#Leverage 2x05

[leveragecentral]

LEVERAGE: SEASON 2, EPISODE 5 THE THREE DAYS OF THE HUNTER JOB

[lehdenlaulu]

Oh yikes. Too real.

Oh shut up, Nate.

And this would've been the Obama era, so of course she'd bite.

Good job, Hardison. I like the look. 😆

Shut up, Nate.

You too, Eliot.

Yeah, that's the wrong thing to say if you want her to drop it, mate.

Glasses!

Eliot, please. 😂

Honestly, is he a Parker magnet or something? It's cute.

And he's leaning on her, too. D'aaww.

(I guess something could also be said about how Hardison doesn't even blink when it's Eliot she's cozying up to.)

I thought that sounded like a stereotypical stripper name. 😂

Whoo, more product placement.

That cross-eyed thing is pretty impressive.

As is climbing that fence in a pencil skirt and heels.

Poor Hardison.

Oh Parker. 🤭

Well done, Hardison. You too, Eliot.

Well done, team. If only it was that easy to make people change their minds about something once they get new information. Especially the types who watch stuff like that, ya know?`

But then, I guess this was before the entire world went nuts with QAnon etc.

Oh boys. That's a little mean, honestly.

Wait, did he just feed Parker a paprika slice off his knife? Cute.

I do hope the OT3 will get to have more serious moments, too. Right now it's a little weird how the tone shifts when it's about Nate and/or Sophie.

[thieves-never-say-die]

Bad guy: unfortunately none of you can leave alive

*close up of Sophie, Eliot, and Paul looking supremely unconcerned*

[kajaono]

Thinking a lot about Paul hearing the trigger being pulled and his first instinct is to grab Eliot.

[thewanderingace]

I haven't seen this mentioned yet but Breanna and her frog hat in 2x05 was adorable and I love her!

[spandexspangles]

Fellas, is it gay to gaze into your previously-thought-dead battle buddy's eyes while you gently clasp each other's forearms as you sit at a candlelit table in a secluded courtyard after helping each other achieve a measure of peace?

Asking for a friend.

[hihogandalfaway]

Okay so apparently putting food in the microwave without a plate isn't just a Hardison thing? Do all of Nana's kids do that?

[eg515]

this Teen Wolf movie was so bad, I'm gonna cleanse my soul with a few episodes of Elementary

[kajaono]

I would also sell my soul for it!

Yeah I also think it will be mostly subtext but I didn’t thought they would go so far. Especially after redemption season 1 and „give Eliot a girlfriend“, so this is more then I already hoped for

If they continue that road I am happy

Yeah here in Germany it is not on Freeve because a really popular tv channel bought the rights to stream it on their niche crime channel, which means I have to pay for it, when it is finally released!

So you think they will actually confirm Eliot as bi?! 😳

I’d sell my soul for it, but I’m not sure they’re actually going to confirm it

the walk in the woods job sure came close, but in the end it was still subtext for the most part

[aceofwhump]

any good tied to a chair whump scenes?

Ooooh my dear nonny I am about to go crazy. I love a good tied to a chair scene and I have MANY recs for you. In fact I have an entire tag for you to peruse should you like to: https://aceofwhump.tumblr.com/tagged/tied%20to%20a%20chair

Jaskier in The Witcher 2x05

Leverage Redemption 1x09

National Treasure: Edge of History 1x08

The Mentalist 2x23

The Umbrella Academy 1x04

Alice (2009)

Supernatural 12x01

Manifest 2x10

Stargate Atlantis

Criminal Minds

The Magicians 1x09

Once Upon a Time 4x16

[nalyra-dreaming]

I keep thinking of the line 'to crush what you cannot own' and how it describes Armand's actions too - if he really did mean for Louis to die in Paris, which seems likely atp. Sacrificing Louis would punish Lestat and stabilize the coven ofc, but do you think it was also Armand ending the relationship on his own terms, once he'd realized Louis couldn't be controlled or 'owned'? Bc killing him was preferable to being abandoned? I know many think it was Loustat's love Madeleine felt in 2.06 (& it probably was!) but IMHO it wouldn't change much even if it was about Loumand. However much Louis theoretically loved Armand, he'd always love Lestat & Claudia more. Armand could never own him completely or be 100% assured of his loyalty & that was the issue. I keep seeing fans ask things like 'why did Armand do X if he loved Louis?' or 'why would they stay together if they weren't in love?' and tbh…I think some got too sucked in by Armand's 'beige pillow' persona lol. Because it's a fully calculated performance designed to disarm & control - there's a grain of truth to it, but it's still v strategic. IMHO 2.05 did a good job of peeling back the romantic facade, and the finale twist further compounded the truth, but maybe I'm off base there. Do you have any thoughts on this? (sorry if you've discussed this before, I can't keep track of the asks you get lol!)

(I don't blame you lol, it's a LOT of asks by now^^)

No, I have not talked about that aspect of it all :).

Sooooo, that "crushed" statement is rather interesting, but let me get to Armand first.

I think wrt Armand betraying Louis and Claudia there (and the show did frame it as the big betrayal, the Judas' Kiss), it has a lot to do with Armand being beyond bitter about Louis not loving him ... as he loved him.

Armand literally says that, in 2x05. Spells it out, when he talks about Claudia's love for Louis - and that it was not the same (level) as Lestat's - or his - love for Louis.

Interesting there is the tense, because it is past tense. "Loved".

I do think, (and that I said before^^), that Armand loved Louis, fell for Louis, in Paris.

Unfortunately though, Louis did not love him back the same way, and thus the betrayal happened (very simplified, but still) - and (Lestat's behavior and) Lestat saving Louis at the trial... changed the game again. Louis became something else to Armand, namely leverage, and a vessel. Something he could own and form, built on history with both Louis and Lestat.

Now the "crushed line".

THAT is a really interesting one. Because "crush" is used thrice in the show. First, when Daniel is served a dish in s1, imho rather unimportantly.

Second, when Santiago describes Louis' kill (the Dreamstat-kiss-kill) in the park:

"A mutilated body found in a park three nights ago. Crushed skull, puncture wounds on neck, chest and shoulder blade."

And third, when Lestat talks about what he did to Louis with the drop.

"I couldn't... persuade... him to return my affections. I couldn't force him to love me and so... I broke him. What is worse than that? Crushing what you cannot own?"

Now.... I always felt this monologue was a bit off, not because Lestat owns up there, or because of the words, but... "forcing Louis to love him"? I don't think it was about that between them. Given we know Armand influenced the tale, this... is one of those things that will be interesting to see IF they were influenced, but that just as a note, because yes - it describes Armand's actions, too. Sam said he left hints and crumbs, and maybe that is one, too.

The word "crush" connects Louis' desire and need for Lestat with Lestat's need and desire for Louis.

It is "crushing" for them both, a strength of emotion that almost cripples them, and makes them behave violently. This is no excuse(!) for any in-story actions, but the writers on this show are playwrights and you can be sure that they know what they're doing :))

There is a quote in the later books, which encapsulates this love for Louis (from that side at least) quite well:

"It was the love of Louis which had at times crippled Lestat, and enslaved Armand. Louis need have no consciousness of his own beauty, of his own obvious and natural charm."

I agree that Armand's beige pillow persona is parts a facade... but then again not, because Armand... is not the hurricane that is Lestat. Armand is old, and jaded, and disciplined. He lives by a strong ruleset, and that little "metronomic, my Rashid" that Louis throws at him in 1x05 makes its comeback in 2x05 when when he spells it out that he finds it boring that everything is so predictable.

Book canonically it is Daniel who changes Armand a bit (at least), who makes him break some rules and principles. And... given what we've seen so far? I think that will stay just the same. Or has already happened in parts^^.

[leveragecentral]

LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION, 2.5 THE WALK IN THE WOODS JOB

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

What's the deal with Sauron and Elrond connection in Season 2?

We all know of Sauron’s obsession with Galadriel, but what about how Elrond kept showing up on his plot in Season 2?

First, we have this interaction with Prince Durin in 2x03; where Annatar/Sauron joins Celebrimbor conversation with Durin and Disa, and they are discussing Elrond. And Durin sees right through him.

I assure you, Herald Elrond said he could think of little else. than helping his Dwarven friends. He speaks of you so fondly. […] Elrond said that you were the wisest of all the Dwarves.

Prince Durin being suspicious of Sauron might be a Easter egg for Tolkien nerds, because Mairon was a Maia of Aulë, and betrayed his Vala to join Melkor/Morgoth. The Dwarves are Children of Aulë, created by Aulë himself as companions (I won’t go into the whole tale in here because it’s beside the point). So having one of them being distrusting of Sauron, and seeing right through his deception can be a nod to that.

Anyway, this is not the last time Elrond will show up in connection with Sauron in Season 2. In 2x05, when attempting to manipulate Celebrimbor into making the Nine for Men, Sauron gives a few examples of Men who rose above darkness (and he must have been screaming internally mentioning every one of them):

Yes. You are right. Of course. Men are capable of great frailty. But when the darkness falls, there are always some who rise forth and shine. Eärendil, Tuor, Beren, son of Barahir.

Eärendil is Elrond’s father, and son of Tuor (Elrond’s grandfather who married Elwing, Lúthien and Beren’s granddaughter). Which means, Sauron is going through all of Elrond’s genealogy in this scene.

And then, Adar, in 2x07, mentions Melian; Elrond’s ancestor. We have both Sauron and Adar bringing up Elrond’s ancestry in Season 2.

In fact, the entire “tent scene” with Adar and Elrond in 2x07 is a direct parallel to Adar and Sauron’s scenes, in Mordor, in 2x01:

Both scenes, start with Adar sitting down in a place of power, and getting up to approach Halbrand/Elrond;

Both Elrond/Halbrand-Sauron meet Adar with the same purpose: “let my people/Galadriel go”. Or "yours will die". In 2x01 this is explicit, in 2x07 it’s the subtext;

Adar rubs the might of his war forces and Orc legions on Elrond and Sauron's faces, and how they can’t possible expect to defeat him;

In both scenes, "Sauron" is mentioned in connection with the Elves and Eregion;

In both scenes, Sauron and Elrond use the Orcs lives as leverage against Adar:

In 2x01, Galadriel is mentioned by Sauron, and in 2x07, she’s actually there, and she’s the prisoner (instead of Sauron) and the “my people” Elrond is actually there to free;

Adar is deceived by Sauron and Elrond in both scenes: swearing fealty (2x01); the pin (2x07).

Death threats coming full circle between 2x01 and 2x07, with Sauron and Elrond:

Adar (2x01): You will tell me everything you think you know of this sorcerer now. Or I will spill the words from your throat.

Adar (2x07): The Ring for Galadriel's life. What is it to be? Elrond (2x07): Ask me on the field, when the neck with a blade against it is yours.

What's the backstory?

Back in 1x08, Sauron/Halbrand also spent weeks with Elrond in Eregion, since he was also there the entire time, overseeing the work alongside Galadriel; since this was the task Gil-galad appointed to him.

Elrond is the one who finds Galadriel in the Glanduin river, after she rejects Sauron’s offer and he flees.

And despite Galadriel keeping Halbrand’s true identity under wraps, and not revealing what truly happened, Elrond is the one who puts two and two together, and realizes Halbrand is not the King of the Southlands, and tricked them.

Season 2

However, only in 2x01, Elrond is made aware that Halbrand was, in fact, Sauron, when Galadriel herself reveals it to him and Gil-galad.

And Elrond is furious, because he absolutely trusted Galadriel, and that trust is now broken. Galadriel did allowed the Three rings of power to be forged, even though she knew that Sauron has been at Eregion all along.

Adding this to fact that Galadriel was so obsessed in finding Sauron in Season 1, and even talked about this with Elrond himself in 1x01, when he advises her to return to Valinor and find healing there:

During Season 2, Elrond is also the one who sees right through the rings of power, and understands they might be a ploy on Sauron’s masterplan. And he’s absolutely right. Because we know, from Tolkien legendarium, the Three are connected to Sauron’s power, and become mere pieces of jewelry when the One Ring gets destroyed on the Third Age, losing all of its magical properties. “Rings of Power” build upon this, and had Sauron himself at Eregion, handling the mithril (and probably infusing it with his intention to heal Middle-earth from Morgoth’s corruption, which is his goal).

In Season 2, Elrond is, clearly, Sauron’s greatest opponent in his rings of power plot concerning the Elves. Until he, too, gets deceived, because we know from Tolkien’s letters, these rings are not “wholly good” and the Elves are in the wrong by using them.

Anyway, Elrond not only attempts to have the rings destroyed (wrecking Sauron’s plan), but he also keeps antagonizing Galadriel by her wearing Nenya, perhaps in the hope she might take it off, or see the ring as evil. And Sauron is aware of all of this.

And can this be the reason why Elrond also seems to be on Sauron’s mind? Indeed, but there also might be another reason on top of this.

@love-and-doom shared one of their theories with me, and I think it makes sense, and explains a lot. According to them, Sauron might blame Elrond for his failure in bringing Galadriel to his side in 1x08.

Galadriel herself confessed to Celebrimbor, in 2x07, that she wanted to take Sauron’s offer and that she wanted what he offered her (be Queen of Middle-earth with Sauron as her king). And, maybe, had not Elrond show up, Sauron might have succeeded. What this theory implies is that Sauron show Galadriel the vision of her drowning in the Sundering Seas (the moment when he saved her), but we don’t know how this vision was supposed to end from Sauron POV because Elrond shows up and Sauron has to flee.

Sauron clearly has the background check on Elrond (as we’ve seen in 2x05), and is aware he is a thorn on his side. This might also be another Easter egg because of Sauron vs. Melian during the First Age; and not only Melian herself but Melian’s daughter (Lúthien), too, who was responsible for Sauron’s greatest and most spectacular defeat.

Then, we also have other parallels between these two characters:

Sauron and Elrond in connection with white horses:

Sauron's illusion in 2x06:

Elrond mourns his horse, 2x07:

Elrond and Sauron (+ Galadriel) with the same face wound (Elrond in 2x07; and Sauron and Galadriel in 2x08):

I saw several fans making the comparison of these wounds with Arwen’s in “Fellowship of the Ring”, because it’s on the same side and very similar, indeed.

However, I’m not sure what is this suppose to mean: Elrond is Arwen's father, and Galadriel is her grandmother, yes, but what does Sauron have to do with it?

Then, Elrond is the one who picks up Nenya (the ring Sauron wanted), and uses it to heal Galadriel, in 2x08:

He also returns Nenya to Galadriel, as a nod to their scene in 2x04; when Galadriel gives it to him for safe keeping, and he reluctantly agrees. Now he returns the ring in good will, to symbolize the end of their feud, and how Elrond now trusts the Three:

I’m curious to see if this dynamic will continue to play out in Season 3, and I wonder what all of this means.

[thieves-never-say-die]

Harry: you’ve been shot twice??

Eliot: oh I’ve been shot more than twice

Harry: how many times?

Eliot: …you lose count

[kajaono]

I love Eliot focused episodes so much. Kane is always the hitter but he is so good when he is allowed to open up and show Eliot’s emotional side

[scleroticstatue]

Hey what episode of Leverage was I on again?

You watched the Fairy Godparents Job with Widmark and the talent show, so next is 2x05 the Three Days of the Hunter Job.