#zykamiliah-leverage

[zykamiliah]

NOOOO FUCKING WAYY

NO FUCKING WAY !!!!!!!

___

The Juror #6 Job & The Fractured Job

[zykamiliah]

saying he's anti-tipping just bc we saw him not wanting to tip someone in one episode is a bit extreme imho

moreover, why doesn't he want to tip the delivery guy? isn't more interesting to try to understand his point of view and why he behaves like that instead of just judging him?

hardison is a character that was shown to consistently feel underappreciated. he does SO much work for every con; i don't think i have to list every little thing that hardison takes care of in the show that the team doesn't properly thank him for, or even tries to understand what he does.

but it's his job right? he complains and all but he still does it.

well, why should he tip someone that is doing his job, just like him? why should he show appreciation for some stranger, when in his world he has to brag about everything he does and dumb it down for common people's understanding and still most of his team is not grateful enough?

it's something he has change, of course, and I'm pretty sure he's grown out of that by the time L:R starts.

I love almost every moment of Leverage, but Hardison being anti-tipping in The French Connection Job is hands down the worst character bit of the entire show

[zykamiliah]

supremely funny to me that chaos accurately clocks eliot's "damn it hardison" as a hallmark of his personality. he's like a hater fanboy

[zykamiliah]

What Leverage Word of God Actually Said

Source

[zykamiliah]

I know everyone is excited about the new Leverage and that a large number of us are craving canon ot3 content, but please, if their relationship doesn't change from what was like in the original show, don't harass john rogers, dean devlin and co. I am begging you. Saying you're gonna do something like that is not cool.

If they give us more romance between them, we celebrate; if they keep their status quo, we can be disappointed, but that's it.

*drops mic & goes back to rewatch the trailer*

[zykamiliah]

I just noticed something that wouldn't let me sleep: Hardison says nothing!! in the new trailer!! He's just standing around looking pretty

[zykamiliah]

Strongly advising old leverage fans to not recommend leverage saying that "there's a canon ot3" because one, it's not wholly explicit, and two, it's mostly platonic, and at this point is the fandom doing the queerbaiting by presenting it like that

I know what a explicitly canon ot3 looks like (black sails, sense8) and that's not what's going on on leverage. leverage is about found family and modern robin hood shenanigans. Doing crime for the greater good.

The romance is like, the subplot of the subplot

[zykamiliah]

i'm not one for buying merch of anything (bc i'm poor lol) but i SO want this muuuug ❤️

And it was definitely Hardison who made/ordered them :'D

[zykamiliah]

Nate relating how his team "died" in The Long Goodbye Job: And that was the last time Eliot said 'dammit Hardison', desperation and pain breaking his voice.

Interpol Agent: How is that relevant?

Nate, looking her dead in the eye: Is this your AU or my AU?

[zykamiliah]

Imagine post-s5 Eliot, going in solo mission with one of his army buddies. Imagine the perplexity of said buddy at watching him use hacker jargon, tell what type of security system they're dealing with, and picking up locks so they don't have to break any doors. And the army buddy just kind of stares at him with arched eyebrows, because he doesn't know this version of Eliot, and Eliot just goes all impatient and is like "What? I'm dating a hacker. And a thief," thus coming full circle.

[zykamiliah]

Eliot Spencer' Character Development and The Leverage OT3: pretty much not dead I assure you

Unpopular opinion but I don't get the people who's unsatisfied with leverage redemption, particularly on the topic Eliot's character, romance plot, and the current status of the OT3

Putting aside all the stuff about "the world is not ready for a full polyamorous relationship on mainstream media bla bla bla" (which is bullshit) I must again repeat myself

Leverage is not about romance

The jobs, the Found family and character development are always going to come first, not always in that order. THAT'S what leverage is about.

Ignoring Word of God, what the original series showed was the OT3 was half platonic, half romantic, and half sexual; it's just that Parker and Hardison are the only ones doing the sexual part. Does that lessen their love? I think not

This is gonna sound pretty mean but: You need to manage your expectations people, either way you're always going to be disappointed: your mind =/= what actually happens in real life, not to mention the media you consume. You can analyze and predict some stuff accurately, yeah, but it's not going to make all your wishes come true

What Leverage Redemption Was: All the good stuff about the original + Callbacks and Parallels, Found Family Settled-in Edition, Sophie and Parker Masterminding, Leverage International, Hardison being the great leader he was always going to be, NewbiesTM, Representation that's not forced or just dumped to say "there, take it"

That said, what Leverage Redemption showed us about Eliot Spencer is amazing and complex: he still needs to work on some stuff, especially on the matter of how he perceives himself and how he needs to accept the fact that even if he made unforgivable things in the past, he's come a long way, he's different, and he deserves to be happy. And that means finding out someone who truly understands him AND accepts him.

Like, I don't think he ever got that realization in the original Leverage? In s5 finale he knows he wants to be with this people and protect them; he knows what role he wants to play in their lives, but he's still pretty much settled on making up for his mistakes for the rest of his life.

And that's where his romance plot with Maria comes in. They were great, yeah, he seemed happy, but in the end she didn't accept him. What she did do was repeat over and over that Eliot deserves to be happy; that helping people is good, yes, but he also needs to do things for his own happiness.

It doesn't escape me that this happens coincidentally when Hardison (Eliot's emotional support hacker) is out of town; that put the OT3 off-balance, and upset not just Parker but Eliot too. Who is the one he can spend hours talking with? Who's the one that he gets to talk about his dad and other personal stuff with?

Not to mention that everyone was encouraging him to go out with Maria, and the fact that he was SO reluctant, that he can't do casual anymore??? Almost a decade of living next door to Meaningful Romances(Nate&Sophie, but specifically Parker&Hardison) has made him long for something like that.

Hell I'm still a bit shocked that he openly admitted that HE ALWAYS ADMIRED PARKER AND HARDISON'S RELATIONSHIP???

He not just loves them individually, he LOVES their relationship; that's no longer subtext, IT'S FACT. And they are his home, and if it's ever possible, they're going to spend eternity together.

And I'm not gonna get into Parker being weird (jealous) about Maria, because that's another whole post, but!! The fact that even being like that, her priority is Eliot's happiness, even if she isn't actively happy herself with him having a serious girlfriend (tho she tries lol I love her)

Like!!! The OT3 vibes of this whole situation kind of confirm my headcanon that while they are a unit, Eliot has been still dating casually on the side all that time, playing his role as the third wheel; he gets to be sexually intimate with someone AND he has his two partners at home waiting for him.

BUT!! Suddenly after being together as a unit for a really long time Hardison needs to go away... And that's when their things go off-kilter and Eliot starts to feel weird. He can't do casual, he doesn't flirt with others unless he has to, and he tries to find a romantic partner that will accept him for who he is...

While still not noticing that he doesn't have to look for that anymore, because the two people he swore to be loyal to, the ones that are his home and accept him for who he is, ARE RIGHT THERE LOL

Or maybe he came to that realization after the season finale; who knows

But I kind of like the energy of that; the undercurrent that nothing can separate them, that what matters the most is their happiness, that they'll always stay together.

That's not only their vows renowned, it's also the fact that sometimes what you're looking for it's been in front of you all this time, and you just haven't realized it yet; much like Sophie deciding to stay because she doesn't need to chase a dream to be who she is, I hope Eliot Spencer realizes that he doesn't need to keep chasing for happiness and acceptance, that those things are just there by his side, if he only allows himself to see it.

[zykamiliah]

The foreshadowing of Mastermind Parker

I remember I was a bit surprised watching s5 final scene where Parker essentially takes the mastermind role (probably because I wasn't paying attention). Since then every time I rewatch I'm unconsciously trying to find clues, not in s5, where there's even an episode about it (The Broken Wing) but in earlier seasons.

The Nigerian Job: There's this scene at the beginning where she asks Nate how does he know how many guards are there, and he tells him to count the haircuts. Parker responds with "I would have miss that."

And it seems small, but I think it's interesting to note that she's the one always learning these little things from Nate. If you compare it to, say, Hardison trying to figure out in The Real Fake Car Job how Nate knew everything would happen like it did, it tells you how they perceive the mastermind role: Parker sees Nate as someone who can teach her skills she doesn't know, while Hardison sees the Mastermind as someone all-knowing that controls everything, and has perfectly effective and intricate plans for everything, like a puppet master.  When in reality you can tell Nate improvises things most of the time, even if he does have back up plans to fall back into.

The Bank Shot Job: Parker explains to Hardison how easy it's to rob a bank like that, displaying in her plans something that Nate teachs Hardison in The Gold Job: the best plans are simple and effective.

Parker: It's embarrassing. Everyone knows you don't rob a bank without an exit strategy. These two deserve to get caught. 42 seconds.

Hardison: What?

Parker: To rob this bank. One security guard who has never fired his gun before, 2 closed-circuit cameras outside, 1 inside, and a Glen-Reader safe built in the 50's whose default combination is the birth date of the manager's wife! Get in, get out, 42 seconds.

Hardison: Seriously?

This also ties with something she says later to Hardison in s2.

The Bean Town Bailor Job:

Parker: I think people are like locks. Really complicated and frustrating. But you can't force them. You have to take time and be fiddly.

Hardison: Fiddly?

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

(the lock opens and the door swings wide)

As a thief, she has to be able to unravel complex locks and security mechanisms all the time. Nate's great at getting inside the bad guys' heads and bringing them to their undoing. (As an aside, I like the fact that the show let us know that Sophie was perfectly capable of leading the cons if she wanted to, because she's also great at manipulating people).

And if she applies the locks=people thing to the plans she makes, it's not unexpected that planning a con and planning a theft would be quite similar to her.

Another point: as a thief pre-Leverage, she was always at more risk, not because she wasn't capable of defending herself, but probably because she had to avoid security guards and the like, and because she wasn't the best at social interaction at the time. Where Sophie would make the mark open the door, Eliot would barrel through any barrier and make himself an exit and Hardison would simply hack something, or not be in a place where he could be caught.

Parker would have had to make contingency plans every time she went to steal something. It's also because she's great at improvising, and adapting, which she hones over the years working with the team.

The Three-Car Monte Job:

Nate: First Boston Independent, State Street Branch of the Boston Bank, Commonwealth Loan and Securities. Now...

Parker: First independent's got a Glenn-Reeder alarm system, series f-900. Two guards in the front, (laughs) one guard in the back. Cameras record, not monitored. Daily turnover, $2 million. State Street, mostly commercial papers and loans, but they do have bearer bonds in a basement lockdown room. Just takes a key and a retina scanner. Commonwealth (laughs) they-their alarm system's a holdover from the '70s, But (chuckles) But it's...

(everyone is looking at Parker, making her feel uncomfortable)

Parker: What? What do you guys do on your weekends?

She plans/analyses how to rob banks on her weekends, as a hobby. It's like Nate and Sophie's past-time being  solving murder mysteries. Parker loves that kind of thing and she's great at it.

The Rashomon Job: She's the one that gets closer to stealing the dagger, and only loses it because she accidentally drops it and someone (cofsophiecof) took her duffle bag by mistake.

(Transcripts taken from here)

This feels like a rather incomplete post without any useful conclusion lol But my point is, or what I was trying to prove to myself at least, is that from the begining Parker was the best candidate to the mastermind role. 

[zykamiliah]

hey leverage ot3 fam

i would just like to remind you all this little moment in The Real Fake Job (5x07), because I happen to be in a rewatch, and i've got feelings:

Hardison: No way am I giving up this life to be an ordinary person.

Eliot: Did you talk to Parker about that?

Hardison: What you mean... why would I... No, she’s the least ordinary person I know... you know. Shoot. Wait. Do I have to talk to her about stuff like...

Eliot: Yeah.

Hardison: ‘Cause I... You know what? Just forget it. Let’s get to work.

Parker: I could never retire. Could you... would you ever...

Hardison (quickly): Mnh-mnh. Mm. No, hell, no.

Parker: Good. Good.

Hardison: Are you sure you...

Parker: Mm. Good. Then we’re on the same page.

Hardison: Eliot told you.

Parker: You were flailing just a little bit.

yo eliot, for someone who "doesn't think" about hardison and parker, you sure like to act as the bridge between them from time to time and now I have to live with that

[zykamiliah]

Parker's Wisdom

The tl;dr of this is: Parker has ascended wisdomhood and is more emotionally intelligent that Eliot at this point, which is why she's the one helping him to deal with his issues and emotions.

I've seen one or two of people complaining about how Parker was written in Leverage Redemption. While I don't agree with that opinion I'm not going to try to change their minds about it because that would be a hell of a long analysis that I'm not willing to write when January has just kicked off lol (happy New Year btw)

I didn't want to barge in someone else's post so I made my own to address this topic, because this was what finally motivated me to write about it.

So, Parker has gotten a true grasp on her emotions, and to add to that post 👆, I don't think she's projecting her emotions on Eliot. On the contrary she's helping Eliot to exteriorize his own emotions by voicing them and in so forcing him to speak about them. And this is not the first instance of this type of dynamic. We see it play in the very first episode, when they are speaking with a Sophie. She is the only one who texts Sophie "Miss you"; she goes straight to the point, and she knows very well how she feels about Sophie Then, when they're in Sophie's kitchen, Parker says "Eliot was very worried" (I got no transcript for this orz), and Eliot just kind of stuttered (?) but it was very clear that it was true. Then in The Harry Wilson Job, she does that too.

PARKER

You should probably apologize to Eliot, though. He's been very upset.

ELIOT

What? I didn't... I'm the... Don't bring me... Look, man.

Because Eliot was not going to speak about how he felt to HARDISON willingly for leaving them.

(There's a whole other meta about how Eliot thinks about himself and his place in relation to Parker and Hardison's relationship, people have written extensively about it)

Parker and Eliot have a very particular relationship, and I think she's the one that perceives him the most in the present. Since she has learned how to work with her thoughts and deal with her feelings, she's now in a more stable place to help Eliot, and she does that by exposing him lol

Now onto the whole Parker's Wisdom deal.

There's something that has been bouncing around my head from the moment I watched The Harry Wilson Job that I don't think I have seen being discussed, perhaps because people thought it was shown just to make a joke. It's this scene after Hardison and the team are reunited:

PARKER

Well, when Hardison was gone, I was sad. But he's not gone now, so I'm not sad. Past Parker was sad, but she's not here.

HARDISON

Babe, I love you. And I love Past Parker and Future Parker.

PARKER

Thank you. But it's a wasted effort. Past Parker is dead. She dies every second, over and over. Future Parker never arrives. She's suspended in time forever.

When she said that my first thought was: wow she's gone so zen! Because that's actually a thing Buddha said

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

- Buddha.

And once I started looking for past, present and future quotes, a few interesting ones popped up:

"The past is a ghost, the future a dream and all we ever have is now."

- Bill Cosby

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

- Mother Teresa

"Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come."

- Luke the Evangelist

"The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality."

- Robert M. Pirsig

...And they all sound kind of similar to what Parker said; it's just that she said it on her own weird way, but that's who she is. She's not mad at Hardison because she understands why he had to go, and she knows she was sad, but now that he's back there's no point on being sad, so she just let it go. But Eliot is not even allowing himself to show he feels sad or upset, and so Parker does something about it. (is this like the mortifying ordeal of being forcibly known or something? lol)

"A great hallmark of mental wellness is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere."

- Wayne Dyer

So... Yeah, Parker is great, and she's wise, and has somehow become the Eliot whisperer(jk jk) which is a pretty interesting aspect of the ot3 relationship, and specially of her relationship with Eliot. Also this reminds me of that one episode in the original series where she and Eliot where sorting out some brochures and she said Eliot and her should go to some of the selfhelp talks.

Source of the transcript (I just added the names)

Source of the quotes

[zykamiliah]

"aww he was telling his family about us <3 that's so cute-wait WHAT"

[zykamiliah]

(comment from this post)

@pheonix-from-the-trashes was kind enough to point this out to me, and I’ve seen a couple people complaining about some decisions taken in regards to Parker’s character and how she was handled in Leverage Redemption so I went to check it out...

And yeah, it was kinda dumb and redundant for her to say that? Idk what they were thinking. Who wrote this?

The Mastermind Job AND The Hurricane Job were written by the same person, Josh Schaer, who also wrote four episodes of the original Leverage series: The 15 Minutes Job, The Office Job  (co-written with Jeremy Bernstein), The Real Fake Car Job AND The Rundown Job. As far as Wikipedia’s info goes, Schaer hasn’t written anything for The Librarians.

The Mastermind Job and The Hurricane Job were directed by Dean Devlin and Marc Roskin respectively, both of them part of the executive producers of Leverage and The Librarians.

I’m going to guess that the fact that John Rogers barely participated in Leverage Redemption is the cause for this slips-ups. I do hope that they don’t make the same mistakes in season 2.