#The Low Low Price Job

[artsybi]

leverage is so deeply fun as a show because sometimes they just break into places to steal back physical items and money and SOMETIMES they straight up psychologically torture the mark and make them think they've been contacted by aliens that now want to abduct them, or convince them they're dying of cadmium poisoning or fake a whole dreamscape to get them to reflect on their fucked up actions

it's incredible. no notes

[leveragecentral]

Leverage (2008—2012) The Low, Low Price Job

[unloneliest]

in the low low price job eliot is at the center of the gloat and the walkaway. eliot brings beer when he returns and is denied entry to the home he grew up in. when nate's at his lowest with alcoholism in the snow job eliot gets himself between nate and the rest of the team; pushes back in a way that draws his attention and keeps nate from lashing out at anyone else. we know eliot isn't an only child, thanks to the miracle job; his nephew would love bibletopia.

(low low price: eliot grew up in rural oklahoma. low low price: eliot hasn't been home since he was 18. what about eliot who performs landmarks of typical masculinity so well could result in such complete rejection from his god loving father? it's hardison eliot's able to confide this in. is it a question we really need to ask, after all?)

in the order 23 job it's eliot who knows on sight that the child with a broken arm is being abused. the kid's dad's social tie to the local cops: they drink together. when eliot and hardison impersonate cops in the morning after job, eliot demands they respond to a called in disturbance with a weapon, because there might be kids in the house.

where do you think eliot learned the relational dynamic he engages in with nate, and before that moreau? eliot left home because he "needed to get out of there". eliot has never lived a life free from controlling men. he may have left, but did he succeed in his escape? why or why not?

it takes eliot five seasons to mention his dad. he never mentions his mom. the carnival job does not center eliot in the gloat but as they walk away we get him centered briefly. nate's the one who says she's dead, but it's eliot who asks about the kid's mom. it's eliot who connects with her in a way it seems nobody has since that loss. in the future job eliot rummages in a car to provide facts so tara can pull off the psychic act. his voice wavers, when he mentions the breast cancer ribbon on the mirror. eliot never mentions his mom. eliot never mentions his mom.

would parker have ever mentioned the brother she lost, were it not for the fake psychic's violating reveal? why do you think eliot never mentions his mom?

fuck redemption's revisionist history. the original run said enough to paint a full and heartbreaking picture of eliot's family all on its own.

[fourdiagnosesinatrenchcoat]

Watching Eliot get riled up against the Wal-Mart stand-in and try to do labor organizing is the absolute hottest he has been in five seasons. Sexier than chef Eliot (either time), Eliot on horseback, country singer Eliot, Eliot on hockey skates, curly girl Eliot who skipped the flat iron for baseball season, Eliot with extra blue contact lenses stopping a pandemic.

This kotegaeshi ikkyo variation? 🔥🔥🔥

Be still my small business owning martial arts enthusiast heart.

[thevictoriousone]

I was so worried about Eliot’s dad rejecting him or being dead that I never even considered that no one would answer the door.

How the hell am I supposed to go to bed with Eliot’s tear-filled puppy-dog eyes haunting me???

[amazzyblaze]

"The Low Low Price Job" doodles

[independent-fics]

I suddenly remembered the “college roomate” line from Hardison in “The Low Low Price Job” and realized is this the only mention of college for him? He’s 21 when the show starts so average age for a college graduate (assuming he didn’t graduate early but it’s Hardison) but also he was already wanted by Iceland? Did he go to college under an alias? Did he even go at all or just sell college roomate technological kick out strategies to college kids for cash? Did he tutor?

[leverage-ot3]

tear-inducing leverage episodes, in no particular order:

the van gogh job

the long way down job

the grave danger job

the big bang job

the future job

the stork job

the low low price job

[geeky-nightphilosopher]

Concerning The Low Low Price Job- I just appreciate everything Leverage Team does to sabotage Value!More.

Don't get me wrong- I understand Hardison's point. But I respect and understand Eliot's point. But everything- everything they did! Oh my gosh- I'm crying.

It's refreshing to see the lady scramble.

(I work in that kinda environment. I love my job- but... yeah I resonate with this episode WAY to much.)

[my-beloved-lakes]

Omg no! Eliot drove all the way from Portland to his dad's house in Oklahoma! All alone! That's like at least a two day drive! And then his dad didn't even answer the door! 😭

[richardsphere]

Leverage Log: The Low Low Price Job

Ok so based on the name, we're either dealing with As Seen On TV products that are made so cheap as to endanger people, general "store discounts that are only affordable because its made in a sweatshop in china" shenanigans, or a Big box chain using an up front loss to drive the locals out of business and become a de-facto local monopoly before type of story. (did I mention that capitalism sucks yet?) --- Ok government inspector is looking round a store and is pulling lies out of their ass. --- I agree with Elliot, Composting is good but should not be done in a kitchen. That is a health inspectors nightmare. --- Oh its about the a big box store, thats bribing the inspector (and zoning comittee) into shutting down competition. Why is she talking about it as if its a small town? Since when is Portland a small town? Thats a major American city right? --- I stand corrected, just because she's currently in portland to talk to Leverage Inc, does not mean she's from Portland. She's from a (presumeably fictitious) small US town called Apple Springs (home of America's largest garden gnome) --- Ok it seems we're not even going to try and make the villain act like a human person. Just openly gloating to her intern about how she's gonna destroy the town. --- And once again Nate makes the point: The Food Industry is only thing scarier then Sterling. I like the premise of them going for a "smaller" target (a single store rather then the megacorp attached), but its sort of a suck that this episode promises to end with a "the real villain got away with it all in the end" sort of deal. (maybe the sequel series can do a call-back episode where they go after Corporate) --- Sophie starts listing Cadmium Poisoning symptoms. To a woman whose hotel room we have seen Parker and Nate break into already. This can only mean 1 thing: Its chemical warfare time! --- Oh so thats how corporate plays? Forging crimes onto Sophies Forged identity? Guess we might see Nate take the gloves off and take down corporate after all. (cause lets be clear, if this is a thing they know how to do it means they do it on the regular for non con-artists) --- I dont think Elliot is lying about his old man running a hardware store, like this could be an attempt to make the guy more sympathetic to his cause to aid the union, but this feels genuine.

Old man has diabetes... that is ominous, I feel like Elliot might be about to get himself a surrogate dad only to lose him. --- And she's met Nate. (only Hardison and Parker remain un-compromised)

Eliiot's dad is real. --- Oh she tracked them back to Portland. Now that either means our heroes somehow tipped her off deliberately or that she's got GPS tracking on her employees.

Oh she said the F word, (which means she can F off) also shouldnt the poisoning be kicking in right now? sure she prevented Sophie from telling the town about the "cadmium" but thats no reason to make her think she's not dying of cadmium poisoning. Making her think the thing she covered up is a genuine threat awaiting re-discovery is a great way for our heroes to get her on the mental back-foot --- "its not like we can make bad luck". Nate, im sorry to say that you're an idiot. Making it look like an accident is literally crimes 101. --- Sophie's bringing in the army. (oh the Kaki's and overall flashmob. Classic)

Oh Elliot's surrogate Dad just died and/or got hospitalised. --- Record sales? Oh we're so framing her for theft arent we. (rigged the cash registers to claim they're taking 99.99 for the TV's while still taking the full 999.99) And she even bragged "the TV's were my idea" so when the citisens sue Value!More over their fraudulent cash-receipts her bosses will pull out a recording from their phone conversation proving her guilt by her own admission! --- Wait it wasn't part of Nate's plan? Our team just accidentally pulled a loss leader? Goddamn it. Well the HQ guy is coming for the BBQ now. Which is probably on the parking lot that she thinks is cadmium poison... So poison HQ guy with cadmium and get her superiors to shut her store down? --- Wait we're only renovating her hotel room now? In literally any other episode we would've seen Nate and Parker break into the store, and then had a greyed out flashback of the things they did while there to poison the ever loving heck out of this woman. --- I dont like that, now that we're finally getting to the "drugging her by putting chemicals in her make-up and sleepmask" sequence we took out her shower. (I get it, its to make her more anxious over meeting HQ guy for her promotion by not letting her take care of herself. But we literally had an entire Poison story right there with the Cadmium and this is breaking from that narrative, it feels like the broken shower is an unnecessary risk. Im not saying she deserves a shower it just distracts from the Cadmium Poisoning story) --- And we got ourselves the classic "broadcast their conversation over the intercom". Last shot of her seeing Leverage Inc lined up so she can connect the dots of her being played somehow. Strong end to a rather weak episode. --- Our heroes are turning the not-really poisoned big box store into a theatre. (nice place for Sophie to Own instead of Rent, plus a good back-up now that the Frame Up Job compromised their new Portland residency) --- there's something really weird about the way in which Elliot keeps getting in short-term relationships with female clients.

Elliot is off to reunite with dad, but it seems that time will do what time will do. (whomever owns the home now has excellent taste in windchimes though. Love the little dolphins) --- This episode was generally sub-par as far as A-plot goes, every twist and one-up by Caroline felt like it came from right up a writers behind, and the final conclusion of "our battle shut off the one store but Evil Incorporated continues to win the war" leaves this episode overall unsatisfying in its climax. The Elliot sub-plot was good though. Just not enough to fix a broken episode.

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

Something I love about Eliot, is that he can really emphasize with the client or the victims. In The Low Low Price Job, he's the one who stands up for the client. He befriends the old man at work, the one who used to own a hardware shop, the one who reminds him of his father. He pushes back when Brian the bully takes things too far. He doesn't even have to change who he IS. He's not a fictional character, like Sophie and her fancy fake degree. He's himself. Every word out of his mouth is his true feelings, not some persona he has to don for the job.

Eliot has such a deep respect for the working class, he would rather abandon the con than abandon the people that rely on him (such as in The Underground Job, when he stays in the mine, even after his job is over).

Because Eliot understands: the jobs the little people do may not be glamorous, but it's honest work. These people put their souls into their jobs, into their towns, into their families. They do an honest day's work, and have pride in their work. So the least Eliot can do is make sure the big bad boss men are not taking advantage of those honest people.

And this is why I love Eliot.

God I love the episodes of Leverage that are like “yes Eliot is working class. yes he grew up surrounded by trades people and “menial” labourers. yes he knows so much about those jobs and will ALWAYS support those workers and their job choices.”

Because it’s something that really does set Eliot apart from the other characters. Like, Sophie is all about the finer things in life, and even if she did ever grow up poor or around labourers, she doesn’t exactly respect that life style. She’s all about getting away from that, if she ever was that lower class, which I don’t think she ever really was. Nate is Office Worker tm, just in vibes. That man has never seen a shovel. And while Parker and Hardison both went through the system, they’re both very city centric. And I mean, Parker has never once thought about real jobs or anything, ever. And Hardison definitely has a bit of a thing about age of the geek, and def starts out looking down on “menial” jobs.

But Eliot, throughout the entire show, is very much all about that. The mining episode in particular is such a favourite just because of the respect and care for these workers that Eliot shows. And I really like how different all of the leverage characters are, not just in skills but also in backgrounds, and how those backgrounds affect how they treat people. Eliot comes from a family of workers and a community of workers, and he holds those people in such high respect.

[thecoolsquirrel]

Ruggie! <3 <3

Commissions open btw $13 for one character and $15 for two!

[natelia-aldelliz]

"Ah, Nik, wait!"

Nikolai turns back around at the sound of the Captain's voice.

"You're going to make me miss my flight," he pretends to complain, not able to keep himself from smiling.

Price rolls his eyes. "You're the one flying your flight back home."

Nik chuckles. John looks annoyed, but clearly it's not directed at him if him relaxing in his presence is to be believed.

"Anyway, I won't keep you long, I just need you to teach me how to say something in Russian."

There's a terrible idea rising in Nik's mind. He tries to ignore it at first.

"There's this guy, he's a fucking asshole and I'd like to tell him to go fuck himself in his native language."

He nods distractedly at Price. But it would be the perfect moment... He leaves right after that, after all... And John wouldn't understand right away, he'd have time to go hide somewhere.

"Right," he clears his throat and smiles at Price. "I can do that, sure. Repeat after me, try to remember the words : я -"

Price squints his eyes in concentration. He looks so fucking cute that Nik could die.

"Ya -"

"влюбилась"

"Woah, okay, vl...vlyoubeelas?"

Nik's smile is growing. "Good," he says, voice lower. Swears that John's cheeks are redder than they were before. Interesting. "в"

Price frowns. "Just 'vv' ?"

"Да. And finally, тебя."

"Tyebya."

Nik's heart is starting to beat a bit faster, apparently just now realising what he was doing. There's no going back now.

"Now the whole thing : я влюбилась в тебя"

John's brow furrows more in deep focus. "Ya vlyoubeelas vtyebya."

Damn, that makes Nik's cheeks warmer and his smile wider. He knows that Price doesn't mean it, doesn't even know what it means, but if that's all he's going to get, he's going to cherish it inside his heart.

He isn't sure John will want anything to do with him when he'll look it up, after all, he hasn't survived this long by having too high hopes. His smile softens and he nods at his friend.

"Not bad. Remember the words."

Price huffs. "Of course I'll remember the words. Now go, wouldn't want you to miss your own chopper back home."

Nik laughs and shakes his head as he turns around and walks to his helicopter. He stops before climbing in, turns his head back towards the Captain.

"Oh, and John, don't actually tell him that, he has no right to hear it."

He knows Price well enough to know that he's sighing right now, but he's too far to hear it.

"What did you even teach me?" He asks in a jokingly tired voice.

Nik grins back at him. "You'll have to look it up, зайчик."

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

My parents have 10 kids and my dad was unemployed for half my childhood. I lived off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese. Our food came from Walmart and Aldi. My clothes came from thrift stores and other siblings. I would wear clothes until they literally had holes in them. I got new shoes every 4 years. I started working at 14 because I saw how hard it was for my parents to afford to feed us, and I wanted to help. I started buying the cat food so my parents would be able to buy a new vacuum cleaner that actually worked and didn't have exposed wiring.

I understand Hardison's sentiment in The Low Low Price job. I've been there. I grew up there. I'm still there, working two jobs and walking to Walmart in between shifts to save gas, so I can buy food.

But The Future Job...I often see that love my family has for each other in the Leverage family. They're much more gentle with their love, calmly explaining how the scam works, but the love is real. The love is the same.

I think I love Leverage for episodes like these, where they SHOW that love, not with words like "I love you," but rather with actions like this. When Parker says she wants him dead, and Eliot says, "Yeah. I can do that."

That's what family is. No amount blood relations can take that away.

I watched Leverage for the first time way too young, and a lot of things went over my head. I just rewatched "The Future Job" from Leverage and something about this scene just hit me.

The way they broke down the mysticism around the predatory psychic for Parker feels so intentional both in character and out of character.

In character, they do not judge Parker for falling for the con. The team is supportive and kind as they explain how a cold read works to her. They break it down for her step by step. They never belittle her nor do they pry about her past. This approach makes sense for Parker as a charcter, and it's sweet to see her friends try to help her through a difficult moment this way.

And out of character, it's kind of like they are telling the audience "it's okay if you've fallen prey to this scam. We're living in hard times and this is exceedingly cruel even by our standards. You aren't stupid, you are human. Here's some tools to avoid being tricked like this in the future". I cannot tell you the number of times I've realized I was being manipulated because of how this scene stuck with me.

I love the writers of Leverage, but something about this episode always makes me feel like the writers truly cared for their audience. I'm not sure if this was intentional or if I'm reading into it. But damn I think about this scene a lot.

[independent-fics]

Love when Eliot goes rogue on a job. Because it’s always for a very good reason.