#also one of the things why jeri ryan

[isagrimorie]

Star Trek Voyager 4E09 - Scientific Method

The Janeway Moment for Seven of Nine. (The First of Many).

Part 1, 2

[trillscienceofficer]

Perhaps to disguise Dawson's pregnancy, extra scenes were later shot and tagged to many of the fourth season's episodes. "We're all sort of confused right now," admitted Dawson. "We're shooting additional scenes and reshoots for four episodes, so it's hard to keep track of what's going into which episode. For some reason, we've been coming up short on a lot of scripts recently and I don't know why. lt's causing us to have to take a day and actually add more material to a lot of the shows."

Consequently, Dawson couldn't calibrate the plausibility of various episodes. In regard to "Scientific Method", in which Paris and B'Elanna flaunt their physical relationship, Dawson later enlightened me, "I haven't seen it yet [laughs] I did a convention just this past weekend, and everybody was buzzing about it. Apparently, Paris and I are at it a lot. You'd think I probably shouldn't have to see it because I shot it. I should know what's going on. But we did add some extra scenes a couple of months later, so I sort of forget how the whole thing works out. There was a lot added. For example, the scene with Tom and me in the turbolift—where we're discussing how to go into the briefing room—was done two months later. We originally never had that discussion. We had shot the briefing room scene, but never knew that we were going to be shooting the scene that would be coming hefore it. The very first scene with me and Seven of Nine [Jeri Ryan] was also shot at that same time, two months later, and then inserted into the script."

—Anna L. Kaplan, from Femme Fatales Vol 8 #14, April 2000

this is really interesting and goes a long way to explain why the scene between B'Elanna and Seven at the start of "Scientific Method" feels like a bit of a sudden development, given the relatively easy way they interact. It was likely shot concurrently, or at least very close to, "Waking Moments" and "Message in a Bottle" and those interactions I think ended up influencing the one that went into the earlier episode.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep24: Demon

I think I've actually never seen this one before! If I ever did, I've forgetten everything that happened in it, because it was totally new to me on this rewatch. I didn't like it much though. While I think the basic premise is good, the way they wrote the crew bothered me to the point that it pretty much spoiled an otherwise cool and creepy episode.

It starts off with Voyager shutting down all non essential systems as their power runs out. When they go looking for needed deuterium on a dangerous Class Y 'Demon class' planet, Harry and Tom take a shuttle to go collect some. Right off the bat, the writing felt off- when Harry suggested taking a shuttle to the planet, with Tom standing next to him, I was sure the next line would be Tom offering to go with Harry, but instead they had Harry press Tom into it, and Tom seemed bothered by it, which is incredibly out of character. From the very beginning, Tom has never hesitated to risk his life for other people, and from the moment he met Harry, he was his insta-bestie that he had to protect at all costs. There's no way Tom would ever let Harry go on that mission alone, or be annoyed at going with him. Idk why in season 4 they're suddenly trying to turn Tom into a douchebag, especially when they're making him obnoxious in ways that are completely opposite of his established character traits. I also feel like Tom and Harry's friendship got dropped a bit this season, and when they do give them scenes together, they're kind of juvenile, and involve a lot of rivalry and taunting that's out of step with their generally supportive mutual admiration society bromance.

And then the scene in the hallway and turbolift where Tom seems surpised that Harry spoke up in a staff meeting was also weird- Harry speaks up at staff meetings all the time?? They have Harry go on to say that he's a grown up big boy now who isn't afraid to speak up for himself, but Harry acting younger and more timid is a very recent thing. In the beginning, he wasn't afraid to make suggestions, or even disagree with the Captain on occasion- it feels like they've been making him act younger and less experienced this season than he ever did in the three seasons before, and it's just kind of a puzzling choice. It seems a little odd that they're trying to make it out that speaking up is progress for his character, when it wasn't even an issue until just now. Once again, not the greatest writing.

And then when Tom and Harry get down to the planet, they have them ribbing each other about being out of shape- which is not only out of character for people from a supposedly utopian future, but genuinely mean on the part of the writer to fat shame actors in an actual script of a TV episode. Garrett actually mentioned several times on the Delta Flyers podcast that the writers and producers would tell them that they needed to lose weight, so obviously that was hurtful enough to stick with him over 25 years later. I guess it isn't super surprising, given how Hollywood is obsessed with looks, and especially thinness, and god knows they shoved Jeri Ryan into a corset even though she was so skinny already. But it feels like a new level of low to write lines to force actors to body shame themselves on camera. What's wrong with you Ken Biller? And what's wrong with everyone else who thought that was okay and let it stay in the episode? Obviously Hollywood culture is super toxic, but Star Trek is supposed to be better. Good grief.

Anyway, aside from the awful dialog, the scenes on the planet are very creepy and atmospheric. I know it's just their usual paper rocks planet set, but the eerie red lighting, and the steam jets, and a glowing red sky backdrop all did a great job of making it look hellishly hot, yet still somehow weirdly beautiful. There's a feeling of Tom and Harry being watched by something even before we see anything, and it's very creepy when Harry gets pulled into the silver puddle they were collecting deuterium from. It's a pretty scary way to go to a commercial break with them both collapsing in their EV suits with their oxygen having run out.

Meanwhile, back on Voyager, we have a subplot of everyone needing to camp out in centralized locations so they can shut down life support on parts of the ship to conserve energy. For some reason, Tuvok won't let Neelix bring his extra pillows and blankets and a book to read, which doesn't really make any sense- how can it possibly make a difference to read a book or use an extra pillow??? It doesn't use up any more of the ship's energy! It was just a random 'let's have Tuvok and Neelix disagree with each other' scene that didn't add anything valuable. And then we have Neelix and the Doctor in a competition to be the most annoying when Neelix decides he wants to camp out in sickbay, and the Doctor objects. It's supposed to be funny watching them try to make each other miserable, but really it just shows off their worst traits- the Doctor's disdain for other people's feelings, and Neelix's inabilty to respect other people's boundaries. It's just unpleasant to watch them act like bratty children and be obnoxious to each other. At the very least, when there's an actual medical emergency, Neelix leaves sickbay just like he said he would, and the Doctor seems surprised that Neelix doesn't hold a grudge against him for his behavior. Apparently the Doctor is such a jerk that he's surprised when everyone else isn't as petty as he is.

In the meantime, they've landed Voyager on the planet, and when they lose contact with Tom and Harry, a concerned B'Elanna asks to go down and help look for them. Chakotay says no because he thinks someone with a cool head who isn't so close to them would be a better choice, so B'Elanna tells him to take Seven, because Seven doesn't care about anyone always has a cool head. Chakotay and Seven go down to find them. We have another eerie planet scene, where Chakotay ends up being rescued from falling over a precipice by Tom, who's somehow still alive, and not wearing his EV suit. Tom and Harry both seem able to breathe normally in the hostile atmosphere, and when they bring them back to Voyager to find out why, neither of them can breath regular air, and have to be put behind a forcefield filled with the planet's atmosphere.

While looking for clues to what happened, we get a rare treat of a short scene where B'Elanna and the Captain get to do science together, and they discover that the silver liquid they collected deuterium from has bio-mimetic properties. Eventually, when they discover the real Tom and Harry unconcious but alive in their EV suits on the planet, they realize the Tom and Harry in sickbay are bio-mimetic copies. The copy versions think they are them, and can't explain what they really are, until Voyager starts to get surrounded by the silver liquid, and has to repel it to break free. The particle bursts they use tp repel the liquid also negatively affects the copy people, and Harry's copy starts to remember and explain what he is and where he came from in an attempt to get Janeway to stop. He tells her that the silver liquid is alive, but never experienced sentience until it encountered the away team, and took on their forms to experience it more fully. They want to keep Voyager there so the liquid can copy more of them, and experience life as sentient creatures, but Janeway explains that they have to go back home, no matter what. Copy Harry protests and pleads to be given the chance to live, and Janeway realizes that they copied Tom and Harry without killing them, so she suggests that the crew can give them DNA samples to copy if they're allowed to leave in return. Copy Harry agrees, and the last shot is Voyager leaving a duplicate crew behind on the planet.

It's a very weird but kind of cool premise, though I'm not a fan of the sequel episode we got out of it, all the more so now that I've seen the first one- there's definitely some major inconsistencies between the two. But the weird characterizations bothered me more than anything, and kept this from being what could have actually been a very good episode.

Tl;dr: A cool, creepy sci-fi premise that got spoiled by bad characterization and mean spirited writing.

[tea-earl-grey]

Raffi Muskier and Christine Chapel for the ask meme

from this ask game!

Raffi Musiker:

How I feel about this character

i love her so dearly. in a franchise like Star Trek where almost all characters were deliberately made as paragons of human goodness, it's refreshing and fun to have a character who's so flawed and troubled but still embodies the very Star Trek ideal of trying to be better. solidly in the top 10 Star Trek characters for me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Seven!!! Seven/Raffi is definitely my biggest Star Trek ship right now. i love how messy and troubled they are and how their lives & relationships to family sort of parallel each other. they're both driven to loneliness and insecurity in different ways. they both care very deeply but are too focused on careers and do gooding to form solid relationships. also Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan have great chemistry together.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

i really do love her and Rios together. they have such a fun bickering sibling like dynamic. i also do love all of her scenes with Picard because they're such unlikely friends and Raffi might hold a grudge against him (for good reason) but the softer moments they get together are excellent.

My unpopular opinion about this character

hmm, i think with pretty much all characters in fandom, there's a tendency to flatten out characteristics that are undesirable or less fun to write or whatever but that's a large part of why i like Raffi. she constantly struggles with low self-esteem, she manipulates people, she is so hyperfocused on being right and uncovering conspiracies that she forgets how to care about others. all of that is so interesting to write about and i don't think many people cash in on it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

the biggest fault of Star Trek Picard is that it's, as the title implies, a show focused on Picard when every other character is much more interesting to me, especially Raffi. and i while i don't dislike the direction her character went after s1, i just wish we could have seen it in a coherent arc instead of jumping from s1 to s2 to s3 without much linking material. i'll fill it in with fanfic but... i'd just love to see more of her.

Christine Chapel:

(note – i don't have many opinions on TOS!Chapel so i'll answer this for SNW!Chapel)

How I feel about this character

i'll be honest that i have kind of mixed feelings on Chapel. there are parts of her character that are definitely interesting to me, namely – her being very career-oriented and her experience with ptsd during the Klingon War (and the grey morality all around in Under the Cloak of War). however, some of her dialogue and whatnot feels a bit too... MCU girlboss for my tastes.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

i don't really have any ships for Chapel but i did see someone raise the possibility of Chapel/T'Pring earlier today which has me interested. i'm not convinced but i'm listening.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

her and M'Benga being ptsd war buddies is very important to me.

My unpopular opinion about this character

i feel like i don't hang around the SNW fandom enough to know what the popular and unpopular opinions are but honestly if we're already going in with the Spock/Chapel romance let's just go full ship-wide soap opera with it. i don't really know if it was a good story arc to go with but as long as we're here we might as well have fun with it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

ooh – i actually think they should have made SNW!Chapel into an original character instead of trying to fit her into the shadow of TOS. like i think that would actually free the show up to do more interesting things with her instead of being beheld to us knowing that she'll be on the Enterprise for the foreseeable future (and retroactively making some Weird Dynamics in TOS knowing that her and Spock are exs).

thanks so much for the ask!!! this was fun <3

[annikasevenshots]

Star Trek Picard: Season 3 Episode 3 Reaction (spoilers!)

* Bev being a grounding force for Jack like yes she is so MOTHER

* "goddamn back window" IM SORRY THID IS SO FUNNY LIKE. the viewscreen won't work so you just look out the mf built in window 😭

* whose idea was it to have a viewscreen instead of a window anyway 💀

* WHY ARE THEIR SKINS SMOOOOOOTH IT'S GIVING ODO DEADASS 💀💀💀

* my dad actually sent me a pretty emotional text about that fatherhood scene 🥹

* I wish we'd gotten to know Thaddeus :(

* TROI CAMEO TROI CAMEO TROI CAMEO TROI CAMEO <3 <3 <3

* Wait if Thad was born on the Titan mayhaps we could see him in LWD? As a babbby??? 🥺🥺🥺

* Ngl Shaw knowing when to relieve his crew to get rest, I respect that

* LITTLE VOY

* SEVEN FIXING THING SEVEN FIXING THING SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN

* BABY LA FORGE BABY LA FORGE BABY LA FORGE BABY LA FORGE

* SHE'S 100% COMING TO THE SPINOFF IF I SAY SO MYSELF

* also didn't shaw say seven earned her post back after finding jack last episode? what are they mf doing

* "This sounds rehearsed" SHES SO MEAN PLEASE SEVEN I WOULD REHEARSE A SPEECH IF I HAD TO SPEAK IN FRONT OF HER TOO

* me rehearsing my hellos in line to meet jeri ryan at london comic con like

* THE TITAN THEME PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND??? JUST SO GENTLY????? FUCK WHAT YALL ARE SAYING ABOUT SHAW THE TITAN IS SEVEN'S CREW <3

* COMMANDER SEVEN 📣📣📣

* "go rest, ensign" god i wish someone would tell me to go rest

* HER FOND HEADSHAKE PLEASE

* Bev being a doctor 🥺

* JACK BEING A DOBERMAN GUARD DOG AND FOR WHAT

* Honestly seeing Bev back in Sickbay again is just. Seeing Dr Beverly Crusher is just. Is just is just is just.

* FACE ACTING 📣📣📣 these people are masters of their craft i swear

* "A perfect day on borrowed time" that is actually so beautiful

* the fifth time 🤡🤡🤡 JL was keeping track and for WHAT

* guys omg,,, they bonked. they fucking bonked and they're making me think about it while staring at two geriatric people

* GATES MCFADDEN SLAY

* that is actually so well acted that's such a SLAY.

* Picard: I never want a family

* Bev: okay i'll respect that

* Picard: no not like that >:(

* See I keep forgetting that this series is actually called Star Trek Picard because everyone keeps overshadowing him. I'm so sorry PatStew these girlies are girlbossing so close to the sun

* Bev really wasn't wrong though

* "All to the same stars that own you" GUYS WHY IS THE WRITING SO 🤌🤌🤌

* i'm actually surprised at how well That Part of the fandom is coping with a secret son arc given the fact that they were furious about michael being spock's half sister. but then again 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

* "He's not Dad" HE'S DADDY 🤡👍

* The way those officers passed SO SLOWLY BETWEEN RIKER AND JACK I MEAN SAME I'D WANT ALL THE HOT GOSSIP LIKE👂

* "I owe this ship's captain an apology" bitch you owe SEVEN an apology actually be serious

* Oh my god they actually had someone standing guard at a mf WINDOW this show is so unserious

* Jesus christ Shaw

* Okay but Shaw knowing when to take a step back? I honestly respect that. That's what a good leader is about.

* EPIC TITAN FIGHT THEME sorry i will never shut up about the music

* On the note of music, KLINGON OPERA 📣📣📣

* Someone on Twitter noted that Raffi was holding a phaser very similar to Seven's Fenris Ranger one in S2 and I can't take my mind off of that like this show is so crazy detailed

* CHAMOMILE TEAAAAAA <3

* Me running to the grocery store to get chamomile tea because i want something to remind me of raffi and merchandising is shit with star trek

* Seriously just sell Worf's chamomile blend you'd make so much bank

* The red light imagery when Worf says "I have learned to access calm as well as fire" WOAHHHHHHHHHHH

* Raffi being like "I TOLD YOU THAT BITCH" and Worf being like you dumbass 🥰👍

* Actual ideal dynamic

* OH MY GOD RAFFI that speech. "My life, my family, my sobriety" FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

* Worf calling her Raffaella 😩🤌 actual top tier

* Raffi's like 👁️🤡🫴😩👉🙄🤔😤... 🆒

* Seriously Bev is such a soothing doctor, I love her so much

* Jack taking after her footsteps as well

* BEV KNOWING WHAT SHE'S DOING I LOVE HER SM ACTUALLY

* "How does she keep finding us" Shaw is actually big brained? Kinda? Like I can see Shaw as a Captain like he's Captain Brained

* The Shrike is actually so cool I'm ngl

* "She's pulled us deeper into the nebula" no? she just dragged you around the corner pls 💀

* Feeling silly goofy wanna run away and start a nightclub in District 6 of Mtalas Prime

* PLEASE RAFFI AND WORF ARE SO SIBLING CODED

* KEEP SQUABBLING MY LOVES I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MHCH

* "I told you to stay back" "It is not in my nature to stay back" THEY ARE BOTH EXACTLY THE SAME I SWEAR TO GOD

* "You look inconspicuous in that hood" "Says the Klingon in warrior gear" "It is casual" THEYRE SO UNSERIOUS

* "I'm glad to see you are feeling better" "I'm not😤" why is raffi so funny

* "Beheadings are in wednesdays" STOP BEING FUNNY MY MENTAL HEALTH CANT HANDLE THIS 😭😭😭

* SEVEN BEING UNFAZED "you're insane 🤷🏻‍♀️" WHY IS SHE HILARIOUS

* SEVEN OF NINE PLEASE KICK ME LIKE THAT

* the way i know jeri ryan asked to have a scene where they had to put on masks /hj

* "Hansen to bridge" breaks my heart every time

* RAFFI YOU CAN TAKE MY FINGERNAILS ANY TIME WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY ♥️♥️♥️

* "I think I feel my chamomile tea coming back up" SHE DRANK WORF'S TEA ♥️♥️♥️

* oh my god the way raffi So gently sniffs the drug

* THAT MONOLOGUE. STEP. ON. ME. RAFFI. MUSIKER.

* RED IMAGERY??????

* YES!!!!!!!! SEVEN TO THE BRIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO THE BRIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Ohhh now I see why it's called 17 seconds

* Dr Ohk is so baby I want to be her actually

* Is Beverly using the samsung tricorder they used last season

* That LOOK. TATTOO THIS ON ME

* WHY IS MICHELLE HURD SUCH A TOP TIER ACTRESS GODDAMNIT

* GOO MAN??????? MAN GOO GOO MAN GOO???????? GOO MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Being a father is making Picard make bad decisions I'm ngl

* Ooooh Raffi and Worf headed to Daystrom 👀 Will they meet La Forge and La Forge Jr I wonder?

* THE WAY THE PORTAL SHOOTS THEM BACK IN THE ASS IS SOOOOOOO COOL

* also how did none of them predict this they know the portal weapon exists

* me when i forget the enemy has reflect damage on when i game lmao rip titan

In conclusion I ate bread while watching this

[lesbiangummybearmafia]

OMFG WTSF!!! WHO DARED ANYONE PUT THIS OUT INTO THE UNIVERSAL!

From: GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT > Movies & TV

Alicia Vikander Makes An Amazing Captain Janeway For Star Trek: Voyager Reboot, artwork of Alicia Vikander as Captain Janeway for a potential Star Trek: Voyager reboot and the Swedish star looks like a great replacement. By JONATHAN KLOTZ | UPDATED 19 HOURS AGO

We humbly suggest Alicia Vikander as her replacement for a new Star Trek: Voyager series. The star has demonstrated a wide range of characters in her career, from Lara Croft to Gloria Steinem (peruse her IMDB for the full extent), making her a great fit for the tough but compassionate Kathryn Janeway. Giant Freakin’ Robot staff wondered what this would look like, so we ran it through an AI artwork generator, and the result is amazing.

A future version of Voyager was involved in the series, proving pivotal in getting the ship back to Federation space, setting up Kate Mulgrew to reappear as Admiral Janeway, while Seven of Nine is now part of Star Trek: Picard. What if Alicia Vikander and the possible reboot followed the future ship from a timeline that never saw them return?

And this where I lose my collective shit! Ok first things first and I'm sorry to point out the obvious but can I start with fact Alicia Vikander doesn't even resemble Kate Mulgrew in any way! Then there's the fucking fact of if Paramount was going to reboot Voyager for some reason, which I highly doubt...WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU HAVE SOMEONE BESIDES KATE MULGREW PLAY KATHRYN JANEWAY!!!! I mean seriously is it an age thing, or their completely stupid thing? Because no one and I mean no one can play Janeway better or ever come close to Kate! She knows Janeway's character inside and out. I may not agree 100% with everything she believes about Janeway however no one else is basically Kathryn Janeway. Two pieces of fan art be damned it doesn't mean shit! Which if you want to see them you'll have Google them because I will not put that blasphemy on my page!! This just pisses me off, where is it coming from? When we all know Kate would be more than happy to take up the role of Janeway again and has in Star Trek Prodigy. So if they did a reboot of Voyager I have little doubt she would be willing to play Janeway in that. Also we don't need a reboot of Voyager! We got 7 season of the original with Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Roxanne Dawson, Robbie McNeill, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Ethan Phillips and Robert Beltran. Go watch the original for crying out loud! What I want to see is a Janeway series like Picard got. That would be amazing to see. To see Kate reprise her role as Kathryn Janeway, have her go on new adventures and go more deeply into her character in a way they never truly did on Voyager.

[tanadrin]

1. jeri ryan in a starfleet uniform, goddamn. gets me every time.

2. it’s fun seeing picard getting to be the super shady admiral for once

3. intentional or not, the rhymes between the flash-forward in All Good Things... and Picard are pretty amusing to me. picard fucking things up with dr. crusher is apparently just written into the space-time continuum

4. i wonder if they had to re-create all those TNG-era props, or if they tracked down the originals. i love that the flute from The Inner Light is still paying off 30+ years later.

5. it’s always kind of funny to me when the martinet-type officers show up as side characters in star trek. like, on the one hand, you reckon they must exist--there must be workaday careerists who aren’t going on crazy adventures all the time for the organization to function. on the other, i also kind of feel like that in your post-scarcity far-future utopia, especially in the laid-back days of the 25th century when the Borg are defeated, the Romulans are a nonentity, there’s peace with the Klingons and you have an ex-Federation captain-turned-godling defending the Bajoran wormhole from Dominion incursions, that Starfleet exists to soak up all the crazed adrenaline junkies who need something to do. and why somebody like Shaw would be drawn to an organization plainly full of those lunatics is kind of a mystery to me.

[xconflictx]

{ cis-woman, she/her } ❝ but I've become what I can't be ❞ huh, who’s JERI RYAN? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually ANGELA BONES-AVERY. she is a 45 year old HALFBLOOD witch who is AUROR. she is a GRYFFINDOR alum and the child of AMELIA BONES + THOMAS AVERY. she is known for being SARCASTIC, MANIPULATIVE, UNPREDICTABLE, PERFECTIONIST, and OBSESSIVE but also CONFIDENT, PERSISTENT, COURAGEOUS, AMBITIOUS, and RESPECTFUL, so that must be why she always reminds me of the song STOP AND STARE BY ONEREPUBLIC and COMBAT BOOTS TRUDGING THOUGH THE MUD, THE SOUND OF A HEAVY DOWN POUR, COFFEE LEFT TO GO COLD, A CONFLICT RAGING WITHIN, BRUISED KNUCKLES. i hear she is aligned with the DEATH EATERS (SHE'S UNSURE OF HER TRUE ALLIANCE), so be sure to keep an eye on her. 

Basic Information

Full Name: Angela Lilith Bones-Avery

Nickname(s): Ang, Ange, Angel (husband only)

Age: 45

Date of Birth: September 20th 1984

Pronouns: She/her

Orientation: Biromantic and bisexual

Occupation: Auror

Marital Status: Married

Magical

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Wand: Beech Wood, Dragon Heartstring. 12 and a half inches.

Favourite Subject: Charms

Least Favourite Subject: Transfigurations

Patronus: Orangutan

Boggart: Being alone. Not in the sense of left alone in a room but more in the sense of losing everything and everyone she holds dear.

Personality

Positive Traits: Confident, Persistent, Courageous, Ambitious, Respectful

Negative Traits: Sarcastic, Manipulative, Unpredictable, Perfectionist, Obsessive

Quick fire facts! 

Has mummy issuesTM

Joined the death eaters more or less to spite her mother and is lowkey regretting it

Her ideals don’t align with the death eaters but those who she clings to for comfort do (her father, grandmother, husband) so she has blindly followed them. Now the death eaters are becoming more active again she is hesitant to be involved.

Has mega abandonment issues to go with those mummy issuesTM

Chose her profession to be closer to her mother and was surprised she enjoys it as much as she does. Undercover work is her speciality.

Knows how to get what she wants

Half finished bio! (wasn’t planning on writing one right away but here we are XD)

Thomas Avery was a charming man who worked along side the minister and Amelia Bones had recently been promoted to head of the department of magical law enforcement. They hit it off and instantly became the subject of water cooler gossip. Their relationship proved to be nothing more than a whirlwind (and rumours flew left and right about if there was any feelings between the pair or it was simply an attempt to gain more influence from one of them or both. Although both Thomas and Amelia would deny to comment) however even whirlwinds can occasionally leave lasting effects. Angela Lilith Bones-Avery was born 6 months after their relationship ended.

A halfblood born out of wedlock would have been a point of shame on the Avery family if Thomas hadn’t been instantly smitten with his daughter the moment she was placed in his arms. Most pureblood families would have turned their nose up at Angela, Thomas managed to convince his that her birth wasn’t a shameful thing but an opportunity. The Bones’ were an influential family in the Ministry and now they had one of their own. 

Angela grew up in two homes with clashing beliefs. Her mother, the strong, wise and just Amelia Bones had a very different look on things than Thomas did. Amelia taught her that being just and fair was important while Thomas taught her she should take what she wanted and never apologize. This clash would often confuse her and left her desperate to find a middle ground between her parents. 

As she grew older she spent more time with her father than her mother growing up, Amelia worked long hours and was often called into the office when things were rough or a court hearing went too long or she needed to read up on a sensitive case she was presiding over. This left little time to be looking after a child. Angela was often angry when her stays with her mother were cancelled due to “something coming up” 

By age 10 Agatha Avery became a stable figure in Angela’s life. Her grandmother had warmed up to Angela as she grew older and began to see the opportunity that her son had. 

Angela attended Hogwarts age 11 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. Coming from a long line of Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, Angela felt like a disappointment. She received congratulations from both sides of her family but it wasn’t hard to tell that only her mother’s had been genuine. 

The older she got the more desperate she became for the praise of her family and the attention of her parents. It seemed to her that only her father had time for her, her mother, often caught at work and after the appointment of Kingsley Shacklebolt she only seemed to be their even more.

This fuelled a quiet hatred for the newly appointed Minister that her father and grandmother happily stoked into a flame until she could barely look at him without a look of disgust on her face.

Angela married her husband at 21. A man from a sacred 28 family, her mother despised him (which only added to her want to marry him to annoy her) but she loved him with all her heart. 

(more bio coming soon!)

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 2, Episode 13, The Future Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Marc: Hello, Marc Roskin, producer and director of this episode.

Amy: Hi, Amy Berg, supervising producer and co-writer of this episode.

John: John Rogers, executive producer.

Chris: Chris Downy, executive producer, and co-writer of the Future Job.

John: Uh, this, did this start out of the haunting episode? Is this how the psychic came about?

Amy: The origin of this? No, the um, no I don't think so. Psychic Job was—

John: Was that Dean's?

Amy: No, it was literally a card that was on my board at the beginning of the season, along with Three Days of the Hunter, and Two Live Crew Job, so this was essentially plucked from the well.

John: This was one of the ones that sat there, that sat there for a long time, she was great, what, uh...

Marc: Jen Taylor, local Seattle actress. She was wonderful.

John: But it was Dean who really dug in on this one, because he really liked the bad guy. He really said, you know, ‘I really wanna hammer the fake psychics.’

Amy: Yeah, and he was the one who, sort of, had the vision of, sort of, making this a Parker episode and, sort of, getting to delve deeper into her backstory a little bit.

Chris: And there's Luke Perry.

John: Luke Perry was fantastic.

Amy: He was great.

John: How did we wind up casting Luke Perry?

Chris: I think it was suggested by our casting folks, and I think it was the first one on his list, and he said, Luke Perry would be fantastic for this role. And we all, we were kind of like wow. You know, you didn't really think of him as- as an evil psychic.

Marc: I would leave my wife for Luke Perry. 

[All Laugh]

John: Luke Perry—uh, as a director, why don't you talk about working with Luke Perry, Marc?

Marc: He was wonderful. I mean, you can just really, when someone has that much experience working in television, I mean, it's amazing. He was on time, he never left set, he was always talking about character and would take any suggestions, you know, from me as a director, if you wanted to go another way, just let me know; he was just a dream to work with.

John: Now, what was the idea on this particular setting for the psychic, instead of like a formal office, or like, what was the set dec idea on this?

Marc: Well we wanted to have him working out of, like, a home type office, and actually we had to find something that we could build on the stage to work on.

John: Oh so that wasn't a location, that was-

Marc: No, that was just our basic, uh, hospital and Gina apartment set.

John: [Laughs] The Frankenset.

Marc: Shot on the same day as this day, on the stage, in our bar.

John: Okay, cool. Nice shot through the glass, by the way. I didn't know those taps worked. If I'd known those taps worked I would have been up north a lot more often.

Marc: They work. As soon as you request it, Eric Bates we'll start pumping a keg through them.

John: And this actor playing the brother—

Marc: Uh, Eric Riedman, he was great, too. I mean, he really, really clicked with Tim in this scene. They really worked well together.

John: And it was interesting. We were trying to figure out—we had a great victim, but ordinarily our victim has already had the thing done to them, but in the design of this, you needed the victim to sort of be in suspension.

Amy: Yeah, we needed a proxy. And uh, the brother was sort of a great emotional investment tool for us.

John: Yeah. And Portland actor, just a really, really great job. That was a good, 'I hate that guy moment', when we made her pregnant. And uh—

Chris: And taking her house.

John: Take her house, don't leave money on the table.

Amy: I guess we should point out that, uh, I named a lot of these characters - with the exception of Dalton Rand, Luke Perry's character - after the assistants on our show.

John: Oh, this one is the one where we used all the—

Amy: Yeah, it's Wilson, it's Nicholas, and Ryan, and—

Chris: I love that logo there, by the way, that went by.

John: Oh yeah, who designed that? The great Dalton Rand logo?

Chris: Oh they did a great job.

John: It was actually designed by Derek, right? Our computer graphics guy?

Marc: Yeah, Derek Frederickson in Chicago.

John: He banged it up for us. And it is amazing, this is another one where you could assume we are doing one or the other of any of the very sundry famous psychics, but really they all use the same cons.

Amy: Yeah, they really do.

John: And I’ll also say, Derren Brown was a big influence on this episode.

Amy: Yeah, I think you and I are maybe a little too obsessed with Derren Brown, and uh—

John: He is dreamy.

Amy: He's dreamy and he's sort of an—

John: And a powerful, commanding presence.

Amy: And he's an expert in NLP, which a lot of the stuff we talk about in this episode is, and he debunks a lot of psychics and mediums and things of that sort.

John: That's a really interesting way, too, by doing shows that make it look like he has those abilities.

Amy: And Apollo Robbins, our consultant, was helpful in, sort of, submitting some great terminology for us to use throughout.

John: Oh yeah, that's right, the cold reading terminology, yeah. Um, now this, where was this set?

Marc: This was an actual cable access station that they, again, just opened the doors for us. We didn't have to change any of the logos or the numbers, the people working the camera are the actual camera crew—

Chris: Wow, that's great.

Marc: —of this station, they were wonderful.

Amy: They absorbed us into their own productions.

Chris: Just like Three Days of the Hunter, this is another example of Portland opening its doors to us.

Marc: So all those monitors, they had up and running and feeding through our system as well, it was great.

John: Now did you take a look at any of the extant shows, in order to, sort of, see how this works?

Marc: Uh, I did, and a lot of it at first was just to see the set. And everybody—once you start looking at their sets—were like 'oh, maybe ours is a little too pretty.' [All Laugh] Some of them were just like two chairs and an easel, with something leaning against it.

John: 'I'm gonna sketch what your dead mother is saying.'

Marc: And then our construction crew, you know, built the risers, so we can have some depth with the audience. This was a fun scene. It wasn't supposed to be a physical scene, but Eliot and Lathrop turned it into one, so it was kinda fun.

Chris: I love when he gets mad here.

Amy: This was supposed to be a con, and then it turned into something altogether different.

John: He's just really annoyed at that dude up in his face. And you know what's interesting is we- it was a little weird developing this, because all the tricks that a lot of fake psychics use—not the real psychics, of course, with giant lawyers behind them, but the fake psychics use—are actually techniques we use in the cons, and so it was kind of this weirdly recursive thing. It's like, we're kind of exposing to the audience how they do this, but we do it every week.

Amy: Yeah, we're exposing ourselves as much as we're exposing Dalton Rand here.

John: And this is where he goes into cold reading. What was the—and it's interesting, cold reading is a fascinating subject, there's actually a couple great books that Apollo Robbins hunted up, and the idea that just by playing the numbers, just by playing the odds, any one of these guys can hit at about 80 to 85 percent success rate.

Amy: Yeah, it's act- it's basically asking a series of questions, and, sort of, gauging reactions to people without knowing anything about them in advance. Whereas hot reads or warm reads, as they’re sometimes called, are basically doing your homework beforehand, and getting research on the people you're about to meet with and, sort of, using that knowledge to, sort of, manipulate them.

Chris: The hot read is really more what our guy's doing, which is kinda how this thing broke down in the episode, was when we hijack and sort of take it over and hot read.

Amy: Yeah. Well we, the team basically underestimates Dalton here, and he surprises them.

John: They think that once they throw him, they'll get him, and he's able to cold read Parker. Which is also a big thing, not just in anchoring Parker's story into the episode, but the show always works when the nemesis is a bit more formidable.

Amy: Absolutely.

John: And it was kind of important, especially since Luke's kind of a really nice, he's got a nice guy vibe, it was kinda really important to start to hammer in on the fact that this guy is as good as they are. If he knew they were coming, this would be a very different game.

Amy: And I think Tim is great in this scene, because he's playing the audience, he's like, ‘Wait a minute, like, we were supposed to come in and sort of take over this guy, and he's sort of manipulating Parker, and surprising me in turn.’

John: Wow, look at Beth there. She is working.

Chris: Now, how'd you work with her on this when you went into this scene?

Marc: Um, it was interesting, because the scenes we shot first are the scenes later where it was really emotional in the Leverage apartment, where she really broke down, so she was already at that place once, and she just brought it right back, and I think Luke worked really well with her.

John: I also like that beat in the van where Jeri sort of chose, it was a very nice choice, where Aldis has got Hardison really pissed off, and Jeri's just admiring the craft. She's not as emotionally invested in the team, so she can kind of step back and admire this guy's chops.

Marc: And this scene was just such a great scene where all of our actors work so well together in, not only just rehearsing it, but getting Beth to a certain place, you know, where she should be, they were all really emotionally involved in this, and took a lot of time to rehearse—

John: Probably took twice as long as we usually do to shoot this stuff.

Amy: Well yeah, it was the characters being really protective of Parker, and the actors being really protective of Beth, it was really great.

Chris: Well I think it was actually, when it was written, more angry. You know what I mean? And I think seeing the dailies, it was, like, she took it to this incredibly vulnerable place that I don't think it really was on the page.

John: Also big credit to Dean Devlin, because he also had pushed that.

Marc: He did, he did. And this was a great scene, we have all the emotional arc with Beth, but as you guys were just explaining, in the script we explain the hot read and the cold read and we break it all down.

John: Yeah, and this is—again, we are always agonizing over how to explain this stuff, and having someone with a specific emotional response or attitude in the scenes makes a giant difference. And having it be Parker, who the audience is very very fond of, really helps, you know. We're now dumping an enormous amount of exposition on your plate, and you don't care.

Chris: Right, because it's—you know, we're seeing her in this really, just devastated place.

Marc: And we just found out a lot about her past that we didn't know about.

John: And he—I love that look up, just like, ‘Help me out here, I got nothing.’

Chris: Well the thing about it, and we'll talk about it when we get there, but the way she plays the scene at the end, with the brother, really was informed by all this, which was not at all on the page at all.

Marc: Right.

Chris: Like, when she hugs the victim's brother, and we'll get there, it's as if she's hugging her own brother.

John: And also it's interesting, because—oddly, it certainly wasn't intended, but it's just the way TV shows evolve—it helps, sort of, explain her relationship with Eliot and Hardison, you know. That's sort of how she fell into that rhythm, and that sort of proxy family—

Chris: It was not intended.

John: I would like to say, I'd like to say it was a sort of subconscious Alan Moore idea space.

Amy: Speak for yourself Chris, I totally did that on purpose.

John: Like two years ahead, like two years in advance?

Chris: Oh sure. That's what you're supposed to do on these commentaries—

Amy: Yes, many many years.

Chris: —you're supposed to go 'well, you see, I laid these—'

John: 'So this moment, two years earlier—'

Amy: Reason we're awesome, number 427.

John: But here's what's amazing is, we really, we're always like, in the show, could we possibly fool people with this? And then when you do this, this explanation scene, could you possibly fool anyone? They do! This is how they do it! We're not making any of this up.

Amy: No.

John: If anything, we're giving them better tech.

Amy: We're giving them ideas on how to be better at it.

Chris: And by the way, from a technical standpoint, these scenes were very difficult to shoot because we're going from monitors to action—

Amy: To flashbacks.

Chris: —to flashbacks, very hard.

Marc: And they're all green screens on the day we're shooting them.

John: Oh that's right, we didn't have the footage.

Amy: Nothing was on these monitors.

Marc: Nothing is on the monitors.

Amy: All we had was a nice bulletin board.

Marc: Yeah, we had a little bulletin board to show that they had the seating chart. And here, one of my favorite lines is coming up, it's just a great release valve, with all this tension, and, and her emotions—crying.

John: Yeah, you can see her turning, too. There's the sort of old Parker coming back, and the anger kind of building up in her face.

Amy: Yeah it's like, wait a minute...

Marc: And then this line from Eliot. 'Can we kill him?' 

[All Laugh]

Chris: I think that was you.

John: Yeah that was, I think that was me. Quite sure. ‘Yeah, alright [Laughs] absolutely.’ I like, and Chris played it just right too, like...

Chris: Just a shrug.

John: And it's interesting, 'cause, that actually was intentional in the back half of the season this year. We really want to remind people, Eliot Spencer used to kill people. I mean, because it's really easy, because Chris is very charming, and he's very funny... yeah he was not a pleasant human being by any stretch of the imagination. And every now and then, you lose it a little, you know what I mean? You lose track of it, because he's such a nice guy. And who's that?

Marc: That is Lana Veenker, our casting associate there in good old Portland.

Amy: How did that come about? [Laughs]

Marc: You know what? We were just reading people and all of a sudden I'm like, ‘Why don't you read?’ 'No no no, I won't. Okay, gimme thirty seconds.' All of a sudden she read and we were like, 'Done.'

John: Done. We're out.

Chris: Didn't we write some pages where they have a long passionate kiss here? 

[All Laugh]

John: Yes, we did. We did—actually we didn't write them, you know, they were faxed in, and I don't know where they came from.

Chris: Handwritten.

Amy: Yeah I think it was a Portland IP address, somehow.

John: Yeah, it was a little creepy, to tell you the truth. [Amy Laughs] Ah, no. And this, uh—you know, we need a new name for the assistant who's not a Busey.

Chris: Uh... Well, I mean...

John: Because we've had a couple.

Chris: Lackey? It’s kind of a lackey.

Amy: Do people know—have we explained—

John: We've explained the Busey's on both seasons.

Amy: Okay good.

John: Uh, yeah, he's not quite a lackey, he's more of a henchman.

Chris: Henchman, yeah.

John: For those of you building the characters in Savage Worlds, he would have one wild die. [Laughs]

Amy: Lackies don't have lines, henchmen do.

John: Ah, there you go, good point.

Marc: And this scene as well, the opening scene in this office was shot at like, one in the morning, twelve o'clock at night, Luke's first day—

John: [Laughs] Welcome to Leverage, Luke.

Marc: Yeah, exactly. And he just rocked it out.

Amy: Yeah, he's great.

John: He landed unctuous. It was a pity because it was one of those performances where in the middle you're like, ‘Oh man, I love when we find an actor and we want to bring them back— oh wait, he's a villain.’ This almost never happens with villains.

Marc: Yeah.

John: Drew was the exception, but he was a good guy villain.

Chris: I think he mentioned that he was a—he is a con man here, and that he could always have a twin brother.

[All Laugh]

Amy: Without the beard and mustache.

John: This is, uh, I actually showed up on set, I think this day, or the—I flew in...

Amy: This was my first day too.

John: Yeah, and we arrived and Marc was in the middle of planning the most insane thing ever.

Amy: Well, the thing is, I put this camera move in the script thinking and hoping maybe just to freak Marc out—with no expectation that he could possibly pull it off—as a joke!

John: Oh like the giant blue whale structure.

Amy: Yeah, yeah, as a friggin joke, and then like, he shows me this move, and, like, I nearly died.

Marc: I thought about it, and I was like, ‘Well, can we do it?’ And our First AD David Wechsler and New York AD goes, 'Do you want it?' I'm like, 'Yeah.' He goes, 'Then we could do it.'

John: Yeah, Wex stops traffic in New York; stopping traffic in Portland wasn't—'cause that's what happened, I showed up and I'm like, 'I'm going to the set' and they're like, 'I'm sorry sir, you can't go. They stopped traffic.' 'Well I know, but I'm a writer' 'No no, they're doing some sort of s—' I'm four blocks away! What the hell?’

Chris: By the way, Jeri Ryan here, fantastic look from Nadine—

Amy: Yeah.

John: And she's also got a great character going here—

Marc: She looks fantastic.

Chris: Got a great character.

John: This is a softer character than Jeri usually gets to play, even in the cons.

Marc: A little hippie-ish, yeah.

Chris: The hair was great. I mean really, they nailed this.

Amy: Well Luke even comments on it, “It’s a little on the nose, but [laughs] it works for you.”

John: But that’s the idea, to just kind of you know, not try to overthink it.

Amy: Yeah, it’s great.

John: And it was interesting, again, the—Jeri was great for us and she was really fantastic all year, but you know one thing she mentioned is, she got to play roles that nobody usually lets her play, even within the cons.

Amy: Yup.

John: And there’s another clue for you, where she spent the last—the time before her con career.

Marc: And here comes the shot.

Amy: I’m excited just thinking about it.

John: I’m a little giddy. Yeah, there you go.

Chris: Oh, around the corner!

John: Now that’s all done in camera, so what happens is you have to have everyone within view of that camera freeze. And then the camera man basically runs, we put a steadicam through and then we digitally speed it up.

Marc: Poor Gary Camp.

Amy: Gary Camp!

John: Poor Gary Camp.

Chris: Now that I thought about it, I bet you in the finale that’s what prompted Dean to do that shot with Sterling. 

John: Right.

Chris: I bet Dean was like, he saw this and he was like ‘Oh you wanna try and top me with that? Well come and watch this!’

[All Laugh]

John: ‘I start and stop it four times!’

Chris: ‘I gave you your chance!’

Marc: But I don’t know, if you play it back you can see we also put some digital birds that are stopped—

John: Seriously? Like, if you slow-mo it you can see?

Marc: Yes. If you slow-mo it you’ll see two pigeons in the middle and we pass right past them.

Amy: That’s awesome.

John: I like the fact that, again, they’ve electrified the table, and that Nate is on board with Parker. ‘Cause again, that’s one of those little hints that Nate’s… sadism, for lack of a better word? is really starting to overtake his good judgment.

Amy: Yes. He’s—yeah it’s, little by little he’s starting to sort of fall to pieces here and sort of turn to the dark side.

John: Well, what’s nice is we started with the arc with the hospital one with- with the sadism, and then, you know, we had to sort of lean back on it for Gina’s arc. And then when we came back it was nice, that was basically the thrust of the back episodes. This was a lot of fun coming up with what the possible fucking visions could be. Oh that’s… I’m sorry, I’m drinking. [Amy Laughs] They’re used to me swearing on these by now! This really is like making, building a puzzle backwards.

Marc: This was really clever writing, and then to have the ability to shoot it was so much fun.

Amy: Aw. Thank you Rosky.

John: Yeah. We try to keep you entertained up there, after all your—this was only your fourth?

Marc: Yes.

Amy: Fourth episode?

John: Fourth episode, with no notice.

Marc: Yeah.

Amy: How was this episode different from the other three you’ve done?

Marc: It was fun to be in different places, you know, just to new places in Portland. It was fun to have a guest star like Luke to work with. And I loved having the emotional hook with Parker, ‘cause my first episode I did in the first season was a Parker episode, it was the Stork Job.

Amy: Oh! This is like your Parker bookend basically. That’s great.

John: Also it was interesting, watching with the sound off, I didn’t realize that’s one of the longest villain character scenes we’ve ever had. Like just when he’s parked there at the chair and she runs the con on him. Luke was really, really great.

Amy: He’s not bad to look at. [John Laughs] That’s kinda my job since you’re all dudes. [Laugh]

John: Well you know, I can appreciate a nice piece of man flesh as much as the next person. What is in this?

[All Laugh]

Marc: And the coffee finally spills.

John: And did we do the driving stunt there? No the driving—yes, the driving stunt’s after this.

Chris: It’s after this, yeah.

Amy: Yeah, yeah it was, the first part of it yeah.

John: But we shot it that day.

Amy: With the amazing, highly maneuverable Hyundai Genesis.

John: Hyundai Genesis was great. If you’re gonna murder someone with a car, the Hyundai Genesis is the way to go.

Marc: This was another local actor, I mean he just has… what a great face for television.

John: You know what, he looks a little like the British actor Peter Mullan actually, the guy who was on The Fixer?

Amy: He does! Yeah he does.

John: It’s really, I’ll tell you what Portland gave us - good cops.

Marc: Yes.

Amy: Oh yeah.

John: Our cops up there, ‘cause we just look at the Bottle show, and the three guys who played the Boston cops in the background, they’re just grounded.

Amy: This guy smells cop. [Laughs]

Chris: If you’re a cop-looking guy living in LA and you wanna get some work...

Everyone: Move to Portland.

Amy: We’ll employ you!

Chris: Just go! You listen to this right now? Load up the car, get up there! There’s work for you, my friend.

John: After these commentaries come out, people are gonna be on buses. There’s gonna be, like, bus tours for actors. And this was a lot of fun, was coming up—this was actually, I think we’d had the fortune cookie con in something. What was the story? Remember? We’d had it on the board for a while. The fortune cookies, the substituting.

Amy: Oh dude, so long ago; I wish I had the answer to that.

John: A lot of the, I mean that’s the thing is, there’s actually in the writer’s room a board of stuff.

Amy: Yeah.

John: And some of the stuff has been around long enough that it’s like, I know there was a provenance.

Amy: I think there was a fortune cookie con card.

Chris: Mm, I don’t know if a whole… might have been a story beat; it wasn’t a whole con.

John: Not a whole con, it was a story beat, yeah. But the idea of substituting—

Chris: This is a great- Here we go; here it is. [Laughs]

Amy: Look at it shining in the sun, beautiful.

John: And that’s a great—what was the choice on the, like in the moment, in the script it just says, ‘He realizes.’ How did you decide to go to the slow-mo and..?

Marc: I wanted to do a slow-mo in the 360; the world’s kinda spinning on him and just the— 

Amy: The camera’s a great touch, too. I like it.

Marc: Yeah, well I wanted the can to just show the proximity of how close he was, how much he’s tempted fate.

John: This was also one of the sequences that—who cut this?

Marc: This was Sonny.

John: This was one of the sequences where Sonny Baskin really, really, really slammed it together because this is always tricky, figuring out how the flashbacks work. In what order, in what pace, at what exact moment in the scene. And I think in the script we played around with showing some of it upfront, and then—

Chris: How much of the dialogue to replay was kind of the trick.

John: Exactly, how much we make sure the audience is following.

Marc: And I don’t think some people were understanding, like, why I took so long to shoot that car sequence when he stepped out. That it does play later, and it does have to have different feels and looks to it.

Amy: There’s two parts to it, yeah.

John: And again, this is another one where you have to anticipate, this guy checks credit reports, we know he checked the victim’s credit report earlier, you know.

Chris: And another thing is, one of the hallmarks of our show is that when we create a character, we don’t always create powerful con characters. We create characters that have vulnerabilities that our bad guys can exploit. So here, we created a fake story of her having bad credit and being in debt for hospital bills.

John: Yeah it’s like Chris in the MMA one, Kane, he plays in a very power-negative position in that. Pretty much every variant of a con character you can possibly find.

Amy: José! The name on the cup.

John: And Chris is ridiculously delighted to be doing this at this point actually. [All Laugh]

Amy: How can you tell?!

John: I think he’s just enjoying stealing—driving a truck to tell the truth. And I love the idea that Hardison would do this and this is just what he does. He spends his weekends filling fortune cookies with fake messages. He does all the grunt work.

Marc: That’s a good shot.

John: That is a great shot. And we’re locked in. And this was also tricky, too, because again, because the victim had not been burned yet, essentially, and it was a preventative con. It’s not something we usually do, and trying to figure out how to accelerate this con, and what exactly Con A was, was really—it kicked our asses to tell you the truth.

Chris: The danger was really the tricky part, when to introduce the danger.

John: And now we knew we wanted to do the maestro Hardison beat in this script. Marc, you had a very specific reference for this whole bit, which was the radio announcer in Warriors right?

Marc: Yes. 

John: Though Hardison is basically being a geek hacker—what year was that, 1980… Walter Hill, The Warriors…

Marc: Late 70s.

Amy: ‘79, or something. Around there.

John: Basically Marc reached back, like 35 years, and found himself a really great filmic reference for her side.

Chris: Well the key here is, the writing of it was making sure to go quickly from one, to the next, to the next.

John: Boom, boom, boom.

Chris: Each piece of information feeds to her, and she synthesizes it and comes to a conclusion.

John: It also helps explain how good Tara is.

Chris: Yeah.

John: She’s gonna run this con character as she’s getting all this crap dumped into her ear.

Amy: She’s playing vulnerable to him, but sort of expert to us.

John: I also love that he’s just given up at this point. We had not told the set people to put the orange soda in the fridge, but they just filled it and it just stayed that way for the year. I love that Nate’s just given up.

Chris: Yeah, this is Hardison’s war zone. He’s gonna need to be armed.

Amy: Gummy frogs, always important.

John: Gummy frogs, a call back from the magician episode. And Aldis really dug in there, really great job. Oh that’s Ire!

Amy: That’s Ire!

John: Was our…

Chris: Camera intern?

John: Camera intern, yeah. And she does some acting, and she was fantastic. 

Amy: Her audition was fantastic, yeah.

John: Yeah, that was one of the ones where it was like, ‘Okay we’ll audition you.’ At the end of the audition, ‘Wow…you have a career in this.’ [Laughs] But she’s going into camera work. She’s gonna, believe back this year as one of our camera people...

Chris: Oh she’s gonna come back? Oh that’s great.

John: And why the choices on the lights in the- the blue? Just liked it? Just like the set of one color tone?

Marc: Yeah, just liked it. Dave had an idea about it, and it just worked real well.

John: And it stayed consistent through this setting. It’s a very nice contrast with the sort of warm orange and wood tones of like, Nate’s apartment. It helps track locations a lot easier.

Marc: And Beth freaked out a lot of people when she walked on set with that wig.

Amy: Many many people did not recognize her.

John: I know, that’s really odd, right?

Amy: It was fun.

John: It’s a great wig.

Amy: Yeah it is.

John: Hair and makeup did a great job with that, ‘cause you guys sent me the photos and I was like, ‘I have to shoot the season finale. Did they cut her freaking hair?’ No, great wig. And this is hot read, this is our crew doing hot reads on the fly, and it’s a lot like the Bottle show, where it’s like, you can’t do the wire in two hours. In theory, you can’t hot read someone simultaneously as you’re conning them. Well, you know.

Amy: Maybe you can if you’re Leverage!

John: You’ve got the little camera movements here, is that, you tried to track those or do you just assume that Camp and—?

Chris: Yeah, you’re making sure as you move in one direction on one, you move in the other direction on the other?

Marc: Uh, a little bit. We always wanna keep the sliders going, just pushing in at the appropriate moments especially when Ire- I mean she just did such a great performance, and did it in one take.

Amy: One take; it was one take.

Chris: And didn’t you say to her, ‘Save a little bit ‘cause you may need to do this again’?

Marc: Yeah. I said, I said, ‘Don’t let it all out so fast.’ And Luke was so great with her. Knowing that... He’s seen her pulling cable, and all of a sudden she’s in front and having to break down.

John: He was great with her. Now here’s the thing, most people don’t know what sliders are, why don’t you explain what sliders are? Most people know cameras move left and right but they, you know-

Marc: Sliders are what we have on our dollies and tripods that allow the camera head to move, I guess laterally, left and right, in a fluid movement. Just drifting, so always- the background’s moving just ever so slightly, so it never looks too stale or stagnant. There’s my Warrior shot!

John: And I notice you punched in, like closer, closer, til you land on it. It’s very nice. Also, I like the fact that the name of the National Transportation Safety Board—is that, that’s the name of Parker’s friend from… Peggy Milbank, is like the name that’s coming up, that’s Parker’s friend from the first season.

Amy: Yeah, it’s sort of like a little inside joke.

John: And Hardison, ‘Get the hell out of my way.’ It’s interesting, this is a big, kind of, Nate as guardian episode, and he’s not driving it. It’s one of the great episode examples of where Tim Hutton and Nate kind of just ground it, is kind of the center of it. There’s Wade.

Amy: Wade Williams, awesome actor. Perfect for this role.

John: I was wondering how he would play this reaction, because she’s, you know, he’s giving her a line of bullshit, and he’s gotta, he’s in front of everyone.

Amy: Yeah, he knows he’s on camera.

John: That reminds me of that guy who proposed to his girlfriend at the basketball game and she turned him down.

Everyone: Oh yeah!

Marc: Then the mascot walks him off.

John: Just put a- just end it. No, Wade was fantastic, he’d just come off Prison Break? Wasn’t he a guard on that?

Chris: And we had a long search for that part, too.

John: Yeah, we read a lot of guys. Well, because the original dialogue was somewhat baroque. [Laugh]

Amy: It was! It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to pull off, which is why we ended up casting it out of LA. It was just a really meaty part.

John: Nice fight coming up here, by the way. They actually banged the hell out of that van. You had to hammer a dent out, didn’t you?

Marc: Oh yeah. Yes we did. 

John: Just every now and then you bounce a stuntie off a van. Jeri mixing it up. Jeri was in there, yeah. Good hit! 

Marc: Our local stunt actors and Kevin Jackson choreographed this. 

Amy: The moment where he, sort of, notes the tattoo on the guy’s hand.

John: It’s a nice beat. It’s interesting, the Portland stunt guys really dug in. Because we did a lot more stunts and a lot more fights than four or five movies that have shot up there combined, and they really rallied. They were fantastic. And this was the—

Chris: But here’s where he has to synthesize everything. I mean, now, you know, is where he really steps forward.

John: Well this is really where he digs in on the mastermind thing. This is a good, ‘Let me get this straight’ scene. This is a nice- the ‘let me get this straight’ scene is where you just reset for the audience, you know, just reset the stakes, reset the plot.

Amy: Also known as ‘So you’re telling me.’

Chris: It’s a general rule of writing to show, not tell, and the exception to that rule is when the situation is either so absurd or entertaining that you get a second laugh on the retelling of it.

Amy: Just commenting on it.

John: ‘I wanna get this straight,’ yeah. And you can also hide it in planning, or when the characters don’t have enough information. But no, because the episode at this point—

Chris: There it is, I think she just said ‘so let me get this straight.’ 

[All Laugh]

John: ‘Cause this is the point where the episode becomes an entirely different episode, because the first con worked. Again, because that’s always the trick on these, like, in theory you don’t want something to just fall out of the sky and be wrong.

Amy: Well they basically had Dalton Rand in the bag, and then, a totally unexpected-

Everyone: It worked too well.

John: This was a lovely shot. Marc?

Chris: Oh, I love this.

Marc: This was, I wanted to try and get this in one steadicam shot and just show the energy and movement throughout. I mean we spent so much time in this apartment that it’s fun to try and mix it up again.

Chris: Oh here we go, and up the stairs!

John: Nice, how many takes was that?

Marc: I think we did it in about three or four takes.

Amy: That’s crazy.

Chris: That was it? Now that was planned as a one- or, or was that just the end of the day, we gotta get this shot?

Marc: No, that was planned. That was one shot I wanted to try and do that had a little more energy and fun to it. 

John: Marc’s lived at that set for a lot of shots, he wants to vary it up a little.

Amy: Time to mix it up. 

Marc: And this, this was an idea that Connell had. When he saw the location and the time we’re shooting at, he said, ‘Let’s establish their faces,’ and then just, she’s walking into darkness.

John: Just bump into silhouette.

Chris: And she’s in boots, so let’s pan out from them, so, let’s be honest.

Amy: That’s what boots are for.

Marc: This happened to be in the paper factory.

John: Is this the The Bottle Job paper factory?

Marc: Yes, it’s just the area that didn’t have paper. 

[All Laugh]

John: Now, yes, now we’re basically—yeah, there you go. He’s really digging in on this. ‘Come, come join me!’

Marc: And that was his idea, he said, ‘Get the lady a chair!’

John: This entire speech, I think I did drunk. 

Amy: This was me taking notes on a notepad when you were drunk in the writer’s room, reeling off this speech. 

Chris: It was a big debate about the- about what we- this guy, what was called in the writer’s room the evil scary guy.

John: Evil scary guy.

Chris: The appearance of evil scary guy. We typically don’t have dangerous villains appear late in episodes. Usually we’ve established them and so this was the idea that we were gonna have evil scary guy come at this point in the episode and you know, put everyone in mortal danger. And you went off in a very oddly baroque manner.

John: Yeah. I really—‘cause what I was doing was actually making fun of the idea. Because I was like, ‘Seriously guys, we’re gonna do this? Some guy’s gonna show up and go ‘Gentlemen, I have a problem!’’ And I basically did this speech with, like, a fistful of scotch, and Berg and Chris sat on the same side of the table and they both looked at me and went, ‘Yeah.’

Chris: ‘Yeah, yeah if you like that. That’s great.’

John: ‘Pretty much. Exactly like that. Thanks gentlemen. Debate’s over.’

Chris: ‘Debate’s done.’

John: ‘Debate’s done. That was entertaining, we all enjoyed it, therefore it is in the episode.’

Marc: This was fun to shoot; we had a circle track with, you know, two cameras and two separate dollies.

John: Wait, at the same time?

Marc: Yes.

Chris: Wow.

John: Oh, Jesus Murphy. So where is the circle track laid down, it’s on the outside of this beam?

Marc: On the outside of the beam, and yeah, just around everybody. 

John: Two sizes.

Marc: Yeah, two sizes. And then at one point towards the end we, you know, change direction, just to mix it up a bit. But it was fun to have this type of villain. In the beginning we’re dealing with someone who’s smart, looking at bank statements, and now we’re dealing with a guy with a gun and thugs, who spent time in upstate New York.

John: Yeah, and he really sold it. And also it- the rule is: the villain has to suffer. And interestingly enough, we started Darlton Rand’s suffering really early in this episode. His loss of power here is really, he has just a bad back two acts. And Luke played it very nicely. Like right here, where he’s trying to keep control.

Marc: Yeah, when he’s trying to keep control, and he’s still trying to sell the idea that he’s the psychic. 

John: Wade is terrifying. That was nice, picking up around here as she was dropping into it; that was very nicely done.

Marc: Yes, Gary Camp and Dave Connell.

Chris: Now how long did this take? Do you remember how many takes you did with this, with the circle track?

Marc: I think this scene, we… I believe we did it in just over an hour. Yeah, but it’s a lot of dialogue, and Wade did such a great job because, you know, he had to do it so many different times.

John: And there’s a lot of looks in this. There’s a lot of angles in this.

Amy: He just cracks me up.

John: Yeah, he does. He’s so happy. Yeah, you gotta bang them up from both sides, you’ve gotta pick him up talking to them. There’s no good way except a circle track to shoot that.

Marc: Yeah. I think that Jeri sells this really well in this scene.

John: She does. A little distressed, a little—

Marc: Yeah he’s walking in one direction, no, it’s not, this way. And it’s nice seeing, shooting over, oops, too early.

John: It’s always a little too early. A little too early.  Timing is a big part of the show. And yeah, fainting damsel never, never fails. 

Amy: Best stall ever.

John: Where was this? Was this, like, the storage unit place? Or this was on the road outside?

Marc: Uh, this wasn’t far from our sound stage.

John: Really? Really, we shot near the sound stage?

Chris: We got a lot of mileage within a couple hundred yards of our sound stage.

Amy: Clackamas.

John: Beautiful scenic Clackamas. And this actually, the fake registration idea came from Darwyn Cooke’s comic book adaptation of Parker. The Donald Westlake novel. In the opening of it, remember, he has the thing with Parker and—it’s one of my favorite starts to a novel, Parker’s walking into New York on the Brooklyn Bridge, like, but on the street? And people are—So what happens is, in the 1960s, he goes and gets his replacement driver’s license, and then he ages it. Because… and we spent a little time in the room like, what doesn’t have your picture on it? What can we age believably that, and, yeah that was where the idea came from. And then constructing this backwards to get the series of clues was- was a long afternoon.

Amy: Yeah, that was a tough—but then we broke this episode in one day, so it wasn’t that tough.

Marc: But I wasn’t allowed to break the window.

Amy: Oh that’s right, I remember that. Yeah, we had to, she had to jimmy it open.

Chris: ‘Cause that glass is expensive.

John: Breakaway glass is not cheap. Uh, there’s something creepily sexual about this exchange.

Chris: ‘Can I have your overalls?’

Amy: Yeah, and the look on Tim’s face, too.

John: Yeah, well I think that might not be the matching dialogue with that take, ‘cause I think it got a little dirty in that shot. Now this is a great location. I think we actually broke into a couple of storage units for this. People don’t mind, it’s Portland, they’re totally cool with us doing that. Good stall, and then we finally get Nate into a costume for the stall. Storage units, the anonymity of modern life is the key to Leverage. Storage units, cell phones, instant messaging, email, you know, I don’t think you could do this show in the 50s. And there you go, yeah.

Chris: Here he is.

Marc: Uh-oh. Gun, danger.

John: And, is that Dashiel Hammett or Raymond Chandler’s rule?

Amy: Yeah, Dashiel Hammett’s.

John: Dashiel Hammett. When in doubt, have a guy enter with a gun. And we actually have on the board in the writers room, ‘Man entering with gun > man exiting with gun.’ You have to understand, dude coming in… And Tim has an enormous amount of fun.

Chris: And this is his fumfering bureaucrat.

Marc: This was a fun shot to do. Craning up just to see, and then that’s the CG building that we added in the background.

Chris: That’s right, to set up the ending.

John: Yeah, in the original ending it was all done through remote camera, and then Dean suggested that we actually put it, attached it to it, and since cable access shows are shot in the middle of fricking nowhere, it actually worked out fine. And whenever- Oh, there you go.

Amy: Well I think Dean’s idea of that was just, sort of, to give our villain a bigger comeuppance, if he had to, sort of, face his victims...

John: Face-to-face. And that’s interesting ‘cause we always go like, you need the gloat, but you also need the suffering. And in the non-him-showing-up version, we had—

Amy: It was basically just the gloat, yeah. I mean he still ends in jail, but.

John: We have the people upset, but you know, you don’t get him looking them right in the eye.

Marc: Small spaces to work in. 

[All Laugh]

Chris: How was it like, shooting the storage locker?

Marc: It was a little tough.

Amy: I remember this day.

Marc: You know, it was a double, but we just made it look like one, so we had room to always just have the camera on one side.

Amy: Yeah, there was actually another storage locker that opened up right next to this, to the left, so we could have somewhere to switch the cameras.

John: So did you throw up like a half-wall over on that side, or is it just, stack some boxes to feel like-

Marc: We just stack some boxes and just move the camera, but you’ll notice the camera’s usually on that side, looking that direction.

Chris: And here’s where he’s really starting to lose it, ‘cause he does have an arc, from inexplicably baroque, to just completely losing it.

John: No, he totally sold this. There’s no doubt about it whatsoever. And you guys took what was a joke pitch and turned it into a real character. That was just me on a long drunken rant. I’m inexplicably baroque, in the room, often! 

Amy: This is, by the way, true. 

John: Yeah. And Luke, losing it. Really the whole confession, the whole begging; he really sold it.

Marc: And of course, you know, time constraints. His stuff was shot all at night, hers was all in the daytime.

Amy: Of course. That’s how it works.

John: Really? So looking at Luke, you were looking, you had night behind you looking out?

Marc: It was night.

Chris: Here we go.

John and Chris: Det cord. 

[All Laugh]

Amy: Det cord is great. 

Marc: Our friend for the back half of season uh—

Amy: Thank you MythBusters for det cord.

John: Thank you MythBusters for showing us how det cord worked and how effectively—

Amy: I think I pulled that from a YouTube video.

John: Yeah, well we started with Thermite, remember? ‘Cause I remember how it melted through the car and you were like, ‘No, that’s too huge’, and you found us some det cord.

Marc: Here I just wanted to have a shot of Eliot’s arms.

John: So here’s a little something for the ladies, as my wife says. And now, this is very flashback heavy, but it’s all in continuity. You did a nice job of making sure we’ve seen just enough of these that we never floated. ‘Cause sometimes it’s like, ‘Oh god, do we know exactly where we are in this flashback?’

Chris: I think we compressed a little of it in editing too. I think there was a little bit more and we kind of just moved it all.

Amy: Yeah, there’s a lot more here than…

John: Ah, the network is unhappy; they’re gonna go get one of these real psychics now, not a fake psychic like this.

Chris: And then we get to see our victim again, and our other victim.

John: The proxy victim. 

Amy: And the camera lady’s like, ‘I don’t wanna be part of this,’ backing out of the scene.

John: And the begging and the pleading. There you go. And there’s all the people who’ve been hurt. 

Chris: The man from Michigan. 

John: Did he stay in a hotel? Why is he still there? He got his reading yesterday. I don’t remember why he…

Chris: He wanted to come back; he had more to find out.

John: I guess so, I guess so.

Marc: This is always fun when you shoot things on two different days, that end, and that end.

Chris: Is Tim looking at a tennis ball, what do you do?

John: Is that like Jurassic Park? Or it’s like this tennis ball on a hockey stick is Chris’ hair. ‘Just track this.’

Chris: You just make sure your script supervisor takes good notes of uh...

John: Look at that, you’re shooting past the car! He’s in the car. 

Chris: Nice, I never would have known that.

John: Nicely done. And this is actually, you know what? The president of the network the other day mentioned how much he loves the scenes where they’re all there. Where the guy actually, like, sees the whole- the whole con.

Amy: The family gloat, as opposed to just the singular gloat.

Marc: That’s the way we pull off this show in seven days - cheating.

Amy: Cheating very cinematically.

John: I prefer to call it cable awareness.

Amy: Cable awareness? Nice.

Marc: Now I think this next scene in the bar is, I think, one of my favorite wrap-up scenes that I’ve got to direct.

Amy: It’s one of my favorite, too.

Marc: It was one of these days where it was- there were so many tears on set.

John: We were coming to the end, too; we were getting there. Everyone was kind of rung up and spun up.

Marc: But everyone just, you know, Tim and Jeri and Beth and everybody, our guest actors, everybody just came in so strong and it was great.

John: This speech, by the way, you can really tell Tim’s a dad. That’s really how he lands this speech, it’s like, yeah.

Chris: Well the story, it’s an interesting story because the little peanut butter bit, a very good friend, a writer friend, Steve O’Donnell, who is a long time Letterman writer, and he has a twin brother Mark O’Donnell—also a writer, wrote the book to Hairspray. And I remember talking to him one time about the closeness of the two of them, and he said that they’re so close, that if you laid out peanut butter, that somebody spread on different pieces of bread, he could pick out his brother’s peanut butter. And it always stuck with me that that is something that, when I was writing this scene, that there’s just things that you see in your child that you just recognize from yourself or your father, and it has nothing to do with what you did, it’s all biological. And that was really, it did a beautiful job with it.

John: Nice landing on that. And Jeri there, by the way, she’s got a little glisten going there; she got a little moist.

Chris: And here’s this moment that was not scripted at all. Well, not intended in the script, but just through the acting.

John: But that was nice. Jeri landed the arc. She kind of completed Tara’s arc through there. 

Chris: Yeah, she got it.

John: She had gone through all six episodes and she, you know, a lot of actors would come in and take up the space and say thanks for the job, but she really put in the work from [unintelligible].

Chris: There it is. I mean, that’s like...

John: I mean, she’s breaking your heart there.

Chris: She’s hugging her brother.

Marc: And I just gotta make sure that she makes that eye contact with Nate.

Chris: And it was all because that part about her brother was added after that scene was written, but she brought it together in this moment.

John: It’s a lovely beat. We have very, very good actors.

Marc: Then we release the valve and let you chuckle here.

Chris: Yes. We call it, in the comedy business, a treacle cutter.

John: A treacle cutter, yeah. And also Kane really lands these beats. He really- it goes from a smile, all the way to annoyed. He hits both of the crucial Eliot beats here. It’s the grin, and then, ‘I’m gonna kick your ass.’ He really hits all the bases on that one.

Chris: And we kind of end on her surrogate brother here.

John: Yeah. Who she may sleep with. Still haven’t decided that.

Amy: It’s a little incestual.

John: Yeah, you know, all television’s a little incestual. 

Chris: Oh they’re all...

John: What, they’re all sleeping together, is that what you meant? What’s going on up there?

Chris: No, that’s—Come on. It’s like Star Wars.

John: Oh there you go, that’s perfectly legit. Anything you want to say to the nice folks?

Amy: Thanks everybody.

Marc: Thank you. It was a great episode to work on. 

Chris: Thank you guys.

John: And actually thanks for David Wechsler, ‘cause he came in late and really helped us out on that. Really good job. And hopefully Luke Perry will be back. Less evil.

Chris: As his twin brother.

John: There you go.

Chris: Why not?

[july-19th-club]

do i actually particularly value your opinion on media or do we just have the same birthday? i guess we'll never know! but you steered me well on soc so: i tried watching the first episode of leverage but i could not get into it because 1. gender and 2. it seemed like it was being silly when it should have been serious and serious when it should have been silly. do you have takes on this? is there a later episode i should have tried for my first go? whats the recipe for enjoying leverage

honestly unless you’re REALLY into the specific genre of ‘underproduced corporate thrillers from the early-mid aughts’ then you’re *not* gonna enjoy the leverage premier enough to be interested in the rest of the show, but you, zezander, are in luck because this ask has functioned as a sleeper phrase that triggers the release of the July’s Leverage Greatest Hits List, which i will herewith paste below. i’ve only listed episodes i think are really worth slowing down and enjoying, and i’ve included a few notes with each one as to why i think it’s worth the time; note that s1 was not released in the same order as it was aired so the order you watch it in literally does not matter at all except for the finale. without further ado:

SEASON ONE:

The Miracle Job (the first episode where things really have a rhythm; nate backstory that doesn’t suck eggs)

The Stork Job (strong parker/hardison ep.)

The Wedding Job (CHEESY - but extremely fun)

The Juror #6 Job (one of my personal favorites because i love a good trial bit)

The First David Job & The Second David Job (two-parter & v. good; maggie is here)

SEASON TWO:

The Order 23 Job (funny and fucking weird as hell)

The Fairy Godparents Job (another funny one & surprisingly touching)

The Three Days of the Hunter Job (god this one is weird. I love it)

The Two Live Crew Job (rival heist crew; sexy)

The Lost Heir Job (TARA! introduces one of my favorite characters)

The Bottle Job (the gold standard for bottle episodes and simple cons you can run at home)

The Future Job (STRONG parker ep. about fake psychics) 

and honestly at this point just finish out the season it’s plottier but still good + i love jeri ryan

SEASON THREE:

The Reunion Job (another sneaky parker/hardison ep.)

The Inside Job (clever escape episode; not really a heist)

The Scheherazade Job (the hardison’s unearthly violin solo episode)

The Studio Job (lots of people really like this episode and it’s good, I just don’t watch it often because i don't really like country music. Alona Tal is in it tho and i love her)

The Rashomon Job (told in flashbacks from each character’s perspective; very clever)

The King George Job (hardison hacks history; his arms look great in that tank top)

The Morning After Job (a very clever con)

The San Lorenzo Job (OH this fucking episode. It’s just very well put-together and Goran Visnjc is the big bad he’s all throughout the season really. sophie SHINES)

SEASON FOUR:

The Long Way Down Job (emotional parker/eliot ep; features extreme winter mountaineering)

The Van Gogh Job (fan favorite; hardison & parker play star-crossed lovers in wwii)

The Hot Potato Job (fun roleswap ep. for sophie)

The Grave Danger Job (emotional hardison/parker ep.)

The Queen’s Gambit Job (incredibly clever sterling episode, good parker/hardison content)

The Experimental Job (this one is good but it’s a Lot for me; i’m not sure why that is tho. premise: the team infiltrates a psychological experiment, requiring hardison to go undercover as a frat boy and eliot as one of the experiment ‘volunteers’)

The Office Job (fan favorite; heist shot like the office; just a fucking bucket of fun. The Sandwich(™) is here)

The Girl’s/Boy’s Nights Out Jobs (two-parter - the team splits up for extracurriculars; return of tara and harley)

The Gold Job (hardison runs the con roleswap ep.; some good parker/hardison/eliot)

The Last Dam Job (lots of old recurring characters in this one, incl. Tara and Mr Quinn)

SEASON FIVE:

The French Connection Job (eliot goes undercover as a chef; eliot ensues)

The Gimme A K Street Job (extremely clever episode about cheerleading)

The D.B. Cooper Job (another good flashback-starring-the-team ep. a la the van gogh episode)

The Broken Wing Job (bottle episode *man punching stage* TWO)

The Rundown Job (thee ot3 episode; lots of good parker/hardison/eliot stuff; biological warfare) 

The Frameup Job (the last sophie’s art theft adventures job & quite fun)

The White Rabbit Job (team confronts the ethics of pulling off the world’s toughest con)

The Long Goodbye Job (series finale, emotional and also quite good)

as you can see, i really like season four, and i’ll be the first to admit that the show has a slow start. but there are gems all throughout and i hope this helps break it down/give you a starting point! 

[giffingthingsss]

J/C, C/7, and Me

Disclaimer: I am not necessarily a J/C shipper. I just have eyeballs and enjoy the show. Long ass post. 

In the Beginning

Was a Janeway/Chakotay romantic plot baked in? I tend to think not. At least not at the very start. But this is pure speculation on my part.

If romance is your goal, then it’s much more interesting to have Chakotay not immediately being 100% supportive. (An AU where they never get lost and it’s just Janeway pursuing this Maquis leader and maybe eventually being persuaded and helping him, please.) 

I think initially they were flirting with the idea of Janeway/Paris. The character of Tom was described as being a potential love interest for Janeway. That idea doesn’t seem to have made it past the character sketches, but you can see a trace element of it in the very beginning. 

The writers played with a number of character combinations. A pretty natural chemistry was cropping up between Captain and First Officer. Little things were dropped into scripts. Performances certainly came across as interested, whether intended or not, who knows. 

Ramping Up

Where before there were hints and moments, Resolutions kicks off a series of flashing red sirens.

From this episode on there would be declarations of... ‘you bring me true peace’, and ‘I’m frickin jealous, okay?’ and bawling declarations of ‘you can’t die!’ These developments are not in the shipper’s imagination. They’re building toward something. Clearly. Obviously. Said all the people with eyes. 

For the first couple seasons, Janeway being engaged kind of kept this at bay. But now they’re fully playing with it. 

Road Block

However, Kate Mulgrew (and maybe others, I dunno) was like, ‘sure. develop the relationship. but no sex. the first female captain isn’t going to be having booty calls in the ready room. not gonna happen. people are going to take this captain seriously.’

So they played with it here and there, but it could only go so far. Kate seemed to want the best of both worlds. A deep, complicated, growing relationship, that never tipped over into the sexual. Her focus was on getting the crew home. 

Beltran flat out says (in one of the books I own that I don’t feel like digging out) that Chakotay was in love with her. But Beltran was getting frustrated. When Year of Hell came around, he apparently called up the writers and said, ‘how long is this guy gonna keep throwing himself at a woman who never reciprocates? it’s getting pathetic. either do something with these two or don’t.’ 

Loner Janeway

Along the way, I think Kate became enamored with the idea of the loneliness of command, the sacrifices it entails. Fell in love with the poignancy of it all.

This is not something that’s out of character for Janeway. Beyond the fact that in the beginning she was engaged, pairing off was a luxury she didn’t think the captain had. So any kind of romantic relationship she might pursue would have to start with her being broken out of that mindset. 

That’s basically what Resolutions did. Once they finally pried Voyager out of her fingers, you could see a burgeoning love very clearly. But then Voyager came back. And with it her... resolutions. 

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

If they had wanted to snip it and move on, they should have had that conflict between Janeway and Chakotay at some point. Perhaps after Beltran called them up and said, ‘hey. Make up your minds.’ 

Have the characters actually talk about it and reach a conclusion and there ya go. But maybe the writers just didn’t know wtf they wanted to do with it and wanted to leave their options open. And then did nothing at all. 

Me, a Non-Shipper

Personally, I tend to agree with the Mulgrew side of things (and can also see why Beltran would be bored with the eternal holding pattern and not mind when they said ‘hey, you can kiss Jeri Ryan.’)

They developed the Tom/B’Elanna romance, which was great. We didn’t need non-stop romantic plots. I think the shippers could understand Kate’s reasoning and were willing to go with the slow burn...if the writers had actually sat down and decided that’s what they were doing. If only they hadn’t dropped the ball at the very end.

Here’s the thing: if you build up a relationship like that, you can’t be upset when people notice. And you can’t give up on it behind the scenes without telling the audience on screen. ‘There are some lines we never cross’ might have been an attempt, but was too late. And was certainly not closure. The audience deserved better. 

C/7? WTF!?

Well, if you thought there was no build up for it, it’s because there wasn’t. If you felt like it was whirlwind and came out of nowhere, it’s because it was, and it did. Apparently even in the writer’s room. 

Brannon Braga wanted Seven to die in the finale. He was writing her episodes to gear up for that. Human Error, the episode where Seven experiments with romantic ideas with a holographic Chakotay (with a kiss that was apparently the result of a dare Beltran made to Jeri), was written with Seven’s death in mind. It wasn’t supposed to be the opening salvo of an actual relationship. 

I think Seven of Nine should have bit the dust. I think there had to be a real sacrifice for this crew getting home, a real blood sacrifice. Seven of Nine was, for me, designed to be a character that was gonna die tragically. I planned that.... There’s an episode called Human Error that I wrote...she's trying to feel emotions. She actually succeeds and then almost dies. She learns there’s a Borg implant, that if she becomes too human, it will kill her. And it was that moment in my mind that would set up the finale, where she realized she can’t live here, she can’t live there. And she dies getting her family home. - Brannon Braga

I’m glad they didn’t go that way for various reasons. I love Endgame as it is. But it’s interesting to know the thought process. They weren’t gearing up for romance, they were aiming for tragedy. At least Braga was. 

Human Error was only about six episodes from the end. At the time of that writing, that's what was in at least his head. 

Human Error was not written with an eye toward a C/7 future. Without that episode I doubt highly C/7 would have been a thing. And it wasn’t even written to make it a thing.

Endgame obviously didn't go that way. Janeway-palooza instead. So. What do we do now? What to do with Seven? And from here on, all I have is speculation.

Retooling

'Well, we've got this holodeck scenario from the episode we wrote when we were planning to kill her off that hints that she might like Chakotay. So. I guess we'll go with that.' 

It appears to me that they retooled recently written story elements to fit their ending, to provide more motivation for that ending.

They picked the three people it would kill Janeway most to lose. Tuvok, obviously. An ongoing torment, visiting him every week. Seven dies (a remnant of plan A) and in a sense takes Chakotay with her. 

This is all fuel for Admiral Janeway without making it about saving her lover (unless you’re a J/7 shipper, in which case, hog heaven).

When you think of it only in terms of ‘what can we do to make the finale work’, it’s not terrible. When you think of it in terms of seven preceding years, it doesn’t work at all. They got myopic. 

In hindsight I think the writers could probably admit it was a mistake in terms of the show, and they should have resisted the urge to do something that was thrown together and jarring rather than nothing at all with Seven.

Gossip

Apparently neither Mulgrew or Beltran were opposed to C7 in the end. Maybe because they had at points been a bit frustrated with each other behind the scenes. Whether those frustrations were forefront in anyone’s mind at the time, idk. 

I tend to think Kate really was over the idea of Janeway’s destiny having much to do with romance at all.

It is interesting that when Seven first arrived on the show, Kate specifically mentioned not wanting the writers to throw her with Chakotay. At that point perhaps feeling a tad possessive. Perhaps didn’t want him ‘sullied’ by the busty blonde.

But this was seasons in the past by the time the finale rolled around, and I doubt highly it had anything to do with anything. Who knows. 

Me on Endgame

Personally, I'm glad Endgame was a Janeway palooza. I love 99% of Endgame. I’m glad it was about Janeway vs.Janeway vs. Borg Queen. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be about J/C either.

But if you’re not willing to go there, leave it then to the imagination. It's cruel to basically tell your audience that these two would be together if not for their delta quadrant circumstances, and then rip the rug from under them the second they get to the quadrant where this romance is supposed to be possible. Not cool, man. Not cool. 

When I first saw Endgame (as a non-shipper with eyes) C/7 was jarring and weird. But I thought the scene where Seven was distancing herself was well acted and stirred up an emotion or two (even if it was a little histrionic, considering they'd just started dating). So I wasn’t throwing things at my television. Just confused.

I also basically dismissed their future relationship. They got home after like one date, not ten years of marriage. And now their lives will completely change. So I just kind of hand-waved it away. "It did its job for the episode, but the future's changed and they won't last. So whatever."

Headanons on Janeway’s romantic reasoning and original timeline reaction to C/7

Captain Janeway had no idea how long it would take to get back home. Obviously you hope for tomorrow, but it could be twenty years from now. She resigned herself to not pursue romance. Her sole purpose in life was to get the crew safely home.

So I speculate her reaction to C/7 would be quite stoic. She would recognize it’s not fair for him to just pine away, possibly forever. That she has made this choice and he shouldn't have to be alone because of it. Her being alone is just part of the price she must pay, the burden she must bear. Her own wants and needs must take a backseat. She has greater responsibilities.

In fact, I can see her encouraging C/7. She would see it as a form of selfless love. ‘It doesn’t matter that he’s with me; it matters that he’s happy.’ Of course feelings would rear their heads from time to time, but she would quickly corral them into that channel.

Lots of lovely internal martyrdom. She would make it her mission to make sure they were both okay and happy. A bit of a masochistic streak that she buries under a sense of nobility and sacrifice.

This is the kind of angle I think Mulgrew came to prefer. That lovely little tragic pang. She loves drama, if nothing else.

“It’s a lonely thing, but I’m gonna get this crew home.” - Kate Mulgrew

“You always made it hard for yourself. If there was a rocky path and a smooth one, you chose the rocky one every time.” - Coda

This is a woman with a lot of love to give. But finds herself, or perhaps unnecessarily forces herself, depending on your view, in a place where that’s not a possible life choice. So those instincts expand outward, enveloping them all. She finds fulfillment in the well-being of the crew and the ship as a whole. 

Post Endgame

Their trip was shortened by a lot because of Endgame. The future is no longer written in stone. So the possibilities are endless, the sky’s the limit. And apparently Seven’s a lesbian (I haven’t seen it, but I hear tell). So. There ya go. 

(She is crying here, btw. I never noticed before I did that episode and feel the need to point it out once again. Lest anyone else still not have noticed.) 

If you actually read this whole thing, congratulations. Hopefully it made sense. I now continue with my rewatch and probably won’t talk much about this in the future. Unless something new comes up, I’ll just continue to be a non-shipper with eyeballs, enjoying whatever’s around. 

[isagrimorie]

I keep going back to what Kirsten Beyer said in the BTS for Stardust City Rag

Kirsten Beyer: "What we expect of our Star Trek heroes is that they will be able to overcome the very natural Human instincts that would in that case demand revenge." [snip] "I'm torn because my lifelong love for Star Trek tells me the same thing that the reason these people are our heroes is because they always manage to find their way to the light. But what a show like Picard is very intentionally and conscientiously doing is making the darkness a little bit deeper and darker. I sort of understand the necessity of a story like this."

Beyer hinted how much she struggled with this choice and writing this story for Seven. She gets why but it's something I feel she still struggles with because when David Mack wrote Firewall -- Beyer made sure to walk Mack back when he had a scene where Seven just killed a lot of people and walked it off.

Mack gave credit to Kirsten for pulling him back from that and how Kirsten made sure to note that 2 years post-Voyager, Seven of Nine wouldn't be just cavalier about killing people.

And that in Stardust City Rag Seven was driven to that point.

I've now read Kirsten Voyager's relaunch novels and I get why Kirsten had some reservations.

As for Jeri Ryan, as an actress, of course, she loves this kind of stuff-- the more gut-wrenching, the better the acting exercise it is for her. The one Jeri Ryan had trouble with is Seven's new speech pattern. It's only when Jonathan del Arco shared the insight that Seven might have just been masking/becoming more Human for survival

Personally, I don't have a problem with Seven killing Bjayzl, the cold open has given enough reason why Seven would.

Although I don't think Seven killed Bjayzl's guards.

When Seven killed Bjayzl her blaster (phaser?) color was red:

And then when the guards stormed in, Seven's blaster colors turned blue:

So she was, at most, stunning them on her way out.

Seven executed Bjayzl but only Bjayzl. She played judge, jury, and executioner but also as Seven said in that part of the 'verse (I refuse to consider Freecloud as part of the Federation) there was no law.

Also, killing Bjayzl might have also stopped the Borg harvester operation-- at least in her organization.

Anyway, I wish we saw Seven's soul searching after she killed Bjayzl.

How she went from here:

To this moment in the season finale of Picard s1:

I can make the leap in my head how Seven got there -- how after so many years of searching Bjayzl finally got her revenge and in the end... apart from the moment of satisfaction. It didn't really assuage her pain.

But on the show, we didn't really see this soul searching onscreen since Seven wasn't a main character in Picard s1 -- on Voyager we would be following her all the way to the end of the episode. But also, the show was called "Picard" not "Seven of Nine". And it only had 10 episodes, there's not enough runway to showcase this.

One of my favorite moments in The Originals is after finally enacted her vengeance on someone who made it impossible for Hayley to be with her infant daughter.

And how in the end, that revenge didn't even do anything.

I feel Seven needed to walk that dark path, so she could find her own way back, following her own road out.

/ETA

[ussjellyfish]

Hey hi! I'd like to request the fan asks (favorite male character, favorite female character etc) for ST:TNG or ST:VOY, please (your choice)!

I had this ages, and then got distracted and it's such a nice ask! (thanks for your patience! and asking!

Favorites from TNG and VOY: (so under a cut but I got wordy)

Favorite Female Character: When I was very little, it was Deanna, because she seemed so nice and had a great smile. I also have a difficult relationship with my mother.

Currently, it's Beverly Crusher, because she has this crappy self-made vibe to her, and she rocked the single mom thing and that's my life so...she's also funny and has this fragility about her that I find fascinating and compelling. Part of her has retreated, she's known loss, she's also so kind and empathetic and caring. She'd be an amazing Captain and should show up in new trek as one.

Favorite Male Character: My favorite TNG character has fluctuated. It was Riker when I was very small because he was funny and kind and I was rather afraid of Picard, he was so serious. Data was my brother's favorite (and I have three brothers so we share things but all having different things). Geordi was middle brother' favorite, then youngest brother liked Worf.

I had a Picard is so soft actually, period when I was really into Picard/Crusher, and he's VERY hard to write because he's so intelligent and thoughtful and well-read.

Now, I'd definitely say Riker, and that's so much because of Jonathan Frakes, who is wonderful and charming and funny, and how Riker is such a sweet family dude in Picard. There's this earnest softness about him that I find so appealing. He's also a good friend and a good lover (so kind) and I have funny thoughts about the time he and Beverly (he was Odan, but still) had sex because they're so siblingy. (tangent). Riker.

Favorite Season: Five! it's five. There are some awesome episodes in 5, Power Play, Conundrum, it's one of my go to favorite seasons, the hair is good, the crew gets to do cool things. (6, 4 and 3 are close runner ups.

Favorite Episode: Remember Me, because it's Beverly out of her element, alone in a very scary place, and she uses her brain to figure it out and saves herself. Damn. Also there's a very nice hug at the end.

Favorite Cast member: Dammit TNG, why do you have the nicest most wonderful cast? A tie between Gates and Frakes. They're such sweethearts.

My Favorite Ship: (Enterprise E so fantastic). Currently, Troi/Riker because they're doing really great things in Picard, and they had this gentleness. They were always okay with each other. When they saw other people, when they were lost, somehow, they always worked it out. Brilliant. (shout out to Picard/Crusher for also being so caring and kind to each other, you can tell they're very good friends.)

a character I’d die defending: Beverly Crusher, in a heartbeat, with essays.

a character I just can’t sympathize with: I am quite over Data he's nice but I'm so done with his pov. There's so much about him and I just...

a character I grew to love: Nechayev, because there's so much sexism behind how she's treated in the narrative and she's really just doing her job, well, at a very high level. Also Shelby, she's really interesting and I would have loved to see her again.

my anti otp: Picard/Data, Picard/Q, I find them both really dull.

my favorite female character: So so many options, it's Janeway, by a tiny bit because I love Seven and B'Elanna and Kes, but Janeway, just because she went through so much and made it in the end. Her autobiography also went a long way towards really bringing her to life for me.

my favorite male character: Tuvok, he's the loveliest space dad, trapped on a ship with ridiculous emotion beings, and he's so dedicated and caring and occasionally funny, such a good friend to Seven and Kes and Janeway and B'Elanna and Tom and he's just great.

my favorite book/season/etc: Four, I think? Year of Hell, One, Demon, Omega Directive, early Seven of Nine adapting, Janeway not that broken yet. It's a fun season.

my favorite episode (if its a tv show): Macrocosm, the flashback Janeway fights viruses and is a badass in a tanktop just always pleases me. It's so Star Trek.

my favorite cast member: Jeri Ryan, had to deal with so much and is so kind caring, funny, supportive, brilliant. All the love for her.

my favorite ship: Chakotay/Janeway was a big part of my formative years of fandom. They're wonderful. I think in some ways it's Janeway/Crusher now, because of how important it would be that Janeway date someone who wasn't her subordinate (and I like they're dynamic, yes I've mostly made it up, but that's fun).

a character I’d die defending: Tuvok, in a heartbeat.

a character I just can’t sympathize with: I loathe Neelix with Kes because he's had so much experience and she's SO young. I also don't connect with the Doctor at all. He's so rude and awful and entitled and self-centered and there are so many episodes about him and I just don't like him.

a character I grew to love: Seven of Nine, I just didn't get her at first. She was cool but the struggling to be human hadn't really clicked for me.

my anti otp: Janeway/Kashyk, so many of my friends really enjoyed it, I find him annoying. It feels self destructive of her.

favorites!

my favorite female character

my favorite male character

my favorite book/season/etc

my favorite episode (if its a tv show)

my favorite cast member

my favorite ship

a character I’d die defending

a character I just can’t sympathize with

a character I grew to love

my anti otp

[afaimscorner]

22. Star Trek: Voyager

 1995-2001, 7 Seasons, 172 Episodes, US, UPN

 Creators: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

 Main Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Robert Duncan McNeill, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Robert Picardo, Roxann Dawson, Ethan Phillips, Jennifer Lien, Jeri Ryan, Martha Hackett, Anthony De Longis, Josh Clark, Scarlett Pomers, Nancy Hower, Raphel Sbarge, Brad Dourif, John de Lancie, Dwight Schultz, Alexander Enberg, Manu Intiraymi, Marey McClean, Cody Wetherill, Kurt Wetherill

„We're alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home.“

The one in which: Voyager gets stuck in the Delta Quadrant and will need decades to come home again, but makes it in seven years instead. Starfleet, Marqius and Borg team-up with a Hologram and a couple of natives. We still get time travel, space phenomens, new worlds and new civilisations, and also a married couple with baby and an eternal Ensing.

Favorite Episodes: Shattered, Bride of Chaotica, Pathfinder, Living Witness, Faces

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit’s Theory Regarding Seven of Nine and the Voyager Crew on Star Trek: Picard (Spoilers)

While working on my Star Trek: Picard review, I noticed one of my points was starting to become its own topic, so I decided to make it a seperate post rather than one giant large review.

This post is simply a theory on how Seven of Nine feels “alone” and how she got to where she was in the events of Star Trek: Picard.

Note that a lot of this is just guessing and surmising what we see from Star Trek: Picard, to who Starfleet is acting, to what we have observed from Seven’s actions and behavior.

Also, major spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard regarding Seven of Nine’s arc on the show.

Now, I’ve seen some fans on the internet react negatively to Seven saying how she’s alone and has no one. I’ll admit at first I was the same way thinking she has the Voyager crew, they’re her family. Then a theory came to my head as to why Seven would say she is alone.

Now take what I’m about to say as just mere conjecture as it’s not confirmed in any way by either the showwriters, Jeri Ryan, or Alex Kurtzman. I think it does explain a few things regarding Seven of Nine’s story. Particularly let’s first focus on the Voyager crew. As we know Captain Janeway was promoted to Admiral after the series ended. We see this in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. With that she is probably still continuing her career in Starfleet. Tuvok most likely retired from Starfleet after the events of Voyager. Tom Paris and B’Elanna are raising their daughter and any other kids they have also had together, Harry Kim is also probably continuing his Starfleet career as well. As for Chakotay, considering where Seven is in her life, I think they might have had a bad breakup.

There is one other character that I haven’t discussed yet I believe is the start of Seven’s change, that character being Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram, The Doctor. In the series, we see that Starfleet and the Federation have issued a ban on synthetic life as they believed they might pose a danger. “But Biscuit, Captain Rios has working Holograms on his ship so The Doctor is still safe right?” Actually, no, I think The Doctor is dead. 

Consider this, The Doctor is a Hologram that evolved beyond his programming, he has a passion for music, learned numerous new biological threats, treatments, and was able to take command of Voyager during an emergency situation by initiating his Emergency Command Hologram subroutine, one that Voyager programmed into him. Also, I know the Doctor is a hologram and I’m using male pronouns, but that’s because that is the Doctor’s preferred pronouns, so that’s why you’re seeing he/him.

Anyways, I think after the Mars incident, The Doctor became one of the first victims in Starfleet’s new anti-synthetic agenda. There was an episode in Voyager where The Doctor wrote a holonovel that he then sent to be published on Earth. At the end of that episode we see other Holograms talking about the holonovel. It’s possible that this event also sparked a hologram revolution that occured off-screen and hasn’t been discussed. Because The Doctor was the one that started it, Starfleet saw these holograms as a possible new form of synthetic life that was close to Data as he went through very similar trials during Next Gen’s tenure. 

These events are what caused Starfleet to reprogram these holograms before it was too late, and with The Doctor a hologram, he too became reprogramed or in his case, decommissioned as he was an EMH mark 1. The Doctor, as Seven of Nine knew him no longer exists. Therefore killing the version of The Doctor that taught Seven many lessons on being human.

I’m sure Admiral Janeway attempted to stop it, but with Starfleet’s direction, she couldn’t stop it. Seven blames Janeway for not protecting a member of the Voyager family, thus feeling betrayed by another mentor on human living. With one dead and one being of no help in Seven’s point of view, it would stand to believe why Seven feels alone, except for her adoptive son Icheb. That is, until we see him die in the events of Picard, completing Seven of Nine’s transformation into who we see today.

So why do we still see holograms today in Star Trek: Picard? Because I think they now have safeguards in place for a hologram to not go beyond it’s programming. Also, holograms can be controlled as they can’t leave past the boundaries of holo generators. So in Starfleet’s eyes, they are a synthetic life that can be controlled and contained, which is why they are allowed to still exist.

[crimsoncityhq]

mwf?

alexandra grey (trans)**, **chloe bailey, **halle bailey, **abigail cowen, **caitlin stasey,aja naomi king**, natalie dormer**, laura dern, britt robertson, jamie chung**,  keke palmer, ariana grande, victoria justice, jurnee smollet,han hyo-joo**, nadia hilker, logan browning, madison iseman**, kristen stewart, **arden cho, issa rae, diane guerrero, jackie cruz, bae suzy**,krystal jung**, reese witherspoon**, laura harrier**, bang min-ah**, sophie turner**, jessica chastain, adeline rudolph**, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Lail, ashleigh murray**,  Jessica Parker Kennedy, park shin-he**, Kim Raver, Lauren Graham, hunter schafer(trans)**, laverne cox (trans)**, Lauren German, jang seungyeon**, Lesley-Ann Brandt,nyara shahidi**, claire holt, vanessa morgan, alycia debnam-carey, tiana tolstoi**, kat graham, alisha boe**,madelyn cline, lana candor, elizabeth lail, Meghan Ory**, nicole kidman, madison bailey, sophia bush, lee sunmi**, tati gabrielle,lulu antariksa**, amy adams, choi ri**, samantha logan**, angela bassett, jaz sinclair**, charlize theron, kim seul-gi**,  angelina jolie, taraji p. henson**, ruby rose, gabrielle union, saoirse ronan, evangeline lily, ming-na wen**, thandie newton, krysten ritter, kerry washington, awkwafina, melora hardin**,  shelley hennig, meagan goode, jessica lange, Barrett Doss, kim hye-yoon**,  Jaina Lee Ortiz, Natacha Karam, Sierra A. McClain,rachel weisz**,  eliza taylor, dichen lachman, alycia-debnam carey,lupita nyong'o**, gugu mbatha-raw**, jazzy jones**, aisha hinds, emmy-raver lampman, dua lipa, emmy rossum, stella maeve,lucy liu**,  normani, mj rodriguez, china anne mcclain, emma stone, brittany snow, rebel wilson, anne hathaway, cate blanchett, olivia dudley, jade tailor, dilan çiçek deniz, renee elise goldsberry, nichole beharie**,jeri ryan**, winona ryder**, hayley law, scarlett byrne, bianca lawson, bianca santos, sarah bolger, brittany o'grady, shantel vansanten, viola davis, & sofia black-d'elia

**’s have specific wcs listed below, but I also listed any gender wcs currently open & female wcs if they fit what you’re thinking!

( candice patton, cisfemale, thirty one ) I hear that TIA VALENTINE is looking for their YOUNGER SISTER(S).. Word on the street is they look like CHLOE BAILEY, HALLE BAILEY, UTP,, and that the last time they saw them was TWO WEEKS AGO WHEN THEY MOVED INTO CHICAGO SHE LEFT HOME SO SHE COULD GET AWAY FROM THE TOXIC ENVIRONMENT BUT KEPT IN TOUCH WITH HER SISTERS UNTIL THEY WERE OLD ENOUGH TO MOVE OUT OF THE HOUSE AND OFFERED THEM A PLACE TO STAY. . You SHOULD NOT reach out toCRIMSXNED. ( madelaine petsch, cis female, 22 ) I hear that VIOLET MADDEN is looking for their OLDER SISTER. Word on the street is they look like ABIGAIL COWEN or UTP AS LONG AS THEY ARE A REDHEAD, and that the last time they saw them was A FEW MONTHS AGO. IT WAS ALWAYS HER PLAN TO JOIN HER YOUNGER SIBLINGS OUT IN CHICAGO, SOMETHING HELD HER UP BACK HOME WHICH CAN BE UTP. SHOULD reach out to VIMADDEN. ( adelaide kane, cisfemale, 30 ) I hear that KATYA IVANOVA is looking for their FORMER TRAINING PARTNER Word on the street is they look like CAITLIN STASEYand that the last time they saw them wasWHEN SHE WAS 18 AND THEY WERE 19, BEFORE KATYA LEFT FOR AMERICA AFTER MAKING THE DECISION TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO GO BACK HOME AND SHOW HER PARENTS WHAT THEY’D MISSED ON THE LAST TWO YEARS. You SHOULD reach out to PUREXIVANOVA. ( sandra oh, cisfemale, 53 ) I hear that DEIJI "DAISY" RAU-BYRNE is looking for their ELDEST CHILD Word on the street is they look like STEVEN YEUN,JAMIE CHUNG,ARDEN CHO, BAEK SUNG HYUN, HAN HYO-JOO, KIM SOOHYUN, KIM WOO BIN, YOON PARK, UTP (30-36, MUST BE KOREAN IF BLOOD)and that the last time they saw them wasYESTERDAY. DEIJI HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS WHEN IT COMES TO HER CHILDREN. THEY LIKELY ALL BELONG TO THE WALSH MAFIA. MSG ME AND WE CAN HASH OUT THE DEETS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. IT'S UTP IF THE CHILD NOTICES THE TENSION BETWEEN THE PARENTS. You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSONFAUX.

( tessa thompson, she/her, 35 ) I hear that LORELAI FAUST is looking for their STAGE TECHNICIAN EMPLOYEE AT DIRTY HARRY’S. Word on the street is they look like ANY FC, and that the last time they saw them was THEY’RE A NEW EMPLOYEE FOR RECENTLY OPENED DIRTY HARRY’S. THEY DO NOT KNOW ABOUT LORELAI’S CRIMINAL SIDE VENTURE BELOW THE BAR. You SHOULD NOT reach out to REVELAARE.

( sandra oh, cisfemale, 53 ) I hear that DEIJI "DAISY" RAU-BYRNE is looking for their MIDDLE CHILD Word on the street is they look like AHN HEE-YEON, BAE SUZY, BANG MINAH, KRYSTAL JUNG, PARK SHIN-HYE, SYDNEY PARK, JANG SEUNGYEON, TIANA TOLSTOI, ADELINE RUDOLPH,LEE SUNMI, CHOI-RI, KIM HYE YOON, KIM SEULGI, FIVEL STEWART, UTP (25-30, MUST BE KOREAN IF BLOOD)and that the last time they saw them wasYESTERDAY. DEIJI HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS WHEN IT COMES TO HER CHILDREN. THE MIDDLE CHILD IS LIKELY THE ONE SHE WOULD HAVE GONE HARDER ON TO SUCCEED. THE KIDS LIKELY ALL BELONG TO THE WALSH MAFIA. MSG ME AND WE CAN HASH OUT THE DEETS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP. IT'S UTP IF THE CHILD NOTICES THE TENSION BETWEEN THE PARENTS. You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSONFAUX. ( sandra oh, cisfemale, 53 ) I hear that DEIJI "DAISY" RAU-BYRNE is looking for their SPOUSE Word on the street is they look like JOHN CHO,LAVERNE COX,IDRIS ELBA,LUCY LIU,JERI RYAN,REESE WITHERSPOON,JAVIER BARDEM, PAUL RUDD, WINONA RYDER, MING-NA WEN, JASON BATEMAN, ADAM SCOTT, MELORA HARDIN, JOSH DUHAMEL,JOHN LIGHT,RACHEL WEISZ,JULIAN MCMAHON, TARAJI P HENSON, WILL YUN LEE, MICHAEL EALY, DAVID LEE MCINNIS,LORNE CARDINAL, ANY FC 45+ PREFand that the last time they saw them wasLAST NIGHT. YOUR CHARACTER HAD ARRIVED IN CHICAGO MONTHS BEFORE DEIJI LANDED WITH THE REST OF THE COUNCIL. TO BE HER EYES, AND BECAUSE SHE HAD MANIPULATED YOUR CHARACTER IN BELIEVING SHE WOULD SIGN THE DIVORCE PAPERS. THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN VOLATILE, WORSE WITHIN THE LAST FEW MONTHS SHE HAS BEEN IN CHICAGO. THE COUPLE HAVE 3 KIDS.You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSONFAUX. ( jamie dornan, male, thirty-four ) I hear that LIAM O'SHEA is looking for their EX-GIRLFRIEND/HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART. Word on the street is they look like NICOLE BEHARIE, MEGHAN ORY, AJA NAOMI KING, PRIYANKA CHOPRA, NATALIE DORMER, ARDEN CHO, UTP, and that the last time they saw them was THE SUMMER AFTER SHE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL; LIAM NEVER FINISHED SCHOOL BUT THEY STAYED TOGETHER DESPITE HER BEING BUSY WILL SCHOOL AND APPLYING TO COLLEGES AND HIM BEING BUSY WITH THE FAMILY. LIAM TRULY THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO BE HIS FOREVER AND WAS FINE WITH DEALING WITH THE LONG DISTANCE BECAUSE OF HER GOING TO SCHOOL AND WAS EVEN PLANNING TO PROPOSE BUT A MONTH BEFORE SHE LEFT FOR SCHOOL, SHE BROKE UP WITH HIM IN A LETTER LEAVING HIM HEARTBROKEN AND WITH COMMITMENT ISSUES. HE STILL HOLDS ANIMOSITY TOWARDS HER FOR ENDING THINGS THE WAY SHE DID BUT HE STILL LOVES HER DEEP DOWN THOUGH HE WON’T EVER ADMIT IT. You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSXNSINS. ( lucien laviscount, cismale, 29 ) I hear that ZANE WASHINGTON is looking for their EX GIRLFRIEND(S).. Word on the street is they look like FC UTP ( CIS OR TRANS FEMALES AGED 23 - 40 ), and that the last time they saw them was (0/4) SPORADIC DATES. ZANE OFTEN TRAVELED THE WORLD BEFORE HE GOT STUCK TAKING CARE OF THE FUNERAL HOME. HE HAD A HABIT OF BRINGING HIS GIRLFRIEND AT THE TIME WITH HIM TO CHICAGO AND THEN DUMPING HER SOON AFTER. HIS LAST GIRLFRIEND HE WOULD HAVE LAST SEEN ONE MONTH AGO AND WOULD HAVE CAME BACK TO CHICAGO WITH HIM IN 2019 TO RUN THE FUNERAL HOME. THESE CHARACTERS CAN'T BE A CHICAGO NATIVE. ALL OTHER DETAILS ARE UTP. . You SHOULD reach out toCRIMSONFAUX. ( chance perdomo, cismale, 25 ) I hear that AUDRIC NOIRE is looking for their ELDER SIBLING. Word on the street is they look like LAKEITH STANFIELD, REGÉ JEAN PAGE, JEFF PIERRE, BJ BRITT, WUNMI MOSAKU, ALEX NEWELL, ALEXANDRA GREY, LUPITA NYONG'O, NATHAN STEWART-JARRETT, BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH, GUGU MBATHA-RAW, YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II, JAZZY JONES, ASHLEIGH MURRAY, ANY BLACK POC FC , and that the last time they saw them was IN A PHOTO WITH HIS FATHER. AUDRIC IS UNAWARE OF HIS FATHER'S SIDE OF THE FAMILY, ANY SIBLINGS ETC, AND HIS FATHER HAS SINCE PASSED. You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSONFAUX. ( emma watson, cis female, 26 ) I hear that KATERINA VASILE is looking for their RADIO COHOST. Word on the street is they look like DANIEL RADCLIFFE, BOO BOO STEWART, MADISON ISEMAN, LAURA HARRIER, REALLY ANY FC 25+,, and that the last time they saw them was TODAY.THE PAIR STARTED OUT WORKING FOR THE RADIO STUDIO SIX YEARS AGO. TOGETHER THEY MANAGED TO BUILD FROM A LITTLE EVENING SHOW TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST BREAKFAST SHOWS IN THE CITY. THEY’RE REALLY CLOSE FRIENDS AND KNOW THAT THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS WHY EVERYTHING WORKS SO WELL FOR THEM. THIS MEMBER WOULD HAVE TO BE A CIVILIAN OR VASILE AFFILIATED. You SHOULD NOT reach out to ROSESJUSTDIE. ( zendaya, female, 22 ) I hear that DIAMOND WASHINGTON is looking for their PERSONAL ASSISTANT. Word on the street is they look like UTP ANY GENDER, and that the last time they saw them was A DAY AGO, WHEN THEY CAME OVER TO CHECK ON DIAMOND - CHECKING ON HER WAS A NEARLY DAILY THING…IF IT WASN’T FOR HER ASSISTANT, DIAMOND’S LIFE WOULD BE CHAOS. SHE LITERALLY DEPENDS ON THEM FOR EVERYTHING. THEY HAVE BEEN DIAMOND’S PERSONAL ASSISTANT FOR THE PASSED FOUR YEARS, AND THE TWO OF THEM HAVE BECOME EXTREMELY CLOSE. THEY TAKE THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY AND MAKE SURE THAT DIAMOND’S DAILY SCHEDULE IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY. THEY’VE VERY MUCH BECOME LIKE AN OLDER SIBLING / BEST FRIEND TO DIAMOND. THE TWO MEET UP NEARLY DAILY FOR WORK AND NON-WORK RELATED HANGOUTS. OUT OF EVERYONE ELSE IN DIAMOND’S LIFE (EVEN HER FAMILY), HER PA IS THE ONLY ONE THAT REALLY KNOWS OF THE STRUGGLES DIAMOND IS GOING THROUGH, MENTALLY. THIS WC CAN BE ANY GENDER, ANY FC, SO LONG AS THEY’RE 25+ IN AGE You SHOULD NOT / BUT CAN reach out to SILVERNCRIMSON. ( lauren cohan, cisfemale, 33) I hear that EDITH COHEN is looking for their SOBER COACH. Word on the street is they look like ANY FC (25+), and the last time they saw them was I HAVE A FEW IDEAS TO BOUNCE AROUND ABOUT THEM. I DON’T PLAN ON THIS BEING A SHIPPY CONNECTION. THIS PERSON WILL HELP BRIDGE HER SOBRIETY SO SHE CAN START TO FLY AGAIN. You SHOULD reach out to CRIMSONFAUX. . ( luke pasqualino, cismale, 36 ) I hear that OLIVER FAUST is looking for their PSEUDO CHILD.. Word on the street is they look like TOM HOLLAND, YARA SHAHIDI, SOPHIE TURNER, ALEX WOLFF,TAYLOR HICKSON, JEREMY SHADA, JOEL COURTNEY, KATHRYN NEWTON, ALISHA BOE, BENJAMIN WADSWORTH,NICK ROBINSON, JACK MULHERN, FROY GUTIERREZ, ELLIOT FLETCHER, DYLAN SPRAYBERRY,GIORGIA WHIGHAM, JOACOB ELORDI,LIANA LIBERTO, DIANA SILVERS,SAMANTHA LOGAN, LULU ANTARIKSA, DYLAN MINNETE, MADISON PETTIS, HUNTER SCHAFER, JAZ SINCLAIR, FC UTP, GENDER & ETHNICITY UTP. CHARACTER AGE PREF TO BE 21-25, and that the last time they saw them was UTP GOOD WITH EITHER YESTERDAY OR END OF 2020.OLIVER TOOK YOUR CHARACTER UNDER HIS WING WHEN HE WAS TEENAGER AND YOUR CHARACTER WAS AROUND 5-7. YOUR CHARACTER SEES HIM AS A PARENTAL FIGURE AFTER YOUR CHARACTER WAS ORPHANED. THEY WOULD BE A PART OF THE FAUST CRIME FAMILY. PLS REACH OUT TO BRAINSTORM! . You SHOULD reach out toCRIMSONFAUX.