Leverage 1x03-1x08

[oyceter]

I continue to heart this show. It just makes me laugh and relax, which is invaluable right now.

Brief spoilery notes

• The Nate and Sophie relationship is the most boring for me, especially in episodes like The Wedding Job and The Mile-High Job, which has Sophie mad at Nate and not telling him why. It is pretty clear why, but it just falls into the tired trope of the mysteriously annoyed and emotional woman and the dense man. I mean, it's good that it's pretty much always resolved by the end of the episode, but it's still one aspect of the show I'm less fond of.


• Hardison continues to be made of awesome. I especially loved the World of Warcraft conversation he has with the Asian woman in The Mile-High Job. Also, I'm curious... does anyone know if the role was originally conceived of as a black geek, or did Aldis Hodge come along, wow everyone, and proceed to convince them he was the right guy, in spite of their conception of geeks as white?


• Elliott as a chef is also made of win. Lemon juice!


• Parker timing herself picking locks, teaching a kid to pick locks, stealing a saint's statue, and telling the bank hostage guys things would be all right, all made of win!
  
• I normally dislike it when villains are so clearly villains, but given that the Leverage gang engages in theft and beating people up, I am glad it has that fantasy veneer. Everything is played for human and a little bit over the top, which is what makes the premise work for me.

Comments

[liviapenn]

I think over on John Rogers' blog he's mentioned that he had someone else in mind for the part of Hardison, and he was like "This person is it! We don't even need to see anyone else!" and then they auditioned AH and he blew them away, so they picked him instead. They didn't mention the original guy's race though.

(Another interesting casting might've-been was Justine Bateman as Sophie, which-- as much as I love the Sophie we have-- would've been amaaaaazing.)

You could probably ask, actually; he's pretty open to questions over on his blog. On the other hand you might want to wait until you've seen all the episodes first, so you don't stumble across spoilers.

I have an apparently weird soft spot for Nate and Sophie, but mostly because I *love* mixed-gender hero and nemesis stories, and the best part about it is all the imaginary backstory in my head... *G* Just that first scene where she says "I'm a citizen" and he says "I'm not"-- the amount that they're both holding back there-- it's like Catwoman and Batman, it totally gets me. And then they seemed to drop all that and just make them be stupid and obvious and flail at each other like teenagers, which is less appealing. But they still have their moments. :D

[oyceter]

Ooh, yeah, will probably avoid spoilers for now. (Also, talking to creators! My anti-socialness quails at the notion.)

I think you are totally right about the Catwoman/Batman vibe there could be from Nate/Sophie! That may be partially why I was so disappointed by their interactions in Mile-High Job and Wedding Job; it felt unlike former-thief/former-insurance-guy and more like nagging-wife/bored-husband. Although I will say Mile-High Job had the fun bit in the end where Nate reveals that he did know what he was talking about. But yeah, I want to see all the backstory or the uneasy interaction and how they aren't quite on the same side but are in the end, or more reminiscing about Tuscany or Paris or whatnot...

[willow]

I've posted on my iJay about my thoughts on Leverage. So when I finally import my entries, you can find it tagged under "shows:leverage". But I am so with you and beyond on the Sophie + Nate.

[oyceter]

Oh awesome, thanks! I have been so behind in media that I have no idea who is watching what anymore.

[torachan]

I like Sophie/Nate okay, but I really ship Parker/Hardison hard (they're my two favorite characters, too).

[oyceter]

I love them together! I've only seen hints of things, like Hardison commenting on Parker in the bridesmaid dress, but am looking forward to more episodes.

[umadoshi]

The whole Eliot-as-chef thing made me laugh so hard. I don't love him as much as Parker and Hardison, but I really like that Christian Kane is making him seem natural in so many situations.

[oyceter]

I know! I loved everything about it, from the territoriality to the "what? I have other knife skills" to the lemon juice!

[lady_ganesh]

One more-or-less aspect of the Nate-Sophie relationship (which I do find tiresome) is that Nathan's not so much clueless as in denial, which comes up more and more often as the episodes continue (hello, alcoholism). Which is not to excuse the tedium of it, but I think the relationship is a bit more interesting because of that.

But oh I love Parker and Hardison and Elliot SO MUCH OMG.

[oyceter]

Nate... sort of baffles me right now. Although some of that might just be because I watched some episodes out of order. In some jobs he seems really stable, and in others he's completely falling apart, and I'd like to know more about his ex-wife and if or how that influences the way he acts around Sophie.

[lady_ganesh]

Yeah, I think getting the episodes in order would make a difference, as seeing the 'real' order made several things make more sense to me. There's a bit more about the ex-wife as you go forward; not sure it helps, though!

ETA: I also think Nate drinks more when he's bored and/or purposeless. Which...yeah.