#also hardison in this episode was so funny

[leverage-ot3]

eliot and the security team union was so fucking cute also I’d die for all of them

[independent-fics]

The Leverage OT3 in Every Episode

Leverage: 01x07 The Two-Horse Job

[geeky-nightphilosopher]

It's inappropriate- but the way Hardison and Eliot go back to Nate to ask to break a $100 to singles - reminds me of teenagers asking for money from their dad.

And their dad said "No."

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

In response to the Mile High Job post, I hate that Parker implies that poor flight attendant slept her way to a promotion/better shift. Her day is super weird but her cat is fine and her life is saved. That rumor, however, might stick and that didn't really feel like Leverage to me.

Agreed!

The thing with Leverage is that it's a show from the late 2000s; it feels contemporary, but actually it is a bit dated. And, like all shows, it had some problematic elements, which get a bit more Obviously Problematic as time goes by (I am just waiting for someone to write a lengthy call-out post in 5 years' time and for the Discourse to start.) For example, Tumblr loves to declare that Leverage has a "canon" throuple, but if anyone read that and then watched the show they would be profoundly disappointed - while it's a fantastic ship with a great many shippy instances, Elliot has a lot of onscreen No Homo moments, and frequently is shown sleeping with random women (I personally read him as aromantic). Similarly, there are two big relationships in that show: Nate/Sophie, and Parker/Hardison. And we all wax lyrical about the brilliance of Parker/Hardison and how healthy it is, and for good reason; but we gloss over how unbearably "I hate my wife/father I cannot click the book" Boomer humour Nate/Sophie is.

(He literally calls her a shrew in one episode. She throws a tantrum and sulks if he doesn't remember the exact details of how/where they met. She's stereotypically 'romantic' and he's stereotypically 'cynical' and she has to Save Him From Himself, and he self-deprecatingly says he should just know when to stop arguing because she's always right. Like... it is a grubby and uncomfortable dynamic; but, it's also aimed at a different segment of the audience that is older than me, and that's okay, actually. It just means I don't much care for the ship myself.)

Anyway, this is one other such instance. Clearly someone in the writers' room thought that was a funny joke, and not enough people disagreed, and so in it went. What's nice is that Sandi McCree, who plays the other flight attendant that stays on the plane, actually kind of saves that joke for me with her performance. When Parker first boards and declares that her co-worker is not coming in, McCree looks disgruntled at the sudden change to her staff list when she wasn't informed; she's annoyed at management. Then Parker makes the sleeping-with-pilots comment, and McCree looks disgusted and furious -

An expression she then pulls at Parker every time she sees her for the rest of the episode, even when Parker is technically not doing anything particularly weird. It's not necessarily intentional on McCree's part (Parker IS very weird in this episode, so it very much can be a response to that), but to me it means you can read it as "This woman is absolutely furious at the lateral sexism of this white girl because We Love And Support Each Other On This Plane." So, for me, between that and the aforementioned revelations of the day (the plane was brought down by the domestic terrorists of a Fortune 500 company, but saved by... a few unexplained Official People who snuck aboard??? And the other flight attendant was made to miss the plane after all under mysterious circumstances and was not promoted??? What???), I don't think Sandi McCree's character wouldn't put those pieces together.

[katierosefun]

season 4 of leverage is so. some of the most MOST episodes of all time. there is an office episode where the crew is literally filmed like an episode of the office. there’s an episode where a sociopathic white rich boy tortures homeless people for some college thesis project. hardison gets knocked out by sophie. “no one throws hardison off the roof except me.” archie comes back. chaos also comes back. chaos gets tasered (fuckign finally). parker makes everyone cry because she yells about wanting to do the right thing. nate and sophie think they’re being subtle about their funny friends with benefits relationship but the shenanigans happen. “YOU RECRUITED MY WIFE?” “EX-WIFE” parker reveals she has successfully kept a normal friend and everyone is so proud of her. hardison ate eliot’s fuckign sandwich. nate “i love foreplay” ford.

[androgymagnus]

kinda soft for how at the end of the panamanian monkeys job hardison goes up to harry and says "i need you to help me with something, man" and harry--two episodes into knowing these people, who have not been shy of their opinion of him (at this point, sort of affectionately disdainful?? this isn't a criticism i'm just pointing out they've literally talked about bonking him on the head, wiping his accounts/credit score/whatever, and dumping him in venezuela in front of him lol) and his immediate response--all soft, too--is a completely earnest and sincere "anything, anytime". like. a) i love harry and hardison's interactions SO so so much. i think they're probably my two favorite leverage characters and i also just love every interaction they have, even though it's not a lot. b) harry is SO ride or die SO fast. and like i get it, in many ways--especially in his eyes--they saved him. but like also. he's so funny. he got adopted/stolen by a group of thieves and he rolls with everything SO fast. he's just like yeah okay this happening now! yay! :) dflkjgglkhjh

[greaseonmymouth]

leverage s5 revised episode order

so it's my understanding that it's pretty much general consensus that s5 is setting up the ot3 endgame, showing us throughout the season how close they are and how well they work together and establishing their relationship the best way they can without the network realising, right? we see this in how they do historical episodes, always pairing Nate and Sophie but they've paired Parker and Hardison and Parker and Eliot, and in the present they've done Eliot and Hardison enough times. and so the finale, The Long Goodbye Job, is the final dot over the i to make that clear - Eliot, Parker, and Hardison die together in the fake scenario because anything else would be anathema, and they skip off into the sunset together as a three person Leverage team while Nate and Sophie skip off together as Out Of The Game, For Good

The Frame Up Job and The Rundown Job support this by showing us how well Eliot, Parker, and Hardison work together, how flawless a team (how thoroughly established an ot3) and by showing us Nate and Sophie as a thoroughly established married couple disgustingly in love and bickering and on the same wavelength

now I propose (and not just because of Eliot's haircut in The Rundown Job clearly indicating this episode should've come later in the season) that The Long Goodbye Job was not intended to be the series finale, and that The Frame Up Job and The Rundown Job were supposed to form a two-episode series finale directly following The Long Goodbye Job. soft epilogues, if you will

points to consider:

in both of those episodes, the other half of the team does not appear and is not even mentioned. it's not like the Girls / Boys Night Out episodes, where the episodes are mirrored and the team is working on related problems, and is then reunited at the end - these are entirely separate episodes featuring two independent teams

Vance to Eliot: "Hell, your girlfriend's already out of her cuffs." Nobody corrects him. Not Parker, not Hardison, and not Eliot. Ok this one doesn't prove episode order I just love this subtle ot3 confirmation moment

Sterling, to Nate and Sophie: "Now I know where you are. Call me. I'm hiring."

this was already funny as is, and we're presuming this is because Sterling hasn't found out where the team relocated to after Boston, but imagine if this is actually after The Long Goodbye Job? Sterling let them go. Nate pushed him and he came down on the side of thieves, and he let them go, and then couldn't find them but now he has and his frustration with the case and Nate and Sophie's casual disregard and the final 'I'm hiring'? It's been a couple of months since The Long Goodbye Job and this is the most fun Sterling has had in ages

but the ot3 half ok. so The Long Goodbye Job tells us that they die together and they live together, and they continue Leverage as a 3 person team. Give it a couple of months and they're in DC and they face a real life and death moment - and they live together.

and also, you get Eliot telling Vance "I work with them now" and then he limps bloodily off into the sunset squished between Hardison and Parker like the three of them are off to have some incredible sex

listen I just think season 5 makes so much more sense if we consider those two episodes as the episodes establishing the happily ever after epilogues after The Long Goodbye Job

also in Leverage: Redemption the very first episode we find out that Nate had a shady stash of paintings and materials and whatnot so what if that is actually a hint that Nate and Sophie did actually get back into the game, with Sterling, until Nate passed away and Sophie clocked out?

[wordybee]

Leverage does a phenomenal job with consistent character development across all episodes barring a few exceptions (*cough*French Connection Job*cough*) but they really deserve bonus kudos for Parker. Parker is a stand-out example of good character development without sacrificing the elements of a character that make them great.

Parker starts out as a quirky super thief with an occasional cutthroat lone wolf attitude that seems, frankly, strange in hindsight. Moments in the pilot like drawing a gun and saying “That makes me cry inside my special, angry place” is not Parker language we recognize from her at any other point during the series run. The closest we get is her jaunty “Bye, now!” when she’s a few moments away from throwing Tara Cole off the roof of a building, but that’s still not quite as affected as the “special, angry place” line, which really sounds more like she’s mimicking something she’s seen elsewhere.

And what might have been a scene in which writers new to these characters were trying to find their footing but slipping a bit becomes a moment of genius when you realize that a core aspect of Parker is that she is mimicking the people around her, all the time. She doesn’t have a good enough hold on social norms to respond confidently to situations without using others as a blueprint. We see it constantly throughout the show, where she questions whether something is supposed to be funny, or “hot”, or creepy, and it becomes retroactively clear that her “special, angry place” line is terminology she likely got from someone in her past.

Leverage effortlessly portrayed Parker’s growth as stemming from her exposure to the other members of the team. Sophie is probably her most formal teacher of socialization, since Parker asks her directly about what to do in certain situations. She learns human connection more naturally from Hardison, who also helps by reassuring her that she is not broken, not crazy, and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with her. Parker recognizes an innate goodness in Hardison and tries to mimic it while Sophie gives more specific direction. From Eliot, Parker learns that the things that make her different aren’t necessarily bad and can in fact benefit the rest of the team. And the way Nate affects Parker might be the most interesting, since it’s clear from the start that Parker observes Nate’s methodology and approach to jobs — they collaborate on plans, he tests her, and his influence takes her from the loner she was before meeting the team to the leader of the team when Nate and Sophie retire.

The team members other than Parker are fairly set throughout the original series run. There are moments of growth and learning (Sophie and her sense of identity, Nate and everything going on in his head, Hardison and his strengths/weaknesses and generally growing up, Eliot and wrestling with his past) but they are primarily the same core people from beginning to end. 

No one experiences as dramatic a shift as Parker, who goes from being so removed from humanity that she doesn’t understand why anyone would be upset by death/dying, to wanting to understand that concept and throw herself into it, to embracing empathy and understanding around grief especially and kind of becoming a secondary emotional core (Hardison is, of course, the primary emotional core of the group). That's amazing growth, portrayed subtly but consistently over the course of the original series while the writers "show their work" the entire way.

And the best thing is, she never loses her quirkiness. She never becomes less weird or less Parker, she just evolves into a greater version of Parker. That’s the key to excellent character development: leaving room for growth and evolution but sustaining the character in the same way actual people might change and grow but remain, ultimately, themselves. Leverage manages that beautifully and it’s a remarkable, remarkable thing.

[teecupangel]

can you IMAGINE a Burn Notice/Leverage type show where Desmond decides to leave the Brotherhood after the solar event (having miraculously survived) and now he's on the run from both Abstergo and his dad (just like old times)

but of course he can't just run and only look out for himself, not with three mentors in his head telling him to fight from the shadows (so not completely like old times)

so it's a problem of the week show where every episode there's a new glowing golden person who has something Desmond needs who also *just so happens* to have a problem that needs solving

it's bloodier than Leverage or Burn Notice though because while Leverage never kills anyone and Burn Notice only kills the problem to death like 10% of the time

Desmond solves a surprising number of problems with stabbing

even ones that you would initially assume could not possibly be solved by stabbing

(when you're an Assassin, every problem starts to look stabbable)

And the Bleeding Effect makes Desmond a one-man con team.

Need someone to act like a rich dude? Use Haytham's bleed for a posh British old money ("I think he's a distant royal family member!") elitist or Altaïr's bleed for an arrogant oil tycoon ("He might have connections to the president, are you sure you want to get in his bad side???"). Planning to style a piece of art? Ezio's bleed makes him become an awesome art critic or a great tour guide.

Have to pretend to be smart? Take your pick. Connor has deep knowledge of the flora and fauna of the United States. Altaïr has a more general vast knowledge of the classics, especially of philosophy. Haytham most definitely has an insight into the historical and political situations of every major event the Templar had a hand before and during his time. Other than the arts, Ezio's noble background meant he would have a more religious background so theology is his jam and he can say prayers in Latin. (And the image of Desmond pretending to be a priest then charming his way into where he actually wants to go is so blasphemous I find it funny)

In terms of Leverage, Desmond is pretty much Nate, Sophie, Eliot and Parker all in one. What about Hardison? Well, what use are all these fancy expensive gadgets and security when Desmond has the Eagle Vision? Sure, he can't hack to make cameras go on a loop but he knows the exact blind spots of the cameras. He doesn't know what the red wire does but it glows gold so he just pulls it out and, voila, lasers go offline. When everything else fails, create a blackout and use the darkness to hide.

Letting Desmond loose in 21st century without any support other than his Bleed as a 'third party' against both Abstergo and the Assassins and doing shady things for other people means he's gonna be a more chill version of Agent 47. Lots of pretending to be other people and, as long as he finally covers his scar with concealer and lots of makeup, he'll just be a generic white dude. Just knock out someone with the uniform he needs and he's good to go.

It doesn't even have to be a stabbing. There are a lot of things that can become poison if applied correctly.

AND if we include Edward in his Bleeds (which we can since AC Valhalla did say that he had a dream of being Edward in one of the audio logs), Desmond would have a more in-depth sailing knowledge together with Connor's knowledge which he could probably use to figure out how to sail a boat or a yacht if he needs to and... Darts. Which includes the OP dart: Berserk darts.

But he's not a 'gun' for hire. No, no.

Everyone in the 'underworld' knows of him.

And if anyone asks about him... All they would hear would be...

"You don't find him. He finds you. And when he does, that means he wants something from you and, in exchange for what he wants, you can ask for anything. It will never be money. What he will always ask will be something important to you. Only if you're willing to part with it will he grant your wish."

"That's why we call him the Djinn."

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

It’s the way that Nathan Ford is BY FAR the least interesting character of the original Leverage five, and yet he’s the one who gets SO much backstory and context to himself. I’m literally watching the season 4 finale and I just don’t care that his father was murdered because Nate’s being incredibly annoying. Trying to be empathetic about a character grieving doesn’t even work for me here because his entire team is trying to make sure he doesn’t MURDER the man/men responsible for his father’s death and he’s not letting them in at all. It’s part of the reason I dislike his character so much. There’s hardly ever moments when he is genuinely vulnerable, not even with Sophie, who he is supposed to be in love with (yeah yeah, I know, they’re “friends with benefits” right now, but that’s not fooling anyone with eyes even without the knowledge that they end up together at the end). Nate is this mastermind of a character and it’s cool and intriguing for all of half of season before you’re scratching your head like, where’s the care for his team? He was kind to Hardison in the evaluation form and he didn’t want to make Eliot kill again, for any reason, but it’s so hard to appreciate his humanity when he’s spent the past three(ish) seasons on the verge of drinking himself to death, verbally bashing Sophie, and only being about the work. Sophie having a notebook full of moments when Nate put her or her ideas down isn’t funny or a moment of character growth. Nate doesn’t fully understands how that’s so shitty of him, as team leader, but also as her sexual (romantic?) partner. Every moment of Sophie and Nate’s relationship has to be fought for BY SOPHIE, and at this point, I don’t even know why she even wants him. He may be acting as Robin Hood and helping people, but he’s barely even a person while he’s doing it. I’ve never liked Nate, but making my way through season 4 has definitely given me the hardest time with remembering his redeeming qualities. Every time he’s vaguely misogynistic or acts like an immature man child when it comes to processing his emotions without alcohol (which happens: never), I question why he’s the main character, why my screen isn’t filled up with Hardison being the sassiest mf of them all or OT3 moments or Sophie conning the hell out of men who are led by their dicks and not their minds. When I’m watching the Nate centric scenes/episodes, I’m never wishing for more, I’m wishing the rest of the team was in the spotlight instead

[leverage-ot3]

silly episode idea but hear me out

okay well the first part isn’t silly! so the episode is based around a con they are doing where a polyam triad wants to get married and have been writing to senators and stuff for years but nothing has happened. maybe there is a time element that leeway has to happen soon (not sure what that would be yet, maybe someone is sick???)

(obviously polycules aren’t only and are often more than just a closed three-person system, but I’m saying triad right now bc I feel like that would be an easier and more ‘socially acceptable’ gateway into more accepting legislation for diverse relationship dynamics)

the leverage crew, of course, can’t outright change the public perception of poly marriage, but they can use the ‘enemy’s’ tactics against them and slip stuff into legislation without people noticing like they do. it’s slimy and it’s not a permanent fix, but it’s a start, and it gives people the opportunity to see poly marriage in action and that it isn’t as terrifying or pearl-clutching-inducing as they think it would be. there’s a long way to go, but the seeds of change have been sown and they will make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible

this is one of the cases that they will monitor on the back burner over time. some cons can finish within a few hours (the bottle job), and some things they will follow over time and make adjustments when needed- amplify voices and expose corrupt politicians etc

and then it’s just after 3/4 of the way through but the con has been finished? what is going on? this is where the silliness comes in

the camera turns to the ot3 and…

hardison, pulling out three individualized rings: I know it’s not legal yet, and we have the necklaces, but I think rings would be a nice touch

eliot, pulling out an intricately carved box that also has three self-handcrafted rings: dammit hardison (with feeling and tenderness, and damp eyes)

parker, pulling out three very stolen rings from her pocket: does this mean we’re getting triple married if we all have three rings???

harry pops into the conversation (practically vibrating) excitedly just casually mentioning that he’s a notary and would be honored to marry them to each other if they wanted to

(they do)

wait, did I say silly? I meant unwaveringly tender and heartwarming

[independent-fics]

The Leverage OT3 in Every Episode

Leverage: 01x06 The Miracle Job

[aardvaark]

heyy was wondering about your leverage takes, do you have any favourite endlessly rewatcheable episodes?

this is ben from @transsophiedevereaux fame btw

hi!! and ooh good question, i do have some particularly rewatchable faves! it depends what im wanting to watch/think/feel at any given point, though.

if i want a funny episode, i go for the wedding job, the juror #6 job, the mile high job, the gone fishin’ job, the boys night out job & the hot potato job. i think wedding is the most comedy-heavy of season 1 at least & i love how the wedding con makes them all do the weirdest stuff. like, sophie is so wrapped up in her own emotions about romance & relationships that she tells the bride to be to "never put your faith in a man", has the most awkward convo with nate where she thinks he’s asking "where are we at" in their relationship rather than the CRIME AT HAND, and then her line of "is this about fear of the russian mob, or fear of intimacy?" is just. absolute gold. one of my fave ever sophie lines. and everyone’s reactions are priceless.

for The Feels TM, i watch the grave danger job, the san lorenzo job, the inside job & the long way down job. but especially long way down. "i want to do the right thing!" "it makes us, us" um someone is cutting onions nearby im not crying im notttt!!

for the action - so my favourite cons/heists - i watch the order 23 job or the first & second david jobs. i also love the eliot moments in order 23 & the sophie moments in first & second david.

while i love all the characters, and i think they’re all very well-made and im Rotating Them In My Mind all the time lol, parker is def my favourite. so episodes that feature her prominently or have lots of her character development are often my faves - especially the juror #6 job, the stork job, the future job & the long way down job.

i have to fly often and i really, really hate flying. ironically i watch the mile high job on planes and its somehow calming despite it being about a plane very nearly crashing lol. so i rewatch that pretty often. i love (world’s worst) flight attendant!parker & bickering married couple nate x sophie. but mainly - hardison in that ep?? fully being his genius self and tons of classic hardison comedy beats. love it.

wow i have given the most ridiculously long answer to this oops lol. thanks so much for asking :) <3 !!

[seriouslycromulent]

I noticed a few people sharing excerpts from this new interview from Christian that came out on July 6th on TVInsider.com, but most fans aren't sharing the part I found most interesting. So I thought I'd share the part I thought deserved more attention. Note: the bold purple sections are my emphasis, not the article's.

----

Speaking of his father, talk about finally getting to explore that relationship with his dad. Because you and Keith David were so good together.

Well, it’s really funny because we had come up with this idea literally in the first season. We always thought it would be funny if Eliot was adopted because Dean loves — we’re all broken toys, you know what I mean? And I think why you rooted for it so hard right off the bat is because we’re all broken toys and we’re looking to get fixed. And so we were always thinking that Eliot was adopted, his mom had probably passed. But we thought it’d be really great if we had a Black actor come in and play this role. We thought Hardison’s [Aldis Hodge] eyes would just bug out if he ever saw that, you know what I mean? And the years went by and the years went by and we kept it. I kept it as a backstory and I’d always bring it up.

I was talking about maybe Mr. T, something like that, which would’ve been fun. But I saw Keith David at an award show, and I walked up to him, I said, “Do you have a second?” And he goes, “You!” And I was like, “What?” And I just gave him a hug and I didn’t even realize what was going on. We just both ended up hugging each other. And I said, “I just want to tell you what a huge fan I am.” He goes, “Dude, I’m a huge fan.” Turns out he is a huge Leverage fan. And I couldn’t say much about it at the time, but I said, “Dude, I have something for you. I cannot tell you what it is, but if I call you, would you be interested?” He said, “Call me.”

So me and Dean hashed it out. We talked about it. The storyline was absolutely perfect. Dean wrote it. It was great. Dean directed it. And I made the call, and listen, is he worth more money than we paid him? 100 percent. But he came in and he did me a favor, and I couldn’t thank him enough the whole time. I said, “I’ve been working on this backstory in my head for over 10 years, man, way over 10 years. And you came in and just put everything together for me, man. And it was just perfect.”

It was so much fun because a lot of that emotional stuff, my dad had recently passed, and I wasn’t going to get that emotional when I saw him, but he got emotional, and everybody thought that it was because of my dad. It really honestly wasn’t. It was because I was acting with him and he was giving me what I needed, and I really wanted to show Eliot in such a different light that we had never seen him. It was important to me, and it was strange. I was literally embarrassed on set because of the emotions that we had, which was right on the money of what I wanted to do.

And it made for such a great episode.

Yeah. I mean, if it’s Christian Kane, I’m giving Keith David a hug, I’ll probably tear up a little bit right now. I don’t care about that crap. But as playing a character, as Eliot, when I turned around to them, I was literally embarrassed. And I just thought, if I’m embarrassed right now, that means I did it right.

----

This is easily the most fascinating section of the interview in my opinion, and I'm so glad that he shared it. I saw his post on Instagram talking about this a little while back in December 2022, but it was nice to see a longer version with more details about how that episode and concept came together.

I didn't know Chris' dad had passed away, and even though he said that wasn't why he started crying in that scene, it makes that moment seem even more powerful to me as a fan of the show, the character and the actor.

[comicaurora]

I've recently finished Leverage and Leverage redemption and am in the process of casually rewatching it. (Thanks for introducing me to FMAB and ATLA too btw) I just want to ask you a few questions about it, like: What are your favorite things about each character? What are your favorite things about each relationship. What are your favorite things about the group? How do you feel about the sequel? How do feel about the romance in the show? What are your favorite running jokes? Thank you

hoohoohoo, it's like an essay prompt but about something I actually like

What are your favorite things about each character?

Nate: to be honest, kind of a hard sell - definitely the protagonist I like the least, intentionally so. That said, when they're dealing with a really hateful bad guy it's always fun to see Nate turn all his asshole powers against them and get really smug about it

Sophie: extremely insightful! fun to see it weaponized, extra fun to see her very gently use it to try and help the rest of the team live their best lives, especially Parker

Parker: oh how easily Parker could have been an Obliviously Sexy Unhinged Harley Quinn type, and instead we got the first thoughtfully written explicitly neurodivergent female character I've ever seen. Never infantilized despite it being a frequent plot point that the others help her through her difficulty in social settings and with processing loss. Full-fledged character in her own right, grows and becomes more comfortable without ever having her neurodivergence "fixed". she's a great character and I find her writing refreshingly free of red flags or "oof" moments. love that she's good with kids and teaches them Crime in the first ten minutes of hanging out

Hardison: literally the only normal person in this group and I say this as a compliment. everyone else is at least kind of a james-bond-style superspy with borderline preternatural abilities but hardison is the only character I trust to order a coffee without making a scene. unconditionally the emotional heart of the group and the only character able to openly admit that he likes the other characters, which is vital in a group of Edgy Loner Crime-Boys.

Eliot: joke answer, the hair. real answer, I love any character who turns themself into a weapon and stoically accepts that they'll never be anything else again. "Incredibly simple, but in the same way that a sword is simple." Adds a beautiful substrate of angst to all of his funny or lighthearted moments, as underlying it is a character who concluded long ago that he's irredeemable, and because he thus considers himself entirely disposable and even irrelevant is now determined to spend the rest of his life making the world a better place. Also, one of the only Edgy Badass Lancer types who is incredibly overt about how much he likes and cares about his teammates and never even jokes about "bah I'm better off on my own I was just passing through etc etc."

Harry: just an absolute wet noodle of a man. Love that he's taken Hardison's role of "only normal human being"

Breanna: absolutely love how bad she is at the social grifting side of things, because that is 100% accurate to every tech person I know

What are your favorite things about each relationship?

There's a lot of relationships and I'm not about to highlight all 10 OG pairings plus the 9 new pairings added by Harry and Breanna, so instead I'll just highlight my absolute favorite underrated one, which is Parker and Eliot. They have this odd synergy where they're both by far the most physically dangerous people in the group and also the most scarred by a country mile, and they have this kind of unspoken camraderie about it that only gets overtly highlighted in Season 4 Episode 1, "The Long Way Down Job." Everyone else in the group is a person, they seem to think; people they want to protect. But the two of them are tools and weapons, and that means they can do the things that people can't. Also within this synergy there's a good foiling dynamic where Eliot has basically seen it all and come to terms with everything under the sun, while Parker is comparatively extremely hyperfocused and rather sheltered and is constantly grappling with new situations. Underrated dynamic.

What are your favorite things about the group?

They just hang out sometimes! It feels like they keep existing when the camera's off them. Valuable screentime is spent on them just chilling and chatting, getting dinner together and bringing up more wacky offscreen hijinks. A story that's relentlessly All Action And Disrupted Status Quo All The Time starts tuning you out after a while, but it's the slow, peaceful moments that make us invested in their success and in them being able to help the innocent-victims-of-the-week.

How do you feel about the sequel?

Loved the first season, tentatively optimistic about the rest of it - I've been burned before so I'm taking it slow.

How do you feel about the romance in the show?

Parker and Hardison's thing is cute and compelling! Big fan of how it doesn't override the other dynamics and isn't treated as intrinsically more important than the rest of the gang's relationships. Nate and Sophie's thing feels a little more plot-mandated and tbh Nate is kind of an unlikable fuckhead so I'm not sure why Sophie was so hung up, but it wasn't too disruptive and it was always very funny seeing them play a dysfunctional couple on a grift

What are your favorite running jokes?

"Dammit Hardison." Parker pushing people off of things. Someone asking Eliot if he knows about some niche thing or random bad guy and then it flashes back to him getting waterboarded in Area 51 or whatever and it cuts back to him mildly going "yea". Wil Wheaton is in this show and everybody hates him. "It's a very distinctive [thing]." Harry, walking befuddled sunshine man, being like "yes I know all the inner workings of this specific niche evil lawyer thing, I was a bad guy remember?" to this group of expert crime boys and somehow surprising them every time

[catscraftsandcommentary]

@everything-but-the-not-natural hey, you want to play "how accurately can I predict Leverage?" (I've still only seen through "The Two Horse Job." So halfway through season 1.)

List of characters because I am SHIT at names:

- Nathan Ford, former insurance investigator and current hiest planner, son died after being denied insurance coverage for an experimental treatment

- Sophie Devereaux, professional chameleon (but only during crime/high stakes situations), clearly wants to get with Nathan

- Eliot Spencer, close combat expert (but dislikes guns), excellent cook, and (former?) horse girl

- Alec Hardison, tech expert and hacker

- Parker, thief, gymnast, and INSANE

- Jim Sterling, former rival to Nathan and current insurance investigator

So! Predictions:

- Eliot used to be military, probably Marines or other special forces. He presumably excelled at regular military fighting and got fast-tracked to black ops. (He may have gotten pulled into being a contractor after his official term of service ended.) I'm betting SOMETHING traumatic happened to cause his dislike of guns - if I had to guess, I'd say that he was ordered to kill (via sniper shot) someone who was using a human shield (most likely kids or someone Eliot cared about). Bonus points if the sniper target turned out to be not a villain, which Eliot could have figured out if he'd been closer to the action.

- He probably turned to crime to escape being chased by the military, to support himself, and possibly to find someone to protect him from all the enemies he made while serving whichever military/spooky government force he used to work for. He ABSOLUTELY feels guilty about all the harm he did in his Tragic Past (not everyone he fought/killed was evil, but I doubt he knew that then), but he won't let on about this until much later, after he's started to trust everyone. (Parker will just offer to blow his enemies up. Alec will want to hack them.)

- Eliot will 100% end up cooking for the team at some point. Probably frequently. There will probably be a funny scene where he throws out all of Parker's and Alec's shitty junk food and then aggressively cooks them something from scratch. With a shit-ton of vegetables minced into a sauce, because HOW ARE YOU TWO NOT DEAD ALREADY?!?!?

- Parker strikes me as a foster kid. Foster or group home after she fucking BURNED DOWN HER PARENTS' HOUSE, WTF PARKER. And of course, being in a place with OTHER troubled kids just taught her all sorts of tricks (on top of the ones she'd figured out by herself). At some point, she learned to use money as a way of keeping score of her success in life - possibly someone bullied her *specifically* because they had money and she didn't? In any case, her moral compass is "I do what I want, whatever's most fun in the moment, WHEE!" With her skills, this is TERRIFYING.

- She will ABSOLUTELY steal shit to try to make her teammates happy - things they mention they like or are nostalgic about. Eventually she'll learn to care about people and show affection WITHOUT first resorting to crime. (...but it will take a WHILE.)

- Alec is harder for me to pin down, partly because none of the episodes have focused on his backstory yet and partly because I can't identify with him as much. But SOMETHING drove him to not only *use* computers, but EXCEL at them. I'd guess he was a nerdy kid who liked computers, and then learned that coding/hacking was a way to escape an unpleasant real life. The more he learned about coding and hacking, the more he realized that he could change his real life by doing that...and thus his start in crime.

- He also learned to play a role pretty well (when he was an office worker for a job, and the flashback where he pretended to be a black celebrity). He's probably got a history of people expecting certain things from him (due to racial or economic status) and learning to either play to those expectations (and thus escape notice) or loudly call out how inaccurate those are to embarrass people into backing down (as he did when someone noticed he'd changed costumes in an elevator). This chameleon ability will continue to be useful.

- At some point, he'll probably pick up some more physical skills from Eliot and Parker, since right now he either works behind the scenes or as a distraction.

- Sophie can do flawless performances of any character, but ONLY IN HIGH PRESSURE SITUATIONS. She learned that *somewhere*, and I'm betting that when we find out where/when, it won't be pretty. I'd bet she was neglected or abused somehow, and playing different roles was the only way she could get what she needed to survive. (And if she was caught being a fake, she was punished somehow, so she learned that she had to be FLAWLESS.) But because she's used to using this skill in high stakes situations, she can't call it up the same way when the stakes are low - like an audition or a theatrical performance.

- We'll get to see more of her true (probably adorably awkward) personality - who she is when she isn't playing some flawlessly elegant beauty. When she's comfortable enough to relax like that around the team, THAT'S when Nathan will start to pick up that "oh shit, she likes me, this could be something REAL."

- Nathan used to be an insurance investigator for high value claims, but unlike his rival Jim Sterling, Nathan usually tried to FIX the situation instead of just screwing people over to save the company money. (For example, recovering stolen items instead of just saying "this was a conspiracy by the owner.") He thinks insurance companies should HELP people, and felt personally betrayed when his company refused to cover his son's medical care (I think someone mentioned that it involved an experimental treatment). He felt that the company should have covered his son's care - possibly that whatever loophole they used to deny care didn't apply, or just that "I've been such a good worker for so long, you should make an exception for me."

- Obviously that didn't happen, and the company was probably blunt to the point of nasty about it, which prompted him to quit. You've mentioned he has an ex-wife, so that may have been the last straw for her re their relationship. (First their son's illness, then the denied care/coverage, then using all their money to pay for their son's care, followed by their son's death.) When Nathan quit his - presumably well-paid - insurance job in disgust/grief, she saw it as throwing away their only chance to get out of the debt they'd taken on. Cue a huge fight, followed by a nasty and bitter divorce. So he lost EVERYTHING all at once - his faith in his job, his son, his marriage, his financial security...no wonder he turned to alcohol to cope.

- The functional alcoholism WILL be a recurring theme. It's probably his biggest character flaw at the moment, which makes it an easy way for the writers to trip him up or have the team criticize him. When he starts to cut back on the alcohol, that will be a major turning point. (But he'll almost certainly relapse at a plot-critical point.)

- Jim Sterling implied that Nathan had a more prestigious position than he did at the Sleezy Insurance Company (even if they were doing similar jobs). I'm guessing there was some sort of internal competition, probably tied to how much money they saved Sleezy Co or to how many claims they could justify denying, and that Nathan always beat Jim. (Bonus points if the winner of the company's competition got some sort of prize - a large annual bonus, a raise, a better office, etc. Which obviously Jim wanted and Nathan took for granted.) Jim is petty and bitter as hell about this, so he's going to happily screw Nathan and team over WHENEVER POSSIBLE.