#yes this is specifically about how they show love to eliot

[trekscribbles]

Hardison shows love by giving people space. Parker shows love by taking space up.

[thieves-never-say-die]

Weekend in Paris Watch-Along

A summary of everything talked about in the Weekend in Paris watch-along, video here, with Dean Devlin, John Rogers, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane, and interviewer Brittany Catallo.

Under the cut because it is long.

First question: how do you feel the latest season of Leverage: Redemption is relevant to audiences?

John: [sarcastic outrage] How is a show about evil oligarchs relevant!? I can’t-!

Everyone laughed, and Dean said Leverage was always a show that predicts the future, like The Simpsons, and he specifically mentioned The Mile High Job when Hardison hacks the plane remotely, and The Jailhouse Job which was about the prison industrial complex. At the time of writing those episodes, neither of those things had been done/talked about yet, but soon after the episodes aired both of those things became major news stories. 

Dean said the difference this season was that Leverage was actually meeting the current moment, but in the show the good guys win.

John interjected that the good guys can still win! The only time anything is guaranteed is if you give up and accept it will just happen, otherwise the future is always unwritten.

Aldis: So basically Leverage is laying out the blueprint? We just need someone out there to follow it?

John: No! Do not send John Rogers to a foreign prison because you were inspired by something on Leverage!

Q: What can viewers expect this season coming off of last season?

Dean talked about how this season they got to see a whole new side of some of the characters, and get to explore some interesting arcs. He noted that we will be going deep into Parker’s character this season.

John said it’s an advantage of having a show that’s gone on this long, we’ve gone on a journey with them, and the actors give some really nice character work.

John then explained that they chose Paris because they were shooting most of their exterior shots in Belgrade, which is where The Librarians: The Next Chapter is shot. 

The intro shot of the team moving throughout the hallway was all one shot that didn't cut, and the cast managed to get it in two takes because they practiced a lot. Everyone had a great time filming it, even if it was stressful knowing one small mess-up would make everybody start over.

When they wrote the scene they didn't have the set yet, and after John turned in the script to director Marc Roskin, Marc called John and said "this is impossible", to which John responded "yes! And that’s what makes it cool!”

It was a lot of exposition dump, but John knows Aldis is the best at it and could do it, which allowed them to use Hardison as the anchor character for that scene.

They talked about how everyone had to race around the set, specifically mentioning Beth scrambling to the top to hang through the vent. 

The set itself wasn't as big as it looks, it was a big T that they digitally extended and shot well.

John: The room was like “so it’s Scooby Doo” and I was very hurt, I was like “No, it’s a challenging heist sequence built around an impossible bit of geometry!” And the writer’s room was like “No, it's the Scooby Doo door bit, we all know what you’re doing.”

John pointed out how these characters are now all peers, in comparison to the original show, which means Hardison can give Sophie crap about her relationships in a loving way.

He also pointed out how everyone else is distracted by personal stuff, but Eliot is the only one who stays on mission.

The shot of the team running out of the auction house and into the van was a reference to The Long Goodbye Job.

John: You know, I don’t think many fans will catch it, but we’re basically giving them a horrible flashback to the most traumatic moment of their life.

Aldis: You got the wrong audience for that on this show, because they watch everything.

Dean loved that they went from this long, beautiful one-er to the best action scene they've ever shot.

They were able to film the whole car chase downtown in the center of Belgrade.

The idea of the episode opening in the middle of a busted con was something John wanted to do since the original run of the show but never got to do.

Christian came up with the bit of Eliot recognizing and lamenting the waste of expensive flour.

Christian and John talked for a bit about shooting the fight scenes, and Christian said fight scenes are like a dance, it's less about the violence as it is about working with your scene partners.

John learned from Jackie Chan to shoot fights along a fight line, which helps avoid having the fights all be close up shots of punches. He also makes sure to write Eliot fight scenes with fluidity in mind, because Eliot fights to control the space, not to win.

Aldis shot his line in the van ("how was your first day at school?") in New Orleans six months after Christian shot his reaction outside the van in Belgrade. 

When coming up with the bad guys for the episode, one of the Amazon execs said "you may have made them too evil," to which John replied "there's no such thing."

Q: What is the significance of Eliot getting seriously injured in this? What was the motivation behind that?

John wanted to make sure there was adequate build to Hardison's speech later, and talked about how Eliot can take a beating and keep working, and has taken a beating for ten years, but sometimes it's taken for granted. Eliot can handle business while injured, but it's a reminder that he's not bulletproof, and it gives the audience a visual and physical reminder of it for the end of the episode.

Hardison and Parker's waiter uniforms reminded Dean of the Season 1 finale of getting the Davids.

Aldis mentioned he gets nostalgia when thinking about where they started, how far they've all come since then, they had a good time and he misses that time.

John said that the bad guy of the week (Arizona Mike) was an example of the banality of evil. He's a generally likeable, smiley guy who has no idea he's a monster.

Sophie's alias Violet Cesario is a character from 12th Night, which is a clue that Sophie made the alias because she takes names from Shakespeare.

They needed the team to make fun of Harry's beard to explain why it was shaved by the end of the episode. John enjoyed writing Sophie giving him crap for it without even seeing it.

Q: Where did the evil water stealing hot sauce salesman come from?

John said that people always focus on Big Crime when writing, but there's a million mid-level evil dudes out there. The bad guy was based on a certain type of farming in California (which John won't name so he doesn't get sued), but no one ever goes directly into water, they get into it through other means. People have an idea in their head of secret office buildings in Vienna and backroom deals, but there's a lot of mid-level millionaires making people miserable for their own money.

Q: How much of yourself is in these characters, and how much have the characters influenced you?

Aldis said that he's part of Hardison more than Hardison is part of him. Since they've been filming Leverage for so long it allowed them to influence their characters more, especially when Redemption started they got to help plan the maturation of their characters and where they would be ten years later. His performance of his characters is made more natural when he puts some of himself in it, and being able to help build the characters helps with that as well.

Dean pointed out that Aldis filmed several TV shows and movies at the same time as Redemption, and mentioned how he would fly out on his days off just to be in a few scenes. Aldis' other commitments were much darker and more tense. Dean asked Aldis what it was like to come and be this happy character for a week?

Aldis: It was like a vacation.

Aldis continued and said that he enjoys his other work, but being able to come back and work on Leverage is a gift. Leverage is just fun, and gives him nostalgia for where they started, and it gives a strange sense of "we're really doing this?" Because he rarely gets to play a character with so much history, and it's a very different experience at this point in his career, but it's a joy to do.

In response to the earlier question, Christian said that a lot of himself has bled into Eliot, and a lot of Eliot has bled into him. Christian helped create Eliot, and Eliot lives inside Christian's body in a way no other character does. Christian didn't know it when he started, but Eliot is the character he came to Hollywood to play. He wanted a role that had action and heart, and said that the bad guy is usually more fun to play, which makes Eliot great because he is both the good and the bad guy. He doesn't feel like he goes to work, it feels like he's showing up to have fun.

John talked about how on a lot of shows, actors just show up to read the lines given to them and that's it, but on Leverage it's more like a jazz band, and the actors know how to play an instrument that the writers don't know. They give the actors the score but encourage them to make it their own. Over the years the writers have learned how to write to the actor's rhythms as well, and all of that helps sell the characters. This has also kept the characters from getting stagnant after 15 years because they're not just characters that live in the writer's heads, they come from the actors as well which lets them grow and breathe.

Christian can’t imagine what it was like to read the Leverage pilot for the first time, because when he thinks about it now he pictures the actors as their characters. They've worked together so long that at this point he knows how Aldis will improv a line.

The line "the law just sucks, now get in the hole" might be one of the darkest lines on the show, according to John.

Q: What was it like to work in New Orleans? How does that setting affect how the show is now?

Dean said they went to New Orleans because he'd had a great experience filming one of the Librarian movies there, and it made sense for them. The only original art form ever made in the US is jazz music, and it came from New Orleans. It was important to put the show in a place that is culturally so important to America, but is also such a huge place for art and corruption and bad guys and people who fight for good guys.

John knew Aldis and Beth would be able to sell the Eyes Wide Shut bit, and could make it creepy and weird, so he just wrote the bare bones script and let them have fun with it. Beth specifically did it as "this is Parker's idea of sexy", and he loved that because he never could've come up with it.

Dean asked Aldis what it was like to film the conversation between Parker and Hardison about wanting to do something different.

Aldis said it was a really important scene, because they've had so many years together and understand each other so well, they're very aware of the weight of what they'll miss together. It juxtaposes well with the previous scene where they worked together really well. They know they make each other better, but what does it mean for Hardison if his heart isn't in it anymore?

John mentioned that the technique of backtracking money laundering accounts is real.

John then talked about how they wanted to write Parker and Hardison, because they didn't want to do the typical shocked significant other plot line. When you love characters and love people you don't want anything to change, but life is change and the world changes all the time. Change is natural and it isn't bad, but it's okay to recognize that some people need to get off the train at different stops, but you still love them and are still with them. It was the same conversation they were having with the fans through the show. You don't have to abandon each other or stop loving each other just because people are doing different things.

Dean interjected to mention how much he likes how Christian played Eliot not wanting to be in this house, with these people, doing this con, all while injured.

John's favorite version of Eliot is when he's annoyed. They missed it earlier but the exchange between Sophie and Eliot ("Oh, sorry, I was focused on the terrorists!") was one of his favorites.

John: Eliot tough and scary is fine, but my favorite thing is when Eliot is annoyed with everybody.

Aldis: Everybody tunes in to watch him get annoyed.

Christian added that he loves acting annoyed, and Aldis is his favorite scene partner for that.

For Harry's scene at the fence with the tanker, everything past the fence was CGI, it was really just an abandoned golf course behind the building.

Q: How do you see comedy and its role in Leverage?

John said a big part of it was because he and Chris Downey started in sitcoms, and they didn't know any rules about "don't mix comedy with drama", so they decided why not have the corny flashbacks and the cool drama. Back when the show started it was hard to get the execs on board, they didn't really understand the tone, but they got it eventually. All the actors can hit jokes, and if you have actors that can hit jokes, give your actors jokes!

Dean said when they filmed the pilot he didn't know how funny Christian could be until the IT guy, and didn't know how good at improv Aldis was until they filmed.

John loved Harry's side-con here. It's not important, it's just a B-plot, he's having fun, we don't have time or that, it’s whatever you want it to be!

Christian's favorite scenario on set was when Eliot and Hardison were dressed up as cops (The Morning After Job), everything in the car and with the call they responded to was so much fun.

John said that episode was a Chris Downey episode, he wanted the comedy of them working together and told John to make the plot work.

John gave credit to Gina, how she masterminded the hell out of the episode, we get to see how terrifying Sophie can be. 

The fight with Eliot, Hardison, and the giant security guard was John's vision. He wanted the Cap/Bucky/Iron Man fight from Civil War, and finally got to write that sequence. Two guys fighting in sync, as a pair, who have known each other for 15 years, and know their rhythms. 

Christian said it's hard to coordinate a fight like that, but he and Aldis have worked together so long that they figured it out.

Dean loved that Hardison really went all in on the Vulcan neck pinch thing.

John: Hardison believes the Vulcan neck thing is gonna work, and Parker believes it's gonna work, and that’s what love is.

The interviewer asked a question about how Christian does his stunts, and he confirmed he does all his own fights, and as many stunts as John and Dean allow him to.

Brittany: Legally?

John: No! No, no, past that!

Dean hates that Christian does his own stunt. He'll tell Christian not to do something, and then get dailies of Christian doing that thing.

John: And then I get footage of Aldis and Beth running on top of trains! (The Big Bang Job)

Christian told a story of when they worked on The Office Job and were filming the scene on the roof. They had crash pads down, and after they were done filming Christian just jumped onto it without telling anybody. A few seconds later, Aldis followed.

John facepalmed at that story.

Q: Did you work with a lot of the same crew for this season as past Leverage Redemption season?

Dean said they have a lot of the same crew and appreciate it because it’s a great crew.

John said the key to making a good show is hiring smart people who are good at their job, and then getting the hell out of their way. Dean very rarely harshes anyone's insane idea and lets everyone work collaboratively.

John also noted that Breanna and Becky (Harry's daughter) are now best friends. If they had more episodes the two would've had a whole adventure together.

It was also fun to write Hardison giving Breanna the big brother talk, while Parker's in the background like "tell her about the bomb!" and Hardison shushes her because he knows if Nana finds out he told Breanna about a bomb he'd be in trouble.

They shot the end of episode 1, the end of episode 3, and the last scene of the season finale all within a day and a half of each other because they wanted Aldis to be there.

Dean said he loves the pretzels bit, and John talked about how it started as a one-off thing that was just there, but then it became a thing in the show and in the fandom and now it's a whole callback and shorthand for their relationship.

John talked about the ending scene, and how he didn't want Hardison to just bail, he needed to have an honest conversation with Parker. 

It was Gina's idea for Sophie to be dating again, and it comes up several times throughout the season.

John liked the way Christian and Aldis played their conversation, of two guys who care about each other and aren't very good at emotions but still have to talk about emotional things.

John repeated that Eliot isn't looking for redemption, he knows he's damned and he's accepted it. It's hard for Eliot to accept or process that other people see him differently.

Christian chimed in that Eliot's redemption is getting other people to a place where they can be redeemed. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and even if he's stuck in the tunnel forever as long as everyone else gets out then he doesn't need to.

Q: Is that something we’re going to see more of this season? Exploring everyone finding their own version of redemption?

Christian said his role is more in the background, he's talking people off the ledge, he's giving Hardison advice, he's talking to Sophie, making sure Harry doesn't screw up. Eliot is especially protective of Harry because he's not as far along as the others, and is really trying to give him a leg up out of the darkness.

Dean talked about how it was very important to them that they never betrayed the truth of Parker and Hardison's relationship.

John mentioned that the actors found that relationship. He hates writing backstory and tends to slow-play relationships, because once you get into a relationship it becomes a soap opera and you start screwing with the relationship in order to get stories, so that's why they waited until season 5 of the first run to get Parker and Hardison together. They don't want to mess with their relationship now to get stories, and it was interesting to write about a mature relationship because everyone knows they're not going to break up. He knows you can't screw with such a central relationship for cheap drama.

John: They're in this complicated, emotional relationship, with them and Eliot—however you want to define it—and they are going to die together.

That was the end of the episode! Dean reminded everyone that a new episode will drop every Thursday for the next 7 weeks, and thanked the fandom for supporting it, as the fans are the only reason they got to come back.

Q: Any hint for what we can expect this season?

Christian said there are some great character arcs coming up. He especially loved the second episode.

Dean pointed out how they've made over 100 episodes of Leverage now, and the thing that most surprised him this season is that they're still doing things they've never done before, he's shocked they can still find new places to go, and says that some episodes this season are completely wild.

John said all the writers loved being back with these characters, and we're going to see some unexpected but not unbelievable turns from the characters as they expose their vulnerable side. We'll explore a bit more for the newer characters, and Breanna especially is going to be great.

[aardvaark]

leverage rewatch: s1e2 "the homecoming job"

ah yes, the title i always get mixed up with "the reunion job". my brain goes "homecoming" -> some american high school thingy -> probably that episode at a high school right? but no, this is the very pro-military episode that every american tv show seemingly has to do at least once lol smh

i love sophie’s audition scene. weirdly i actually guessed that it would be for some kind of cleaning commercial when i was first watching (she’s dramatically saying "i want to be cleannnn!" but i was thinking "hm, yes, ‘clean’, i bet this is a joke about an overly dramatic reading of a cleaning product ad". and then they revealed it was about soap). which probably speaks to the weird way my brain works, but fortunately my brain is apparently in sync with how leverage works lol. p.s. is the fact it’s a "soap ad" and she’s acting melodramatic a joke about soap opera style acting?

also re: her terrible audition scene, leverage creator john rogers has a cameo as the casting guy.

and third thing about that scene (wow i’m 3 mins in and already off track) i do love watching comedic sophie scenes. like her delivery of "peggy killed her first husband" (peggy being the character in the ad about soap) lmaoooo. this scene reminds me of gina bellman’s character in another show, "coupling" - personally wasn’t a show i enjoyed, but i could appreciate how funny she was.

the guy eliot punched in the throat still falling to the ground while he answers the phone lol.

the idea that parker a) doesn’t have her phone on silent/turned off/away from her during a heist and b) that she would answer the phone during a heist even when a security guard is around, is very funny to me. and she still gets away evidently, so apparently that’s also a completely valid choice for her to make.

sophie saying "don’t you trust us?" to eliot & laughing about it lol. next season she’ll be a bit genuinely offended that eliot doesn’t fully trust her, but she doesn’t know it yet.

hardison’s old nate painting!!!!! iconic. and hardison really is gifted.

"short version or long version?" "short" "short" "shortest" pshhhh poor hardison

first time eliot says "it’s a very distinctive…"

first time hardison gets pushed off a roof (actually, sophie is the first to get pushed off something against her will by parker, which happens in the pilot episode)

i like how sophie’s voice changes a little, even when her grift alias is also british, even when she doesn’t really *need* to do a different voice. there’s still very much a baseline Sophie Voice and then many other voices for each ‘character’ she does. which gives the impression that the Sophie Voice is also just another fake accent (& technically that’s true according to john rogers - in the beantown bailout job, when sophie’s fighting the guys who attack nate in his apartment, her accent changes a bit and apparently that’s supposed to be a hint at her real voice).

when nate’s acting up and eliot says they’ll just finish this job and split up again, they all agree but look so disappointed and sad :( only known each other for a couple of jobs so far but none of them really want it to be over.

it’s adorable that hardison & nate watch parker’s theft. with popcorn, might i add. nate specifically walks over to watch and asks if she’s started yet. it’s sweet that he seems to find parker’s work sincerely impressive, i guess he’s spent years tracking her down and it makes sense that he’d see all the skill that goes into making the theft of something so major (literally stealing a law!) look so effortless.

parker being able to sense that money is real vs counterfeit lmao.

eliot, smiling sarcastically: "hey, what do you got going on? you and hardison? what is it, like a creepy contest??" lol. and hardison looking annoyed vs parker still smiling (she’s having the best day ever bc she found so so much cash)

parker’s "i bought a plant" (bc hardison suggested it earlier) is soooooo adorable i love that moment so much <333 she doesn’t seem to quite know how to say it, she just blurts it out, but he gets it. he’s always understood. agh my heart!!

nate buying a t*sla lol - godddd it meant something very different back then

them all being surprised at the car for 0.0001 seconds before agreeing it’s a midlife crisis and making fun of nate again. love this family.

[wormsinastarcoat]

What’s your favorite season of leverage and why?

oh boy oh fuck oh god

okay first of all YES GOOD THANKS this is exactly the kind of question I was hoping for !! however i did not have this specific answer prepared because I've never been asked it before and now i have so many thoughts.

Micah's thoughts:

you didn't specify original series vs Redemption reboot so I'm going to pick a favorite season for each because there's simply no way to compare them fairly imo.

Redemption is easy: I've only seen the first three episodes but I can already tell that this season (3) is going to be my favorite of the lot so far. I liked seasons 1 and 2, but had some pretty big gripes with Parker's characterization, so I'm extremely excited that this new season seems to be bringing back the things about her that I loved from the original show!!

Leverage 2008-2012

Season 1: Okay, i'm genuinely curious if s1 is anyone's favorite season. The first episode has pilot syndrome, the episodes are out of order in a way that's jarring for emotional arcs, and Nate's yelley and drunk for them majority of it. It's definitely good shit, and has some of my favorite episodes (6 that are in my regular rewatch rotation), but there isn't enough cohesion for it to be considered a favorite season, especially if I can only pick one.

Season 2: s2 has the very big con of losing Sophie for a bit (although i do love Tara!!), and the very big pro of making Eliot wear so many funky little costumes (hello baseball episode and fashion show episode). Plus it's set in Boston, my favorite city, has a pretty killer finale, and has, well, more of my favorite episodes.

Season 3: GOD s3 gets JUICY. The Damien Moreau arc FUCKS, and we've got some top notch cons. We do lots of fun shit with team dynamics, family ties, and personal histories. I love it. I love it i love it i love it.

Season 4: Good shit! Hell of a finale, lots of fun cons that play around with genre & the medium. Not much to say about it other than that though.

Season 5: More all time favorites! More episodes i forget exist whenever i stop looking at them! GODDAMN INCREDIBLE FINALE!

Conclusion?

God i love season 3. Godddddd i love season 3. thank you for coming to my ted talk as i remembered how much i love season three lmaooo

thank you for the fun question!!!

[jedijenkins]

the next chapter ship talk (so far)

have i told you guys i already ship vikram and connor because they held hands in the sneak peek and lysa responded to this by rolling her eyes and saying "great, a bromance is forming." their shipname is Viknor and i have already made them a playlist I have other reasons to ship them as well - and I'm also not alone in being excited for their dynamic specifically. The entire audience at ElectricCon gasped out loud when they held hands and seemed to get along so well off the bat.

Because if you're familiar with Electric Entertainment shows like everyone in that audience was, you know they have tropes that repeat across their shows. One of those major tropes is that the two main male characters don't get along at first, and then pretend not to get along even when they become so close they would die for each other. They put on the whole bicker like an old married couple routine. (Jake and Ezekiel, Eliot and Hardison, Garrett and Janzo.) So the entire audience gasped and screeched when Vikram and Connor held hands for a prolonged period of time and smiled like giddy idiots the whole time and then proceeded to seem to get along well in the rest of the trailer because this is flipping the usual Electric Entertainment formula on it's head. Connor and Vikram aren't going to pretend to dislike each other out of some sense of pride, that isn't their characters. And on the flipside, Lysa and Charlie as the two main female characters seem to be the more standoffish and emotionally distant characters, because of respective traumas. (Lysa losing her parents at a young age and Charlie being rejected from the Library once before. This is her last chance to prove herself. Yes I also already ship Lysa/Charlie as well they are called Charlysa.)

They seem to gravitate to each other instantly, which makes sense when you consider the context of their characters and where they each are in their lives. Connor was a historian who was thrown out of academia for believing in magic and the library's existence, and it's implied his family and the rest of society thinks he's crazy. He's been reduced to being a thief by night and a conspiracy theory content creator by day. (He was literally livestreaming himself breaking into the castle ruins lmfao we have our first youtuber librarian its great) Then here comes Vikram, bursting into Connor's life and bringing the truth about magic and the Library being real with him. He literally bursts into Connor's life at his lowest, loneliest point and gives him all the answers and validation that he isn't crazy that he's ever wanted. (The way Connor and Lysa meet Vikram honestly reminded me of how Eve meets Flynn.) Meanwhile, from Vikram's perspective, he is suddenly stranded in the far future alone and everyone he's ever known is dead and gone. He's told he's not allowed to return so he's now doomed to be a fish out of water in a world where he doesn't belong for the rest of his life, never to see his loved ones again. So far, Charlie seems annoyed with his refusal to listen to her so far from what we've seen, and Lysa is emotionally standoffish and upset that she's even having to deal with magic because she hates the unknown and unpredictable. Of course we already know they will all soften and warm up to each other and become attached to each other, but it's pretty obvious that Connor is the first real true friend that will be easy to talk to that Vikram has in this new time. So, all that considered, it's not surprising they get along so well so quickly they're literally holding hands like they're about to skip off together in the first few episodes.

(this post is just me talking about which character dynamics interest me the most therefore what i'm most excited to ship both platonically and romantically, not saying I think they are going to make it canon. i enjoy shipping regardless of canon, although these two dynamics being canon would make me happy, but i can also see other variations between this group becoming a thing)

[blogger360ncislarules]

We’re getting a classic Leverage episode with the Thursday, May 15, edition of Redemption, and so it’s fitting that one of the original series stars, Beth Riesgraf, who has continued to play thief Parker, stepped behind the camera to direct it (her fifth of the series).

In “The Shakedown in Clone-Town Job,” Sophie (Gina Bellman��s grifter), Eliot (Christian Kane‘s hitter), and Parker get caught in a small-town speed trap run by a corrupt mayor who is also the local judge, endeavoring to help the oppressed townspeople wrest power from his hungry clutches.

Below, Beth Riesgraf talks about directing this Leverage: Redemption episode, teases what to expect, and previews Drew Powell‘s upcoming return as former-mark-turned-Leverage International member Hurley.

What do you enjoy specifically about directing this show and these characters?

Beth Riesgraf: I think the overall theme of the show of giving power back to the people is such a strong message and it’s a timeless one. Obviously, we can all relate to that right now, too. So it’s something I really believe in in this show, is the power to tell these stories that inspire people to change or inspire people to give back to people who need it and remind them that justice can be served. So, thematically, I just love what the show is about and that it makes people feel good. We were talking about the fact that the show’s a comfort show, and that used to be something people were like, I don’t know, we want something edgier or whatever. There’s something really great that this gives people comfort and makes them feel like there’s something they can do about it. So I love that personally as an actor and a director.

Sam Lothridge/Prime Video

And then working with the cast and crew… some of these guys I’ve known since 2008. So I feel really fortunate to work with my friends and family in that way. And I love collaborating. I love all the decision-making. I love creating a frame and the camera work, and I just love all of it so much. So I think every aspect of the filmmaking process, from our pre-production meetings all the way through the editing process, it’s really enjoyable.

What excited you about this episode specifically from a directing standpoint? Is there anything you got to do as a director you hadn’t yet?

Yes. There’s a couple of things about this one. One, it’s based off of a true story. Really, this is a story that has happened across America. And so that was inspiring to go, OK, wait a second. We can actually highlight this and show people can take the power back in this type of situation. And working with Cedric Yarbrough was really exciting to me. I had the idea to make an offer to him. I’m a big fan of his, and it was a big last minute, can he do it? Can he not? And the fact that we got him was really exciting to me and I loved working with him.

Then I designed a fight sequence that was really exciting to me. I was inspired by the South Korean film Old Boy, and there’s a really famous scene called the corridor fight scene. And so I thought, hey, what if we did a long fight in the style of a oner where Eliot has to barrel through bicycles and motorcycles, and if I find a stretch of road or something long enough, we actually pull this off. I worked with Lex Damis, our stunt coordinator, and we had a lot of fun, and that was really exciting to me, and we covered it in a couple of angles and gave it our own spin. But that was really exciting because I felt like it was something we hadn’t really done before in the show, and so I’m really proud of that sequence.

Preview the con and how the crew gets involved, because it’s always fun when episodes pick up right after another or in the middle of one.

Yeah, so I had this idea, I was like, what if — so Josh Schaer wrote the most amazing episode, and I was like, this feels like a feature film. This is so cool. Most episodes, we are out on location two, maybe three days, and then we’re on stages for the other five days. This one, we were on location six days and on stage only two. So we had the challenge of a lot of locations and exteriors and we had to make it all work. So we found this little town outside of New Orleans that was just perfect, and we were able to say, OK, this is the town.

What happens is this mayor’s playing both judge and mayor, and he set up a speed trap for these people to go through, and then he charges them huge fines and takes all their money. And I’m like, well, what situation could the team be coming from where they’re tired? How can we make this fun? I was like, what if they’re coming from another [job], like a race derby or something like that, and Elliot’s got his car, it’s a new car, let’s give him a new car, what would he like? And so down to how the mud would spray it on the side of the car, we just wanted it to feel like they’ve been driving all night and they get stuck in this speed trap and kind of happened to fall and stumble into this situation.

And it was a great setup for the tow truck driver to be the one that Sophie ends up having a flirtation with that grows and just all the little steps kind of fed into, and this is where we see and expose some of the villains in the town. These bikers are part of this gang and how are they intertwined and everything? And then you see the team start to slowly do what they do best and piece it together and be like, hold on. We’re not moving on until we help these people.

Prime Video

I love the crew as it is now, but I also love that this episode highlights the OGs and we get quite a bit with Parker, Sophie, and Eliot in it.

Yeah, I do, too. That was really fun. It was fun for us to have some of that. I thought the overall episode really felt like a classic Leverage episode in that way, right?

Yeah, it did. Also, speaking of that bit about Sophie’s love life, talk about getting to explore that and directing Gina for it.

It was really fun. What I’ve learned about the main cast, and I think a lot of directors will say this when you go into a show, if I weren’t on the show, I would come in and approach it like, these guys know these characters better than anyone, and so I’m in their house and I approach the work like that. With those series regulars, nobody knows their characters better than them. And so with Gina, I know that if she wants something from me, she’ll ask and we’ll have those creative conversations before we get to set and really take the time beforehand. So then once we’re in there, she locks in, I lock in, and we both do our thing.

We had a lot of discussions about Jack and who is this guy and what kind of qualities does he possess that Sophie might find exciting and intriguing, and really what catches her off guard about her reaction to him, I thought that that was a really special element to this story. She’s not expecting it. She’s actually in a place at the beginning of the episode where she’s fed up, like, “This isn’t going to work for me. I don’t know what I’m doing. I can’t fit in this dating lifestyle. Maybe it’s not for me.” Then, unexpectedly, this guy’s plopped right in front of her and it’s like a breath of fresh air. Literally, she’s in his truck and the wind’s blowing in her hair and she sees him and they start talking about poetry, and she never expects that a guy from this town would have the same interests as her. And I think the fact that it is totally unexpected is so romantic and exciting for her.

She just took that and ran with it. She has so many beautiful moments. There’s a moment when they’re at the truck, he’s fixing something under the hood of his truck and she’s walking through and it’s the most beautifully nuanced, subtle scene. I think Gina just — it was a home run. She hit all the levels of loss and heartache and pain and how scary it is to think about beginning again. Jack, he also has that history a little bit, too. And so that’s really a bonding moment for them that was really all about the subtext, and I thought they just knocked it out of the park.

It was fun to see Parker in the middle of that in the tow truck.

[Laughs] Yeah, I was like, I think she should be hungry. She’s always hungry. And so I threw that in there. I’m like, “Have any snacks?” And he’s like, “I’m not an Uber, what?”

Then we have Hurley coming back, and it’s always fun to see him. What can you tease about that episode? There’s a great Parker and Hurley conversation in it.

Yeah, what I love about that episode is you don’t quite know what Parker’s role is in that con and the setup and everything. But because of her history with Hurley, she understands him so thoroughly and she’s willing to let him fail. She sets up a situation with him where she’s like, there’s going to be a consequence and he is either going to rise to the occasion or not, but he won’t know who he really is and what side of the fence he wants to be on until he’s faced with that decision and has to be there. So for them, it’s like their kindredship and their friendship comes into play. At the end, he realizes she was behind some of that. There’s just such a kindred spirit between the two of them. They have so much fun together, too. But yeah, I thought it was a really beautiful episode for that friendship and to see growth there and for Parker to be in a position of showing someone else you can grow and change.

And we really see how far that she’s come and why she is leading everything with all these other crews.

Yeah, it’s nice, you get a glimpse into it. I’ve been wanting to show more of that with her, and the writers have been so excited about it, too. It’s a lot of ground to cover when you’re bringing a show back, and I thought it was just done so beautifully. We’re not hitting anyone over the head with it. We’re treating the audience with respect and they know her and they know what she’s up to and letting the imagination kind of play. But I thought this was a really beautiful way to weave that part of her life into, yeah.

[adverbian]

6, 19 & 24 on the Ao3 wrapped?

6. Favorite title you used

It’s gotta be “Exsultet.” Just because I have a very specific memory of struggling to find a title for that fic. Here’s what I wrote about it on Reddit:

My brain is an ADHD tangle of free-association, so usually [a title] will ping into my head because an emotion, theme, image, or turn of phrase in the fic reminded me of something.

My clearest memory of deliberately searching for a title was “Exsultet.” I started with “The Hollow Men” by way of Dorothy Sayers (Busman’s Honeymoon — the resolution of Aziraphale’s PTSD nightmare at the end of my fic owes a lot to the resolution of Peter’s: “It changed when you touched me — something about rain…”)

From there, I went to “The Waste Land”, “These fragments I have shored against my ruin.” But that wasn’t quite right, still. I wanted something that showed hope springing from grief; something that showed how joy can grow from the ashes.

Then I went from Eliot to Frost, considering “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” but still, it didn’t feel hopeful enough. But as I glanced through the Wikipedia article for “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” I pinged on a quotation from Alfred R. Ferguson: “Perhaps no single poem more fully embodies the ambiguous balance between paradisiac good and the paradoxically more fruitful human good than ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay,’ a poem in which the metaphors of Eden and the Fall cohere with the idea of felix culpa.”

Felix culpa. I knew that one from going to Easter Vigil Mass every year of my Catholic childhood. “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” Yes, I thought, that’s the vibe I’m looking for. And that prayer, of course, known by its Latin title, is the Exsultet.

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

I still have an idea for War/Agnes Nutter that I think could be very interesting!

24. Did you write any gifts this year?

I did! So many! In order of publication:

Exsultet for @grimboigio (for the Good Omens Song & Poetry exchange)

Bear You On the Breath of Dawn, a drabble for @voluptatiscausa

Gibraltar May Tumble for @sapientmanbuncountrymare (for the GOAD Pride Exchange)

This Most Balmy Time and Stay Me With Flagons, a pair of smutty drabbles for @cemeteryangel725’s birthday

That Certain Night for @voluptatiscausa ‘s birthday

Horn of Plenty with @malachitegrey and @voluptatiscausa for our friend MimiRay

All Your Life for @gaiaseyes451 ‘s birthday

I love gift fics ❤️

[soullessjack]

oh my god I know I’ve mentioned it before but I rlly cant stop thinking about it. don’t go into the woods is literally the pinnacle of autistic representation (to me). bear with me because I have a migraine and am struggling to stay conscious but. There are just so many various autistic experiences shown throughout the episode and what happens to jack in it. Like it’s borderline upsetting (for me) to watch because of how resonating they are.

firstly, jack actively wants to try and put himself out there. He wants to make friends and have normal human experiences even if he can’t exactly stop being ‘special.’ (Also, he does specifically say that he is “himself” again once his powers are back, so it’s like, yes that is something he more or less sees as an inherent part of himself, but I think the part he struggles with is the consequential nature of his powers and who he is. as I’ve said before, it’s one thing to simply be different than it is to be treated differently. )

furthermore, once jack realizes the kids are basically ‘safe’ to be honest with, as they’re aware of monsters, he’s the exact opposite of shy about his powers. that’s one thing about him I really love . Like he LOVES to show off and impress people and be praised/appreciated by others.it’s such a silly trait I wish was characterized more often. He also just instantly starts unmasking and info dumping Twice about Haitian zombie law (to Sam and Dean) and how to kill monsters god he’s so special you don’t understand. He is not a gatekeeper you WILL be forced to know about his special interests.

however even tho jack is shown to be very proud of his abilities and hunting knowledge the very Minute that he senses the other kids think he’s weird (Reminding everyone that they were judgy from the start and did not in fact invite him over because they like him) he just Cannot Stand It . That’s the consequential part yknow. Like jack does see and feel his powers as just an inherent part of him (which they Are), he’s literally said they feel like breathing. It’s just Who He Is yknow. but the consequential part of it is that people are either afraid of him, they hate him, or they think he’s weird. And jack doesn’t like any of that shit. He doesn’t like being cast out or defined by the thing that makes him a little more different.

‘he’s back to being the oddball.’ back to it, like that’s just the unfortunate default he’s stuck filling. (Also on another note I think it’s really sad on that he can already recognize the particular facial expression for “We Think You’re A Freak”). It’s like he can just sense the rejection and isolation before he even actually receives it, and the mere perception of that is enough to totally throw him off. Totally not an experience any autistic person has ever felt before. Totally not similar to a particular co-morbid form of dysphoria that commonly plagues autistic individuals. Not at all.

This episode has probably the most bleak ending to me? Not in a competitive sort of way, the show has gotten far bleaker I am aware. But in both the original script (that got entirely changed) and the actual episode, it ultimately ends with Jack just not having friends. We’ve all seen the episode I won’t recap that far. Head still hurts bad. But In the script, Jack only ever shows the kids various combat moves with an angel blade, and the accidental stabbing is by Eliot, and Jack healing Stacey is basically the Big Reveal of his powers and , as the script above shows, what he Really is. ?.

I guess all of the combined stress and just shock of the monster world (Eliot is previously shown to be basically paranoid of things out to get him earlier in the script) is enough for the kids to very gently let jack down and say they’ll see him again or something, but it literally ends with jack’s inner monologue that he knows he’s never gonna see them again, and going “so much for having friends.” The End.

And idk. To me It’s just so. Isolating. Like. You try and make friends and be a little normal and belong somewhere else for once but the entire time you get the vague sense that you’re still too weird and out of place, that everyone else also thinks you’re weird and out of place. You’re so used to rejection that the impending sense of it starts looming over you, but you still wanna put yourself out there! You still want to at least try! And then you get the pile of bricks dropped on your head. The Impending Rejection. Everyone leaves you alone again and you’re left with the solidified knowledge that you are in fact, too weird and too different to belong anywhere else, to have friends. You can’t be normal or accepted, you’ll always be alone and isolated and rejected.

Autism 101 yay

[eliotqueliot]

Queliot & The Magicians Fic Reading Winter Challenge, part 1

I'm going to return to posting about my fic reading. Basically this is just a list of Queliot & Magicians fanfic that I read & loved! With a few little comments about why I loved it, in case you want to try it, too.

However--there's a little more to this challenge personally, behind the scenes.

I started reading Queliot fanfic before I had an AO3 account. While I always left kudos as a guest, at first, I didn't leave a lot of comments.

Meanwhile, this summer, I was out of town a lot. I did a lot of fic reading--but a lot of it was offline, with fic I downloaded so I could read them--and then I got super busy upon return and still haven't finished commenting.

And also--a lot of the fic I love, including several I'm currently reading, are LONG. I don't wanna stress myself out or shortchange the fic by telling myself to read a new-to-me fic every day, like I did the last time.

This time--my personal challenge is gonna include spending more time reading Queliot & Magicians fic (I love it the most, and I've been so stressed out lately that I haven't had time to read enough--yet ironically reading the fic would help so much with the stress!)--but also--taking the time to go back and add comments to some of the fic I've read but haven't yet commented on!

I'll be sharing the list here--because I hope more people will dive in & enjoy these wonderful stories--also to keep me on track and help me find the fic I love. I'll do my best to post every few days with 2 or more recs. My goal--starting today through Jan. 31--is to rec about five per week--for a total of 40 fic! Let's see how I do!!! <3 (Yes, you know me too well--I will be trying for more than 40 LOL)

By the way--this whole thing started thanks to @lizardkingeliot and specifically:

I really love this high school AU showing Eliot & Quentin's friendship--and just how important they become to one another, how quickly (platonic, not a romance). It's deep and moving and for me showcases just how well they connect. Please mind the tags. Thank you so much, @tbraves24

And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life - tbraves24 - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

2. Queliot romance--very hot!--very much like them--and so sweet! I love how their connection develops--it feels so true to them--and honestly I just love how they are together in this fic. Thank you so much, @veronicasawyer99

Making Friends After 30 - cold_wind - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

3. I can't stop thinking about this one. Mosaic fic--my favorite type of Queliot fic--oh, the sweetness! Eliot makes a puppet show for Teddy...also showing El missing Margo...omg. Thank you so much, @lizardkingeliot

in a land far away - peacefrog - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

[clarajohnson]

the magicians s1e5

being concerned about the fate of the friend who nearly permanently incapacitated you in a mind prison is sooooo babygirl of quentin

the way that q and julia (and like i'm guessing the other first years in the main cast? but not a given) are like, only probably 22 at this point. literal children.

traveling is such a neat concept one point to the magicians for that

i'm constantly shocked by s1 margo she's very sweet very shallow and not so acidic. also her outfits are shit. i'm so looking forward to no-bullshit heart of gold high king margo with her unbelievable fillory wardrobe.

(eventually) killing ted coldwater is one of the evilest things this show does

eliot wouldn't wear a bowtie. i know this. i should have run the magicians.

circling back to julia being 22 YOU MIGHT HAVE YOUR UNDERGRAD DEGREE AT THIS POINT DON'T PLAY HOUSEWIFE FOR THIS MAN

"if magicians could cure cancer why would anybody have cancer" "because we like secrets" this episode laying a lot of groundwork for fandom hand-wringing in the future

everyone here is so babyfaced and yes i'm talking about margo again

every julia scene makes me more and more nervous knowing how close we're getting to reynard. also more excited because we're closer to best bitches but mostly nervous.

margo's welters outfit i say yay yippee hooray hooray hooray

you know the physical kids are the main characters in this show because they all have fun character-specific welters uniforms while the nature students are wearing fucking maroon tunics

who knew you had it in you !!!!! you're so right margo we should get married

julia's s1 arc being like, ooh i'm a magic junkie is so embarrassing but you have to remember that their like Main Poster for this season used the literal tagline "magic is a drug" and it's like oh yeah they thought this would be harry potter for adults with stick and pokes

love the entirety of kady and penny's relationship being open and honest communication, excellent banter, and routine sex that is apparently consistently unbelievable. also very clear and pure love.

"you slept with me two days ago" "you're welcome"

this show really does villains well, they're always kind of polite and basically unstoppable, these facsimiles of civility that intend to turn you inside out and you can really only stop them by a miracle

eliot doing his best impression of a man who cares about alice >>>>

"what if i could fix him?" (narrator: he could not fix cancer puppy)

there seem to be two types of magic in this show: there's very involved tutting and there's a kind of... i don't know, like, magic that seems more like strong-willing things to happen. like some of it is about doing the right steps in a very specific order and some of it is about wanting it badly enough.

"get ready for the first spanking you won't enjoy" "that actually sounds kind of hot" they are my best friends

god alice/margo had so much potential

"penny i think you were in fillory" LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[ayotofu]

This is the leverage/9-1-1 anon again and my friend you are incredible you’re so right all of this is fantastic

Imagine also Elliot and Bobby getting a chance to cook with each other, for the families they made. I think they understand the significance of a meal shared, especially for men who were so resigned to their fate before they found the people who would support them enough to find their ways back home

I wanna see Parker have a moment with both of the Buckley children. Because Parker knows about feeling unwanted and unloved, sure, but more specifically she knows what it is to grow up alongside a ghost. She was a big sister like Maddie, and she lost a piece of herself along with her little brother. And even after being taken in by Archie, she wasn’t a part of a family but on the outside. Not quite fitting in. She recognises this feeling in Buck, this certainty that they both can’t quite shake that this will all end because it’s more than they deserve.

I can see Nate and Eddie butting heads quite a bit, a bit like Nate and Elliot do on occasion but there’s no foundation of trust to fall back upon.

Also Parker should totally get to help Buck on a really reckless rescue mission

(And Buck definitely convinced Hardison to help him stalk Eddie with different Hildy ads and products - eddie’d never have one in the house ofc but hey Buck is not above getting hardison to hack the digital billboard on Eddie’s commute to show ~very~ targeted hildy ads)

Oh man anon you are so incredible big brained yes thank you. eliot and bobby cooking together!!! eliot swapping cooking tips while arguing with bobby very passionately about the best way to make barbecue sauce (eliot is from the south bobby you HAVE to default to his expertise)

park with buck and maddie i just

ur killing me here

yeah i definitely think eddie and nate butt heads, because eddie's good at taking orders, yes, but from people he respects. people he trusts. he's also, sometimes, a bit of a wildcard and i think that aspect of his personality would be in full force with nate there.

i also think hardison would actually bond a lot with chim about maddie and parker/eliot. both of them are in relationships with very traumatized people and navigating that can be difficult. I think they take a couple nights to talk about it, how they had to be so, so careful to start, had to let their partners set the pace. they wouldn't change anything, but that conversation lets them feel a little more seen for the effort they put in.

(and yes, lmao. hardison would love tormenting eddie with hildy. just a little bit. as a treat.)

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

Okay, so we've all been thinking about Harvey's tea-spilling attempt not to spill Magicians tea since yesterday, and IT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE NOT TO SPECULATE, so I'm speculating. Ground rules first? Yes, always, for safety.

The rules to celebrity gossip are, I don't know shit about shit and this is all for fun. Seriously, I'm just bullshitting here, trying to spin an interesting story, this absolutely did not happen the way I'm suggesting, how could I possibly get this more than like, 5% correct? I'm just some asshole on the internet.

Okay. So first off, we know Harvey and Hale are tight, so whatever Harvey knows, it almost certainly reflects what he's heard from Hale, i.e. what he's aware of is Hale's version of what the set was like (and probably Summer's as well, as she seems solidly part of that friend group).

And I don't want to overanalyze specific word choices from that interview, since when you're babbling on the spot, sometimes you don't use the exactly perfect wording. However, there does seem to be two tangled-up threads in Harvey's babble -- the business about how everyone was young and hot, which perhaps let slip that there was some romantic drama happening, and also the business about lead roles, of course it's an ensemble but there are leads, which seemed to indicate that there was some friction over status within the cast -- who are the leads, precisely, and who's just in the ensemble? And from the way Harvey jumbled all that together -- I'm inclined to think those issues were jumbled together, or were perceived to be.

Now, in mid s3 when Harvey first came on set, what was he coming into, script-wise? Well, you have Jason pretty solidly centered in the overall story -- almost anyone would understand him as the series lead, reasonably enough; the show is based on books where Q is indisputably the protagonist. How's everyone else faring?

It's hard to tell whether I view this neutrally or not, but it seems to me that consistently throughout the second and third seasons, the best stories and most robust character development have been going to Team Fillory -- to Eliot and Margo specifically, who have kind of risen out of the s1 "ensemble" of People Quentin Knows to anchor their own ongoing stuff about trying to rule Fillory. Julia is also anchoring s3 plots of her own, all the stuff about her God Spark that's been the fallout from what she was given in s2 with Reynard and Martin and Persephone. Penny and Kady seem to have been cemented as supporting players; they get some scenes, but they're not really driving any conflicts or getting to do anything with high stakes, especially after Penny 40's death. What's always been noticeable to me is that Alice is operating very separately from the rest of the cast, and will be until deep into s4. After her relationship with Q falls by the wayside, she's very atomized -- sometimes she interacts with Julia, but they don't seem to be close friends. Alice doesn't seem to have close friends in the main cast.

So if someone's unhappy with what they're being given to act -- well, it could be anyone, a young ambitious actor could always want a more up-front role, but if I were in Olivia's shoes, yeah, I'd be kind of tense! She entered the show playing the protagonist's main love interest, got written out of that role, and not only does the show seem to fumble around when it comes to what to do with her, you have these two other characters who were almost comedy relief in the first season, and they're eating up episode after episode of drama and adventure. One of them, as of oh, mid s3, looks a little like he's starting to be positioned as the protagonist's new love interest.

Awkward, yeah? Now. Imagine on top of that pressure as people are comparing their relative roles and screentime -- imagine the series lead is hanging out kind of a lot with certain members of the cast. Imagine some people are turning up a lot on each other's Instas, and imagine, perhaps, that in this cliquey little circle, there's a higher than average degree of flirtiness among hot coworkers.

So now that's the narrative, right? Better scripts and more screen time are flowing to certain people, not because no one else has the acting skill to handle it, but because certain people are always in Jason's hip pocket. It doesn't take long for that, in a high-stress environment, to become a circulated story: that the best way to become a lead on this show is if you're besties with Jason -- or if Jason seems to really want to fuck you -- or if he is fucking you. That's how it goes with hothouse rumors, right?

I mean, I'm not trying to pin it on Olivia specifically and entirely -- this shit takes on a life of its own sometimes. But you get this certain swirl of resentment and jealousy and factionalism happening, and suddenly we're headed into s4, and some really interesting things start happening. Hale gets to play a really fun, scenery-eating sort of role, the kind actors love. The early scripts really drill down into the building tension of Quentin being willing to risk everyone else to save Eliot. And then--

Something happens, right? The Monster plotline, which has dominated the season, wraps up abruptly and anticlimactically. Qualice is back on, without much reason given. And Jason, we later learn, resigned at some point.

Again, I'm not trying to single out Olivia -- for this to become widespread On-Set Drama, it can't have been attributable to any one person. A lot of people had to believe that 1) Jason had too much power over the course of the story, and B) was misusing it to benefit people he had a personal investment in. It's not hard to see how that could escalate -- into the writers trying to jerk his chain to prove he didn't control them, and into Jason deciding he was fucking over being in the middle of all this.

The beauty of my story here is that it makes sense out of all Harvey's remarks, if you view him as Hale's friend loyally taking Hale's position circa mid-s3. There were sparks, everyone was young and hot (read: whatever fooling around happened, it happened for ordinary showmance reasons, not out of any self-dealing on Hale's part), and there were leads in the cast (read: Hale's high profile at that point was earned, he wasn't given favors; he was being treated as one of the second leads because he was good at his job).

[anticute-marshmallowmars]

i was super prepared to be really in despair with the ending

but actually?

it kind of makes narrative sense, as is my take with a lot of this show.

are there some characterization/relationship-related decisions that i am not 100% on board? absolutely.

but honestly? outisde of those issues - it's kind of an ending that DOES work, and like? no one died, dude. i was prepared for deaths. (zelda aside :c but even then she just goes to another branch anyway.)

esp with tHIS kind of show? where they DON'T let their charas be happy??? where they don't take care of their charas (and yes - i would say they still don't in some ways. but that's...another post.) like, they always dangle the solution/happiness carrot - only to take it away.

so, like - honestly.

it's overall oddly...positive, actually, in terms of an ending, in terms of the actual circumstances that played out and could play out? it's open-ended enough. and doesn't leave THAT sour of a taste in my mouth as i was prepared for. bc again - it mAKES sense.

there's potential and hope* they'll find their way back to each other.

no way they won't. there's julia and penny. and once eliot gets his footing. (tho my feelings about where they end up in terms of relationships are... meh. bUT newayz.) and kady's figuring out the circumstances amidst the moon madness situation.

and on the other end: alice? margo. and what josh can contribute.

so, yeah. there's enough talent between the two factions to make this happen. no WAY they won't figure it out.

(alice being realized as master magician in her would-be-initiation/graduation, suggests and implies the rest of them also became master magicians, in my mind)

this show never was gonna give our charas a happily ever after, and certainly NOT with them together under one roof. it wouldn't have FELT right in any case. it'd be too perfect of an ending, and this show? does not do perfect endings. and i do not expect it. it wouldn't have been in the spirit of the show. and this ending - DOES maintain that spirit. even if - again - i do have my personal conniptions.

this show, time and time again, separates the group, into factions. it makes sense they would end the show with them separated, for them to figure out a way to get back to each other again.

(do i want my polycule and somehow q revived - absolutely!!!!! but that's not what the show was ever going to give, tonally. right from s1.)

it's hard to give a satisfying ending in any show. and i wouldn't say this was satisfying bc again, there's things i'm not too happy about. but narratively it MAKES SENSE.

and i will say: in any given show - and specifically any fantasy show - the ending SHOULD be open ended enough, so that you believe that world and those charas continue on even after the finale. you don't get to see it, but you know it happens.

and that's really what we get at the end, actually!

it's an ending that does work, tonally, thematically, and again - narratively. is it the best? no. is it the worst? really, really, no. ESPECIALLY given how media has been effing up finales in the last few years.

(and i say this, as someone who LOVES eliot and margo. they were pretty much what i was leaning hard to survive, as i went through s5 in terms of invested relationships/friendships. but i GET why they separated them. that's a separate post.)

and as writers should - you SHOULD give the building blocks for your audience as a gift - a hope of 'hey this world continues even after the creator is done with it.'

i want to see it, of course. but at least they gave that kind of ending rather than completely butcher everything. i'm secure enough to believe that it DOES happen, mainly bc these charas are dogged as shit. and again. there's hope*

*HQ and hope and the themes of home literally embodied in a pregnancy plotline with julia (which i have conflicted feelings about). and of course, the world seed arc. i just wish they had done it a little better? but there's lots i would have liked to be executed properly**

**obviously no quentin is heartbreaking. and what could have been the would-be queliot situation. but arguably quentin WAS going to be that type of hero at the end of the day. that's a separate post too.

there's just SO MANY THOUGHTS.

[thekimspoblog]

My WIPs (or at least the ones I can remember)

Portal:

"Opera Beneath Aperture": Where the Geekenders version is vaudeville, mine is more pop-opera in the style of "Phantom" or "Wicked". Basically just remixing the soundtrack and adding lyrics. There will be comedy, but at the end of the day, playing the melodrama of "Portal 2" straight is just easier. (Progress 30%)

"Rat Race": An homage to the US "The Office", but one by one the characters are axed off as Aperture becomes a more and more dystopian place to work. (Progress 10%)

"Portrait of a Lady: A Romanticized Horror": Prequel character-study on Caroline, obviously. She's preppy like Kim, but being born in the 1930's she's more sexually repressed, and therefore even more of a manic-pixie-nightmare-girl. She blacks out and murders her gynecologist for malpractice in Chapter 3; yeah it's that kind of a story. Also she's pretty racist? To the extent that any person from that era running a dystopian secessionist megacorporation would have to be. (Progress 50%)

Better Call Saul:

"Sheepdog": A traumatic event causes Kim to question the nature of her own reality. We the fans love Kim... but we do not respect her. (Progress 50%)

"Slippin Kimmy": This is my SERIOUS entry for what I think should happen next in the story. Basically a lot of white-hat Heisenberging around. She stops a shooting at a Planned Parenthood in episode 2; yeah it's that kind of a story. If that's what "WYCARO" ends up being, I'll be happy. If not? Hey it's free money, Vince. I'll just leave it on the table 'til you're done being done again. (Progress 5%)

"Last Clear Chance Doctrine": In 6x05 Jimmy calls Kim to say he's going to be late; Howard wants to fight him in the ring. Kim says she'll be right over. (Progress 0%)

"Just Take the Money": Parallel "Breaking Bad" timeline, where Walt accepts Eliot's hand-out. It'll make you wish he had stuck to cooking meth. I'm probably going to include a subplot where Saul bangs Skyler cus it makes me smile. (Progress 0%)

Crossovers/Other:

Steven Universe: "Warp Congestion": Steven figures out how to remove his gem and live as a normal human for extended periods of time. And if you think this sounds like a contrivance to write Rose Quartz back into the story... it is! Pearl was supposed to hold onto the gem for the day, but as the administrative headaches of helping to keep Little Homeworld organized pile up, Rainbow Quartz starts to revert back to v 1.0. (Progress 5%)

Steven Universe: "Roughhousing": You ever have those moments with your spouse, where one minute you're joking around and everything seems fine, and then one little comment gets taken wrong and suddenly everything gets a bit ugly? Even Ruby and Sapphire have those moments. And it made for one hell of a night at Beach City Underground Wrestling. (Progress 100%... but it's in the format of a Torts practice exam. Yes really)

Barry: "A Plan for Sally": My OC, Rita, has been going around to various netflix shows and selling life-insurance and family planning policies to the love-interest characters in crime dramas. Well, Rita will call them "insurance policies"; what they really are are Faustian bargains. If you thought the ending to "Barry" was weird, rushed, or maybe even a little saccharine, Rita is why. (Progress 0%)

Midnight Mass: "The Girl Who Ate the World": Erin Greene wakes up lying in the grass to find herself - not just alive - but sparkling in the sun like a million little diamonds. It's a miracle! Second only to the bad-miracle of news that the Angel survived and is transforming people in the Portland subway system as we speak. Rita is in this one too. (Progress 50%)

"Crack Fic: Torts and Torts": Kim Wexler, Dolores Abernathy, and Love Quinn attend a mobwives convention in Napoli. After a few drinks, Kim and Love get into a tense conversation about dead brothers, and more specifically when/how a spouse is at-fault for the death of a brother-in-law. Kim forgets the argument after she sobers up, but Dolores warns her to watch her back. Sure enough, Love attacks Kim with a katana and they must battle it out as frenemies. (Progress 2%)

"300 Million Cowboys": I re-write Better Call Saul as a pulpy beach-read about vampires. With enough changes to the plot that it can be legally sold on Kindle. Kim is now named Jean Troy. Jimmy is now named Sammy McCormick. Mike and Chuck have been merged into one character. Kevin and Howard have been merged into one character. (Progress 2%)

[wonderlandfandomkingdom]

I love how throughput the entire show we see how the team learns how to understand Parker and she how she is as a person. And that they weren't trying to turn her into a new person

Like yes they teach her things but it's also just a way of bonding and let's be honest safety. Eliot teaches her how to actually throw a punch and fight, Sophie how to grift better and get out of bad situations, Nate how to look at things differently plan them out instead of rushing in. And we'll Hardison was more emotional, learning she can depend on others to talk to them and understand that she's not alone anymore. I could probably write a whole paper in how Hardison and Parker's relationship just grows and blooms and how it shapes them both during the series.

But let's talk about a specific episode.

The episode "Inside Job" where they meet Parker's 'Dad' Archie and the whole team had her back when they realized what is going down.

They looked for the clues, worried about how she took such a big job without them. Yes, her sense of danger might be slightly off, but she knew it was a big job.

How Nate and Archie basically have a dad fight over how Archie raised Parker and that even if Archie doubts her the Leverage team doesn't as they've seen her grow and believe in her and her abilities.

Eliot was ready to fight Archie like a big brother until he has a heart moment like damnit Parker is loyal to this guy that raised her and his family is being threatened.

Oh and how Sophie guesses the code to Parker's place since it's Sophie real name. A name that Nate seems to be the only one who doesn't know.

Throughout the whole episode the teams goal is Parker.

Where is Parker. What is Parker doing. Is Parker safe, how do we get her to a safe spot. How do we save Parker. Okay we believe in Parker they want to see this to the end let's help Parker with her job

And the ending of the episode. Archie is sorry he never brought 12 year old Parker how to his family but Parker points out she never would have fit in with his normal family. And of course Archie then points out she went out and made her own family because let's be honest if the Leverage team isn't some weird found family show idk what it is.

once again i am so in love with the way that leverage treats parker. because oh boy, the grave danger job. hardison is buried alive, he's freaking out on the phone, and parker feels like she can't help him, she's not good with emotions in this way, not like sophie, so she says that hardison needs sophie. but sophie knows that what hardison needs is to hear parker's voice, that whatever is going on with those two, parker is the person who will be most reassuring for hardison right now, but she also knows parker won't be convinced by that, and she needs parker to feel confident. so she speaks parker's language. she gives parker a reason for why parker is the best person for this job - not he loves you, not you love him, not even he just needs to hear your voice it doesn't matter what you say, none of that will land with her. sophie says, parker, you've spent more time in air ducts than anyone. if anyone knows how to hold their breath it's you. that's what hardison needs right now. she gives parker a job: help hardison breathe. she doesn't try to push parker, she doesn't make it into some more profound thing that parker might not be ready to hear or able to understand at that moment; she takes stock of the situation and knows (1) hardison needs to hear parker's voice right now and (2) parker needs to feel confident and useful right now and she feeds them the answer, because she loves them exactly how they are. i can't put it into words any better than this but i just love that over and over leverage says "you can be loved and love in return without trying to be different than you are" and never more than with parker.

[gnar-slabdash]

I suddenly woke up stupid early on my day off with multiple weird random aches and pains and a revelation about the Leverage chess metaphors.

They’re all wrong.

Look, I obviously adore the white knight/black king motif, and it works really well for that very specific discussion of Nate’s shift in morality and position at the opening of the series. But the show as well as I and other fans have then tried to take that equation and apply it to other jobs and to the crew as a whole. This is fun and awesome, but I believe you’re going to get it wrong every time if you start from the white knight/black king line. 

Because in all other situations, Nate is not the king.

Couple important things about kings in chess: 1. They don’t move much. They can only move one space at a time, and for most of the game they stay in their own little box, well guarded by other pieces. This is because 2. When the king is checkmated (threatened with capture and no possible escape), it’s game over. There is no more hope. This is the sole requirement for losing the game. No matter who else is in play, if the king is down, you lose.

This is NOT how Nate operates. Yeah, he makes the plans, but he doesn’t just hide in the office while everybody else carries them out. He’s almost always right up in there playing the most obnoxious guy you’ve ever met or smashing windows or something. And if Nate gets captured, it’s not game over, in fact, it often isn’t even a PROBLEM. Let’s look at a few times that happens, just for fun: - In The King George Job, Nate’s getting beat up and Eliot slightly panics and is about to run to help, when Sophie says “NOPE, don’t do that, I can fix this without blowing our cover” and saunters in at her leisure. The jig isn’t up and she’s not even particularly concerned about him getting punched. I love it. - In the Maltese Falcon Job, Nate sacrifices himself to save the team. This is a classic thing to do in chess and chess metaphors, but, I cannot stress this enough, you cannot sacrifice your king. That’s just called LOSING. -In The Long Goodbye Job of course the whole con is structured around Nate getting caught. I guess this one kind of makes sense because the whole point is to look like they HAVE completely lost, but then at the end it appears that Nate’s going to secret prison and everyone else is escaping WITH the black book, so they STILL would be losing Nate but winning the job. 

So if Nate isn’t the king, who is?

Hardison.

Let’s look at our points about kings again:

1. Doesn’t move as far or as quickly: Yes, Hardison ALSO gets out there and participates in the cons, everybody does. But Hardison does stay in the background more often, because that’s where his power is. He does the behind the scenes tech stuff and the remote stuff, he can wreck your shop without showing up through the power of the internet. He also does the forgeries of identities and objects, which are also done in his own space. At the same time, he has less physical power and less range -- you don’t want him in a fistfight, or a gunfight, and his grifts are notorious for being a little. . . uh. . . interesting. So he has limited physical range and power but at the same time. . . .

2. The game is over if you lose him. That far-reaching behind the scenes power is absolutely vital for 90% of the jobs. He does the massive amounts of research and hacking legwork needed just to START a job, even before you get to actually completing the job. You are pretty much dead in the water without Hardison. But that’s just from a practical standpoint. Losing Hardison is also a crisis from an emotional standpoint. He’s our moral compass and our sweet baby brother and when Hardison gets in trouble there is no “well he’ll be fine for a few minutes” and no “well he kinda had it coming.” No, when Hardison is in trouble everything else grinds to a halt and everyone comes running. (See: The Experimental Job, The Grave Danger Job, The Long Goodbye Job.)

So like, yes Nate is in charge. But the king isn’t in charge on a chessboard, the king is just a piece with a very unique role, which Hardison fills much better than Nate does. So, now that we have our real king, who are our other pieces?

Queen: Parker. This has nothing to do with her dating Hardison. The thing about the queen is she can do a little bit of everything -- she can move in any direction, making her the most dangerous piece on the board. Parker’s whole character arc is about learning all the different roles and how to access the whole playing field. She’s the only one who plans and executes an entire episode-length job by herself (okay, with a little help from her girlfriend). Plus, the other cool thing about a queen is she has a built-in transformation story -- a pawn that crosses the board can become a queen, which Parker mimics by initially being dismissed as “the crazy one” and ultimately becoming the mastermind.

Knight: Sophie. I know, I wanted Eliot to be the horsie too, but this makes more sense. The knight’s deal is that it’s sneaky -- it’s the only piece that can turn corners -- and it can jump over obstacles. Sophie’s whole philosophy of grifting is that she shouldn’t need to know about safes or security systems, she should be able to bypass (jump over) all that by insinuating herself with the mark (being sneaky by playing a character to get behind enemy lines)

Rook: Eliot. This is the straightforward one -- it goes in a straight line. It also literally represents the castle walls. It’s also so, so fucking helpful to have around, I fucking hate losing my rooks. It’s your solid right hand man, basically. Is this a little reductive of Eliot? Absolutely, but I’m jamming five complex characters into five predetermined boxes, it’s not all gonna be nuanced. And I think Mr. Punchy would like being seen as the fortress that everybody depends on, and to let all the nuance go under the radar. That’s where he likes it. 

Bishop: Finally, here’s where Nate is hiding. While the rook can only go straight (lol), the bishop can only go diagonally. Nothing can be straightforward for the bishop, he always has to come at things from an angle. Like, you know, constantly looking at all the different angles of a situation and finding the right angle to come at a mark from. Also, the bishops sit right in the middle right next to the king and queen. I don’t know that this is historically accurate, but when my dad taught me to play he told me that was because the bishops were important councilors to the rulers, they were the ones who had important wisdom that would tell them the best plan of attack. So the king here isn’t necessarily the one making the plans -- that’s the bishop. And finally, apparently the bishop is called lots of different things in other languages, but we’re operating in English, which means it makes Nate a priest, and that makes me happy.