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smallblueandloud · 3 years ago

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some leverage: redemption reactions

i finished leverage redemption today! and i don't have anyone to talk to about it so, here we have my reactions for all eight episodes, both positive and negative. please feel free to reblog/comment -- discussions are what i'm here for! (under a cut because spoilers and also this ended up being 2k. whoops!)

EPISODE 1: the too many rembrandts job

the "aww, this guy is trying to pull his first heist! how cute" job

what they chose to do with nate was... interesting. it might just be that i read too many of those cracky "here's how they should explain nate's absence" posts, but i was expecting something funny. the grief permeating this episode -- it makes SENSE, but it was still weird. leverage doesn't usually have sadness like this. pain, yes, rage, certainly, but sadness? not usually

the way sophie immediately spots the signs of a con and slips into a character? phenomenal. i'm here for EXPERTS BEING EXPERTS and this show does NOT disappoint

harry wilson is a really solid character! most impressively, he's not flynn, which is impressive enough that i'm making a whole bullet point about it. i was worried that noah wyle was kinda a one-trick pony, but it appears not! good for him tbh

i'm LIVING for the ot3 moments in this episode. "what happened?" "we happened" YESSSSS!!! i wish we'd had more domesticity, but i know they did what they could

"he gets it from his father" FUCK!!!!!

the discussion about redemption in this episode is FANTASTIC but personally i am still delirious with excitement about "my nana leads a multi-denominational household" so expect those thoughts in 3-5 business days

EPISODE 2: the panamanian monkey job

the "flash electropop concert" job

BREANNA INTRODUCTION! i love her so MUCH, y'all. we only got to see her dynamic with hardison in this one episode, but man, it manages to be one of her best dynamics anyway. i just! i love her! i love the way the team works with her!

"in our field, you're one of the best. but there, you're the only one." god we have ELIOT/HARDISON rights and i am NOT OKAY. just!! them!!!!!! being supportive!!!!!! they have learned how to be sweet with each other! they work together so much better (in part because we're seeing them from harry's outsider pov instead of nate's insider pov, but STILL)

midway through this episode, i thought "huh, leverage always focuses on specific people, when really the problem is systematic, and pretending it's anything different is just an excuse to not fight for change". and then at the end harry talks about how the system itself is broken! i love knowing that john rogers and i were reading the same tweets last summer. it's a good feeling to trust the people making a piece of media

who let noah wyle speak spanish. whoever it was, they need to rescind their permission

god, the parker/hardison in this episode. THE PARKER/HARDISON IN THIS EPISODE! they KILL me friends they KILL ME!

also just like, hardison in this episode in general. he made a star trek reference! he made a doctor who reference! he decides there are other people who need him more! the way they wrote around gina bellman's maternity leave in s2 was good but this was phenomenal.

also i'm here for ot3 crumbs so "is this like the time when eliot wanted us to say no" is going on my ot3-is-canon conspiracy board

this is a tiny detail but eliot taking out the drone with a goddamn ORANGE was so good. he's so good at his job!! they're all so good at their jobs!! i know i literally just talked about this but AAA

EPISODE 3: the rollin' on the river job

the "sometimes you just want to rob a vault wearing a floofy dress, and that's valid" job

i did... not. like. how the villain in this one was an immigrant whose exploitable weakness was a "desperation" to be included in the upper crust. and the fact that they beat him with a literal southern belle who explicitly beats him BECAUSE her family has been in the area for "hundreds of years"? it just feels Iffy.

also iffy about this episode was breanna's characterization. it felt inconsistent. she feels inconsistent across the whole season, but this episode in particular... she tells harry she's only with the team because she's desperate, that she doesn't believe in hope, and then at the end of the episode she tells parker she wants to be there to change the world. and like, even in the first place, she's not here out of desperation! SHE asked to join the team! like, i can see how it all kinda fits together, but it just feels... inconsistent. idk. i think these scripts all could've benefited from an extra round or two of editing.

anyway! i loved the way they tied hardison into these episodes, even though aldis hodge couldn't be there. he has binders! breanna doesn't want to read them! parker did! he put in big letters, "when in doubt, trust the person in the van". i'm just so !!! about how much i love him and how much he loves his team and how much his team loves him. FOUND FAMILY, BABY!

all inconsistencies in breanna's characterization aside, i really liked her speech at the end. i know how she feels! it's really nice to have someone on the team who's from -- not my world, really, but a lot closer than any of the others. it's a nice feeling! i love her a lot. i hope her writing gets more consistent

lol, parker ate eliot's carrot cake. i love the parker/eliot rights we get in this show, they're so domestic and it's wonderful.

EPISODE 4: the tower job

the "hardison made his partners learn klingon" job

watching this episode was what made me go "they're not going to make us sit through a harry/sophie romance... right? right?"

i'm still not sure they're gonna let us avoid it but it COULD work so... i've decided to just not worry about it for now

i liked the number of ways the con goes wrong! it was fun to watch them work on the fly like that. i think them not having a dedicated Mastermind(tm) is a good watsonian explanation for their plans being pretty haphazard in general, but it's good, they think well on their feet

nate was a chessmaster. he had the whole situation in his mind from the beginning, accounting for every possible outcome. parker and sophie are much more adaptive, and it's cool to see. they can rely on their respective skillsets a lot more than nate could

a really solid episode! probably one of the strongest ones in the season. i liked it a lot.

(ALSO as mentioned above the klingon lines were fantastic and not just because they were a star trek reference -- every time eliot and parker both mentioned hardison, together, it added a year to my lifespan)

EPISODE 5: the paranormal hacktivity job

the "sophie was worryingly prepared to fake her death" job

i know why they characterized the client as a skeptic, i really do, and i loved the format of this episode, but also. But Also. she should've been a love interest for breanna and I'm Right.

having a girl's episode was the CORRECT choice. they do crimes in their free time! they fleece newbie, cruel criminals! it's so good!

it would've been cool to have eliot around for the assassin guy, but it was also cool to see the others take him out without having eliot to rely on. it's like getting to see how they'd take out eliot, if they were ever on opposing sides.

PARKER CANONICALLY USES SCRIPTS IT'S THE BEST THING EVER

breanna bristling about letting the criminal into the theater's electric system was so good god i love her so much. she knows hardware! i bet she likes to work with her hands. i bet she stims. i bet she has adhd

actually, sidenote, but i LOVE these headquarters. they look so nice! the stage is so nice! i loved having an episode set in and around it, it was such a good choice.

EPISODE 6: the card game job

the "FINALLY AN EXPLICITLY QUEER LEVERAGE CHARACTER" job

QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BREANNA QUEER BR

UNFOLLOW ME NOW THIS IS GONNA BE THE ONLY THING I POST ABOUT FOR THE REST OF TIME

GOD, what a good way to reveal it. it's fully about her! i love queer romances, of course i do, but i don't think i've ever seen a character come out without a romance being their reason for doing so (however indirectly). i still think she should've gotten a date with the client from 1x05, but i really liked this too.

this episode just felt like a love letter to fandom, and i love that. i love how much it shone through. i'm used to writers specifically going out of their way to make fun of fans and laugh at them, so it was just. really nice to have someone stand up and go, no, this is important for a reason! people love this for a reason! it MEANS something!

very fun to watch eliot swordfight. very fun to watch sophie recite a sonnet in her classic fashion. very fun to watch parker work at being a good mentor. breanna was so excited about the card game! they're all so good!

oh, and i guess harry's here too.

EPISODE 7: the double-edged sword job

the "harry is addicted to mobile games, which is a mood" job

hot take alert! i think this is the weakest episode of the season by a LOT. it needed so much more editing. it felt so disjointed, so all over the place. the plot was haphazard but in a muffled way, where you had no idea why they were doing what they were doing. the climax was sudden and didn't make any sense. it was just weird.

i'm not the person to comment on this but it feels kind of lazy to cast an east asian guy to play a socially-awkward tech genius. just a thought.

oh, of course jonathan frakes directed this episode. sometimes his stuff is really good but other times (ahem, ds9 3x02) it's disjointed and all over the place. i'm not even surprised it was him.

idk if i have anything else to say about this. oh! some of the team moments were great -- mostly involving eliot. i loved the moment of him recognizing the headshot, i LOVED the ten seconds of everyone teasing him. he and parker talked about the wellbeing of their friend, the woman whose ex tracked her down!

separate bulletpoint to say how much i LOVED his conversation with breanna outside the house. he's so good at reassuring! he could go deeper there, talking about being better than your worst day, but he knew when not to push! it was so good.

"first off, this guy can't TOUCH hardison" deserves its own bulletpoint because like. y'all. Y'ALL.

EPISODE 8: the mastermind job

the "eliot is more than just a pretty face" job

oh man this post is so much longer than i thought it would be. okay just one more episode and then i'm done.

the callbacks to original leverage were SO well done and made me feel emotions without feeling overbearing.

i didn't like the central premise -- that nate would share so many details with a random insurance agent -- in the first place, but i did like how it allowed them to bring back nate without actually hiring timerty mcasshole.

i liked eliot's insistence that he's more than just the muscle! he is, and it's really good to know, textually, that the writers do too!

me, watching the resolution of the episode: ah, yeah, insurance fraud. a classic!

harry bonding with his guard had "they don't even have dental!" energy and i am SUCH a fan. i know it was all for the con but also give me harry, unable to stop advising people, even when they're actively holding him hostage

parker! on the phone with hardison!!!! ADORABLE

is it just me or was someone else expecting the accountant's name to be something significant? with the way they led up to it, i was waiting for a "sterling" or something else. my sensors were pinging for another tara reveal. i'm still convinced we're gonna get this guy dramatically revealed in the season finale.

a really nice episode! i had a lot of fun with it. and now i want to rewatch the rashamon job, but tbh i ALWAYS want to rewatch the rashamon job.

and that's a wrap! overall, a fun season, i enjoyed it a lot. not as solid as original leverage, but it's the very beginning, and it was put together during a global pandemic, so i'm cutting them some slack. also levar burton is gonna show up at some point. that's a big reason of why i'm cutting them so much slack.

my personal ranking of the episodes is 1x04, 1x06, 1x08, 1x01, 1x02, 1x03, and finally last (and least), 1x07.

what did you guys think of the new season? what was your favorite episode? do you agree with any of my opinions? disagree with any? let me know, please, i'd love to discuss!

#leverage #leverage redemption #leverage spoilers #redemption spoilers #leverage redemption spoilers #sb and l rambles #sb and l watches leverage #levred #this is so much longer than i thought it was gonna be #i shouldn't be surprised but ughhhh i'm so tired

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leverage-commentary · 6 years ago

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Leverage Season 1, Episode 11, The 12-Step Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Dean: Hi, I'm Dean Devlin, Executive Producer.

Chris: I’m Chris Downey, Executive Producer and Co-Writer of this episode, The 12-Step Job.

John: I’m John Rogers, Executive Producer.

Amy: I’m Amy Berg, Writer and Producer.

Rod: And I’m Rod Hardy, I’m the Director of the episode.

John: Welcome to The 12 Step Job! This is an unusual episode in that this is our bad guy and we meet him first and we don’t usually meet him first.

Amy: This is true.

John: This is true. Also the music video sound that you’re hearing is not anybody. There is actually a big debate on the message boards about who this was, and this was actually our composer, right?

Dean: Joe LoDuca wrote this song for us. We told him the kind of song we wanted, and he knocked this one out of the park.

Chris: It’s fantastic. The only thing he had was Celtic punk.

[All laugh]

Chris: And if I could tell you that this song was exactly the song I had in my head, it’s really the truth.

John: Cool!

Amy: We actually made Drew, this is Drew Powell, our great guest star for this episode, we actually gave him homework to go out and listen to some Irish punk. So, when he does the lip syncing here of what it is, and then Joe matched the song to whatever he was mumbling.

John: That’s pretty great!

Amy: Yeah.

Rod: Drew’s played a drunken Irishman many times in his life I think.

[All laugh]

Rod: One of the treats about casting him in this particular role.

Chris: Now you worked with him before, you knew him before, right?

Rod: You know I met him because he and another acting partner had written a screenplay they wanted to do in Australia, and they discussed it with me, and by chance some six months later, I’m in the casting session. I sit there, and in walks Drew so it was a real treat to catch up. So, he is a very talented young actor, and I think what he’s delivered from this role is something that I think will push his career ahead forward. I have no question about that.

John: I- you really- he was one of those guys and we cast him off a tiny one inch square on a computer.

Chris: That Amy found.

Amy: Yeah, yeah, I saw his- it was like an 8 by 10 piece of paper with about 20 faces on it. I was like you know what, I like this guy. I literally circled him, and we brought him into the audition, and we’re like ok, he’s it.

Rod: But you know he also played Hoss in the remake of Ponderosa, which was also made in Australia, and in fact he’s married to an Australian. So, there’s that Australian connection once again. I’m the guy with the funny accent, by the way. I’m from East Texas if you can tell.

[All laugh]

John: This con is actually scarily prescient, because this is about a charity that got ripped off by a money manager. And of course we wrote this months and months before the Madoff scandal hit.

Amy: Yes, hello Bernie Madoff.

John: Yeah.

Amy: We are psychic.

John: Not psychic, just that I think the- unfortunately scumbags exist, but the news wasn’t covering them until it hit the critical mass that it eventually hit.

Chris: I don’t know if we would have decided to make our Madoff character the sympathetic one in the episode had we written it post Madoff.

[All laugh]

John: Probably not.

Amy and John: That’s probably true.

Amy: This actress, by the way, her name is Denice Sealy and she’s fantastic. She really grounds it for us.

Dean: By the way, I love this shot, how it goes all the way around the room, it covers everything in the scene, and it’s seamless.

Rod: Well, you know Dean, it was one of the things about doing this show for me, is you set up a high standard with that pilot, I might say, speaking of good shots. And I’m not here to just pat you on the shoulder, but you set up a really interesting style and look that I found really worthwhile following through, and this set in particular gives you a chance to do 360 degrees, as you know, we do quite often in this show.

John: Also, that’s- this is one of the ones where we really tried to address Nate’s drinking, and as you see she sort of smells the booze in the pop can, and not as the resident alcoholic ,but certainly as the person most familiar with the alcoholic lifestyle, it’s laid in through the entire season.

Chris: How’s that beer by the way?

John: It’s just great, thank you.

Chris: Ok, good.

John: The reason we all have beer, by the way, is that I insisted that I would be drinking every session and now everyone’s into it so.. Why does that make me the bad guy?

Rod: My way of getting to know Tim was before I actually started on the show, when we went out on a Saturday night with the DP and the operator and a bunch of other people, and we drank. Just to see what it would be like.

[All laugh]

Amy: Pure research.

Rod: Thanks for the gig!

John: No problem. But, yeah, it’s actually laid in fairly thoroughly throughout the season. You will never see an episode where he doesn’t have a drink in his hand, and it’s kind of interesting that this air orde,r there were two episodes about his drinking in a row, but this episode was meant to be the one where you realize with Sophie- and you’re kind of in the Sophie POV- that she realizes at the same time that the audience does, he’s not well, that this is not- That funny little habit we’ve given him is actually catching up with him. It’s starting to roll up on him.

Amy: By the way, our graphics guy literally handed me a map and I had to circle spots on the map, and then they drew lines. Like, ‘OK what’s a pattern?’ was basically my, uh-

Chris: Well nice job! It was a really nice- a very nice Family Circus job.

Dean: I still don’t get the Family Circus joke.

Amy: Honestly, I didn’t get it either.

Chris: Billy, from the Family Circus, would walk from here and they would say, “Billy, go bring this laundry to the basket!” and they would show the route that he took all around.

John: It was a part of the Family Circus cartoons- was always some big convoluted route with Billy at the end of it, kind of-

Rod: God, I’m going to ask who Family Circus is.

All: Oh!

Rod: Sorry about that!

John: Billy would like have taken something. He would say, “Billy, go take something to the laundry.” and Billy would like take something from the fridge, he would stop by and go outside and bury a dead hooker. He’d steal a car. He’d- what?

[All laugh]

John: That was my version of Family Circus.

Rod: The great thing about this scene and this character throughout this episode, to me, was the flawed hero. There’s nothing more appealing on-screen than when one of your heroes has a slight dysfunction.

Dean: This moment here between Eliot and Hardison, you so nailed the fun of these guys together. In fact, I think of all the episodes this season, this one was my absolute favorite, as far as these two guys together having fun, and Rod, I just think that you absolutely nailed that relationship.

Rod: Thank you, do you know what it was? I think I read the screenplay and, I hate to be cliched here, but I really got a sense of a Lethal Weapon-style relationship between them- between these two characters and, on television, that’s very rare, and I think you guys wrote a really nice piece for both of them. They both, sort of, stood out very strong.

John: And it helps that the actors themselves are friends. It really helps that they like playing this stuff, they’re really into it.

Amy: And they were actually calling themselves Riggs and Murtaugh throughout the episode. So, it was really funny. So, they embraced it too.

Chris: The interesting thing in this scene too, speaking of the dynamic between the actors, was also watching Christian Kane helping teach Aldis Hodge how to fight. So, you kinda saw that their dynamic as actors-

Chris and John: -is somewhat similar to the characters.

Chris: Because he was kind of showing him how to do the moves in the fake fight coming up.

John: By the way as far as verisimilitude goes, I really appreciate that your crummy bar/strip joint has a We Support the Troops banner on the. That is like- man when I was a stand up and I was going to these small towns, there was like-

Rod: I have to be perfectly honest with you, you know, this is a used car yard.

John: I know. It’s really magnificent.

Rod: It was really something. The sign helped a lot. Yeah, yeah.

John: It was a great piece of production. It really was.

Dean: It’s also one of my favorite fight scenes of the year too. I thought this was really great, and it’s nice to see. We had one episode where Aldis did a little bit of fighting, where he fought the injured.

Amy: More a shove than anything.

Dean: And we saw that he’s graduated from that to actually being in a fight scene.

John: But even if you look at it, he’s not good. He tangles guys up, he gets hit. You know, what he’s really doing is kind of pull the guys off Eliot. But most of it, he’s using his reach and his arms and really more tangling them up. Charlie Brewer did a good job of separating out their fight styles.

Rod: And let me tell you, these scenes work because the actors can do it themselves.

Dean: That shot, Rod, gave me a heart attack, when I saw it I said, “Wait a minute, who said the actors can dive away from a moving car!”

John: You know what, Dean, it’s really for the best that we don’t tell you everything that’s going on on the set.

Dean: See what happens when I don’t show up on set.

Amy: Dean, Dean, the insurance company is on the phone.

Dean: And this was a great bit. This whole shooting the engine block, “I was aiming for his leg.”

Chris: That was his ad-lib.

Amy: I think it was in- on the script it was, “I was aiming for the tire.”

Chris: It was “aiming for the tire,” and he said “I was aiming for his leg.”

John: I also like how all the actors have developed a different way of talking into the headpiece. Each one has a different way of letting the audience know that they’re talking into the- are moving the conversation on.

Amy: Christian is great at that, by the way. Whenever it’s out of context, he knows to reach to his ear.

John: He establishes the space.

Chris: Rod, I also like how you used the crane in this show. You never did it in a big kind of elaborate shot it was always very- like that was a very subtle way to bring you into the car. You have another thing before where you establish just before, the showdown. I love how you use the crane in this episode.

Rod: You know when you’re doing these seven day episodes, it’s about trying to find the angles that are different. It’s not about getting something flashy that takes away from the storytelling, it’s about finding an odd angle- and I thought that went nicely, thank you.

John: I do love that a recurring thing in these commentaries is, “When you’re doing these seven day episodes.”

[All laugh}

John: The absolutely mad schedule.

Amy: Wait till we do a Bank Shot Job and we talk about how we did that in six.

Chris: This is a great transition here, between him sleeping on the airbag-

Chris and John: -and waking up.

John: That’s a great transition.

Amy: By the way, that’s- all the snoring sounds are ADR. He did that after the fact; I think, he snores.

Dean: And I love that reveal of Tim, there, because you don’t know where we are because the story hasn’t told us exactly what we’re going to do, and it’s such a lovely way to go out on the act.

Rod: I was reminding Drew of his last hangover during this scene, and he really nailed it.

Amy: Because it was the night before.

John: No, yeah, the twist reveal. This is where we started to land this sort of template as it evolved over the course of the season, and now the place where we’re going to live for the rest of the show, is kind of dumped on the end of the first act. It’s really- it’s interesting to see how hyper-aggressive our first acts got near the end of the season, as we crunched how much we could shoot. I mean really time- shooting time began to dictate that.

Chris and Amy: Right.

Chris: And it was always our intention to not show a lot of the prep, like you do in a lot of other con and heist shows. That we’re gonna kind of like drop you in.

John: We’re just going to assume that they’re good enough to pull this off.

Rod: Now this was an actual rehab center which you guys know about.

Amy: Yeah, it’s the Veteran’s facility.

Rod: The Veteran’s facility so- and they were just fantastic with us. They really allowed us freedom right across the place. And a lot of really nice guys there.

John: And a beautiful location.

Amy: This actor playing Dr. Frank, by the way, is Garrett Brown, and he’s that guy that you know from that show that you never remember his name.

[All laugh]

Chris: That’s exactly what my wife said watching this.

Amy: ‘It’s that guy!’, but Garrett Brown’s his name, kids. He’s fantastic.

John: Now this is interesting, the light fixtures are what sell it. That’s a transition from the rehab center. This is on a soundstage.

Chris: That’s a soundstage. They did a fantastic job matching it.

Dean: I love this scene.

John: Now here’s a quick question, the exterior roundy rounds, I know how they’re done. How did you do this interior? Because you’ve got some where you’re kind of drifting, and you’ve got some where you’re doing the sort of roundy round shots.

Rod: You know what we do is, we put a remote head camera in the middle of the group. So, we’re able to just remotely make the camera focus on whoever we wanted, and it just gives you another perspective. You can’t use it all the time, but it gives you another perspective.

John: Right.

Rod: I mean. I love her sense of comedy, is-

Amy: Beth is amazing.

John: Beth is incredibly funny.

Rod: She’s just fabulous.

Amy: And it’s weird, because she doesn’t ad-lib dialogue very much, but all her sort of facial features and physicalities are all ad-libs, and they’re just amazing.

John: And breaking in and out of this circle here is really visually interesting.

Amy: Yeah.

John: Now did you get this done in one day?

Amy: Yeah, in one day, everything in this room.

Rod: But it’s a seven day shoot.

[All laugh]

Chris: Did you mention that?

Dean: And this girl was phenomenal.

Amy: This is- Marisa is fantastic and John Kerry - not the senator - is playing our Gary Busey look-alike, and they were both brilliant.

Dean: From heaven, from heaven.

Rod: And I think she’s playing a Michael Jackson look-alike.

Rod and Amy: And he's playing a Busey look alike.

Rod: But she was really terrific. She’s a smart young actress.

Amy: She’s wonderful.

John: We have to give a shout out to April Webster and Scott David for this one because-

Dean: -because our casting-

John: -this casting-

Amy: One of our better- well we’ve had great casting. But this one- the day players were fantastic

Chris: Sulentine[?], you expect them to give you some good Sulentin[?], but when you need somebody that’s mumbling incoherently...

Amy: Yeah. It's not like there’s a template for that for casting agents.

John: I also just realized this whole scene is basically just Tim being annoyed and it really is and this whole thing is just focused around his frustration.

Amy: And apparently Parker, too.

[All laugh]

Rod: I love Tims ad-lib about the Gary Busey look alike/

Amy: Yeah, yeah that was an adlib that was fantastic. By the way John Kerry, our Gary Busey, literally spoke the words written on the page for dialogue which were just basically words that Chris and I made up.

Chris: He did we wrote them, yeah. Hers might have had a little more relationship to what the words were supposed to be than in mine but it was- it was- he read them.

Amy: Yeah yeah.

John: Now here's something since this is sort of how one scene sort of plays out, I can ask the writers, two writers who don't usually write together, how’d you split it up?

Chris: We split it into acts; it was kind of interesting. I wrote acts one and two.

Amy: I wrote acts four and five.

Amy and Chris: - and we picked scenes in act three that we wrote separately.

Chris: We said, ‘can you start working on that first scene in act three?’

Amy: Yeah I got that, can you do this?

Chris: ‘Alright alright, how did that one end?’

Amy: And oddly there wasn’t a lot of having to polish after the fact, either because, I think because we wrote this towards the end of the season, our writing styles meshed and we got the voices down.

Chris: And I’ll say something else when I was watching with my wife, I asked my wife if she could tell who wrote what half, and it took her a minute, it took her awhile, but she said I think you wrote the first half.

Amy: Ahh, nice.

Chris: But it was pretty close. For that to happen, I think, it's a pretty good seamless style.

Amy: By the way, my brother calls me after every episode to tell me what bits I wrote in every episode. He knows me so well that he can target my jokes, even in episodes I didn’t write.

John: Vocal rhythms. You know, you transfer your vocal rhythms to your characters’ dialogue.

Rod: That last shot we saw was shot at about 9:30 at night and when was pitch black outside and David Connell, our DP, does an amazing job at being able to create that illusion, I might say.

Amy: And I’m pretty sure Beth, at this point, can actually pick a lock. She's done so much research on con and stuff.

John: We mentioned on another commentary, Apollo says she has the best hands of the cast and she could actually do this if she wanted to.

Amy: She does.

Rod: She’s got good legs, too, by the way.

[All laugh]

Amy: We love you Beth, in a platonic way.

John: Yeah, but we have all sorts of parameters that we’re not allowed to talk about.

Dean: Wait until you see her in the dress in the season finale.

John: Yeah, that was a little stunning.

Amy: That was nice.

Rod: I thought her dress at the wrap party was pretty damn good, too.

John: Well the thing is, you tomboy her up, and the writers, you have to think about the characters in a certain way, you know. We got her in the pony tail and the break-in clothes the whole time, then we finally glam her up in the season finale and it’s like ‘Oh!’

Dean: I love her reactions to the whole medication thing here. Again, as you were saying, it’s not dialogue that she’s improvising, but the way she takes the pill and eats it says more about her character than any dialogue.

Chris: That’s not in the script.

Amy: Yeah, it’s the best I’ve ever seen, and as scripted she wasn’t actually supposed to eat it, which she does. She actually chews it. But she- it was scripted to where she just looks at it, and then it was a reveal in the next group therapy scene that she was affected and she had taken it. But how do you not show that? How do you not, like-

[All laugh]

Chris: It’s the defiance. This is a fantastic shot here.

Rod: And here is one of the best car park locations in Los Angeles.

John: This is production value.

Amy: That’s my RAV4, by the way. Made its debut, right there.

Dean: I think this is my favorite scene of the series.

John: Really?

Dean: yeah. These two guys, the bomb.

Amy: Riggs and Murtaugh.

Dean: I tell you, I could watch this all day long.

John: You realize that right now, Tim Hutton is sitting at home listening to this commentary with a single tear rolling down his cheek. I hope you’re happy. He’s like cradling his Oscar, he’s like ‘Dean!’

Chris: He acts a hole into this episode, he really does.

Dean: I’ll bet it’s his favorite, too.

John: It is pretty great. It is amazing, you know this car park really is no more special than other car parks, but just being out and seeing LA behind you just adds so much more to the production value.

Amy: Yeah, the backdrop in this is just gorgeous.

Rod: Of course you guys had written some of these scenes being night scenes, which-

John: That’s adorable. [Laughs]

Amy: There was about 5 or 6 night scenes that became day scenes.

Chris: For those of you that don’t know, night scenes are very expensive.

John: Yes. They’re very expensive. You’re shifting the entire shooting schedule of the crew, you’re changing, you know.

Chris: Let me tell you, I was talking about this earlier today with Amy, I actually think that, aside from the economic reasons of being in the day, I actually think that it lightens up the fun, being in the day time. And I think it elevated the fun of this episode, having it be bright.

Amy: It kinda gives it more energy, visually and physically.

Dean: It would’ve been more heavy, if it was at night.

Amy: I remember when- I don’t know where Chris was, Chris I think you were on set, supervising Juror when John and I were doing the polish on this scene, and we were trying to make it shorter, but in fact we ended up making it a page longer because we kept adding stuff to it. And you were playing Hardison and I was playing Eliot, and that’s how we got to the ‘reboot, kick it’ line.

Rod: Which is a good line.

John: It was literally just us talking through the scene.

Amy: Yeah, it was us talking through the scene because you know John is the big tech nerd on the show, and apparently I’m the tough ass-kicker, I don’t know how that translates but-

John: But apparently- I love the fact that so many things are computerized in a car now, including, you know the- I just literally put a heavy bag of groceries on the passenger side and it triggered the seatbelt alarm.

Chris: Sure, that’s in the prius. I have that too.

John: Yeah, and so the idea that the bomb would be wired to the pressure in the- rather than the ignition just kind of amused me and allowed us to trap him in the car. Which really worked because computer guy can’t touch the computer.

Dean: Well what i love is the switch in dynamics, in the beginning of the scene, Hardison is nervous and Eliot knows what he’s doing. And then suddenly it all turns around.

Chris: Once it becomes a computer, it becomes- Hardison takes over.

Dean: The ‘run the bag of bricks by me again’ is the best line.

Rod: That’s a good line.

Amy: It’s fabulous.

John: And also I gotta say, I mean we talk a lot about how much we love him ,and how great he is, Chris Kane does little- these little choices, little bits, particularly in comedy lines, he’s a really great comedic actor.

Amy: Yeah.

Chris: It’s right there.

Amy: And there it is, folks.

Dean: And again the more frustrated he gets, the funnier he is.

John: Just right there, look at it.

Chris: A lot of hesitations, he's great.

Amy: Right there! That’s exactly what we’re- yeah, just the blinking and the- ‘run… run the bag of bricks by me again?’

John: It’s not- there’s not a lot of action guys that have that chops. I mean, seriously.

Amy: And the shaking of the hand there, like, you never really see

Chris: There’s some great shots here coming up here.

Dean: You can tell they really like each other here, both as characters and as actors.

Amy: Oh, for sure.

Chris: Oh, I love that shot.

Rod: And this here is fantastic, very funny.

John: I love that shot. Also popping out wide here was inspiring, I have to say.

Chris: Yeah, well comedy plays in the master.

Amy: Yeah, comedy plays in the master.

Chris: And we talk about that a lot, you want- want space for-

Dean: Was the line ‘cry a little’ in the script?

Amy: That, yeah, I wrote that, yeah, ‘I wanna cry a little.’

John: Whenever you give him, particularly- it’s tricky with Aldis because, he’s incredibly tall and in great shape, and it’s interesting we were talking about the promo from one of the other episodes, from Two Horse, where the promo shot, the iconic promo shot from the show, is him in the suit with Tim at the track.

Dean: Right.

John: He has an incredible presence, and so writing him down to be geeky and afraid is actually fairly challenging, you have to kinda go a little far with it.

Dean: That’s the crane shot I was talking about.

Chris: Yeah this shot, I love this shot.

John: yeah arriving down there, that’s really nice.

Amy: The other thing about the ad-libs between those two, is that by the end of the season, we’ve gotten to know the characters and the actors who play them so well that we were writing the ad-libs for them.

John: Yeah

Amy: Like, to where moments that felt like they were ad-libbed, were just little lines that we wrote because we knew they would say them.

Chris: On the spot, yeah.

John: This is also one of my favorite bits, the idea of the axis- the axis of scumbags.

Amy: The axis of scumbags, yes.

John: I had just finished the book McMafia and the idea that- that essentially the universality of organized crime, and the kind of black market, the black economy that’s out there, there would be nexuses and our guys would naturally stumble into them.

Dean: Another compliment i want to give you, Rod, is that when I was first looking at this script, I got nervous about these gangs-

Rod: Right.

Dean: -because the initial image in my head was so cliche, I thought ‘oh they could be so goofy’, buti the fact that you put them all in these dark suits and made them look so elegant, really made these gangs intimidating.

Amy: Yeah, that they weren’t wearing bandanas.

Dean: It made these scenes work. They didn’t feel like the typical-

Rod: Right.

Amy: And I think it helps that we got Chase Kim, and we’ve got Cisco Reyes right there playing the Mexican gang leader and they brought some gravitas to it which is nice.

Rod: They certainly did.

John: You got good actors- I mean this is cast great all the way down. All the way down through the day players. I’d use either one of them in a leading role, you know?

Dean: Sure. Now is that the crane just moving slowly?

Rod: Yeah it was, and once it had come to the ground we just had it move slowly on the ground.

John: So you wrote- you ran the whole scene with the crane moving.

Amy: There was a crane going the whole time, yeah.

Rod: Because there were so many members of the cast here, I wanted to be able to get that sense on a big wide shot, so you could see the gangs and their positions within this story and it worked really nicely.

John: That’s another thing you did really well here, Rod, if i can say, action all depends on geography.

Dean: Yeah and you never lose the geography.

Chris: You always know where everything is.

John: A lot of action directors just think it’s in the choppiness or the movement, it’s all about knowing where everybody is at all times.

Dean: We started going down, we leave going back up; it’s so great.

Amy: Yeah i love it, love it!

Dean: And i love this scene too. This is my favorite scene of these two together.

John: Yeah it’s interesting, it’s really- it’s really the moment where she starts to realize he’s more broken than she thought he was. You know?

Dean: Yeah.

John: All joking aside, all banter aside, you know, this is not- this is not funny anymore.

Rod: Which is interesting when you think about, the person you look up to, the man that leads the group, has these flaws and could let you down. It sets up a great thing for these characters for the future too.

Chris: And you kinda get a window into how unself-aware he is. I mean that- here’s a person who devised this con, that’s putting himself in rehab, because he has no concept that he has a problem. Or you could kinda look at it as, on some level did he- was he trying to test himself to see if he really did have a problem. It’s really interesting

Amy: Can we take a minute to say how awesome Timothy Hutton is in this episode?

John: Yes.

Amy: He’s so good.

Dean: He’s amazing in this episode. Because he’s able to play the depth of the problem and still be funny.

Amy: Absolutely.

Dean: That’s hard to do. You know, it would have been so easy to slip into melodrama.

Amy: Right.

Rod: And also keep the continuity performance, when you realize how in and out of scenes we shoot. He kept it going and worked it really nicely.

Chris: This is a fan favorite right here.

Amy: By the way, I wrote this scene in approximately thirty seconds, but-

Dean: But what makes the scene, is Christians face right… there!

[All laugh]

Rod: ‘Is that where the scam’s going?’

Dean: That’s what makes the scene! That reaction, right there.

Amy: I actually played a joke on Aldis, after I wrote this scene, I went down to the set - they were shooting Stork Job at the time - and I told him that I had this three page scene where in order to get into the rehab facility, that they were going to have to play gay lovers. And I wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with the kiss.

[All laugh]

Chris: Oh, that’s great.

Amy: It literally went on for ten minutes, he got really paranoid, and Christian who can read me like John can read me, knew I was joking the whole time, but Aldis just-

John: You’re a horrible poker player.

Amy: I’m a horrible poker player, it’s true. But I got Aldis, probably because he’s 22.

John: No the- yeah that was a great little improv. I mean it was interesting to see how you- trying to move people in and out of this rehab structure actually became part of the challenge of the show. When you split the team, a lot of the fun is trying to get them back together.

Chris: Well originally we kind of thought that they were all gonna be in there, and that Eliot was going to be a rage-aholic, and then it was just once we figured let’s split them up, it that’s when it just-

Amy: And you need some time to just breathe, too. Which is nice to sort of leave it and come back to it.

Dean: I love Eliot's moment here where he just says ‘Are you ok?’. Where it’s like, you get the feeling that this is starting to spread, that- their fear that the leader may be coming apart.

Amy: Yeah, and I love Gina here too, because-

Dean: She covers for him.

Amy: -she’s taking charge, she’s-

John: She’s enabling. Which by the way, now that the season has wrapped, we can make a point- we can actually, since you’re watching on DVD we can tell you, this is part of the fact that we knew this relationship wasn’t gonna work.

Dean: Right.

John: I mean going forward, it’s interesting, because you kinda expect it to be the big romance of the season, but about a third of the way through, we realize no, they’re too broken, this isn’t going to work. And so we had to start writing to the fact that she’s not mature enough, she’s still a criminal, he’s still a drunk, he’s not over his wife, and so it was a really fine line the actors had to walk the whole season.

Chris: I love the way this is composed, too. I love him in the middle of- Rod, you did some great stuff of Tim smoldering in the background, that I love.

[All laugh]

Rod: He’s always present-

Chris: There’s one coming up that I thought was fantastic, but this, too.

Amy: Yeah, he never left, Tim. He was always there.

Rod: The thing about working with this cast is that there’s an embarrassment of riches, they have- they each have their own place and they develop the scene accordingly, but when you have the chance to get in and cut it whichever way you want- look at this scene.

[All laugh]

John: I mean really, it’s all- it’s all anger.

Amy: There’s really nothing better than Parker on happy pills, by the way. I love it.

John: And the gimmick that everyone can understand him, but Tim it’s really just- I really do adore. That, there you go, over to you.

Dean: And I can’t say enough about our DP.

Amy: Dave Connell, baby.

Dean: Episode after episode, what he’s doing every week, was a quality level so beyond what I’d even hoped for. I mean, I just think every shot is gorgeous.

Amy: Yeah.

John: Especially since we’re doing it, what we do it in nine, ten days? How do we do it?

Dean: Seven days!

Amy: Wow, seven days. Wow how do you make a shoot in seven days Dean?

Dean: Quickly!

[All laugh]

John: Oh, dear. There’s actually- I do wanna say one lifestyle thing, in the previous scene where-

Chris and Dean: I love that!

John: Where Tim has the shakes, as we were pitching the- pitching the thing in the room? I told the story about when I’d been doing stand up in Australia, and we were drinking so heavily that when I stopped drinking for a day, I actually got the shakes that night.

Dean: Right.

John: And it was a great moment with the younger writers who were like, ‘the shakes? What are the shakes?’ and I went ‘oh that’s not good, I’ve had a symptom nobody here has had? That’s not- that’s not healthy’

[All laugh]

Amy: That was actually really funny.

John: The con actually- what I like, too, is the con goes along the 12 step progress- program. He has to make amends, that’s a logical part of the-

Chris: Yeah, that’s part of the- we tried to work it into the episode.

Dean: There’s actually a really nice button on the scene that we had to lose for time. It wasn’t because we didn’t like it, it was just trying to get it in within the time, and hopefully on this DVD you’ll be able to see that button.

Amy: Yeah.

Rod: God, they’re beautiful cars. They really are great cars.

Amy: Yeah! [laughs]

Dean: God bless Hyundai Genesis.

Amy: Hyundai Genesis, we love you!

Chris: Thank you, thank you very much.

Dean: And might I say, this year, when every car company did poorly and had huge losses, the only one that increased was the Hyundai Genesis. And I think it was entirely us.

[Laughter]

Amy: Oh wow, yeah.

John: So you’re- so you’re thinking that Leverage single-handedly tried to revive the auto industry in America?

Dean: Single-handedly saved this- and if more car companies-

Chris: Note- note to GM, come to us! We’ll put you on our back

Dean: I’m just saying.

Chris: We’ll put you on our back.

[All laugh]

John: We’ll do what we can for you.

Amy: Oh by the way, one of the scenes we had to lose for time is the bridge between this scene and the next scene at Leverage HQ, which we’ve filled with lovely product placement, was a montage scene of all the good deeds and people that Hurley had helped.

Dean: Which hopefully also be on the DVD.

Amy: Yes. Which we will put-

John: Did- did we shoot those?

Amy: Yes, we did! Yeah we shot them.

Chris: Yeah we shot them. Yeah yeah yeah we got them.

Dean: I think we even did the effects shots.

John: So you- you meet all the people Hurley has helped on the way which helps sell this scene where, you know what he actually didn’t just help that waitress, he’s left a trail of good deeds behind him.

Dean: Yeah

Amy: Yeah, and the strippers are very thankful for that.

John: nd that was hard casting.

[All laugh]

Rod: That was a big job to cast.

Amy: That was tough casting.

Chris: Yeah that was hard, that was tough.

John: That’s always- as soon as directors and writers see ‘stripper’ in the script, that’s always- yeah.

Amy: That’s my fault.

Chris: I think there’s a great ‘a architect’ joke in that.

John: Yeah there is

Amy: Oh there is! Yes- we- yeah.

John: That’s a big shout out to Derek Evans, the- Derek Edwards pardon me, the Canadian comic the ‘a architect’ joke is in the original script.

Amy: ‘I want to be a architect’

John: Yup. That is the greatest- the greatest stripper joke ever written.

Chris: Another great-

John: Oh, that’s great.

Chris: Tim- Tim smoldering in the background, enraged by this guy.

Dean: Beautifully composed.

John: It is. And then a nice button reveal. And also- I like the fact that we made it the San Francisco office to explain why they were all Korean and nobody noticed ‘why are they all Asian?’.

Amy: By the way, I

Chris: Nobody- nobody blinked.

John: That’s one of those things that as a writer, when you’re inside the show so much for things that you think people will catch, and people never catch.

Amy: I- I think that’s true, that’s- people never catch. Chase Kim, I love you.

[Laugher]

John: You know you’re- you have to be careful there, you’re a powerful person you can’t let the actors think you’re harassing them in some way.

Amy: Oh. Well you realize I know all of their names, that’s why I am likeable.

Dean: This is the ‘just give me something to do’ scene right?

John: Yeah.

Dean: Which- which for some reason, both the writing of it, and the performance of that line, was insanely truthful. I mean it- and it was a great out of the melancholy of this scene.

Amy: Yeah

Dean: Because it’s what he needed to get through, and in fact it’s what he’s done the whole season.

John: And I mean, it’s weird that this whole show is kind of, you know two writers wrote it, it really was kinda on the fly-

Amy and Chris: We wrote it in a week.

John: -but it unifies most of the themes of the season. It really does.

Dean: Yeah.

Amy: Yeah. Intentionally, right Chris?

Chris: Oh, absolutely, that’s what we had going.

[Laughter]

Amy: We totally planned that.

Rod: Of course it is.

Chris: We certainly didn’t wanna just, have something to film next week.

John: I like to- I like to think it was really my polish that brought that-

Amy: Oh, what?

Chris: That’s it, you brought in all the themes.

Amy: You did not touch anything we were not apart of, my friend.

[Laughter]

Dean: Rod, you going to handheld in this scene, which we normally do in a physical jeopardy scene-

Amy: Yeah.

Dean: -gave us the feeling of emotional jeopardy.

Rod: Yes, yes it does.

John: When do you make that- I mean, Rod, when you- you’re sorta looking at a scene, what is- when do you make that choice? I mean, is it-?

Rod: Do you know- I mean in one sense I like to leave the freedom of that choice right up to the point just before you’re ready to shoot it. But other times when you’re reading a script, you do tend to- and I might say there were some brilliant notes given out about the style of the production. So often you get onto a series and you come in and do an episode, everybody’s saying just ‘do what you feel comfortable with’ but at least there was a guide that- that Dean had left behind which gave, very clearly, the choices. And of course, this is normally in an action sequence, or whatever, I felt that unease, from the camera movement. And of course then we introduce Sterling and-

Amy: Oh, Mark Sheppard.

Chris: So here’s the- here’s the story of this. We were contracted to have Mark Sheppard in this particular episode. And we- the writers-

John: It wound up being different, yeah.

Chris: Dean came in and said ‘we really need to use Mark Sheppard’ and we said well we’re in rehab, I mean we just don’t have a place to put him. And Dean kinda walked out of the room, and then he walked back in, and he said ‘he’s a hallucination’ and he walked out again.

[Laughter]

Amy: That’s what Dean does all the time, by the way. Solve a problem and then leave.

Chris: And- and we sat down and we came to this scene, and this is one of the best scenes of the episode.

Amy: By the way, this is the only scene Chris and I actually wrote together.

Chris and Amy: We actually wrote this together, yeah.

Dean: I love how he’s in a different wardrobe here each time you cut to him.

Amy: Yeah, yeah. That was a- that was a nice choice

Rod: He’s a comfortable spirit.

John: And again, it’s an interesting bit of geography, because it starts at the door, to Tim at the window, and then rotate around.

Rod: Just watch Tim’s eyes now, though, I love those eyes.

Amy: Yeah, Tim, ugh, gosh...

Dean: Tim so just knocked this episode right out of the park.

Chris: And I think Mark Sheppard had some- the ideas about the glass and-

Amy: Yeah, he wanted to bring back the glass.

John: Well what’s interesting is that the glass becomes a thing in the season finale.

Chris and Amy: Yeah.

John: The glass- the idea that they trade this glass back and forth, and again it’s one of those reinforcing things where, when we started Sheppard in the show, we didn’t know if they’d been friends or not. And by the end of the season, I’m fairly sure they were best friends. And there was- there was just too much continuity between the two of them

Amy: By the way, Rod, I totally love this choice of sort of filtering this scene through Nate’s sort of psychosis in a way. Tt was fantastic.

Rod: Sort of distorted, yeah.

Dean: Yeah look at that, sort of bouncing around. And it really gave that impact on this cut, because you felt it was building building building.

Amy: I mean as great as the dialogue was, I thought it was fine that you did it that way.

[All laugh]

John: That was- that was very giving of you, very nice.

Amy: yeah. I thought that was very open

Dean: [Laughs] And he wants to hug him.

Rod: He wanted to hug him.

John: He’s not a big-

Amy: Yeah, by the way ,he’s that guy. Drew is that guy. He’s like ‘where are you? Give me a hug.’

John: Tim Hutton, not a big fan of the- the social hugging.

[Laughter]

Amy: Nate isn’t.

John: Nate- Nate isn’t, Tim is.

Amy: Tim is, Nate- Nate, not so much.

John: Yeah I mean, Tim- look at that, that is a guy just composed with rage and way off his game, yeah. He’s really- it’s weird it’s to the point with the commentary where it’s just like yeah let’s pop the sound up because Tim’s just rocking this out. Yeah, this is also one of the tricky things, where when you’re in a closed location, one of the writer room challenges is always ‘Alright, what’s the danger? At some point some dudes with suits and guns are gonna show up. What makes sense in this context?’

Amy: It was- it was fortunate-

Dean: I love- I love Parker’s reaction, when she steals the gun, accidentally.

Amy: And John- yeah, yeah.

Dean: It’s just- she can’t help herself from stealing something.

Amy: It’s just instinct, yeah. It’s just instinct.

John: And Beth really added a level of pathos to that, where it was just beautiful.

Amy: Oh, fantastic.

John: I mean, it was interesting to- it was interesting, some fans got really angry at the fact that we took Beth- Parker out of rehab.

Chris: Right.

John: Because the idea is she’s getting better!

Chris: They’re all ‘how dare they?’

[Laughter]

John: But there’s- she can’t get better! There’s no show!

[Laugher]

Amy: But see that’s not who Parker is. She’s becoming someone she isn’t, which is why you can’t have her stay that way.

Dean: And this line- that line right there is the whole season.

John: Yeah.

Dean: Where he says back to him ‘is doing all this for the right reason, wrong?’

Amy: Yeah.

Chris: Well that’s- well that’s how we envisioned this character, was kind of a cracked mirror version of Nate.

Dean: A mirror of Nate, yeah.

John: Yeah, exactly

Rod: Well he wasn’t really that smart because he’s putting all the money into the stock markets.

[All laugh]

Dean: Right.

John: Which really ended very poorly all around.

Amy: Right, it did not go well. Did not go well.

John: Yeah, look- look at that take, that was a lovely take. But yeah, the entire- again, the theme, he asked this question of like- basically sets up ‘I’m a pathetic drunken wretch and I’m doing exactly what you do aren’t I morally justified?’

Chris: Right, right.

John: There’s no way you can, you can avoid the- that situation. And that's kinda the interesting thing is, it’s a very light, funny show, underneath, running through the entire season is ‘this dude’s broken’.

Amy and Chris: Yeah.

John: Matter of fact, everyone else is getting better around him. You know he’s the one who interestingly isn’t leading them in any way shape or form. They begin to lead him, you know?

Amy: Well they’re sort of evolving, he’s sort of devolving as the season goes on.

John: Yeah.

Amy: And also I think that Jack Hurley is sort of the Bizzarro nate.

John and Chris: Yeah

Amy: Like the difference between them is control. Like Nate, typically, has much more control than-

Chris: Nate typically is not the character of id. He’s all about the ego and superego. Literally, Hurley is the id.

Dean: I love that, he just shoves him into the hall.

[Laughter]

Dean: You get a near death situation.

John: ‘You know what, I’m just tired and cranky.’

Amy: ‘You know what? If he gets shot, that’s fine. I’m getting out of here.’

Dean: Oh this is- and this, this is to die for.

Amy: Yeah.

John: This bit is great.

Dean: ‘You’re touching me.’ [Laughter]

Amy: By the way, the reason- the reason Beth is slightly smiling there is that before we shot this scene, the three of them, the actors, had a food fight with cold cuts. And when- when Tim put his arms on Beth, she got this- this whiff of turkey that was so overwhelming.

[Laugher]

John: I will, actually, also say that where that- where that bit of dialogue comes from, it’s from a Justice League that Mark Waid wrote, where- I’m totally gonna say this, one of my favorite bits of comics. Batman puts his hand on Flash’s shoulder and says ‘I need you to do this’ and there’s a long pause where Flash goes ‘Batman is touching me. I’m going to die, aren’t I?’ And the idea that someone’s physical contact was so rare, that what- even in a totally different context stuck with me, and that’s- really, you know.

Amy: Is it weird that I didn’t read that and yet I wrote that? [Laughs]

John: No, because we talked about it in the room, the bit where-

Amy: Yes we did talk about that, that’s true.

Chris: Right that’s how it all-

Amy: That’s true.

John: Yeah, I mean, at this point it was the three of us in a room.

Dean: And I love Hardison’s line here.

Amy: This is so good.

John: Oh yeah this bit. He’s so angry.

Dean: I nearly died, and all I had to do was get him tacos?

[Laughter]

Amy: ‘I sat on a bomb!’

Chris: Read this kinda late. Cause sometimes you look at a- you look at a moment in a script and you go ‘is the audience gonna buy this?’ Let’s write to it, let’s have a character say what we’re saying .

Amy: I love that. I love that.

John: Yeah, ‘Are you out of your mind?’

Chris: It’s the ‘let me get this straight’ line.

Amy: Yeah yeah.

John: Yeah. A crucial part of the writer's toolbox is being able to sell the ‘let me get this straight’ line properly. Cause poorly done...

Dean: Here we go, cause again, resetting this whole thing again.

Amy: Gorgeous!

Dean: This is beautiful.

Amy: Hey ,remember where we were? Exactly. With the crane.

John: Yup. There’s the geography again, yeah.

Amy: Yeah.

Dean: And just the amount of movement that you got out of the camera, Rod, was just fantastic.

Rod: Yeah. Thank you. I feel that movement is always important on television stuff, because it just keeps the audience feeling just a little bit uneasy.

John: Yeah, even just a little creeping here right now is just fantastic.

Dean: And we’ve never stopped, this whole sequence, it’s just great.

John: No. Also you shoot through the foreground a lot I’ve noticed, which is nice.

Amy: Oh yeah, I love that. It’s brilliant

John: It’s definitely something worth stealing. I mean when we bring you back, we’ll definitely have you use-

Amy: Oh yeah, for the eight episodes in season 2.

Rod: Can you- can I get the guarantee now?

[All laugh]

John: Oh, this showdown is a great- and that’s a great background. And again, it’s interesting - I think it works better in the day not just because it brightens it up, but because you can see more.

Rod: Well you know one thing I was thinking as we were standing on top of that car park, ‘Would these guys be doing this with thousands of people watching it?’ But that’s half the fun of the scene, because these kind of guys do do that.

Chris: Yeah

Amy: Yeah, they’re not afraid of anything.

Dean: Now this effect sequence, is one I’m most proud of on the show.

Amy: Yes.

Dean: This was something that we wanted to do for real, and the practical realities of what it was going to cost us between all the stunt cars that had to be destroyed, the amount of fire marshalls-

John: Exploding a car in downtown LA.

[Laughter]

Dean: And so we said, ‘I think we can do this with a model.’

Amy: Yeah.

Dean: Elsewhere on the DVD there will be a little behind the scenes of how we did this.

Chris: Oh that’s cool; that’s terrific.

Dean: That’s a tiny, little model on a green screen.

Rod: That is pretty amazing stuff, let me tell you.

John: And this is my favorite bit.

Amy: Oh, the tire!

Dean: That tire was digitally animated, with digital fire on it.

Amy: Wait, the tire makes a return appearance shortly, which is fantastic, in the foreground of Tim.

Dean: But then it’s real.

Amy: And there it is.

Chris: But also you shot- also you shot through fire which was the other thing. You had a little fire in front of the camera to get this.

Rod: Yes, yes.

Dean: And sold the whole thing.

John: How do you do that? Do you just set up a fire bar?

Rod: Yeah a gas bar- flame bar underneath the camera lens. But I have to tell you, as the director of the piece and having been there, I was absolutely amazed when I saw the fire.

[Laughter]

Rod: i just couldn’t believe it. I thought it was just terrific.

Amy: It’s always a good sign when the director doesn’t think that you’re gonna be able to pull it off.

[Laughter]

Rod: I was in doubt, I have to tell you, but not anymore.

Amy: We do some things well here.

Rod: Yes

Amy: Thank you, Dean Devlin.

[All laugh]

Dean: I love that reaction.

John: I love that- I love the idea that the bomb coming back is- hesitance there. ‘No no no, don’t don’t tell him.’

Amy: ‘I don’t like where this is going.’

Rod: Now this part is really- to the writers. This is so silly, but, my god, it works.

John: Yeah.

Rod: It’s such fun. It’s such fun.

Amy: It’s great.

Chris: It’s- thank goodness it worked.

John: Well this is- this is definitely one of those situations where it was- it was ‘alright, here’s the physical location, here’s the situation he’s in, how in the name of-’

Amy: By the way, only so many things you can do there-

John: Yeah.

Chris: And really we- really we didn’t have a lot.

Amy: -and using this creeper was like the only thing I could think of right there. Using the creeper there.

Dean: This works so well. It’s such a laugh.

Chris: This worked really well. And it worked.

Amy: And originally we wanted to-

Chris: And this- this sells it to me - him pulling on the ropes, that’s what made it really work.

Amy: I think originally we were gonna have Drew hop on Gina, but then that would’ve been just ridiculous.

Chris: Yeah, that didn’t seem...

Dean: That could’ve just killed her. [Laughs]

Rod: But let me tell you, we had to build those cars up on 25 bricks to get Drew underneath them.

[All laugh]

John: Yeah, kinda a slight miscalculation there, yeah. Yeah it’s not like I would’ve slid under there like a greased pig either.

Dean: I love when he says ‘you two hate each other’.

John: Well they kinda do.

Dean: Love and hate - it’s a fine line.

Amy: In the context, yeah yeah.

Chris: Strong emotions.

John: Love and hate. I mean it’s the- it’s the people that you care about that can call you on your- your bullshit. That’s the situation she’s in and he’s not at the emotional place where he’s ready to listen yet.

Amy: And she wouldn’t be on his case if she didn’t care about him, so.

Rod: You know, you say that this relationship doesn’t- wouldn’t go any farther. I gotta tell you I watch it kinda like I did with Moonlighting. They would bicker and fight and carry on, I still feel like there’s some sexual tension there that stays alive.

John: Yeah, well there is.

Amy: There will always be tension, yeah.

John: But when I say this isn’t going to go further, is that they have to realize this isn’t the version that’s going to work before they can go forward.

Amy: This isn’t the version of them that will be successful, yeah

Chris: And we wanna keep them- we wanna keep them apart.

John: But really them, the end of the season is them really just realizing that, this? As much as they care for each other doesn’t work. And hopefully second season, now that we know we have a second season-

Amy: And they’re waiting for that.

Chris: And I love this, another- another great- another great transition.

John: Good transition. And they’re waiting for that that’ll work.

Dean: And I love him trying to get the hug. And there’s just, like, no chance it’s going to happen.

[All laugh]

John: And that’s- you know, there’s a line he has earlier in the show where he says, ‘this is my big score’. And he’s constantly looking to fix everything with one score and that’s what Nate’s doing.

Amy: Bizzaro Nate, comes into play.

Chris: Exactly. But with- with id instead of ego.

John: ‘Take the win. Take the win.’ The- I will freely admit, money in the car tire? Lupin the Third. That’s what gave me that idea.

Chris: What’s that from?

John: The Japanese anime Lupin the Third did a car crash heist.

Chris: Wow, that’s- go look- go look for that kids.

[Laughter]

John: Freely- freely admit that inspiration.

Amy: Steel belted radials.

John: Yup. Now this is great, where they try to give him a fresh life, and they try to- We’ll be seeing him again.

Chris: We will.

John: Hurley is a character that will definitely come back. We like both the actor and the character.

Dean: And he’s a terrific thief.

Chis: Yeah.

[All laugh]

John: Yeah ,well that’s boiled down- now there was a version of one of the scenes where the team actually talks about adopting him like a puppy.

Amy: Yeah, it’s true.

John: That we wound up not doing, but it was lovely. Because it is, he’s a money guy and the one part of the team they don’t have is a money guy.

Chris: Right.

John: Yeah, we’ll definitely be bringing him back.

Rod: Yeah and a great you know, it starts off as the anti-hero and then at the end of the time here- wants the hug again-

[All laugh]

Amy: He just wants a little love!

John: Yeah ‘no please, please.’

Chris: ‘Keep it in.’

John: ‘No, no, no.’

Amy: But- but I have good intentions? No? Alright fine.’ Love it.

John: Yeah, he’s put them through a very long couple of days.

Dean: And I absolutely love the coda scene on this episode, because at this point you’re like ‘Jeez what happened to Parker?’ and then you get to find out.

Amy: This was so fun to write, I have to tell you.

Dean: My- my best friend, this is his favorite line of the entire season so far.

Amy: Really?

Dean: Is him saying ‘I don’t think she knows how to play this game.’

[Laughter]

Amy: Yeah, well you wanna give him one moment of clarity. Rehab works for some people! Maybe not Parker, but-

Chris: Well when I was- that was exactly- we were literally writing this thing in the room together, and at one point I said ‘Alright this is who I have in the rehab center, a sullen teen girl and a guy that mumbles’ and then I threw it to you and you said ‘I’d just put them in a charades scene’ and I go ‘great!’

[Laughter]

Dean: I love how Parker always smells things. Whether it’s someone's hair, or the clothes...

Amy: You gotta test it first. What, you don’t do that?

John: Actually, one of my favorite little throwaway bits is that moment where Sophie’s the only one who recognizes the diagram. That it’s the antiquities thing at the Cairo Museum.

Amy: Yeah yeah yeah.

John: It’s just one of those little things that reinforces the thing why she has to be with people she’s like. And you’re right this isn’t Parker, this is having a weird reaction drugged up Parker.

Amy: Yeah, Parker doesn’t naturally jump hug.

John: The jump hug that launched a thousand fan fictions.

Amy: Oh my God, yeah.

Chris: Oh boy, people are writing about this like crazy.

Amy: But now they’re confused because they’re like, ‘wait I thought she like Hardison, but she totally went for Eliot first, what’s the deal’?

John: Yeah, they’re all- they’re all in uproar. You know what, ah, look at em, they’re so happy.

Rod: Let me tell you during these troubled times we’re going through, to see a family on television like this, that each week you see that family getting to know things about each other, it’s fabulous. And let me tell you, a family, thank you for welcoming me into this one.

John, Amy, Chris: Aww, please.

Rod: I seriously had one of the best times in a long time working with you bunch, seriously.

Amy: Aww, you’re so sweet!

Rod: And the show ends up and shows it, too, I might say.

John: Oh, that’s a great episode.

Amy: I think so. It’s a really good episode.

John: This is the wrap up, during the credits you get to say anything you wanna say. Do you wanna say something nice to Rod? He said something nice about you.

Rod: No you don’t have to.

Dean: Nah, no way.

Amy: I love Rod.

Chris: We should try to get him into writing.

Rod: Let’s talk about David Connell’s clothing.

Amy: Really? What’s the deal?

Dean: In many- in many ways this is one of my favorite episodes of the season. And in fact, because we shot this before I had a chance to shoot the season finale, I, actually, was really inspired by the way you directed this. And I incorporated a lot of your stuff into the season finale.

Rod: Thanks. Thank you.

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Deveraux #Season 1 #Episode 11 #Season 1 Episode 11 #The 12-Step Job

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deafchild2000 · 6 years ago

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I Never Really Liked Rikki

Alright before y'all go on and say I'm "shitposting" or degrading your favorite mermaid, just let me let it out!

Rikki Chadwick is one of the 5 mermaids (yes, counting Bella and Charlotte) on H2O: Just Add Water. When she she became a mermaid, she got heating powers, essentially leading to actual fire and lightning powers in Season 2.

On the Wikia, she's described as: Rikki is quite rebellious, independent, sarcastic and carefree, making the two argue often.Rikki frequently speaks her mind without euphemism or without care that her opinions might hurt other people's feelings. She has a hard time sympathizing with people who are in pain, as seen in "Dangerous Waters." She can be very stubborn and has a short temper. Rikki has a strong adventurous streak and is the first to fully embrace the possibilities of the girls' new powers. Despite their arguments, Rikki and Emma do get along a lot of the times, and Rikki genuinely cares for her friends. This is demonstrated when she takes Emma and Cleo out on a shopping spree with her new money in "Dangerous Waters." To make up for her previous blunder in the same episode, she also does her best to buy Cleo the perfect new fish (as thanks, Cleo dubs the fish "Hot Stuff," in honor of Rikki). Rikki also shows her care for Emma when Rikki prods Byron to apologize to her friend in "Sink or Swim," revealing that Emma is not as tough and thick-skinned as she lets on.

Not only does Rikki shows her rebellious nature freely, but she encourage it in her friends as well. In "Pressure Cooker", Rikki encouraged Cleo and Emma to rebel against Charlotte Watsford and her mother, Annette Watsford who were invited by Don Sertori to stay over for dinner. Thinking that Don is getting remarried and that Charlotte will become Cleo's step sister, Rikki encouraged the others to use their powers to ruin the food, not knowing that Annette was only invited as a business partner. Despite her carefree nature, Rikki is capable of displaying a sense of responsibility especially when it comes to money. In the episode "Hook, Line and Sinker", Rikki attempted to look for some financial security for her family by attending Harrison Bennett's seminar, only to find it to be a scam. In "In Over Our Heads", Rikki attempted to help her father by trying to find a lost treasure for the reward money because her family was struggling with the bills. During her stay as café manager in season three, she was able to show her ability in running a business successful. When Rikki left after breaking up with Zane, the café started to struggle despite Sophie replacing her as manager, showing her organizational and monetary abilities.

But the things is, I never connected to her. Actually, I could never relate to any of the trio, but Rikki at most (ironically it's Charlotte and Bella that has my favor.).

See, by technically, I should like her because I'm sarcastic, independent, rebellious, stubborn, easily vengeful, unapologetically blunt at times and savvy business-wise (side hustle - jobs- for money). Plus I've been borderline homeless and raised by a single parent.

But for myself and others, I had needed to be more than that. Where I'm sarcastic, I am concerned and loyal when it needs to be regardless of circumstances. Where I'm independent, even I have to admit defeat and ask for help because I accept I don't know everything. When I'm stubborn, while admitting for fighting in what I believe in, I do my best to set it aside when need be or else Karma would be on my ass. For my rebelliousness, I have to know when I draw the line and go too far. Same goes for being vengeful, but I at least have someone (mom and uncle) on my corner to steer me away and even get a good laugh out of it while I can still reverse it. I'm legit working on being blunt since past experiences taught me sugarcoating isny always the best option, but I do have basic understanding why people do it. Sometimes the bandaid does need gently peeling to get the job done - especially if it's for the sake of a child.

So in comparison, between me and Rikki, felt that aside from a few glimpses of her realizing her mistakes and vulnerability, in those 3 years of being a mermaid, she never really took on the lessons she learned and developed Empathy. Empathy is all about understanding someone and their feelings, especially if their in a place you've been before. And considering that Rikki had a bunch of friends to pull her from the dark side of her personality, no one really bothered to do that when her personality took a turn for the worse in Season 2. Season 3 was when she nearly reached the point of No Return if Will hadn't intervene to stop her from borderline killing Ryan in the moon pool.

Then, I've talked to friends about this and perhaps it originally stemmed from the mermaid aspect of her life. Yes, H2O is just a tv show, and it aired years before I entered my own teenhood, but people are drawn to it because they can relate to the girls in the show. So, when it came to being a mermaid, I believed that it was because all teenagers struggled with being different and that what usually (or generally) sets them apart from their peers.

Now, I live in the US, and I'm an African-American female who's smart (book and street-wise) and has an internal, physical disability: I'm deaf in my right ear. Add in a potential fact that I might have Aspergers (a form of Autism), I never really stood a chance growing up. I knew how to be apart of a group (most of the time), but I was essentially a wall flower in it. There was/are time when I had to dive into things trending for pre/teens just so I had to understand what the big fuss was about. (Plus watching people deal with unnecessary teen drama has always been a turnoff for me.)

Thus leading me to believe Rikki never really had to fight for anything. Yeah, she was pure but not poor enough to live in a single house of multiple strangers (which was my life in 5th grade). She didn't have to struggle to fit in, whether or not that was the case, since she basically had her own little niche of mermaid sisters and (a) boyfriend. In my case, that's more than anyone could ever get in high school- minus the mermaid aspect. But if you add that in, Rikki literally had a whole separate life all to herself where she could get away and in my case, I never had that. Reading and writing was the only escape I had from reality and there were times even that wasn't enough.

So, during that time, if I was one, being a mermaid, like Rikki, would be embeaced but with the rightful amount of shock of the situation would also be there as well.

And maybe I would be prone to abuse my powers, who wouldn't? Having a supernatural ability, using it as I see fit to work for me or against others? I actually thing having something no one else has tend to make anyone else selfish, whether they are all alone or in a small group of those like them. It's Human Nature to be like that. Besides, look when the trio had done so on multiple occasions, yet were hypocrites in regard to Charlotte when she did so to Nate. (Which I will happily point out all the times Rikki did just that, like when she found out she was a part of a fish scheme and all the other times she blantatly almost killed someone with her powers.)

However, I also knew that "With Great Power, Comes Great Repsonibility" is true, regardless of fictional or realistic obligations. If I did want to just pranks someone, I would do it so obviously- with potentially witnesses- and then make it a recurring gag.

(To be honest, if I did and did it so often to a sibling like Kim Sertori, well, let's just say I'd accept responsibility If I got found out because I had it coming for doing said pranks in the first place.)

If I had wanted to use my powers like a weapon to harm someone, I knew I better have a damn good reason to do so, especially if said powers were as dangerous as Rikki's. And then question if that said person was a threat or just someone I really didn't like. And add in the fact if it was on purpose or a genuine accident (like, for example, how I'd like to believe Emma was traumatized after realizing ahe had frozen Miriam alive. Sure the girls saved her in time, but still, that should have been a hint to the girls to not only expand the knowledge of their powers, but become increasingly aware of how dangerous they are. So if they hadn't saved Miriam or Rikki ended up killing her....)

Basically summarizing above, Rikki was shown on more than one regard just how careless and irresponsible she is with her powers and then had the nerve to be self-righteous and hypocritical when someone else does it, and it's someone she doesn't like.

However, while I admit to giving her cudos on some of her ocean adventure - definitely as she's a career diver as an adult- I don't think she really took into account just how much of an advantage she had as a mermaid. While she wasn't a full-on superhero, she probably spent more time in the ocean more than anyone else since getting her tail. Meaning you'd finished being more awareness to the issues on the ocean such as trash and oil spills, taking in for granted having a rich boyfriend could technically help achieve resources to do so. Yeah, they shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves, like at all, but if the ocean is your second home, you can't tell me you'd wouldn't try to help keep that home alive and healthy.

So maybe the producers didn't show it or it just never occurred to them (or in Rikki's case, until her job profession), but if I had mermaid powers and a tail, Lord knows I would have been kept busy for all my teen years cleaning the beaches and pulling up trash after trash to at least somebody caught onto it and started taking action themselves. Not starting a trend, but a chain reaction. And it wouldn't be a seasonal thing either. Basically, if you had the ability to be a live like a fish, you use your human life to bring awareness to sustain that life. We caught maybe a few glimpses btwn H2O and Mako Mermaids, but that would have been a great way for Rikki to express just how much she clearly cared about being a mermaid. But thus she didn't, so I have no reason to believe she did or had a basic understanding of what oppertunities she had offered to her as a mermaid.

I would see it before anyone told me.

And sensing that I'm going off topic, I'll just steer myself back to the point: All other reasons aside, here are my main reasons I never liked her:

Rikki never really grew to have Empathy, or understand when someone is in a place where she once was. She stayed mentally the same as she grew up and it wasn't until she was an adult and found herself back where she started, that she finally developed it.

She actually had more than any other teenage girl can want and more. A roof over her head to call her own, friends and a chance for a significant other? Plus an amazing double life you had to see to believe? For someone like me, who has to fight through obstacles everyday between my race and disability, everything about that spells something worth taking for granted.

She never really took responsibility for her powers or learned from the trouble she caused. Maybe at the time, things seemed necessary, but overall, she was extremely careless and selfish in regards for it. And then some, in regards for using her powers in public and nearly exposed herself, especially when nearly seriously hurting someone, but then had the nerve to berate someone who did just that when she'd done the exact same or worse (adding in potentially murdering someone in the midst of her anger). Season 2 was the so best example of how bad that got and frankly, turned me against her completely to be honest. And Season 3 was basically like Season 1, only Cleo was in Emma's place plus a crazed obsession with protection the moon pool. (Which proven right considered how many damn people found it in the show's history, but still!)

While debatable, she never shown and consideration to the environment ( the Ocean) until it fit her needs. I can name a hundred of ways she could have shown concern and and helped environmental impacts and sea animals affected by it, and do it anonymously, especially considering her future job as a diver.

Like all stories, the 2000s H2O trio is supposed to be 3-dimensial characters who change throughout the story - or in this case, a show - where Emma was a responsible girl who learned to enjoy life, Cleo was a kind girl who learned to grow a backbone and Rikki was a loner who got friends.

As a child, it's easy to see it that way. And considering how Rikki is viewed as someone you'd want to grow up into -Strong, opinionated, stand firm in what's right - who wouldn't idolize that. Anyone, even young girls, should be like that because, in the real world, values like that are rarer than your led to believe.

But when you take into to account of whether or not Rikki is the type of role model you should look up to, then that's why I labeled and the things she's done under:

Static Character.

Rikki started and ended H2O as a mermaid with a rebellious streak. But though she's made mistakes and apologized, she never changed who she was and truly learned from her mistakes, leading me to believe she just kept getting things without any real consequences, thus no character developement.

As I'm ending this, I will acknowledge that I know this sounds like a rant degrading Rikki - and someone will chew me out defending her for it- but after watching all the seasons and how taken Rikki into consideration I came to see if she was real, we'd never get along. So while I'm not going "I hate her so much!" or "She's so ugly!", I'm simply stating why that I don't believe Rikki deserves all the fanfare she's got over the years.

#h2o just add water #mermaids #rikki chadwick #rant #why I don't like this character

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afraschatz · 6 years ago

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Leverage - The Rashomon Job

‘The Rashomon Job’ is clearly one of the cleverest episodes ever, is pretty much sheer storytelling porn all over. And I’m not even trying to go for a full analysis why it is so awesome and instead just stick to a random list of stuff I love aboutit. I love (that)...

... how the ep starts with the bar being ready for closing but the team minus Nate are mid-argument and completely oblivious to the fact that everyone else has left. This is so their living room, and as much as I like the notion that they all have other friends (one of my favourite thing about The Girls Night Out / The Boys Night Out actually), there is nothing more lovely than proof of them hanging out, even when they are not on a job

... Parker having fetched Dad err Nate to resolve the argument

... Sophie’s “shush, you did fine in prison the first time”. Like, Moreau who? We’re having a SERIOUS argument here

...”I STOLE IT” and ALL their expressions, but particularly Parker’s facepalm (haha, you know you’re in trouble when Parker is the sane one in a fight) and Hardison’s MASSIVE eyeroll. And Nate’s utter GLEE. He is so evil. And I think one of my favourite things about this ep is that his smirk does not go away for the ENTIRE episode. He is just so amused for the entire thing <3

... Eliot and Hardison backing each other up re: Sophie is lying

... Sophie being the first one to tell her story. Which makes so much sense because everything we see - the museum itself, the guests in the background, the music, the food, everything, is what Sophie TELLS us. Even though we don’t hear her say all that of course, the fact that we as viewers see all that is due to Sophie setting the scene with so much attention to detail. It’s a setting that the others’ stories will continue using / warping to their convenience, but the ground work is all Sophie’s

... Sophie’s choice of dress for this. I love you, Sophie, but what an actual catastrophe is that pink thing? Whyyyyy? I mean, okay aside from the fact that everyone else is NOT wearing pink and clearly she is the center of attention (I mean, she takes the time to tell us that she got fricking APPLAUSE on arrival)

... Nate appearing out of nowhere behind her, completely not dressed for the occasion and the only one not smitten with her. His questions of course clue you in that this is Nate-in-the-pub asking these questions, but I am so in love with his sudden appearance, his casual clothes, his lack of admiration being the visible info that he is NOT part of the story. And don’t get me started on the mirror / Nate behind glass thing, and Coswell standing in exactly the same spot that Nate just vacated

... and there is the second thing about Sophie’s way of telling the story. She is so proud of her accomplishment and the scene she set and is setting again for Nate’s sake that she includes details such as other people’s jewellery etc, but she completely fails to focus even just once on other people. She dismisses the waitress/Parker without looking at her, same as she didn’t even glance at Coswell. Such a great bit of Sophie characterisation right there

... Bioko slapping the offended guest’s butt. Because of course Bioko is Hardison and while we can’t trust his account of events later on either (=being adored by every female in the room), THIS kind of behaviour doesn’t fit him either. So again, it’s down to Sophie’s kind of faulty storytelling here; she needs an oaf for a fall guy/distraction and Bioko kinda fits the bill and she leaves it at that

... Sophie hurrying up the storytelling when Bioko is coking. That contrasted to the amount of time she spent relaying to us how utterly enchanting Abernathy found her? Again, so neat, because Sophie isn’t really interested in any kind of drama she isn’t the centre of, and thus the entire man-dying-situation is merely a footnote to her - hastily told, strangely paced and comically overacted by Abernathy

...Sophie’s completely different body language when she plays the doctor. Her accents of course are legend, but man, the way she changes her walk and posture and gestures as well? So flawless

... Sophie perceiving Coswell’s attention to her as a threat and thus completely missing that he is flirting with her. That in combination of her thinking that Abernathy is flirting while Eliot definitely has other motives (as well)? Wow, Sophie, something really is going wrong with your pulling game that night :)

... Sophie even adding sound effects to the completely over-the-top (and imaginary) shotgun that Coswell in her story carries down the stairs

...”The dagger wasn’t in the shipment” - and Eliot’s GLEE. Seriously, he and Nate in this ep? Such dicks. Such brothers. <3

...the setting for Eliot’s part of the story. Where Sophie gave us an establishing shot of the museum, then the museum in all its glory and filled with guests, what does Eliot give us? Some concrete walls, cardbord boxes and neon light. What is far more important is a detailled account on the fight with two guys we don’t even know and that don’t even matter. Because fighting is important, damnit

... “If I’m not honest with you, you can’t improve”

...after Eliot re-used Sophie’s establishing shot of the museum, once again, he goes for the dark-corners-close up. In that car, with that poor guy. And all Eliot has to do to be seriously scary is to just not smile. He doesn’t even need to raise his voice

... Eliot taking the piss out of Sophie’s accent. We know he can do Sophie’s normal accent properly - he just DID it when he took over the story and told the team that he was Abernathy - so the sole reason why he uses that accent is because he wants to mess with Sophie <3

...the size of the knife. Thank you, Eliot, for clearing that up. That makes so much more sense than Sophie’s (or Hardison’s or Parker’s OR Nate’s version)

...Bioko and Eliot in the basement. Eliot being annoyed by Hardison without even knowing it IS Hardison, hahaha <3

... locked-up comedy frame. Always hilarious

...again, a very detailled and close up account of the fight

... Coswell carrying the box for the roses, not a gun, in Eliot’s story. Because different from the grifter, the hitter of course can tell a box from a shotgun

... “Ipcress. Weird eyes. Funny hair.” - Hahaha, so charming, Eliot

...Eliot throwing away that vase so it shatters. Given that the entire box of stuff belongs to Sophie? Just another way to mess with her

...Eliot’s story ending before he opens the box. Different to Sophie whose first version of the tale showed us her holding the dagger (“That was the plan”), Eliot is honest, he just leaves out the important bit. Too bad that Hardison knows what happened next

... “What, is stealing mail a crime?” Parker <3

...”Well, whatever it takes to get the job done, babe.” - WHY, Leverage? WHY is Eliot not calling Sophie “babe” all the time. I want that now. Give it to me.

...I also want Hardison to call Eliot “babe”. Why didn’t I get that either? Unfair

...such a neat way to wrap up Eliot’s side story of Gutman blackmailing him. So perfectly framed - because while watching it for the first time, you’re so hooked on the dagger theft that you don’t notice Nate’s expression and the suspiciously convenient way that got resolved

... Hardison’s villainous cackle and his grin <3

...Parker and the shell-game. Again SO NEAT. Because this is what’s being done to us as viewers here and we SHOULD know how the shell-game works, that Hardison doesn’t end up with the dagger either, that Parker as the one operating the shell game actually has the prize (well, is closest to it)

... Hardison’s accent. Accent porn

... Hardison’s repeated slip-ups (“My nana’s house, err my house”) and his competely over-the-top recollection of his flirting success in that ultra-short montage

... his version of the Eliot/Sophie dance and his grin of approval. Why exactly do you take a photo of that, Hardison??

...Hardison making Sophie sound like one of the dwarves from LotR. Because clearly he COULD do a better job at a British accent. But why should he? Especially since the boyfriend err I mean the partner in crime err Eliot so obviously approves

...Eliot, the maniac, tackling him to the ground, trying to open his throat with a figgin machete (what is a knife that size doing at that party?)

... “Let’s get you somewhere quiet now, where there is no witnesses” continued by Eliot being CREPPY in the basement and Hardison’s ultra-fake smile hahaha

...”I still beat you” - because for Hardison this is what this is about. Beating Eliot. Who are these other people even :)?

... the shell game reveal and Nate is SO PROUD of Parker <333

...Parker’s story is SO not about any of that mood-setting shit or any of the details like... other people in the room. She even interrupts Nate when he asks her for her way in. Because this is about where to stash her gear, and how to get to the prize. Nothing else matters.

...Hardison stealing food and being SO adorably Hardison, Sophie being weird in her Britishness, Coswell being annyoingly “there” in Parker’s story

... SOUND EFFECTS FOR THE HUGE KNIFE. Because Parker’s life clearly is anime.

...the hasty and jagged storytelling. Yes, that is also because we’re hearing the story for the forth time, but it definitely shows how Parker tells a story

... Parker skipping <3

...Parker being honest about losing the dagger

...Nate’s portrayal of the others in his version. Sophie being just that little bit arrogant, Parker being cold, Eliot and his swagger, and all that in contrast to the utter adorableness of Coswell (and Nate being a DICK to him) : All that is very realistic. And then he adds a dash of humour to it: the size of the knife that Parker hands Eliot and Eliot’s WTF reaction to it for instance

... the actor playing Coswell is just awesome. So awesome. I feel for him here, poor guy.

... Nate not being IN his version of the story except for the beginning and the end. Instead his job is to put the pieces together and get the most imporant (and realistic) bits from the others in a straight line

... “Pretty eyes, little ponytail in her hair” - Aw, Nate <3 (And Eliot’s AMUSEMENT in that version of the story. Really, Nate, in your world Eliot is a romantic softie? I am not judging. Actually, I approve. Of that and of “You need a tissue” compassionate Hardison as well)

... Nate being a cold-hearted insurance guy asshole. I mean I don’t love him like that because he is horrible, but I love the contrast of that Nate to Team-Leverage-Nate and what that says about the influence of these four people on him <3

... while Sophie, Parker, and Hardison run out, Eliot hangs back. That moment of silent communication between him and Nate? I LOVE their relationship

SUCH a perfect episode <3

#leverage #nate ford #sophie deveraux #alec hardison #eliot spencer #parker #things I love about #the rashomon job #episode reaction

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thiefstealsthepodcast · 2 years ago

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If this was an invitation to share my thoughts: you're welcome. If not: enjoy?

Okay so starting in the first season Parker is othered both in the way the team talks about her and the way she learns, adapts and reacts to situations. It's important to point out that the team has no issues with her otherness but just because they still treat her with the respect she deserves doesn't mean she's not othered. Honestly, I love that they don't shy away from her being different because that is the entire reason that she is the best choice to become the mastermind.

In contrast to Hardison and Eliot, Parker has this innate desire to keep moving, keep learning, keep adapting because if she stops she is so used to having no safety net that not improving constantly is a safety risk for her. I feel like it doesn't need to be said that for the entire team everything they do is for survival but Parker is unique in that the only safety net she had before the team was Archie who is basically an absentee father that she cannot rely on to protect her (see the inside job).

Hardison has his foster family (anyone who wants to tell me that the support he has because of his foster family isn't real because they're not "really" his family can fight me in a parking lot.) Eliot may be distancing himself from his past but he has relied upon his family, his unit and even his 'co-workers' when he worked for Moreau. So as much as Nate says that they always work alone. It's really only true of Parker. We also see that Sophie has worked with at least two partners before the show and obviously Nate has literally been married and had a family, job etc.

This has led Parker to being the one character for whom learning new skills is essential to her survival, she has never been able to rely on anyone else contributing knowledge so she can survive so she needs to learn. Also important to note that a large chunk of her relationship with Archie is predicated on her learning from him. In her mind his care for her is intrinsically linked to her ability to learn from him and carry on his legacy.

Parker observing and learning is what makes her the natural choice. The key element of Nate as the mastermind is his ability to look at a situation, notice the important details and adapt. Parker is the only other character we see in the show also doing this and it's there from the very first episode.

Also the fact that survival is Parker's key motivator is essential to her ability to be a mastermind. As much as we like to put Nate on blast for putting the team in dangerous situations but he always makes sure that he has at least a dozen backup plans to keep the team safe. This means that unlike Hardison who largely got into crime as a way to make a name for himself Parker is motivated by the need to keep moving forward (like the blowfish 🤣) and survive.

Also putting Parker's otherness at the forefront means that her unique perspective is highlighted and that otherness, that unique perspective is essential to being a successful mastermind. There's no point making a plan if it's an obvious plan that the mark's going to spot from a mile away.

Even by season 2 we see Parker already using the skills she has been learning from the team. She's making observations that nobody else in the team is making, not even Nate.

By season 3 we see Parker has also developed the innate sense of morality that is necessary to lead a team like this (the inside job) she is not only the one to realise that for her to escape would mean that a lot of people are in danger but also it is her choice and her plan that allows them to escape the steranko. It's fascinating to me that the first significant episode where Parker takes the lead on a job is the episode where her old mentor is there and trying to give her commands but she actively tells him that she has a plan and Nate is the one who says "we will follow your plan this is your show." We also see her taking the lead in the boost job in regards to infiltrating the car theft ring. Even in season 3 Nate is not giving Parker control (because let's face it he's a control freak) but he is testing her almost. Giving her the space and authority to run sections of the job. I think it's fascinating that in a season in which Hardison is vying pretty hard for the mastermind position Nate has singled out Parker to basically be his apprentice.

Now in season 4 we see Nate and Parker working together more often and we see her running the team in The Girls' Nigh Out Job and this has gotten really long and I'm going to shut up now because I feel like a lot of the build up in season 5 is pretty obvious.

tl;dr Parker is the obvious choice for the next mastermind from the pilot and I would argue that Nate knew that from the very beginning.

If I think hard enough, Parker taking the mantle from Nate was planned out long before season 5 but I don't have the credentials to prove it except the piece of paper I got from university that says I'm certified

#Honestly I only have a Psychology degree #So it doesn't really apply here #but I do have a fancy piece of paper #Jamie steals the tumblr

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sophygurl · 7 years ago

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heh. @c-l-ford gave me all of the main characters from both Lucifer and Leverage for the character questions thing. This should be interesting. And long.

Lucifer

Lucifer:

do I like them: you betcha!

5 good qualities: he’s clever, he loves his family - much as he tries to deny it, he’s extremely talented at playing the piano, he’s a wonderful model of hedonism being about what’s pleasurable for all and not about a single-minded pursuit of what’s pleasurable for one in disregard for other’s desires, and he actually quite cares about humans and wants them to be good and not make it to hell.

3 bad qualities: he’s more than a tad self-absorbed at times, he is quick to blame/judge others for their failings, and dude often has to make the same mistake many times before learning from it.

favourite episode/etc: A Good Day to Die, 2x13 where he goes to hell to get the formula to save Chloe

otp: Deckerstar

brotp: Lucifer x Amenadiel

ot3: Don’t particularly have one for him. Sexytimes with any 2 ppl he wants, but I don’t really romantically ship him with anyone but Chloe (possible Mazikeen, but not WITH Chloe. and I could see either Linda or Maze as someone for fun sexytimes but not with one another or Chloe involved, so, yea. no ot3 for the dude we often see in 3somes (and moresomes))

notp: Any of his family members - he seems totally grossed out by the idea, himself.

best quote: Don’t have a specific one, but any time he reminds ppl that he has no qualms about the gender of who he has sex with or is attracted to is fantastic.

head canon: Mostly ones that really make me cry if I think about them for too long, having to do with his relationships with his family - particularly his dad. Like, for example, that he was a total daddy’s boy before their falling out and that’s part of why it hurts him so incredibly much.

Chloe Decker:

do I like them: yes ma’am!

5 good qualities: she’s such a good mommy, she is loyal af once she’s let someone into her inner circle, she’s driven af in her career, she is able to maintain a high sense of professionalism while allowing for Lucifer’s quirks as her partner, she’s one of the few ppl not let in on the Big Secret and yet she is still cool with all of these wacky people that have entered her life since meeting Lucifer like whatever these folks are weirdos but they’re my weirdos now.

3 bad qualities: she can be a little bit naive??, she often puts work above personal life stuff which can hurt her relationships and cause her to be a bit strained emotionally, she needs to work on that flirting game if she wants to do undercover work lol

favourite episode/etc: Quid Pro Ho, 2x10 - the trial where she talks about Lucifer’s honesty, etc.

otp: Deckerstar

brotp: Chloe x Maze

ot3: None for her, she’s monogamous.

notp: No major ones, though I’d not particularly enjoy her and Dan getting back together. They work best as friends, I think.

best quote: ugh, I’m bad at specific quotes. probably some snarky thing she said to Lucifer.

head canon: There’s a part of her that does, in fact, believe everything Lucifer tells her about who he and his family really are. She’s just not ready to accept it, yet. Until she’s ready to accept it, there’s nothing he’ll be able to do to prove it to her. But eventually, one day, she’s going to put it all together and just sort of ... know it. Then she’ll have a million questions.

Mazikeen:

do I like them: yea, she’s amazing.

5 good qualities: character development like whoa, she’s totally kick ass, she’d do literally anything for the small handful of folks she cares about, she’s learned to be vulnerable and to value vulnerability in others which is amazing, sexy af.

3 bad qualities: like Lucifer she can be kinda self involved at times, she enjoys the torturing maybe a hair too much, can be really mean without intending to be

favourite episode/etc: Mr and Mrs. Mazikeen Smith, 3x3 - her Canadian adventure

otp: none as of yet

brotp: with Lucifer, obvi

ot3: none as of yet - perhaps Linda and Amenadiel???

notp: no one in particular

best quote: Self worth comes from within, bitches.

head canon: She’s gonna get accepted into heaven some day.

Amenadiel:

do I like them: amen!

5 good qualities: he has learned to be so kind - wow character development!, he loves his family sfm, he finds cues of goodness and forgiveness and worth all around him even at his worst, is driven by a sense of purpose even when he feels lost as to what that purpose may be, hot af

3 bad qualities: can be a bit rigid in his thinking, is still overcoming some of his judgmental stuff, doesn’t always think through the consequences of his actions

favourite episode/etc: also A Good Day to Die - the way he and Lucifer worked together on that was so amazing I love them so much

otp: no one really, though I enjoy his relationships with both Linda and Maze

brotp: with Lucifer of course

ot3: idk with Linda and Maze!!?

notp: with Lucifer/any family, also would be horrified at the thought of him and Chloe

best quote: I don’t have an exact quote for this, but when he was telling Lucifer about the significance of his getting his wings back over and over and how it proves that their Father can forgive anything and how that gives him hope. *tears up*

head canon: He’ll get his own wings and angel powers back once he’s forgiven himself. God never took them away from him...

Linda Martin:

do I like them: Oh yes very much.

5 good qualities: So smart, so funny, so compassionate, so open minded, has some mysterious past that we still don’t know about please tell us Linda!!

3 bad qualities: Uhmmmm.... hmmmm .... I’m sure she has some but none are coming to mind.

favourite episode/etc: Oh, whatever episode it was that she found out the truth - er, probably not that episode because her seeing Lucifer’s true face was the end but the next one where we see her dealing with it all and trying to accept it and accept these supernatural people in her life for who they are. Linda is so amazing u all!

otp: No otp, but I did dig her and Amenadiel’s thing. But not if it’s gonna hurt Maze - which I think they’d both also not wanna do anything to hurt her, so that’s cool. I hope.

brotp: Linda/Mazikeen for sure.

ot3: As said above, her and Amenadiel and Mazikeen together could be interesting?

notp: Her and Lucifer. Like, it was fun when it was a thing but I was a lot more comfortable with them as both friends and client/therapist once they stopped having sex.

best quote: idk - something wise she says to Lucifer during a session most likely.

head canon: I can’t think of any.

Leverage

Nathan Ford:

do I like them: meh

5 good qualities: he hates the rich, he’s incredibly intelligent, he’s protective of his people, he’s wily, he not only thinks six steps ahead but can think on his feet to adjust the plans as necessary

3 bad qualities: he can be selfish af, his character arc was kinda boring to me?, he tends to wallow

favourite episode/etc: I’m gonna be bad at this category for this show because I haven’t watched it recently to remember specific episodes oooops.

otp: with Sophie

brotp: also with Sophie? I feel like they were sort of the two on the same footing with the others being somewhat dependent on them so while they were all a family, he didn’t allow himself to connect as equals with any of the others.

ot3: none

notp: idk who else did ppl ship him with? I can’t picture him with anyone besides his ex and Sophie tbh

best quote: Sophie Devereaux is the finest actress you've ever seen…when she's breaking the law.

head canon: After he and Sophie leave the other 3 to it, he checks in on them from time to time. That is to say - he always knows what they’re up to and how they’re doing and occasionally when they find themselves in a bind, he just sort of shows up out of the blue like “I knew this was gonna end up being a plan M situation, and I didn’t wanna lose Hardison quite yet...”

Sophie Devereaux:

do I like them: She’s alright.

5 good qualities: Elegant af, amazing actress as long as she’s breaking the law, loves her 3 socially awkward children and wants them to do well in life, takes no shit from Nate, has a strangely positive outlook on the world for the kind of work she does.

3 bad qualities: Such a bad actress when she’s on stage, again her character arc wasn’t super interesting to me, and uh IDK what else - she’s mostly pretty fab.

favourite episode/etc: no clue, see above.

otp: With Nate, although honestly I think she could do better??

brotp: With Tara, probs.

ot3: None.

notp: With any of the team other than Nate. It would be weird.

best quote: no clue

head canon: Sophie also checks up on the kids after they leave them to their own devices, but she does it in her own way. She’ll show up to their apartment after a draining job with an organic pizza and some beers and have her feet up in a comfy chair and ask them to come tell her all about it. When they’re having relationship issues, she seems to magically know about it before anyone tells her, and she’ll take them each aside for a lil chat and help them work through whatever is bugging them. Then she slips away before they even have a chance to say goodbye.

Eliot Spencer:

do I like them: Boy, howdy!

5 good qualities: When it counts he is so gentle and kind, has more emotional intelligence than you realize, is ridiculously knowledgeable about a ridiculous amount of things, cranky chef af, loves his adorkable nerd and sweet sociopath and would do anything for them (but would never admit that)

3 bad qualities: Doesn’t communicate that emotional intelligence enough, thinks he’s only good for his brawn :(, can be a lil intolerant and fussy

favourite episode/etc: Can’t think of the name, but the one with the kid that he bonds with and protects? I loved him so much in that one, especially.

otp: none....

brotp: with Hardison, also with Nate I think

ot3: Hardison and Parker, OBVI

notp: never with Nate or Sophie

best quote: hmmm not sure, something about food probs.

head canon: When he snuggles with Parker and Hardison? He’s the little little spoon. Don’t tell me otherwise, I’m not listening!

Alec Hardison:

do I like them: yup!

5 good qualities: so smart, so brave, so open-hearted, so funny, so adorable!

3 bad qualities: does Not like being wrong or making a mistake, can be over-confident at times, can also be overly pessimistic at times

favourite episode/etc: Oh probably the pretzels one. Like he is just so patient and open with Parker. I just ... *tearing up*

otp: with Parker

brotp: with Eliot

ot3: with Parker AND Eliot

notp: no one I can think of actively anti-shipping him with

best quote: The pretzels thing.

head canon: He’s the one who finally brings Eliot in to the relationship with Parker.

Parker:

do I like them: uh yea, she’s only one of my all-time fave characters

5 good qualities: she’s hilarious, she’s been so traumatized and she’s still so open to people like??? she doesn’t know How to connect with ppl but she Wants to so bad???, so fucking competent at everything she does, extreme desire to help others once she’s had a small taste of it, her idea of a great time is jumping off buildings and blowing things up and she is legit confused when she realizes that not everyone likes those things????!

3 bad qualities: nothing. she’s perfect. leave me alone.

favourite episode/etc: ALL of them, IDK, maybe at the end when Nate hands her the reigns it makes the most sense in the world alflgfjfhgskjalhfhgf

otp: with Hardison

brotp: Peggy!! (also Sophie)

ot3: Hardison and Eliot OF Course!

notp: anyone besides those 2 rly because my girl is very unique and emotionally fragile and I can’t have anyone hurting her or abusing her trust or causing her to backslide in her evolution of learning to love people like. no. stay away.

best quote: Everything blows up, silly!

head canon: She loves unicorns and totally believes they’re real. She can’t wait to meet one some day. She knows it’ll happen. The guys probably discuss how to dress up a horse as one to make this happen for her on her birthday at some point. She knows it’s a fake, but she loves them for trying. And she STILL believes in unicorns.

WOW that was fun and only took 2 hours, thanks C! lol

#leverage #lucifer #ask me stuff #fandom memes #question memes #head canons #that was my fave part

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