I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM.

[dsudis]

I just watched twenty episodes of Leverage in a single day but, much like Nate Ford, okay, I do not have a problem.

Well, okay, I do have a problem. The problem is that I have run out of episodes to watch and have to wait until Wednesday for more. THAT IS A PROBLEM.

Comments

[havocthecat]

Um. I guess I'm hearing that you you don't like her because she's too perfect? And that's sounding a lot like "I don't like her because she's too perfect and the PTB have made her into a Mary Sue" kind of stuff that people have been using for years as an excuse for, say, Sam Carter or Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean, or Hermione Granger, or, for that matter, any number of other female characters.

I'm not even saying "everyone must love Tara" or "everyone must love Tara right away." Because that would be nuts. But I guess that not even liking Tara (and you say she's cool but mostly you talk in this post and the comments like you can barely stand her) because she's not Sophie and because she's too perfect is making me do a really big double take.

Which. Well. You may not care about that, and you may be saying, "Who is this person and why do they even care?" Given that I friended you because of the Stargate Bechdel Test stuff you were doing a while back and proceeded to lurk (and I think this is the first time I've ever commented), you could well ignore my opinion. Because you don't know me at all.

[1001cranes]

to completely butt in, I think I agree with what dsudis is saying, in that... WHY is Tara part of the team? She really doesn't have a compelling reason to be there, so for me she just grates. I don't really want in her in the merry little Leverage band because it seems like she's in it for a lark, she doesn't really give a damn about any of them -- Nate's drinking problem, to begin with, although HOW SICK AM I of Nate's mainpain, hur hur -- and I don't want my replacement Sophia/Mom character that way :/

[havocthecat]

She really doesn't have a compelling reason to be there, so for me she just grates.

Really? Because all of their cons require a grifter, and the time Hardison tried to be their grifter was a disaster. They design their schemes around what all five of them can do, not what four of them can do. So, yeah, they need Tara. Or another grifter. The producers hired Jeri Ryan.

I don't really want in her in the merry little Leverage band because it seems like she's in it for a lark, she doesn't really give a damn about any of them

It's a job for Tara; she stated in her first ep that she expects to be paid. She's doing it because she owes Sophie for something from their past, and because Sophie asked her to. That's brought up in more than one episode. How is she supposed to give a damn about any of them? They're co-workers, not family.

There are a very large number of people who don't give a damn about their co-workers, except for those few who may be lucky enough to move from co-worker status to friend status. Which takes time anyway, and we're actually seeing that happen with Tara on-screen.

You may not like Tara's attitude, but what are the PTB supposed to do? Bring Tara in and have her be the replacement just-like-Sophie-but-blonde, and have everyone love her instantly and she can just slip right in without any problems? She can suddenly give up her life of grifting and join in the Robin Hood-like missions that the rest of the team go on, but it wouldn't make sense for her, or for any character that they bring in to replace Sophie.

It would be bad writing, and, so far, the Leverage PTB have proven themselves to have an understanding of character growth and development. I, for one, am very glad to see that they haven't abandoned that during one of their regulars' need for parental leave.

Besides, if they did abandon it and make Tara instantly loved, then everyone would just hate her for being an instant, identical replacement for Sophie, instead of hating her for not being an instant, identical replacement for Sophie. Which is basically what I'm seeing a lot of in this fandom, and I'm really sick of it. Tara can't win, in many respects, and it's really driving me nuts.

(As to Nate's emo pain and his drinking problems, I just want to smack him and tell him to deal with his problems like the adult he's supposed to be.)

[1001cranes]

Well, yes, of course they need a grifter. Logically, I know Sophie can’t be in the show because Gina Bellman can't, and they need a grifter because Hardison’s attempt was *terrible*, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy whatever placeholder they’ve parked there - particularly one who isn’t a part of the family. Yes, okay, a band of thieves can be a coworker situation, but I don't enjoy that! It's Leverage, not Smith, or Thief. Part of the appeal is that you have these fives thieves (I guess minus Nate, cue eyeroll) that didn’t want to be apart from each other. Tara is a wrench in a comfortable system of cogs. She’s only there because she wants to be paid, she doesn’t want to be Robin Hood - which is fine, hell, I loved Smith, and they were a bunch of psychopathic self-serving bastards, but again, its not Leverage.

It’s not the replacing Sophie thing, because to be totally honest, I’m not SO enamored with Sophie that getting rid of her would put me off the show (like Torchwood! I’m looking at you!). Plenty of shows have revolving casts, practically, switching people in and out with abandon, and they can be great shows. I didn’t go into this intending to hate Sophie’s replacement, but I think Tara throws off the dynamic, and did right from the beginning. I HATED the first ep she appeared in, the midseason finale thing (I think?) when I honestly just wanted to smack her in the face for being so smug and deceitful and "new mommy does things differently!" Although, to be fair, I think Tara’s gotten more and more interesting and less and less Mary Sue each ep - though I really think you do see the Mary Sue thing the first few episodes she’s in. She’s constantly saving the day - kicking Triad ass instead of Eliot, knowing things about Russia no one else knows, apparently, despite Nate and Eliot certainly having gone all over the globe and dealing with bureaucracy (cue second eyeroll), getting an ID Hardison can’t hack, the whole 5-0 scam thing, all while also being an A+ grifter. We get it, we get it, Tara’s *awesome*. On top of being irritating, if she’s so good, why does she owe a favor to Sophie - clearly a BIG favor, to hang around the Leverage crew for weeks and weeks - and why would she bother to repay it?

IDK, it might be fair to say I dislike Tara in the context of Leverage, not necessarily Tara herself. If she wanted to go off and run her own band of self-serving, potentially psychopathic and trigger happy misfits a la Smith, I’d be all over that like white on rice. But she doesn’t give me the warm and happy Leverage snugglies. And I think I would find that acceptable if Leverage made an attempt to direct itself elsewhere for these past few episodes, but it hasn’t. They’re chugging along like she’s Sophie, when they didn’t bother to either get someone who could do all that Sophie does or redefine Sophie’s role in the group. I adore Jeri Ryan too, which makes this whole thing really unfortunate. She always does the best bit parts, but I can honestly say I’ll never rewatch Leverage for her.

okay, wow, long comment is long and rambly, time for dinner and higher blood sugar

[dsudis]

Yeah, you pretty much nailed what I was thinking--not that the team doesn't need Tara, but that Tara doesn't need the team, and their co-dependence is why I love the show. Tara is like a bucket of cold water on the happy family dysfunctional lovefest. It really is just a job for her, which it hasn't been for the team since the beginning--and that's fine for Tara, but it's not what I want from the show. And since the show knows Sophie's coming back, as far as I can tell the show's built to leave me a little dissatisfied with episodes that lack Sophie.

As far as Jeri Ryan, though--I was reading John Rogers' blog, and found the entry where he talked about her first day of filming being the scenes in Nate's loft where they're all angry and hostile and don't want her there, and my instant reaction was "Oh God, poor Jeri Ryan! What a horrible first day of work!"

[dsudis]

Much of this amounts to "what 1001cranes said", but I'll take my own crack at articulating it better than I initially did.

I phrased my comment pretty carefully to avoid using the term "Mary Sue" because I'm well aware that that accusation has been unfairly leveled at many female characters. But if I may say so, I believe there's a difference between claiming that Sam Carter is a Mary Sue (and that's why I only like Jack and Daniel and Teal'c) or that Elizabeth is a Mary Sue (and that's why I only like Jack and Will) or Hermione is a Mary Sue (and that's why I only like Harry and Ron or Harry and Draco or other male characters) and what I said, which is that I prefer the flawed Sophie over the flawless Tara, and that Tara's flawlessness prevents me from getting attached to her.

And since I wasn't completely clear about what I meant by that: every member of the team - Nate, Eliot, Hardison, Parker, and Sophie - has an area of expertise and an equally well-established area of flaming incompetence. Nate drinks and wallows in his manpain. Sophie cannot act to save her life when it's what she's trying to do. Parker can't handle humans. Eliot can't handle computers. Hardison can't fight or grift. Each of them may improve a little on those weaknesses through the help of the others, but the weaknesses remain.

For each of them, their skill is what makes the team need them. Their weakness is what makes them need the team. And the show is about the team becoming a team, becoming a family, and that is what I love about the show. So now we have Tara, who isn't a part of the family, doesn't share their goals, and doesn't want to get close to them--that's how she's written, that's the function of the character.

And because that's who she is and what she's meant for, I don't like the character very much. I have a lot of moments of grudging respect--as I mentioned even when capslocking, she talked Parker through a tricky moment, she gets her fight on well enough to impress Eliot. Those are cool moments and as they stacked up I resented her less for not being Sophie.

But she's still not Sophie. And I still want Sophie back, so that the family I got invested in will be whole again. I would feel the same about a substitute for Eliot or Hardison--I liked Jonas Quinn a lot, but I still counted down the episodes until Daniel came back.
On the other hand, when watching Doctor Who, I briefly resented each new companion for not being the former companion - Donna for not being Rose, Martha for not being Rose OR Donna - and then the show did its job and hooked me into loving the new character as much as I had loved the old. Leverage does its job, too--but making the viewer fall completely in love with Tara isn't the job it's trying to do, as far as I can tell.