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Leverage Season 3, Episode 12, The King George Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

John: Hey I'm John Rogers, executive producer.

Christine: Hello I'm Christine Boylan, writer of this episode.

John: And unfortunately the fantastic director, Millicent Shelton, of this- of this episode could not join us.

Christine: Because she's working all the time!

John: She's working all the time.

Christine: She's amazing!

John: Christine, how did this show come about?

Christine: I am obsessed with- [Laughs] a lot of things that are in this episode. And I begged you to let me do them.

John: The only thing missing from this is bustles and parasols, really.

Christine: It's true! It's true, we had everything but bustles and parasols.

John: James Frain.

Christine: James Frain! Obsession. [Laughs]

John: Great actor, yes, that wasn't creepy at all on set.

Christine: He became one.

John: Yeah, there you go. No, it was- we had been- we wanted to do a Sophie backstory episode for a while.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: We had been wanting to talk about- since we had been addressing - all year - everyone's reason for being on the show.

Christine: Obsession.

John: Obsession?

Christine: Eliot in a pilot outfit.

John: Eliot in a pilot outfit? Really? I did not know that.

Christine: [Laughs] Look guys, hot guys in pilot outfit? That's hot.

John: I was not aware.

Christine: I'm just saying.

John: And, you know, as you'll see in the finale, you know, we really get into why Eliot is trying to redeem himself. And in this was our chance to kinda see- to have Sophie realize what a lot of grifters sorta push off, is that it's not a victimless crime.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: You know, that you rip off institutions and you rip off insurance companies, so it's all kind of a chess match with giant corporations and you know, that there is some human fallout. Which is something shes not dumb enough not to realize before, but she’s always emotionally quashed.

Christine: She's been able to turn a blind eye to it before now.

John: Exactly, because she’s evolving. She's actually- that's something we talk about in the Sophie/Nate relationship all the time is part of the problem is, Sohpie’s actually becoming a better human being faster than Nate is.

Christine: Hmm.

John: And that's one of the reasons they can't actually ever quite make it work.

Christine: Mhhm, mhmm.

John: She's farther along her sort of, you know, decency evolution.

Christine: This, look- this was, all day this large choreographed scene where they said, “You may as well have written The Music Man.”

[Laughter]

Christine: It's a lot of moving parts, a lot of people doing a lot of simultaneous things, and it had to play out almost like a little play, which was a lot of fun for me.

John: Yes. You love little plays.

Christine: I do love little plays.

John: Camera people when you have three or four cameras in there at the same time, not so much.

Christine: No likey. Camera people no likey.

John: Big thing for the fans, kids- people dig Eliot Spencer helping adorable war orphans.

Christine: I know, yeah, they really do. And how cute is this kid, she's so cute.

John: She was adorable, she was really great.

Christine: She was wonderful. She was wonderful.

John: And this was also- it was interesting we were breaking this episode, it was so plotty that it was one of those things where we realized we just have to jump in the middle.

Christine: Just- I love starting in the middle. Oh my god, great, staring.

John: Just immediate - we’re up, we’re running.

Christine: We’re up and running.

John: The audience knows the show by now, we’re well into third season, you'll figure it out!

Christine: I mean yeah, look it’s James Frain, do you think he's the good guy? No!

[John Laughs]

Christine: No, he's not the good guy!

John: He's a sinister Brit in a suit! Come on!

Christine: He's a vampire sometimes, sometimes he's a, you know, renaissance villain.

John: We did do the take where James kissed Aldis like in True Blood, and that's on the servers somewhere.

Christine: That's on my reel at home. That's a private reel.

John: By the way, having just flown through, this looks distressingly like the actual customs arrival at Logan.

[Laughter]

Christine: Yay!

John: Yeah, it’s actually pretty close, it’s actually-

Christine: Did you get caught with some contraband?

John: I did not get caught with some contraband.

Christine: Illegal lion statues?

John: No.

Christine: Tiger statues?

John: No, I- all my illegal stuff is virtual.

Christine: I am also obsessed with antiquities trafficking. Because it is something that drug lords do to make money to move drugs, which is a lot fun!

[Christine Laughs]

John: And we've mentioned on a couple of the commentaries, we spend a lot of time- and this is one of those weird things, you know, people that write shows are human and they get into their little sort of obsessions. And we got really deeply into money laundering and the ways in which you launder money this year. And it just so happens that some of them are very glamorous.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Like antiquities smuggling.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Yeah, it's not just for giant nations pillaging other giant nations.

Christine: It’s true.

John: Antiquities. It's for individuals too.

Christine: That was-

John: We gave her a bear! A little bear of peace to hug!

Christine: Come on, how cute is she?

John: She's adorable.

Christine: Adorable.

John: Adorable. An accessory after the fact, I'm sorry she's going to jail.

[Christine Laughs]

John: That was another thing, too, by the way. I love watching the arc of audience research on the boards and forums.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Cause I do go and watch, and as people know I’ve got the blog and ask questions. And this was one of those things where it's like, ‘Well I love the episode, but I don't know about- can they really take kids and keep them in custody? Can ICE really do that?’ And then about a day later- it's the same on all of them, a day later it's like, ‘Well, I'm doing some research,' and then about a day later, ‘Oh god, this is horrible!’

[Laughter]

Christine: Oh it's real!

John: ‘It's real and horrible!’

Christine: It's real!

John: Yeah. We do a lot of research into horrible things so you don't have to.

Christine: Mhmm.

John: And bang, we’re into the credits.

Christine: And here we are. That was very wonderfully cut together, wonderfully directed, vital kind of- they did a great job.

John: Truly difficult. That whole teaser, that happens in one scene.

Christine: They gave me so much shit on set. Paul Bernard just looked at me with the eyes of death like, ‘Come on lady! Nine pages, huh?’

[Christine Laughs]

John: Nine pages. You do write big scenes.

Christine: Look at this!

John: I adore you, but you do- you don't write television scenes.

Christine: Look at this shot!

John: Keep talking about the shot.

[Laughter]

Christine: This is Shanga Parker, he’s a great actor.

John: How long was the first act you ever gave me in the first script?

Christine: Twenty pages!

John: Twenty page act.

Christine: Twenty pages in The Miracle Job, act one.

[Laughter]

Christine: First draft.

John: There were some beautiful speeches, they’re lovely.

Christine: Some beautiful speeches, they moved to like act three mostly, so.

John: Now I'm sorry, what was I talking about?

Christine: This was Shanga Parker, he is a fantastic local actor who we worked with.

John: Where were we by the way? We are at the convention center?

Christine: Also a professor. This is the convention center.

John: In Portland. This is great.

Christine: Yeah, not overrun by comic book fans, which is usually how I see a convention center. So this was, you know-

[Laughter]

Christine: This was nice.

John: It's like, ‘Oh, this is what it looks like when normal humans walk through?’

Christine: Yeah! It's what- they look like airports!

John: Yeah theres no chunky transgendered Wonder Woman in here, it looks like an airport.

Christine: No. Oddly enough there was, actually.

John: That was odd, actually on the set.

Christine: I brought her with me, she was my assistant.

John: Really? There you go. Doing a lovely job, just- you know there's a lot of good people in the system, and doing their best to help people out. And, you know, it's one of the things we talk about the morality of the show. It's like, are we good guys, are we bad guys? Well, you know, sometimes the system needs a little kick in the ass, cause there are good people who are too good to kick it in the ass.

Christine: Absolutely. Immigration advocates, these guys work really hard.

John: That's a nice bit of staging, by the way, having the couple passed out on the couch.

Christine: Yeah.

John: That's a beautiful little bit of airport detail.

Christine: It was tough, we had to kinda cheat a little bit to make sure they weren’t distracting, but I learned a lot about what to put in background and what's already in the shot and- Millicent’s a great teacher, and she didn't mind me- my shadowing her like a little duckling for most of the shoot. It was really helpful.

John: That is also one of our first sort of great- we got in fast, and now we're doing a lot of backstory to reconnect this episode with the season arc.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: It's one of those weird things- and this is how it falls out. We had planned to salt the Moreau plotline about every third episode, but due to actor scheduling issues and a rewrite it just wound up being on either end of the season.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: So, you know, this really had- this episode had a lot of heavy lifting to do, which was kinda reintroduce this entire plotline. And Derek Frederickson of course doing great work on the graphics in order to make it clear.

Christine: Fantastic. And not only is he incredibly prepared and does a lot of research and does great work, you know, before, in prep. But when you show up on the day and you want something different, he can whip- he’s magician! He's a magician.

John: Yes, he's actually sitting there with a laptop and I said, you know, “Give me something that looks entirely different.” Five minutes later, “This?” “Oh my god!”

Christine: I have not bought him enough cocktails, that’s the- [Laughs]

John: I think- that has to be a digital shot. Because- yeah.

Christine: Yes.

John: We were shooting through the TVs at that point, and I don't think we’re capable of doing that.

Christine: No.

John: This was also very cunning of Millicent, to break our five up into twos in a way I don't think we'd done before by shooting straight at them.

Christine: Yes, yeah.

John: Usually we rake. Claridges, real? Made up?

Christine: Claridges is made up. A lot of the stuff in here is real in the Leverage world.

John: Yeah.

Christine: Some of the royal stuff, we wanted to- I love the royals. Don't you, John?

John: I hate the royals.

[Christine Laughs]

John: I hate the royals. It’s-

Christine: It’s class warfare.

John: It’s absolutely class-

Christine: Class warfare.

John: If I could watch that castle burn to the ground… Anyway.

[Christine Laughs]

John: No, it was.

Christine: See I’d like to, you know, get them out and live in the castle.

John: Yeah, no.

Christine: It’s two different approaches, same result.

John: I am personally- level that ground and build a school on it.

Christine: More of an opportunist myself.

John: This was actually fun, was giving her the, “Can I brood here, too?”

Christine: Oh, yeah.

John: It's, you know, people are not unaware of the fact that Nate is a moody bastard.

Christine: Mhm.

[Laughter]

John: And this is one of the- another great things in the third season where they are pairs, they are partners, they're, you know, they're equals here. This is, again, not a scene that would have happened in the first two. And part of the fun of doing television, you can develop relationships over a long periods of time.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: You can't do this in a movie.

Christine: No, you absolutely cannot. That's why movies will always be the inferior.

John: Really? Wow.

[Christine Laughs]

John: There's a reason you're my favorite!

Christine: Ohhh, that's right!

John: Nicely done!

[Christine Laughs]

John: There you go.

Christine: This was a lot of fun to shoot; this was rewritten. Like- I try to rewrite everything on the day, that's the- [Laughs]

John: Really, make it easier for yourself, Boylan.

Christine: Yeah, except for those big Music Man sequences. But this, you know, Gina and Tim know their characters, they wanna play and we can- this scene always gets ten times better when you sit down and just read it with them, you know?

John: It's always fun, too, because I remember the first time I was on set and they came up and they're like “John, we think we're rewriting this scene”. It was- I think it was in the military one first season, oh my god we made enough of these- Homecoming. Where we want to change the nature of this conversation, and I was bracing myself for the giant actor thing of a total rewrite but they just [unintelligible] two sentences later. ‘That's it?’

Christine: O-ok?

John: Alright, fine!

Christine: Sure!

John: And, you know, they- yeah.

Christine: There's a respect that goes both ways, and I think the writer needs to be present for the actor and vice versa. And it really-

John: That's what the writer’s on set for.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: You know-

Christine: And to learn directing secretly!

[Laughter]

John: Don't get seduced by directing.

[Christine Laughs]

John: A monkey could direct. [Monkey noise] “Ahhh ahhh!” Pointing at- there are the actors! What else are you supposed to point the camera at? It's not hard, people!

Christine: But here is another one of these- this was- we shot it at a college?

John: Yeah.

Christine: Beautiful location.

John: Lovely establishing. Wow, her in that dress is kinda amazing.

Christine: She’s amazing. Oh my goodness, and this- this office. I mean we turned it into an auction house, everybody did such a good job just dressing it, and already a beautiful location.

John: Dressing on this was great. Yeah, Becca and the whole production design team doing an amazing job.

Christine: Becca's another one who’s just, you know, a magician.

John: Yeah.

Christine: [Laughs] like pulling it out of a hat, I don't know how she does that.

John: I love that you've got a picture of Queen Victoria there, cause that really establishes exactly the tone and the style of the auction we’re gonna be doing.

Christine: I think so, it certainly made me feel comfortable.

[Laughter]

Christine: Loyalist that I am.

John: I know. You understand that blood isn't special. You understand that, right?

[Christine Laughs]

John: And Frain with the ascot! How perfect is that!

Christine: Look at Frain! Nadine really had to sell me on the ascot, but once she did- once he walked in she looked at me and she said, “Right? Am I right?” And I said, “So right, Nadine.”

John: So right.

Christine: So right as always. That's- playing the thug there, Ollie Trevena. Hilarious, and-

John: Really great.

Christine: Good with the stunts.

John: And it's tricky too, cause we had to have one of the funnier thugs we've ever had in this one. He really had to be able

Christine: He got a little speechify later on.

John: That bang over from there to there, that’s- this what I really like about this episode in- you know, it's great - this is the first episode Millicent’s directed for us, and so she brought a subtly different style to the show.

Christine: Mhhm

John: And watching it, it made- I really enjoyed it, because we’re in London, it feels like our ‘we went to London’ episode.

Christine: Yeah.

John: It has a tonal difference, and part of the fun of doing the show is it's a different movie every week.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: And this is one of the ones where it really feels like it's a different movie. You know, now we're doing our Thomas Crown.

Christine: Yes, absolutely.

John: You know, the other one you did, it's our Friends of Eddie Coyle, you know.

Christine: Mhhm. And once again, Portland did provide.

John: Yes. Absolutely.

Christine: Portland gave us London, so thank you, Portland.

John: White gloves.

Christine: Just put gloves on this guy, we’re in London! There you go!

John: Now wouldn't you take the gloves off in order to-

Christine: Absolutely not, he would not.

John: Oh this was great, this may be the single sexiest scene in the entire show.

Christine: Oh, she’s like, ‘could this be longer?’ But she was great.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

John: Actors- they all want monologues, and then the monologues are too long.

Christine: Oh I know, Gina said the same thing.

John: You can tell I'm in the second Guinness cause I'm starting to bitch about them.

Christine: No, I love them.

John: No, this- I love this scene.

Christine: She’s amazing.

John: Because, again, this is how Parker sees the world. Inanimate objects and people are both- you're capable of relating to both of them on exactly the same way.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: No.

Christine: She's manipulating them as well.

[Christine Laughs]

John: Wow, I don't know where that came from.

Christine: John!

[Laughter]

John: This was a ton of fun, doing the auction research, and figuring out how that worked. All these- also the antiquities research, although you had a lot of that from your previous stuff.

Christine: I had brought a lot of that with me, but it was fun to kind of- I had mostly looked at, you know, older stuff. Really just stuff from antiquity. But looking at the kind of newer things in the King George stuff, and the, you know, the signet rings.

John: Yeah, and we have to give- and as part of the whole we use all the parts of the buffalo, we have to give a shout out to the wonder twins.

Christine: Oh, yeah.

John: Cause the wonder twins had originally come up with the idea of a treasure hunt episode.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And they put it in Boston, which naturally put it in revolutionary times.

Christine: Right.

John: That led us to King George, but then we shelved that episode-

Christine: Right.

John: So years later when we came into the antiquities, you jumped on that, and it was-

Christine: Let us do King George, yeah.

John: It was great.

Christine: See, they would go for the revolutionary side of things, and I went for the the-

John: I know.

Christine: Red coat side.

John: Really?

[Christine Laughs]

John: Really.

Christine: That's why we’re a good team!

John: Go live in Acadia.

Christine: We’re a great team!

John: We are a great team.

Christine: Look at that statue, statue of Ra.

John: I love that you can just ask Eric Bates: we need a statue of Ra, and he's like “I've got one on the truck.”

Christine: Yup, patted me on the shoulder, “Alright, Boylan.” With that look of ‘You're crazy, but alright. Let's do it.’

John: No, well it's not quite as bad as when he walked in the first season finale and went, ‘how many tiny statues of David?’

[Laughter]

John: ‘You realize these don't exist, actually, anywhere?’

Christine: Oh, man.

John: It's never boring on Leverage.

Christine: Having Sophie figure out, you know, Frain’s character's heart desire on the fly.

John: Yeah.

Christine: That is- that was fun.

John: That was- this episode, interestingly, really benefits, because it's not a particularly action filled episode. It benefits from the density of the investigation.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Because a lot of these- a lot of these scenes, a lot of these acts, and this is why you rewrite and stuff. Really in the outlining and the breaking we’re like “OK, this is gonna wind up being two episodes.”

Christine: Mhhm.

John: You know, and just crunching it and churching it and crunching it, really gave you exactly what everyone's job is at all times, and really made you understand why Sophie is a crucial part of this team. Sophie is a genius in her own way, as much as Nate is.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: No one else could pull this off.

Christine: And this is her area of expertise. I do like going into, you know, each of their areas of expertise in different episodes. It's nice to kind of- Parker's role for a while as we did in yours and Geoffs.

John: That was kinda fun in Gone Fishing, you're in Eliot's world.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Eliot- if you're gonna be running around the woods with people trying to kill you-

Christine: You wanna be with Eliot.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Christine: It's true, if you were gonna be in an auction house, you wanna be with Sophie.

John: Exactly. This was fun, this was-

Christine: Tim, looking dapper.

John: Exactly. And interesting- I had actually pitched this originally, when you were breaking this, but actually happening in the mens room.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And then-

Christine: We couldn't find a good location, so we had the mens room lounge. This is like the right outside of the toilet.

John: As one does!

Christine: As one does.

[Laughter]

John: Absolutely. Also you can rough a man up in a lounge and people won’t pay attention, in the mens room, it’s expected? I don't know-

Christine: It's England, you expect Michael Caine to walk in and gut punch somebody, come on.

[Laughter]

Christine: Come on.

John: Michael Caine, great in an interview, the best advice about playing a villain I ever heard, which is the scarier the guy is, the softer he talks.

Christine: Oh I love that. Well Frain’s definitely got that down.

John: Yeah, Frain’s playing that. It's really is- he has no need to threaten someone because he is, himself, threatening.

Christine: And by the way, there's no nicer person in the world.

[Laughter]

John: Than James Frain?

Christine: Nicest guy in the world. And completely menacing.

John: Yeah, I love the way he picks up the physical cues. Coming up with the physical cues was fun.

Christine: That was fun. Ok, so this is where we went off and we worked on two different scenes.

John: Yes.

Christine: That had to connect, and we basically wrote exactly the same thing.

John: The same scene, yeah exactly.

Christine: Which was- made me feel like I learned something. I feel pretty good, you know.

John: It was- you know, the writers know this show by now.

Christine: Yeah.

John: You know, and also I would say, temperamentally, you and I are probably the most similar-

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Style-wise.

Christine: Yes. We’re both haptic, we like, you know, we like using all the senses, but having the object in your hand?

John: Yeah.

Christine: That's what this episode is about.

John: Exactly. And the- also that was kinda fun was coming up with, when we were first breaking it, trying to figure out what Hardison's job was.

Christine: Yeah.

John: And coming up with Hardison- that Hardison became- hacked history. That was-

Christine: That was-

John: That's my favorite part of the episode.

Christine: That's your most shining moment right there, by the way. That he hacked history.

[Laughter]

John: Thank you. That’s- we just, it- we’re kinda talking inside here, because of the nature of scheduling, Boylan and I wound up working on this one a little bit more cause I'd come back from directing-

Christine: Absolutely.

John: The other episode, and so I was out of the loop on another episode so I ended up jumping in on this one.

Christine: It was not a huge [unintelligible] with this one.

John: And also, you did back to backs.

Christine: I did, I did.

John: You were actually producing-

Christine: Yeah.

John: And being on set for-

Christine: Three-Card Monte.

John: Three-Card Monte. So I actually wound up hanging out and doing a little bit of the research before you came back, and you came back, I'd crunched a little bit of this.

Christine: Yeah. And it helped that it was this one, because at least I had done all that work, like, prior to going to Portland.

John: No, that's the thing - you had broken the plot, and just left me with the all the little research-y bullshit to come up with. Which I love doing.

Christine: You do.

John: I love- part of the fun for me in the show is finding everything out that's true that we can put on the air that people don't believe. She's amazing in this scene.

Christine: She's amazing. The two of them? Wow.

John: Yeah. Look at that kinda- she's a totally different human being here - that kinda bored, looking off a little to the left, the little head tilt.

Christine: And the genius of Gina, which some people are going to sort of recognize here and some people are not, but the way she slightly alters her accent. Just slightly goes for a more refined, different class.

John: Yeah, just the way she carries herself, the way she's thrown on the little sweater around the- she's wearing a knockout dress and by putting the little wrap on-

Christine: Changes everything.

John: Changes everything.

Christine: And again-

John: And look at that! She looks imperious there.

Christine: Oh, god.

John: You know. And meanwhile, in real life she's a really sweet, kinda goofy, you know-

Christine: Absolutely. ”Ooh Christine, another monologue!” That she had perfectly memorized and performed brilliantly.

John: Yes, you know.

Christine: Of course.

John: They have to complain.

Christine: Of course.

John: And again- I will say again, Nate in a chair getting beat up while Sophie runs a con, I have no problem saying this is one of my favorite recurring themes of the show.

Christine: I told Tim it was a dream of mine.

[Laughter]

Christine: Tim really enjoyed this episode, I have to say - he had a lot of fun on set.

John: Now, it's- well, you know, he looks great, by the way. That's a great look with the little- and he's hooked, and he's back in.

Christine: Yeah. And yeah the two of them had a lot of fun with this. Yeah, the hook- I love the walk away and then coming back.

John: Yeah, and also, again, one of the things you can do in third season, but also one of the things we try to reinforce now that she's his peer, when she says, “You know what I'm running here”, and he goes, “Yeah, but it's dangerous.”

Christine: Right.

John: We don't wanna- don’t need to explain it to you, all you need to know is these two people know each other well enough to know what they're playing-

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And what the risks are. And it's a shorthand between peers.

Christine: Yeah.

John: Does she throw that- was she wearing that necklace in the other scene?

Christine: She was.

John: She was.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: It's amazing.

Christine: It looks different against the black than it does against the- yeah.

John: Amazing how different it looks.

Christine: And that's a fantastic sweater.

John: And Nadine throwing together a great little ensemble.

Christine: Oh, Nadine's amazing.

John: And the evil look there, and this is a bad idea.

Christine: Oh no.

[Christine Laughs]

John: This is a bad idea is one of our- now here's a question. Everyone else is dressed for the weather. Was it hot in that office?

[Laughter]

John: Is there- did he nearly pass out from the heat?

Christine: It sure was! Really hot in there.

John: Was it hot because they were trying to put on the lamps to make sure the gun show was bright enough?

[Laughter]

Christine: It was!

John: I remember-

Christine: I promise certain things!

John: Coming into the writing room, and on the wall it's like, it was you know, the priorities-

Christine: Strip Aldis down to his underwear.

John: The priorities for the episode, and one of them was Hardison in the t-shirt for the fans.

Christine: Yes.

John: Like alright, there you go.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Aldis not complaining.

Christine: This is my favorite scene ever. [Laughs]

John: Ever?

Christine: Until now.

John: Yeah, there you go. No this is-

Christine: Until the one we’re performing right now.

John: This one right now?

Christine: This one we’re doing right here.

John: This is a great roundy round. This is interesting, this- we don't usually go around the circle on this type of-

Christine: Mhhm.

John: On this type of scene. But we were not in our usual set.

Christine: Yes.

John: So this table kinda demanded this geography.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And giving- again, Sophie, this is competence porn. This is pure competence porn.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Giving Sophie the ability to instruct everyone else, ‘You’re in my world, these are the rules.’ And yeah, and then coming up with the physical aspect of exactly why the, you know, why the statue was unfakeable.

Christine: Right.

John: Absolutely lovely.

Christine: Why had we failed, how can we succeed, basically.

John: And now- and then, I think it originally started with a knighthood.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And then when we were doing the research we had no idea knighthoods were so cheap.

Christine: [Laughs] Knighthoods are pretty cheap.

John: Knighthoods - twenty six hundred. We actually used the line in the show. And it was just deep in the guts of doing the research we spent some time on the royal boards, and there are actually forums and websites of people dedicated to watching royalty. And not just famous royalty, but keeping track of the second cousins, and the third cousins.

Christine: Oh yeah.

John: And the people who are, you know, dukes four times removed. And that was fascinating!

Christine: Mhhm.

John: The idea that like, for example in New York, there are- there's royalty walking around that you would not recognize in any way shape or form.

Christine: Oh yeah. They have jobs, they live on the upper east side, they're, you know, wherever.

John: Yeah and they're, you know, seventh in line to succession someone.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And that was- and that led us to the lost baronies.

Christine: Yes.

John: The lost- and-

Christine: And there are so many we thought about planting some of our-

John: Yes, exactly.

[Laughter]

John: It didn't really look all that hard to tell you the truth.

Christine: Just don't tell them we’re Irish. It’s fine.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

John: Don't tell them they're Irish. They don’t understand the horror of what's going on.

Christine: Smelling the statue.

John: Smelling the statue. And it was also a very nice beat you did here by giving each person- separate person a clue, so it wasn’t static.

Christine: Mhhm, yes.

John: And again, one of the things that the third season, discovering stuff during the scenes, makes exposition part of the conflict more. And I'll say this- no one comes to a show the best writer they are. You know, we definitely- the first season and second season were great, but I look back at them now and realize they gave us tools to do, you know, some great stuff in third season.

Christine: Completely.

John: Yeah.

Christine: I'm constantly- I just learn on the job. I don't know what I'm doing on any given day.

[Laughter]

John: Well that's you. I'm talking about other professional writers.

Christine: Oh other professional writers.

John: You are-

Christine: Well I-

John: I'm basically stunned you're working.

Christine: I just walk in saying like, “Hey, look at this great statue. Let's do a-” [Laughs]

John: Yeah, exactly.

Christine: I mean, you know, all joking aside, having the audience as involved as possible is one of my constant goals. I want the audience to be a little- not even a little bit ahead, a little bit behind, but there.

John: Yeah.

Christine: Present, you know?

John: You like a lean forward episode.

Christine: I do like a lean forward episode, you know, there's nothing worse than being spoon fed information.

John: Yeah. I'm going to give a giant shout out to the greatest antiquities crime show of all time, Ian McShane in Love Story.

Christine: Oh, yeah.

John: For giving us some of the ingredients on that list.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: Because I'm pretty sure when we were breaking this it was like, “And here's the Love Story moment.”

Christine: Absolutely, yeah,

John: I remember being boggled when I was a kid watching that show like, ‘You can do this? Really?’ And, you know, we talk a lot about the influences on the show but Love Story is not not in the canon. It’s-

Christine: No, it's not.

John: It's in there, it's a big part of it.

Christine: Well I was also thinking because, you know, we had watched Three-Card Monte, and I'd written a little more investigative stuff this year, and I think it's because you made me watch Jonathan Creek.

John: Yes!

Christine: There was a lot of Jonathan Creek going on when I wrote this one, so.

John: Yeah. You know what, there's a lot of good stuff up there.

Christine: Yes, a lot of good stuff out there.

John: It’s people.

Christine: Most of it coming from Britain.

[Laughter]

John: No, well no. No, I mean it’s- we’re about to go on a giant side thing. Every country makes great television.

Christine: It's true.

John: They just don't export the bad stuff.

Christine: You know, well said. Well said.

John: Yeah, no, Jonathan Creek, created by David Renwick - great show. If you have a chance to get our DVD, and then get your friends to get our DVD, but then go get Jonathan Creek.

Christine: Go check that out.

John: Yeah.

Christine: Also a great show.

John: Also Millicent, great job here making a very static scene be fraught with parallel.

Christine: She's not afraid of the long scenes, John.

John: Yes. Long scenes are death in television, Christine.

Christine: Long scenes can be amazing as long as they have, you know, breaths and moments in fits and starts.

John: We actually talked about this one one of the other commentaries where the wonder twins were saying to Marc, “God, this scene is so long.” And he went, “No, directors love this! Gives us a chance to park the camera and work with the actors.”

Christine: There's an arc in the scene.

John: There is an arc in the scene. And that's the trick is writing is fractal. We get very geeky when it's just you and me.

Christine: I know, I kinda miss this, we haven't done this in a while, it’s fun.

John: Yeah, writing is fractal. Every show has a three act structure, every act is a three act structure, every scene has a three act structure.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: And, you know, if there's not a goal-

Christine: Whether it’s three lines or no lines or-

John: Exactly. If there's not a goal and not opposition, then you shouldn't be watching it happen.

Christine: Absolutely. And these two really dug in and it was magic to watch. I mean some of the best times were just sitting there watching them.

John: And I also love when Gina gets to do this, when she gets to do the lean forward hook.

Christine: Oh, man.

John: Because a lot of times she's playing slightly bitter characters, so she can't play the physical intimacy.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: I remember when we did the pilot, and she did the similar thing to Saul Rubinek.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Who of course has been acting for ages. Saul is one of the best actors I've ever seen in my life.

Christine: Absolutely.

John: And we broke and walked over and Saul was leaning against the railing. I said, “You ok?” He went, “You have no idea what it's like to have the full force of that woman's attention.”

[Laughter]

John: “I just- I need a moment.”

Christine: Mhhm.

John: She's great in this.

Christine: You know, we know why she's the greatest grifter, this is why. And these two. Hilarious.

John: Always hilarious. You cannot go wrong with a Hardison/Eliot scene. Oh and the little throwaway- by the way, this is nice, too, because it's not bickering.

Christine: Right.

John: You know.

Christine: They are working together, and-

John: If you go back and look at the season, you can see that to a great degree, their relationship has evolved.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And when they’re arguing, it’s because Hardison, quite frankly, is doing something stupid or dangerous.

Christine: Right.

John: All Eliot wants to do-

Christine: Well Eliot cares about him!

John: Eliot has wanted to have one job: keep all of these idiots alive.

Christine: Right.

John: That's it. It's just- keep them alive until they get- you know, until they are finished with the con.

Christine: He is the rational center.

[Laughter]

John: Eliot has the best sense of judgment on the crew. I say this constantly. Nate Ford is not good at escape plans.

Christine: No.

John: No. Eliot has the hardest job on the crew.

Christine: Parker can escape, but you know, by herself.

John: This is why I know, by the way, it’s you and I doing this because we're such writer geeks, we’re not really talking about the actors as much as we do on the other ones.

Christine: I know! We really should be!

[Laughter]

John: It's like right now in the internal life of the character.

Christine: Right! So. No, but I will say the Hardison/Eliot stuff- it was nice to have Millicent there. She's directed so many different, you know, various things, but she's also directed a lot of 30 Rock. That helped.

John: Yeah.

Christine: The kinda comic pacing and timing, It worked with the boys’ sensibilities. We had a nice fun set, and stuff moved along at a nice clip. Which is good considering it was a breakneck schedule.

[Laughter]

John: Yeah it's always a break- yeah, it's always horrible.

Christine: As usual, it's a breakneck schedule.

John: No, if you were to play this whole scene back to back it'd be- it’s an act!

Christine: Yeah.

John: It's almost an entire act, isn't it?

Christine: You look at me like I should be surprised at that.

John: Yeah, it's like a ten page scene.

Christine: I am not surprised at all! [Laughs]

John: And now the we think things have gone horribly wrong.

Christine: Janet Penner, she's lovely! Lovely local actress

John: Who's that? I'm sorry?

Christine: Janet Penner, local actress who was wonderful, and imperious in ways. Just, you know, yeah, she scared me.

John: Where do we come up with this twist, that she knew her? I'm trying to remember-

Christine: Well, we had talked about- it’s coming off of the Jimmy Papodakalis thing we'd been talking about earlier that, you know, they've got these personas.

John: Yeah.

Christine: And to get that deep into a grift-

John: Yeah.

Christine: You know, she'd been running this-

John: Sophie was the long con.

Christine: For a long time. Yeah.

John: Exactly.

Christine: This is a long con.

John: And this is also something that- this is some backstory Gina had given me first year.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Gina has an entire Sophie backstory in her head. And we talked about how actors prepare, you know, Gina had the backstory. Beth has a little bit, Eliot has a very- Christain has a very detailed backstory. Hardison has a little bit. Tim, it’s very organic, he kinda plays it every year.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And fills in the backstory as he wants to evolve the character. Again, t-shirt really? That warm in that hotel room?

Christine: Uhh, look at all the work he's doing.

John: Yeah? Really?

Christine: Yes.

John: Good to know.

Christine: It's England. The AC doesn't work there. Also it’s winter.

John: I didn't know that. Huh.

[Laughter]

Christine: This hotel because it's very old, and it's hot.

John: Oh wow, good way to fill it in.

Christine: It’s not wired for that.

John: I'm just saying.

Christine: You know.

John: If I put Beth in an outfit like that, I’d-

Christine: I would like- exhibit A, Beth's outfit.

John: Oh, there you go.

[Laughter]

John: What's always also fun is we don't often play a Parker and Eliot versus Hardison scene.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: It's usually the other way around.

Christine: That was fun.

John: Yeah, it was a lot of fun just realizing he's a little overinvested. And the big thumbs up! I love the big thumbs up.

Christine: Oh man, hilarious. The IV pole with ink made me laugh so hard.

[Laughter]

Christine: That was a lot of fun to put together.

John: That was great set dec, that was really nice.

Christine: Oh man, they're great.

John: And now a big giant bombshell about Sophie's past; this was a lot of fun.

Christine: In a big giant hat as well. You had to have some big giant hats, or else this whole episode wouldn’t work.

John: Seriously, it's just- this thing is one long-

[Laughter]

John: Working at your subconscious in one long thing in this episode. And now we mention that we both plant the Moreau, remind people about Moreau, also I plant San Lorenzo.

Christine: Yes.

John: Which is important.

Christine: All leading up to the explosive finale.

John: The explos- wow. That- you really sounded like an announcer.

Christine: [Laughs] I can do a sound bite, I can do it.

John: There you go. I love how Tim’s playing this revelation. He's not being judgemental-

Christine: No.

John: But he's finally- he's got a giant chess set in his head of trying to put together Sophie's life, and this falls in.

Christine: Oh, yeah.

John: You know. It was tricky to figure out how to make sure it wasn't her name. And it was actually Gina who gave us the answer.

Christine: Yes, absolutely. And this is why you have to have intelligent actors to work with, who can participate.

John: Because we had this great bit and it was all “How do we write around her never saying her real name?”

Christine: Right.

John: And it was all this sort of dancing, and then Gina said, “Well it’s my stage name.”

Christine: Mhhm.

John: You know, she met me when I was an actress, and-

Christine: It's perfect.

John: Thank you so much.

Christine: And there was a lot of discussion about the lines of succession, and the royal houses, and yes, ours are a little bit- these are the royal houses in the Leverage-verse.

[Laughter]

John: Yes. There was a slight- there was a slight hiccup in the Edwardian succession that really-

[Laughter]

John: It changed the Leverage-verse history slightly. Also zeppelins. Which you don't usually see cause we don't shoot the sky.

Christine: Yes. Also steampowered things.

John: This is- Leverage-verse is a little steampunk.

Christine: It is a little steampunk-y.

John: You hear- you see the great thing I heard the other day I put it on the- steampunk is what happens when goths discover brown.

Christine: Ohhh, wow.

[Laughter]

Christine: That's fantastic.

John: Great- is that another white scarf? That is gorgeous.

Christine: Yeah, look how nice.

John: That is a great outfit.

Christine: Look how nice. He really, you know, he just looked great. [Laughs] Between takes I'm like, “Tim, beautiful.”

John: I know.

Christine: Beautiful. He enjoyed wearing nice clothes.

John: And then we had the full- this one, again, could be two episodes crammed into one.

Christine: I don't know what youre talking about. [Laughs]

John: We do a thing at the airport, and then we do a blown con, and then we do a hook-

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And we forge an antiquity, and now we steal an auction.

Christine: Right.

John: And we’re in act three.

Christine: Yes. I mean we bury the real bait inside the thing.

[Laughter]

John: Yes, exactly. No, and it was a lot of fun too, was coming up with the way that fourth act paid off.

Christine: Yes, brilliant.

John: That was nice.

Christine: That was- that was-

John: We’ve been wanting to do that for a while- well we'd been wanting to do that for a while, because Russian icons always kinda fascinate me.

Christine: Yes.

John: The idea of art that doesn't look like art.

Christine: Oh, is this something you're obsessed with?

[Laughter]

John: No not obsessed, just I have a big-

Christine: Super interested in.

John: Chris Downey calls it my big doctor's bag of bullshit.

[Laughter]

John: I have a giant doctor's bag of just random stuff that I've picked up from being odd. I also love that- just the- him drying it.

Christine: Oh man, manicure dryer.

John: The manicure dryer. Great bit.

Christine: They- the props, oh my god it's just- oh my god. Props and set dec working together to create genius in that whole sequence.

John: And that's great, all you have to do is pan across one- just one car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and you're in London.

Christine: That’s all you need, you're in London, look at these toughs.

John: And having been to London, by the way, yeah that's pretty much what it looks like.

Christine: I mean, Portland giveth.

John: Portland giveth. I also love the- this is kind of a callback to the overly loquacious villain in The Future Job.

Christine: Little bit.

John: A little bit.

Christine: Little bit. [Laughs] A little bit.

John: This may be related to, occasionally, when I drink the room I go into the villain speeches.

Christine: Yes, and they're long!

[Laughter]

John: They're long. They're long villain speeches. I think villains have rich internal lives.

Christine: Also, we like British thug movies. We like these kind of, you know-

John: Yes, exactly, this is where the show becomes snatched. Just for like-

Christine: A little bit.

John: This side of it.

Christine: Kinda love that.

John: Also we got the ‘very distinctive’ joke back.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Which I always love.

Christine: Yeah, that worked out really well. And Ollie and Christain had a good time with those-

John: Yeah.

Christine: With all those takes and- hilarious for us.

[Laughter]

John: And now the stall. It's tricky, it's one of those things where the audience- television is tricky in that shows really are- the fates of shows- you generally know what's gonna happen in a show. And so trying to figure out how to create obstacles without them being schmut bait.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: You know, is it a stall? Is it really something going wrong?

Christine: And there are moments that just rest entirely on Sophie's ability to charm the pants off of him.

John: Yes.

Christine: And it works!

John: It works, absolutely. Yeah, and then she drops back into the other character. No, it's lovely.

Christine: Just so easily.

[Silence]

John: We’re doing that thing where we just watch the episode.

Christine: Yeah, it's really good, right?

[Laughter]

John: I hate when that happens.

Christine: Ah, I love that angle, and this.

John: Yeah and this.

[Laughter]

Christine: Also fun.

John: Honing door rule by the way - if we can avoid it, we never show Parker arriving in a scene.

Christine: Right, she appears like a sprite.

John: Ye- like a sprite? Really? I was gonna say ghost or wraith-

Christine: Sprite! Sprite’s are terrifying.

John: This was fantastic!

Christine: Oh.

John: We had like a whole mini con set up, and- how did we- how did that happen?

Christine: Ok, that was a joke- you know what? That's my husband's joke.

[Laughter]

Christine: That's weird! Yeah, it was a joke that Eric and I-

John: We should say Chrisitne got married, like, three days ago.

Christine: I got married a couple days ago, yeah. It's a joke Eric and I had thrown back and forth, and I believe he had made to you. We were having dinner with Wil Wheaton one night, and he made that joke in the parking lot.

John: That's right.

Christine: And we had been bantering it back and forth and then I'm going over the script and I thought, “Ooh, right here!” And he said, “Yeah, use it! Do it!” I said, “Wait, is that somebody else's?” He said, “No, I think that's ours! Or mine! Or somebody’s!”

John: All good things come from Wil Wheaton.

Christine: So there you go, yeah.

John: There you go. So if you wanna write, Wil Wheaton.

Christine: Go have dinner with Wil Wheaton, and he will inspire you to great jokes.

John: And if he says he's busy, just don't listen to him. Just break into his house and have dinner with him and good things will happen.

[Laughter]

Christine: He’ll love- he’ll respond to that.

John: This was a ton of fun.

Christine: Oh man [Laughs]

John: This came out of the original scene where she said, “Ooh, the last time I saw you was in The Louvre.”

Christine: Right!

John: The idea of Parker doing an auction of stuff that she at some point had her hands on? Lovely.

Christine: And it comes back to, you know, the theme of these are objects you can touch. These are objects that she has touched and moved at some point.

John: Well, it- also we had talked about the idea, we had had to create Parker's living space for episode five, and the idea that just in the darkness past that, there's just piles of this stuff!

[Laughter]

Christine: Yeah!

John: She has priceless artifacts sitting in a warehouse in Boston.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: Because she likes having them.

Christine: That's right, why not?

John: And then we wound up paying it off in Ho Ho Ho when that's the stuff she hangs on the Christmas tree.

Christine: They do pay off the storage units.

John: We do, the storage units-

Christine: Full payoffs.

John: I have a storage unit, so I know how-

Christine: So do I.

John: Oh you have a storage unit now?

Christine: I do. I'm a married woman now; I have a storage unit.

John: Exactly, had to move all your stuff.

Christine: How else to lure the young unsuspecting-

John: No, don't! Don't go there!

[Laughter]

Christine: Boxes of comic books! Into your storage unit!

John: Oh, I was thinking of another one.

Christine: Oh.

John: And I love- you know what? We talk about the different moods of the actors, Aldis’s ability to make Hardison convey that no one appreciates he's a genius is just great.

Christine: Ohh.

John: It's my favorite recurring bit on the show. That's a great shot, by the way.

Christine: Ooh, ooh, great shot.

John: That's a gorgeous shot.

Christine: Sexy. Wow.

John: I wouldn't have thought of that shot in a million years, that's really nice that light coming through.

Christine: She really uses the room, and she and Dave Connell worked really well together to design these shots.

John: Also a good reminder that Hardison is not necessarily the most athletic guy in the world.

Christine: Right.

[Laughter]

Christine: He looks really good, but he's not out there running all day long like Eliot is.

John: He's not- yeah.

Christine: Finding the right pair of glasses, that was a lot of fun..

John: Yeah.

Christine: Some were too insanely comic, some were too serious, these were perfect.

John: And his frustration- just take the damn thing! I'm sick of your toying!

Christine: Yeah.

[Laughter]

John: Yeah, and that's, you know, one of the reasons I think he wants to- that character wants to run his own crew is he’s sick of, you know, he's sick of being unappreciated.

Christine: Mhhm absolutely. Well it's- when you're the youngest person in a group, it can be- it can be difficult.

John: Yeah. And the little tap, the little little push, yeah paying off the NLP and the other stuff. This was great.

Christine: Oh, he's lovely.

John: Casting- how is he referred to in the script?

Christine: [Laughs] What did we call him? Pretentious…something?

John: Yes, he's like eurotrash.

Christine: I- he said, “How do I play it?” I said, “Like a Whit Stillman character.” And not a lot of people knew who I was talking about.

[Laughter]

Christine: Cause he's quite young, this actor.

John: The pink shirt really lands it.

Christine: The pink shirt really, yeah. And he was lovely.

John: And then again, the same thing, trying to create an obstacle in order to-

Christine: American fop?

John: American fop! I think it was that.

Christine: I think it was American fop.

John: And this was interesting, too, one of those things where we were trying to figure out- we had to have a problem during the auction, and so why would there be a problem? Well, we had to create one, we had to create an obstacle for the other character, which meant we had to create parameters. Parameters gave us the $250,000.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: It's amazing how much you work backwards.

Christine: Yeah.

John: You know, you work backwards from the conflict, and come up with the rules for the conflict and around the most interesting version.

Christine: And then it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

John: Yeah.

Christine: Which is a great moment. Many scotches later.

[Laughter]

John: Many scotches.

Christine: Oh the storage unit!

John: Mostly Irish whiskey this year. Ah, the storage unit. And again, this was fun because really trying to figure out- we had originally broken this to be on the docks.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And then when budgetary constraints said perhaps we could not go and fake up the docks of London, we went back to the ending of the season one finale, where we established that she had the storage unit and that she was- it was one of many.

Christine: Yeah, why wouldn't she have many all over the place?

John: Yeah.

Christine: Smells the book.

John: We use all the parts of the buffalo.

[Laughter]

John: And the little bit of joy there. The little- the victory lap, yeah.

Christine: He made that from nothing!

[Laughter]

Christine: It is one of my favorite things I've ever written if I do say so, was the “I have gone from apprentice to journeyman to master.” And he did such a good job [Laughs] on that!

John: He really did.

Christine: Cause it was the- it felt very analogous to the writer's career.

John: Well, it was very- he really dug in on the mania of it.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And then Sophie being left behind. Now-

Christine: Yeah.

John: I always wondered, did we- was an integral part of the con? No, he bailed on her.

Christine: No, he bails on her. Cause, I mean, you know, scorpion’s a scorpion.

John: Yeah. Exactly.

Christine: [Laughs] Always count on a scorpion to be a scorpion.

John: Also, I remember we had a long discussion about exactly what- how she would feel about this moment. I mean, on one hand, it's getting her off the hook, on the other hand, it's kinda a painful reminder exactly why she became a grifter.

Christine: Absolutely. And that's the part I wanted to deal with, was the latter. Because this persona’s taken a lot of beatings.

John: Yeah.

Christine: She had a hard time with this. With this long con, and revisiting it is not something I think she thought she would ever do.

John: Yeah. And that's the mistake you make, you get too close to Eliot with a gun.

Christine: Mhhm. Oh, oh sad.

John: And the out. You can never go wrong on an act out with a guy drawing a gun.

Christine: Take the gun out!

John: Now, he's drawing on Eliot so we all know how this is gonna end. But the fun was coming up with a creative way to beat the hell out of three guys.

Christine: Oh, yes.

John: Belt fu! First time we've done belt fu.

[Laughter]

Christine: Belt fu!

John: First time we've done that. That was-

Christine: But he does try to explain first. [Laughs]

John: Yes it's like he’s- actually grown to like this guy-

Christine: Yeah!

John: And would prefer not to beat the hell out of him.

Christine: They have a professional respect, but you know, the job’s gotta be done. There you go.

John: Yeah. And the belt!

Christine: Mhhm.

John: This came out of, I think, the big bag of old Jackie Chan writing.

Christine: This was- yeah. Mhhm

John: This- I think we use this on a Jackie Chan animated episode.

[Laughter]

John: I think I went in there. No, this is a great fight actually. And the snap! That's gotta hurt.

Christine: Oh man. And it's funny. I do say that action’s not my strong suit, but fights I love.

John: You do love a good fight.

Christine: I love fights.

John: Well, you know, what if they had swords, you'd be the happiest girl in the world.

Christine: Absolutely! Well ‘cause fights are about character.

John: Yes.

Christine: Fights are all about character.

John: How someone fights, how they handle the geography, the choices they make-

Christine: Absolutely.

John: How they escalate violence. It's one of the things we talk about with Eliot, we never try to give him just a fight scene, he always has an attitude on the fight scene.

Christine: Mhhm.

John: And hoisted by your own petard, sir.

Christine: Ohhh

John: Hoisted by your own petard.

Christine: Basil Harris, local actor, nice guy.

John: Oh yeah, no really- nice guy, nice performance.

Christine: Yeah, he's really good, right? But he's really-

John: And this looks sufficiently different from the other airport.

Christine: Look at that! This was late at night. [Laughs]

John: How late?

Christine: Very late.

John: Yeah. We tend to go a little late.

Christine: Those were late days.

John: No, coming up with- it’s interesting, it's one of the recurring themes of the show- that's me rubbing my face, by the way, cause my voice went weird cause lord, I'm tired of doing this.

[Christine Laughs]

John: Is how you move stuff.

Christine: Yeah.

John: How you move stuff- when we did Rashomon Job, at one point we had four little paper cups with different things simulating the object moving around.

Christine: Oh yeah.

John: You know, it's a lot like- it is- you know what? That's why, I suppose you watched Jonathan Creek, it’s like a magic trick.

Christine: It's a magic trick, yeah.

John: It’s a magic trick. And no, it's a lot like designing a magic trick from the ground up.

Christine: Yeah.

John: And-

Christine: And again, it's the physical object of it all.

John: Yeah. And we talk about this actually on another commentary when we did Scheherazade Job, it’s like when you do a high concept episode, you need- when you do a heisty episode, you need something you can hold.

Christine: Oh yeah.

John: Like it was diamonds for that one. You need very clean simple goals.

Christine: Mhhm. The audience can track.

John: Alright, this actually- you wrote this.

[Laughter]

John: At a ridiculous time of night. At a ridiculous time, and you wrote the whole, “What's all this, then?”

Christine: “What's all this, then?” Come on, I did that on purpose!

John: Which- on purpose. And you gave me the draft and I laughed my ass off. I'm like, “Now you're screwed, cause it's staying in.”

Christine: Of course!

John: And is the classic Monty Python- that is the classic 1930s stage show arrival of the cops.

Christine: Of course!

John: Really mandatory.

Christine: Absolutely mandatory.

John: For the arrival of the police.

Christine: I write to make you laugh, sir.

John: Thank you.

Christine: I write to entertain you. Look! Look, she's ok!

John: She's being reunited with this lovely- her aunt and uncle.

Christine: She's gonna go live in New jersey!

John: Oh that's great.

Christine: It's fine!

John: She's got an education, maybe go to Stanford.

Christine: Aww, that's great!

John: She's got a beautiful future because-

Christine: She's gonna go fight for women's rights in the middle east, it's gonna be wonderful!

John: Exactly, because of our horribly immoral, immoral, crew.

[Laughter]

Christine: Yay bad guys! Who are good guys! Yay!

John: Yay!

Christine: Also-

John: It gets a little fuzzy at the end of the season this year.

Christine: Having Eliot speak Arabic, super hot. On a list of hot things.

John: It's interesting-

Christine: Languages you didn't know they knew, but you assume they knew.

John: Always interesting doing the commentaries with a female writer.

[Laughter]

John: There's a lot of stuff I didn't know we did just cause it was hot.

Christine: The ladies do things that are super hot.

John: No, no, I'm very scrupulous.

Christine: Everything Gina does in this episode is hot.

John: Yes, but that's because she's hot. That just happens.

Christine: Yes, correct.

John: No, this is a great walk away and a great acknowledgement of- and the great ‘Screw you that you don't really know my name.’

Christine: Mhhm. Millicent came into, you know, she was- it was her first episode, she directed the hell out of this.

John: Oh I could not be happier. This feels- and there's- yeah, she's actually handling the dog tags!

Christine: Mhhm. yes.

John: There, which are- which do not- which are blank. And we wound up- although the audience doesn't know they are blank, the crew does. It's interesting she was actually playing to the cast at that moment, not the characters. We wound up writing it into the Ho Ho Ho Job, because Gina came up with the idea that she wears blank dog tags so we wrote it into an episode.

Christine: That's great.

John: Great. This is the only time I think ever, other than the two part season finale, we hint at the next episode.

Christine: Mhhm. That was fun hinging-

John: Yeah. There was a lot of- there’s advantages to serialization, you're always tempted, it just carries momentum forward. I love Parker's smile at the end of that. That’s-

Christine: That was a lot of fun!

John: That was your last episode for this season.

Christine: That was my last episode for the season.

John: You did a great job.

Christine: It was a fun season.

John: I hope you enjoyed that. This is John Rogers.

Christine: This is Christine Boylan!

John: And stay tuned to put another DVD in, because it is a lot more, including explosions.

Christine: A lot more.

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Devereaux #Season 3 #Episode 12 #Season 3 Episode 12 #The King George Job

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