Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words.
I don't think anybody who reads this actually watches Leverage, but I was happy to see on the Leverage creator's blog that they are actually worried about some of the things I was flipping out about with respect to Sophie. I think the order the episodes were aired screwed up the trajectory Rogers describes below. This is what he says:
We knew it wouldn't work. The Sophie/Nate relationship. Well, not at first, but as soon as we started working with the actors (and it was really Tim and Gina who got us here), we realized:
a.) If Nate's as screwed up as we want, Sophie's a sap for putting up with it now that she's actually working with the guy on a regular basis, but
b.) if Nate's normal enough for the relationship to work -- a relationship built on the already tenuous foundation of romanticized, idealized verisons of each other -- he's not as fucked up as we want.
So we embarked on an occasionally frustrating, but to me much more creatively satisfying arc, of showing that real relationships are really, really hard. Sophie, in the arc of the season goes through:
1) this guy I've got a sexy, flirty relationship with, kind of a mutual crush based on our exotic lifestyle, is finally available ...
2.)... but neither of us are exactly who we think we are ...
3.) ... he's a drunk. A baaaad drunk ...
4.) ... who won't talk about his problem, or even what we're doing here in this weird pseuod-relationship ...
5.) ... who plainly really cares for me but that bit of vulnerability is almost worse because he ...
6.) ... won't stop drinking and is getting worse and ...
7.) ... shutting us all out and self-destructing in front of us and --
8.) -- now says, out loud, how much he despises the fact his ex-wife thinks he's a criminal. Like me.
Frankly -- fuck that. Fuck YOU, Emotionally Unavailable Guy. I'd steal the Second David too.
Still doesn't excuse the dreadfulness of "The Wedding Job," but it helps. I really love that the guy takes the time to address reader concerns, and it pleases the shop talk-lover in me to learn about how the show gets put together. One tidbit: TNT decided to move "The Wedding Job" later in the season because they thought other eps demonstrated the show's formula better. I wonder if it also happened because (I think) it's the weakest episode of the season.
In other news, Merlin fanfiction, just say no to noncon-turned-but-really-I-wanted-it. Gee whiz.
We knew it wouldn't work. The Sophie/Nate relationship. Well, not at first, but as soon as we started working with the actors (and it was really Tim and Gina who got us here), we realized:
a.) If Nate's as screwed up as we want, Sophie's a sap for putting up with it now that she's actually working with the guy on a regular basis, but
b.) if Nate's normal enough for the relationship to work -- a relationship built on the already tenuous foundation of romanticized, idealized verisons of each other -- he's not as fucked up as we want.
So we embarked on an occasionally frustrating, but to me much more creatively satisfying arc, of showing that real relationships are really, really hard. Sophie, in the arc of the season goes through:
1) this guy I've got a sexy, flirty relationship with, kind of a mutual crush based on our exotic lifestyle, is finally available ...
2.)... but neither of us are exactly who we think we are ...
3.) ... he's a drunk. A baaaad drunk ...
4.) ... who won't talk about his problem, or even what we're doing here in this weird pseuod-relationship ...
5.) ... who plainly really cares for me but that bit of vulnerability is almost worse because he ...
6.) ... won't stop drinking and is getting worse and ...
7.) ... shutting us all out and self-destructing in front of us and --
8.) -- now says, out loud, how much he despises the fact his ex-wife thinks he's a criminal. Like me.
Frankly -- fuck that. Fuck YOU, Emotionally Unavailable Guy. I'd steal the Second David too.
Still doesn't excuse the dreadfulness of "The Wedding Job," but it helps. I really love that the guy takes the time to address reader concerns, and it pleases the shop talk-lover in me to learn about how the show gets put together. One tidbit: TNT decided to move "The Wedding Job" later in the season because they thought other eps demonstrated the show's formula better. I wonder if it also happened because (I think) it's the weakest episode of the season.
In other news, Merlin fanfiction, just say no to noncon-turned-but-really-I-wanted-it. Gee whiz.