I’ve talked about this before but imagine what it’s like for someone in a country/place where eliot is Top Most Wanted and then your tech guy finds a breakout star baseball player on their visual scanner that looks EXACTLY like spencer. but…there’s no way that’s him, right???

and then the next year it happens again but this time it’s some one hit wonder country singer kenneth crane that has like 78 tween-run fangirl blogs dedicated to him. you see a grainy video of him being chased by a horde of screaming teenage girls and ??? no way Eliot Last Thing You’ll Ever See Spencer is a country singer star just. signing pictures of his face right…?

a few months later your intern shows you footage of an eliot lookalike who is in san lorenzo talking about how there is dog fighting in the presidential palace and you just. sigh. because of course. a scant few days later the political geography of the country changes drastically and damien moreau is imprisoned. …interesting

and then a year of silence goes by. he still shows up as blips on the radar but he must have a good hacker working for him because his tracks on the internet are expertly erased.

every time you ask through interagency channels some random interpol guy talks in (condescending?) riddles at you and it also somehow feels like he’s threatening you

and then your friend who recently got into foreign hockey teams sends you a dropyourgloves video of someone called jacques the bear. you immediately get a headache (and watch some more videos because even you can admit this guy is a good hockey player)

and you know he’s a Bad Guy but it’s been admittedly a bit entertaining seeing what claim to fame he will come upon next. and his most recent actions over the few years make you wonder.

a few months later your phone pings because multiple heads of state evacuated from DC. the reason? eliot spencer was in town. you hear two days later a bioterrorist was taken down by… the report was redacted. your hacker tells you spencer and two teammates were behind the successful operation. which, huh.

not even a full year later it is released that spencer is dead and… you don’t know how to feel.

Well, a realization just hit me. Don't know if this is true of not, I don't remember the timing.

Eliot said he didn't hit cops in the OG show. Well now that makes sense. His dad is Black. What do Black parents teach their kids when it comes to dealing with the cops? Part of The Talk. Just do as they say, not that that always work.

He would have at least heard that talk with other foster kids, or teammates, if not given it himself.

And why would he stick to that? Because his dad was upset with him and he was still trying to be a Good Boy in one way.

Several times throughout leverage, the team tells Nate he's taking a job too personally and that it's dangerous and someone could get hurt because he's not thinking clearly. And just about every time, Nate denies there's any issues and agrues that he has it under control and that everything will be fine. Then we have the last episode, their last job together. When the Interpol agent asks Nate what his mistake was and how his friends died, he starts by establishing that the job was very personal. His mistake was not miscalculating the guards, it was letting his personal feelings get in the way. (The very thing he said Parker doesn't do before passing on the roll of mastermind to her, but that's not the point.) The point is, that the Interpol agent had no way of knowing about all the times Nate took a job too personally and it made the job more dangerous. She didn't know it had been an issue before, so it was almost like Nate only added that detail to the story for the team. It's like Nate was admitting to them that they had been right and that he did have a bad habit of putting them in danger because he was taking a job too personally. It was like an apology.

I think every day of my life about what was going through Damien Moreau's head when he saw that puppy broadcast. he has seen that man elbow deep in the blood of innocents. he has seen that man tear human beings apart like wet tissue. right now in front of his eyes The Eliot Spencer is gently cradling an adorable little pupper and softly explaining the evils of animal cruelty. I genuinely this might have been the first time he realised what he was up against because his entire brain must have rebooted in that moment.

The thing that's so tragic to me about Eliot is that he obviously likes the violence. In the tap-out job we find out that's he's basically constantly holding himself back. That for all the violence we do see, he's capable of much worse and he HAS to hold himself back. He didn't do all those horrible things simply out of loyalty/obedience, he didn't stumble into the military, the PMCs and Moreau by accident. He chose this because he enjoyed hurting people. I think that's why he still doesn't think he'll ever be redeemed even after 10+ years. Regretting your actions is one thing but how do you come to terms with the fact that you enjoy inflicting pain? How do you accept the part of you you have to bury to keep others safe?? How can you think you're anything but a monster???

in the low low price job eliot is at the center of the gloat and the walkaway. eliot brings beer when he returns and is denied entry to the home he grew up in. when nate's at his lowest with alcoholism in the snow job eliot gets himself between nate and the rest of the team; pushes back in a way that draws his attention and keeps nate from lashing out at anyone else. we know eliot isn't an only child, thanks to the miracle job; his nephew would love bibletopia.

(low low price: eliot grew up in rural oklahoma. low low price: eliot hasn't been home since he was 18. what about eliot who performs landmarks of typical masculinity so well could result in such complete rejection from his god loving father? it's hardison eliot's able to confide this in. is it a question we really need to ask, after all?)

in the order 23 job it's eliot who knows on sight that the child with a broken arm is being abused. the kid's dad's social tie to the local cops: they drink together. when eliot and hardison impersonate cops in the morning after job, eliot demands they respond to a called in disturbance with a weapon, because there might be kids in the house.

where do you think eliot learned the relational dynamic he engages in with nate, and before that moreau? eliot left home because he "needed to get out of there". eliot has never lived a life free from controlling men. he may have left, but did he succeed in his escape? why or why not?

it takes eliot five seasons to mention his dad. he never mentions his mom. the carnival job does not center eliot in the gloat but as they walk away we get him centered briefly. nate's the one who says she's dead, but it's eliot who asks about the kid's mom. it's eliot who connects with her in a way it seems nobody has since that loss. in the future job eliot rummages in a car to provide facts so tara can pull off the psychic act. his voice wavers, when he mentions the breast cancer ribbon on the mirror. eliot never mentions his mom. eliot never mentions his mom.

would parker have ever mentioned the brother she lost, were it not for the fake psychic's violating reveal? why do you think eliot never mentions his mom?

fuck redemption's revisionist history. the original run said enough to paint a full and heartbreaking picture of eliot's family all on its own.

Everytime someone says bring back Nate, I shiver with dread.

And for someone who's a really big fan of Nate, I really would hate having to see him come back to Redemption. I saw on a Facebook group I'm in where someone asked how Nate would react to the Jackal Job, and I remember thinking that Nate, the Catholic man, would either not be a supporter or simply not be able to empathize or participate in the con without prejudice.

Look, OG Leverage has a place in my heart for a reason, but I cannot justify bringing back Nate at all. Nate's story could never fit into Redemption for a variety of reasons.

OG Leverage took the experiences Nate had and made a point in every episode why the man does what he does.

OG Leverage was about revenge first and foremost, then doing the right thing after, then building something more.

You know the reason why the stories never mentioned the disabled, the LGBTQ+, or the plain old voiceless of immigrant communities (this one was touched on but not really)?

It's because it wasn't Nate's story to tell. The original message was, if you are in a position where you have been wronged, then you should have the power to make it right. You deserve a second chance. That's why he always dealt with the scammers, the rich white men, the corporate greed, etc. He always tried to give people a second chance from a dumb or honest mistake, or to right someone's wrong.

That's why the Black Book was so important by the end of OG Leverage. It closed Nate's story with the idea that what has been wronged will be righted even if it meant taking a less than legal approach by others who are willing to bring justice to light.

Redemption is not that story. I mean it is, but it isn't. Redemption is the story where those less fortunate, those who are inherently going to lose no matter what they do, get a voice. They deserve a say in how they are treated, and they, as much as the impoverish and the naive, can have the power given back to them.

It's shown with victims like the elderly, the disabled, the people of color, the young who don't quite fit the social norm, and the LGBTQ+ community.

Through Harry Wilson, Redemption also shows us that those with power, need to take responsibility for their actions.  It is not enough to fight those in power, but that people like Harry - who do have power, are vitally needed to change the system.

Redemption does not need to see Nate to accomplish this story, but the fact remains that the message Nate started is still here, if not more refined and nuanced than ever before.

Nate should not come back to Redemption because his story was told in OG, and now, a new story can begin where the crew can be expanded and fight for what's right as well as give every victim of an injustice, an opportunity to tell their story as well.

the way it happened was that first they three were crew and then parker and hardison became friends, then hardison and eliot became bros before somewhere along the line eliot and parker quietly became companions. after that, they were so intertwined as partners them three together that one day they look at each other over a meal eliot prepared, in a home hardison built for them, after another successful leverage heist led by parker, and they are just... them. in love and in trust and til dying days.

You wanna get sad about Eliot Spencer? Consider the part in The Experimental Job where he’s being asked about the people he’s killed:

Eliot: What do you want to know? Names? Dates? Locations? (softly) You want to know what food was on their breath? Their eyes – what color their eyes were? You want to know the last words they spoke? You want to know which ones deserved it. Or, better yet, the ones that didn't? Do you want to know which ones begged? Do you know why I remember these things? Interrogator: I don't know. Eliot: You don't know? 'Cause I can't forget. So there's nothing you can do, no punishment you can hand out that's worse than what I live with every day. So, to answer your question, no. No, I haven't counted. I don't need to.

Then consider this exchange with Sophie from The Lonely Hearts Job:

Sophie: And you’re one to laugh. You don’t even bother to learn their names. They’re just waitress, nurse, stewardess. Eliot: First of all, it’s flight attendant, all right? They don’t like being called stewardess. And, second, I know their names.

Now consider this line a couple chapters back in my WIP that's been stuck in my head:

He knows from experience that a little of that will always stay with him, even if he leaves now and never sees her again. He'll always remember her face like this, and that radiant smile, too. He's good with faces, and sometimes he thinks he collects the faces that give him warm feelings to help counterbalance the other ones.

Writing that line made me realize the exchange in The Lonely Hearts Job can almost be read as a callback to The Experimental Job and I am having feelings about it.

(Thanks to When Darkness Falls for transcripts and the folks on Sunday Leverage Marathon Discord for reminding me which episode the second excerpt is from)

I wanted to talk about The Broken Wing Job and a thing I noticed about Parker.

I think we all know that Parker is definitely Autistic-coded, though to exactly what extent that was directly intentional depends largely on who you ask.

What I noticed is Parker's initial hostility toward Amy. She gets upset because Amy is trying to be friendly towards her in a way Parker interprets as insincere.

I think a lot of Autistic people can relate to the experience of being suspicious towards people who act friendly, especially if it might be insincere, because social interaction can be filled with invisible landmines. This can result in people who do the opposite of masking. Basically, seeing conversation/ friendly overtures as a type of conflict and refusing to play the game. Rather than try to figure out the rules for optimal conversation (and risk getting them wrong and being ostracized), they just skip to choosing to make things as uncomfortable for the other person to avoid trying and failing.

I think we see Parker do this a lot throughout the series. I mean, her first instinct when she feels social conflict while grifting is literally to start stabbing. She never masks to make the team more comfortable, even when she learns how to play the game to grift.

So, when it comes to The Broken Wing Job, Parker acts as weirdly as possible. See: "Best meal I ever had was in French prison." I see this as her trying to communicate 'I am not like you' in an attempt to get Amy to acknowledge the communication barrier and leave her alone.

HOWEVER, as the episode goes along, Amy not only accepts all the strange Parker gives off, but shows Parker some of her own strangeness back. (See: all of the people watching).

Amy met Parker on her level and communicated in a way Parker understood.

This is really important because even her teammates sometimes fail to do this. They don't always 'get' Parker, and because of this they can sometimes dismiss her. I think Eliot and Sophie are the worst about this.

Sophie gets Parker sometimes, but as a grifter she relies on the rules of neurotypical interaction, and can sometimes get frustrated with Parker, or try to get her to do it the "normal" way.

Eliot out of all of them is the most stereotypical man out of all of them, and as such he has a strong tendency to enforce this worldview. He does this to Hardison, at least originally, when he sincerely does not value computer skills because he deems them "geeky/ nerdy". Similarly, he is the one who most frequently chides Parker to get her to be less weird. That said, he tends to speak straight forwardly, say what he means, and honor his word. So out of all of them, he may be the one she understands the best.

Anyway, that's all.

the inside job is so real bc nate and eliot meet archie and they are on the absolute same page that it is on SIGHT with him

literally the only reason he didn’t end up with like broken knees in a damp, dark back alley somewhere is because they know that despite parker’s messed up relationship with him, it would make her sad

parker being sad is not allowed if they can help it

so instead, when parker is off doing her occasional solo heist for fun, the rest of the team plots his demise if he ever hurts parker again

💖 love is stored in planning bodily harm of those that hurt the people you love 💖

(post inspired by someone reblogging my parker-archie fucked up relationship post)

The Boiling Rock is the The Rundown Job in ATLA verse and The Rundown Job is The Boiling Rock in Leverage universe. I said what I said.

Been thinking about The Two Live Crew Job again, specifically about Sophie and Eliot with the bomb, and... y'know, it's interesting to me, how Sophie looks to Eliot while they're trying to figure out what to do with the bomb. He's not the expert in the room, not really—that’s Parker and Hardison, truth be told, though Eliot’s got more field experience with explosives, and we see that in how they're the ones providing feedback. Heck, Parker's the one that comes up with the solution with the instant pudding. Nate takes the natural leader position, and he and Sophie are... Nate and Sophie. But it's Eliot that we see Sophie consistently coming back to, who she locks eyes with.

That could be for plenty of reasons. He does seem to have the steadiest control of the situation, likely because he's the best at dealing with high-stakes life-threatening issues (the hitter with extensive military experience is, of course, going to be better under that kind of pressure than the ones who are technically civilians). But I think maybe there's another layer there: he's the one she can trust to be blunt.

See, Eliot's not going to try to soften this. He's a tactful person as a general rule, but he also knows when to be honest. Sophie doesn't want this to be softened. I suspect that's because it introduces a layer of instability; if she only hears optimistic viewpoints, there's an uncertainty in what could go wrong, a fear about what might really happen. But Parker and Hardison and Nate don't necessarily get that—in fact, they themselves won't want to stare down the flat truth, and they may take the optimistic standpoint simply to keep themselves comfortable, even without realizing it.

Conversely, Eliot's not (and never has been) the type to try to look only on the bright side. You don't get to do that in his line of work. He knows how to look at all possible outcomes and take the scene in as-is, and he understands that some people don't want platitudes. Sophie's one of them. She knows, then, that she can trust him to tell her exactly what's happening and what the stakes are, no sugar-coating, no shaky voice, just steady truth.

And she knows, too, that he knows when something is a lost cause—and he understands when to cut his losses. Eliot can be impartial in the moment, no matter how much he beats himself up about it later, and he can weigh the odds and decide, coldly, when to abandon her.

The others can't do that. Parker, even here, even now, two years before The Long Way Down Job, could never choose survival over Sophie in that way. Hardison and Nate? They'd stay, no matter how bad the odds, no matter if it was sure that they wouldn't make it. But Eliot can. More importantly, he's the one who can drag the other three out of there.

He's the one Sophie can depend on to keep them alive. Even if it means she dies alone, even if it means she loses that slim, tiny chance she could live—he'll get them out, and they'll live. She won't let them stay behind, and she even shouts that at them, yells at them to get out, and she knows even as she does so that Nate and Parker and Hardison might not listen. But Eliot will. No matter what, Eliot will, and he'll listen to her and follow her orders.

It's Eliot that she watches, and it's him that she keeps steady with, because he'll be honest with her, and he'll be honest with them, and he'll keep them safe, the same way she "[makes] sure we’re all okay," as Hardison so poignantly puts it.

And do you know what else? In spite of all of it, though, in spite of being the one to be blunt, he still manages to be gentle. He's reassuring, holds her gaze and speaks soft and even and gentle, calming, steady, sure. He's the one who hates explosives, who knows exactly how bad this could be, and he stays steady for her.

This is their second year working together. It's mere months after she apologized for lying to them, point-blank, in The Second David Job. Yet there's still this trust, this holding anchored balance, that they'll keep the crew safe together.

But here's the other thing. It's not just that they trust one another with the rest of the crew. It's that Sophie trusts him to keep her safe, and Eliot trusts her to keep him safe, even if "safe" doesn't mean physically. Because sometimes "safe" isn't about that. Sometimes it's safety in reassurance, even when everything is going to go horribly wrong. Sometimes it's safety in keeping secrets, or listening to each other without judgement.

And sometimes, it's about safety in knowing the truth, no matter how vulnerable and terrible it may be.

I just now noticed the dirty/scolding look Sophie gives Breanna when Breanna asked if Eliot was off to kill someone in The Fractured Job. It was very subtle, but if you watch carefully it's there.

While I did think it was funny, her question also bugged me a little, even though I know she was joking, cuz it felt a little insensitive considering all the guilt Eliot feels about his past. But now that I think about it it actually kinda makes sense that she wouldn't understand how insensitive it could be. Like yes, she knows Eliot and she's known him for a long time. But she knows a different side of him than everyone else. She knew him as the cool, badass uncle who her older brother always brought to family gatherings and Christmas and stuff. She probably knows little snippets of Eliot's past but not enough to fully realize that her joke might be a little insensitive. (She would never intentionally be insensitive about it!) Eliot probably never let her see the guilt ridden side of himself because she's like his little kid niece.

Her joke didn't really seem to bother Eliot that much, but Sophie immediately shut it down and I love that. Because Sophie knows just how much guilt Eliot feels and she knows it's something that's caused him a lot of pain. And like Hardison said, they trust her to make sure they're okay. So even if Breanna's joke didn't actually bother Eliot, Sophie still felt like she needed to let Breanna know to back off a bit. And then Breanna did back off.

Idk what point I'm trying to make here but I thought it was an interesting little detail.

Edit: just in case it wasn't clear, (I should have made this more clear to begin with.) This is not a hate post about Breanna or even a criticism really! The way I see it, Breanna didn't know and had no way of knowing what she said would be insensitive because Eliot didn't let her know. That's what I was trying to get at. Eliot has been doing a very good job of shielding her from his past and she knows a different side of him than the others. I don't want negative things about Breanna said on this post (or any of my posts for that matter.) Of course everyone is entitled to their opinions but please don't put that sort of thing on my posts. If you have something negative to say about Breanna go make your own post please and thank you.

leverage s5 revised episode order

so it's my understanding that it's pretty much general consensus that s5 is setting up the ot3 endgame, showing us throughout the season how close they are and how well they work together and establishing their relationship the best way they can without the network realising, right? we see this in how they do historical episodes, always pairing Nate and Sophie but they've paired Parker and Hardison and Parker and Eliot, and in the present they've done Eliot and Hardison enough times. and so the finale, The Long Goodbye Job, is the final dot over the i to make that clear - Eliot, Parker, and Hardison die together in the fake scenario because anything else would be anathema, and they skip off into the sunset together as a three person Leverage team while Nate and Sophie skip off together as Out Of The Game, For Good

The Frame Up Job and The Rundown Job support this by showing us how well Eliot, Parker, and Hardison work together, how flawless a team (how thoroughly established an ot3) and by showing us Nate and Sophie as a thoroughly established married couple disgustingly in love and bickering and on the same wavelength

now I propose (and not just because of Eliot's haircut in The Rundown Job clearly indicating this episode should've come later in the season) that The Long Goodbye Job was not intended to be the series finale, and that The Frame Up Job and The Rundown Job were supposed to form a two-episode series finale directly following The Long Goodbye Job. soft epilogues, if you will

points to consider:

in both of those episodes, the other half of the team does not appear and is not even mentioned. it's not like the Girls / Boys Night Out episodes, where the episodes are mirrored and the team is working on related problems, and is then reunited at the end - these are entirely separate episodes featuring two independent teams

Vance to Eliot: "Hell, your girlfriend's already out of her cuffs." Nobody corrects him. Not Parker, not Hardison, and not Eliot. Ok this one doesn't prove episode order I just love this subtle ot3 confirmation moment

Sterling, to Nate and Sophie: "Now I know where you are. Call me. I'm hiring."

this was already funny as is, and we're presuming this is because Sterling hasn't found out where the team relocated to after Boston, but imagine if this is actually after The Long Goodbye Job? Sterling let them go. Nate pushed him and he came down on the side of thieves, and he let them go, and then couldn't find them but now he has and his frustration with the case and Nate and Sophie's casual disregard and the final 'I'm hiring'? It's been a couple of months since The Long Goodbye Job and this is the most fun Sterling has had in ages

but the ot3 half ok. so The Long Goodbye Job tells us that they die together and they live together, and they continue Leverage as a 3 person team. Give it a couple of months and they're in DC and they face a real life and death moment - and they live together.

and also, you get Eliot telling Vance "I work with them now" and then he limps bloodily off into the sunset squished between Hardison and Parker like the three of them are off to have some incredible sex

listen I just think season 5 makes so much more sense if we consider those two episodes as the episodes establishing the happily ever after epilogues after The Long Goodbye Job

also in Leverage: Redemption the very first episode we find out that Nate had a shady stash of paintings and materials and whatnot so what if that is actually a hint that Nate and Sophie did actually get back into the game, with Sterling, until Nate passed away and Sophie clocked out?

something that's crucial—at least as far as i'm concerned—when it comes to understanding leverage is understanding that it is from nate's perspective and he isn't an entirely reliable narrator. thank you, roshomon job.

nate has blind spots, he's often wrong, and he misremembers things in ways that are easier for him to live with. today ruminating on that has me desperately, desperately curious about how we would've seen moreau through anyone else on the team's eyes.

because what we see of moreau in canon is disarmingly, disturbingly aimiable for the most part. he is surrounded by dangerous people who he's in control of, but there's somewhat of a lack of threat rolling off of him the majority of the time.

i remember seeing eliot's reaction to him in the big bang job for the first time and thinking moreau should've been more intimidating, scarier. that he was almost underwhelming.

but that was before i'd groked on to the fact that nate's an unreliable narrator. how much of what we see of moreau is accurate, and how much of this defanged moreau that we see is nate being unable to look in a mirror?