silver, and Madi has been taken prisoner. 

Early in episode 8 we get the first of a number of similar conversations between Silver and Flint concerning the war. This one has Silver asking what’s going to happen after their current conflict. He points out that any time Nassau hasn’t had a someone to lead/support it (Eleanor, Rackham, Rogers) it becomes a place of horrors. If this is meant to be a period of transition, what’s on the other side? Something better, something meaningful? He asks:

‘But what if it isn't? What if the result of this war isn't beyond the horror, what if it is the horror itself. Have you given this any thought at all?’

To which Flint replies that to be rid of England and fashion something else, he knows that they will have to go through a period of darkness and seeming hopelessness. But that he has to believe that it will be worth it and that progress is possible. Silver responds by saying that’s a lot of potential suffering to wager on blind faith. Flint assures that with the right people in place they can get through it. He also states that those people are meant to be Madi and Silver, and that Madi is just as important to realizing their goals as the cache.

So Silver agrees to try Flint’s plan to retrieve Madi, but he still brings the treasure along just in case this all goes sideways. And it does. Rogers just starts shooting people willy-nilly which even Flint seems surprised about. Just as Rogers is about to blow Madi’s head off, Silver shows him the chest and next thing we know we’re on our way to Skeleton Island to make the exchange. On the way there Flint yells at Silver about how he’s just given Julius more leverage against the cause and crippled the war effort. Silver retorts by telling Flint that they’ll make do somehow and demands his support in this venture. He points out the numerous times he’s helped Flint even though he didn’t necessarily understand or agree with him.

‘My god. The number of times I have followed you blindly, backed you with the men blindly, put men in the fucking ground…good men! Friends! Because you said, “I know the way. "Don’t ask me how. Just do as I say.”’

Silver asks again if Flint will support him and Flint answers: “Yes.”

Shortly after this we have two great conversations happening in parallel: Silver with Hands and Flint with Dooley. Hands tries to convince Silver that Flint is Bad and must be killed. Silver asserts that he trusts Flint. Hands says that a crown can’t be split two ways and that he knows that Silver actually wants Flint dead, he just doesn’t know how to ask for it. To which Silver responds:

‘Hear me very clearly, there is no hidden message and no equivocation, you will make no move against him, you will not speak of doing so to any man on this crew nor to me again. Do it, and you'll answer for it.’

Meanwhile, Flint is telling the legend of skeleton island to Dooley in order to bring up the subject of men loosing their wits. He asserts that he believes Silver is compromised and so he (Flint) finds himself in need of a new partner. Dooley agrees and they go to fetch the gold, almost getting killed by another crew member in the process. They are saved by Hands who tells Flint he wants them to go ahead and take the treasure so that Silver will see Flint’s true colors. The end of the episode has Silver witnessing this betrayal and deciding to send men out after Flint, ostensibly to kill him, though I think he knew those men were not a match for Flint and really just wanted to find out where he was going so that he could get the treasure back.

In a fit of true diabolical evil, our writers chose to follow up this last scene from episode 8 by opening episode 9 with the first flashback of Flint and Silver’s fencing lessons. I literally said “Oh, no” to myself several times aloud as I watched Silver climb that hill to the bluffs. 

Now these are lovely scenes I could go on about forever, but the most important takeaway for me right now, is that Flint realizes he doesn’t know anything about Silver’s past. Silver says that his past isn’t important. Flint argues that that’s not true. From Flint’s perspective, he’s revealed himself to Silver, given him his history, which defines him, and also the tools Silver needs to guess at Flint’s future actions. Flint goes on to insinuate that Silver wormed his way into Flint’s story by comparing himself to Flint’s former ill-fated partners. That he did this in order to use Flint’s affection for him to make it more difficult for Flint to act against him later. Silver is disquieted by Flint calling his bluff and seems thrown by that last comment in particular, mostly because I don’t think Silver consciously meant to manipulate him that way at all. Flint says he’s not angry with him but Silver is too overwhelmed to continue. He asks if it’s okay if they resume tomorrow, and flees.

I want to revisit the fireside chat here for a moment in order to point out that Silver was, in fact, already very deeply in the story by that point, a story he’d been made a part of largely against his will (by his injury, by Flint’s machinations, by Billy, etc.). In regards to Silver’s motivations during that conversation, I always assumed them to be exactly what they seemed to be: He wanted to understand why Flint was so driven to wage war and he wanted to voice a real, actual warning that he himself might prove to be Flint’s undoing. Flint responds in a way that makes me think he either A. didn’t think Silver would betray him or B. he didn’t think that Silver could get the better of him.

This is an important moment of dissonance between them, because it repeats itself in the sword lesson flashback: Silver asks if Flint is worried about the fact that he’s essentially teaching Silver to best him in combat and Flint waves him off with a smile, saying he’ll take his chances.

The most significant moment within the flashbacks comes when Silver finally finds the words to outline his philosophy and frame his decision not to share his past. I actually think this scene gives Flint all he needs to know about Silver as a person (in terms of being able to anticipate Silver’s future actions), though I’m not sure in that moment he could really wrap his head around it. Knowing the details of Silver’s past are not necessary when you realize that they did, in fact, define him and one can use that knowledge to recognize the ways in which they shape his future decisions.

Silver maintains that he is not trying to hide anything, he merely absolved himself from the obligation of finding any relevance in his own story because there is no coherence, ‘nor sense, nor grace’ to be found in life. But more than that it’s because he’s experienced ‘events some of which no one could divine any meaning from, other than the world is a place of unending horrors.’ He says that Flint knows of him all that’s relevant to be known and swears that Flint has his true friendship. He asks if it is enough for there to be trust between them and Flint, not quite sure what to make of all this, answers by resuming their lesson.

Intermixed with these flashbacks are our real-time scenes, some of which I want to touch on to check in on Silver and Flint’s states of mind. As Silver and Hands pursue Flint in the forest, Hands asserts that he believes Silver will keep finding reasons to forget everyone’s warnings about Flint. He also mentions when Silver tells the men to split up to find Flint that he’s sending at least one group of them to their deaths. Hands makes a point of saying that Silver’s decision here shows that he’s learned a lot from Flint. Aka, Silver is willing to sacrifice other’s lives to reach his own ends. Silver seems uncomfortable with the comparison, likely because he sees the truth in it. Silver’s desire to not be like Flint is very important in the final moments of the show and will come again up later. Silver admits to Hands that he’s not sure if Flint actually wants to save Madi for the sake of it or if it’s just part of his larger machinations. It’s key to note that Silver’s trust in Flint is degrading further. Both because of Silver’s inherent pessimism, and because of Flint’s own actions. 

Meanwhile, Flint and Dooley are doubling back to the chest after having chucked it over an embankment to throw Silver’s party off their scent. Dooley essentially tries to convince Flint that Silver might become a liability. Flint defends Silver but Dooley’s like, yeah, but if it comes to it I’ll kill him for you. The look on Flint’s face clearly shows how not okay he is with the thought of Silver dying, but he keeps his reservations to himself for now. At this point, it is important to acknowledge that neither Silver nor Flint wants the other dead. They are both still trying to outmaneuver each other in order to reach their goals.

Silver finally catches up to Flint which leads us to another Important Conversation wherein Silver states that if the war were to continue it would be just like this, forever - lies, betrayals, death. He also tells Flint that he understands Flint’s motivations more fully now because he’s suffered a similar loss. When Madi was presumed dead, he wanted to give her sacrifice meaning by waging battles in her name. But he says that underneath that desire was the thing that Flint himself taught him to recognize: rage. In a very Miranda moment, Silver tells Flint that part of what drives him is wanting to watch the world burn. This is another way in which Silver does not want to be like Flint. 

After this is a deeply depressing flashback wherein Silver is trying to explain his relationship with Flint to Madi by saying: ‘I have earned his respect, after all the tragedies that man has suffered (...) I have earned his trust, I have his true friendship. And so he's going to have mine. And as long as that is true, I cannot imagine what is possible.’ And all of our hearts break a little to think of what could’ve been. Because, as I mentioned before, Silver no longer believes he can trust Flint and so he no longer has faith in their friendship.

The episode ends with Rogers blowing up the Walrus which puts a hold on Flint and Silver’s duel and forces them to ally once again with Rackham. Flint makes a little speech about how their priority is to rescue Madi and tells Jack he’s taking over command of the ship to facilitate that end. The next episode starts with Silver questioning Flint’s motives, sure that he’s only placating John whilst continuing his scheming. Flint throws him by offering a very candid and heartfelt reply about how he isn’t sure he wouldn’t have acted exactly as Silver had if it were Thomas’s life on the line. He states that he meant it when he promised he’d see John through this and still wants to put things back together. Silver is visibly torn over whether or not he believes what Flint is saying.

Alright, we can now fast forward to the Final Confrontation. Flint, realizing that something has passed between Silver and Jack that smacks of betrayal, halts their trek through the woods in order to question Silver about it. Silver can’t bring himself to lie. He asks Flint how much more ‘measuring of lives and loves and spirits’ there will be ‘so that they may be wagered in the grand game. How many casualties can be tolerated for the cause, how much loss?’  So it’s not just Madi’s life he’s concerned for, not just his own or Flint’s. He mentions the men, women, and children who have already died for this, who will continue to die for this. And he cannot see where the line might be, because Flint has yet to draw one - this is a man who frequently endangers himself, killed his best friend, sacrificed crew members, murdered innocent civilians, and has no qualms betraying his allies. I think Silver legitimately believes that Flint will stop at nothing. That’s why it’s not a war to Silver, not like any other, instead it’s a ‘fucking nightmare.’ 

When Flint insists that Silver stopping the war will mean that they will have been for nothing, that this is how the powers-that-be win, that they’ll be distorted to fit false narratives, Silver asserts that he doesn’t care. I personally don’t find this surprising at all, given how little Silver cares about his own personal narrative. I also don’t think that Silver Doesn’t Care At All, it just means that he doesn’t care enough for it to change his mind. I mean he’s lost a leg for these people, risked his life and freedom for this cause, allowed himself to be molded into a better partner for Flint. When Silver opened himself up to a partnership/friendship with Flint and later to a partnership/romance with Madi, he was choosing to allow meaning back into his life. He became a part of a story. But he’s not totally invested in the story itself. He’s mostly just invested in the people in it. Because what does it matter what strangers say after he’s dead? Life up to this point has been about grabbing onto whatever you can in the moment and enjoying it until it is inevitably taken away from you. Experience has relentlessly taught him to have low expectations. So while I think he cares about his relationship with Flint, is proud of what they were able to achieve together, would like to change the world for the better, and wants to be worthy of Madi, none of those goals/states of being are as achievable to him in this moment as ending the war. 

I’m not sure that Silver believes that a “good life” with Madi is possible after this - Flint points out that she won’t forgive him for taking the war away and I think Silver knows that’s true - but he’s willing to go for some kind of reconciliation at least. I also don’t think Silver is factoring a post-conflict relationship with Flint in at all - as far as he’s concerned either Flint will be safe somewhere far away with Thomas or Silver will be forced to kill him. 

This leads us up to the ending. I personally don’t believe that Silver killed Flint. I feel that’s an important distinction to make when trying to make sense of Silver’s decisions. I won’t go into all the reasons I believe this, in the interests of keeping this thing under ten thousand words, but I will mention a few. 

Firstly, as I mentioned above, I think that Silver honestly didn’t want to turn into Flint. When Madi say she thinks he’s lying about not murdering Flint, Silver says that he’s not the villain she fears he is, he’s not him. I think this is in reference to Flint killing his friends to further his goals. I also believe that Silver thought that giving Thomas back to Flint was the key to Madi’s forgiveness and so I think he would have done it for real in case she ever checked up on it. However, I do also think that Silver embellished the story of Flint’s reunion with Thomas. What parts were true and which were false, who can say? He just sounds like he’s dressing up the story a bit, both for Madi’s sake and for his own. 

The second main reason why I think Silver’s story checks out actually involves Rackham. Jack tells Marion Guthrie that Flint has retired. Why would he lie about that when telling her Flint was dead would more thoroughly assuage her concerns? He mentions that Flint retiring was a better story to sell the Maroons, but at this point, the treaty has already been signed, so why keep up the fiction?

The third and most tenuous thought I have about it is that Silver uses his “I’ll wait a day, a week...” etc. line on Madi because it actually worked previously on Flint. Maybe some of Flint’s anguish in the woods is over the fact that he’s going to do what Silver’s asking him to do. Maybe he doesn’t want Silver to have to kill him so he gives in and gives up his war.

In conclusion, and to answer one of your questions directly, I think that characterizing Flint as someone who just wants to sate his rage is just as limiting as characterizing Silver as someone who just wants to take the easy way out. And I think that saying that Flint’s motives for reforming the world were noble is as incomplete as saying that Silver just wanted to save the ones he loved at the cost of everything else. All of those things, and more, are simultaneously true. 

For me, Flint and Silver were both bad men and good men. Both had room to grow. Both made choices for each other. Both manipulated each other and made mistakes. Both were forced to make quick decisions under enormous amounts of pressure. They were both angry and afraid and courageous and loyal and deceitful and kind. They were both very very human. 

It might not seem like it, but I’m more of a Flint irl. Maybe that’s why I’ve tried so hard to understand Silver, because his motivations were a bit more foreign to me at first. I’ve come to love and sympathize with both of them - which is why I continue to talk about them incessantly and devour fan works - especially the ones that get these two to finally work out their issues. If you’re ever looking for fic recs, btw, please do let me know. A lot of this meta is fleshed out beautifully in fan fiction. And those authors say it more profoundly and elegantly than I could ever hope to. 

[princessamericachavez]

Since we have a week off, is there a chance you could do a top 10 Fjorester moments so far?

OH HEY THIS SOUNDS LIKE FUN YES LET’S DO IT

10. “Did you just say I’ve been with your mom?!”

This whole sequence is hilarious. Jester is clearly annoyed that this woman is hitting on Fjord (as he tries to hire company for Kiri iirc) and tries to use her mom as leverage which clearly doesn’t work but...

what really gets me is how appalled Fjord sounds. It’s not “The Ruby of the Seas” it’s not “a famous courtesan” it’s not “a big score for a sailor like me” nope nope in his head this is “Jester’s mom” and given the flirty nature of their relationship he’s clearly Not Happy with the suggestion and Idk why but the way his voice becomes high-pitched with panic is just amazing and it was one of the first moments when my brain went PING he has a crush PING

9. Turning into water

Objectively, everything about that scene was hilarious. Fjord’s tired sigh, “nope, but thank you for that terrifying thought” was so funny and bantery... but what really gets me about this scene is how honestly worried about him Jester is at the beginning, just as he wakes up, and how later she tries to lighten the air between them with a joke...

And you can tell that it works because, despite Fjord’s initial discomfort, he turns it around and he gives her a wink and a smooth line and Jester just MELTS and it really just encapsulates so much about their friendship and dynamic and this was like episode 4 or smth

8. Post-Plank King talk

So this scene is pretty good already as a vulnerable and honest talk between them but also I like it for a few particular reasons. Firstly, the context. During the pirate arc, Fjord and Jester had some issues mostly because of Avantika, and Jester was starting to second-guess just how well she knew Fjord and he was pulling back from everyone under the pressures of leading... so to see her seek him out and just ask if he’s okay and how he is feeling was a wonderful thing for both of them. Also, I love how Fjord chose to open up to her about his conflicted feelings towards Vandran and how the whole thing hurt him. It’s just SO RARE to see him be this honest about his insecurities, and it really goes to show how much he trusts Jester. I also like that she mentions the accent thing. For us, as an audience, it’s pretty indicative that the person Jester thought she knew, actually is the real Fjord. That she has known him the best from the start and kept his secrets for him because they trust each other so much.

I also love the ending so so so much? Jester mentioning his growing tusks was such a soft little thing, and Fjord in turn acknowledging how much she supports him and thanking her for keeping his secrets was so sweet.

Plus, how to forget that perfect romcom ending where they both awkwardly pretend they have something else to do? PEAK SLOW BURN ROMANCE I TELL YOU.

7. Wursh

So this is two separate things, technically. First, their first meeting and Jester obviously noticing Fjord’s discomfort and insecurities and rushing to try to cheer him up after the talk. Jester is super perceptive, and she knows Fjord better than anyone, so I really appreciate that she didn’t just notice, she went out of her way to try to address it with him.

Also, though, the second time when she low-key threatens Wursh and makes sure he’s being nice to Fjord feels my heart with joy. Anyone who thinks Jester’s feelings for Fjord are shallow or performative is missing the point that she’s doing these things in private. He has no idea. She’s doing this out of love and selflessness, just checking in on him and making sure that he’s not going to be hurt by anyone else. And the way she TALKS about him, how gentle she sounds when talking about his insecurities and how she tells wursh that she knows he has a good heart I just- dfljañdlfja

6. Meeting the Ruby

I love so many things about this meeting omg. Firstly, that after watching Marion Lavorre aka the most famed and hot and expensive performer and courtesan in the Coast —at least— Fjord’s first reaction is “Hey, Jester, would you like to do that?” Like he has full faith she totally could do that and even when she voices certain self-doubts and Beau reassures her that she’s pretty and graceful, his contribution is “your singing voice is nice” as if the only thing that could stop Jester from reaching those heights was singing because she’s beautiful to his eyes.

Further proof? This boy, meeting the Ruby of the Seas, again, most beautiful and sensual woman, and his reaction is “I see where Jester got her good looks from” like, damn son, slow down! And Marion, bless her, all flirty but also perceptive being like “i can see you care about my daughter, do you watch over her?” and nearly making him break down right there, like Marion is part of the We Been Knew club.

And AFTER though, Fjord who has all this issues with family and who longs to find them but also dreads it, watching Jester (right after Caleb pointed out that her cheerfulness is an act) and making a point to ASK if she’s okay, “how are you feeling? do you want to have a drink? a walk? a talk?” this boy always going out of his way to make sure she feels okay and making sure they fix whatever is troubling her it’s just peak soft

5.The Tree Dive

Okay so what can I say about this that i haven’t yelled about yet? Travis “No Romance” Willingham giving ups PEAK ROMCOM DRAMATIC MOMENTS that take our breath away? Check. Fjord who just recently had an epiphany as to HOW MUCH Jester means to him and how her unwavering support is the one thing he can lean on, freaking LEAPING after her when she falls off the tree? The fact that there were ZERO seconds of hesitation between her falling and his jump? Feather fall giving them one quiet floaty yaoi moment where they hold hand and look at each other right before he booms them back up? How about Jester’s shocked and scared “Fjord, you-“ once they are back up, like she just CAN’T BELIEVE what he did for her?? AND THEN THE BOY USES HIS LAST SPELLSLOT JUST TO GIVE HER A BOOST WHEN SHE STARTS TO PANIC?!

IT’S FINE IT’S FINE I DIDN’T NEED MY HEART ANYWAY

4. The Second Temple

This one is, like, especially interesting when you consider the context, right? Like, it’s right after the blue dragon fight and Fjord just spent the whole past day trying to patch things up with Jester while she pulls away… and then they are here and he’s ready to go through with this and Jester is just SO SCARED FOR HIM. She doesn’t want to leave him behind, and he KNOWS that.

The way she just sits down to talk to her god, her best friend in the world, and ask him to look after him for her just MELTS MY HEART. And you can see it melts Fjord’s too. I mean, here is a boy who grew up all alone, with no one to help him or stand up for him, who deeply believes that no one in the world would possibly care about his problems, and then there’s this girl who is so worried about him, literally praying for him. And like, just the moment when he sits next to her and he’s so soft and touched by her worry. “Jester, it’s alright. You don’t have to tell me. I appreciate the sentiment.” THIS IS PRETTY MUCH A STAR WARS CLASSIC “I KNOW” OKAY??’  and her quiet “i really hope he does help you” “me too”

*banging pots and pans* TRAVELER SHOW TF UP FOR YOUR GIRL AND HELP FJORD OKAY WILD MAMA BEAT U TO IT BUT YOU GOTTA STEP UP

And the last part is just so cute, like, “just, don’t turn evil to me?” “Or anyone else? just you” listen listen listen if we ever talk dark au’s this is basically the foundation, “fuck the world but i can’t lose you”

3. Tusk Talk

There’s so much to appreciate about this talk, especially with Fjord being so open and vulnerable about his past, but I’m super soft about how Jester chooses to reassure him. “I think you would look good either way, Fjord” because she likes him and not just about his body, it’s about who he IS. And you can tell how much her opinion matters to him by the way he hyper focus on Jester after that comment. Everyone else keeps talking and he’s just like “you’re saying I should grow them back?” and she just reassures him again that it doesn’t matter to her.

And he does something that is still so impactful to the narrative about 50 episodes later: he gives her control, he trusts her enough to overwatch him getting over his worst childhood trauma, and in that moment he makes himself vulnerable in a way he never has before. And she takes that trust and honors it, and she comments on his tusks now and then, she makes them a mark of pride in her tattoos, she reassures him whenever those insecurities resurface. It’s such a meaningful thing that he has chosen to share with her, I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

2. Underwater Kiss

Again, what can I say that I haven’t yelled about before? Fjord, who just tried to drown Avantika btw, sees Jester drowning right before of him and this protective self-sacrificial boy just grabs her by the face and KISSES HER. Travis used those words exactly, hell he specifically referenced The Shape of Water. And then he gives her all of his air. HE JUST DOES THAT.

He could’ve done so many other things?! Taken the key from her? Pulled her to the entrance with his double swimming speed? AND INSTEAD HE DID THAT

AND THEY HAVEN’T FREAKING TALKED ABOUT IT

ALSO JESTER’S FIRST KISS??? AND HOW JUST ROMANTIC AND AESTHETIC AND EXCITING IT IS?

when i tell you my heart can’t take it

1. Jellyfish Talk

Of course, of course, this is the TOP Forester moment. I mean. How could it not be? The romantic light, the heart to heart, Jester first and foremost checking on how Fjord is feeling with his mission and then carefully bringing up her negative feelings, for the first time, willingly, because she trusts him so much. And Fjord, who just had Caleb open his eyes about Jester hiding her emotions, being so tentative around her, so careful. Fjord being vulnerable too, opening up about his own negative emotions, give and take, so that she will feel better opening up. Fjord being so soft and reassuring for her, coming up with crazy plans to make her laugh and cheer her up. THE SOFTNESS with which he says “Don’t be sad. Your mama is pretty proud of you, that much is clear.” He’s so gentleeeee

And listen listen listen this moment is also key because of how much it affected what came next. Like, Avantika comes and muddles everything up, but this talk lingers between them as a moment of sincerity before all the lies, and then, as soon as they move on from this hell, Fjord’s main priority is getting Jester back to her mom, making sure Jester is okay, trying to return to that point. It takes them a while, of course, but you can tell this moment is a strong foundation for them to find their way back to each other.

Because in this moment, in the ship surrounded by beauty, they saw each other without masks.

[kiss-my-freckle]

Ressler and Red both without the slightest knowledge that Liz had her memory wiped. If she’s not with Red and she’s not with Ressler, then who's she with? Tom Keen. Ressler let her escape the post office. She literally went from post office to Red’s car. At the point in which she chose to go it alone, she lost Cooper because he had to tend to Charlene. Liz had no choice but turn to Tom because it’s not like Ressler could help her. He just let her escape. Red was releasing the Fulcrum. Ressler was dealing with everyone at the post office. 

Everything went so wrong so fast for Liz in 2x22, and hasn’t stopped since. At what point did everything go wrong? When Liz shot Connolly. Ressler’s gut instinct allowed her to escape. He didn’t believe she could bomb the Orea building or infect the senator. His gut instinct was right on those charges. The one charge she wasn’t cleared on, the one reason she didn’t have her badge after her exoneration. So what does Liz have after her badge? 

This then led to Scottie and Solomon to Kirk and Kate to Garvey and Ross to the bones and Tom’s death to the prints and this woman. It hasn't stopped since she shot the AG and her identity was made public. And since her identity was made public, why on earth did the woman from Paris sit back while Masha was on the run - framed on her mother's notoriety, and only now - coming into her life when her own life needs saving. And as I mention Ressler's gut instinct, they brought that concept back in during Kemp's episode. Cooper is asking for Ressler's gut instinct. His own boss. Do you think he's guilty? Ressler said yes, so Cooper had them arrest Kemp. Ressler's gut instinct was huge in S3. His gut instinct won't be wrong.

You see? They can make anything look like the truth.

Including cold-blooded murder in a room full of witnesses. 

You’re the victim here. 

Just to put this in context. 

2x17 -

You said earlier that I had so much to celebrate. You know that isn’t true. I mean, I thought by the time I was in my 30s, I’d have something to show for it. I would at least be a prestigious profiler. I mean, I was the top in my class. I thought I’d have a loving relationship with someone, maybe we would be raising a family together. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know if this is my birthday. I don’t even know my own name. No, I know who I am. I am the puppet of some high-functioning sociopath. 

7x17 -

I'm a widow and a single mom. A marionette with a high-functioning sociopath pulling my strings. My grandfather tried to murder my mother, and my mother is a legendarily lethal Russian spy who moved in next door without even telling me who she was. I mean it. Have you looked at my life? I mean, really taken a close look. Because it's like I'm in the middle of a monsoon that's constantly threatening to drown me in bad news.  2x17 - Job - Chosen Family - Identity - Sociopath  7x17 - Chosen Family - Biological Family - Sociopath

When you see it, you see it, just remove the repeats. 

2x17 - Job

She lost her job in 2x22, which then caused her to lose Ressler. She lost him the moment she was framed. From birthday girl to fugitive to CI to pregnant woman. Both scenes ending with Keenler goodness. Her birthday. She’s now back where she was in S2, only now - she has Agnes. Threats will come, but she has Red and Ressler. 

Now stick sociopath between the two similarities. 

2x17 - Chosen Family - Sociopath - Identity  7x17 - Chosen Family - Sociopath -  Biological Family

Tom vs Red. Who put her on the path to destruction? Not Red.  

The questions. The searching for answers. And the mystery. In the end, Liz he’s just a man who loves you very much.

Something Tom should’ve understood. But what man?

Look, if we can find Kruger, if he can give Reddington the leverage he’s looking for, you’ll have plenty of time to find out.

Exactly the point. 

I’m sorry my questions caused all this. But they are questions I deserve answers to. Maybe not now. Now, it’s too dangerous. But someday, I’m going to insist on answers. And you’re going to have to give them to me.

She’s fighting a war against herself.  Because Tom is pulling the strings.

[echo-bleu]

Writing thoughts: October 2019 (Whumptober) 2

Part 1 here.

This Whumptober was my first time taking on a large challenge. Back in April, I did the Aut Prompt challenge for my Leverage/Librarians AU, but I was working a lot at the same time and purposefully only wrote ficlets, that took me about an hour every day. This time, I was just done with my dissertation, and I wanted to go big.

I didn’t quite make it, in the sense that I only wrote for 28 of the 31 prompts. I knew going in that one full-blown fic a day would be a lot, probably too much, and there were unforeseen stuff in my life. So I missed three prompts: Muffled Scream, because I was uninspired and sick (but I still wrote about 800 words of it and will post it someday), Trembling because I realized I couldn’t do justice to what I wanted to write in just one day, and Laced Drink because my father was in surgery and I couldn’t think.

I still think 28 out of 31 isn’t bad, since they total 74k words, an average of 2.6k per fic. It’s certainly more than I’ve ever written in a month. I’m not a very fast writer, though I do my best to write every day, and in the last months of my dissertation work, I was only writing a couple hundred words a day, so this is a change.

Things I learned:

- To push. I tend to stop writing if I hit a blank or a scene change and go do something else. That’s fine, but now I know that I’m capable of pushing through.

- Not every story is going to be the best I’ve ever written. This is obvious, but I’m usually a perfectionist. Enough that I either try to make everything I do better than last time, or get bored. But every story is completely new, and it’s okay if you don’t like it as much as the previous one.

- Reception is uncontrollable. Some of my fave fics got fewer kudos/comments, while ones I thought while posting were barely okay got more love. It’s weird, it’s okay, and it doesn’t say that my faves weren’t good.

- Don’t rely on external validation. Whether that’s comments, or trying to be the best (write more, get more hits, whatever than other people). It’s not going to work. That’s not an easy one, because as I’ve said before, I get easily addicted to validation. I love comments for themselves, I really do, but in a context where I’m posting every day, I start being a little disappointed that I didn’t get as many today as yesterday. So I’ve had to remind myself to not do that, that it’s not about how many comments I get. I write for myself first.

- I didn’t get tired of whumping Alex. However, too many angsty stories in a row start to take a toll on my mood.

- Putting bits of myself in my characters is fine, but it means I struggle to put appropriate warnings on those fics, so I need to be careful (this is especially true of self-sacrificing and subtle self-harm).

- AUs are a lot of fun! And you don’t need to have 5 pages of notes to start one.

- A daily challenge is a lot. Don’t take on another too soon. Don’t beat yourself up for not completing it. Really don’t. (Damn)

None of these were completely new, but they’re good things to remember! This post was mostly to be able to remind myself of all this.

[vickyvicarious]

Hello! I love your posts about both of the Leverage series. What role does Breanna as a Maker fulfill in the team?

First off, sorry I took so long to answer this. I was holding off until I watched all the episodes because I wanted to see how much more was or wasn't done with 'Maker' Breanna.

And the short answer is? Not much.

But the long answer... well, to sum it up, that might change pretty soon in the next part of the season, and it's actually pretty character-based that we don't see it yet. Let me explain my reasoning.

Breanna tries to sell herself as a team member like this:

Breanna: "I'm not as good a hacker as you."

Hardison: "Damn straight."

Breanna: "But hacking's kinda old-school anyway, it's like any script kiddie can do that. I'm really better with, like, the social media part. Or like, drones, physical builds, you know, like... relevant skills."

So. First off, in this scene she's clearly trying to make herself sound valuable to the team. She doesn't want to just present herself as 'Hardison, but not as good.' She acknowledges that he's a better hacker but then tries to point out her own skills that could be useful, and the 'relevant' dig is just a joke because she's nervous and also he's her sibling so she's gotta.

No one really responds, so she asks them to give her a shot, to let her in because she found them and she's earned this. Hardison, though, is still stuck on her calling him a "script kiddie":

Hardison: "S- I'm s- scrip-script who? Who you calling script kiddie?" [to Eliot, standing behind Breanna] "Bruh, script kiddie? You hear this?"

Eliot: "Hey. Head chef." [pauses, tilts his head towards Breanna] "Chopping lettuce."

I bring this up because I think it's pretty relevant to what we see from Breanna. She literally just tried to present herself as different from Hardison, to emphasize her own skills in drones and social media manipulation. But the very first thing she hears is "head chef/chopping lettuce." Without the context of Eliot and Hardison's earlier conversation about Hardison being torn between his other work (that only he can do) and needing to let go and delegate some stuff, all she's hearing here is Eliot essentially calling her the less experienced cook. Same job really, just not as good at it.

We don't see much reaction on her face to this line. But throughout the rest of the season, a recurring aspect of her characterization is that she gets frustrated or disheartened when people shut her ideas down, and she tends to be less confident in herself/hesitant about offering ideas or surprised by getting praise.

She tries to prove herself quickly in the Rollin' on the River Job by going for the pearl despite being told not to, and then gets very upset and resentful when she's confined to the van for the rest of the con. Thing is, she was trying to prove herself by demonstrating Parker skills - skills which Breanna does not have at this point.

She's also compared negatively to Hardison in I think the same episode or maybe the next one? When she finds the shell corporation and is all proud of herself and then the team just kinda goes "even Harry coulda done that." They're not mean about it, but Breanna clearly isn't going as deep into the research as they like or are used to. Similarly, Eliot complains about having to apply for a job instead of just having it given to him and changes his backstory on the fly when Breanna really isn't ready. She doesn't have all the backups built like Hardison, she isn't able to change them as fast as he can. Again, there's a scene where he left her manuals and she kinda skimmed them but failed at something that would have been explained in the manual if she'd read it all.

She showed up wanting to be an addition to the team, to fill a different role from Hardison. But he took that as the impetus to leave and do his own thing, meaning Breanna now feel like she has to fill his role. And it's not going super well at first because that's not what she's good at. Not that she's bad by any means - but the Leverage team is very used to Hardison, and they aren't slowing down enough for her, or aren't always clearly explaining what they want from her.

Also, they're planning their cons with two things in mind for her: a) her safety, and b) her doing tech. Parker tries to teach her thieving skills onscreen, and just generally be a mentor. They put Breanna in the van early on and hesitate to let her out too much until they're more confident in her skills. This isn't helped by the whole pearl fiasco, obviously, but in general, they build plans around her being with someone else guiding her at first, or her being back at base doing Hardison's old job. Partly because they see that as safer but also because that's just, what they know to plan for.

Breanna is someone who feels bad about herself pretty easily, in my opinion. She gets discouraged. Eliot's early comment and Hardison leaving was enough to push her into the reckless pearl grab to try and impress the team with her skills. When that backfires, she gets a lot less bold about protesting a plan. Part of that comes from Harry's pep talk to her, as well. He encourages her to work as part of a team with the rest of the crew. And she basically takes that and throws herself into being what she thinks they want her to be.

Now, I'm not saying she never offers any ideas of her own. But it takes a while before she's very confident doing so, and it's not until the Card Game Job (which happens to be very emotionally significant for her personally) that she really tries to argue her point. (She repurposes her Halloween decorations to help the con the episode right before, but it's not quite the same situation.) And then she's still shut down. This is partially due to Parker's own hangups about being a mentor meaning she should always be the wiser one and not have to learn from her own student, and that does change over the course of the episode. But Breanna doesn't push super hard for Parker to use her notes at first, despite clearly wanting to. However, she does grow in confidence once her relevant knowledge starts being the key to figuring out the riddle. And at the end of the episode Parker makes a point of mentioning that Breanna's a good teacher.

The very next episode, she brings a drone to a job.

Now, sadly poor little Frodo the drone is killed basically instantly, but that timing seems pretty telling to me. The other incredibly important thing that happens that episode, is that Breanna opens up, at first to Eliot, and then to the rest of the team (minus Harry), about her past and her regrets and mistakes.

We never actually learn what those are, because the team tells her it doesn't actually matter to them. Eliot tells her directly that they don't need her to be Hardison. Parker goes a step further and says "All we need from you is to be exactly the person you are."

And I think that is the key. Breanna was trying really, really hard to show them that she's a worthwhile member of the team. She was trying to live up to their perceived expectations of her, trying to fill Hardison's shoes. And because they aren't familiar with any other skills of hers/don't often work with things like social media and drones, they don't make plans for those. Breanna needs to take the initiative to offer her own skills and ideas, because unlike Nate in the original show, Parker and Sophie don't have the same knowledge of everything Breanna is capable of. They put her in plans in ways they knew she'd be safe, and doing things they expected she could do. And it wasn't exactly wrong of them, but it didn't give her the opportunity to bring many of her own unique skills to the table.

Now, the Double-Edged Sword Job (where they tell her all this) is the second-to-last episode, and the finale is entirely focused on Sophie and the ghost of Nate. Breanna plays a relatively small role in that one, so we don't see instant payoff from this conversation. But I do believe that, now she's no longer carrying the yoke of 'being Hardison', we will see her feeling more confident in offering up her own skills. We will see them succeeded and her own ideas and techniques becoming something the rest of the team learns how to account for in planning cons.

The two things Breanna brags about at the beginning are social media and drones/physical builds. As of yet, we've seen her utilize social media once (to throw the rave in her first episode - when Hardison was still there), and a drone once (the episode after her knowledge was key to the con succeeding). The drone didn't work that time, but I hope to see more, and see more clever applications of whatever "social media manipulation" and "physical builds" even means, in the second half of the season.

(Granted, Hardison never fit fully into a box of just hacking in the first place, and I'm sure there will still be a lot of overlap with Breanna being the primary tech person, but I'm excited for more variety as well.)

[jira-chii]

I tried rewriting the Afterlost/Shoumetsu Toshi anime

Background: Madhouse made an anime from a mobile game with the best story out of any gacha game I have ever played, and fucking botched it. So I tried to see if I could do it better.

You don’t need to have seen Shoumetsu Toshi to read this post.  However I do recommend reading this article concurrently with my summary of episodes on twitter.

So, the Shoumetsu Toshi anime was announced during the game’s fifth anniversary, and aired in April 2019. It was both exciting and terrifying because Shoumetsu Toshi is a seriously underrated game with a mindblowing story, but given the track record of game-to-anime adaptations, everyone was sceptical about it. And that scepticism ended up being justified. 

In summary (my opinion): the anime itself started out half-decent, shot itself in the foot three episodes in, staggered back up for another two or three episodes, fell flat on its face directly after, and then just kept on falling from episode 8 onwards.

While watching said anime, I realised there were very minor things I could do to improve the flow, such as changing the order of episodes, or introducing certain characters later. After a while I came up with a new alternate anime structure (see tldr on twitter). This post will be the accompanying commentary explaining the decisions I made.

My aim for this exercise was to stick as close as possible to the main message and tone of the original anime. Honestly though, if I were rewriting the anime from scratch, I would have taken a different approach entirely (because I don’t agree with the message or the tone of what we got, but that’s a story for another post).

I have tried to make sure you don’t need to watch the anime to understand this post (it would be my last wish to force anyone to watch it). That said, I may make reference to the (far superior) source material, the Shoumetsu Toshi game. I have tried to keep the general commentary in the main body, with more specific detail in the side notes at the end of each episode break-down. 

Ok, here goes.

Episode 1 Lost/Lost

The role of the first episode is to establish the characters and setting. The main idea of this episode should be to introduce Lost as mysterious and frightening, and why the main characters need to go there.

As a whole, I think the original anime does do this. It starts off with an overview of the situation (courtesy of Yuki’s monologue), and then gives us some action. Characters are introduced, the mystery starts to reveal itself, and then we end on a cliffhanger. I personally don’t feel a need to change that structurally.

I do however feel the need to switch up the order and amount of introduced characters in this episode. Our brains can only hold so much information in one episode and this episode probably exceeded that capacity and then some. 

Instead of Eiji and Kikyou saving them, I suggest having Takuya take Yuki to Geek’s first. Geek can provide a simple man’s explanation of the tragedy of Lost, using his favourite idol group SPR5 as an illustrative example. 

This means we will not be met with completely new information when the much heavier exposition from Kikyou and Eiji comes later. Because instead of brand new information, most of it will be filling in the gaps from what Geek told us. And that is much less headache-inducing than the chaos of the original episode 1.

This also means the cliffhanger of the first episode becomes Yuki finding out her father is possibly alive (instead of us wondering if Takuya is still alive…). This is admittedly not as dramatic nor as shocking as the cliffhanger of the original anime. However I went with this because I don’t think an audience going in blind would have been able to handle any more new information right after what Kikyou and Eiji did to us. Also, I don’t think many people would fall for the main character dying in the very first episode...

Side notes:

The original episode 1 started with Yuki’s monologue. I liked that it invoked interest while telling a story succinctly. So I would keep it. I would also keep the scene where Takuya busts Yuki out by throwing a fire extinguisher and jumping out the window because ngl, that was badass.

I think the original anime built up too much goodwill in Takuya in the first two episodes. By episode 2, Yuki basically completely trusts him, but I think it would be more fitting if Takuya had to ‘earn’ that goodwill gradually. Note that in my version of episode 1, none of the conflicts between Takuya and Yuki are resolved. For example, in the original anime, Takuya tells Yuki even if she doesn’t trust him, she has to trust her dad. What a good-guy thing to say. That doesn’t happen in my version. The aim of that is to create a constant feeling of unease and tension. Because this early on, none of us should be sure if Yuki can really trust anyone around her. She’s just forced to follow them to find her father.

You may have noticed I’ve removed Rou (flying monk dude) entirely from my version of the anime. I’m not hating on Rou, but I really don’t think he was useful. In fact, he just made people more confused. I would much rather prefer Suzumebachi appear in both episodes, with the fight not even happening until the second. I made this decision with three reasons in mind: 1. It sets up the expectation in the audience for more action in later episodes, encouraging them to keep watching to see the resolution; 2. It makes Suzumebachi seem like a more threatening opponent, thereby upping the tension; and 3. There is one less character we have to introduce (Akira), meaning he’ll really shine and leave an impact when we do the big reveal

Honestly, I would also remove fortune teller Kazuko. That’s a cameo nobody asked for, and it felt kind of forced. Though there’s also no harm in keeping her in. 

On the other hand I have deliberately chosen to delay introducing Yumiko and Kouta. Like I said, there are already too many characters in this first episode. The result of this, though, is that my ending deviates quite a lot from the original episode 1 ending. But I think that’s fine. This is only episode 1, we don’t have to end with drama. I think it’s more important to get the main themes across (the episode is titled ‘Lost’, so let’s make that the focus until the very end ok).

Episode 2: Sacrifice/Sacrifice

Episode 1 should be somewhat dramatic and action-packed to hook our audience in. But then episode 2 should provide them with more information about the setting. I think the anime made a bad move by pulling a plot twist at the end of episode 1 and then immediately rectifying it in episode 2. It feels cheap and undermining. And a waste of time.

So I chose to avoid the whole thing with Yumiko and Kouta saving Takuya. Instead I get Eiji and Kikyou to send them straight into hiding. I think it is more fitting if, directly following from episode 1, this episode starts off focusing on Yuki’s feelings about her family. This provides some much-needed context, and makes her values clear from the beginning, as she starts thinking about whether it is worth going to Lost to find her father.

Now we can start introducing some new characters. Honestly though, in the grand scheme of things, Yumiko and Kouta serve the exact same purpose as Eiji and Kikyou in the narrative. Which is a shame, because I think just their connection to the organisation opens up a whole heap of possibilities. Therefore, if I am going to include them I should take advantage of that connection. In my version of the anime I make them privy to certain information about Lost. This would make sense because the organisation they used to work for was all about getting Taiyou to Lost to complete the Noah Plan. By making that special information only Yumiko and Kouta know, I make them important to the plot. 

I can further leverage their connection to the enemy to arouse suspicion in them, because Takuya and Yuki wound up in an ambush with Suzumebachi following their instructions. But that’s a minor conflict that can easily be resolved and is honestly not that important.

What is important, is that being ambushed by Suzumebachi means I can finally show off  tamashii Akira! The fight will basically play out like the original episode 1, only with Suzumebachi instead of Rou. After the fight, I envision the scene to play out similar to the end of the original episode 3, with Souma appearing before them.

Side notes:

In the original anime episode 2, Yuki talks to Takuya when he shares bread with her on the roof. They talk about Akira, which is fair enough. However in my version they don’t even know about Akira at this point. They have nothing in common to bond over. Also, Yuki is still distrustful of him. This more closely mirrors the game, where both of them were more closed off. But I think it makes sense to be wary of a stranger you just met, let alone one who just called you a fucking package. 

That said, we can hint at some development through symbolism. Yuki starts off thinking about her family all by herself. But then Takuya comes. And even if they get nowhere in their conversation, physically at least, Yuki is no longer alone. 

The true reason Yumiko betrays the organisation is simply that she likes Takuya. But she can’t just tell him that directly. That’s one of the reasons the anime uses Suzuna in episode 2. I have Kouta take that role here. I also wanted Yumiko’s attraction to Takuya to be more subtle than her straight up telling Suzuna she likes him. There’s a bit of dramatic irony there because Takuya would still be suspicious of her, but the audience should be able to tell her true reason for helping is actually quite pure.

Akira is actually a symbol of hope for Yuki. He is a remnant of her old life. But as is the case in the tragic storyline of Shoumetsu Toshi, whenever we see hope, we must destroy it in the most ironic way possible. Here, it is the appearance of the other person from her old life, her brother Souma.

Episode 3: Memory/Suspicion

The original anime pulled a really, really bad move here, by throwing in a monster of the week-style episode while its setting was still developing. This is confusing and distracting. But the biggest reason I chose to delay the SPR5 episode to episode 4 is because Yuki’s character development in the original episode 3 was too great, as to almost make no sense. 

Therefore, I use episode 3 instead as a stepping stone to get Yuki to learn to trust the people around her. Once she can resolve her own insecurities, then it makes more sense for her to be able to fix other people’s problems.

My version of episode 3 is more similar to the anime’s original episode 4, which introduced Ryouko. After being betrayed by her remaining family member, a traumatised Yuki is finally introduced to somebody she thinks she can actually trust. But Eiji and the others warn Yuki she must not tell Ryouko anything. That said, Ryouko proves to be a good person, who even helps with some of Yuki’s troubles.

Introducing Ryouko also introduces the investigative element of the anime, which emphasises the Lost mystery, but is also honestly a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom on Yuki’s side. A benefit of seeing the police’s perspective is that they are just as clueless as the audience. So it is much easier to follow their train of thought (compared to the other group led by Eiji and Kikyou). 

So, with three episodes done, the audience should now have a good idea of what they are getting themselves into. We’ve got the characters, the setting, and a couple of mysteries set up. All that’s left is to deliver on them (which is easier said than done).

Side notes:

Honestly, writing up this first encounter with Suzuna and Souma was harder than I expected. The problem is that Souma is too powerful to be deterred by anyone, especially not the police. I have to come up with some reason to force him out of the picture. I decided to use Suzuna for a couple of reasons. It gives the audience a good sense of her foresight powers. But also, maybe it could indicate Suzuna has another motive? I had thought as far as using Taiyou as Suzuna’s excuse: Souma did not inform Taiyou he was going off on his own. If he does anything unnecessary he could get into trouble. This also effortlessly allows me to foreshadow the final boss.

Yuki is a very introspective character, meaning she thinks to herself a lot but rarely shows it. Which is why having a character like Ryouko spell out things for the audience can be helpful. 

Importantly, Yuki does not reveal everything to Ryouko just yet, even though she really wants to. This ups the tension, but importantly, it also means Ryouko can stick around a little longer! So we (and Yuki) get some time to get attached to her.

Ryouko’s thought process right now would be: she thinks the group is suspicious, but needs more evidence to back her gut feeling. So she does the background check, leading to Kaibara where we can hint at Takuya’s connection to Yoshiaki and start setting up the Kaitodan arc.

Episode 4: Suspicion/Memory

With the main plot finally set up, I am now comfortable to slip in the SPR5 episode. Surprisingly, I actually did not mind the episode as much as I thought I would. 

My biggest recommendation for this episode would be to drop the entire Seiji/Shoumetsu subplot altogether. It is just too confusing with all the other information in the episode. And with Seiji dying eventually, in the grand scheme of things it means nothing. The main aim of this episode should be to focus on what tamashii really are and what they can do. Dropping Seiji also means Takuya doesn’t have to disappear during Yuki’s character development (?) during her moment with Yua. I would really like to use this episode to hint more at Takuya’s regret, and do some more solid foreshadowing of the orphanage arc. This then leads in nicely to the sudden phone call from Yumiko I have inserted at the end of this episode to set up the next.

Episode 5: Affection/Affection

Just like the anime, my versions of episodes 5 and 6 focus on the Kaitodan. However, I make some pretty big changes. While I did really enjoy the execution of the original episode 5 (which was my favourite episode of the whole series), the whole ‘heist’ made no sense to me. Kaitodan didn’t even enter the building past the roof. The only real merit of the original setting is the clock tower, which is an Easter egg referencing Tsubasa and Yoshiaki’s reunion in the actual game. 

So I decided to switch up the tone entirely, by having Takuya and Yuki meet Yoshiaki in a family restaurant (family being the key word). Again, admittedly not as dramatic as the original, but this saves a lot more time.

Something I think the anime really should have done was foreshadow Tsubasa better. He has deep ties to Takuya, but episode 5 is the first time we hear about him. I opted to foreshadow him in episode 3 (through Yumiko’s memories), and episode 2 (being used by Souma). This should make it easier for the audience to piece the puzzle together with Yuki.

My drama for this scene comes in the form of an actual kidnapping. By separating Takuya and Yuki, we get a glimpse into how each thinks of the other. It’s also great that Rui canonically flirts with Yuki so I want to see that. I also really want to show the family dynamic of the Kaitodan, for three reasons. 1. As a contrast with Yuki to emphasise the loss she feels in losing her own family; 2. The irony that Yoshiaki will join this family as a result of losing his own, and to know he will be in good hands; and 3. Kaitodan’s quirky personalities are the most lovable thing about them and we need to see more of it.

Side notes:

Yoshiaki’s power reveal having a purpose to the plot would be so much cooler than him just randomly making an owl feather disappear. I decided to show said power in the midst of a dramatic car chase scene. Because why not.

I gave quite a lot of thought into how Kaitodan could secretly track down Takuya and Yuki, and it goes like this: Kana bugged Yumiko, because Kaitodan know the organisation had something to do with Tsubasa disappearing. I envision it happening the night Yumiko left the organisation. Once Yumiko escapes far enough to be safe, she would feel a sense of relief. But her guard would also lower. Kana has been tracking Yumiko ever since, waiting for a clue. This means the Kaitodan heard Yumiko’s call with Kaibara and know Tsubasa is involved. But they couldn’t make a move on Yoshiaki directly because they were aware he was being surveilled. So they followed Takuya and Yuki via Yumiko, and waited for their chance. Also, because it was Yumiko they bugged, they don’t get to know the contents of Takuya and Yuki’s meeting with Yoshiaki. This is all implied in my version of the anime, but none of it is important. It is just a check I did to make sure everything made logical sense.

I went as far as making up a scene to show some Kaitodan interaction. But including that in the episode summary is probably too much detail, so I will indulge myself in these side notes:

The Kaitodan notice Takuya chasing them. Jack tells Yuki that her “lover boy” is here. Yuki gets flustered and says he’s only coming after her because of their contract.

Rui doesn’t understand what Yuki sees in an uncouth guy like Takuya. He talks about a time Takuya used some pretty underhanded methods to catch them. They managed to escape by the skin of their necks by Jack throwing an up-close bomb. Kana laughs remembering how the bomb totally ruined Rui’s clothes. Rui then gets angry at Jack because that was a new suit. Sumire tries to break (i.e. cut) them apart with her chainsaw, causing chaos as Kana continues laughing hysterically.

Yuki looks on this with a small smile, thinking the Kaitodan aren’t such a bad bunch.

Episode 6: Parting Ways/Choice

The anime concludes the Kaitodan arc in this episode, but I’d like to keep them for a little longer. I reserve the fighting for a later episode, and instead, I make this episode quite information heavy. The aim of all this is to lead into the orphanage arc. I did not like that Takuya went off to resolve his own regrets without Yuki in the original anime. However it makes no sense to have him make Yuki tag along with him to something unrelated to their contract. My solution to this is to give Yuki more agency, and the mind to make her own decision.

I intend for a couple of truth bombs to come out here: the organisation does human experimentation; Daichi works for the organisation; the organisation has a base in Lacuna; and Yuki and Takuya will die if they go to Lost. The anime left a lot of these reveals until the end, but I don’t think they are truly that important to warrant that. Having Yuki know these things now, and make a decision despite that, helps build her character more (so we can pull all her confidence down later).

Side notes:

Having Eiji reveal the truth puts both suspicion and trust in him. If he was working for Daichi, that means he was also working for the organisation. However, if what he says is the truth, the reason he reveals this information is because of his guilty conscience. To make sure he comes off as sincere, his guilt should be foreshadowed in earlier episodes.

I wonder, if Lacuna really did end up being the final boss, would that mean Yuki would not need to go to Lost anymore? If Yuki were able to save Souma and return him to ‘normal’ would she be satisfied with never seeing her father again? Or was she hoping Souma could join them on their journey to Lost as well? Honestly, not even I know what Yuki was thinking. All I know is that the anime built up Lacuna as a fake ‘last boss’ (spoiler: it’s not), so I will too.

Episode 7: Regret/Regret

Like the anime again, I make episode 7 the orphanage arc. Unlike the anime, I also combine it with Tsubasa’s arc. The key to making this work is to progress both, but put the focus on only one of the storylines. For episode 7, the orphanage will be the focus, while I leave Tsubasa for episode 8.

The anime originally put the focus of this episode on solving the mystery and finding the link between Lacuna and the orphanage. However, because of how I set things up in episode 6, our characters’ main goal is actually to find clues to the Iink between Souma and Tsubasa. I want the focus on the orphanage side to be entirely about Takuya’s character development, and how Yuki looks over that development. The real plot actually happens on the Kaitodan side. Naturally, Takuya and Yuki will eventually join the fray but I think, for the purpose of the final message of the anime, it is important to show that things can still happen without Takuya and Yuki. 

Side notes:

I want Ayano to have more screentime, so I am making her lead them to Hinako. Ayano thus acts as a facilitator, rather than an observer. Also, I plan to make her shuumeigiku an AF (because AF were built up as some really important thing in the original but were not even used in the final battle).

Having the episode end on a cliffhanger means the main characters (and hopefully the audience too) won’t have time to ponder the shuumeigiku, nor the birdhouse for now. This is intentional.

Episode 8: Choice/Parting Ways

In the original anime, episode 8 is the Lacuna break-in episode. But it’s still too early for that. My episode 8 wraps up the Kaitodan arc.

We've had some time to get to know the Kaitodan members so I want this episode to be their moment to shine. First off, putting the Kaitodan flashback at the start of the episode, instead of in the middle of a fight (like what episode 6 of the original did) makes it feel less hasty. I also use this opportunity to insert some more Kaitodan shenanigans through flashback. This episode focuses on the bonds they have with Tsubasa, and the pain of losing that bond. So to make that emotional impact really hit, I have to utilise the flashback effectively.

Other than that, I guess the fight will progress similarly to episode 6 of the original, just in a different setting.

Side notes:

Having Yoshiaki and Tsubasa’s confrontation in the middle of what was once the lab both were experimented on as children has symbolic significance, especially because AF are the key to the battle.

I avoided the whole flashback around Tsubasa slashing Tsuki/the organisation hacking Yoshiaki’s twitter to lure Tsubasa into a trap. Because I think this episode already has more than enough flashbacks. I want to try to avoid overuse of flashbacks because they tend to ruin the immersion and pacing of an episode. If I really had to insert it somewhere though, it would be during an exposition by Souma when he calls Tsubasa weak.

I tried to make Sumire and Kana’s roles more relevant. I am not sure if it worked.

You think the title of this episode refers to Yoshiaki and Tsubasa parting ways, but did you expect Ryouko would also actually die? This is (I hope), an unexpected death, and I want the audience to feel almost just as devastated as Yuki does. Ryouko’s stuck around for a while now, so killing her off should have some sort of impact.

The ending of my version of this episode is a direct copy of the Tsuki Taiyou scene from episode 10 of the original. Placing it here is a set up for what I have planned in my version of the Lacuna break-in. But alternatively, it could also be placed at the end of my version of episode 6, because that is the episode we learn more about the heads of the organisation.

Episode 9: Fate/Fate

The original anime made this entire episode a flashback. And I hate that. Because I hate flashbacks. And using one for an entire episode just seems like lazy writing. I will address the whole thing with Daichi in my own way in a later episode, but for now I’ve got to do the break-in.

So, in a nutshell, I was very unsatisfied with how the anime handled the break-in. It was anticlimactic, and the real conflict (with Souma) happened nowhere near Lacuna. I understand the need for futility, but having nothing accomplished at all in the grand scheme of things is also doing a disservice to your audience. Because it’s wasting time if it’s not progressing the story or characters.

Essentially, I want my version of this episode to deliver the same information as the original anime episode 9 (flashback), but with about 70% more action and 99% less flashback. 

As I mentioned before, Lacuna was built up like a climactic boss battle so I am going to treat it like one. This is also a chance to foreshadow Taiyou’s powers that exhibit symptoms of Lost. and a chance for Suzuna to show off more of how formidable her powers can be.

I’ve put Tsuki as the miniboss because mate, she’s perfect. Why wouldn’t I? The anime seriously missed a golden opportunity. Tsuki is actually a really good character to fight against because she stands for a lot. She is obviously on Taiyou’s side, but in a tragic way. Despite being betrayed by him, she still stands by him, and will sacrifice herself even after he turned her into a monster. This is exactly what makes her fascinating. She brings moral greyness to an otherwise black and white fight against Taiyou. It’s also a chance to show that Akira is becoming more powerful, and Yuki feels more confident in herself. 

That said, the end of this episode is a direct test of Yuki’s character development, because she’s been put in the exact same situation she was in at the start of the anime. This is her chance to fix that regret that’s been haunting her the whole time. And now she has Akira by her side, she can be brave enough to move forward. Little does she know, what lies beyond the door is really going to test her limits…

Side notes:

Yuki being a product of two worlds was surprising, but i feel the impact is stronger if she gets told that directly by Taiyou, rather than the audience seeing it through a flashback. It adds more tension, especially as Taiyou gets away.

In my version of the anime, it is entirely possible for Takuya and Yuki to not even be aware Tsuki was once human (but the audience does know). I can play up the dramatic irony, by having Tsuki voice her thoughts. Yuki might get the feeling: this monster is completely loyal to Taiyou. Is she his pet?

On the other hand, if I choose to have Tsuki present herself as human-turned-monster, this gives an opportunity for her to explain there is good in following the Noah plan: it will save a lot of people. Going with this version should involve suggesting that Tsuki at least genuinely does want to save the people on her side. Maybe she has a child?

The Noah plan is important for understanding Taiyou’s motives. But honestly it is not that important for the audience to know all the details. Which is why I want Takuya to be the one to see it. He’ll trivialise it, because he knows what’s really important is what’s happening for him now. And really, Noah is just trivia/fan service for the audience in this anime, seeing as there is barely any moral ambiguity in Taiyou anyway.

Episode 10: Decision/Decision

This is the Souma episode. Despite the very different build up, the events in my version aren’t that different from the anime. 

I thought the lab would be an appropriate final confrontation setting. It symbolises Souma’s desire for power which ultimately led to his current downfall. But he wanted that power to protect Yuki. Which should resonate with Akira. And that is why he is also there.

Akira needed more screen time in the anime. He is not just a weapon; tamashii are not tools. He is Yuki’s protector, and his very presence as a tamashii implies his regret and desire around that.

This is simultaneously the grieving episode (original episode 10), which I’ve merged into the seaside scene. To really heighten the emotion, Yuki should have an outburst. Think about it, she’s been keeping everything bottled up inside her: her lab PTSD, the tragic fate of the orphans, and Ryouko. Losing her brother was the last straw. Showing vulnerability to Takuya is a sign she trusts him.

At the same moment Yuki loses one of the most important people in her life, Takuya gives her hope for the future. A bittersweet moment like this is really what the message of the anime should be about. Additionally the timing of this ray of hope means it is so much more important to Yuki to hold onto that image of happiness (and more impactful for the audience).

Takuya showing willingness to give up his contract is the ultimate sign this man cares for Yuki.

Side notes:

I feel like I packed a lot into this episode, but that’s because Souma’s death scene actually goes by very quickly, because neither side are putting up much of a fight? Both the original anime and my version have to rely on flashbacks to pad it out.

I foreshadowed Souma’s fate using Tsuki (both morphed into monsters).

Akira should also feel emotionally impacted by Souma’s death. Why does the anime make it seem like both Daichi and Akira show favouritism towards Yuki? Souma is also Daichi’s child, and he also saw Akira as a big brother. 

I also think the flashbacks should show more of the three interacting together, instead of solely Yuki and Souma.

Souma gets some final character development by apologising to Akira before he dies. 

At the seaside, Akira is also grieving. But he is full of guilt. He does not have the right to comfort Yuki.

Putting ourselves in Yuki’s shoes for a moment: the only two people left as a reminder of her previous ordinary life were her brother and her father. Now that Souma is gone, she is left with no choice but to go to Lost. Even if we ignore all the saving the world rhetoric, Yuki would still go just for personal reasons alone. Because what Yuki wants more than ever right now is the comfort of family. It’s an incredibly tragic situation. That’s why it is so important that Takuya shows a willingness to break his contract. He’s not just comforting her because he wants her to get over it and go to Lost so he can do his job. Knowing this allows Yuki to trust him, and show her vulnerable side.

This is the moment Yuki wishes things were different. If Takuya wasn’t here with her, she really might have reset the world like Daichi wanted her to.

Episode 11: Trust/Trust

My version of episode 11 is quite similar to the anime’s episode 11. Except I cut some NPC moments and massively extend the parallel world moment.

Suzuna and Taiyou’s scene plays out like in the anime. If possible, I’d like them to have some conversation in the sedan hinting that Taiyou has lost his way to his original altruistic goal.

I make the crux of this episode the parallel worlds within Lost. I thought that part was very cool in the original anime, but it just wasn’t impactful enough. 

I want to use this as an opportunity for Yuki to see Daichi’s memory. Essentially, I want to condense the flashback episode (episode 9) in the original anime to its bare essentials. This is probably going to be challenging, but with a combination of visuals paired with efficient narration by Daichi, I think it is possible to make things move quicker.

Basically, I want Yuki to see the whole picture, to understand her father’s perspective, and despite that make her final decision. Yuki realises her father is from a parallel world and is trying to save a lot of people from another world. But even so she is conflicted about whether what she is doing is right.

I like that this allows a clear link to happiness at the end. Yuki resonates with Daichi’s own desire for happiness, causing her to remember the happy future she painted together with Takuya. This is a much clearer way of explaining how Takuya and Yuki managed to free themselves from the effects of Lost, while also emphasising their bond.

Side note:

I’d like to believe that even with a clear image of happiness in mind, a normal human like Takuya should not be able to escape Lost unscathed. I’d like to hint that the fact he is even able to function in this space is because of his bond with Yuki, a girl intricately connected to parallel worlds and thus more immune to their effects?

Episode 12: Future/Future

The last episode’s boss battle with Taiyou plays out largely like the original anime. But I think there is scope to have a lot more satisfying pay-offs.

Lost is how the tamashii came to be, so first off I would recommend there be more of them. Even Tsubasa, who disappeared, could possibly exist as a parallel world version of himself. That’s what Lost is about, after all.

It would be fitting if Taiyou also gets taken down by these other tamashii, including the orphans. This would be an appropriate approach to highlight the contrast between Taiyou (who is alone), and Takuya and Yuki (who are not). Additionally, I bring back the shuumeigiku, which means ‘to endure’, in order to emphasise the justice that was eventually served.

I wanted there to be less spotlight on Suzuna and more on Akira. After all, he is the one with the real meaningful connection to protecting Yuki. Therefore I have him deal the final blow after evolving. On top of being epic fanservice, the fact he is the only tamashii who evolves in the entire anime means there is narrative significance to it. It is the culmination of his bond with Yuki, and it is fitting that he can finally wield that power to protect her properly.

After the fight in the original anime, Daichi shows Yuki an alternate world without tragedy, an ideal world. However, importantly, this is a world where Yuki never interacts with Takuya, Geek, or any of the other people she’s met on her journey, and I think the anime could have done better to show that. 

So my alternative is to have Yuki see those happy versions of Ryouko, Yoshiaki etc in the previous episode, while showing her own alternative life in this one. I really want to juxtapose the happiness she feels living an ordinary life with her family, against the missed opportunities to meet people like Ryouko and Takuya. This provides a lot more ambiguity to her choice, and we get to see the conflict playing out in her head in real time. By actually making it possible to follow her train of thought, the audience will be more likely to understand why she makes the decision she makes.

Finally, I choose to end my version of the anime with a monologue from Daichi as a homage to the game. But also, it seems appropriate because he is an observer, just like us. And as observers, who are we to judge the choices people make? I contrast Daichi’s message of hope to the somewhat less than ideal futures everyone leads in order to show the ambiguous ending I think the original anime was going for. Regardless of whether you end up better or worse, life moves on.

Side notes:

Yuki needs to show more emotion when she sees Daichi. Seriously.

I referenced the ending of the original anime (Yuki’s ideal house) in the ‘ideal’ world Daichi shows Yuki. I think the message the anime wanted to convey with that scene is that what we perceive to be true happiness may not really be that. And that’s kind of the vibe I’m going for in my ideal world scene, which is why I put it there instead of at the end.

Daichi should thank Akira. Holy fuck the poor guy’s been through so much with absolutely zero gratitude. He kept your daughter alive gdi

Ultimately the problem of Lost was never properly resolved? But the anime left it equally open-ended so I’m cool with that.

Finally, some overall points 

I removed Keigo and Shunpei entirely from my version of the anime. Because they weren't needed. Keigo I can put back in (because he and Yuuji serve the same narrative purpose), but I don't want Shunpei. He was an original character created purely to betray Ryouko and then die. I have no need for a character like that. He could be Ryouko's assassinator I guess, but I would rather the sniper be a tamashii cameo like Wolf or something. Or nobody at all. Because the sniper as a character is not  important at all. 

I removed all the deliberate food scenes because there was no scope to include them. It is one thing to claim you want to put more emphasis on food, but that should be second to creating an actually viable product.

And with that, this project is finally complete. 

I admit I had high hopes for the anime, and it frustrates me that it turned out the way it did when there were so many simple things they could have done to make it less confusing. 

That said, fixing something that has already been done is much easier than creating something entirely from scratch. And while everything may work on paper, translating that into practice with the actual production is a very different story. Therefore, despite how everything turned out, I still commend the production team for being able to make the anime a reality at all. 

As I've mentioned before, it is not easy to make an engaging story fit in the span of just twelve episodes, let alone one adapted from an epic game featuring time travel and parallel worlds. But I wish they could have tried just a little bit harder, to be just a little bit more risky, to deliver a product we could actually enjoy.

Some of you may like my version of the anime better, some of you may not. A lot of my personal biases definitely showed through, and it was more challenging than I thought translating my ideas into writing. If I’ve confused you about anything, feel free to drop me a message.  

If this post wasn’t long enough for you, you can read more of my analyses on the Shoumetsu Toshi anime below: 

My thoughts on the anime before it aired

My thoughts on the anime after it aired

a deeper analysis of episodes 5 and 6

[wolfiethewriter]

Heirverse masterlist for my personal use

I’ve just overhauled the masterlist on my ff.net profile to try and make it more “reader friendly” (read: less intimidating to look at. If that is even possible at this point)

But i still wanted to keep the original masterlist somewhere as I need it to keep track of the verse timeline wise. And so I know what to work on/write next.

Not expecting people to look at this, I just want it somewhere for peace of mind; I’m paranoid about losing my offline copies and backups for your backups are always good to have. 

List below the cut. 

Phase 0: Chessboards

sumamary: Follows Aizen and Gin's lives before they meet. Aizen makes a pact with a monster and Gin just tries to survive the Rukongai. Time and Fate bring them both together as teacher and student.

a) Pact - Aizen makes a deal that alters his life forever.

b) Cycle [follow on from Pact] - Aizen reaps the fruits of the pact. (Written by. Timewaster123456789, Edited by SesshomaruFreak.

c) Fast Friends - Gin and Ran meet and decide to be friends. Because no friendship is an accident. Not even theirs. (Written round robin by: TheDrunkenWerewolf, timewaster123456789 and SesshomaruFreak.

d) Fox (working title)

e) Tired Old Game - prequel to Game. Aizen is bored of life and his current partner, Kisuke.

f) Encounter – Aizen meets Gin

g) Looking At You - Aizen and Gin's thoughts on their first meeting. (Written by SesshomaruFreak and Timewaster123456789

h) Chessboards [in work] - intended prequel to Game. Hopefully a shorter story this time.

X

Phase 1: Game

Summary: Covers Aizen and Gin's slowly developing relationship.

1) Game – AiGin. Fun, happy, silly story. For the most part. How they meet, fall in love, try to manipulate each other.

a) Kill for You

b) Things You Don't See - An introspective piece about Aizen reflecting on the ways he loves Gin, which Gin doesn't see.

c) Safe Harbour - Gin moves in with Aizen. (Written by Timewaster123456789 and TheDrunkenWerewolf)

d) Love Like You - Gin listens to Aizen play his piano after moving in together. Post 'Safe Harbor.'

e) (Tsuku arc)

i) Thunderstorm – Gin waits for Aizen to return home and when he does, he brings a surprise.

ii) Title TBA - Gin is jealous of Tsuku

iii) Teeth of the Storm - Aizen Finds Tsuku (tie to LW&T 7) (Written by timewaster123456789)

f) Aurora Borealis – Aizen makes Gin the northern lights just because he said he wanted to see them.

(Say arc)

2) Say I Love You – Say It prequel. Gin tries to get Aizen to say "I love you." with no success.

a) Say it - AiGin role reversal fic. Because I can. Smut. PWP-ish. Connected to Heir. Gin wants Aizen to say he loves Gin.

b) Entwined – The morning after Say It. Smut. Pure smut. Nothing but smut. I have no excuses. "I do believe his mouth is heaven, his kisses falling over me like stars." - Richard Siken. (Written by Salazar Marvolo)

c) Say it, Again - Follow up to Say it. Gin ditches out on a meeting and Aizen uses this as an excuse to get payback for events in Say it.

3) The Fox's Wedding - mid/late Game era. Spoilers in title. Collaborative with Salazar Marvolo.

a) White Day - Aizen realises there's pros and cons to having gotten married on March 14th. Takes place 1 year after events in Fox's Wedding.

4) Can I Kiss You? - A sun & Monkey prequel one shot.

a) The Sun & The Monkey - Heirverse meets SesshomaruFreak's ByaRen fic, Healing the Moon. Set in later Game era. A collab with Sesh. After watching Renji and Byakuya being more open about their relationship, Aizen, feeling envious, and feeling that level of closeness is missing in his own relationship with Gin, enlists Renji's help to change that.

5) Partners in crime

X

[part b - Grand Fisher]

6) (Fisher Arc)

i) The Stealer of Faces [Face Stealer]

ii) Midnight Thoughts

iii) Grand Fisher – Aizen thought he had no weaknesses... until he encountered a hollow the shinigami later codenamed Grand Fisher.

iv) In the woods (working title)

v) Circles - Aizen plays his piano for Gin. Connects Game and Lie. potential Game scene but this is to be decided.

vi) In the Forest (in my forest)

b) New Song, Same Old Dance-Aizen tries to push Gin away following the battle with Grand Fisher. (Written by timewaster123456789 and SesshomaruFreak)

X

Phase 2: Can We Survive This?

summary: Aizen has an affair with Momo in an attempt to get Gin to leave him. Realising its hs biggest mistake, Aizen tries to make it right, but it takes Gin a long time to forgive him for it.

[Part a - CWST]

c) Negotiations - [located in "Love, War & Tedroppia" chapter 4] Rangiku convinces Gin to let her babysit Cherry-chan in exchange for helping him get time alone with Aizen. [I might make a continuation of this as its own story outside the heirverse but we will see]

7) Copycat - A jealous Gin shows Momo who Sousuke belongs to, and tempts fate by doing so.

8) Can We Survive This? - Aizen has an affair with Hinamori. Gin finds out, and wonders if they can survive it, and if he can forgive it. In the end, they grow back together. [Often abbreviated to cwst in my notes, suggested reading before reading this fic: Lie]

a) Gravity - poetry. Gin's pov. Concurrent with events in the early chs of 'Can We Survive This?'. General heirverse tangle. Subtle mirrors to Lie . Strong cwst references. Love and heartbreak. Gunshots as standard issue.

b) Unlove - poetry. Concurrent with cwst. Gin realises that try as he might, he cannot unlove Sousuke.

c) Mistress - Companion to cwst. Hinamori's side of the affair. Some overlap with events in cwst. AiHina with AiGin. An exploration into the darker side of Hinamori.

d) Liar [storyboarding/planning/seeing if it even works]

e) One Love, One Life - When Gin goes to sleep on the couch...and dreams. Kintsugi - the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery by filling the cracks with gold. (Written by Salazar Marvolo)

f) Fxxk You - An extra cwst scene.

g) Crystalline – Gin destroys his mementos of a lifetime with Aizen. Early/mid cwst scene.

h) Growing Back Together: Rainfall - Late cwst scene. Gin decides it's time he forgave Aizen and the pair of them start growing back together, sharing a moment watching the rain together.

X

[Part b - Lover and Liars]

9) Lie - Sort of prologue to cwst. Some background/context of why Aizen does what he does. Slight Heir/Game spoilers. Ties cwst&Heir together. Aizen's pov.

a) "I Love" - The mirror piece to Lie. Gin's pov. Gin wants Aizen to see and know how he feels. Hellish voice notwithstanding. Concurrent with Lie and later cwst.

b) Monster in the Mirror - Mirror piece to the end of 'I Love' and the fallout that follows. (Written by timewaster123456789)

c) Hear my Prayer - Sousuke feels bad about his recent actions and tries to think of how to make it up to Gin. (Written by HitsugayaKuchiki-HK)

Leverage Point - Tetsuya is captured and reveals some insights into Aizen's situation. (Written by Spunky0ne

10) Would You Rather - post cwst/IL. summary tba

X

[Part c - Out of Time [to be read in the sequence listed below]

11) Coerced - Aizen is coerced/threatened/blackmailed by Hellish Voice to slaughter the Central 46 to keep Gin safe.

a) Chronos – Aizen realises he's running out of time with Gin before he has to fake his death.

b) Real Enough – Aizen fakes his death and Gin does not react well to seeing his 'corpse'.

c) Obey – Voice forces aizen to slaughter c46.

d) Maniac - Aizen slaughters the Central 46.

X

Phase 3: Sanctuary

summary: After faking his death, Aizen has to shut himself away in the Central 46 chambers and struggles to keep his sanity. Thankfully Gin is his refuge from the darkness.

[please read this phase in the chronological order listed below]

12) Solitary confinement. [in work] - Sousuke struggles to cope with the isolation that comes with hiding out in the Central 46 chambers after faking his death. Because solitary confinement does terrible things to the human mind. AiGin.

a) Echo [in work] - What happens to Gin while Aizen is in solitary. Mirror to Solitary Confinement.

13) Cold Feet - As time ticks down until they have to leave for the hollow world, Gin tries to cope with his fear that Aizen might leave him behind. Meanwhile, in hiding, Aizen is terrified Gin will back out. And a voice inside his head - a darker aspect of himself - starts poisoning his thoughts, making him question whether he deserves Gin in his life. Cross references to everything heirverse. Collaborative effort with timewaster123456789.

a) A god am I - Aizen reflects on his goals and Gin the night after Cold Feet. (Written by timewaster123456789)

b) Sanctuary – The aftermath of Cold Feet. Aizen and Gin break an eight decade long cycle of lies and chessplay to explore something real. Collab with Timewaster.

c) Home - Sanc. continuation. Sousuke and Gin realise home is where the heart is.

14) Stand by Me - Aizen and Gin arrive in Hueco Mundo.

a) Choices - Gin reflects on all the choices he has made as he steps onto the white sands of the hollow world, and whether they were worth it. Though the answer is obvious. Somewhat of a mirror piece to Stand by Me. And an overview of the entire series phases 1-3. 

b) Decisions - poetry companion to Choices (Written by SesshomaruFreak).

15) Vulpecula - Aizen and Gin share a quiet moment together in the garden in Las Noches and watch the stars together.

16) Flowering Dogwood - Sousuke attempts to use the language of flowers to express his gratitude that Gin is still with him.

17) Helios - Aizen makes Gin the sun in Huecco Mundo.

18) Long day - Aizen comes home after a long day.

X

Phase 4: Heir/Decimated

Summary: Gin asks Aizen for a child to expand their family and reluctantly Aizen agrees. Unfortunately it has disastrous consequences.

19) Come into the night - [located in Love War and Tea chapter 2] PWP really. But just a nice intimate AiGin moment.

a) Lethal Lunacy - Somewhat of a collaborative with Ganymede Lullaby and myself. Aizen reflects on his stupidity re: cwst and how he feels about Gin.

20) Country Move - Grimmjow's view on his new masters. (Written by timewaster123456789)

21) Silence - Gin could never stand silence it bored him. Aizen and he always were opposites. (Written by timewaster123456789

a) Enemy you Know - Gin takes comfort in Aizen's presence after an altercation with Nnoitra. (Written by timewaster123456789)

22) Heir - [ [original version link]

a) Decimated – Aizen forgets something very important. Mid heir scene.

i) Nine Tenths - Aizen's POV of events in Decimated. . Written by Catsafari.

ii) One Tenth (1/10)- Gin's pov of events following Decimated. companion piece to 9/10.

b) Last of Me - summary tba

c) Fragile – Gin feels lost and broken without Aizen even remembering what they were.

d) Alignment - Gin just wants him to remember, though he knows it's pointless .

e) I Can't Be In There With You - Aizen's pov for chs 73/74 of Heir.

23) Today I'll Be Happy –. End of p4, start of p5

X

Phase 5: After

summary: After the war, Aizen and Gin try to adjust to normal life in the human world.

24) Parenting. - summery tba.

25) Scarred Tissues - Gin has a nightmare about the past. And scars he will carry forever.

X

Phase X:

summary: a collection of works that can fit anywhere in the heirverse series.

Love, War and Tea - A bunch of miscellaneous AiGin oneshots, most of which are/will be heirverse related, set at various times in the storyline.

Cunning Stunning Fox

In Another Life

Colours Fading – Aizen depression fic.

Tea – Heirverse tl;dr. Aizen, Gin, and the many cups of tea they've shared over the decades.

Incandescent - Gin compares his relationship with Aizen to fairy lights (p1 brainstorm result. Not sure if will make final cut)

[abalonetea]

Ahem: For the OTP asks, any and all questions for whatever ship needs some extra love this fine day (aka whomever you haven't gotten to talk about enough). And for that last one, let's go with, What is one spoiler about this couple that makes no sense out of context? Just, throw me a random fact that you like that sounds like nonsense.

hello yes but i love you and i love this ask!!!

honestly, you always come up with the best asks! there’s just so much in them, it’s great. and this was so much fun to write up!

Part One! i’m sorry in advance that this is so long but! you said any and all questions so! i just went ahead and did all of the questions i haven’t had a chance to do yet! i hope that’s okay!!!

i actually got roughly the same amount of asks in for everyone, so??? i’m just alternating between my two favorites which are, predictably, the two main pairings!

What was their first impression of each other?    wow that kid is scrawny thought Red, ducking into the small alley between buildings.   at the other end of the alley, Bolte picked up a large rock and thought that kid looks like he could eat me shit   

What is their ship name?   dgksdfsd ship names are both my favorite thing and the bane of my existence so! probably it would either be blocke, Blue Knight, Science Sweets, or cocoashipping depending on your preference. blue knight orcocoashipping are probably my favorites though!

Describe their relationship dynamic.   is they would die for each other a good enough response? there is literally nothing that Bolte and Red wouldn’t do for each other, from taking dangerous hits in a battle to becoming something cruel in the name of safety.   each one just tries so hard to keep the other safe and happy, it’s this loop they’re stuck in where they put themselves last out of necessity. Bolte can come across as very mean but Red is also pretty sarcastic, and they just. try so damned hard! Bolte makes the calls on the surface, but it’s really Red that has the final say in pretty much everything.

What was their relationship like before they got together?   they were absolutely the best of friends! Locke and Blue had already been living together for a while before they started dating, and it was just one of those things that rolled from one title into the next.  

How would they describe each other?   he’s the coolest person i’ve ever met, Red would say. boss is the best. strongest guy i’ve ever met.   too kind for his own good, Bolte would say. Red is what everyone should strive to be. he’s stronger than anyone else i’ve ever met.

What do they love about each other?   Locke loves Blue’s sense of humor, and how smart he is, and the way his eyes crinkle at the edges when he smiles.   Blue loves Locke’s optimism, and how much effort he puts into everything he does, and the sound of his laugh when he finds something really funny.

What do they have in common?   Red and Bolte are both incredibly stubborn, fairly lodged in the self sacrificing category, dealing with health issues, have the world’s most horrible sense of humor, the same taste in food, a love for animals, and the deep buried interest in being a good person. 

What are some differences between them?   Red prefers not to fight if given the chance, Bolte is actually decent at cooking, there’s still a belief on Bolte’s end that Fara Falls can be returned to some semblance of a decent place, Red is more eager to trust and give second chances.

Do they get married? Who proposes and how?   nnnn probably not, but only because i can’t picture that as being something either of them would think about. that being said wouldnt that be a fancy fix-it au drabble to write?

Who dies first? How does the other one react?   hey! you know the great thing about time loops? both of them “die first” within the confines of the story! fun! i know this answer very well!   to be very blunt, Red gets extremely drunk and, during Fara Falls time, generally kills himself to “speed up the reset” unless Captain happens to find him first, at which point he generally moves in with her. his death doesn’t actually affect the speed of the time loop starting over but, obviously, it means he doesn’t have to be around for it. this decision is spurred on only because Red is aware of the time loops and has done some amount of research and testing on them in the past.   i’ve said in text posts that Bolte would burn the world if something happened to Red, and I mean this in a very literal sense. during the occasion when someone kills Red, be it Kee or a character within Fara Falls, destroying said person becomes Bolte’s driving force. frequently, he has Captain right there watching his back.  but not in Fields of Fara, no, in Fields of Fara he has Blue at his back, and that world will burn, too

Are there any love rivals?   not really! 

Describe your favorite moment of that ship!   dfjv sdjfvdsbsf all of them!!! they’re all my favorites! i love the soft moments, when Bolte pulls Red into the rare hug, when Locke runs his fingers through Blue’s hair. i love the serious ones, where Red willingly follows Bolte back into Hell because where one goes, the other follows, and the thought of Locke sitting up at night waiting for Blue to come home, of him taking on Midnight’s interest to pull it off of Blue.   I love how much they love each other.

Describe or write a really fluffy scene!   red sits down on the back porch, mug of cocoa in hand, and the borrowed sweatshirt looks good on him. it’s bright in a way that matches his eyes, mostly revealed by the mask that’s pushed onto the side of his face, early morning sunlight catching on strips of old scars, on sharp teeth starting to go nubby.   there are many horned deer grazing in the distance, long tongues wrapping around the puff flowers pushing out through the snow, the sugar weed. bolte wraps an arm around red’s shoulders, tugging him up against his side, and the look that the paladin shoots him is nothing short of surprised, brows lifting in a silent question.   bolte doesn’t know what sort of answer to give, though, so he stays silent too, just sits there and relishes in the fact that this is okay and the fact that they are more safe here than they’ve ever been.

Describe or write a really angsty scene!   the corner’s of Locke’s mouth twitch into something that isn’t quite a smile, breath stifled out beneath his own good intent, hands shaking as he runs them through his loose, unkempt hair. “it’s okay,” he swears. “it’s okay, it’s - it’s okay.”   but the check hangs between them like an omission, a hymn, and blue has a look on his face like maybe nothing is ever going to be okay again. “locke?”   “i swear,” says locke, and that’s not desperation in his voice but it might be something a little closer to hysteria, too high pitched to be anything close to level, to calm. “it’s okay.”   they both know it’s not.   it hasn’t been for a really really long time.

Talk about a headcanon you’ve never talked about before.   oooh, difficult, but fun!    for locke and blue - Blue has nightmares a lot, and it’s part of why he and Locke have been sharing a bed for a while; Locke’s Good Intent helps keep them away, and it helps to have someone around when he does have one.   for bolte and red - whenever Bolte is having a really bad day, Red will rub his hands or his knee or whatever’s acting up for him.

What does a typical date look like for them?   red and bolte have never been on a date before, oops, and the concept is actually very foreign to them. it’s likely never something they do in a traditional sense.   locke really likes going places and even though that’s not really blue’s thing, sometimes he’ll surprise locke by splinching them out to the Capitol for a nice meal somewhere! usually they just eat at the house and play cards and listen to music.   sometimes locke convinces blue to dance with him oops

What’s a really significant moment in their relationship?   the first moment that Bolte realizes, so long as they’re in Fields of Fara, he can actually have some semblance of a relationship with Red, that he realizes he can lean over and kiss Red and not worry about someone finding out and use it as leverage against him. and he does. he catches Red by the shoulder and kisses him and you could honestly knock Red over with a feather.   for Blue and Locke, it’s probably shortly after Blue realizes that, hey, they are dating and suddenly a lot of the things Locke has been saying and doing makes more sense. Locke looks at Blue from the other side of the couch and says, “you’re so cute in that” and Blue’s whole face turns bright red and he thinks, oh i really like this.

Part Two!

What is one spoiler about this couple that makes no sense out of context? Just, throw me a random fact that you like that sounds like nonsense.

Red and Bolte: bolte wears red’s mask

Locke and Blue: blue tells locke to quit smiling