wowowow
okay can we talk for a minute about Leverage and how Nate and Maggie are estranged at the beginning of the show
but there is just so little hostility and instead a lot of confusion and regret
but they wind up in a much better, closer place at the end
even get a little closure over the death of their son
BUT
them getting back together isn’t a plot thing at all
jealousy between her and Sophie is not an issue
Nate is never forced to choose between them
there is no regretful “i will miss you but i see how happy you are with her/him” scene at the end
the whole team rallies to save her butt when she’s framed for stealing that Faberge egg without question
instead of being bitter and trying to get in the way of the team, she helps the team out not just on the job that will allow her to get revenge on the guy whose policies led to their son’s death, but on a totally unrelated, earlier job
the script was so good and the character stuff so good we don’t feel like Maggie got shafted and Nate “got the girl”
i mean, unless i am forgetting about scenes or something, there’s all these really frustrating things they COULD have done, and they just didn’t
and the whole show was like that
it openly acknowledged the attractiveness of ALL their leads (Nate was a bit of a mess, but that’s Nate) and Eliot and Hardison (in that order) were the most casually sexualized (Sophie pretty much sexualized herseif, and it was almost always done as part of a con, on her own terms); Parker was not really sexualized at all, despite being cute as hell and even taking her top off in front of the boys – we believed she was sexy, we didn’t have our nose rubbed in it
the suffering of women was never depicted in a sexual way, in any way that made it look attractive
female incompetence was never a theme
“natural” female superiority was not a theme (those
”haha silly men can’t do anything right” sorts of depictions often come from a place of male insecurity, not female empowerment)
the boys on the team showed complete respect for Sophie, even though she was the “sexy one”
as the boys on the team came to understand how broken Parker really sorta was and how “odd” even aside from that, they rallied to supporther, not fix or take advantage of her, and they accepted her oddness even though it often aggravated them and sometimes led them to gloss over what she was saying as Parker weirdness (the jury episode where she tries to tell them that something is fishy and they dismiss her – actually very realistic but not done too painfully) Parker was never shown in a light that made her look inadequate because of her “shortcomings” which were really just the facts of her existence
the whole premise of the show revolved around righting the wrongs created by capitalism, even if not every episode explicitly went there
and the characters oh god my heart
every one of them was a treasure, someone i could fall in love with
Eliot was an Okie from a blue-collar background, and was a rough guy, but was never shown to be sexist in any way despite how attached sexism is to the trope of the tough southern dude who loves horses and beer and country music; he was violent, but his arc was not to unrealistically eschew that violence … rather, he channeled it into protecting, not destroying; he had very real feelings, not just caricatured reactions to things
Parker was not involved in a romantic tug-of-war between other teammates, she was never a narrative device to create romantic tension within the team; she arguably was the glue that stuck Eliot (protective big brother) and Hardison (darling loving cinnamon roll) together in that OT3 relationship that pretty much everyone who watched the show realized existed
Sophie was incredibly sexy and manipulative and this was never thrown in her face via slut-shaming or making her out to be an awful person or turning her into any of the unflattering stereotypes that sort of character often gets turned into; also, there was no running gag where she slept with every member of the team (no that it would have been bad if she had, just that sort of thing tends to get handled really badly)
Hardison, our beloved incredibly multi-talented genius with a heart of gold, was Black, but they didn’t write him like a white character or have him speak like a white character; he was also the most stable and gentle and soft-spoken member of the team, IMO, which is not how you would expect a show to depict the sole Black teammate
Nate was an alcoholic whose addiction was treated realistically and with respect, was not over-dramatized, was not magically “cured”, was acknowledged by the team without there being a major intervention plotline, didn’t function as a real liability team-wise, and was never played as a device to keep him away from Sophie by having her deliver an ultimatum he couldn’t meet; it was a part of his personality, not all of his personality, and while addiction recovery narratives are important, not everything about an addict has to be about that, any more than all gay love stories have to end in tragedy
it was just a really, really good show, you guys, grounded in real feelings and issues without being too dark, hilarious without being mean, and feelsy without being saccharine
i love it so much and sometimes i just have to gush about it
BB if you’re going to talk about Leverage like this you can always talk for way, way more than just a minute.
Tag: parker
(Leverage) Character Appreciation Week//[Free Day] Friday: fav continuity boner
evansbrewster-deactivated201503:
LeverageCast | First and Last
I do like the way Parker and Hardison just automatically turn around so they are back-to-back before he even says they are under arrest.
Underrated Leverage moments from my season 1 rewatch:
The Homecoming Job:
- “He’s cool, I found him on the internet.” “Yes, because that
never goes badly.”- Eliot: “I … actually hurt people, so.”
- “Whatever you call the rich guys on telephones version of
makeup sex”- “I’m sorry it was too far away for you to punch, I’m sure
that really frustrates you”The Wedding Job:
- “Let’s go rob Mickey Misconey… a guy who kills people
and lives in our city.”- “It’s a bit like an opera, isn’t it?” “If you mean that I
want to run away …”- “What did I do? I liberated Croatia.”
- “Did you just kill a guy with an appetizer?” “I don’t know,
maybe.”- Christian Kane in a tank top *_*
The Snow Job
- “Guten tag.” “French! Nice!”
- “Your strip joint
must be driving through a tunnel.”- “There could be different side effects. Organ failure.
Death. Death like symptoms.”The Mile High Job
- “The guy in 1D wants to kill you. Ginger ale?”
The Miracle Job
- “You gave him speed?” “He beat up a priest!”
- “It’s the Vatican.”
*Parker does an immediate 180*- Eliot and Hardison’s very first secret handshake is all the
way back here! In the sixth episode!The Two-Horse Job
- “Tell us what you did with the monkey!”
The Bank Shot Job
- “Who lives where it’s a hundred seven degrees?” oh Hardison
I feel you on that- “I’m a thief!” “Okay … I’m not really sure what to do
with that.”The Juror #6 Job
- One of the notecards on Sophie’s wall of ‘teach Parker how
to interact’ is ‘people can be your friends’ and honestly I relate- The Indian guy having a Scottish accent
- “I don’t have men! I wear sandals!”
The First David Job
- “I don’t need money! I – ” “Nate!” “ – need money.”
- Quinn’s terrible hair
- Hardison saying “get out of my house” ie one of the sexiest
moments of the entire showThe Second David Job
- “I guess you can touch this – with a SWAT team and a federal
warrant.”- Maggie: “You can’t just make someone do what you want them
to do.” Everyone else: *laughs uncomfortably*- Sterling: “You know your entire plan depended on me being a
self-serving utter bastard.” Nate: “Yeah, that’s a stretch.”
401: The Long Way Down Job
I just love the perfunctory, no-nonsense way Eliot hugs him, just “see you tonight, dear.”
GET TO KNOW ME MEME : [15/15] relationships
↳ Alec Hardison & Parker (Leverage)
So the thing is, I think that maybe I might be having feelings. Like weird, weird feelings for… pretzels.
#another day another leverage breakdown#but like let’s just be clear how important it is that at this point parker#parker who gave eliot and hardison a fake address at one point#parker whose living space is by choice a huge warehouse with lights that go on automatically#and her bed positioned at the center so that if someone were to break in while she slept#she would have plenty of notice and opportunity to spring up and attack#parker who is one of the most dangerous people on earth#parker whose trust issues are so deep-seated that her personality is in some respects literally built around them#feels so comfortable and so safe with her boys that she can fall asleep with another person – a person who at this point is a threat#holding her in the back of a police vehicle#and like yes i am aware that she is most likely just faking sleep but a) she’s still comfortable enough – trusts eliot and hardison enough#to close her eyes in front of this baldwin#and b) eliot’s ‘she bores easy’ is immediate and without artifice#she has fallen asleep during movies and monster truck rallies and that robot fight hardison took her to that time#she fell asleep at the rodeo (but woke up again when somebody got thrown)#she canonically took a nap in the back of hardison’s truck one time#and that’s SUCH A HUGE SIGN OF TRUST OKAY SHE LOVES HER BOYS SO MUCH#SHE KNOWS BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT THAT THEY’D NEVER LEAVE HER BEHIND OR DO ANYTHING TO PUT HER AT RISK#and god that’s so huge for parker#like she grows and changes an incredible gorgeous amount over the course of the series but this to me is the most amazing thing#parker who started off with a briar patch around the spikes around the moat around the walls around her heart#parker who told them after their first job that she’d already forgotten their names#has grown to trust these men enough to let at least part of her guard down in front of a stranger because eliot and hardison are there#has grown to trust these men enough that (whether it’s what she’s doing here or not) she can fall asleep in front of them#WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SCENE. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING.#thief juice: it’s a mouth crime (via gyzym)
GET TO KNOW ME MEME : [15/15] relationships
↳ Alec Hardison & Parker (Leverage)
So the thing is, I think that maybe I might be having feelings. Like weird, weird feelings for… pretzels.