#wylie x nate

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac

[gabolange]

So, let’s talk about Leverage: Redemption. In which I am medium-whelmed at best.

Spoilers below the cut.

I finished the show a couple of days ago and I keep trying to figure out why I didn’t love it. This isn’t to say I didn’t like it, because I did, but it didn’t land for me the way it seems to have landed for a lot of people, and so here I am with, like, meta. Party like it’s 2008 and all that.

2008. I actually didn’t meet Leverage until 2010 despite friends telling me for ages I should watch. It one of those moments that became a forever memory for many reasons, but the most important is this: the show was perfect. Those first hours spent watching a rerun marathon on TNT on a hot-as-fuck July 4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico came with them the understanding that this show was truly special.

It was funny, it was topical, it was sexy, and it was so fucking smart. I fell in love right away with all of them, but especially with Sophie, and with Nate, and with their complicated, complex, adult history. And then over the course of catching up and keeping up, I fell even harder, with them and those themes, with watching Parker and Hardison grow into themselves, with watching Eliot deal every day with his demons. I loved the way the show balanced light and dark, how it could have Archie’s zappy cane in the same breath as Eliot giving Nate advice about what it would mean to kill. I loved that we all loved Maggie, even though ex-wives are known in television to be evil shrews. I loved Tara’s complexity, and Sterling’s wit, and how every episode was a chess game. And oh, how I loved Sophie’s journey, how she had to decide every day not how to live but who to be.

When I say it was perfect, I don’t mean it didn’t have its duds. Of course it did. But it did the thing it was trying to do better than anyone has ever done it, with intelligence and respect, and its finale is one of the three best series finales ever filmed.

This is all to say the bar for Leverage: Redemption was both sky high and very low. When I heard they weren’t bringing Nate back, my first thought was don’t you fucking dare break my heart. If Nate was drunk off his ass in a ditch somewhere, if he had broken Sophie’s heart--that would be the ultimate betrayal (hi, I still have feelings about The Doctor Blake Mysteries). And so the bar was: don’t break my heart, while also being something like the perfect show.

They didn’t break my heart. I said early the best thing would be to kill Nate after he and Sophie had good, long, happy years together. And they did, and it was the right place to start.

They gave me that, and I am grateful, but when I look at the rest, I guess I was underwhelmed. Or at least only whelmed. Medium-whelmed at best.

There were things I loved: Hardison and Parker’s relationship. Eliot’s careful watch over Sophie. Hardison growing up to become the most epic white hat hacker ever. The idea that getting back into the game would be the thing that would make Sophie happy. Hardison’s commentary on redemption. The idea of Leverage: International. Gina Bellman is still made of magic and heartbreak and perfection.

There were things I liked: I am fond of our Mister Wilson, even if I find Noah Wylie about as interesting as plain toast. There were some truly great Eliot beats. I don’t yet like Breanna, but I like the idea of Breanna. I liked the way Nate hovered over the entire thing, because Sophie brought him with her. I think the sets were great, and I was impressed at how much they were able to do in a pandemic. I found utterly baffling but nonetheless charming that we meet Harry in the middle of a failed heist in which the team judges his technique and then adopts him. I liked Fake Nate and everything they did with that. The show had many bright spots, and I don’t in any way want to diminish them.

But. It wasn’t smart. It wasn’t sexy. Except for Sophie’s grief and Hardison’s plans, it picked up the character beats where we left them ten years ago. Has Parker been mastermind for this entire time? I would have loved to see that. Have they learned how to do this well without Sophie and Nate? I would have loved to see that. Show me the history.

Show me the history. Breanna and Hardison and Parker all say this is the worst timeline, and we know it is because we have lived it. But in the universe of the show, it doesn’t really seem that bad -- the plots of the week were silly and so small. I remember finding Damien Moreau too big, once upon a time, but this all felt too easy, the stakes far too small for this to be a show where everything has gotten worse. Nate almost murdered two guys in cold blood, folks. The show was missing any of the darkness that made the original truly compelling, and so lost the balance we loved between that and finding joy. I don’t need it in every episode, but I need a hint that there’s something bigger and meaner out there other than throwaway dialog.

(And, when it tried to go dark, it swung and missed. The episode with the collapsed building was timely, but as someone with anxiety and PTSD, the way the crew played on this guy who had apparently tried to do better this time around...was kinda not okay, to be honest.)

I don’t have OT3 goggles, but I think if I did, I would find Hardison’s absence a little sad--he was the glue, and they needed to do more to bring Parker and Eliot together as friends / colleagues / long-term members of the same polycue / whatever. But even without OT3 goggles, I missed Hardison a whole lot. And I am SO happy for Aldis Hodge growing up to be a real movie star, but he brought so much presence and capability to every scene he was in, even when he was just a kid. Nobody else has his gravitas, or Timothy Hutton’s.

I do have Sophie goggles, and Sophie / Nate goggles. And they didn’t ruin the ship or anything, of course not. But I missed the frisson they brought, the way they made the show just that much more adult. And I am so very, very glad they got their happiness, but I am kinda sad that sexy got replaced with grief.

So yeah. I don’t know. I didn’t hate it at all. I am willing to give it a chance, to let it grow into something I love. But it isn’t, at least not yet.

(x-posted to dreamwidth)

[st-louis]

flyers training camp roster 2020-21

FORWARDS (22) Wade Allison (RW), Andy Andreoff (C/LW), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (RW), Connor Bunnaman (C), Sean Couturier (C), Joel Farabee (LW), Tyson Foerster (RW), Morgan Frost (C), Claude Giroux (C), Kevin Hayes (C), Travis Konecny (RW), Tanner Laczynski (C), Scott Laughton (C), Oskar Lindblom (LW), Samuel Morin (LW), Nolan Patrick (C), Michael Raffl (LW), Linus Sandin (RW), Carsen Twarynski (LW), James van Riemsdyk (LW), Jakub Voracek (RW), Zayde Wisdom (LW). DEFENSE (14) Chris Bigras, Justin Braun, Mark Friedman, Shayne Gostisbehere, Erik Gustafsson, Robert Hagg, Philippe Myers, Derrick Pouliot, Nate Prosser, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Tyler Wotherspoon, Wyatte Wylie, Egor Zamula. GOALTENDERS (5) Brian Elliott, Carter Hart, Alex Lyon, Felix Sandstrom, Roddy Ross.

[x]

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac said -> I was someone I don't want to be anymore. I've changed.

Wylie was hesitant to believe a word Nate Jacobs had to say. The energy between them in high school had not been good, especially for Wylie who had been nothing short of a shrimp with his nose buried in a book. The few parties he'd attended where Nate just so happened to be had ended pretty poorly for Wylie, but part of him wants to believe that people can change. Especially from their toxic youth. Pursing his lips, he gave Nate the once over. "I see. Is that your way of apologizing? Is this some sort of twelve step program?"

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac said -> “i’m sorry i wasn’t good enough."

"What are you talking about?" Wylie asked, looking with a slightly concerned expression up at Nate. He wasn't certain what he had done to make the other feel that way, but it hadn't been his intention. "You're more than good enough, I would never purposefully make you feel that way... tell me what I did so I can do better next time."

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac sent in 📜

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac sent -> wylie/nate

☀️          »        what    was    your    character’s    first    impression    of    their    partner   ? he thought nate was very handsome and interesting, though he kept space because he wasn't popular and nate was. 🍯          »        what    trait    does    your    character    admire    the    most    about    their    partner    ? his ability to just unabashedly be himself.⚡          »        who    spends    more    time    on    the    phone   ? probably wylie, he's always seeking validation. ✏️          »        who    takes    longer    to    text    back   ? feels like a nate problem tbh 💡          »        what’s    the    first    movie    /    tv    show    your    pairing    saw    ? hocus pocus, because it's wylie's favorite. 🐣          »        who    has    the    best    style    ? i think nate has a better sense of style than wylie, he kind of just wears whatever. 🔑          »        who    is    the    better    driver    ? definitely wylie. nate's a bit of a wild driver from what i've gathered. ⭐          »        what    are    three    things    that    your    pairing    have    in    common    ? they went to the same school, they both are very loyal, and they're super into each other. 🌩          »        how    does    your    character    calm    their    partner    when    they    are    angry    ? wylie's good at listening, so he just lets nate vent and tries to give him good advice on how to proceed. 🌼          »        who    was    the    first    to    say    i    love    you   ? probably wylie, he's more in his feelings. 🧀          »        who    is    the    better    cook   ? again wylie. he had to help take care of his siblings. he's very self-sufficient, where nate was more spoiled growing up. 🌻          »        who    is    the    better    listener   ? definitely wylie. he's always been a good listener, and i think nate's still learning. ✨          »        what    is    your    pairing’s    favourite    thing    to    do    together  ? wylie genuinely just enjoys being in nate's presence, doesn't matter what they're doing. probably playing video games and vegging out, though. ⚠️          »        who    has    the    crazier    family    ? probably nate with his crazy ass dad lmao. 🌙          »        what    are    your    character’s    love    languages    ––    gifts    ,    affection    ,    words    ? wylie is very much about acts of service. 🌤          »        how    long    has    your    pairing    been    together    ? just a short while. 💛          »        who    says    i    love    you    more    often    ? i think they say it equally<3 😭          »        who    is    most    likely    to    forget    an    anniversary    ? feels like a nate problem, tbh. no way in hell wylie's forgetting. 🍌          »        what    is    your    pairing’s    favourite    place    ? alone together somewhere<3

[thefvrious]

@predatorymaniac sent 🎵 and got so fast, so maybe by k. flay.

Wylie didn't know why, but he was stuck in a rut -- stuck in his head. Everything was so god damned overwhelming -- school, working two jobs, trying to breathe in between. His head got dark, and he didn't know how to pull himself back out of it. "It's all downhill from the moment that you're born to the moment that you're killed."