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

[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!"