#eliot doesn't really get frustrated with parker

[brionysea]

Hardison, trying to manage this massive life change and balance Parker's odd, unashamedly offered opinions on the new HQ (lasers, because Parker likes lasers? hell yeah! trying to name Eliot's brewpub? babe, we talked about this, remember? it's for him, we need to not scare him off...) with Eliot's 1. reluctance to let himself have nice things and 2. inability to let Hardison - or god forbid, Parker - run this place: I know! Suggestion box!

[aardvaark]

i also love that even after years of knowing her, eliot still really doesn't have a great idea of how parker works. as in what slightly superhuman things she can do, like being able to fall a bunch of floors without getting hurt or crawling through steam vents. he's still surprised by her even if he can then be like "yeah that checks out, its parker". which im sure would frustrate him because his job is keeping the team physically safe and he doesn't know how her weird immunity to injuries works!! cause i mean she CAN get injured (see: the broken wing job), its just incredibly rare and takes extreme circumstances (allegedly a 45-floor drop to tear her ACL and leave no other damage). it’d be so hard to figure out when he needs to help her or what might actually hurt her. in the big bang & san lorenzo jobs, he's adding "can withstand 150+ degrees of heat" and "doesn’t seem to feel humidity" and "echolocation??" to some little list of her abilities im sure

[faorism]

nsfw but like, parker beckoning eliot over to where she's sitting. her legs move to invite him between her knees. she touches his hips lightly and asks if he has time right now for her to fuck him. he nods yes, please, of course.

she guides him onto his knees and tells him to blow her.

he kisses her thighs over her tights, rubs his cheeks into them. nibbles on the sliver of skin exposed between waistband and shirt. he licks over her crotch and finds she doesn't have a dildo hidden there. clit sucking it is, he figures.

they work together to pull off her tights. eliot kisses where he had before. thighs to the crease of leg and pelvis and then to the top of her mons. he brings his hand up to a long-practiced position, with thumb and index spreading her lips. she stops him.

not like that, she grumbles. she rejects his next two attempts.

show me what you need, darlin', he asks before he can get frustrated, because there’s a cautious vulnerability in parkers expression that makes eliot really not want to mess this up.

her clever fingers hesitate for a moment. like you do for hardison. now her thumb and index curve to form a circle which she holds over her slit. with her left hand she grabs his hair and leads his so his mouth hovers three inches above her fingers. lick it.

eliot licks at the air, making parker moan like he touched her. he tries again for a similar result.

take my cock, eliot.

and he does. he suckles on the head and he licks up the vein and he teases her silly. he takes over holding her, fist securely fitted over the girth eliot thinks parker would take up: not too thick or long, and absolutely burning hot to the touch. she moans high and pitched the first time he swallows her down to the hilt, and she doesn't stop as he fucks her cock into his throat. his spit drools in rivers over her as he can't get any real suction to swallow any of it, but as his drool and her slick pool between her thighs she doesn't seem to mind.

she struggles to finish. whining and growing desperate in a way eliot knows she would feel uncomfortable with. so he hitches her legs over his shoulders and drags her back, ass hanging off the seat. he wets a finger on the come-spit on her skin and brings it down her seam to her ass. he rubs her hole and before he can pull away to ask for permission, parker orders him to go ahead and fuck her.

he squeezes into her and crooks his finger just so, like he would for hardison or himself. where she anticipates her prostate to be is a little off, but it works. she shudders and thrashes her orgasm, the scent of her overwhelming eliot in a burst of heady musk.

she takes good care of him, still shaking but moving them around to give him her calf to hump to find his own release. she pets his hair all the while, praising him for his obedience like the good boy he is.

[wewringmagicfromtheordinary]

#what beth does with parker's face is kinda amazing here.#it's like she knew each second would be it's own gif and she gives each one a different feel.#she goes from surprised to calculating to oh-fuck-off-with-your-self-sacrificing-bullshit in 3 seconds flat via wouldicatchyoudreaming

#i love the last three gifs where parker is clearly letting hardison do the talking#but she's thinking 'yeah okay and if that doesn't work i'm gonna beat up eliot'#because that is her Violence face#and if we know anything from the commentaries it's that parker and eliot are similar in their capacity to compartmentalize and be vicious#it's a version of herself she doesn't show in public or even in front of the crew - but she does show it in front of eliot sometimes#because he Gets It and is very like-minded about Necessary Tasks#and right now she had decided that keeping the three of them together is a Necessary Task and is willing to be vicious about it#she's hoping hardison's joking and cajoling will be enough but. if it's not. she's prepared. because they're a TEAM#and she's KEEPING THEM TOGETHER by any means necessary#even if hardison has to see that side of her#even if it's gonna be The Parker versus The Eliot until he gives in and it can be parker & eliot & hardsion again#you can see her analyzing. calculating. preparing. she's going to fight to keep eliot even if he's the one she needs to fight#and maybe (obviously) not in a literal physical altercation (she might tase him actually) but she can cut him down with words easily#use his morality against him. use his humanity against him. she's a mastermind and a thief and she knows all about leverage#she's not a good person but she's trying to do good things so she will do this one bad thing so they can be together#and being together is not only a good thing - it is the right thing#so she lets hardison make his play but parker? parker is creating contingency plans#(spoiler alert: eliot stays) via all-things-breathing

#parker’s face#idk how to analyze that but theres something there#theres nothing—no words. no actions—that will make her leave one of her boys behind via agent-mcsweetheart

#hardison be like: eliot doesn't respond well to earnest proclaimations of love gonna harrass him into it like I did with the brewpub via innytoes

#this scene#it gets me every time#they have all chosen their places#and it is right next to each other#and it stays next to each other#even when it's not physically#it is the 3 of them as a unit#solid and good and whole via kekela717

#i have had this gifset in my likes for ages bc i just really like to watch Parker and Hardison's face#like they both look at first slightly surprised and then Hardison immediately drops into joking banter to deflect Eliot's concern into#their usual dynamic of teasing each other and making it a matter of skill rather than sentiment. its an attempt to defuse the situation#and also tell eliot they're not going anywhere in the language they always use to communicate#and also a way to give Parker a chance to process and decide on her own reaction#bc you can literally see her doing that while Hardison talks.  she looks surprised and a little confused#and then you can see her like. Narrow In on what Eliot is trying to do and analyze what he said and why he said it#and she gets a little...... frustrated? intense? and then immediately after this she comes in with the killer line#the one that gets to the heart of it and ends the argument definitively because she had that moment to think it through and analyze#and look at all the fiddly bits and put them together#uhhhh anyways! power couple! power throuple! i love them! via andsotheuniverseended

We agreed we all change. Better or worse, we change together.

[s-wordsmith]

The Snow Job is the only time Eliot ever gets genuinely physically aggressive with any of the team. Eliot Spencer is angry and hostile, he bursts out of his seat and stalks up to Nate while making threatening comments in a dead serious tone . . . and Sophie steps between them. Eliot Spencer is aggressively threatening someone and Sophie doesn't hesitate to step in front of him and stop him, not with any vain attempt at physical force, not by placating him or manipulating him in any way, she just stands there completely casual and asks.

The body language in this scene is incredible. It changes between camera angles from Sophie's right hand hanging loosely at her side to gesturing out at the side; the left hand can only be seen in the angle behind her and is also gesturing out to her side. At no point does either hand truly come between them. She's gesturing freely and calmly. She doesn't pull her hands hands between them, like we do when we feel threatened. She doesn't put her hands up towards him like someone does when they're trying to assert control and make someone stop. She's uncomfortable, but in an awkward way; she shows no signs of being afraid of Eliot. By the end, she settles with her hands behind her back, her torso entirely exposed. She's vulnerable and still comfortable enough to turn her attention inwards briefly to think about how she wants to handle the situation and then turn her attention to the other two.

Elliot's body language is frustrated and genuinely angry. When Sophie steps in front of him, keeps going for a few seconds because he's that angry. He stops when he's close enough that he's on the edges of her personal space. He leans like he's gonna go around her, but he pauses to listen to her. He takes a couple of deep breaths. And he literally, visibly shakes himself out of it and changes course. He decides to trust Sophie to deal with it, even though the situation directly came from--as he says just prior to this--Nate violating his trust and letting his drinking get Eliot in trouble. He is clearly still angry, but he moves away.

Hardison, in the background, is sprawled really casually in a chair. Throughout the entire interaction. Until Sophie asks them to leave, only his head moves. He's a little surprised and vaguely concerned in that "someone's gonna say something they can't take back" kinda way, but he makes no move to get up or interfere at all.

Parker we can't see, though she's nearby and I suspect Sophie and Eliot were watching her (I want fic of her reactions now).

Nate is vaguely amused and entirely too casual.

The point of all this rambling, as much as there is a point, is that Eliot Spencer was angry and threatening and no one in that room responded as if there was any danger, even to the point of Sophie stepping between them with all her vulnerable squishy bits casually exposed, five episodes into the show. Because they trust him. Three thieves and Nate all absolutely invested in their own interests above most everything else trust one of the most dangerous people on the planet within like a month of meeting him. And he trusts them, or at least Sophie (which is why it bothers him so particularly when Sophie betrays them at the end of the season).

[onyxbird]

These are my thoughts about fan content clarifying what fandom values about a work that I mentioned in a response to @trivalentlinks.

The optimistic side of this post is that I think there is value in fan content forming a record for whoever chooses to look (even if that's only other fans), in the form of thousands of fanfics and fanart and fanposts, that these are the things fandom got out of a source work that made them love it. These are the versions of the characters that fans loved (or hated), whether or not that's quite what the writers/actors/etc. intended. These are the story beats that resonated so well that fans delve into them over and over and over, and these are the ones that flopped and get "fixed" again and again.

However a lot of the stuff below the cut is more pessimism and frustration about the crudeness of the "dialog," such as it is, between fandom and creators, using Leverage/Leverage Redemption as an example. I have no real answers, here.

Mostly, the thing is gets me is that 1) I know viewer numbers and ratings are what drive decision-making in TV/movie production and 2) on the viewer's end, the choice to watch or not watch a show/movie/whatever is such an incredibly crude, binary signal about something that so much factors into.

So taking Leverage as the example, since that's what touched this discussion off, imagine if Leverage Redemption just tanks next season. Lots of people who tuned in when season 1 launched stop watching. The obvious question that a lot of people are going to be asking is why. When Leverage originally aired, it was clearly popular enough to get 5 seasons and to eventually spawn a sequel series, and enough people started watching Redemption to get a second season greenlit, so the question would be what changed?

If you're looking solely at the show end to try to diagnose viewership/ratings trends, there are quite a few changes that could factor into reception, both obvious and subtle, and very limited "signal" from just numeric viewing/ratings data. Some of those changes are (all stuff I recall seeing discussed in fanposts in one form or another, BTW):

They became an Amazon production. They killed off Nate. They added Harry. They added Breanna. They made Sophie the Mastermind. They moved the setting to New Orleans. Hardison was away for most of the season. They gave Eliot a multi-episode love interest for the first time. They shifted the focus more towards the way the powerful can twist the system to their own ends to legally screw people over (linked to Harry's incorporation in the team). They had a more diverse pool of clients for the crew. They went little further over the realism line into the fantastical (e.g., literally talking guards to sleep). They seemed to explicitly refute the OT3 dynamic ("robot bodies" scene). They made a number of smaller, possibly unintended characterization changes to established characters (e.g., various stuff with Parker's portrayal). And, separate from Leverage Redemption itself, a local Portland news outlet put out an article (which doesn't appear to have been picked up by any wider news outlets) about alleged sexual harassment/assault on Electric Entertainment productions, including Leverage.

Lots of changes, both large and small. Some changes I think were excellent. Some were not. Some were non-ideal for the show, but obviously limited by circumstance (e.g., working around Aldis Hodge's availability). With (I hope) the exception of the abuse allegations, I suspect every change on my list has some fans who like it, some who hate it, and some who don't really care.

So… how would you figure out what accounted for a hypothetical drop in ratings/viewers?

In the absence of any direct feedback about what the fans are saying (or expressing through other fandom participation), there would be a lot of guesswork. The show is very centered around the crew, so I would guess the impact of cast changes would be a major objective change to look at. The original crew was well-liked in OG Leverage, so they'd probably assume no problems with returning cast. (Fans perceived some changes to how the OG crew were portrayed, but those are relatively subtle/subjective and likely not deliberate on the show's part.) Harry is a newcomer, but Noah Wyle was a core character in The Librarians, which also got 4 seasons, so I doubt him turning off fans would be the first guess. That leaves removing Tim Hutton (well-established actor, central to previous well-received series, resulted in major restructuring of crew once removed) and adding Aleyse Shannon (who seems to have fairly few previous roles) as major cast changes. (If the "Silence on the Set" article had gotten more press and really blown up, then that might make the list of possible reasons for turning people off, but I have only seen that discussed on Tumblr so far, and it appears to be only the one local article in a location they don't seem to be filming in anymore.)

Now, from what I've seen in the Tumblr fandom (both on my dash and in the main leverage tag), my impression is that people here largely think removing Nate was the right choice (either because of the allegations against Hutton or because Nate's arc had ended or both) and adore Breanna and her casting. But to know that, you have to look at what fans are saying and/or how they're engaging with the fandom rather than just looking at the fact that the new line-up isn't holding viewership. Otherwise, you might conclude, e.g., that getting rid of the (older, white, male) Mastermind and bringing in a young, queer, woman-of-color geek were a mistake for the show's popularity.

In terms of fanfic (the topic of the other post), I've seen people remark before about how little "fix-it fic" there is for Leverage. In terms of the changes in Leverage Redemption, I certainly haven't seen much, if any, fic that brings Nate back. I've seen plenty of fic that's enthusiastic about both Breanna and Harry. I have seen fic "fixing" the OT3 or having Parker do more masterminding or keeping Hardison in closer contact, suggesting that those are things that people genuinely did think were problems with the new setup.

Another obvious takeaway from the Leverage fanfic/fan content in general is that the Leverage fandom loves Eliot, but from the fic and posts I've read, my impression is that the Eliot the fandom loves is one who would never do the kind of shit Christian Kane is accused of. E.g., the fan content often delves more deeply into Eliot's bloody, ex-hitman past than the show ever has, while at the same time "Parker and/or Hardison have to practically sit Eliot down for a Powerpoint presentation to convince him they are romantically/sexually interested in him, too, because otherwise he will never make a move to avoid crossing their boundaries" is practically its own Leverage fic genre.

Now, are the creators/producers/etc. going to come to Tumblr and AO3 to figure out why their show is or is not doing well? Likely not, especially not AO3. (In this specific case, perhaps more likely than for other shows, since I think at least one of the creators has explicitly mentioned writing fanfic themselves.) But I do think there is value in the fandom talking about what they do like, what was done well, in addition to the things that make them walk away from watching further, even if the only people listening are other fans.

Leverage/Leverage Redemption isn't the only place where I have this frustration, BTW. I had a lot of fun with the MCU, before Infinity War/Endgame killed a lot of my enjoyment. And then, of course, they start rolling out a lot stuff following more diverse heroes, etc., whether that's highlighting already-established side characters (Sam Wilson, Black Widow), stuff that I'd never heard of before (e.g., Moon Knight; Shang Chi), and stuff that I had heard of and wanted to do well (e.g., Ms. Marvel, one of my cousin's favorite comics). And I just want to shake the people in charge and say "Why didn't you feature these characters before you soured me on the franchise as a whole? I didn't stop wanting to watch because you shifted away from white male superheroes. Now, if ratings go down, you're probably going to say people just don't want to watch [POC/Muslim/mentally ill/etc.] main characters, and that's not it at all."

I'm not really arguing that the fandom version of the show is actually going to get back to the creators/people deciding show funding/etc. and influence their decision-making or have a tangible impact on the way mainstream media operates, outside of (perhaps) explicit reviews of the work. I'm not arguing that people should continue to make fanworks for this reason, or should continue supporting shows just to avoid creators drawing the wrong conclusions. I'm just saying I find it comforting that there is a record out there, in all the fan content, of what it was about these works that spoke to people. And of what, in the show universe, put them off enough to warrant discussion or fix-its. I just think it matters.

[vickyvicarious]

"People are/I am..."

I think these similes/metaphors are quite interesting and even pretty telling about the characters who are saying them. The usage of something so important and personal to the characters who are saying them... Not to mention the placement of these statements throughout the first three seasons of the show is really interesting to me.

I broke them all down individually below the cut, discussing how they apply to:

season-long themes

the core meaning of each quote, and how it relates to the people involved in that conversation

what they reveal about the character/profession of the person saying them

the significance of knife, lock, and pretzels to Eliot, Parker, and Hardison respectively

We start off very early in season one, with Eliot's quote in 1.03. Full version below:

Eliot: "What, you think the only thing I know how to do is bust heads?"

Nate: "No. Well, yeah."

Eliot: "Look, hold a knife like this, cuts through an onion. Hold a knife like this, cuts through, like, eight yakuza in four seconds. Screams, carnage. People are like knives. Everything's in context."

The team has only just decided to stay together at this point. They don't really know each other all that well. Hence this conversation being between Nate and Eliot - Nate's whole thing is that he's supposed to know how to make the best use of everyone's skills, but here we see that there is actually a lot he doesn't know about them. The first season is in a lot of ways about building that bond, getting to know one another and become, not only a team, but a little more than that.

Eliot's quote is all about hurting vs. providing. It's a dichotomy that is very important to him personally, as we see developed more later on in the series. He doesn't like going too long without a fight, but food and feeding people is equally important to him; in fact, he pretty much explicitly says learning to cook saved him. The context in which he's delivering this speech (getting caught up in the catering role to the point that he's neglecting the job) shows how much he can't just pick one over the other, can't just neglect either part of himself. The intertwining gets even more explicit when he uses his appetizers to help him defeat the Butcher later on in this episode.

But more than that, this is an early hint at Eliot's hidden smarts. Not just his incredible situational awareness/recall ("it's a very distinctive...") but his ability to strategize. He cultivates a persona that people expect to be limited to 'busting heads', but he's actually very clever and quite good at manipulating people. A quote like 'everything's in context' shows how much he understands that situations can change and people can be complicated - and maybe hints at his ability to recognize and use the given context for a situation to his own advantage. There's a reason he's the second-best grifter after Sophie, and this power-negative way he plays it is a big part of that.

Finally, knives are a tool that hold deep personal meaning to Eliot. I have my own headcanon about how rarely we see him wearing a knife harness, but even without that, we know that they are a rare tool that is important in both parts of his life. Even after he stopped using guns, he still used knives for his retrieval work (as seen in the Rashomon Job), and he uses them now to help prepare food that is his way of showing love and caring for people he cares about.

.

Moving on to Parker's quote. This happens in the first episode of S2:

Parker: [picking a lock] "I think people are like locks. Really complicated and frustrating, but you can't force them. You have to take time and be fiddly."

Hardison: Fiddly?"

Parker: "You learn to be patient and just wait until you hear the..."

[lock clicks open]

Once again, this is early on in its season. This quote also relates to the season as a whole, as well as the individual conversation members. The context here is that Hardison just told her he looked for her the whole time they were separated between seasons. He phrases it as a statement, but there's a bit of a question in there about why she didn't let him find her, or really, why isn't she letting him in emotionally. In this season, the team already want to trust and rely on one another. They care about each other, they're invested... but they're still holding onto secrets or doubts. This is the season that Sophie leaves and the team has to be patient and wait for her; that Nate's issues start causing problems for them and he's being complicated and frustrating. Everyone is on their way, but it's going to take time until they all fully 'unlock' - even for their own understanding of themselves (especially seen in Sophie and Nate this season).

Parker's quote is all about opening up. About revealing what has been kept hidden, and especially in the context of picking locks, of getting to see what someone else wants to protect. Given Parker's series-long arc of learning how to allow herself to be vulnerable and explore her emotions openly even when it puts her at risk, it's clear just how closely tied this is to her in particular. Similarly, it sums up her and Hardison's relationship extremely well. They both know that he likes her, and here she's kind of saying that she isn't necessarily against it but she isn't ready now. Still, if he's patient and fiddly... well, the lock opened, after all, that's the end of her metaphor. It's something of a promise that eventually she'll let him find her, so to speak.

This quote also gives great insight into Parker's work, similar to Eliot. She is a person who is patient and fiddly. She takes her time to look at all the complicated elements of a situation, to piece out every frustration and set it aside. Then, with a clear head, she thinks through a plan to deal with the situation. I believe Nate calls her thinking three-dimensional, turning things around in a way he doesn't. We also see her thorough and organized approach in the Inside Job. Parker may take great joy in her work, but she's also very professional about it and usually quite prepared. Fiddly could also refer to how adaptive she is.

And finally - just like knives for Eliot, locks are something that Parker loves. She gets extremely excited about safes and breaking into things, and it's clearly not just about whatever money might be inside. Parker delights in lockpicking, so by choosing this as her metaphor she is also applying a deeply beloved concept to people.

.

Finally, Hardison's quote. This is a little different from the other two, but not by as much as you might think. It's from 3.05:

Parker: "So, the thing is. I think that maybe I might be having feelings. Like weird, weird, f-feelings... for... ...pretzels!"

Hardison: "Pretzels. ...Mkay. Well, they're right here when you want them."

Once again, this quote lines up well with the themes of the season. He's being supportive and understanding, he's not pressing her. Even though he clearly knows what she wants to say, she isn't ready to say it yet and so he lets her know that she can take her time and he'll still be here for her. In this season, we see a lot of the culmination of team members' journeys towards opening up. Sophie returns, the team conspire to get Nate back, we get insight into Parker, Eliot, and even Sophie's pasts. Those insights always come with some kind of old wound, but the rest of the team is there to support them and help them get through it together even if it takes them a while to open up. Even the season-long blackmail plot involves the team working to protect themselves together.

Hardison's quote is all about support and reliability. He demonstrates complete understanding, and he's very gentle and kind about it. He is open about his affection, but frames it in a way that is understandable and comfortable for Parker. Hence his quote being the first one that is a response to someone else - he's not volunteering his own metaphor here, he's listening to her hastily chosen one and adapting to it in the moment. This is incredibly relevant to his relationship with Parker, obviously - he spends four seasons patiently meeting her where she's comfortable. But most importantly, he opens up about his own feelings. He isn't hiding anything here, he's just not pressing the issue.

This quote isn't very relevant to Hardison's hacking, exactly. Perhaps in the way he sees what the situation needs and adapts himself to fit - he forges art and documents and outfits, he builds backstories and headquarters that turn into homes well-suited to the teams' individual needs, he learns how to hack without ever touching a computer by the Last Dam Job, he creates gadgets and equipment for the team, he in every way surpasses just 'hacking'. But again, hacking in itself is probably pretty adaptive, I assume, just in terms of code rather than people. Still, this quote is all about people. It is very revealing in his relationships with others most of all, in who he is as a person. He understands people. He knows how to relate to them, how to support them in a healthy way. He is the most reliable member of the team in an interpersonal sense, he is someone whose support you can always count on (even when Eliot lets him get drowned later this season, he doesn't take long to forgive him after getting insight into his history). He is a good person who goes out of his way to help other people - and he is always willing to be 'emotionally butt-nekkid'. Without pushing past other peoples' boundaries, Hardison is clearly honest about how much he cares. He simply tailors his displays of affection in ways that best fit each particular relationship (snarking with Eliot, supportive with Parker, etc.).

Pretzels aren't inherently meaningful to Hardison. Not before this scene. But I think it reflects really well on who he is as a person that he adapts to them so quickly... And I also think that pretzels specifically are a great match. Eliot is a knife, Parker is a lock. Hardison is pretzels - not dangerous, not secretive, but comforting. Food (which matters so much to Eliot), and even a type of food that can last pretty well until you've in the mood for it (patient like/for Parker).

[scleroticstatue]

S1E1 thoughts:

Nate pouring minibar whiskey into what is probably an already alcoholic drink. That is how you do characterization.

VICTOR DUBENICH YOU WALKING BALL OF SLIME. He looks so earnest. Sophie would be proud.

Nate saying "oh, I could give airplane designs a shot" in season 1 is so iconic in hindsight of the Big Bird Job of season 5.

The music is what I'm missing. Hardcore. That funky, ratatatapping feisty hiesty music.

"no, but Parker is insane." Parker's backstory of blowing up her foster parents' house so she can have her bunny back. Parker jumping off a roof squealing in joy. That is how you do characterization.

I really like the fact that the season kicks off with baiting Nate with IYS and the season ends with baiting Nate with IYS. Yes, he's growing, but he's still so caught up on getting his revenge.

Nate feeling so confident and cool with his tech setup and the swivel screen laptop and the projector and Hardison swinging in with a baseball bat "this equipment is total VH1, bruh." THAT IS HOW YOU DO CHARACTERIZATION.

(Also, I know they didn't have characterization entirely down just yet because it was a pilot, but I love the idea of Hardison thinking he needed to act tough with the bruh slang every third word to impress his one-night-team and then never doing it again.)

Ex-Insurance Investigator/Internet and Computer Fraud/Retrieval Specialist/Security Circum Infiltration and Alter Thief. Chef's kiss.

Parker's jump is actually on the original count instead of the reset count. Additionally, even though she knows what she's doing, she knows to use the binary instead of cutting, she still falls into line behind Nate so easily. I think that speaks to her origins where she actually didn't work alone. Like, I think we forget just how much (bad) experience Parker has working with others on the job.

I feel like Parker doesn't get enough techie stuff later in the show. She's clearly relatively good at spoofing the cameras and with the elevators and squelching. I love the show, but sometimes, I do get frustrated by the boxing of their abilities after the fact.

Eliot showing off to Hardison and his little sarcastic "that's what I do." He's such a perfect bastard.

The chaos of the original walkway with everyone going different directions. It's not a goodbye, it's just a "I'm out of here." Compare that to the ones later in the series, even the one at the end of the season, and it's so different, like closure. Excellent cinematography.

That frantic call from Dubenich to the calmly sipping coffee, it's setting it up so well.

Once again, I know they were still working out stuff like costuming, but I choose to think the reason Eliot dresses like that is because that's how he'd meet a client on his own if he didn't have Nate or Sophie to interview clients. Kinda professional, but frumpy and hiding how threatening he is. And also he's wearing lifts.

Hardison with a gun = nonthreatening, let him be stupid. Parker with a gun = terrifying, walk her off the ledge please.

In the warehouse when they're figuring out the trap, Parker leans forward like she's about to run but is waiting to make sure she's got it right, like she's waiting to see if everyone else jumped to the same conclusion.

Nate was still inside during that explosion. The fact he's not in critical.

I wonder how hard Eliot had to work to shut down his military background when it comes to working with others. How many times of going back for someone got him hurt or killed because his response in E1 is "no encores" and "every man for himself" but when Hardison trips, he picks him up, it's still instinct.

Nate: breathes. Eliot: you don't like hospitals. It's a very distinctive breath

We are not giving enough awareness to the fact that Hardison taking that cop car would've meant they had to get approval to take the cop car.

"I take that ~personally~" THAT IS HOW YOU DO CHARACTERI—

I think the original scam is called a Yor Running from the way Nate says it.

Nate looks so scrawny and unhealthy compared to later seasons. It's a good decision, even if it's not a conscious one.

THE SHARED LOOKS OF (💖🎉👄) HORROR at Sophie.

That three second delay before "I'm not," and the gentle "I wouldn't miss this." I DIDN'T SHIP THEM FROM THE BEGINNING BUT I SHOULD HAVE.

During the meeting at Hardison's, we all talk about Victor in Vietnam near the Chinese border, but we do not talk enough about Eliot kicking Parker and Hardison's feet to get them off the coffee table. I think that might be his first real moment of characterization outside of Professional

Surprisingly enough, Eliot doesn't really get a defining characterization moment, except being reasonably irritated with his other, less-disciplined coworkers, until significantly after everyone else has already had their personalities introduced and I think that says more about his characterization than a character than anything else. Like, I don't even feel we get a good character moment where it's his personality instead of his professionalism until The Wedding Job. It just says so much about who he is, and I think it's something more writers should do. Mysterious people can stay mysterious and that can be a defining characteristic.

But also Eliot and Sophie flirting with their mysterious backgrounds

Eliot's glasses make their first appearance

I love the minor detail of Nate's eyes being red in every scene except when he's on the job

That poor receptionist/assistant trying to get a date from the hunky IT guy and even playing along with the cosplay thing even though she's definitely not into it. She doesn't deserve this.

I'm just trying to figure out what airlines they're basing this on because all the villains are IRL villains.

Eliot really should've been the next grifter after Sophie because he's really good at picking up on what's going on with other people.

Nate is just going to break three car windows and then walk away like nobody noticed him. My suspension of disbelief is strained just a bit.

The comedic effect of Sophie screaming her way down the stairwell followed by being told she's glowing is a++

I love that Sophie goes from her first time using a winch at the start of the season to jumping with another person at the end of the season. I love it.

They didn't make enough of a fuss about Victor Dubenich wanting the meeting earlier. Why even write that. That's my only nitpick.

The twist of using real Nigerians. Amazing.

"Anyone else here involved in the bribe?" You just expect someone to come out and say it?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how hesitant they are to walk away from each other.

And the chaos of the overhead shot at the end! Amazing. 10/10. The comparison to end of the season and end of the series!!!

I know it's just a pilot pitch for picking up the series, but I am heartbroken that we didn't get the con from the mother and father with the dead 17-year-old daughter. At least a tie in.

I'm feeling kinda down so I'm going to rewatch Leverage episodes until I can think again.

[be-gay-do-heists]

for the sof h/c (it got away from me a little. hope ull feel better soon❣️)

i think that the first time eliot gets hurt and only parker is there she patches up the wounds he can't reach professionally and carefully (they don't talk abt where she learned to do stitches that well) & doesn't push him too much to use painkillers (which means that she'll poke all his bruises but if he still doesn't want painkillers after that she'll let him be) and then she tries to hug him bc she Knows it makes him feel better and he lets her without complaint, but eventually it gets too much and when she gets frustrated with herself for not being able to do more she calls hardison.

he shows up immediately (he may have already tracked where they were). he asks her 'what can i do mama?' and she just. pushes him on the couch and carries eliot to drop him in alec's lap, which eliot genuinely tries to protest! and then she crouches down to his level looks him in the eyes and whispers so that hardison cant hear them 'do you really not want to?'.

eliot stays silent. 'its okay', she whispers, 'hardison is nice and soft.' and eliot grumbles at a volume that hardison can hear but he also nuzzles his head into hardison's shoulder while he does it.

hardison quips about how he maybe should become the teams cuddler instead of their hacker while he leans back into the couch, one hand coming up around eliot's back slowly, in a way that eliot can see coming, and when eliot falls asleep parker and hardison don't talk abt how right it feels to have him between them, but they are both aware of it, and they will soon.

extremely extremely good oughghh…… really loving the image of parker dragging everyone and everything into place and being very satisfied with her problem solving. also that last paragraph hit me like a truck and i may or may not be crying

[party-gilmore]

I am a fool.

For i love a fake!date trope.

I love even More a fake!date + guilty jealousy trope.

But you see, i have been so busy thinking about Eliot+Hardison/Parker fake dating combinations, wherein one or more participants feel guilty for enjoying it a little too much and/or jealousy while watching the others and realizing it's not just jealousy of one, but BOTH of them, that i missed an absolute gold mine:

Eliot having to fake!date Nate for a con.

It's got it all:

Discomfort and second hand embarassment for literally every one of the involved parties.

Parker Not Liking It and getting increasingly more and more frustrated because she can't quite put her finger on WHY it feels so wrong. It should feel like any other con, right? So why does watching Nate and Eliot be all touchy make her skin feels so itchy, and she keeps cracking glasses?

Hardison Not Liking It and feeling super guilty because he knows EXACTLY why it feels so wrong, even though (or rather, especially because) he and Parker are dating now.

Nate Not Liking It because look he's good at compartmentalizing okay? He can certainly put his discomfort aside long enough to finish this job that went all squirrelly and left the mark with an impression about his and Eliot's characters that they did NOT intend, but actually works out in their favor for the sake of the con. But there are some contexts in which he doesn't even want to think about the younger members of his new family, let alone have to play act/do with the them. He's just. Uncomfortable all around. Willing, and able, but uncomfortable.

And Eliot... well. There's that same sort of discomfort from Nate being, well, Nate - a man he respects and has started to view as family, maybe not a father-figure exactly but at least a beloved but curmudgeonly uncle - but there's the added trauma layer of... of Nate being his employer. His boss. The leader of his team. A man Eliot pledged his service to and who wields him like a weapon, priming each of his targets in a web of precise control and manipulation while setting Eliot upon the rabble that would get in his way. Non-lethality aside, adding an intimate relationship (even just the insinuation of it, the leaning into his space, the hand drifting low on his back, the wry tone in Nate's low voice as he let's the implication of Eliot being His drift in the air between him and the mark, Eliot ducking his head and shifting his mannerisms into something more subservient, pliant, making of himself an offering - to the con, to The Job, to Nate-) to that dynamic hits startlingly close to what he had with Moreau, and although he keeps his game face on for the con he is struggling.

(this is ofc where the OT3 would come in, P/H putting their discomfort with the con aside once they notice Eliot is actually genuinely Not Okay with this, despite his reassurances to the contrary, and pretty much drop everything to ambush him in private with Guerilla Warfare Comfort Tactics)

Sophie (who, bear in mind, has no clue of the extend of Eliot's discomfort - not out of obliviousness, just that he is really good at hiding it. P/H only found out on accident because he let the mask slip a little too soon before rounding a corner in the hotel, and Hardison saw it on the security feed) is the only one actually enjoying herself. She is fucking delighted, fully enjoying watching the rest of the team - but ESPECIALLY Nate - squirm. For once she doesn't have to do the Pretend Intimacy, and views this as karmic retribution for all those times the crew called playing the girlfriend/wife/honeypot a "basic" move. Not so easy, is it, huh guys?

[tallteenturtle]

How do I do under the cut i have Leverage Redemption feelings, many spoilers...

I personally like the dynamic between Parker, Eliot, and Hardison that the reboot has further defined for us. Im a queer ace and I like non romantic but committed relationships. I am extremely attached to Joan and Sherlock from Elementary for this reason, and to Crowley and Aziraphale, because i see them as loving and deeply committed relationships but not romantic/sexual and thats personally important to me. In the case of Leverage tho im conflicted because I consider them an OT3, the OT3! And knowing the showrunners don't really see it that way is painful even tho I still like them as a semi platonic group. Basically as long as they are together in some capacity im happy, but I understand how other people don't feel that way and are going to see the season finale as a betrayal and tbh I feel that a little bit as well because I know people see non romantic feelings as less than romantic ones and I hate that the people controlling these characters I absolutely adore think the way Eliot feels about Parker and Hardison is anything less than what they feel about eachother.

And I know for a lot of fans this is going to hurt a lot, and cause a lot of drama, and I'm pissed at John Rogers, and frustrated that I can't just enjoy the show for what it is because of outside complications. Also feeling guilty? I dont know there's just a lot of feelings.

Other thoughts...I love Breanna, I love Sophie, and I really liked that they got time to shine in the second half of the season. The Jackal episode was gold.

I appreciated Noah Wyle so much more in this than I ever did in Librarians. Harry is a hilarious but complex character and I really enjoyed him, tho if they make a season 2 I kinda don't want him in it as a regular since I feel like that doesn't make sense with his character. The pure unbridled rage I felt at the end of episode 15...I had to get up and leave my computer. I was so scared they pulled something crazy I felt physically ill.

[aimlessglee]

For your all your Leverage writing needs-- I unearthed a very old list of sarcastic writing prompts from forever ago, so here's one. Hardison saying, “Wow, somebody needs a Happy Meal.”

I hope you like 1800 words of banter because that’s what you have wrought.  Also, I know “Formation” didn’t come out until 2016, but I could not resist a Red Lobster joke please enjoy (I did do research on when Happy Meals changed to apple slices - 2011 - and what the toys were in 2012).

Parker's waiting in an air duct.  It's not a bad air duct, as air ducts go.  It's roomy enough that she doesn't feel squeezed or make too much noise crawling through it.  It's not one of those exposed industrial situations where there's enough support for the duct itself but not for a hundred pound thief who's got work to do.  Parker doesn't mind the minimalist look for a place she's living in, but a little more structure helps when it's a place she's stealing from.  She bides her time quietly, listening to the others on her earpiece.  Sophie's charming the CEO, coaxing her offsite to make a deal with Nate while Eliot takes out the security guards around the glassed-in offices Parker needs to infiltrate.  Hardison's already wreaking havoc in the server room in the guise of the person here to fix the mess he made of, as he put it, their whole situation.  

"Wish somebody had told me there'd be eight guys down here, not three," Eliot says over the comms.  "Maybe somebody who's been in and out of this building a bunch of times in the last couple of days, huh?  Maybe somebody who could have paid a little more attention to the fact that they've majorly ramped up the security in the past week?"  His rant is punctuated by a heavy thud.

"Hey, man, I've been basically just in and out of this one room," Hardison says.  "You want to know how many blinking lights there are, I can count those for you.  I can't count a bunch of dudes conjured up out of nowhere by some security company."

There's a lot of shouting coming through, and a lot of scuffling, but Parker can still hear Eliot over the noise.  "You said you had all the security cameras!" Eliot snarls.  "I thought you were watching!"

"And I am truly sorry about that, baby," Hardison says, "but I only have the two eyes and both of them are looking at the screen that's gonna make sure you don't have eight more dudes to deal with."  

"I ain't anybody's damn baby," Eliot tells him.

"The universal baby," Parker says, quietly because her air duct echoes a little bit.  "You're our universal baby, Eliot."

"Aww," Sophie says, and Parker thinks it's for them.  Sophie's been talking the whole time and Parker's kind of tuned her out.  It's a skill they've all had to learn over the years.  It helps that Hardison's fine-tuned the earpieces so that he can turn Sophie down temporarily while she's working.  "So sweet," Sophie continues.  

Eliot just growls and fights some more.

"Sounds like somebody needs a Happy Meal," Hardison says.  "Get your blood sugar up.  Get you a little toy.  Even a grumpy guy like you can't resist a Happy Meal.  Tell you what, my treat."

"I don't need a damn Happy Meal!" Eliot grumbles.  There is muffled strategic thumping that ends in a quiet crunching noise.  Parker winces a little.  It sounded like a really good punch.  It is, as Eliot would say, a very distinctive sound.  She'd guess that the recipient of it has a broken nose now.  "I was gonna make gnocchi tomorrow, but guess what?"

"No-cchi?" Hardison guesses.

"You're damn right!" Eliot says.  There's more thumping.  At least he has someone to take his frustration out on.

"Cut the chatter," Nate says.

"Just sayin'," Hardison whispers.  "It says Happy Meal right on the box.  Makes you happy."  

"Shut up about the stupid Happy Meal!" Eliot says.

"I agree," Nate says, but then Sophie walks in with their current mark and Nate has to address that situation instead.  

"I was gonna buy you dinner," Hardison says.  Parker hears Nate get quieter in her ear, but not so quiet he couldn't get their attention if he needed to.  "Not feeling so generous now.  Would have even given you my toy.  Would have sprung for the six piece nuggets, too, 'cause you're special to me."

"Dammit, Hardison!" Eliot snarls.  There's one last thud and then the fighting noises are gone.  There's just Eliot, breathing hard.

"Who says no to a Happy Meal?" Parker asks.  

"It's not the same since they got rid of the cookies," Eliot says. "If you really thought I was special, you'd buy me a damn Lunchable or something that comes with a real dessert."

Parker laughs in delight and has to muffle it in her sleeve.  The office below her is supposed to be deserted, but sound travels oddly through air ducts.  She likes it when Eliot plays along.  He does it more and more these days.  She thinks that's a sign of something good.

"I was gonna get you one of those fried pies too," Hardison says, sounding offended.  "Or a McFlurry.  Like I'd leave you without something sweet.  I know better."

"Good," Eliot says, smug and satisfied like he usually is after a fight.

"Can I do my thing?" Parker asks.  

"Oh, yeah," Eliot says.  "Coast looks clear.  I'll come in and keep an eye out, though."

"I turned off the security system ten minutes ago," Hardison tells them.  "Just waiting for Eliot to do his thing."

"It didn't even take me ten minutes," Eliot argues.

Hardison clicks his tongue.  "Like I said, sounds like low blood sugar to me.  What do you think, Parker, should we take our boy out for a meal after this?"

Parker carefully unscrews the vent cover and wiggles out the opening.  "You know, I think we should."  

"Take me out to McDonald's," Eliot grumbles.  "Like I ain't pulled your collective asses out of the fire again."

"Can't take you to Red Lobster," Hardison says.  "You haven't earned it."

Eliot growls something wordless.   

"Flirting over the comms," Sophie says.  "How original."  She must be out of the room.  Parker needs to work fast.  She starts picking the lock of the office that leads into the storeroom where they keep the deep secrets of the company.  Tricky, hiding it in the office of someone who isn't even that important.  

"I'll buy you a Happy Meal too," Hardison says.  "I just figures you were too elegant for Mickey D's."  

"We all enjoy a good nugget from time to time," Sophie says.  

Parker smirks.  Nate's probably getting more and more cranky about the fact that they're all still talking.  And then she's in, and Eliot swings around the corner and grins at her, and this is the best job Parker's ever had, and the best friends.

"I'd give you my toy too," she tells Eliot.

"Very generous," he says, doing that thing where he pretends to scowl at her but she can see that he's trying not to smile.  "Pick the damn lock and let's get the goods and get out of here."

"Got my back?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says, and a little smile sneaks through.  "Always."

"And that's why you're our universal baby," Hardison says.

"Keep it up," Eliot says.  "I was just thinking about making gnocchi anyway, even though you clearly don't deserve it."

"You big softie," Hardison says fondly.  

"I'm in hell," Nate says.  

"I hope you haven't said that to Celia," Sophie says.

"No, she's headed back your way," Nate tells her.  "Get ready."

"Roger that," Sophie says.

"Just saying," Parker says, feeling the lock click open and making her way to the secret door Hardison found on the blueprints.  There's a panel over it, but it's not hard to find the seam where it pops open.  She crouches in front of this lock.  It's more complicated, but nothing she can't handle.  "Somebody wants to buy me a Happy Meal, I let them."

"So I should let your boyfriend buy me dinner," Eliot says, crossing his arms and shaking his hair out of his eyes as he scans for any intruders.

"Yeah," Parker says, glancing up at him.  "You should."  

Eliot looks at her like he wants to say something, then scowls again.  "Just pop the lock."

"Yeah, yeah," she says, easing her picks through the mechanisms.  They really should have invested in something higher security.  Digital, with a rolling code, something that might have convinced her to bring Hardy along with her.  She smiles at the thought of Hardy rolling along through the ducts on her sturdy little wheels.

"Why are you two so on this today?" Eliot asks her.

Parker shrugs.  "You take care of us.  We want to take care of you."

"With a Happy Meal," Eliot grumbles.

"It's a start," Parker says, and the tumblers fall into place.  The door opens.  

"Talk about it later," Hardison says.  "Time to move."

They do move, like a well-oiled machine.  Parker downloads the files onto the special drive and locks everything back up right and tight and Hardison guides them out through a back door so Eliot won't whine about the air ducts and Eliot doesn't have to punch anyone else.  It's a good job, clean and simple, and in a few days they'll get to see Celia's face when she realizes everything's about to go wrong for her, and Parker likes that part best.

"Can't believe I don't rate higher than a Happy Meal," Eliot grumbles and he and Parker pile into the back of Lucille.  Sophie's already in the front seat.  

"I told you, baby, you got to earn those Cheddar Bay biscuits," Hardison says.  

"This all sounds very complicated," Sophie says, "but, ah, Hardison...would you mind taking us through the drive through?  All this talk about Happy Meals has me longing for a burger."

"Your wish is my command," Hardison says as he puts Lucille into gear.

They buy a Happy Meal, just for laughs, and some grown people food too.  Parker finds some glue and sticks the toy firmly to the counter next to Hardison's screen.  Eliot smiles at it when he thinks she's not looking, but she sees, and she knows, and she smiles too.  

"Baby, you got any fries left back there?" Hardison asks, and she and Eliot both reach for the bag to pass it up.  Eliot frowns and jerks his head at her.  

"You baby," he says.

"Us baby," she tells him, and presses the bag into his hand, because he's closer anyway.  He hands it to Hardison, his eyes on Parker.

"Thank you, thank you," Hardison says without looking back.  Parker nods at Eliot.

"How do you make gnocchi anyway?" she asks.

"It takes a lot of work," he says, and spends the next few minutes explaining it while she just listens and grins and thinks about happy meals.

[zero-buds]

Back at it again!!

Headcanon 41:

Sophie and Nate get married on a mundane Tuesday.

Headcanon 42:

Nate rarely does anything past 10 o'clock once he's retired forever.

Headcanon 43:

Sophie always asks Nate if he'd love her if she was a worm ever since Parker showed her the meme. Nate deeply sighs and always answers that he'd love her even if she wasn't a part of God's creatures and was some demon or alien in disguise.

Headcanon 44:

Nate can't watch A Bugs Life without crying.

Headcanon 45:

Nate is not a fan of Halloween, but he's always giving candy out to the kiddies when they knock on the door even when the lights are off.

Headcanon 46:

It is reported that Jimmy Popadokalis (had to Google the spelling) has been awarded best attorney in the State of Nevada. Nate is delighted and shows up to the award ceremony in the most obnoxiously bright colored suit possible. People have to resist the urge to throw their food at him. He takes pride in their hatred and Sophie finds ways to make Popadokalis even more hated than ever for Entertainment Purposes.

Headcanon 47:

Nate takes up splatter paint as a way to release anger, frustrations, and stress after his retirement.

Headcanon 48:

Parker, Eliot, and Hardison once forced Nate get Sophie something Obscenely Expensive as vengeance for making her cry during an off screen discussion in season 3.

Headcanon 49:

There are moments where Nate's thoughts about how he doesn't deserve to have the life he has during retirement is louder than any other thought that he has to hole up somewhere to wallow for a few days. On those days, Sophie does not give him space and practically bear hug crushes him while she ushers the youngsters to talk to the man about anything to get him out of his head.

Headcanon 50:

When Nate learns of his heart conditions, he doesn't react at first. Not even when Sophie was so shocked and in tears. It's only after he calls the youngsters that he starts breaking down crying. He really does love every one of them and he doesn't want to leave them behind quite yet.

Anyone use Nate as a muse and just... change his personality the tiniest bit so that he's not that much of a dick but is still the relentless asshole that he is?

Now that you've read through this so far, wanna read some headcanons I have for Nathan Ford?

Oh, wow, yes you do because I've trapped you here!

Headcanon 1:

Dude draws sometimes. Not at the level of Parker of course, but he does. Just little doodles and cartoons that are very kid friendly. He's no Picasso, but he can recreate Garfield comics and put a little spin on them. He did them for Sam whenever he had the chance before his death. Nate still does them from time to time when he needs to cool off. He has art supplies and older work under his bed in season 2 when Sophie and team invades his apartment. He has them sworn to secrecy that they never tell another soul about it.

Headcanon 2:

While jail gave him the time to learn how to cook good food, this man has no idea how to use the oven or a toaster. Purely a stove guy. Can probably flombee (flombe?) a steak but is barely capable of warming a bagel in the toaster.

Headcanon 3:

Nate knows how to hack other computers and servers and does know his way around a high tech computer, he just chooses to be old fashioned. Windows Vista? A far more secure line for privacy than the Windows 11.

Headcanon 4:

Nate and Maggie married young, but were struggling to have a kid for years. Probably why Sam's death hit him so hard. Losing a kid after finally getting the experience of raising one for eight years? That's gotta hurt more than being infertile.

Headcanon 5:

Jimmy did know about Lil Sammy through his own way. He just never bothered to visit because he realized how much happier his son was with his own family. Something that maybe the old man regrets not being able to do with Nate. (Okay that was more of a Ford Family headcanon)

Headcanon 6:

Sterling and Nate worked in different departments of IYS when they met. Worked their way up and coincidentally were heading for the same promotions. They became fast friends after that. Their rivalry was mostly for show.

Headcanon 7:

Nate does not like underground tunnels very much. Much like Hardison's claustrophobia or nictophobia, Nate doesn't like the idea of walking down a never-ending dark path with your only light source being at the end of the tunnel.

Headcanon 8:

Nate's on the spectrum, same as Parker. My mind cannot stop thinking about that one tag where Nate is autistic but his special niche is crime and it makes sense on some level.

Headcanon 9:

Nate apologized to each and every member of the team after he quit drinking, and he meant every word. Sophie encourages him to be more open and he does. His art becomes a staple in their relationship to expressing love.

Headcanon 10:

Nate had a pup once when he was very young. He gets a dog when he's retired and calls it Parker. The dog only lasts as long as Nate does.

PM me to tell me some more headcanons. Can you tell Nathan Ford is my favorite character?

[onyxbird]

OK, Maggie Collins & Eliot Spencer in an Indiana Jones AU idea was originally just something I thought would be a fun vibe for a moodboard (which @innytoes proved it is). However, I'm really getting into this idea, and since @innytoes' moodboard agreed with my unspecified musing that Maggie should be the archaeologist in this setup...

Dr. Collins is the world-renowned professor and archaeologist. A real archaeologist, who does responsible, strategic, well-researched excavations with correct paperwork and carefully documented findings.

Eliot is her assistant. It's a little unorthodox for her main assistant to have no relevant academic background whatsoever, but his extreme usefulness when her digs get attacked with frustrating frequency by common looters, superstitious villains who are convinced that there are magical artifacts hidden there, etc.--Maggie is not an action-adventure “archeologist,” but she has the misfortune of living in an action-adventure setting regardless)--more than makes up for it in her opinion. (His cooking doesn't hurt either. 😉)

Many people who don't have much detail other than the name “Dr. M. Collins” from across the top of an academic article or in a university faculty listing have a tendency to come across a dude wearing dusty work clothes and wire-rimmed spectacles in the middle of an archaeological dig and make assumptions, which are only encouraged by the fact that Eliot, who is a very good listener with a good eye for detail, can converse knowledgeably about history and archaeology for a very extended time just based on what he's picked up from working with Maggie.

However, they all eventually ask something that prompts an “Oh, that you'd have to ask Dr. Collins,” and while the outsider is still reeling from thinking “...But I thought you were—,” up pops Maggie out of whatever hole in the ground she's been working away in to chime in.

(Maggie is well aware that they're assuming Eliot is “Dr. Collins,” but most of the ones who assume that without asking are either annoying or wasting her time or both, so she considers letting Eliot string them along to be both 1) educational and 2) helpful in letting her to continue to get work done without unnecessary interruptions.)

Haven't thought too much about how everyone else fits into this AU, but I'm thinking 1) Parker is one of the people who steals valuables from archaeological sites, probably doing the Indy-style parkour that Maggie and Eliot don't; 2) Hardison has developed some kind of cutting-edge gadget for locating buried items, which he is willing to market to either the archaeologists or the tomb-robbers, whoever makes a better offer, and 3) Sophie grifts valuable artifacts into her hands by manufacturing a persona with some claim on them. Not sure what Nate's original business was, but he's definitely going to get talked into doing some tomb-robbing for a large sum of money.

[vickyvicarious]

I am glad to have pointed you in the direction of making Leverage/AA comparisons! The idea of Phoenix defending Sophie (or any of the team) interests me, because his thing is getting to the truth, but Sophie doesn't entirely know what her truth is half the time. Good potential dynamic there!

That's definitely true! I also wonder about how to manage it where the team has to let him defend one of them. Like, their con allows one of them to get caught but whatever they're working on could hinge on this court case being won as well (or at least, now that it's going there's gonna be negative consequences if it's lost even though that wasn't something they initially planned on.)

Parker and Hardison reprising their FBI roles to aid in the investigation. Parker would definitely notice Maya wanting to take something from the scene in her mild klepto fashion and just teach her how to do it better. Hardison being kinda frustrated by Gumshoe at first but then recognizing how kind and well-meaning he is and bonding over liking to tinker with mechanical stuff (Gumshoe bragging on his fishing rod/metal detector/etc that he made, Hardison giving tips and encouragement) and also loving dogs. Eliot recognizing the work of Shelley de Killer and having to save someone from him, but knowing he's an honorable guy and so won't go after collateral damage. Sophie being the defendant who is so clearly hiding so much from Phoenix. Which is frustrating to him but at the same time, uncooperative clients are nothing new. The Leverage crew tries to help nudge the trial the way they want but maybe they accidentally put suspicion on Phoenix tampering with evidence? And then everything has to be squeaky clean so he doesn't get in trouble because of them.

Edgeworth having a conversation with witness!Nate that is deeply suspicious and full of mind games. Phoenix managing to draw out the truth in court... a deeper truth than they wanted him to see, even.

There's a lot of interesting possible interactions! And that's just in the original trilogy. Trucy would get along really well with Sophie and Parker, methinks, and - actually Nate likes magicians, doesn't he. Anyways, there'd be some very interesting interactions with that cast too.

[vickyvicarious]

THANK YOU yes. Like - I am certainly not the most critical viewer out there or whatever, and I'm pretty sure there are themes that are not so good in various episodes that I just haven't even noticed. I'm certainly not qualified to be any kind of authority on racism, so if I don't notice it but someone else does I should listen to them. Still, I very rarely have any major complaints about the show. I usually end every episode feeling happy - or even if something sad happens as a viewer it doesn't feel out of place. It's the good kind of angst and I enjoy it. But these Hardison episodes? I don't. They make me feel kinda sick to my stomach.

I LOVE AND ADORE almost the entirety of Scheherezade, and even most of the Gold Job is fun although I get pissed at the team for letting him get that upset. Still, they could have made an outcome where things spiral out of control, but Hardison manages to save the day and get his moment of triumph. They could still write him reflecting that maybe it was too complicated from the start if they really wanted, but their victory still came because of him and the team genuinely apologizes and admits he was right about how much they depend on him! It wouldn't be a perfect episode even then but it would be so, so, so much better. They legit ended with Hardison feeling miserable and alone with only a mild half-hearted attempt at comfort by a person who just made him feel worse. No one even apologized to him. And this after they've spent this whole season building up his and Parker's relationship in particular. You're right, they wouldn't have done that for her. Not for anyone - maybe barring Nate but only then because of him rejecting attempts at comfort, not because they weren't there.

I tend to also think of the Mile High Job as a Hardison episode, but it's still kind of a Hardison+Nate episode and a lot of it is spent with people grumpy at Hardison or with Hardison doubting himself. It works the best of all these eps though, because he does triumph in the end, and the annoyance isn't so intense or uncalled for. In Iceman, Parker and Eliot being annoyed at his grandstanding doesn't necessary bother me TOO much either, I guess, but it's still off compared to how other people are treated. In the Experimental Job, Parker spends half that episode annoyed with him too. And of course the Gold Job.... I'm literally only realizing now that of the Hardison-centric episodes, the people who love him the most are almost always mad at him for the majority of the episode. That's infuriating. If it were spread out a little over more Hardison eps, with an equal/greater number where no one is mad at him, maybe that'd be fine - as I said, some of the frustration doesn't even bother me that much. Or if it were less all-encompassing and were a smaller or briefer part of the episode maybe. If everyone else had episodes like that too in the same ratio (which they don't - they just don't have those in general). But even then, why is this necessary?

Eliot doesn't need everyone mad at him to have plots and character moments of his own. -In fact, Eliot is the one who most bothers me with this, not because I dislike how he's written but because of the contrast to how Hardison is. Two episodes after Scheherezade we get the Studio Job and Eliot gets to have his big moment of glory up on stage and Nate of all people is the one to call out that it's explicitly his talent responsible. Or, Eliot gets to bring in other skills like his cooking on a regular basis and it's treated lovingly and used to add depth to his character. There's the odd joke but it isn't treated as a joke on the whole. And like... we don't have to see tons about their past. We get more of that from Eliot and Nate and even Parker to an extent, but Sophie is written really well as struggling and having her own growth without us ever getting a clear picture of her past. So they didn't even have to give Hardison more episodes related to his past. But that would've been so easy a way to get a really, really good Hardison episode. Have Nana be the target of a scam, or one of her friends, or maybe a foster sibling of Hardison's. We get very similar situations where Eliot's or Nate's old friends ask for help, and Parker had the episode with Archie.

There's also something to be said for characters all having different relationships with one another. Nate naturally being more abrasive to Hardison isn't necessarily wrong, even if you contrast it to him being more mentorly towards Parker. But I feel like Sophie and Hardison don't get nearly enough screentime and meaningful conversations together! The Parker/Hardison relationship is wonderful as is the Eliot/Hardison relationship but there's more emotion weighted towards the other person in both of those scenarios. It's fine to have Hardison be the least emotionally damaged one in the team, to be the rock that they can rely upon... but they should also show that he's more than that. They should give him leave to be vulnerable too and get the same respectful treatment as the others without turning it into a joke. We all love how much Parker wants to learn and grow and expand her skills - but whenever Hardison talks about wanting to run his own crew or lead a con or whatever, it's turned into a joke. He deserves to be able to shine on his own, not just through being a support for others.

Outside from the big disappointments in the few Hardison-centric episodes, there are actually not a lot of moments that I personally dislike (again, no authority here, so that doesn't necessarily mean much). Many of the jokes are funny, many of the arguments too. Each individual moment can probably be justified. But the fact that there are so many with a lack of other types of interactions? That we get tons and tons of Nate putting Hardison down but rarely ever him praising or thanking him. That we see jokes about Hardison acting all tough or not being able to maintain a grift or con without going overboard, but very few scenes of Sophie gently guiding him to a more polished technique like we see her do with Parker all the time. That we see Hardison wait patiently for and support Parker and be what she needs so often, but almost never see her giving him the same level of support. (I mean, I love that he's generally confident. I wrote a whole meta about it, I think it's a great part of his character, and even him never really needing to learn any new main lessons isn't bad exactly. But there's a difference between not needing it and not being given opportunities to have it.) We see a bunch of examples of Eliot jumping in to save Hardison or rolling his eyes at his lack of ability to fight or whatever, but it's not as well matched with heroic Hardison or countered with Eliot teaching Hardison ways to defend himself or whatever.

It makes me angry.

I've noticed we tend to praise Leverage for stuff like always having good lighting for Hardison even in scenes he shares with Parker who has very light skin (and thus they need to find a good balance for them both), or for him being the more gentle and kind person unlike some stereotypes, or being in a truly excellent slowburn interracial romance. And I'm not saying those aren't great, but there's definitely ways he stands out from the rest of the white cast which are not so good. Any of these things in small amounts, or spread evenly among the cast, okay. But when it happens this consistently and only to the black man... well.

I know he isn't going to be around as much in Redemption, but I genuinely hope that this changes when he is. And isn't present for Breanna.

Hardison designing this whole con as an immersive video game...... sure, it's over the top. Sure, it's complicated. Sure, the end being a land deal was something they could've arranged much more simply.

But I wanted it to all go well so badly. Even though the rage-quit made sense with how the episode was written, and the con was rescued in the end. I want a Hardison-centric episode that ends on an unequivocal triumph, not some failure that becomes a lesson for him, or his victory being actually someone else's doing all along.