#hardison just solving everything as usual

[megnknight]

The Schism of Eliot Spencer's Heart

Eliot Spencer x reader

Eliot Spencer loves reader. Eliot Spencer refused to acknowledge it, and pushes it away from his mind. The team is on a new job, reader gets hurt, and Eliot almost blows the con. Will he finally fess up and tell reader his feelings, or ignore it still and keep everything the way it is?

[tw: slight mention of seizures]

[authors note: I based this fic off a song, I would highly suggest listening to it either before or while reading it. the song is titled 'Schism' by Tool, the lyrics from the song are in the brackets throughout the fic. word count: 8.3k]

-

[I know the pieces fit, 'Cause I watched them fall away]

It was a rainy day in Boston, to everyone’s dismay, and the team was brought in for another job, another con, another payday. Nate was chatting with Hardison about the information he had found, while Sophie was catching up Parker on her latest acting job (Parker looked… not amused).

Then, there was his heart, his soul, and the one person he could never ever, in a million years, have as his own. Y/N sat on the couch, quietly, but quickly, solving a rubix cube that Hardison had left lying around the apartment. When Eliot walked in, Y/N’s head quickly snapped up, but quickly looked back down to the rubix cube. Eliot took a deep breath, choosing to ignore the pulling of his heart strings towards the empty seat next to them, and sat in the lazy boy. He also then chose not to look up, because he knew the only thing he would be met with was the sad look on Y/N’s face as they tried their best not to look at him.

Eliot had made the decision a couple weeks ago that he was no longer going to entertain the thought of him and Y/N together. It was simply impossible. They were way too good for him, and he was not the person they thought he was. They deserved someone way better than him, that was for sure.

This thought was cut off abruptly by Nate's usual phrase.

“Roll it, Hardison”

Hardison went through his usual speech, this one being about a man with a prosthetic metal arm asking the team to help him get back at the company who made the arm, HYDRA, after they gave him a metal arm that gave him a nasty infection, when they promised a safe arm that would not harm him. He paid almost fifty-thousand dollars for that arm. James said he did not want the money (of course, the team would get it back for him, and probably more) and just to take the company down so they could not hurt anyone else. This was more than do-able, but the con would require the team to defame the head of the company, Alex Pierce, and get him arrested for unlawful practices.

Nate ran through everyone’s jobs for this con. Sophie was going to be another rich company owner who wanted to buy his company outright. Nate would be his right-hand man, the assistant who did whatever she wanted. Parker was going to be a person who needed a prosthetic, and Hardison would be her loving husband. That left Y/N and Eliot. Eliot was going to be security, which is not much different from any other times, and try to make his way to the top floors so Parker could eventually get herself in without getting caught. Y/N was going to be one of the medical people, those who put the prosthetics on the patients. That way, maybe they could figure out just what was giving the patients the horrible infections.

Everyone had their role, and they were not going to head out for another couple of hours so everyone could get ready. Thus, the group departed each other and headed for their respective places to get their clothes and such. Eliot made the quick dash to the door, making sure no one had the chance to talk to him so he would have to stay in the same room as Y/N.

It hurt Eliot; it really did. They were all he yearned for, all he longed for. But, alas, he was not going to subject them to the nothingness he offered. It was hard. He longed for the moments when they had to pretend to be together for the cons. Married couple, dates to a formal event, anything that made him happier than a beer and a Sunday football game. Being with them, even if it’s not real, made Eliot believe he was able to actually have this— a normal white picket fence life—and it made his heart sore straight out of his chest.

And therefore, he was doing what he was doing.

This thing, this feeling, it was throwing him off his game. If he even slipped up a little bit, someone on the team could be killed. He’s the hitter, the protector. It’s his job to make sure everyone makes it out alive. If he goes soft, he could fuck up really badly, and he would never forgive himself. Ever.

Y/N and him just fit. The way they sat next to each other; every curve fit in place. Their hands, when intertwined, were the perfect sizes for each other. They knew how to bicker, but also were able to have a serious conversation. The pieces fit, the puzzle was complete, it all made sense.

Eliot would make sure it fell away.

[Mildewed and smoldering, Fundamental differing]

“Parker, just stick to what we told you, please” Sophie begged into the comms. “We rehearsed this and you did so so well, don’t go changing it up now.”

“But we all agree that a robot leg is cooler than a robot arm, correct?” Parker said back with a whine, wanting very much to get a prosthetic leg, and not an arm (even though she was very much keeping all her limbs. She was just… really immersing herself in her role).

“Yes mama, way cooler, now just stick to wait you practiced with Sophie so we can take down this evil man” Hardison whispered to her while they walked towards the receptionist desk to attempt to get a meeting with a prosthetic designer for the soon-to-be but not actually armless Parker.

Sophie and Nate were already on their way to Mr. Pierce’s office, Y/N was making their way to the medical wing to lift a jacket and ID badge. Eliot, well, he was politely putting a knocked out security guard in a janitor's closet, putting him in a comfortable position so the guard did not wake up with any pains…well, no more pain than he will already be in, and Eliot got changed into his new HYDRA security work outfit. Eliot was no longer Eliot Spencer, but now Ryan Pine. Ryan Pine made his way towards the elevator that was employee’s only, swiped his card, and made his way up the building.

Over the comms, Eliot hears Parker and Hardison fake their love story (though, they do have a real one, it’s just taking a very long time to actually get anywhere), Nate and Sophie bargain a price for the company, and Y/N humming a tune while sifting through the medical side of the building.

“Eliot?” Y/N said quickly.

He was surprised they asked for him, but he knew everyone else was busy playing their role, so he was the only option left.

“Yes?” Eliot replied.

“Bleach isn’t good for metal, nor human skin, correct?”

‘That would be correct. What did you find?”

“I found a lot of something. A whole closet full of cheap off brand bleach they most likely buy in bulk. They must be using that to clean the metal or something, so it ends up hurting the skin, and giving them an infection. Enough bleach will kill ya, don’t they know that?”

“Yeah, they do. They do know. That’s why they are using it.” Eliot put the pieces together in his head. “If they kill the patients, they won’t have to replace the prosthetic at any point, which saves them money.”

“Won’t that just make them look bad if they have a bunch of dead people on their hands?”

“Not if they make it look like the doctors who did the surgeries did it or blame the patient for their body rejecting the prosthesis. They’re trying to murder people, so they don’t have to pay.”

Eliot could hear Y/N pacing in the closet full of bleach. He knew what they were about to say before they even said it.

“I’m going to go talk to the other medical staff. See if they will tell me anything.” Y/N stated, before heading towards the closet door.

“Absolutely not, Y/N. Are you crazy?” Eliot retorted quickly. That was the dumbest idea he’s ever heard, or maybe it’s only the dumbest idea because it could put Y/N in harm’s way.

“What do you mean ‘no’? If I can get some information out of them, I can help move the con along, and we can have more information to take down Pierce. What about that sounds like a bad idea?” Y/N was starting to get irritated, they never like their intelligence to be countered.

“It could put you in a bad spot. What if they realize you’re not supposed to be there? They could hurt you. You are quite literally surrounded by things meant to cut people open. It’s not a good idea, just wait until a time where no one is in the medical unit.”

‘I can take care of myself, Spencer. I know how to use the stabby tools as well, I’m not an idiot.”

“I did not say you were an idiot; all I am saying is that it is not a good idea until someone else is nearby. Y/N, do not put yourself in a vulnerable position when there is no need.” Eliot begged, pleaded, hoping they would listen.

Y/N huffed.

“Why do you even care? It’s not like it would make a difference anyways.”

Eliot’s heart dropped. Straight through his stomach and onto the floor.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Eliot snapped. He refused to wait for a response, and quickly added “Just, wait until we come back later at night. That way more of us can look around, and none of the medical staff will question what you are doing.”

Eliot heard Y/N grumbling to themselves, but it seems they would listen to Eliot this time.

Eliot liked that they thought differently. Y/N wanted to always jump into action, using their smart brain to get themselves any piece of information. Eliot wanted to jump into the action, but his action consisted of beating up bad guys.

Y/N wanted to be right all the time, Eliot…wanted to be right all the time. Okay, maybe that one’s not as different.

Y/N thought Eliot was a good man, worthy of love, and a happy life. Eliot, well, he did not.

Y/N thought they could protect themselves. Eliot knew he would protect them at all costs, even if that cost him his life, even if they thought he didn’t care about their life.

Two very fundamentally different people.

[Pure intention juxtaposed, Will set two lovers' souls in motion]

Sitting in his tiny apartment he rents for dirt cheap in Boston, Eliot sips on some beer he bought from the corner store and leans back and lets his eyes close. He tries to re-call one of the best days he had in a long time; almost the best day he’s had ever.

It was evening, and the team had just finished up a con. They had put the bad guy away, gave the person they were helping more money than they ever needed, and had made it back to the apartment they used as their headquarters. Everyone was tired, but no one seemed ready to depart each other just quite yet.

“Movie night! Movie night!” Parker chanted from her seat on the couch, sipping a freshly made cup of chocolate milk by Hardison.

“I don’t see why not,” Sophie chimed in “but we are watching something good. No more weird zombie movies.”

Parker pouted and whined, Hardison huffed and muttered a “they’re not weird,” and Nate nodded in agreement with Sophie.

Y/N was sitting on the couch, opposite of Parker, and was laughing at the banter. Eliot couldn’t help but watch them. Their smile was to die for, with beautiful eyes, and a laugh that made your heart swell. Before he knew it, his legs were moving him to the couch and plopped himself right next to Y/N.

“And no cowboy movies, Eliot here might start using his southern charm on us” Y/N added, though only Eliot caught the softly muttered “Not that I would mind” that followed that statement.

“I have no idea what you are talkin’ bout, darlin’, no idea at all” Eliot answers with a southern drawl, hoping to get a rise out of Y/N.

Y/N, of course, cannot contain their laughter, and leans into Eliot. Eliot, without even thinking, puts an arm around Y/N’s shoulder. It was the most comfortable he has ever been in a long time.

Eventually, Hardison puts on some nerdy movie, Parker is messing with the newest technological invention Hardison made for her, Nate and Sophie are situated on the other couch, both sipping their glasses of whiskey, and Eliot is here, next to Y/N, who has fallen asleep on his shoulder.

“Oh shit. They fell asleep on my shoulder.” Eliot thinks, starting to panic in his brain. He can’t move, won’t move. He refuses to disturb them. They look so peaceful sleeping, he thinks, I can’t possibly get up now. It’s fine, it’s totally fine, he will just stay there until they wake up. He can’t help but look down at them, their eyes closed, looking so peaceful. He tried to engrain the image in his head, so if he needed an escape from his own head, he could remember how they looked sleeping.

He had an idea. It wasn’t the best idea he’s had, but it was one. Y/N’s hands were resting in between his leg and theirs. He slowly reached over and placed one of his hands on theirs. He was just about to pull it back, when in a sleepy haze, Y/N found his hand and held on to it. The heat that filled his cheeks was hotter than any Arizona desert. He had to keep his cool, make sure he did not alarm the others. He cooled down, and the smallest smile was plastered across his face.

The movie played on, but Eliot wasn’t paying attention anymore. He was imagining the life he could have with Y/N. Settling down, getting a nice house, getting a dog (and a cat, he knew how much Y/N liked cats, so they just had to get one) and living a peaceful life. It would be pure. Eliot has never been, and will never be pure, but it could be the closest he could come to being so.

Why not? Why couldn’t he have this? He raked through his brain, and all the thoughts he came up with, he knew Y/N would simply disagree, saying he was a good man, and deserved the whole world.

He was going to do it. His soul was in motion now, and there was no stopping it. Maybe he could have that white picket fence life with Y/N. He wanted to try.

That was when he still had hope for the future. That was when he had allowed himself to go soft, to think he could have a happy life. It was short lived, he thought, but should not have happened at all. How stupid could he have been to think otherwise?

He was making sure that his soul was stuck. His soul could no longer be in motion, especially not in the direction it was going. He made every effort to make sure it stopped, and what he did not realize was that it was going to hurt a lot more than any torture, any stabbings or punchings he’s ever endured. Watching Y/N slowly start to dislike him, to get hurt by him, was like being stabbed right in the heart. But it’s what he had to do. He couldn’t let them get closer to him, for fear of getting them hurt.

He started to avoid them at all costs, though he would not admit that. He would volunteer for every job in the con that did not involve them. He would argue that he would be better if he was doing something else, not doing what they were doing. If Y/N sat in the back of the van, Eliot was sitting in the passenger seat or driving. If Y/N was in the kitchen, he was in the living room. He said he was busy for every single team get together. He simply would not allow himself to be near them, as he knew it would make it that much harder to tear the heartstrings that spelled out their name into two.

He could tell, by the third con where he made his opinion clear that he wanted the opposite job of Y/N, that they were catching on, and looked physically hurt by every word that spilled out of Eliot’s mouth. Every “why don’t I do this instead?” was another stab to Y/N’s back. Every. Single. One. He was doing what he had to do is what he told himself everytime he caught a glance of them. He was protecting them, even if they did not know it. Around the fifth con, when Nate was giving out jobs, Y/N just got up and went into a different room. They could not stand to be in there when Eliot gave his speech on why he should have a different job. It hurt them too much to think that the person they wanted to spend the rest of their life with would not even look at them, let alone be in the same room.

Y/N had put their soul in motion as well, Eliot knew it. He could tell by the way they looked at him before he started his crusade of destroying any feelings he had. He knew that maybe, just maybe, they wanted just what he wanted, but it wouldn’t happen, not in this lifetime.

Two lovers' souls were in motion, but the brick wall built between them would surely stop it, right?

[Disintegrating as it goes, Testing our communication]

The con was on track so far, though, they were going to have to wrap it up before Parker’s supposed “surgery” to have her arm removed. The team was back in the HYDRA building, later at night, trying to find information they could leak. Y/N was dead set on going back to the medical wing, so naturally, Eliot was voluntold to go with them, in case there was anyone up there. Before he could protest, Y/N was already on their way to the elevator. It seemed he wasn’t getting out of this one.

He knew in his brain it wasn’t a good idea to be alone with them, but he had no choice. They were putting themselves in danger, and Eliot was the hitter after all. That’s what he did. He protected the team from danger.

They made their way to the medical wing and started searching. Y/N has already found the bleach closet, but they needed something more than that. They needed something that showed the medical staff was being instructed to use the bleach in a way that would harm the patient.

After ten minutes of an awkwardly silent elevator ride, and more awkward silent searching, Eliot decided he had had enough, and was going to speak up.

“Y/N, I’m not seeing anything. We may need to look somewhere else. I don’t think they would just leave an instruction manual out in the open.” Eliot noted, looking towards Y/N for a reaction. Instead, he was met with silence. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

“Y/N. We need to look somewhere else.”

Again, met with silence, as Y/N kept looking around the room. It was evident that Y/N was not planning on listening to him. So, he walked up to them and lightly grabbed their shoulder. That, apparently, was the wrong answer, because that was met with Y/N jerking back out of his touch quickly.

“Eliot, if you want to go look somewhere else, go ahead. I know damn well there is going to be evidence here, you just don’t want to look so I end up being wrong and looking dumb in front of the team. Fine, I get it, whatever, just leave me alone.” Y/N snapped.

Eliot was stunned. He was hurt. That’s the exact opposite of what he wanted, but he knew that it would be better this way. If Y/N just didn’t even like him as a person, there would be no way he could hurt them.

“Hell, I’m fucking surprised you didn’t get yourself out of coming up here with me. And you actually spoke to me? I think the world is gonna end. Poof, gone.” And Y/N made a little explosion with their hands.

Eliot had no clue what to say. He was a smart man, he knew many languages, but in this instance, he couldn’t find a single string of words to respond to what he was just told.

“I don’t know what I did, or what I said, to be Eliot Spencer’s most hated person in the world, but I sure as hell don’t think I deserved to be avoided like this. We’re supposed to be a team, and you won’t even look in my direction. The last time you said anything to me was twenty-four days ago. That’s over three weeks, Eliot. One day we were fine, the next it’s like I did not exist. You’re my best friend, Eliot. I have the rest of the team, of course, but you. You’re my best friend, and you haven’t talked to me in twenty-four days. What did I do to you, huh? What did I do that was so bad that you can’t even look me in my face right now?” Y/N spat out, choking on the tears they were holding back.

Eliot knew he looked like a kicked puppy, and he knew he didn’t deserve to look that way, but that was the second stab to his heart in the past two days.

“You have nothing to say? You speak seven plus languages and can’t think of a single thing to say?” They almost begged, wanting an answer.

Apparently, Y/N could read minds now. They knew exactly what he was thinking. He finally looked over at them, saw the silent tears streaming down their face, and had to hold back tears himself. Knowing he made them cry, that was torture.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He said softly. That was all he could come up with. All he could think of to say.

Y/N nodded, but that wasn’t the answer they wanted. It wasn’t even close.

“I’m going to continue looking through this medical wing until I find something. I would appreciate the help.” Y/N said quietly, and Eliot quickly nodded, and went back to looking through papers.

The connection they once had, it was disintegrating as time went on. Their communication was basically none. But this, Eliot thought, maybe he could do something with this. Maybe he could still be Y/N’s friend, but not want anything more. He was strong, hell he’s held the world on his shoulder multiple times. Atlas didn’t have shit on him, so he thought.

Maybe he could test it out, see how it was being friends.

Friends. Just friends. He didn’t have many friends, but he wanted this one.

[The light that fueled our fire then, Has burned a hole between us so]

The team was back in the apartment. Parker found some legal work that was definitely illegal, and Y/N and Eliot finally had found something in the medical wing after an hour of searching.

Hardison was putting something together that he would blast on the internet, making Pierce have to counter it, and step into the spotlight to talk about it and his company. That’s when they would have him arrested, since they knew where he held conferences, and the police already have possession of the evidence of the misuse of bleach on patients.

Sophie was able to pull strings with the coroner’s office, and had them re-test victims for any bleach in the area of the infections, and they all came back positive. That’s all they needed to put Pierce away for life, give James a big check, and finish off the con. Sophie and Nate were chatting in the kitchen, Parker was climbing Hardison like he was an elevator while he was trying to do work on his computer, though being careful not to mess him up, and Eliot was sat on the couch, reading the book he had started a couple days prior. Y/N was wondering, and finally sat themselves in a chair adjacent to the couch, but careful not to disturb Eliot.

Eliot heard Y/N take a very deep breath, before stuttering out a “What are you reading?” in the direction of Eliot.

“I found this in a pile of Hardison’s nerdy books and thought it could possibly be interesting. It’s not.” Eliot stated.

“Why are you still reading it then?’ Y/N asked as they gave him a look between confused and curious.

“Because he bet I wouldn’t finish it. And I am not losing $50 to Alec Hardison and his weird nerdy books.”

Y/N chuckled softly, allowing themselves to put a small smile on their face, but not the ones they used to give him. The big, happy, toothy smiles that always made him warm inside.

“Tell me the plotline so far, and I’ll decide if it's lame or not” Y/N jabbed, and Eliot let himself chuckle, before thoroughly explaining the very ‘boring’ plot he was making himself read. After all of that, Y/N had made their decision.

“That sounds good to me, Spencer, I think you just like boring cowboy books.” They joked, hoping to get a rise out of him.

“You’re crazy, cowboy books are good, this is not.”

“It is good, you’re just boring!” Hardison yelled from the other room.

“Wow, I save all your asses every day and you have the audacity to call me boring? Let me know if I’m boring the next time I punch someone so you don’t get hurt.” Eliot grumbled in his usual grumbling tone.

Y/N threw a small rubber ball that was laying around at Eliot, and Eliot laughed, immediately throwing it at the back of Hardison’s head.

“Hey! I wasn’t even the one who threw it!” Hardison complained, rubbing it at the back of his head.

“Well, I’m obviously not gonna throw it at the pretty person who actually threw it, that would be a crime.” Eliot spilled out, and then immediately regretted, as Y/N gave him a look with the widest eyes and an agape mouth.

“Are you saying I’m not pretty?” Hardison retorted, “because I know I’m sexy as hell, ain’t that right mama?” He directed that at Parker, but she was too busy with a mouth full of chocolate cake.

Eliot did not hear this, as the blood was rushing straight to his cheeks and his ears, making him go bright red. A tomato would think they were relatives.

He immediately got up, throwing the book to his right on the couch, and was ready to dash out the door, but not before Y/N could grab his wrist, a look on their face begging him to stay, to not start doing what he had done again. To not distance himself again.

The touch was hot, fire hot, and he had to get away. He wriggled his wrist out of their grip and walked off, heading straight to the fridge for a beer, and then straight to the door.

Before, he would have been fine. He would play it off as platonic flirting (even though it was very much romantic flirting) and keep bickering with Hardison. This time, however, it was different. He couldn’t tell himself it was just platonic. It was much more than that. They couldn’t even make it ten minutes into a conversation without Eliot slipping up and running away.

There was a hole burned between them, and he wasn’t sure if it could be fixed.

[We cannot seem to reach an end, Crippling our communication]

This time, it was a mutual agreement between the two that they would not talk, or hang out, or work together. They could work together on the team, of course, but it did not go farther than that. He refused to let it go farther, and they knew no matter what they did, they could not change his mind.

No communication. That was good. That helped Eliot keep up his game, make sure he kept everyone on the team safe. Safety was a number one priority and eliminating any distractions would just have to be how it was.

[No fault, none to blame, It doesn't mean I don't desire, to point the finger, blame the other, Watch the temple topple over]

Eliot was having a bad day. He didn’t mean to be having a bad day, it was just… one of those days.

Things had gotten better with Y/N after the incident. He had realized it was ok to be their friend. It was ok to hang out, make small talk, make fun of them. The whole pretty thing was a slip-up, and he knew not to do it again.

But what Nate said to him, well, made his blood boil.

Right before the team was to be debriefed on a new case, Nate pulled Eliot into another room to talk to him.

“What’s up, boss?” Eliot questioned.

“You need to get rid of whatever feelings or things you have going on with Y/N. It’s disrupting the team, and is going to get someone hurt, or worse.” Nate said, calmly.

Eliot was no longer calm. He could see red flooding the corners of his vision.

“Excuse the fuck outta me, what the hell does that mean?” Eliot barked back.

“Everyone and their mother knows you’re in love with Y/N, but you just don’t seem willing to act on that, or won’t, but whatever it is you’re doing instead needs to stop. It’s making everyone distracted. Hardison and Parker have a bet on how long it takes for you to finally admit your feelings and ask them out. Sophie won’t stop pointing out every single time you make lovebird eyes at them. I can feel the tension even if you guys are sitting on opposite sides of the room. Either man up and tell them how you feel, or forget about it and just be co-workers. Your choice.” Nate knew he was over-stepping, but he wasn’t ready to let his team be put in harm’s way because their hitter wasn’t focused.

Eliot forgot how to breathe for a second, and had to pinch his leg in an attempt not to lash out at Nate. Where did he get the audacity to be saying this to him? All Eliot did was nod and storm out of the room, and straight out of the apartment. He could catch up on the con later, right now he needed fresh air, or he might burst at the seams.

Nate was blaming all of this on him. Pointing the finger at him. It was Eliot’s fault that the last con went a little haywire. Yes, Eliot may have been a minute or two late to the guys that were going after Nate when they found him in the CEO’s office, but Eliot can’t be everywhere at once. He wasn’t fucking God for Christ’s sake.

Eliot walked out of the apartment building and went to the side alley to calm himself down. He started pacing, back and forth and back and forth. He was thinking, and it helped him think if he wasn’t standing still.

This was it, Eliot thought. The final decision. Was he going to confess, or was he going to push down his feelings and suffer for the rest of his life? Obviously, he has suffered quite a bit, so a little more wouldn’t be much. But maybe, just maybe, he could… not suffer. He wondered what that was like. He kept thinking about it, but a hand on his arm snapped him out of it.

“Eliot, are you okay? You looked really upset when you stormed out. I just wanted to make sure Nate didn’t say anything that upset you.” Y/N spoke kindly to Eliot as they looked at him and gave a loving squeeze to his arm.

“I’m okay, Y/N, I really am. But…I do appreciate you coming to check on me. I really do.” Eliot countered, offering a soft smile, putting his hand over the one currently on his arm.

“Ok cool, yeah, ok, awesome, great, I wasn’t really looking forward to having to give Nate a stern talking to, but I had rehearsed it enough in my head on the walk down that I was more than prepared.” Y/N said cooly. Eliot gave a hearty chuckle and shook his head.

“You’re trouble, ya know. Let’s go back inside, yeah?” Eliot asked, and with a nod in response from Y/N, they made their way back up to the apartment.

[I've done the math enough to know, The dangers of our second guessing]

Everything was going great, which does not happen a lot to Eliot. The last couple jobs had gone over smoothly, with only a couple hiccups. Eliot and Y/N were back to working together if it was necessary, it was great. They were one big happy team again.

They hadn’t had anyone reach out for help in a couple days, so everyone had been doing their own thing. Eliot and Y/N sent texts every once in a while, but because Eliot wasn’t the most technologically advanced (even after Hardison gave him a three hour tutorial on all the basics) it was harder for him to get in the groove of it.

Y/N would send pictures, mostly of their cats. Eliot would respond with how cute they were, and how much he wanted a dog. It was small, short little conversations, but they were nice.

Finally, someone reached out to Nate, asking for help, and the team was called to meet up. Eliot arrived, and as they were waiting for Sophie to get there, Parker, Hardison, and Y/N were talking about what they had been doing.

“I got a new rig!” Parker announced happily, showing it off to all of them. “It works so well! I am so excited to use it during this job.”

“If the job requires it.” Hardison chimed in.

“It will.” Parked quipped.

“Yeah yeah, rigs are exciting, but I went on a date.” Y/N said, and suddenly Eliot was focused on nothing else but then what they were saying.

Y/N went on a date? They have never ever mentioned going on dates before. Why is this suddenly a new thing? Eliot’s temper was starting to rise, but did not make a sound; just listened.

“You went on a date?” Parker asked, a bit confused. Maybe she was thinking the same thing Eliot was.

“I did. He was nice, but I don’t think it’s gonna work. He’s just… not my type, ya know?” Y/N responded, making sure to not look at Eliot, acting like he never even walked in.

“What is your type, then?” Hardison asked.

“Hmmm, well, I think I’d have to say handsome, of course, nice brown hair, blue-grayish eyes.” The blush on Eliot’s face got brighter as the list went on. “Sweet, kind, very protective, maybe a little southern, them southern boys know how to take care of ya. Knows how to play guitar; lean, but not as skinny as a stick. Yeah, I think that’s my type.”

Hardison laughed, follows by a “You sure are picky, but go get ‘em tiger”

Y/N laughed, and finally decided to look back at Eliot, who was looking at the floor; his shoes were quite entertaining at the moment.

Eliot did the math in his head. Nate had Sophie, Hardison had Parker, and well, that left him with one option—not that he was complaining—and that was Y/N. He thinks he is finally ready to confess. After his talk with Nate, and whatever the hell just happened, it had to make sense.

He wasn’t going to second guess this. It was what he wanted, and he always got what he wanted…

Well, after this job. He would get what he wanted after this job.

[Cold silence has a tendency to, Atrophy any sense of compassion]

Everything was going great, once again. Everyone had their roles, and it was all going according to plan.

That, of course, was stopped abruptly when Y/N was told by the company worker they were talking to that they had run a check on their name and face, and it very much did not add up.

“Y/N, get yourself out of there as calmly as you can.” Nate said,

“Remember what I taught you, Y/N, just play your part and get out” Sophie added.

Y/N chuckled nervously at the man and said “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to get a job here, nothing more, nothing less.”

Eliot was trying to keep his cool while he heard what was going on, but every passing second was making him ready to run away from his part of the job and go get Y/N to safety. Parker, who was working with him this time around, could tell how anxious he was getting.

“They’ll be ok,” she whispered to him.

They would not be ok, it turns out, as a guard came in and immediately tasered Y/N until they passed out. Eliot heard the sound and jumped, very quickly excusing himself from the meeting he was having with some lame ass underpaid worker and Parker, and walked out of the room until out of sight, and then sprinted to where Y/N was.

“Take them to the roof. Make it look like an accident. We can’t have anyone letting out our plans to the world. It will ruin everything.” The man who had caught on to Y/N said, and the two guards very roughly picked up Y/N and started carrying them to the door that gave access to the roof.

“Hardison! Where are they taking them?” Eliot snapped, still running to where they just had them, hoping to run into the guards.

“I’m working on it man. The taser short-circuited the comm. Give me a minute.” Hardison responded. That’s not what he wanted to hear.

“Damn it, Hardison! I don’t have a minute!” Eliot yelled.

The guards had made it to the roof, but once they opened the door to the outside world, Y/N had woken up, in a lot of pain.

“Wha-hey, get off me!” They yelled, fighting against the grip of the guards.

The guards immediately threw them forward, and one threw a punch. Y/N, still trying to orient themselves to the new environment, stumbled around a bit, towards the edge of the building. The other guard pulled out the taser again, walking towards them.

“The roof! They’re on the roof, Eliot!” Hardison exclaimed quickly.

Eliot bolted to the roof access door, running up the stairs like he was running from a wasps nest that broke, and made it up just in time to see the guards' taser Y/N again.

Y/N yelled out in pain, trying to crawl away from them. They were insistent, now both guards tasering both sides of them, causing them to pass out once again. Silence fell upon the roof as they stopped screaming, and the one guard said “grab them and toss ‘em over.”

Eliot immediately dashed towards the guards, and before they realized it, one had been punched square in the face, and the other kicked in the knees. The guards fought back, but Eliot was too mad, too furious, and had no compassion for them. He was going to beat the ever-living shit out of them, make them feel the pain they caused Y/N. He wouldn’t kill them, he didn’t do that anymore, but they’d want to be dead.

Eliot was finally able to knock them both down, with enough adrenaline still to knock out five more guards. He quickly ran over to Y/N, who was in the middle of a seizure.

“Shit, Hardison, we need to take Y/N to the hospital now!” He yelled, picking Y/N up bridal style and making his way back to the stairs.

“I’ll meet you out back, I already have the quickest route to the hospital up now.”

Eliot ran, and kept running, and finally made his way out the back of the building and into Lucille. The back door had barely shut before Hardison had already pulled off faster than ever. Eliot made sure to keep Y/N on their side, hoping everything would be ok.

They made it to the hospital, and before Hardison had put the van in park, Eliot was out the back door with Y/N, carrying them in and to the nearest nurse.

“Help, please, they’re having a seizure!” He begged.

The nurse quickly got a bed and he laid them on it, as a bunch of nurses wheeled them towards the emergency room. Eliot was quick to follow but was stopped by a nurse.

“We got them; you’ll have to wait out here.”

Eliot wanted to protest, but knew it would get nowhere. He made his way back out to the van and jumped in, sitting against the side and rubbing his face.

“Hey man, they’ll be ok. Seriously, it’ll be ok.” Hardison told Eliot, knowing he was probably freaking out right now.

He was, in fact, freaking out, but he wouldn’t show it. He could not show he was vulnerable, not even to Hardison. He would be ok, but not until after he knew Y/N was ok.

[Between supposed brothers]

The team had finished up the job while Y/N was still in the hospital. Eliot was reluctant to leave the hospital at all, but knew he owed the team, since he almost blew the con altogether.

After it was done, bad guy put away, good guy paid, yada yada yada, Eliot did not hesitate to return to the hospital. Y/N had not woken up yet, it had only been a day, but it still worried Eliot.

He sat in the room where they laid, watching over them, making sure no one would hurt them, never again, when the team walked in.

“Hey guys,” Eliot spoke, looking over at all of them.

“How is she?” Parker asked, setting the biggest gift basket of chocolate he had ever seen on the table next to Y/N. Parker loved her chocolate, so obviously she had to give Y/N some so they would feel better.

“Hasn’t woken up yet, but vitals are good.” Eliot responded.

“Hey man, can I talk to you?” Hardison directed the question to Eliot, and even though he did not want to leave the room, leave Y/N, he got up and walked outside the room with Hardison.

“Eliot, man, you gotta figure your shit out.”

“Wha- huh? I have my shit figured out.”

“No the hell you don’t. You almost blew the con when Y/N got caught. We would have had to start over, hell we might have not even been able to do it. I’m not mad at you man, but you gotta tell them. I know how you feel about them, just tell them!” Hardison said sternly.

“Come on, Hardison, it’s not like that. I thought you were my brother, supposed to have my back.”

“You know damn well I am your brother, Eliot, don’t play stupid with me! You haven’t heard Y/N gush over you, how perfect and amazing you are. They love you. They are in love with you, and you are in love with them, and you just need to tell them and get it over with! Do you know how bad it is to watch you two fawn over each other, it’s like two kids staring at ice cream. Come on, man. Do it.” Hardison walked back into the room, not waiting for a response from Eliot. He said what he needed to, and didn’t need anything more.

[Between supposed lovers]

Everyone else had headed home, needing to rest after the stressful con, but Eliot stayed stationed in Y/N’s hospital room. He wouldn’t budge, not even after the team told him he needed to sleep in his own bed, in his home.

His home was here, though, laying on this hospital bed. He was home, he just needed home to wake up.

At 12:47 am, Eliot was awoken from his uncomfortable sleep in his uncomfortable hospital chair by stirring from the bed in the middle of the room. It wasn’t completely dark in the room, due to the lights from the monitor and the soft glow of the tv in the corner of the room, but Y/N slowly opened their eyes and looked around.

“Hello?” They croaked out, throat sore. “Eliot?” They asked when they glanced over in his direction.

Eliot shot up and reached out to put his hand on their arm. “Y/N, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Sore. What happened? Am I… in the hospital? Yuck.” They asked, and Eliot couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yes, unfortunately, you are in the hospital. But hey, you should see the other guys, you really gave them a run for their money.”

Y/N laughed, then coughed, then looked at Eliot. “My knight in shining armor I suppose?”

“Nah, darlin’, that’s too much.”

“You very obviously saved my life, Eliot. I could never repay you. I owe you.”

“No, no. It’s my job, remember?

“Eliot Spencer, you are the most stubborn man I’ve ever met in my life, god damnit. I don’t know how I love you.” Y/N chuckled, and then immediately slapped their hand to their mouth, and then groaned from the pain that shot up from their side.

Eliot was shell shocked. They had said it. They said they loved him. They loved him? No, it was just the pain meds. He looked over at the morphine drip, and realized it was in fact… not dripping. It must have stopped working at some point. He made a mental note to get that fixed, but right now, he had another thing to worry about. Anyone could see the thoughts racing through his head, and Y/N certainly could, even in the poorly lit room.

“I meant, uh, I mean, well, I didn’t-“ Y/N stuttered out, unsure of how to save themselves from the slip up.

“I love you too.” Eliot blurted out, and then also immediately slapped his hand to his mouth (he had picked it up from the millions of times Y/N, Parker, and Hardison did it. Them damn kids and their weird things) and eyes went wide. He shook it off, and looked at Y/N.

“Yeah, I do. I do love you, I love you so fucking much, Jesus Christ.” Eliot gasped out in-between his heavy breathing.

[I know the pieces fit ]

Y/N reached out for him, and he grabbed their hand. They pulled him closer to them, and their heavy breathing was in sync.

[I know the pieces fit]

Their eyes were locked in on each other, neither risking to look away. The steel blue eyes stared into Y/EC eyes.

[I know the pieces fit]

As soon as Y/N inched closer to Eliot, he knew. He leaned down and kissed them. He kissed them hard, pouring every ounce of love for them into it. Every day he’s had to wait, every day he’s dreamt of this, poured into a single kiss.

[I know the pieces fit]

Y/N wrapped their arms around Eliot’s neck, pulling him as close as physically possible. A hospital bed wasn’t the preferred place for a first kiss, but he did not even care at this point, and neither did they. They had waited too long, far too long, for anything to be in the way.

[I know the pieces fit]

When the need for air arrived, Eliot slowly pulled away, but leaned his forehead against theirs, and smiled.

“I’ve been waiting since the day I met you to do that.”

“You’ve known since the first day we met?” Y/N quizzed.

“Absolutely. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding when I laid eyes on you.”

[I know the pieces fit]

Y/N scooted over so there was room for Eliot to lay next to them. He laid down next to them, making sure not to pull at the IV or hit any of the tender spots from the taser. Y/N curled into his side, resting their head on his shoulder, and closing their eyes.

Eliot put his arm around them, pulling them closer to him, and pressing a kiss to their temple.

[I know the pieces fit]

“Eliot?” Y/N piped up after a bit of silence.

“Yes?”

“If we don’t tell anyone, Parker will win the $50, and she owes me a steak dinner anyways.”

Eliot laughed and nodded. “Sounds like a deal, as long as you bring me back some.”

“Of course.”

[I know the pieces fit]

He was right. The two pieces of this puzzle, of Eliot and Y/N, fit. They fit so perfectly. He would never, ever, watch them fall away again.

#eliot spencer #eliot spencer x reader #leverage #alec hardison #parker leverage #sophie devereaux #nathan ford #nate ford #eliot spencer imagine #leverage redemption #eliot spencer x y/n #eliot spencer x you #angst with a happy ending #grumpy eliot spencer #eliot spencer deserves love

[vickyvicarious]

So having just finished watching The Bank Shot Job, I have realized another thing I adore about Hardison.

His confidence.

And not just in his computer skills. Those are obviously well-founded and given his reputation it makes total sense he'd be cocky and overconfident about them. Except it isn't overconfidence, is it, when he always backs it up.

No, what struck me here was his confidence with people. He isn't a grifter like Sophie, he isn't an especially great actor. He says ridiculous stuff like "we just got back from handling a chupacabra situation" and overacts his emotions to the point of comedy. His characters aren't necessarily very nuanced. But he gets away with it, every time, and why? Because he is so confident in himself, he railroads right over the logical part of people's brains going "....wait a minute."

One of my favorite early scenes from the Mile High Job is when Hardison enters the elevator as a janitor, blatantly blocks the other guy from coming in, changes clothes on the way up, and then accuses the guy of being racist so he doesn't catch on to Hardison being the same guy. He SAW his face, he KNEW it was the same person. Hardison raised a fuss, talked quickly and over top of him, then got out while he was still reeling.

And even that guy, by the end of the episode, didn't question that Hardison worked in the building for a while before this. He gets people so caught up in his pace that they just go along with him, and that is carried purely by his confidence.

We see it with the whole crew to some extent, of course. While Parker is the one most obviously worried about grifting, everyone has their own moments when they hesitate. Still they all have confidence and plow through to achieve their objective - but none with Hardison's flair. He never just takes up space, he owns it.

And part of it is simply the fact that he is such a genius. He knows it, and uses it, and his skill, intelligence, and creative mind help him through everything. But it would be so so easy to go the route of having the genius hacker be socially awkward or have confidence issues when compared to someone like Eliot. And Hardison just never does.

He proudly proclaims "age of the geek, baby," gets annoyed at Eliot mocking the geek stereotypes. He likes all the typical geeky stuff (scifi, WoW, Doctor Who have been specifically namedropped already) and isn't as comfortable in a physical altercation. There are other things that make him feel out of his depths too, on occasion. But that doesn't seem to bother him on any deep level, he doesn't feel lessened by it. Someone's gotta beat up the injured guy and he's fine with it being him, he says. And he isn't actually a skinny weakling, just not well versed in fighting.

Just as Eliot subverts the gruff manly tropes with his interest in cooking and his respect for the women he's slept with, or Sophie with the femme fatale being the mother figure, Hardison subverts the socially awkward genius and the hacker uncomfortable outside of their computers. He dislikes when the option to solve things with hacking is taken away from him, sure, but the same goes for everyone else on the team with their respective skills and they all face situations where they have to adapt.

The writers made a very deliberate choice to make Hardison, not just NOT awkward, but very comfortable with people. He has fun with his cons, throwing in silly and ridiculous details for his own amusement, grinning at people, befriending them easily. They write him being taught how to get along with people into his backstory, and it's not just to contrast with Parker or support her learning how to connect with others though that is a part of it. I'm sure meta on his emotional intelligence and his relationship with her has been written, most notably the "pretzels are waiting for you whenever you want them" scene, and that all holds true.

Hardison is a genius. He's pretty young, which could also play into this usually, the overconfidence of youth (except he never faces a harsh lesson and loses that confidence, not really - gets less brash maybe, more technique, but doesn't lose that base layer of confidence). He is skilled with computers, but he is also well-rounded. Not just in the 'exposition-dropping because I'm smart and I know a lot of stuff' way, though that too. He is an artist, a musician, he likes to learn and likes to create and likes to share his work with people. He is not at all a loner, and flashbacks show that even if he didn't always have close friends he wasn't an introvert.

He knows his talents (and they are many) and believes in himself so much, and it's so clearly not some act covering deep insecurities, that whenever he does hesitate or doubt himself the scene instantly gains so much more weight. It doesn't happen often; it doesn't need to. (Not in any major way, not more than the usual moments of uncertainty the entire crew has on occasion.) But when he does really doubt himself, we really do feel it - and then the others reassure him because he always comes through, and then he does just that. Because it isn't false confidence at all, just honest skill at the end of the day.

After he shows Sophie the edited footage of the bank robbery in this episode (done on the fly, out in the open, while ordering around the cops), she teasingly tells him, "You're still a geek."

Hardison just grins and says, "Power of the geek." He knows that is not an insult. Even if someone ever said it to him meaning it as one, he would know they were wrong and wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Because he knows his own capabilities, trusts in himself, and walks confidently through life.

(And the whole team are so good about supporting one another and, teasing arguments aside, clearly respecting one another's skills. They all are wonderful with this but I especially want to thank Hardison's Nana because she clearly did so much right by him.)

#leverage #rewatch #alec hardison #my meta #watching hardison makes me realize how tired i am of those tropes #i just love seeing that confidence #i love characters who put on a confident front but have insecurities #but this is so so wonderful

[evilwickedme]

ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

#leverage #leverage meta #leverage redemption #leverage ot3 #parker leverage #alec hardison #sophie devereaux #eliot spencer #breanna casey #harry wilson #mine

[swordandquill]

Title: Winter Break

Fandom: Leverage

Summary: The team find themselves snowed in in a little town in the middle of nowhere.

Ch 2: Fussing - Nate has to choose between supervising a shopping spree or supervising a grumpy hitter. He definitely chooses the lesser evil.

Author’s Note: I still don’t know where this story is going or when the next update will be. 

Many, many thanks to @whumpybliss for beta reading this chapter!

You can go here to read this on AO3 instead.

"I know what you're trying to do."

Eliot's glare was less impressive than usual, but Nate still would have bet his money on him. Not that he wouldn't always bet on Eliot, and with things much more valuable to him than money.

"Trying to get you to eat saltines, so you don't throw up when you take the prescription strength anti-inflammatories I know you have in your bag?" Nate waved the open sleeve of crackers in front of the hitter.

"Stop fussing," Eliot snapped and snatched the sleeve out of Nate's hand.

Now that Parker had pointed it out, Nate could clearly see Eliot was favoring his left arm. Or, possibly because Parker had pointed it out, Eliot was putting less effort into hiding it.

"They shouldn't be in there alone," Eliot pulled a few crackers out of the sleeve and shoved it back at Nate.

"They're not alone," Nate swapped the sleeve for a water bottle from the grocery bag at his feet, "they have each other. We might be living off of orange soda and Trix for the next two weeks, but I think they'll get each other out of the store in one piece."

Eliot gave him a dubious look but refrained from talking with his mouth full.

"Anyway, I'm listening," Nate tapped the comm he had slipped into his ear.

"Where's my…?" Eliot frowned and tried to reach behind the seat for his bag, wincing hard at the twisting motion.

"Stop it," Nate thumped his side lightly with the back of his hand, "I've got them. Parker hasn't managed to convince Sophie that Froot Loops are both a vegetable and a fruit. Sophie is giving her tips on being persuasive, and Hardison doesn't know the difference between a zucchini and a cucumber, but one of them has made it into the basket."

"How have they made it this far without dying of malnutrition?" Eliot let his head flop back against the headrest.

"Cereal is fortified," Nate said dryly and poked Eliot with the water bottle, "which bag are your meds in?"

"It can wait until we get to the cabin," Eliot grabbed the offending bottle away without opening his eyes.

Nate didn't have to wrangle an injured Eliot often. Most of the time, he was more than capable of managing his own injuries. When he wasn't, Nate usually let Parker take the lead in poking and prodding while he helped Hardison track down whatever medical help their hitter needed.

Parker needed to burn off some energy, though, and Nate would rather supervise a cranky Eliot than his team on a shopping spree. He had trailed Eliot through the first aid aisle, listened to him mutter over spices and knives on the baking aisle, and then dragged him back to the van with saltines and water bottles in hand.

"Just take the anti-inflammatory," Nate argued, "it won't make you drowsy, and the longer you wait, the less well they'll work."

"Stop. Fussing." Eliot growled, somehow managing to drink his water angrily. Nate was always impressed by how Eliot could make the most mundane tasks look threatening. Luckily for him and the rest of the team, Nate was not easily intimidated.

"Just for the sake of argument..." Nate started.

"No," Eliot said flatly.

"We're stuck in the car until Hardison picks a shampoo. Humor me," Nate ignored Hardison's protests over the comm about his sensitive scalp.

"They need to hurry," Eliot groused, 'the snow is getting worse."

"Right," Nate agreed and held the sleeve of saltines out to Eliot again. He was disproportionately pleased when the hitter grabbed a few more without protest, "so let's just say there really is some shadowy figure waiting behind the curtain to get us…"

Eliot raised an eyebrow at that, probably cross-checking his mental list of people who matched that description, but Nate ignored him.

"And they orchestrated stranding the five us in this specific tiny town, in the middle of nowhere, by waiting until we were both split up on five different planes, and there was a massive storm front to force our flights here…"

"Look, I know…" Eliot rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Which is possible," Nate continued to ignore him, "highly unlikely, but possible. After all, shady figures are usually good at seizing opportunity when they see it. So let's say all of that is true. What's their next move? Where do they expect us to be?"

Eliot frowned before reluctantly admitting, "They expect us to be stranded, at the airport or one of the hotels."

"Right," Nate nodded, "and even if they somehow anticipated us renting a summer house, it would be almost impossible to control which summer house we rented. Hardison must have skimmed through a half dozen search pages worth before we went after this one."

Eliot's frown deepened as he worked the problem and thought how he would have managed something like this from the other side. Nate let him be for a minute because he was still eating crackers while he thought, seemingly without noticing.

"There are ways they could stack the deck in their favor," he finally said slowly. "Knowing what we would want in a place to lay low, making it available even though it looked unavailable, monitoring Hardison for the search criteria he was using, then populating it with multiple properties that they have control of."

"Possible," Nate conceded, "ridiculously elaborate and unnecessarily complicated, but possible."

"So, one of your plans, basically," Eliot snorted.

"I don't have the patience to wait on mother nature," Nate let the jab slide, "my point is, the best thing we can do in this situation is not be where we're most likely to be. The rest, we'll just have to deal with as it comes."

"I know that. It's just…" Eliot just looked worn out now, tired of having to run through every scenario and possibility for every given moment.

Nate had figured out fairly early on that Eliot's paranoia was rooted in both a lot of experience and a lot of trauma. It meant they would be idiots to ignore him when he said something was wrong (and Nate had, unfortunately, been that idiot on more than one occasion, although he tried not to be these days), but they also needed to be a second check on those things for him sometimes, because he could always work his way around to those perceived threats being possible, even if they weren't probable.

It had gotten a lot better over the years, and the team had gotten better at finding ways to help him deal with it when it did come up. There was never a perfect solution, but they were more than happy to settle for an imperfect one if it made things at least a little better.

"And we'll deal with everything a lot better if you just take your diclofenac," Nate cut him off again, "so what bag is it in?"

"Duffel," Eliot conceded defeat finally, "they really do need to hurry."

"I know," Nate turned around and started sifting through the bags they had tossed into the third row of seats, "they're almost done."

Parker had been sitting in the back row, and she had rearranged the luggage that hadn't fit in the trunk to make a nest of sorts for herself around the middle seat. Nate had to practically crawl over the back of the middle row to reach Eliot's duffel bag, and he only felt a little bad for messing up her carefully crafted arrangement.

Eliot carried prescription meds with him and had for as long as Nate had known him. He had worried at first about the bottle of oxi that was always packed in the hitter's personal medkit. In hindsight, he could see the hypocrisy of constantly watching Eliot for signs of opioid addiction while simultaneously getting blackout drunk on a regular basis.

It had only taken a couple months for that concern to shift from Eliot taking too many painkillers to getting Eliot to take them at all. Two years in, and Nate had been worrying about why Eliot felt like jobs would leave him in enough pain on a regular enough basis that he would need to always have that level of painkiller with him. These days, Eliot and meds were mostly a bargaining act, a give and take informed by context and where Eliot's head was at at the given moment.

Oxi made him disoriented and dizzy; he wouldn't take it if he didn't feel safe. Diclofenac made him nauseous if he didn't take it with food (sometimes even when he did). Of the two problems, that was the easier one to solve.

Nate finally managed to find Eliot's duffel bag and pulled the medkit out, tossing the bag back in the pile of luggage for Parker to rearrange and poke through to her heart's content once they got back to the van.

"You want one or two?" Nate opened the kit and sorted through the neatly labeled bottles.

"Just one," Eliot was slumped back against the headrest again, eyes closed.

"You're out of Zofran," Nate shook the empty bottle.

"I gave the last of it to Sophie when we hit that patch of turbulence on the way in for the job," Eliot said dismissively, "it's fine. I'll refill it later."

Nate handed the pill and another water bottle over to Eliot, then texted Parker and asked her to get a bottle of Zofran from the pharmacy. A little thievery would do her good after 8 hours on a plane.

Eliot took the pill, and the van went comfortably quiet aside from the rest of the team's chatter in Nate's ear. It was surprisingly relaxing to listen in on them doing something as mundane as arguing over pasta sauce and gummy frog brands. They were on the comms a lot, but during jobs, there was a certain amount of tension, the constant need to be assessing and reassessing everything that happened.

Nate didn't care what kind of pasta sauce they got, and he didn't like gummy frogs, but it was nice just to sit back and listen to them be together.

There was suddenly weight against his shoulder, and Nate held still as Eliot gradually slumped more heavily against him, eyes closed and breath even. Nate waited until he was sure he was settled before shifting to get an arm around him and stop him from sliding down too far. Eliot fidgeted in his sleep for a moment, then relaxed with a soft sigh.

It wasn't that unusual for Eliot to sleep around them, but after how keyed up he had been at the airport, having him resting solid and relaxed against his side felt like winning.

#Leverage #Eliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Isabeau's writing

[afraschatz]

Leverage - The Gone Fishin’ Job

The Gone Fishin’ Job aka Hardison and Eliot go on a date. So, here are a couple of things I love about this episode. I love...

 ... Eliot, angry right off the bat. Ah, I love you, man.

... Eliot and his close relationship to the ice pack - and the fact that, once again, we have this little “there are jobs in between the eps that we don’t get to see” notion here

...Parker’s outfit and her obsession with pinatas. WHAT HAPPENED IN JUAREZ??? I need to know! Did Eliot get into a fight with drug dealers smuggling their shit in pinatas? Did he get beaten up by a bunch of kids at a birthday bash with pinata that got out of hand??

... Hardison’s brief, Eliot instantly connecting all the dots, Parker busy eviscerating her latest victim <3

.. everyone’s fond amusement with Parker

... ‘That’s - me and Hardison, we got the bank!’ ‘We’re doing what now?’ - A DATE, HARDISON, IT’S A DATE!

... Beth being not entirely capable of holding in her amusement at Eliot’s resolution to the pinata story :D, Nate is slightly bemused, and Sophie? Shrugs it off. Cold, Sophie, cold.

... cut to the next scene that starts with... Eliot being angry. No, wait, that is glee. So hard to tell them apart sometimes

... grumpy!Hardison with his awesome fancy crowshirt

... ‘That thing had a beak, man!’

... ‘What’s that smell?’ - ‘It’s fresh air.’ - ‘I don’t like it.’

... Eliot getting in character in the five feet it takes him from the door to asking his question

... Eliot and Hardison profile shot. So pretty.

... Sophie’s accent of the week

...the solution for the supposed IRS audit being... killing the two IRS agents. Wow.

... Sophie helping herself to a drink

... ‘How did you know that? Do you know when I’m gonna die?’ - And Parker’s SMILE

... Hardison not being down with the prospect of a bait shop date, but DEFINITELY not down with random!thug INTERRUPTING his bait shop date. The nerve!

... the fact that we don’t even see the little red dots being pointed at Eliot (because we all know that guns can’t stop Eliot), in fact they don’t even register with ELIOT. Just the two right over Hardison’s heart.

... Hardison being low-key scared in the van. Even though Eliot is there. I so love that about him, that yes, of course he has all the trust in the world in Eliot, but he is also right in the middle of being kidnapped by crazies with guns. Of course he is scared.

...how BROWN the entire episode is, ha. I mean out in the woods, in constant rain, sure, but oh God, that fitness studio is so hideous.

... trainer!Parker

... Nate’s obnoxious accent

... Nate’s HUGE slurpie

... Nate’s flat cap. Wear that more often, Nate

... the money laundering con. I mean, I AM kind of sad that we didn’t get the whole fitness studio lark as the A-story in a separate episode because that would have been SO AWESOME (basically, I just want to see the entire team in leg warmers). But the con itself is so simple, so sleek, and just the perfect backdrop for the woodland date

... Eliot’s lowkey boredom in his “Your enemy?” response to the mini evil speech of evil

... the dynamic between Eliot and Hardison in that scene is SO interesting. Obviously, while the main militia guy Chester is talking, Eliot takes in everything going on around them, and obviously, he didn’t react to Hardison getting punched because there’d have been no point to it at that time. And obviously, he won’t let the henchman bring him to his knees because he can’t fight as well when kneeling down. But up until that point, he hasn’t done anything. What’s the plan here? And the plan, on the fly, comes from Hardison. And Eliot? Trusts him to know what he’s doing and plays along.

... “Menthol lights?” (cocky!Hardison is not only hilarious and hot both, but also the perfect distraction)

... why exactly were they standing ready with two bloodhounds? That militia has its priorities straight...

... Parker deleting all the outstanding debts. Thank you, Parker.

... that 360 shot of Hardison and Eliot in the woods? Such a thing of beauty.

... rock, paper, scissors in a perilous situation.

... secret room behind a bookshelf. Seriously, those militia dudes.

... Parker pretty much solving the case all on her own while everyone else is fooling around.

...I am not sure what turns me on more, Nate’s Latin skills or Nate’s random vexillology prowess

... how absolutely disgusted Nate and Sophie are by the evil speech of evil whilst having to agree with Whitman

... Nate asking Parker whether she heard anything from the boys. Cause that’s who I’d ask

... Eliot rubbing Hardison with leaves like he was some piece of juicy meat

.. GANGRENE, MAN, GANGRENE

...Hardison totally knowing what Eliot would like at Mama Creole’s Fish Shack. And being an incredibly cheap date. 5.99. Seriously.

... Eliot having a LOT of patience with Hardison’s griping. Possibly because it’s entertaining. Possibly because it’s hot. Possibly because that’s how he deals with his fear. Possibly because Eliot has a lot of patience with whatever Hardison decides to do.

...Hardison and the white guilt. Eliot and his eyerolling.

... Damnit, Hardison! Damnit, Eliot!

... a bit more Eliot history. Why did you log a dead body cuffed to you around, Eliot, huh?

... “Outta my way you old bat!” WTF what kind of desktop IS that?!

... Parker’s FACE

... how exactly DID they get up that tree...

... Nate and Sophie and Parker stealing a train. - Yet another episode I want by the way. Sort of Murder on the Orient Express like. The good version with Albert Finney.

... Parker being so computer savvy

... ‘on my celly’ hahaha Nate

... Nate’s and Sophie’s elaborate lies in contrast to Parker’s gruff ‘Rocks, yeah, big rocks!’

... that wide shot next to the railroad track. SO PRETTY

... ‘Go down.’ ‘I’m not saying it like that, man.’ (We all know he constantly is.)

... how dare you interrupt our fake relationship handcuff fight, random militia dude!

... Hardison just letting his wrist/arm go limp so Eliot can punch the guy. SO IN SYNC

... smugness that’s being answered with... two boots in the face.

... the conversation as the train passes. Hardison has caught on to the bomb making (not his usual field of expertise) and alerting Eliot. Eliot pretending he doesn’t understand. Because his first priority is to get Hardison to safety. Hardison insisting. Eliot giving in and explaining. Hardison AND Eliot making that decision. - That scene is SO great because there is so much going on there. We get a lot of exposition on the bomb. We get a train in the background, reminding us visually how close they are to safety. We get Hardison’s nobleness and Eliot’s priorities. We get how they communicate and understand each other. Aaaah, I love it so much.

... Parker and Nate being overheard. Now, you could call that a bit of lazy storytelling, but I don’t mind it here. They are worried about the boys, that excuses it. And Sophie, as always, realizes straight away the change in Whitman and makes an escape.

...I mean, I do love your MacGyver approach in the woods, guys, and a bit of woodworking is good for the soul and Eliot doesn’t like guns, but... you maybe could’ve taken the semi-automatic from the smug dude?

... Parker’s elevator skills

... Nate’s firealarm solution. So simple.

... ‘Oh, I have fear, and doubts, and very serious regrets. I should be fine.’

... Eliot randomly hanging from a tree

... ‘Science. It works.’

... seriously, it’s bugging me every time I watch this episode - that bank looks SO similar to the one they have been taken hostage in before...

... Nate’s gravelly five star general voice over the radio

... Parker’s crazy driving

... a conveniently identical briefcase in the boot :)

... ‘Eliot, I stole you a train. Have a little faith.’ (I love it when Nate is that kind of off-handedly arrogant. Seems very natural for him.)

...Sophie’s accent and the chewing gum

... Parker copying Sophie

... Parker nudging Sophie’s shoulder (just like Nate did with Eliot and Eliot with Hardison a minute earlier - and of course Sophie is the one to get a bruise)

... two sided-gloat

... Parker’s hat

... Hardison having gone to town on his fishing shopping spree. There are two seats, an umbrella, a cooler, a whole crate full of tack, two fizzy drinks for him and beer for Eliot, a thermos bottle, and, of course, Hardison’s Wellies that have never (nor will ever) see any mud

.. Eliot’s dejected ‘It’s not the same’ and Kane’s almost-breaking-into-a-grin. I feel you, man.

 Oh, I love this show.

#leverage #leverage marathon #the gone fishin' job #nate ford #eliot spencer #alec hardison #sophie deveraux #things I love about

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 1, Episode 12, The First David Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

John: Hi, I'm John Rogers, Executive Producer and Writer of this episode.

Dean: I’m Dean Devlin, Executive Producer and Director of this episode.  

John: This is the first half of the season finale. This is The First David Job for season one of Leverage. And it’s uh—how did we shoot this? This is an amazing thing we did with the two part finale.

Dean: This we got to shoot like a movie. So we, we shot these last two episodes as one big shoot. And I gotta tell you, this was more fun than you should be allowed to have in this world. I just absolutely loved making this episode. The, the cast was phenomenal in this— And—[laughs]—even though you had to write this script in basically five days—

John: Five days-ish, yes.

Dean: I think it’s one of the best scripts we had the whole season. I love this two-part season finale.

John: It’s a love—it’s a great hot-open, it’s a great Tim completely-out-of-control-Nate, a character out of control that you don’t usually see. Kevin’s great in this. He’s amazingly unctuous.

Dean: [Laughs]

John: Uh, I do like shrimp! And the toss-away, you feel this big drama and then you kind of throw it away. This location is incredible, this is a, um, part-campus, part-church-property up in Pasadena we basically moved to, uh...

Dean: Right. So we could live there.

John: Three days in. Right? We shot out the office...

Dean: If you look at this shot here, I mean this- just seeing this changed everything. When John and I looked at this we thought... because the party was originally supposed to be inside the gallery, and seeing this, it just, it felt so Dorothy Chandler Pavilion-esque, so museum-esque, we thought let’s move the whole thing outside.

John: Actually it kinda looks like, uh, the Lincoln Center. It’s kinda the same layout in New York.

Dean: Yeah, exactly. With the fountain and everything, sure.

John: Yep. So, yeah, we moved it in and then, uh—that was part of the fun of writing it, but also, I mean, we found the location and it made sense financially and we walked through the museum, the interior where we would be shooting the museum, and the entire crime was structured differently.

Dean: Right! [Laughs]

John: And Dean was like, this is here and this’ll move here, and the entire crime was highly dependent on the gallery being a small, contained space.

Dean: Instead—

John: Instead it’s a four-storey, open column with multiple levels and he said, uh, “All right, let’s film here!” and out he goes.

Dean: You know, occasionally, you’ll start with an image and then kind of back your way into it.

John: Yeah.

Dean: And when we saw this location, it was four storeys tall with these windows in the ceiling, all I could think about was somebody rappelling down that thing. So there was no rappelling needed in the heist—

John: [simultaneously] —in the original con—

Dean: -whatsoever, but you backed your way into it.

John: Yeah, you backed your way into it and that was great. That actually showed up in the Second David, that’s like—but we shot this, like I said, in the, uh…

Dean: That’s right, one big piece.

John: And this is the intervention. It’s interesting that the, uh, I was actually reading something—somebody emailed me on the blog saying, you know, if Sophie really cared, she’d have an intervention for him ‘cause he’s going out of control, well this is it!

Dean: Here you go.

John: This is the intervention. Um, and him—I will be the first to admit that the joke about “I’m a functioning alcoholic, let’s really celebrate the ‘functioning’”, is a joke I do in the room fairly often.

Both: [Laugh]

John: Um, Tim really is landing it here. I mean, it’s really tricky. Nate is a high-functioning alcoholic. He’s, as long as he’s got a drink he’s okay. As soon as he stops he spirals out and the whole point of it is, in theory this should have aired after The Rehab Job, where they realize he’s not able to hold it together anymore.

Dean: That’s right.

John: He’s out of control.

Dean: The other thing about this particular scene that I love is that they tell him he doesn’t need rehab, he needs revenge. So what we’re seeing, really, is from the criminal mind’s point of view—

John: Yes—

Dean: This is how you solve the problem.

John: Yeah. And they’re wrong, by the way.

Dean: [Laughs.]

John: That’s what’s fascinating is, if you look at it, you know, when you have a gang of criminals you’re not not-cognizant of the fact that they’re morally dubious.

Dean: Right.

John: And in particular, uh, we often address the seven deadly sins in the show. And this one, you know, sort of wrath, is what brings down the team. When they allow themselves to surrender to wrath before on all the other jobs it was about justice.

Dean: That’s right.

John: And there’s—we gave Chris the tuxedo.

Dean: Yeah, look at that.

John: Gotta give it to him.

Dean: All you Christian fans, you waited all year for this.

John: Yeah, he was, he kept playing waiters and getting very snickety about it, so we gave him this tux.

Dean: And as you said in the other commentary, when we did Homecoming, you know, he says, “Next time I wear the suit.” Well, this time he got to wear the suit.

John: The two-part finale really is where we closed up a lot of—there’s a lot of parallel shots from the opening couple episodes and the pilot. Uh, this is great—this is half Ledger, half Orange Box.

Dean: How did you come up with this whole bit here?

John: We wanted an item of art, we needed something—as soon as we settled that it should be a statue, uh, rather than a painting because they just move better, they feel better in your hands—we originally were gonna do some Chinese statues, some little jade lions or something like that. But then we said “Well that’s not really iconic, uh, so what’s the most famous statue?” Well The David’s the most famous statue in the world. But you can’t steal The David: it’s huge, and it’s in Rome.

Dean: Right.

John: And, uh, and then doing research we found out about the maquettes. Michelangelo actually made maquettes of David but they had been destroyed.

Dean: Ahh.

John: So we just fudged history just enough…

Dean: Right.

John: To come up with, um…

Dean: What if someone found them and they weren’t destroyed?

John: Yes, exactly. And that they had been collector’s items and stuff for 400 years. So yeah, there’s about 80% of this is real and the 20% is the fudge. Also, it’s interesting having Sophie do what is usually Nate or Hardison’s job, because this is an art theft. You know, this is her purview, this is her world. And this is the building we’re talking about, this is the campus building that we basically took over, built this secure door, built these wall. This is open, by the way. All these walls, we built.

Dean: Right.

John: Yeah.

Dean: This was an open lobby that we turned into an art gallery.

John: This is The Girl With the Pearl Earring. We just filled it with famous fake art. [Both Laugh] What we kind of subliminally know is famous. No, Lauren Crasco really knocked it out of the park on this. This is insane. Not only did she build walls, she made them look real and artsy.

Dean: And this is the actual basement of that same building. Steam we added.

John: We added steam. Just in case someone is going to that college, be aware there’s not loose steam floating around the bottom. Not gonna be accidentally scalded to death. And this was fun, because this is our, this is our high-tech heist. We hadn’t really done one since the pilot.

Dean: Yeah.

John: And, um, so we kinda kicked up the jams, and really used every electronic device I could find, in this. The thumbprint scanner, that’s what he points to, the infrared scanner, and the lasers—the lasers you added, actually.

Dean: Yeah.

John: And the detectors here. But you added the lasers because of the promos.

Dean: Yeah, it was so cool in the promos, how they had shot these things for TNT where Parker is maneuvering through these blue lasers and we thought, “We gotta put that in here somewhere.”

John: “We never do that.”

Dean: Yeah.

John: And that’s them in the van, on the set. Um, how did you do the lasers? That effect, how did you do that?

Dean: The lasers are all in post. It was all in post. I mean, there was some thought about putting a couple of real lasers, and then mixing it but then you have to use the smoke to see it, and it always felt so weird. And y’know, whenever I see these movies and there’s smoke there that’s conveniently there just so you can see the lasers... so we just thought let’s just do it all in post.

John: Yup.

Dean: And then we’re not married to any kind of onset effect.

John: This is, um, a fast open. This is actually stretching the ability to assume the audience will be able to follow the setup of the heist they’re watching actually go down simultaneously.

Dean: And it’s also a callback to the pilot, because in the pilot, you intercut with them sitting around the table talking about the heist as you see them do it, and here we kind of get to do it again. We’re intercutting with the heist and how they decided to do it.

John: Yeah. Again, it’s sort of an intentional echo. But I really felt we were—it’s tough, it’s a lot of new people in play. The last time we did it, it’s really just Nate in the pipe and then introducing the characters.

Dean: Right.

John: The fact that we have five people in play in both timelines is vaguely insane. [Both laugh] And introducing Kevin.

Dean: Who, by the way, was just terrific.

John: Yeah, it’s pretty cool having an actor like him on our TV set and shooting—one of the things about shooting in L.A. is you can get a guy like that, y’know. I sucked him dry on Emergency! stories.

Dean: [Laughs.]

John: Uh, Nate as cranky-asshole here really is kind of amusing, yeah. It’s, Tim really digs in on the aspect of the character. Oh, and Sophie’s name, di Duccio, is actually, she’s from the Vatican, it’s the name of the first sculptor who was supposed to work on the David and screwed it up.

Dean: Oh, you’re kidding!

John: And he shagged the gig, so they hired Michelangelo because basically they had like a half-carved piece of stone.

Dean: Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s fabulous.

John: So yeah, let’s use the first—that’s a little nod to anyone who knows the Michelangelo story.

Dean: The interesting thing for Tim, acting-wise in this, is we talked about this when we went to do the show, I said, “You need to portray Tim—portray Nate, portraying himself, as he was at the beginning before he met the rest of the team.” So it was a triple-layer acting, he had to act as his character, acting as himself.

John: Yeah. [They laugh.] And then break every now and then when he looked at Sophie.

Dean: Correct.

John: Uh, and this is really, yeah, the whole sort of frustration-anger speech here, and grabbing a drink. Not the smartest move you could have done there, Nate. [Dean laughs.] Um, we knew we’d want to bring in the wife…

Dean: Yes.

John: And we knew we’d want to do it for the season finale, we knew we were gonna bring in Mark Shepard. And that’s a lot of where this show came from, is like, what would his wife have done? And we had worked out the backstory that they were this kind of, you know—how else—Nate does nothing but work, therefore she had to be in the field somehow.

Dean: Mmhm.

John: We played around with different—and really, uh, the whole way this started, this show started was, the end of the first act is “Holy crap my wife is here.”. We had nothing else but that moment, but we knew that was a great moment that would utterly derail the team and derail Nate and Sophie, and he wouldn’t be able to deal with, so.

Dean: And we got the fabulous Kari Matchett to play the part.

John: Exactly.

Dean: Who had worked with Tim before on another series so they had had, all this, this real-life chemistry and history.

John: Yeah.

Dean: That helped fuel this relationship.

John: She’s fantastic. I mean, it’s really lovely and believable, and she’s so sort of brokenhearted over how screwed up he is.

Dean: Before we did this series, John and I did the third Librarian movie together and Kari had actually auditioned for it, and while she wasn’t right for the part she was so brilliant, y’know, all year long we kept thinking, how do we get her on this show? [He laughs.] How do we get her on the show? And then finally this worked out just perfectly.

John: This is great because really… Chris has been, Eliot has been hitting on her—the whole thing is Nate has been listening to him hit on this cute blonde the entire evening through the earpieces, and so there’s, there’s basically four conversations going on here simul—uh, y’know the three that they’re having up here and the one underneath. And it’s a, it’s a—God, this is a brutally difficult bit of blocking.

Dean: That was actually the hardest scene to shoot, believe it or not. Just ‘cause we got so confused on the eyelines there.

John: Yeah. Well yeah, when you’ve got five humans there. Now that’s, there you go, then you’ve broken them off in two and three and then you’re fine. Now how do you shoot a five-hander like that? How do you approach it?

Dean: Well, normally I’ll, I’ll like block it out in advance or I’ll have some kind of storyboards. I had just… not thought that one through. And so literally on the day, I was running around with the script supervisor, making drawings saying “Wait, does this work? Does this work? Does this work?” and about 50% of it worked and 50% didn’t, and then we fixed it in post. [Laughs.]

John: Ehh, that’s what editing is for. And then of course the great thing of their each listening to each other’s conversations simultaneously. It’s good use of the earbuds here.

Dean: But again, this is a thing that you do so well as a writer, that I just adore, is we’re in the middle of a con and yet, we’re getting all this character information. Sophie’s jealous about the ex-wife; the ex-wife being there exposing Tim, I mean Nate; Nate does not want to play that part in front of her because he wants to seem…

John: Yeah, he’s humiliated! Yeah, exactly.

Dean: So, we’ve got so many things happening simultaneously…

John: That’s a big comedy take he does, by the way. I love that “Nooooo” and she goes—and she’s going to help him because she’s sweet. And the trick is, and really when we looked at this, um, and there’s a little beat in the second half, uh, we realized that Sophie not liking the ex-wife was right down the middle, and she starts not liking her because of course she feels awkward. But the trick was the audience had to realize, uh, she’s not the enemy. You actually have to come out of the end of this going, “Wow, I wanna see more of her.”

Dean: Right.

John: “Nate really screwed that up.”

Dean: Yeah. Yeah, I think Gina did an amazing job in how she played the jealousy and then the transition to, “I actually really like this woman.”

John: Yeah. Even, even Sophie can’t not like her.

Dean: Right.

John: And she just—it wasn’t her, it was Nate; Nate was a jerk. She’s just gone out of her way to help him probably do something vaguely illegal.

Dean: Right. Yeah.

John: Uh, yes. And this is the, this is the ad-hoc con. This is really, this was a trick because we have made the group so good at this point that really only by making them do something when they weren’t expecting to can we really challenge the hell out of them. Because—and that’s—we hung a lantern on it when she says the speech earlier.

Dean: Mmhm.

John “Oh, I could do this with our prep and our tech and--”

Dean: Right.

John: Well, not now!

Dean: Boy, and, you know, and again--kudos to both Aldis and to Beth. Y’know, they got--they’re locked in a van with nothing to do and yet, every time we cut to them it’s just delicious. They find ways to come up with, with ways to let their characters be unique in the situation.

John: It’s also one of the ways we had learned by this point to cut up these intercut headbutt scenes to make sure they stood alone and that you didn’t need to do the other voices, that you weren’t eating up, uh, shooting time.

Dean: And again this is one of these “Parker gets challenged to do the impossible”, which makes her very happy.

John: Which, by the way, I had not noticed until right now, because we’re kind of doing these commentaries in a row. That’s the exact same look she gives in Bank Shot when he asks if she’ll break into a bank that’s already been broken into.

Dean: That’s her Achilles’ Heel. If you want her to do something, tell her that no one else has ever been able to do it.

John: And that was Aldis, by the way, turning the David. Just sort of reach back and, uh, turning it away from her. And there’s—boom!

Dean: Yeah, I’m saying--

John: I will say—

Dean: This woman looks good in a dress.

John: So Beth comes in, you know ‘cause we’ve got her dressed like Parker all the time, and y’know she’s like…

Dean: Tomboyish…

John: She’s our sweet little sister.

Dean: Right.

John: I mean, really, that’s how you feel about her. And she showed up in that dress, and she comes in and grabs, I won’t say what writer it was, but she came in kind of self-conscious, like tugging the hair and “How does this look?” and literally all he could say was “Guh—guh—green”.”

Dean: [Laughs.]

John: “It’s green.” And then sort of wandered away like he’d received a head trauma. Yeah. Um, no, it’s great, we got everyone glammed up in this one. I think Aldis is the only one—and Aldis is in the suit later.

Dean: Right.

John: So there you go. Everyone gets to dress up. That’s always the fight, by the way, is um… Aaaand there’s the kiss everyone’s been waiting for all season.

Dean: And I love that look.

John: Because this is great, it’s a joke that not everybody gets it until he delivers the line. They don’t know who she said “We should make out” to.

Dean: Right. And so they’re hoping it’s Sophie.

John: [simultaneously] It’s half and half it’s Sophie. Uh, they’re—oh, the guards did a great job. That guy auditioned for us and we wound up cutting like the part—

Dean: Right.

John: The day-player part two times, and it came back. And this gag actually came about because we almost set off the alarms when we were looking at the building. So we were like “Okay, so we know the door alarms work, all right”. And this, if you look at it, this has got five components to beat this heist. And this really was going into the big bag of heists and figuring out all the new tech and all the different ways you can beat it. And then Macgyvering the techniques.

Dean: And again, character being exposited in the midst of a con again. And showing the nature of their relationship. He’s talking about the kiss, she’s talking about the ex-wife.

John: As far as she’s concerned, she’s moved on. Now, she’s also in a little denial, here. I mean, let’s be fair.

Dean: [Laughs]

John: It’s something we’ll address in second season, exactly the ramifications of that scene, um, love that look.

Dean: She’s so proud of her handywork.

John: Yeah, she’s so proud of her horrible, horrible handywork. And there’s the big “awwwww’ moment.

Dean: And they, again, a great Aldis improv again at the end of the scene.

John: Yeah. “Breath smell funky?” [laughs] Yeeeeah… and by the way, the way we’re beating the infrared is actually based on a Mythbusters episode I saw that discovers that as long as you can defuse the thermal imagery you can fake most of these infrareds out.

Dean: Oh, wow.

John: So yeah, this is the, uh--this was originally meant to work differently, we wound up finding out that uh you know you can’t just cook up a way to fool an infrared with gum and aluminum foil and have it work. We spent like half a day figuring out what shape would actually fool the infrareds. And, there you go. Boom.

Dean: And I love this bit.

John: And that’s a stunt team

Dean: Yeah

John: That the same girl from the pilot who went through the window.

Dean: Right.

John: And then her doing the landing. And this is, you know, me brutally abusing my physics degree.

Both: [Laugh]

John: But it’s fun--it’s fun facts, I did another pilot where we did the whole, glasses of fluid thing, and that was like the highlight of the show was, ‘wow I did not know that’.

Dean: And this is a great example for you young filmmakers out there, of why it’s good to have the writer on set. This was a bit that no one really quite understood correctly, including the actors, including me, including the prop guy, and it was just, “Jooooooohn!”.

John: [Laughs]

Dean: Jon came running in, and he set everything up, and then it was like, “Oh, okay, now we get it.”

John: “Now we get it.” Yes, describing this in text in not the easiest thing in the world. Oh, I love that shot! That’s such a heist film shot. The sort of coming up to the David, and him claiming there’s no way she could have come up with this. That is also a subtle thing by the way, where--not super subtle--we don’t show Parker planning a lot.

Dean: Right.

John: And this is when you realize that - she was terrifying when she was a thief alone. I mean, that’s why he chased her. That’s why she has the reputation. And that’s really, a really big empowering moment where you know, the only reason he can pull this stuff off is because he has this team. You know, this family.

Dean: The best of the best.

John: Yeah. So, ohh--

Dean: Greeeeat- She can’t help herself but be jealous.

John: And especially because all she’s doing is being--all Kari’s doing there is being super sensitive and empathetic

Dean: And of course Christian getting frustrated that Sophie’s about to blow the whole thing because she’s letting her personal feelings get in the way. Anything you can do to get Christian frustrated.

John: Good use of the comms there. And the flip, with the earthquakes… this actually is based on a problem that my alarm guy, when I had an alarm installed in my house, he told me happened all the time.

Dean: Really.

John: Is the fact that after an earthquake, they basically just ignore all of the alarms that happen for like 15 minutes after the earthquake. So…

Dean: Because they figure it just set it off?

John: Yeah, it’s either that or drive to every single house in the region, so…

Dean: Now, by the way, to get all those car alarms to go off, we literally had to go set off all the car alarms.

John: Seriously? Because that’s crew parking.

Dean: Yeah we called the crew, we had them all come over with their keys and my assistant and the ADs were sitting there literally hitting the panic button on all the keys for cars at the same time.

John: The neighbors didn’t mind us there.

Dean: Nooo, no, they loved us. [laughs]

John: So it is amazing, I mean, when we first started writing this show we would complicate these things to an incredible degree and a lot of little twists and turns. We realized that really what you want is - one job with three complete acts.

Dean: Right.

John: That you can show a lot of fun process in, and that fills an act! Really, that’s all you’re really there to hang out--as long as you do character stuff during it, you’re okay. As long as you’re not just off doing heisty stuff and ignoring the characters.

Dean: Again, shout out to Lauren Crasco, and just how those things hanging in the background give such legitimacy to this

John: Oh yeah, the museum banners. That’s incredible. When we got there that day and saw those, we were like… you’re high, this is insane. I can’t believe--and by the way, that’s not expensive, that’s like printing on fabric and hanging it up.

Dean: She just is so clever in coming up with ways to give us production scale when we have no budget.

John: And the two guys basically arguing over, you know I wasn’t flirting with your wife really, and--it’s just--

Dean: And I love her line. “We just stole this on our day off.”

John: And that’s what’s, that was kind of interesting was, moving forward I really had the first act for this thing in my head. And then the heist all the way through, but this is the end of the episode. The end of an episode of Leverage is that thing we just did. We have an entirely separate thing we have to do now.

Dean: Right.

John: And luckily we knew we were bringing Sheppard back, so… Mark Sheppard back, so we then turned it into the second con.

Dean: And the interesting thing here is this is the first time we’re seeing Sophie con the team.

John: Yes.

Dean: And the only person in the room who’s noticing it is Tim.

John: Yeah, see, look how enthusiastic they are and watch her turn there and she realizes he’s on to her. And she’s gonna try to bluff him out. No, it’s really nice--cause you realize, he chased her and this was part of the relationship. He sees through her.

Dean: That’s the reason she loves him. He’s the only one who can see through her. He’s the only man in the world she can’t con.

John: Yes, it’s just right now, really inconvenient because she’s really pissed off at him. And, uh, by the way, rightfully so, because you know what? He’s not been the most pleasant guy in the world over the course of the season. You know, the behavior to the wife is inexplicable until he explains what’s going on here. And he is - he’s putting- Her viewpoint is he’s putting his wife ahead of the group.

Dean: Which, by the way, a lovely twist on this is that, you know, we’ve seen the pilot and... The assumption was - that the wife knew everything. And suddenly in this scene it was the first time we realize that our audience is actually ahead of the wife.

John: Yeah.

Dean: That she--we all know something that she never knew about her own son’s death.

John: I, you know, this… it’s hard.  Every relationship is different, but there’s a line coming up here where he says “She pities me.” And that really was one of the things that was born—that gave birth to “the wife doesn’t know”. Because I know in my marriage, the thing that would destroy me is if my wife pitied me rather than hated me.

Dean: Mmhm, interesting.

John: And that was--the idea that he would bury that information rather than lose her--in a futile attempt not to lose her--and then let the guilt of that secret destroy their relationship, is the sort of incredibly bad choice you make when you’re a control freak.

Dean: I have to say, Tim really brought it this day. I mean, his performance in here has a lot of levels going on. One great thing about having an actor the caliber of Tim Hutton, is when you have very difficult scenes like this - on a TV schedule - you know he can bring it.

John: Gina’s making a lovely choice here too, which is, there’s a lot going on in this scene, because she’s decided to try to go after her life’s dream because Nate has pissed her off; Nate has revealed that she shouldn’t be as pissed off as possible, but she’s still going to do it--

Dean: Because she’s still just as much of an addict as he is.

John: As he is, exactly. And she feels, really, that that’s all she’s got. And there’s a lovely, there’s basically the moment here when she says, you know, “You’re still straight, the whole world’s gone crooked,” where she kind of realizes it’s never gonna work.

Dean: Yeah.

John: Yeah, or at least, as they are now. The two of them, their fate is essentially sealed at that point.

Dean: This is a real private airport in Van Nuys; Elite is the real name of the place. And they were so gracious enough to let us shoot there. This is such a difficult kind of location to get for a show, and these guys could not have been more helpful.

John: That was shot by the way at night, we blew out those windows, right.

Dean: That’s right.

John: We just--thank you, Southern California blown out sky, for giving us that light.

Dean: So if you’re in the market for renting jets, call Elite, they did us a solid, we wanna do them one. [laughs].

John: This is--everyone’s very busy here, man. This con just frickin’ moves. And being able to borrow a jet really does make a difference. I have to say, you used to own a jet—

Dean: I owned a jet a while ago until it sucked me dry.

Both: [Laugh]

Dean: But it’s actually where that one but of dialogue that he came up with--when he says all these things he wants to check, I actually threw those lines in because those were all those things I had to do to the jet when I owned it. I had to put in the RBSM, I had to put in the 8211 spacing…

John: Which destroyed your need for a jet.

Dean: Exactly.

John: And, uh, Aldis again, very great. It’s interesting to see what characters you’re gonna throw at him that he can’t do. We have yet to be stumped. We don’t--we give access to Gina, but Aldis is very good--

Dean: Nice little improv from our day player here.

John: Just get--move it, move it!

Dean: He’s a hard-ass.

John: Great day player. And it was interesting shooting here, because this is still a working airport.

Dean: That’s right.

John: So there’d just be jets taking off sometimes when we were trying to do dialogue. And you can’t really interrupt ‘em.

Dean: Again, kudos to our sound people for being able to get the sound at an airport with airplanes taking off. Just outstanding.

John: Look at that, how that one shot picked him up, brought him all the way around till you found Parker. That’s nice, it’s like you planned that.

Dean: Thank you.

John: That by the way is her stewardess outfit from...

Dean: Mile-High.

John: Her flight attendant outfit from Mile-High. With the bow.

Dean: We thought we’d bring that back.

John: I do like the idea, something we toyed with but we never showed, the idea that they’ve got the warehouse full o’ costumes.

Dean: You know, we know they have the hanger full of—the notebook full of badges, but…

John: Uh, and this exchange is actually based on something I was reading about, the sort of dead zone when planes are able to land and refuel as long as you don’t get off they don’t go through customs.

Dean: Right.

John: And I was fascinated by that because that seemed like such a highly abusable thing. And it turns out it’s highly abused.

Dean: Yes, it is.

John: And Dubai, we’re doing the Dubai accent there that’s nice. The idea of a sort of Oxford educated Sheik rather than a traditional horrible, he’s Bandar Bush, there. He’s meant to be kind of the Westernized…

Dean: I’ve always wanted to do a little short film just for the web of what’s going on with those pilots inside during this scene.

John: I know!

Dean: “What’s with him with the head-dress?”

John: Well, that was we were supposed to do the tow around and we realized it wouldn’t work unless we got the pilots back on… uh, we’ll just assumed they’re very puzzled.

Dean: [laughs]

John: And he’s fabricated this headdress from possibly a tablecloth inside the plane.

Dean: Very good, a great location, and the actors really used it well.

John: And the creepy sexual thrill Kevin portrays here when he realizes that it’s real…

Dean: Oh, the applauding is so creepy.

John: Yeah. Uh, he’s actually playing something which might not--you might not spot, he’s actually playing kind of a crush or attraction on Kari.

Dean: That’s right.

John: Because she’d kinda worked with him--and actually, if you notice it, it does add a little something to this show.

Dean: And on some level, he thinks he’s gonna win her over during all this.

John: Yeah. The identical...

Dean: [laughs] I love that moment! It’s so creepy.

John: The identical looks, the identical con… And by the way, it was great, those maquettes were fantastic.

Dean: Yeah

John: Eric Bates, Props, did that.

Dean: Fantastic work. Eric always delivers for us.

John: There was a big argument about how anatomically correct they would be.

Dean: Yeah.

John: Because David is very anatomically correct and, uh, not so much… but then we realized it was a maquette and probably Michelangelo didn’t spend all that time honing up the fine details in that region.

Dean: And who needed the controversy.

John: Exactly.

Dean: This is a great moment between Tim and Christian here, again playing up this whole “He was flirting with the ex-wife” and...

Both: [Laugh]

John: But there’s also a bit when he says “No,” that is, um… you know I always talk about in the writing room because that’s… when you have sort of like Tim Hutton, it’s like, “Oh, I can give him pretty much anything.” He’s signing off on this. He knows he’s irredeemable at this point.

Dean: Mmhm.

John: To a great degree. And he knows he’s never gonna see her again. Um, which is why, y’know, essentially, they become destroyed. That’s not his judgment to make, really, it’s her judgment to make, and he takes that in—onto himself. Uh, this started as separate gag and then we wound up finding out customs didn’t work the way we thought it did. And so we had to sort of work around, and also combined with you wanting to get Parker on top of the truck—

Dean: Yeah. I desperately wanted to do this thing where Parker jumps off of a bridge and lands on the truck.

John: Yeah. Again, backing into an idea. [As Dean laughs throughout] “Hey John, here’s an idea--” “Uuhhh, so, why is she getting in the truck?” “Well that would be your problem wouldn’t it?” “All right…” Typeity typeity typeity, don’t mind me…”

Uh yes, the con actually starts with Parker in the truck in the perfectly shootable, um—we can just shoot inside the truck and ‘we don’t have to drive and make your first AD happy’ version—

Dean: Or--

John: Or, we could actually have stunty jump off a bridge onto a moving truck, uh, on a TV budget.

Dean: Thank God we’ve got Marc Roskin and Charlie Brewer.

John: Yes, exactly. Um…

Dean: Now the song playing in here is actually the song of a friend of mine, it’s—

John: I didn’t know that.

Dean: It’s produced by this guy named Michael Conner, and the artist is Shannon Blythestone, who’d actually been a contestant on American Idol.

John: Cool.

Dean: And she’s terrific and she has some great songs coming out.

John: Great act out there with Clayne, he’s um—y’know, the idea that our guys have screwed up for once, which you’ve never seen them do, we don’t know why they would have screwed up, we don’t know who would’ve tumbled them…

Dean: Talk a little bit about the actor playing the part, and how he came to us.

John: Uh, he’s actually one of Christian’s best friends. And, um, Chris said “You know, if I’m gonna have somebody kick my ass this season, I want it to be Clayne.” because when they were growing up literally they would play-fight in his basement.

Dean: Oh my god.

John: They would choreograph, like, fight scenes, and so it’s like, “Okay, if you’ve ever had the fantasy that you’d eventually make a movie with your best friend, after you’ve choreographed your lightsaber fight, this is what they’re doing basically.

Dean: [Laughs]

John: Yeah, and Clayne’s brutal, interestingly we had originally thought about casting, um, different guy, a bigger guy, and then the idea that it’d be a young, fast punk--

Dean: Right--

John: That really would just -- really fast hands, faster even than Eliot, really became attractive. And that fight laid out beautifully. Um, Alex Carter, I can’t believe we got him for the Busey of this.

Dean: And he’s wonderful.

John: Yeah, he’s fantastic

Dean: We’ve wanted to cast him all year, we just couldn’t find a part. And then, this came along. We were almost afraid to offer it to him-

John: Yeah.

Dean: Because you know we, we hold him in such high regard, but he was so gracious to come on board. There’s my jump!

John: All right, how did you do this?

Dean: So, live cameras. That’s actually the same building, the other side of our set for the museum, and it had this little bridge that was over a garage, and so we were able to intercut that with an actual underpass, and make it feel like it was all one place.

John: And this was a pretty good mix of a stunty wired to the top of the truck, but with a Guy-wire by the way. She’s not, uh--

Dean: Oh yeah, that was dangerous.

John: And then, and then Beth with the green screen--with a great green screen by the way, that was an amazing effect. I gotta say, it really worked.

Dean: And so much of this whole sequence done by Mark Roskin and Charlie Brewer, so again, hats off to those guys.

John: Yeah, this is basically just the ‘everything goes wrong’ fight sequence/stunt sequence. You took this act off.

Dean: [Laughs]

John: You were like ‘you’ve got one master of this’ and you went off and had people talking and actors and stuff. This, I will admit, originally dubious and then holy smokes does it cut together.

Dean: Yeah, and then the interesting thing on this fight scene is, that this is the only fight scene all year where he’s losing almost the entire fight.

John: Yes. Uh, all great--gotta give Aldis one good punch there, he can’t go down like a punk. But I love Alex’s read on this. “That’s enough of that.” Just, you know, he’s not upset or anything-

Dean: Yeah, he’s a pro.

John: How did you do, um, Aldis hitting the ground so hard?

Dean: We did it backwards.

John: Ahhh.

Dean: We actually started with him on the ground and then yanked him up, and then played it backwards.

John: “Gotta keep that left hand up, boy.” Yeah. Just, uh, and the idea that Eliot is just too—basically, too damn tough to fall down is a lovely beat.

Dean: Yeah. A little Jake LaMotta there.

John: It’s like, he’s realized he’s not as fast as this guy.

Dean: Right.

John: And so, and so he’s just gonna wear him out.

Dean: Exactly.

John: And uh, this is my favorite reveal all season because it’s not just a great reveal, it’s a great voice. As soon as you hear the voice--

Dean: You know.

John: You know who it is. [Laughs]

Dean: And Mark, once again, delivers for us.

John: Yes.

Dean: He’s so great.

John: And look at the look on Parker’s face when she turns around. Beth really--we--it’s a pity, because some of the stuff was cut from Two Horse. The sense of dread that Sterling inspires in other criminals...

Dean: Now this moment here, though, I love. ‘Cause Christian starts laughing, and the idea here is Eliot suddenly figured out how to win the fight.

John: Yeah.

Dean: Like, it came to him in his head, “Oh, I know the move.”

John: Yeah, ‘You’re gonna rush me and I’m gonna block that knee because you keep going to that knee, uh, that rib’s broken, yeah and--Boom! Just down. No elegance, no style, no grace, none of the stuff that…

Dean: Just takes him out.

John: And finding the earpod...

Dean: [Chuckles]

John: And that’s the announcement that we’re screwed, for the fifth act. Ahh, no that’s--I gotta tell you, I’m excited doing the commentary, I love that act.

Dean: Yeah. There’s so much going on at the same time.

John: Yep. So many great sequences, and then, uh, then Mark Sheppard just basically taking over the last act of the show.  [laughs]

Dean: Yeah.

John: With yeah, and--just basically showing we’re all tied up, we’re all done, there’s a suitcase full of money-- and they’re in their home. Which, really--

Dean: That’s the spookiest part.

John: Yeah.

Dean: Well, we set that up in Two Horse when Mark--Sterling unexpectedly just shows up, at night, in the offices.

John: I love that crane shot, by the way. There’s not a lot of TV shows banging out the crane shot in a hanger full of planes. [Dean laughs] On a seven-day schedule. Nicely done.

Dean: You don’t see that often on other shows.

John: How long did it take you to shoot both of these?

Dean: Uh, in a normal schedule, in fact, in fact we shaved a day off, so between the two episodes we did all the--the whole thing in thirteen days--

John: Thirteen days, that’s right.

Dean: --instead of the tradition fourteen.

John: That’s right, because we didn’t have to move, because we were basically parked at that campus for the entire time.

Dean: Right. And there is efficiencies to putting these things together. This rooftop is in Pasadena.

John: It’s in Pasadena, that’s right. That’s the beautiful Pasadena mountains behind you. There’s an AT&T logo back there I never noticed before. We should have griefed [¯\_(ツ)_/¯] that. What the hell?

Dean: [laughs] Call ‘em up. They owe us some money.

John: Oh that fan was so loud behind them. But here you go, I love--this is, by the way, there was an argument--were they friends or weren’t they friends? And it wasn’t until this scene that I realized - yes. The way Tim and Mark are playing it, they were best friends.

Dean: Yeah.

John: And now it’s all gone horribly wrong. And that--it really adds so much layer to it. And also you see the glass there that he’s got is an image that we started putting together in this, and it also shows up in Twelve-Step—

Dean: Right.

John: The glass of scotch that they hand back and forth to each other as each one takes dominance in the relationship.

Dean: Yeah.

John: And in the second half of the season finale, they mirror this scene. And it was all Tim and Mark coming up with that physicality, by the way. I had it ‘a bottle’ and the two of them come up with ‘it’s exactly the same glass’.

Dean: [simultaneous with John] --the same glass. From the other episode. It was terrific.

John: And this is where I realized she’s screwed it up.

Dean: Yeah, this is a big moment. This is the first time he’s realized he’s been betrayed by someone he trusts.

John. Yeah. And--and again, you know, I sympathize with her. I mean, she’s…they’re... she’s disappointed, you know. This is the point where, she came into this thinking he was one type of guy, he’s not, he’s a jerk, he’s a drunk, he won’t seek help, he’s getting worse--yeah, I think she’s fairly well motivated at this point to do this flip.

Dean: And for Tim’s character, this is the reason why he never wanted to work with thieves.

John: Yes. You know, but it’s his own--

Dean: --his own making.

John: He’s blinded by revenge. And the two of them are blinded by their addiction--and that’s what brings them down.

Dean: And ultimately back together again.

John: Yes. I mean, Na--it’s only when he gives up revenge to a certain degree can he reunite the team.

Dean: Right.

John: Yeah. And that’s one of the things we’re talking about for second season, is--is he’s realized that when he’s opens that door, bad things happen to him. How far will he open it? But he needs that anger in order to drive the team.

Dean: Yeah.

John: You know, when he needs that sense of justice.

Dean: Everybody in this scene just did such a good job, acting wise. Cause there’s so many things going on, we find out about her having another name, Jenny, and we don’t know if she’s really Jenny, if she’s really Sophie. Everybody has so many different levels to play in here, and again, kudos to these actors, they’re so terrific

John: It really is just three people talking on a roof, and it’s a hugely dramatic moment, it’s nice.

Dean: And as you can see, almost no blocking.

John: Yeah

Dean: So they had no crutches, they couldn’t walk around

John: No bits of business, yeah.

Dean: Basically, they were left with just what’s inside their eyes. And that’s kind of- as a director, it’s not a nice thing to do to the actors, but when they’ve got the chops to pull it off, it’s very intense.

John: Yeah. And he’s taking a sip, and it’s just, you know, she doesn’t want to deal with this at this point, well there’s a lot going on in those looks. They’re great, you know.

Dean: And by the way, just as a side note, again shout out to Gary Camp our steadicam operator. We did more steadicam, percentage wise, in these last two shows than we’ve done all year. This show is more than 50% steadicam all the way through.

John: And sorry I’m just a little bit breath-wordless there, because, you know, in the script you type ‘they look at each other’ and then you’ve got Tim and Gina who basically do a three step conversation in looks, where you can track all the emotional arcs. The storage unit of Sophie Deveraux, this was the garage, this is the back half of the other scene of the other storage room, they broke into, with a fake wall up and a bunch of props from your other movies.

Dean: And fans of Leverage might notice that it was the Judas Chalice that she blew smoke on in the background.

John: I’m surprised there wasn’t a Stargate back there, I’m genuinely disappointed that we weren’t able to cram one back there. And this is the justification, and this is, you know...

Dean: Also this was a very interesting scene for us as far as Gina’s character. Because this is the first time she really shows her own vulnerability, and it comes out of her frustration or anger, but really for the first time we see that the essential problem she has in this relationship, which is that the person she cares about will always look at her as a second class citizen.

John: Yup

Dean: And that’s something she feels like she can never ever overcome, that he feels like he’s better than her.

John: And probably never even aware of it, you know? And here’s the thing, you direct the actors, I stay out of the way on that. I’m too busy coming up with insane things that are over budget to shoot. How did you prep them for this? This is the culmination of the entire season here, essentially, this argument. Really in the second half of this, in the second half of the finale they’ve rectified this, but you know, how’d you go into this?

Dean: Well when we talked about it in the scene, we said this is really the heart of why this relationship hasn’t worked this whole season. And it’s the first time we’re gonna kinda say it out loud.

John: And by the way, how frustrating to have a relationship that you realize can’t work after you’ve put them together? You’re like ‘oooohhhhhh’ you want them to, you really want them to, but writer- you know story wise, this is appropriate.

Dean: You can’t, yeah.

John: And when she says ‘you still see me as a second class citizen’ she’s not wrong, and he’s wrong to do it, and there’s no way around it.

Dean: It’s a great Mexican standoff. Which is why there’s really nothing else she can say except for ‘where do we go from here?’

John: And what does he do? He immediately shuts down and goes about rescuing the other people. Because emotionally, he has no idea what to do from here.

Dean: You know it’s a bit of a callback to The 12 Step when she’s calling him on his alcoholism and he says ‘just give me something to do’.

John: Yeah

Dean: The only way for him to handle this moment is for him to be proactive and do something.

John: Yeah. it’s like we think about this.

Dean: [Laughs]

John: I love the fact, by the way, that wall behind her is fake, and our sound mixer is actually crammed in a five foot square back there, we actually had to- remember we had to put up that wall to hide him because the building interfered with the radio mics.

Dean: That’s right.

John: Yeah, it was brutal. Back to the roof, and again there’s parallel scenes to the pilot in this, to when- what you see back in the opening show. With the absence of Mark Sheppard of course.

Dean: And the big twist here in the script, and maybe talk about how you came up with it, was the idea that Sterling can read them as well as Nate, so the only chance they had was to not think like themselves. Now, how did that come about?

John: It came about because I was thinking about how there’s two guys that play chess, and essentially as long as they knew what pieces they had in play, they could always beat each other. It was gonna be a tie at best. And what Nate realized is- and this was that ‘alright what I have to do to change the way the pieces move.’ And what this is really the payoff to is, when you’ve met them in the pilot, we actually said their jobs in the subtitles, like what all their jobs was. And that was all their jobs. And over the course of the season, they’ve become enough of a family that they can switch off if they need to if each other’s at risk. They couldn’t have done this in the first episode, and the crucial part, to me, of building a season arc, is that the people in episode 12 or 13 cannot be the same people that were in the pilot. At the same time the key to television is they’re the same people every week that you want to watch and see. The change has to be very incremental.

Dean: So really the emotional payoff here is they are, through their deeds, showing how much of a family they’ve become.

John: Yes. even though emotionally they’re not able to say it. And we specifically chose these roles. Sophie’s the last person you expect to see jumping off of a roof, and if you look at the pilot she and Parker rappel together and Parker makes her jump.

Dean: Right.

John: And the same thing here is- this is a callback to the fight sequence in the pilot where Hardison’s doing the hacking and Eliot’s doing the fighting. In this Eliot does the fighting and Hardison throws the first punch. So yeah it’s really- you know it’s fun- that’s why I like to do TV. You feel like you’ve gone on a journey and you feel like you’ve really completed something, you know? More than you can do in two hours.

Dean: It’s just a fun- it’s such a fun reversal. This whole idea is they have to think like someone else on their team to confuse-

John: I love that look by Chris, like ‘Yeah, I could take six guys on a good day. Don’t insult me.’

Dean: Just cause my ribs broken doesn’t mean anything. And then she reveals she’s got the rig.

John: The rig. I love that look, the little shit eating grin there. That wound up in the promos; that’s a really iconic shot for the show. And then him doing exactly the thing that Hardison did in literally the same format, in the van earlier in the show. And usually slow mo is your enemy, but this is nicely done. You know my hatred of slow mo, but this is actually the right place to do it.

Dean: And by the way, a little spooky running full speed on a rooftop, so kudos to our actors.

John: That drop- that drop killed me. We didn’t pop out to the master for that drop. When that- when they- the first time they did that in rehearsal, my heart stopped. Cause there’s a second roof underneath them but when people go off the roof like that in a deadfall? Not good.

Dean: It’s always spooky. I love this little pointing to each other. [Laughs]

John: Yeah, and that was improv’d. That was totally the actors - who, to tell you the truth, were actually kind of proud of the fact that they managed to pull that fight scene off.

Dean: Well that- the nice thing on that fight scene was, we shot that with seven cameras.

John: Really?

Dean: Yeah, so instead of breaking it down and shooting this part then this part. We literally just let them go do it. And we had all the cameras rolling simultaneously.

John: I didn’t know that. So that’s it, you know, a three way fight with that many stunties, that is a tough fight. They did a great job on that.

Dean: They really did.

John: That may just have been a ‘we didn’t fuck up that take’ finger so we just used it as an emotional payoff. Oh and I love-

Dean: And this is a great thing.

John: That painting will stay in the series for as long as we’re on air. I don’t know how we’re gonna use it, but I love that improv.

Dean: I like this shot, too

John: Yes. And you know what I love about Mark’s choices here - he doesn’t get mad, he assess his situation.

Dean: He finds someway to see a win in it.

John: Exactly. Alright you took my bishop, I’ll take your rook. He really has a plan.

Dean: It’s not a total loss.

John: He just doesn’t expect Hardison to flip the board off the table.

Both: [Laugh]

John: Oh that’s Pat Banta doing that dialogue.

Dean: That’s right.

John: He did a bunch of the fighting in the first couple episodes, he was in Indiana Jones - the last movie.

Dean: And is our other stunt supervisor when Charlie’s not around.

John: Exactly. And the big countdown of getting the hell out of there.

Dean: So this was a thing- we had the idea that we wanted to blow up the offices at the end of the season. But how do you go about blowing up offices on a television budget? So what we’ve done here is, we’ve actually taken a real building and put a model of the building on top of it, we blew up the model and composited it in with the actual building.

John: So that’s a tiny 1/8th scale model or something like that.

Dean: Just the top floor.

John: Of the top floor, blown up and then digitally dropped on top of this real building-

Dean: That we’ve seen all season long.

John: That we’ve been looking at all season long in downtown LA.

Dean: And then, of course, digital debris.

John: Boom. Digital debris. Sometimes a chair just falls out of the sky.

Dean: I would’ve liked to have done that for real, but the people of Pasadena were not keen on me throwing-

John: [Laughs] Strangely they don’t allow you to throw flaming couches out of ten story windows.

Dean: I don’t know why.

John: You know what, we paid the permit fee, they’re just being dicks about it.

Dean: And this is my second favorite ending of all the episodes this season.

John: What’s your first favorite?

Dean: The following episode.

John: Yeah. The same roundy-round we’ve done before.

Dean: This time from the inside looking out.

John: The roundy-round of despair.

Dean: The roundy-round of despair, yup.

John: They’ve rescued each other but they’ve realized- and it’s interesting because this is the point I realized that Mark Sheppard is doing nothing but talking for the last three minutes of the show. But when you have this speech? Give it to Mark Sheppard.

Dean: And we do a callback to the overhead shot from the pilot, but this time the team is breaking up because they have to.

John: Yeah, just great- oh and by the way, those flowers were literally just from the trees around, what a lucky bit of business.

Dean: Well it was our DP, Dave Connell, running to those trees and grabbing handfuls of leaves and then throwing them on the ground so we had something interesting to look at

John: That was really great. Man that’s a great episode, I gotta say, incredibly complicated, and I will say that of all the episodes, that’s the one the show looks like in my head.

Dean: Yeah.

John: You know. When we pitched Leverage, that’s the one you know..

Dean: And for me as a director, I feel like this is the one where you and I really teamed up all the way through. I mean, you sat by my side through the entire shooting of this. I mean, in many ways we co-directed this.

John: Oh. no no no.

Dean: And it was a great experience for me and thank you so much.

John: Oh it was my pleasure, now let’s do the second one.

Both: [Laugh]

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Deveraux #Season 1 #Episode 12 #Season 1 Episode 12 #The First David Job

[pagerunner]

Parker for the meme :D

Sure, just go with the HARDEST why don’t you? :P These are mostly in the order they come to mind, not really in order of importance. Some of them could probably be grouped together, but oh well.

1. Problem solving. Parker likes puzzles. She likes solving everything from security systems to locks to complex algebra. She identifies elements of a problem, and as Nate puts it, rotates them in space until they fit. She tries to solve people in the same way, which sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. Sometimes she solves problems incorrectly, or...creatively, because she’s identified all the parts of the problem she can see, but is missing a component. Usually, that’s when she turns to Sophie for help. :) When I’m writing Parker, I try to look at the problem she’s solving and identify what she would consider important, then solve it using those pieces, keeping in mind that they might not be the ONLY pieces to this puzzle.

2. Compartmentalization. (You also asked for Josie, and her working with Josie is a great example of this!) “Tune out the distractions and work the problem.” She is exceptionally good at this, shunting aside distractions (including emotions) that don’t have a bearing on the problem at hand. I think it’s something she’s practiced for so long that it’s a habit by now, and it takes something HUGE (like Hardison being buried alive, or kids in danger) to overcome those automatic compartments. Usually, they work in her favor - she does the crazy stuff she does because she can shift those pesky things like fear and pain to the side and focus on the job at hand. But it does lead to...

3. Difficulty recognizing and articulating emotions. She has so much practice at locking things away, that when she can’t, or needs to use them, she has trouble adapting. I do think she’s somewhere on the autism spectrum, for a whole host of reasons, but in terms of her emotional development, the trauma of her childhood and the lack of structure in her early life - and the lack of people she can trust - play a huge role as well. I relate to Parker a lot in the way she feels things but doesn’t know what she’s feeling, how to deal with it, or what the point of the feelings even is. She has a habit of automatically denying that things affect her, which can be interesting and hard to write from her POV, because they are affecting her, but she won’t consider that an option. For “Protection”, I messed around with this a lot, partially because of the line in Rundown Job: “He takes getting shot very lightly.” Parker assumes she’ll take it lightly too, but it seemed to me that this, like Alec in the coffin, would be a catalyst for her - in ways that she doesn’t fully recognize at first.

4. Joy. All this stuff about emotions, but Parker’s JOY is this amazing thing that eludes compartmentalization. She LOVES stealing, it’s not just a job for her. She literally skips when she steals the dagger in Rashomon, grins hugely when she cracks a safe - she takes such joy in what she does. Also in other things - excessive amounts of sugar, hurting people (not always, but definitely sometimes and not only people she doesn’t like), her love of christmas. She has so much “childlike” glee - though I always hesitate to use that word, because I don’t want to do her the disservice of infantalizing her. But it makes sense that the things she loved as a child, and the way she expressed that love remains much the same - she’s spent so much time alone, that she never needed to adapt to outside societal influences on expression. And honestly, SKIPPING IS SO MUCH FUN. Try it sometime if you haven’t in a while. Her wonder and enthusiasm is weird and contagious, and she fixates on the strangest things that make her happy. But then I was yelling about fractal cauliflowers at the farmer’s marker the other day... Oh! She’s also got that amazingly morbid sense of humor - extremely fatalistic in a lot of ways. It reminds me of my sister, who’s an ER doctor and laughs about the terrible shit she’s seen, and tells a lot of inappropriate jokes - it’s a common coping mechanism in medicine, in the military, in people who’ve seen too much and become inoculated against the day to day bad stuff.

5. She’s learning. Everyone on the crew has a character arc, but Parker’s is one of massive self-discovery and adaptation. She begins as someone very self-absorbed. She’s her own little, functional unit, and it works for her and what she does. Working with a team, learning to trust, learning to navigate both their personalities and the personalities of their clients and marks, is a constant struggle. It’s a huge puzzle for her to solve and as she tackles it and learns, and asks Sophie questions, and tentatively dates Hardison, and plans with Nate, and pokes at Eliot’s own barriers, she begins to put things together. Parker at the beginning of season 1 is so different from Parker at the end of season five, and will be different from Parker after she’s running the crew for a while (as that comes with other responsibilities and concerns). She’s constantly evolving and adapting, but she never loses that core of her that loves kids, steals for fun, is obsessively organized, and always approaching the world like it’s a lock she needs to pick.

#leverage #parker #character analysis #writing #well that got long #i just really love parker #and spent a lot of time in her head recently #ferociousqueak