Say what you will about redemption but the character premises for the two new leads absolutely slap. "Hardison's 20 year old hacker little sister who grew up with the highlight reel of leverage decides to join and learns the gritty details that were left out of storytime" and "guy who would probably be a mark under different circumstances decides to Do Better and get kidnapped into the team about it" are both objectively funky ideas.

Leverage x Onion headline

Within the world of Leverage there are many, many people who've heard whisperings of Leverage International. But it's not like you can just google them and send an email query when you have a problem that needs solving. That wouldn't be prudent, given that the bad guys are aware of them, too.

One method that has been extremely successful at catching their attention, however, has been fanfiction. Now, instead of daydreaming about being saved, folks are writing up little stories on AO3 about how they've been wronged by the rich and powerful, unable to get justice by traditional means, and how Leverage swooped in to save the day.

Without fail, someone has been in touch with them within a couple of days with both a plan and a promise to make things right.

Of course, this is because Hardison has the "Leverage" fandom tag favorited and checks in on it hourly.

the 10 lil grifters job episode of leverage is so fun. we get to see our team attend a costume party. sophie calls her seasoned criminal coworkers "whiny babies". the whole time everyone is only like 80% sure that nate didn’t commit first degree murder behind their backs. parker offhandedly mentions that she robbed imelda marcos, and she clearly has no idea who that is. hardison has been inviting himself to the oscars for years. there’s a huge amount of references to mystery novels, movies and tv shows, not to mention all the fictional detectives you can spot in the background. timothy hutton is playing nate playing ellery queen, a detective character who was played by timothy hutton’s late father, jim hutton. we get to see all of the team use their skills in very different ways: you can’t hack a house that was built well over a century ago, so hardison has to adapt; eliot has to beat people up subtly and in public; parker’s spidey senses (aka extremely good spatial awareness) allow her to discover secret passages; sophie gets to do the amateur acting gig she’s always wanted; nate has to figure out how a crime was done rather than how to do a crime. at one point, parker gets offered a threesome. truly one of the episodes of all time.

Leverage + Textposts 2

"I can confirm that there is a spot inspection scheduled for today."

Leverage S04E05 The Van Gogh Job.

My favourite Eliot Spencer character trait is Friend-shaped To Children. Nate can't look at children without crying. Sophie is politely baffled at the concept of Humans Who Don't Understand Complicated Psychological Concepts Because They Are Literally 6 Years Old. Hardison has older brother energy, which is to say children are comfortable in his presence but they don't actively seek him out, unless of course to play an epic prank akin to the great tradition of Ring and Ditch or Spell ICUP. Parker will try to protect any child she can, but under-12s without autistic criminal intent don't really connect with her, unless of course they are Traumatized™.

Eliot Spencer is continuously sought out by children of all ages. Traumatized or not? Does not matter. Literally baby or cool teen? Does not matter. They will come up to him while he is glaring daggers or actively planning to murder someone and ask him to hold their hands through the security check at the airport. And you know what? He does. He holds their hand every single time.

No but I need people to understand.

The vast majority of people who get shot don’t die. Getting shot with a low-caliber handgun is not only unlikely to kill you immediately, it doesn’t even necessarily put you on the ground, unless either you’re very unlucky or the shooter has very good aim. Every day in the U.S., 327 people are shot and about 36% of them die. Note that’s ALL gunshots, including high-velocity rounds. Typically, the higher the caliber of bullet, the more likely you are to die.

I think one of the most accurate depictions of a low-caliber gunshot injury I’ve ever seen in media happened in the first episode of Leverage, where Nate and Sophie shoot one another, clutch their wounds, and glare at each other, still standing. “You wanker,” Sophie hisses.

You know what’s just about as deadly as gunshot wounds?

Traumatic brain injuries.

Every day in the U.S., approximately 586 people go to the hospital with TBIs. The fatality rate? About 32%.

This is why I laugh whenever I see a movie character or superhero choose to knock out their enemies rather than shoot them because they’re ‘moral’ or their personal code keeps them from killing. Like, bitch, you’re absolutely still killing people.

Gifs of Eliot that no one asked for but I made them anyway (45/?)

Thinking a lot about Paul hearing the trigger being pulled and his first instinct is to grab Eliot.

And they both mean the world to me 🥰

Leverage 3x6 - "The Gone Fishin' Job"

Husband and I have decided there should be a Leverage audio drama narrated by Gina Bellman. Obviously, she'd also voice every single character.

"That's your social media campaign? You have talent."

Leverage Redemption S01E10 The Unwellness Job.

Made a friend watch the Nigerian Job with me earlier.... And I really wanted to do Nate's longer quote