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.

Sophie grifting: hot duchess. seductive investor. mysterious businesswoman.

Eliot grifting: ridiculously competent chef. hot athlete (any sport). heartthrob country musician.

Hardison grifting: overly-confident criminal. assertive FBI agent. heartthrob classical musician.

Nathan Ford grifting: goddamn piece of shit oily slimy scumbag ambulance-chaser untrustworthy con artist with a stupid fucking voice and a silly hat

the show is not doing Nate any favors in the likeability or attractiveness departments here

(Bonus mention: Parker grifting: autism creature)

Leverage 2x1 - "The Beantown Bailot Job"

The thing about Nathan Ford is that he is just so very mediocre.

Yeah he's smart or whatever, but despite Leverage really trying to push him as a leading man, he is just Some Guy. He is so startlingly average in every single way, partially due to Timothy Huttons 'Guy who just woke up' looks and partially because his top character traits are: alcoholic, kind of an asshole, divorced, and Plays Chess

He's the most Guy I've ever seen in my life. Truly just unremarkable. His name is Nathan for gods' sakes

i love the scene in episode 10 of season 2 of leverage redemption when breanna says she wants the evil professor dude like bagged and gagged, and eliot and parker are just immediately like "okay bet lets fucking go nab this guy". like no questions asked, breanna asked for it, so they're going to do it. sophie has to step in to stop it and it just has me thinking like damn. breanna really has some of the most powerful and influential criminals in her pocket and wrapped around her finger. the very power she holds, the sway she has. can you imagine just other criminals in the leverage world just knowing this. like, just understanding that you lay so much as a finger on breanna casey, slight her in any way, then they're going to have the wrath of the og leverage team of leverage international against them, the full rage of eliot spencer, alec hardison, and the parker plotting vengeance. like just ugh i love this family and i love how breanna is their (eliot hardison parker) kid, the same way they were nate and sophie's. it's just a beautiful full circle that honestly has to be some of the best media ever written.

I made a thing

oh my god season four of leverage is fucking DIABOLICAL. how the fuck are you gonna open with the long way down job, and then hit with the van gogh job carnival job AND the grave danger job in just the first half ??? i swear to god i was shaking out of my skin all through the second half of the grave danger job. and where is aldis hodge’s oscar ??? the shaky voice the constant tears the frantic ripping at the inside of the coffin ?? i was literally holding my phone at arm’s length trying not to cry for him i swear.

i have to appreciate the directors here because i think they did a fantastic job focusing on harrison’s situation and really emphasizing the peril and dread the whole team was working through. the fevered search of the city, the awful moment when parker and sophie have to abandon their shovels and duck for cover, and harrison is left panicked and alone— that shit HURT y’all. it HURT. (i will say that the way the coffin was apparently uncovered off screen was a bit off— they only got a few shovels in before the guy started shooting, i thought, but oh well)

and obviously the hugging at the end. fuck kissing on screen hugging is where it’s at. eliot literally diving over gravestones to get to the coffin and pull hardison out and then clutching him like he’s trying to absorb the poor guy into his bloodstream ??? i will simply never be the same. and the perfect touch of beth riesgraf looking absolutely fucking devastated before turning away because she’s so so so wrecked about this but she’s not ready for that hug…. leverage writers need to square up because that was one fucked up episode and it also delivered on every characterization front ever. leverage is the gift that fucking giving y’all

I don't think we fully comprehend how perfect Parker is for the role of Mastermind. In the Pilot, every one of them notices how good Nate is at his job and comments on it but it's more like light teasing 'admit it you had fun' or the more nudging 'did y'all notice how we totally rocked it as a team last night'.

But PARKER is the only one who notices and comments differently. Parker asks how he knows the number of guards and when he says to note the haircuts she doesn't throw a fit or pretend to just gloss over it. She notes that he noticed that while it escaped her eyes. She's the one who says things like 'here's the thing, I'm really good at this one thing but you- you can see the whole plan.'

Parker is the one who jumps in on the planning the most aside from Sophie. She takes note of everything like it's a safe to be cracked - she's careful, methodical, precise, but has fun with it her own way. Parker is the first of them to venture of for a job on her own to save someone she loves. And at the end of the episode she's the one calling the play because Nate trusts her judgement, which I must say is a rare case considering how much he relishes having control in the con (which would be another text post essay I guess)

Parker's also the only one who had a solo episode focusing on how to combine all the roles. She did the Broken Wing Job stunningly, and I think that's where the seeds of her shift of roles turn into a full fledged sapling.

Also Parker and Nate both have this very old school meets chaos meets emotional detachment fuelled scariness when it comes to cons. It's not what makes them great masterminds but it's what makes them interesting ones. And like we see in Redemption, Parker's evolved to a point in leverage co where she can read into the job like a safe with only a hatchbolt as a lock and walk off just like Nate did. I know people consider Hardison Nate's surrogate child but to me it seems Parker has always been kinda his legacy.

the way the leverage team make a mess of nate’s apartment on multiple occasions is so much funnier when you consider that none of them are particularly messy people. in the pilot, hardison has a very nice apartment that he is clearly proud of & has kept very tidy. parker’s warehouse is almost disturbingly neat, her tools and weapons are kept clean & shiny and are laid out in perfect rows, her bed is made, her clothes and rappelling gear is hung up. eliot likes things done properly and certainly at least cares for his car’s cleanliness. idk about sophie, but she would at least know how to act neat for a grift, and she’d be aware of how a guest to supposed to treat their host’s home.

but they all put unwashed dishes in nate’s sink, do spur of the moment renovations, set up new gear in his living room, leave clothes/costumes, plans & random items strewn about the place, and even tear up his stuff without fixing it. i love it. his apartment is their playground. they half live here now. nate just needs to chill out and let them saw into his walls, geez calm downnnn. i know nate’s eye was twitching when he saw that parker’s warehouse was so perfect meanwhile there’s probably 5 bowls of unfinished cereal hidden in his house like a damn look-and-find puzzle

Nate undercover: the most obnoxious man you've ever met.

Sofie undercover: gaslight gatekeep girlboss

Hardison: 1 act awkward, 2 pretend to have PTSD, 3 accuse the suspicious of racism.

Eliot: do the cover job really well. really really well. Actually cater the wedding, actually build the shed, actually groom the dog, and do a dang good job of it. You're the best <profession here> in the world!

Parker undercover:

Leverage 2x9 - "The Lost Heir Job"

Succession epilogue where's it's just the leverage crew robbing them blind

I love how the beginning of every episode of Leverage is

Person: This man stole all of my money, caused my house to foreclose, and humiliated me Nate: Don't worry, I'll get your money back. Person: Mr. Ford, I don't care about the money, I just want to stop this happening to anyone else.

The ending:

Nate: He's been arrested and will be going to jail. He's looking at 20-60 years. Person: That's great Nate: Also here's 2.3 million dollars and HIS house. Person: What the fuck