It's Not All About The Job(s) ~ Leverage Meta
In honour of the fact that Leverage has recently finished its third season, I thought I'd do the thing I've been meaning to do for a while now, and actually do a meta-post on the series.
(I know I do my reaction posts for each episode, but those tend to consist of SQUEE and fangirly flailing. This is going to be at least halfway serious.)
Also, this is going to be heavily spoilerific for... everything, really. Just a heads up.
On with the show...
~~
Seeing as the characters are what makes this show so great, we'll do this character-by-character. Starting with...
Hitter: Eliot Spencer
On the Season One DVD extras, Christian Kane said something about Eliot that I find really interesting: that he's basically mad at the world, all the time, except for when he's fighting. During a fight is the only time when he's really calm.
I like that idea. And, hey, CK is the one person who'd know, right?
Eliot's mysterious. The others... with Nate, Hardison, Parker we know something of their lives, their childhoods. (Sophie's... different) But not Eliot. We know he had an apparently serious thing going with Aimee, we know he has more diverse skills than anyone could possibly imagine, and based on that one flashback in The Reunion Job where teen!Eliot was wearing one of those letterman jackets, it looks like he was a jock (or similar) in high school. Oh, and he was most likely in the military. This is all speculation and guesswork pieced together from the scraps that get thrown to us... we don't know anything about Eliot, really. I'm not even really sure that Eliot Spencer is his real name (and to be honest, in his line of work, he'd be stupid to go around using his real name. And he's anything but stupid.)
The other thing about Eliot is... he's kinda weird, in a good, adorable sort of way. I guess no-one really noticed it before because he was always working alone, but he is.
And his future? Well... Eliot is the one person who I think could probably go back to his old "retreival specialist" job. I'm not sure about this, but I think he could.
Interpersonal relationships: friendly (...mostly) animosity with Hardison. For the most part a solid working relationsip, at least, with Nate. His relationship with Parker is definitely warming up. And the one I'd say he's closest to, in his own way, is Sophie (they're the most alike).
Hacker: Alec Hardison
Well. Youngest of the team. As of The King George Job, a certifiable master of forgery (hey, that was impressive), and genius hacker. Oh, and a virtuoso violinist, sometimes.
I'm not going to pick favourites, but if I had to, it would be Hardison hands down.
He's definitely matured since the beginning of the series, and he's a little (just a little) more serious than he used to be. He throws around science fiction and pop culture references, and he watches torrents of Doctor Who, and he named his van.
And he's not that bad a grifter, either.
Hardison is the one that I can, hypothetically, envisage walking away from crime and going legit. Maybe law enforcement, even... if you watch Criminal Minds, I'm picturing something like Garcia's path. I don't think he will do that, though, because he's too in love with what he's doing at the moment, and too loyal to the crew. And even if none of that was an issue, he'd stick around for Parker at the very least.
Interpersonal relationships:
We all know about Hardison and Parker, right? He's liked her from day one, she took a bit longer to catch on, but they are so adorable together.
He has kind of a mentor/apprentice relationship with Nate (The Scherazade Job), even if it does get a bit rocky sometimes (The Maltese Falcon/Jailhouse Jobs).
Grifter: The Woman Formerly Known As Sophie Devereaux
It is no secret that I adore Sophie, and that I love the way Gina Bellman plays her. Sophie's the heart of the team, the mother/sister/best friend who makes sure everyone is OK.
She's also the only one that wasn't initially contacted by Dubenich. The others were brought in for their particular skills. It was Nate who brought Sophie in.
And the relationship between Nate and Sophie is one of the things that really draws me in to this show. In The Nigerian Job, she calls him "her only fan". In The Two Live Crew Job, he's the closest thing she has to a real friend.
Sophie and Nate have known each other for years, more or less, and these two people who don't especially mix well with others each found someone they fit with. What really sticks with me is that, in the first season especially, it's like watching a romantic relationship develop... without an actual relationship! (I mean it, the sheer amount of eyesex and lingering looks is astounding.) Then in the second season it's like they skipped the relationship part and went straight to the trust issues.
And of course there's the Real Name issue. At this point.. OK, yes, I want to know. But it's not going to be earthshattering news for me. Sophie is Sophie, no matter what name she uses, and I love her regardless.
Besides, I already decided that in my personal canon, her name's Irene Adler. (yeah, I'm a nerd, whatever)
Thief: Parker
Bizarrely, Parker - the one with the most problems and the most crazy - is the person I understand the best. This has to do with the somewhat personal fact that she has (to quote Dean Devlin) a mild case of Asperger's, and so do I. Admittedly I've never stabbed a guy with a fork, but I certainly know where she was coming from, because I'm not keen on unexpected physical contact either.
Anyway, enough about me. Much like Hardison, Parker's matured a lot since the beginning - not only is she getting better at the social stuff, but she's improving her grifting and gets more involved in the planning stages as well.
Of her relationships with the others, I find her and Nate most interesting. It's almost a mentor/apprentice thing and almost a father/daughter thing... I can't pin it down exactly, I just know it's awesome. If anyone needs convincing, watch The Inside Job again.
Mastermind: Nathan Ford
If I was going to list these guys in order of crazy, Nate would be a really close second (after Parker). And yeah, he is a bit crazy. Still functional, but crazy nonetheless.
Sometimes I wonder what he was like when he married Maggie, before Sam died. Maggie said that he wasn't the man she'd married (The Zanzibar Marketplace Job) - so who was he, back then? What was he like? Was he actually friends with Sterling?
Enough questions. Whoever he was is gone. This is who he is now. A more-thana-slightly-crazy, frequently drunk criminal mastermind. With a Masters degree in Statistics, according to a deleted scene from The Nigerian Job. (I'm so not making that up... check out the DVD) Oh, and he can be a real bastard sometimes.
The thing is, despite that, I still like him as a character, and I still find him sympathetic. (He's also quite charming when he wants to be) So... you know what, I don't care. He's Nate. He might well be one of my favourite TV characters for at least the last few years, if not longer. The rest is irrelevant.
('Brains' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'Mastermind' does)
~~
All I know is, I adore this show, and I am profoundly, profoundly grateful to the cast, crew, writers and producers who have worked so hard to give us three fantastic seasons.
May there be many more to come.
(I know I do my reaction posts for each episode, but those tend to consist of SQUEE and fangirly flailing. This is going to be at least halfway serious.)
Also, this is going to be heavily spoilerific for... everything, really. Just a heads up.
On with the show...
~~
Seeing as the characters are what makes this show so great, we'll do this character-by-character. Starting with...
Hitter: Eliot Spencer
On the Season One DVD extras, Christian Kane said something about Eliot that I find really interesting: that he's basically mad at the world, all the time, except for when he's fighting. During a fight is the only time when he's really calm.
I like that idea. And, hey, CK is the one person who'd know, right?
Eliot's mysterious. The others... with Nate, Hardison, Parker we know something of their lives, their childhoods. (Sophie's... different) But not Eliot. We know he had an apparently serious thing going with Aimee, we know he has more diverse skills than anyone could possibly imagine, and based on that one flashback in The Reunion Job where teen!Eliot was wearing one of those letterman jackets, it looks like he was a jock (or similar) in high school. Oh, and he was most likely in the military. This is all speculation and guesswork pieced together from the scraps that get thrown to us... we don't know anything about Eliot, really. I'm not even really sure that Eliot Spencer is his real name (and to be honest, in his line of work, he'd be stupid to go around using his real name. And he's anything but stupid.)
The other thing about Eliot is... he's kinda weird, in a good, adorable sort of way. I guess no-one really noticed it before because he was always working alone, but he is.
And his future? Well... Eliot is the one person who I think could probably go back to his old "retreival specialist" job. I'm not sure about this, but I think he could.
Interpersonal relationships: friendly (...mostly) animosity with Hardison. For the most part a solid working relationsip, at least, with Nate. His relationship with Parker is definitely warming up. And the one I'd say he's closest to, in his own way, is Sophie (they're the most alike).
Hacker: Alec Hardison
Well. Youngest of the team. As of The King George Job, a certifiable master of forgery (hey, that was impressive), and genius hacker. Oh, and a virtuoso violinist, sometimes.
I'm not going to pick favourites, but if I had to, it would be Hardison hands down.
He's definitely matured since the beginning of the series, and he's a little (just a little) more serious than he used to be. He throws around science fiction and pop culture references, and he watches torrents of Doctor Who, and he named his van.
And he's not that bad a grifter, either.
Hardison is the one that I can, hypothetically, envisage walking away from crime and going legit. Maybe law enforcement, even... if you watch Criminal Minds, I'm picturing something like Garcia's path. I don't think he will do that, though, because he's too in love with what he's doing at the moment, and too loyal to the crew. And even if none of that was an issue, he'd stick around for Parker at the very least.
Interpersonal relationships:
We all know about Hardison and Parker, right? He's liked her from day one, she took a bit longer to catch on, but they are so adorable together.
He has kind of a mentor/apprentice relationship with Nate (The Scherazade Job), even if it does get a bit rocky sometimes (The Maltese Falcon/Jailhouse Jobs).
Grifter: The Woman Formerly Known As Sophie Devereaux
It is no secret that I adore Sophie, and that I love the way Gina Bellman plays her. Sophie's the heart of the team, the mother/sister/best friend who makes sure everyone is OK.
She's also the only one that wasn't initially contacted by Dubenich. The others were brought in for their particular skills. It was Nate who brought Sophie in.
And the relationship between Nate and Sophie is one of the things that really draws me in to this show. In The Nigerian Job, she calls him "her only fan". In The Two Live Crew Job, he's the closest thing she has to a real friend.
Sophie and Nate have known each other for years, more or less, and these two people who don't especially mix well with others each found someone they fit with. What really sticks with me is that, in the first season especially, it's like watching a romantic relationship develop... without an actual relationship! (I mean it, the sheer amount of eyesex and lingering looks is astounding.) Then in the second season it's like they skipped the relationship part and went straight to the trust issues.
And of course there's the Real Name issue. At this point.. OK, yes, I want to know. But it's not going to be earthshattering news for me. Sophie is Sophie, no matter what name she uses, and I love her regardless.
Besides, I already decided that in my personal canon, her name's Irene Adler. (yeah, I'm a nerd, whatever)
Thief: Parker
Bizarrely, Parker - the one with the most problems and the most crazy - is the person I understand the best. This has to do with the somewhat personal fact that she has (to quote Dean Devlin) a mild case of Asperger's, and so do I. Admittedly I've never stabbed a guy with a fork, but I certainly know where she was coming from, because I'm not keen on unexpected physical contact either.
Anyway, enough about me. Much like Hardison, Parker's matured a lot since the beginning - not only is she getting better at the social stuff, but she's improving her grifting and gets more involved in the planning stages as well.
Of her relationships with the others, I find her and Nate most interesting. It's almost a mentor/apprentice thing and almost a father/daughter thing... I can't pin it down exactly, I just know it's awesome. If anyone needs convincing, watch The Inside Job again.
Mastermind: Nathan Ford
If I was going to list these guys in order of crazy, Nate would be a really close second (after Parker). And yeah, he is a bit crazy. Still functional, but crazy nonetheless.
Sometimes I wonder what he was like when he married Maggie, before Sam died. Maggie said that he wasn't the man she'd married (The Zanzibar Marketplace Job) - so who was he, back then? What was he like? Was he actually friends with Sterling?
Enough questions. Whoever he was is gone. This is who he is now. A more-thana-slightly-crazy, frequently drunk criminal mastermind. With a Masters degree in Statistics, according to a deleted scene from The Nigerian Job. (I'm so not making that up... check out the DVD) Oh, and he can be a real bastard sometimes.
The thing is, despite that, I still like him as a character, and I still find him sympathetic. (He's also quite charming when he wants to be) So... you know what, I don't care. He's Nate. He might well be one of my favourite TV characters for at least the last few years, if not longer. The rest is irrelevant.
('Brains' doesn't have the same ring to it as 'Mastermind' does)
~~
All I know is, I adore this show, and I am profoundly, profoundly grateful to the cast, crew, writers and producers who have worked so hard to give us three fantastic seasons.
May there be many more to come.