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look-how-they-massacred-them · 9 months

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Preliminary Poll

Everyone

Submission reason:

Original Leverage had excellent character, story, found family, etc. 10/10 all around. In the reboot, the stories are less interesting (several of the cons feel like they could be done with half the cast, like a lot of them just aren't doing anything a lot of the time and it feels overcrowded) and the characters all feel a lot flatter? For example: Eliot. The most haunting scene for his character in the original is when the rest of the team learns he used to do work for Damien Moreau, the super evil guy they're currently trying to take down. We get this interaction: Eliot: The worst things I ever did, I did while working for Damien Moreau. Parker: What did you do? Eliot: Don't ask me that Parker. Because if you ask me, I'm going to tell you. So don't ask me. We never find out what he did. There is a strong implication it involved killing innocent children, the families of targets he was hired to take out. There may have been more. We don't know, and that's what makes it such a chilling moment for his character- whatever it was it was bad, so bad that it doesn't need specifics. In Leverage: Redemption, we get a scene where Eliot is captured by evil security company lady (I don't remember exactly who she was, but one of the main bad guys). She injects him with a drug that is described as making it easier to bring up traumatic memories somehow? and triggers a traumatic memory by saying "Operation Kansas". We then see footage of Generic War Flashbacks (with no detail as to what that actually was or any stake we should have in it, we're just told "it's traumatic"). He also starts branching out a lot more from the team looking for romance (and struggling with it) which is a lot more depressing than where he was at in the original (the team is his family). Granted this probably has something to do with Hardison's actor not being available and not wanting to focus too much on Eliot and Parker's relationship lest that read as cucking the black man, but it does weaken the found family of the original (it has a bit of the vibe of "we're growing up and growing apart" when the original was "broken people finding strength and community in each other"). They also don't seem to know what to do with Sophie exactly- in the original, she was the heart of the team. There's a line one of the others has about how they trust Nate to come up with the plan, but they trust Sophie to make sure they're all okay. For a lot of the show, this is more focused on Nate than the others because he's the most off-the-rails, so with his character gone there's a gap that isn't really adequately filled.

The support relationship she had with the trio is also weakened because in the time since the first show they've all become even more competent and successful without her, so her taking on a teaching role with them feels weird (they mostly do this with Parker, which has the awful effect of making her seem less competent than she did in the original). Her relationship with Harry works the best in the new show, but since Harry's problem is entirely born of lack of experience/competence with this sort of crime, she can't really play off him in the same way as the others- it's all very teacher-student. It was also established in the original that she's a grifter, and she's not actually interested in running a team so making her character the leader after she's been out of the game for years feels out of place. And Parker. Beloved Parker. She's Word of God canonically autistic, and it was done SO WELL in the first series, which makes the massacre in Redemption so much sadder. Parker's arc in the original series involved her learning to open herself up to the world after closing off so much of who she could care about due to repeated trauma throughout her life. She shows so much growth throughout the series, and ends up implied to be the leader of the team after Nate and Sophie leave. She's weird and kooky but this isn't a flaw and it doesn't detract from her competence as a thief and teammate. And while she does struggle with certain things (grifting especially because of the social component) she does learn and improve with the help of the team. And then in Redemption, there's just. an enormous backslide. She's been at least co-leading teams around the world with Eliot and Hardison for years, but when Sophie comes back into the picture she gets implicitly demoted (it's not emphasized, but Sophie being promoted to solo leader implies it) and within the team dynamic, she is paralleled in skill level to Breanna, Hardison's 20-something sister who just joined the team (for comparison, Parker should be mid-30s at this point and has been doing this sort of crime for over a decade).

Still, Parker is put in the same category as Breanna; that is "good at her specialty, trying to be better, still has a lot to learn". She maintains her character growth from the original in regards to opening up and caring about others, but her skills and competence feel a lot lesser- despite the fact that years have passed offscreen where presumably she'd continue to learn. Ultimately she comes across as much more childish and immature which really does not sit right with the wonderful autistic representation she was in the original. Harry and Breanna I have less to say about because they are new for the reboot, but I think they also could be done a lot better. Harry's entire thing is that he used to be exactly the type of Evil Guy the team would take down but he's had a change of heart and wants to fight for what's right. And like, he did do a lot of evil fucked up shit! But the extent to which the other characters will like. Rub his face in it? Feels excessive.

Maybe this is just me having a lot of thoughts on "how to effectively de-radicalize someone" but like. For example, there's a point where they're deciding how to run a con and he offers some information as to how these guys work (I don't remember specifics unfortunately) and the rest of the team is like "Oh. And how do YOU know that? Right, because you were EVIL. 😒" when like??? He was literally already acknowledging that? And constantly shaming someone for their past when they are actively trying to improve is bad practice. As for Breanna... I want to like her. I do. And there are a lot of good things about her character. But they also kind of make her a Millennial Mouthpiece at times, where like she just expresses the opinions that Kids These Days and Our Generation have without any weight behind them. There's an episode about Fake Magic the Gathering where she gives a big speech about kids who didn't feel like they fit in, but there's nothing personal about it, so it ends up feeling empty. Character building in the original was heavily focused on specific personal details and experience, and she doesn't really get much of that which takes away a lot of potential depth. Also I would be remiss if I did not highlight this comparison because it's a big part of why I had to stop watching the reboot: In original Leverage, there is a scene where the con has spiraled out of control, and Hardison and the mark were caught on a US army base with a camera. The team is trying to figure out how to get them out without blowing the con and Hardison says "Damn the con! I am a black man caught on an Army base with a video camera! I am going to jail forever!" They manage to get him out safely, having him stall so they can break him out without blowing their cover. But that one line highlights the fact that his race does put him in more danger than the others in that scenario, and the show knows it. Even if it doesn't play out, the awareness is there. This is one of many cases in which this is emphasized. Redemption has an episode, The Great Train Job, where the mark is the head of a group of white nationalists. Breanna is one of the teammates on the train, and there's a point where she says she's going to try something and Eliot reminds her to be careful because she's in more danger than the rest of them. This is the sum total of acknowledgement of that danger, aside from some quippy lines about the evils of white supremacists. A few key things: Also in this episode, while Sophie is grifting the mark, he comes onto her very strongly in a private train car, getting way too close to Actual Sexual Assault for comfort, in a scene that was genuinely unpleasant to watch. In the original, while the stakes were often high, there was never the fear of "they're really not going to make it" or even "they're going to experience something genuinely horrible" (beyond like, "getting shot" level of injury). This situation for Sophie was new and unexpected, and because of that I no longer trusted the show not to cross another line. And because they highlighted the racism present on the train (by having the white man remind the black woman about it, which isn't inherently bad but I don't love it), I spent the entire episode on edge waiting for something bad to happen to Breanna. Nothing did, but fundamentally I did not trust that. The quote from Hardison, among other scenes, did make me feel safe in the understanding that the writers knew the gravity of the situation and would tread carefully. But the casualness of the line with Breanna, coupled with Sophie's awful scene in the same episode did the opposite. This is less of a character complaint and more of a structural one, but still.

Propaganda:

A lot of my gripes with Redemption are about the show as a whole, so idk how well this fits this poll, but the characters are a huge part of that because it's such a character driven show. Anyways I'm genuinely curious to see how this does because I am so strongly pro-original and so strongly anti-reboot, but I have the impression that a lot of people really like the reboot.

#look how they massacred them poll #look how they massacred my boy #look how they massacred my girl #leverage #leverage redemption #leverage elliot #leverage sophie #leverage parker #leverage breanna #leverage harry #leverage hardison

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onyxbird · 5 months

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Burglary of the Soul

Summary: The Leverage crew is extraordinary in many ways, so it shouldn't be surprising that they managed to form a team that included soulmates, something most people never find. Eliot wishes his teammates the best, but wants nothing to do with the whole concept: given his line of work, he really doesn't want to know. Unfortunately, when your soulmate is revealed by something as simple as being able to make direct eye contact, that's more difficult than it sounds... Complete fic (4 chapters) on AO3

Ch. 1: A stolen glance

Eliot balanced a heavy package of imported beer on his hip to fumble for his key and slide it into the lock. He winced as the box shifted, digging its edge into a fresh bruise where a guard's baton had landed a solid hit. One last thing to to grab from HQ, and then he could head home to relax and crack open his long-awaited Slovenian stout.

Behind the door, Hardison's muffled voice vibrated with excitement. Don't set the box down; don't get pulled into conversation, or you'll never get out of here. Hopefully whoever Hardison was currently gushing to would continue to hold his attention and let Eliot slip in and out with little notice.

Instead, Eliot's heart nearly stopped as Parker's shout of “What is wrong with you?” rang through the hallway.

The door slammed open under his shoulder, hard enough to hit the wall and bounce off. Parker and Hardison, alone in the room, whirled towards him. A split-second later, Parker was wrapped around his right arm, shoving him towards Hardison and babbling something about possession and making Hardison be normal again.

Eliot scanned rapidly over a stunned-looking Hardison and his surroundings, looking for the threat. Not physical, surely—even if Hardison would, Parker's speed and wariness were more than enough for her to keep out of reach. Still, he let the box slide down his leg to the floor and kicked it aside, freeing his hands and footing. His brain filed the accompanying clank of glass as a problem for later.

“What the hell did you do, Hardison?” Eliot demanded, glowering.

Hardison's mouth flapped helplessly for a moment. “I don't—We just—” Two fingers waved vaguely around his upper face. “Eyes, you know?”

“He's being weird,” said Parker, still huddled halfway behind Eliot's shoulder with her arms wrapped around herself. “He was normal until a few minutes ago, and then we looked right at each other when he was telling me about his game, and now he won't stop.”

Eliot glanced from one to the other, slowly, fitting the garbled explanations together in the only way that made sense. Eye contact.

His teammates were also soulmates.

“Knock it off, Hardison,” Eliot snapped, with more venom than he'd intended, his own eyes skittering down the line of Hardison's jaw to focus on the corner of his mouth. “'Soulmates' or not, there's no call to be staring people in the eyes when they don't like it.”

Eliot had avoided even the possibility of eye contact with anyone since he was in high school. (Not that he'd been trying to lock eyes with people before that, but, well, he and Aimee tried once, back when they were young and naive and thought maybe they were meant to be. They weren't.) In his recent lines of work, whether you really believed in soulmates or not, it was better not to know. All well and good for people who were into that sort of thing, but for a hitter, there was just no way for that to end well.

Eliot didn't need to look at Hardison's eyes, not even obliquely, to see the expression of absolute horror settle across his features before belatedly averting his gaze from Parker's face. “Parker, I am so, so sorry! I was just so excited, you know, and—” His nervous energy rerouted into pacing and expansive gesticulation.

Hardison's apology in one ear collided with Parker's loud “Ha! 'Soulmates'!” in the other, and Eliot could already feel the resulting headache forming.

Her mirth faded as she took in their expressions. “You're kidding, right? That's not real. You don't actually believe in that, do you?”

“...Yeah?” said Hardison.

“Seriously?”

“What? Not being able to look other people in the eyes is a demonstrable fact. Like, the actual compatibility side is technically anecdotal, I guess, but the eye contact bit isn't, and if it weren't a thing, wouldn't you hear a lot of counterexamples of people who found their 'soulmate' and hated them?”

Parker's face screwed up skeptically. “Uh, have you been trying to look in people's eyes? Ew.”

“Well, not actively, but when you look at people it comes up! Come on, man, back me up here!”

“It doesn't 'come up' unless you're being a weirdo. Right, Eliot?”

Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don't—don't pull me into this. Yeah, fine, lots of people try to make eye contact, most of 'em can't, and lots of people believe in soulmates. Y'all need to sort this out yourselves—I'm just here for my jacket.”

Adrenaline ebbing away, Eliot glanced down at his box on the floor. A small puddle of liquid already pooled on the floor beneath a slowly spreading damp patch on the cardboard, indicating at least one casualty from the rough handling. He scrubbed a hand over his face, suddenly feeling every ache and bruise from the job and wishing he'd just forgotten about his jacket until the next briefing.

It shouldn't have been that big a deal. It wasn't that big a deal. He had other beer at home. There were probably still unbroken bottles. He honestly didn't even know for sure if it was good, just that an old military pal had recommended it.

His teammates were in the middle of a legitimately life-altering discovery, and he was crying over spilt beer.

“Goddammit,” he muttered, “I've been waiting for this to come in for weeks, and I didn't even get to open the damn box.”

Hardison loomed suddenly in front of him, peering down at the box. “Oh, man, I'm so sorry; that's on me. I didn't mean to—apparently there's a lot of things I didn't mean to do today that're making trouble for my people anyway.” Hardison's phone was already in his hand. “I'm sorry, I will replace your beer. Just tell me what kind it is.”

Parker leaned around Eliot, practically draped over his shoulder, to read off the name of the brewery for Hardison.

“It's fine, Hardison. Y'all have…” Eliot waved a hand vaguely, trying to subtly untangle himself from Parker's octopus-like cling. “…stuff to deal with.”

“Yeah, and your stuff got broken 'cause you ended up playing mediator for our 'stuff', so it's only fair I order you some more.”

“Yeah, you said you were waiting for it. If anyone can figure out how to get it shipped faster, it's Hardison,” agreed Parker.

Ch. 2 on AO3.

#soulmate au #leverage ot3 #eliot spencer #leverage #soulmate au bargain bin #onyxbird fanfic

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grandhotelabyss · 6 months

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Favorite Yeats poem? I can't get enough of him.

"Easter, 1916." He does everything he could do there; it's the greatest political poem in English of the 20th century. First, simply from a "craft" perspective, there is the propulsive but unobtrusive accentual (but not syllabic) meter, the pulsing three-beat line. Then the deceptively simple abab rhyme scheme—except that the even lines only ever off-rhyme. Sound mimics sense in this mingling of the beautiful and the terrible: our march song is never quite in perfect rhythm. We can never quite get the steps right as we march toward our sublime deaths. This isn't "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

For one thing, it's not public rhetoric, or not just public rhetoric. There is the quiet, personal opening of the first stanza, the "I" in its humble self-deprecatory historical setting, when we know what modern life and all its calculating mediocrity meant for Yeats. Then, enacting in language the transformation it proposes of public life, the first appearance of the refrain lifts the poem into epic.

In the second stanza, we find an epic catalogue of the flawed vessels of historical force, made more poignant by a knowledge of what it probably took for Yeats to praise MacBride ("a drunken, vainglorious lout") who had, in his mind, robbed him of Maud Gonne. Small-nation politics lends itself to such gossip. "Great hatred, little room," as he had it elsewhere. But that farce is past. Comedy has turned to tragedy in the national epic of the uprising.

But this, again, is poetry: not propaganda. You don't write the best political poem of the 20th century by celebrating emancipatory violence without subtlety, without nuance, without irony. Here we have the irony of a conservative revolution—again, recall the etymology of Tory—revolution not as the forward movement of history, as the benighted progressive thinks, but rather as the obdurate force that blocks history from engulfing the whole of the lifeworld. He sounds oddly like Benjamin here, as well as like Eliot, showing how vain it is to explain the most serious art and thought by shallow labels like left and right. "Enchanted" as it is, though, the stone is also opposed to nature, to the "living stream" figured most vividly in the prospective mating of hen and cock. As in "Sailing to Byzantium," another favorite, Yeats is worried about the conflict between the art and the life, between raw life and the artifice of eternity. The refrain does not appear, the poem's own flow broken.

Our bard, who as a member of the Protestant upper class favored negotation with England rather than violent revolt, expresses misgivings. Homer didn't have misgivings, for all that Yeats would later want to model himself on Homer's "unchristened heart." He has misgivings about more than just resistance tactics. He identifies with women, he fears for the nation's children, for the nation's very soul. The trope of the stone becomes disenchanted, no longer the Arthurian romance's source of political power but the Old Testament's hardness of heart, inviting divine chastisement. The cause of the revolutionaries itself comes into question for a moment. Was their violence part of the vanity, part of the "motley," with which the poem began? Have we really ever left the comedy, the 18th-century farce? But the motive spiritualizes the event: "excess of love." We think of Antigone, we think of Lear. Tragic heroism is still heroism. And in conclusion, the epic catalogue proper, before the refrain comes around again for our cyclic poet, itself changed utterly: "terrible beauty" no longer a political slogan but the aesthetic credo that will guide the rest of the poet's work out of the bee-loud glade and the Celtic Twilight and into "the desolation of reality," "gaiety transfiguring all that dread," the gaiety that is the achievement of form in the midst of terror.

#william butler yeats #literary criticism #poetry

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clarajohnson · 6 months

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the magicians s2e1

i so enjoy seeing quentin coldwater in peril

fucking random ass candy house that'll never come back into play

it's a little hard to kill me at the moment :-(

jesus the way he says "thank god, alice" is really kind of devastating he's so transparent sometimes

margo is ruthless she's my best friend in the entire world

sometimes they say things in ways that are so much, like, you know they're lines of dialogue. like "wellspring smoothies," nobody would say that. i love tv :-)

not enough being done about PENNY'S MISSING HANDS

WE MIGHT BE COMIC RELIEF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i always hesitate to give this show any credit because it is 90% loose ends but i do like the beast choosing to talk business with julia at a... discovery zone? a chuck e cheese? because he's in kind of insanely malformed arrested development

FENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

she is immediately a character man i like fen so much

"oh my god those horses are so beautiful. i just really love horses." and that's why she is my babyest best girl ever ever ever ever ever

love el's flower spell. i feel like some aspects really kick up quickly in season 2, for example, the magic becomes much more interesting!

sorry i really like julia this season she's awful and justified

the beast is reminding me very very much of hannibal lecter this watch. sixth finger nice suit etc.

river watch guy why do i get a bad feeling about him what don't i remember

ah but i did forget that she really did sew his hands back on. so much private brutality goes on in this show.

it's a good point penny that IS a natural resource on public property

sorry but i do not believe at all that margo could be cowed by an asshole like that i actually find it kind of insulting

el's smile when margo calls high queen I WILL CRY

is everybody excited to cry during this coronation :-) i'm excited for the crying :-)

i love fillorian royalty nineties trivia "dude that is crazy vague"

alice and margo both know "hold on" by wilson phillips because they are romantic soulmates

quentin playing with the straps of his backpack... kiss me on the mouth autistic boy

did anybody else get kind of flustered when eliot did the dirty dancing monologue. like other than alice who was clearly really flustered.

sorry but it's so so so fucking significant that q is the one to crown el and i love how immediately el cries and i love destiny is bullshit and i think it's so beautiful and i love it and i do not love "the spectacular" because to make eliot's life's purpose into spectacle discomfits me but i also love very much "this feels as natural as underwear" AND I ALSO LOVE the way he is so happy and proud of margo, the way everything they say to each other is public but also encrypted so only they can understand it completely and i love the moment he crowns alice and they come to sort of an understanding, this common ground, the way he doesn't love her but cares about her, also the fact that margo asks to crown q in a moment of "cleaning slates" and that she can see him so clearly, they're an underrated dynamic and i will always love king quentin the moderately socially maladjusted because to margo the important things couldn't ever be public they should never be known to others, your public title can be a joke so the deep lovey stuff can be kept sacred between friends. THIS IS THE SCENE OF ALL TIME.

royalty, bitches

i'm happy that alice gets to do extraordinary magic yk

well we don't have to work very hard to understand what they're saying by making alice not only pluck an apple from a tree but grow the tree herself

idk if i believe that julia would even consider voluntarily shedding her shade

tick pickwick my best frenemy tick pickwick

i'm glad we made it to the castle i love whitespire

sometimes the show makes jokes that make me believe they hadn't planned very far ahead because "spells for trapping tomato-eating garden fairies" does not make me believe they had the idea of actual magicians fairies yet

i would like to be known as... the champagne king

quentin is leaning against that doorframe as flirtily as he can manage

i think you should probably hug me right now :-( i'll also be okay if you just give my ass like a liiiittle squeeze :-)

#delayed by a day bc i was like verrry sick yesterday and slept for NINE HOURS #i love you the magicians #unauthorized magicians rewatch #the magicians #text

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asphyxiatedredherring · 10 months

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This is my gift for @fourdollarwords in the Leverage Gift Exchange! ( @leveragegiftexchange )

I decided to make a playlist of songs I felt fit the show in general, the thiefsome, and as well as each character!

It is quite a weird mix of music

I tried to keep it short, and some characters were easier to come up with more songs than others, but everyone got at least one.

Under the cut, I'll list each song and why I chose it. (It's sorted in categories as well as the order they appear on the spotify playlist, which I recommend listening to it in).

I hope you like it!

Nate:

Another Shot of Whiskey by The Gits - it's about drowning your problems in alcohol, I think we can all see the connection.

Behind Blue Eyes by The Who - the villain theme for the rock opera that never happened. The villain doesn't want to be the villain though, he was forced into that role and no one can see the grief that caused. It really lines up with Nate's story line.

Renegade by Styx - This is a song about a criminal who has been caught and is about to be executed. This song makes me think of The Maltese Falcon Job.

Well Respected Man by The Kinks - I think this represents the life Nate wanted for himself, Maggie, and their son where they are all happy and healthy but in reality Nate knows this is not how his life went and he is not this well respected man.

Breaking the Law by Judas Priest - the song seems to be about a man who was fired from his job so he started breaking the law. I'll let you draw those connections.

Alcohol by The Dropkick Murphys- he's an alcoholic from Boston what more can I say?

Sophie:

Who Do You Want to Be? by Oingo Boingo - its the art of the grift. Sophie makes herself into different people, deciding who she wants to be each day, everything is an act, a character maybe even losing herself along the way

What's Behind the Mask by The Cramps - as a grifter Sophie is always wearing a mask, Sophie isn't even her name. Her family wants to know what's behind her mask, let her know that she is safe to be herself.

Hardison:

Maneater by Hall & Oats - we know Hardison loves Hall & Oats. Best if listened to while Parker autism bites him.

Shout by Tears for Fears - I headcanon that Hardison loves synthpop and this song is a perfect example of that

Rebels With a Cause by The Dropkick Murphys - This song reminds me of the line where Nate calls Hardison "a 24 year old genius with a smartphone and problem with authority." He may have been ignored as a kid, but he's making a difference now. "Don't be angry with the kids Be angry with the greed."

Parker:

Runaway Train by Soul Asylum - I feel like this song really represents Parker's childhood

Never Go Hungry by Hole - I think Parker would have started with stealing food and this is like her internal monolog rationalizing it because stealing became a key part of her personality

Been Caught Stealing by Jane's Addition - Stealing, simple as that. She's a thief. If she wants something she simply takes it. I think it's just a fun catchy song she'd like.

Eliot:

The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel - Despite their wishes, Eliot left his family and became a fighter just like the protagonist of the song. No matter how hard he tries to escape, the fighter remains. I could write an entire essay about how the story of this song and Eliot's story line up.

Guilt Within Your Head by The Gits - Eliot has so much guilt built up in his head over his past, being unable to forgive himself he created his own hell but he can escape it through forgiveness and redemption.

Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins - I feel like this song fits Eliot because like the song says Eliot still feels like he can not be saved and is trapped in a cage, despite how angry he is.

Rooster by Alice in Chains - Even though it's a song about the Vietnam War I feel like it can still represent Eliot's life, joining the military and his career as a hitter in which people are constantly coming to kill him, yet he won't die.

Harry:

Ironic by Alanis Morissette - I think Harry would love Alanis Morissette. Hands down. No further notes.

Breanna:

Just a Girl by No Doubt - People frequently underestimate Breanna and I think this feminist anthem conveys her anger with that.

Seasore by The Regrettes - "You're talkin to me like a child Hey I've got news, I'm not a little girl" So much of Breanna's character is wanting to prove herself, that she is capable and not just someone's kid sister and I think this song conveys the anger that comes with being underestimated and judged for your age or gender.

Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row - Breanna isn't interested in conforming to society's idea of what she should be. She has been called a problem child, but she doesn't care because she will stand tall and be herself.

The Thiefsome:

Love in an Elevator by Aerosmith - Hardison would think it's funny but Parker would latch on to it. I'll be citing the first episode for this one.

What I Like About You by The Romantics - I may be stretching this one but the parts of this song can be applied to aspects of the ot3 and them expressing their love for eachother. "Keep on whispering in my ear" fits Hardison talking to Eliot and Parker through the coms, "you really know how to dance" represents Parker's acrobatics and thief skills, and "you keep me warm at night" Eliot is a grounding presence for them at night and they love eachother.

Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls - they are all broken in their own way and it doesn't matter what the world thinks, just that they have eachother.

The Crew in General:

Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails - the people with power have the money and they aren't using it properly. But Leverage won't bow down despite what the mark wants. I just think this song encapsulates the anger they have with each mark and their desire to give the mark what they deserve.

And Justice for All by Metallica - I debated putting this song under Hardison but I think it could fit the whole crew. It's about how money has corrupted the justice system. The truth is gone but the crew is working to bring it to light and reinstall justice (in their own way).

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant - there is no rest for the wicked and no shortness of evil in the world which makes Leverage necessary. "The rich and powerful take what we want. We steal it back for you."

We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister - I think this song does well to represent how Leverage is fighting the system and the people that abuse it.

Take Back The Power by The Interrupters - I could also write an essay about this song and its correlation with Leverage but to boil it down, Leverage is working to fight the corruption of the world and fix what they can. They are taking back the power.

Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog - this is practically the Leverage theme song. "I don't mind stealin bread from the mouths of decadence But I can't feel on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled" It's a song about stealing from the rich, class divides, and how the rich get richer but the narrator refused to join them and would rather starve than be like the rich and feed on the poor.

The Men Who Rule The World by Garbage - a song about corruption, money, and violators, the very thing Leverage aims to destroy.

#Spotify #LeverageExchange2023 #leverage gift exchange #leverage #leverage redemption #spotify playlist

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fluffypotatey · 1 year

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watching Leverage: ep 4

GOOD MORNING!

i actually meant to watch this episode last night but my sleepy brain said otherwise lol

Pre-game Thoughts:

also thank you everyone in the Leverage fandom who has given me such a warm welcome! y'all are so sweet and i feel like i'm being mothered by older cousins lol. i didn't expect this to gain a lot of ppl's attention, just a couple mutuals but hello!!! welcome to the show that y'all are vicariously watching through me or rewatching!

ok so turns out last episode we delved more into character backstory AND the overarching plot

Eliot was a farm-boy before getting becoming a bruiser, and i don't know why that is so funny to me (yes i do). my only question is when did he decide to go into that kind of business. was he an underground boxer or something? did he move to the city to "make a name for himself" but instead got into the mafia or something?

out of all the characters, this man is the one i want to know more about just because he never explains himself. oh, he recognized the fighting style of that mercenary? how sir??? oh you've been in this business for some time? how long sir????

this big insurance company is definitely the big bad. if they are the ones that our crew faces in the season's finale, i wouldn't be shocked. i would a little disappointed because these guys seem more like a s3 type of big bad that you build and build for some more seasons.

the actor who plays sterling is so familiar to me. i feel like i've seen him but he looked older than now. was he in spn? i think he was. i don't watch spn, but i've seen enough gifs to know the cast.

i've talked long enough, on with the show!

spoilers incoming lol

fluffy's reactions!

i haven't even clicked play yet WHY IS ALEC WEARING YELLOW??? LMAO HE LOOKS LIKE THE BANANA HAT GUY FROM CURIOUS GEORGE

THE CLERGY???? oh wait no this is about city council corruption. a little disappointed, but this concept is still interesting

the children trying so hard to compliment sophie about her play. i think parker was genuine tho and she deserves a gold star

nathan trying his best to compliment the play lol "a beautiful rendition!" he keeps it vague enough to ensure there's nothing bad well done

OH??? THE EX WIFE IS COMING IN??? DON'T WORRY SOPHIE EVERYTHING WILL BE OK

"what are you doing?" asks the priest suspiciously. "just....uh, moving God's plan along...faster." nice save there nathan

awwww he didn't need to ask them this time to help out

when i say sophie and nathan are in love, i mean it because do you see how soft they are for each other????

alec already with the presentation board about which corporation they're hitting next before nathan needs to ask him my heart! he's already narrowed it down and even knew just what to say, my little prepared computer nerd

ok i know alec's the guy who has more of the comedic lines but don't think i haven't been noticing that his aversions to certain places or people are little holes into his backstory (or maybe not and i'm looking into this too hard but who would i be if i didn't)

"i don't do gangs" that is a short little line but has a a lot of untapped backstory in it i can FEEL IT

very sweet of eliot to just figuratively drag alec with him to get info on the gang who beat up the priest

his son was baptised there T^T ok ok we hitting at nathan's backstory today got it

sophie picking up nathan's distress immediately NOBODY TOUCH ME

well whata you know, i guess it can be that easy to find the gang you're looking for

"how's this for answer" *shows gun* i'm so sorry i chuckled. that's so corny i'm sorry. i would get shot by that man if he did that because i would not stop laughing

YEAH THAT'S MY BOY ALEC SHOVE THAT BITCH

i forgot about the dislocated shoulder lmao

"do you mind?" OOP LITTLE DUDE'S IN DEEP SHIT WITH HIS GANG so the corp enlisted just a lackey from the gang and not the whole....interesting (also their mistake it seems)

ah this grant dude has a stick up his ass

ALEC'S FACE AT PARKER DEAD

ooooooh his publicist?

Tomas talking about his old neighborhood and then grant slamming on it NOOOOOO you hurt my boy

omfg he got yelled at by a nun they're ruthless i tell you

alec my boy "you're catholic and you want to fake a miracle?" i'm DEAD i'll have you know that good intentions are very important

eliot immediately on board with shooting the statue with a paintball gun after saying he thought the idea of the statue bleeding was dumb

AH sophie and nathan heart to heart T^T "you were the good guy...that's what made it fun" "i was...tempted" SEE THIS IS WHAT I MEANT BY DON'T TELL ME BUT ALSO TELL ME

she gonna wait for him T^T "but not for too long" LIES SOPHIE

OOOOOOH TOURIST TRAP

GRANT IS DOING WHAT I THINK HE'S DOING

NO I WAS JOKING ABOUT THE TOURIST TRAP

TOMAS'S FACE

THE VATICAN?????

i love fr. paul. he's so mad lmao

wow we really getting into it

tomas i love you, i'm so glad

FUCKING SHIT I WAS FOLLOWING THE CONGREGATION

"a reading of the Gospel according to Luke" me: "glory to you oh lord---SHIT"

see, this is why i keep my thoughts to myself with a priest because they will use in in their homilies.

WHAT A TWIST

TOMAS MY BOY

ok but saint nick is santa claus tho

he is also the patron saint of prostitutes

general thoughts:

i really thought this episode would center on the clergy and all of that, but that's a too big topic to even cover for one episode. not to mention that that issue covers more than the US and i don't think the leverage crew will go international with their heisting yet.

and this did a great job covering how a lot of poorer communities get screwed over by bigger corporations seeking to expand their commercial empire. ALSO how most of their issues comes with underfunded infrastructure that local governments ignore, giving those corporations such a "great" reason to state their case on why those buildings/neighborhoods should be torn down.

AND it even touched on how quickly things that should be considered marvels are so easily commercialized in this day and age. grant was so ready to turn that church into the next disneyland which 1) is sacrilegious and 2) is such a shallow view on miracles. but hey, that's what US brands have done with Christmas soooooooo it wouldn't be surprising to see someone try to do that with a crying statue.

we even get the discussion of intention vs action because THAT is a hot topic in the Catholic community. do the ends justify the means? do the means justify the ends? and while they kind of leave that question in the air for the audience to decide for themselves, it kind of ends with the episode leaning more on the intention's side. Father Paul broke his vow and revealed what he knew when Nathan confessed because he felt that it was the right thing to do (intention: do right by his church and conscience; action: break the vow of silence a priest makes for confessionals). Our band of thieves framed Grant in order to keep the church's integrity and save the neighborhood. Both acts are considered bad, but both were done with the intention to do good.

so yeah, it was a fun episode, my ot3 trio are going strong. and i can't wait for more!

#leverage #fluffy reacts #long post #i did get teary eyed when nathan lit a candle in memory of his son

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leverage-commentary · 1 year

Text

Part Two of: Leverage Season 3, Episode 14, The Ho Ho Ho Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Hi friends! So quick mod note here. The Google Doc for this transcript was 51 pages long, and when I tried to paste this over, Tumblr told be that there can only be 1000 'blocks' in a post? Which I'm assuming means lines/each person speaking here. So I am splitting it into two posts. I just posted part one of this episode transcript; here are the last 26 pages of the transcript.

John: That all of the Leverage fans have been waiting for.

Chris: With the beard of evil!

Aboud: Beard of evil.

John: With the beard of evil, Wil Wheaton, ever since Wil Wheaton grew the beard of evil.

Michael: Did he not have a beard on the- when he was on before?

John: He had a scruff of evil.

Chris: Yes.

John: Now he has a full beard of evil.

Aboud: We’re about to see him, aren't we?

Michael: Oh yeah, yeah.

John: Yeah we're about to see him back then, did he have the beard?

Michael: Call the flashback.

Aboud: There it is!

John: Yeah, yeah, he had the beard, it's more scruff, I think he has a fuller beard now. Now the freakout in the van. Boy was he a champ during this, cause we locked he and Aldis in those vans for like 12 hours.

[Laughter]

Marc: Yeah, couple days.

John: Couple days.

Michael: I feel like it should flashback to the DVD commentary for that episode.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Oh, there we go.

Michael: Lay that in.

Chris: There you go, it's perindelian [sp?].

[Laughter]

John: Yeah.Yeah and this is also- Wil does great snark. There's nobody who does the-

Aboud: Absolutely.

John: The brutal mocking quite like he does. And he’ll talk about this actually, that once he gave up trying to be a nice guy in his acting and embraced his inner asshole-

Chris: Yeah.

John: His career took off.

Marc: Yeah, he just picks apart the whole team here.

John: Yeah, it's great. And it's fun.

Aboud: One by one.

John: One by one. And it's a lot of fun because the team is very hyper competent, so it's pretty tough to pick apart- to find a villain that's worthy of them, you know?

Chris: Right.

Aboud: And there are a few villains in the Leverage universe that, you know, shit talk.

John: Yes.

Aboud: That's not generally who we- we don't have people that are as colorful in a kind of obnoxious way as Chaos.

John: Yeah, Sterling yanks their chain, but does it more through omission, yeah.

Marc: Oh and this is the best part when he imitates Eliot.

Michael: Yeah, yeah.

[Laughter]

John: The Eliot imitation, oh that's great.

Aboud: “Y’all”.

John: And Wil doing Christain is actually a lot of fun.

Michael: Yeah.

John: No, what it's tricky because for this one, you had to create a perfect Christmas heist plot, get away with it, to a great degree, and then come up with a totally different perfect heist plot.

Chris: Cause it was all mislead.

John: Yeah.

Marc: And he's even drinking Hardison's soda.

John: I know.

Aboud: Gosh this guy.

Marc: Really?

John: Really and he's taken his proxy penis.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Proxy penis.

John: It's really- and fried Lucille. Oh that's just- why can't he have nice things?

[Laughter]

Michael: That's what Tim should've said. ‘This is why we can't have nice things!’

[Laughter]

Chris: Where were you at 2 in the morning when they were shooting?

John: Let's go back and we loop that now, ‘Why we can’t have nice things.’

Chris: Loop it in.

Michael: Like there's a bomb going on in the back of that car.

[Laughter]

Chris: Yeah I know, I thought it was just flames.

Aboud: That's a great effect, a great practical effect of the smoke being emitted, and I believe it was an LED panel that was just pulsing.

Chris: Sparking.

Aboud: And that's how we got the sparks.

John: We don't usually let Aldis play pissed off either. He's kind of-

Aboud: He can do it, though!

John: It's kinda nice seeing that flavor Wil brings that out in him and he's like, you know. It's nice- a lot of people kind of, you know, take Christain’s character off, but when you- we were talking about this the other day on another commentary, Aldis, to a great degree, is the emotional barometer of the show.

Aboud: Right.

John: So whatever Hardison is feeling tends to be what the audience is feeling, you know.

Aboud: And he can do pissed, he can do badass.

John: Yeah.

Aboud: Very well.

John: Yeah the survivalist episode he was very good in, very physical.

Marc: Our 360 shot.

John: Nice 360.

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: Sort of a signature of this show.

John: It is, ever since the accursed pilot.

[Laughter]

Chris: Now for the-

John: Though we did this handheld, right?

Chris: Now for the geeks, is it handheld? Is this steadicam?

Marc: Steadicam.

Chris: This is not on the track.

John: This is not on the track- I put a $10,000 bounty on the circular track one year, like, if that were to disappear it would-

Chris: Now Yakamoto building, who was Yakamoto and how did he- why did they name this-

Michael: It's sort of off of-

Marc: Yakitome.

John: Yakitome Plaza from Die Hard!

Michael: This has to be the badass building that's impossible to break into.

Chris: I was wondering what role did he have in the founding fathers of America?

Michael: Edgar Yakamoto?

Aboud: Oh no this is a holdover from- I've got a whole backstory for this.

Michael: Tell us!

Chris: Tell us about Edgar Yakamoto!

Aboud: This is from that era in the 80’s when the Japanese were buying up Rockefeller Center and all the big, you know-

Chris: Oh ok.

Aboud: Landmarks, and the Yakatome Company-

Michael: Yakamoto.

Aboud: Yakamoto- yeah. Was running their high tech security apparatus out of this tower.

Chris: Oh great ok.

John: There's also a lot of little Christmas images in here, which is her ability to fly as an elf.

Aboud: Yes.

Chris: Oh, and also going down the chimney.

Aboud: Yes exactly.

Michael: Another fun thing to write was saying we’re gonna pull an Edward Albee and having Gina and Tim do a little Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf con.

Aboud: Yes.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Interpret that.

Chris: Which they'll be doing down at the Burt Reynolds dinner theater in a couple of months, if you're down in Jupiter, Florida folks.

[Laughter]

Aboud: That’s-

John: Now here’s-

Aboud: Delightful moment.

Chris: Ohh ohh.

John: Oh and shh shh shh!

Marc: Shhh.

All: Shhh.

[Laughter]

John: I would like to remind everyone he's not-

Chris: Is he saying sugarplums?

Michael: Sugar plums!

John: Sugar plums that's right he's sending him to dreams, he's sending him to Christmas sleep, dreams of sugar plums dancing in his head.

Aboud: Sugar plums.

John: The most menacing sugar plums ever.

[Laughter]

John: But for those of you who are worried about the security guard, you can go on YouTube and see people choked out all the time and they're fine, like, five seconds later.

Aboud: Oh yeah.

John: It really is, it's just he's cutting- he’s not cutting off oxygen he's really just, you know, cutting off the blood flow to the brain, making him go to sleep.

Aboud: I mean he was out for about three hours, but you can go on YouTube and see that people come back in five minutes.

Michael: Minor brain damage.

John: Christain didn't quite get the grip right, that guy really bounced back.

Aboud: It was close.

John: We let him sleep up around the set, just kept watch on him.

Marc: The scary thing is this is really the server room that controls all of the sanitation-

[Laughter]

Aboud: Oh yeah.

Marc: And plumbing of Portland.

John: That we’re in? With our giant cameras?

Chris: Is that true? Is that for real?

Marc: Giant cameras and hooking up our computers to it.

Chris: So if you just pulled one thing out, a whole city block wouldn't be able to flush their toilets.

Aboud: Gone.

Marc: A whole city block- it would be like Ancient Rome.

[Laughter]

Aboud: A sewage-

John: Really, it would degrade that quickly?

Aboud: A sewage storm.

John: A tidal wave of cholera.

Chris: By the way, anytime you upload a worm there is a skull and crossbones.

Michael: Oh yeah no, that comes with, you can't have a worm without that.

Aboud: You know, actually, that is normally a pet peeve of mine, false UI. I don't like computer UI in TV, like that does bug me. But I can buy it when you've got a Hardison or a Chaos-

Chris: Yes, yes, you're right.

Aboud: Because they have clearly, from the ground up, built their own system-

John: UI, yeah-

Aboud: They've built their own UI, so yeah why not.

Michael: That’s user interface for those-

John: Yeah, especially if they are working in Linux or something that's really customizable, a lot of guys really have that as a signature.

Aboud: I don't have a problem with that.

John: There you go, and also we’re kind of fighting twenty years of television computers.

Aboud: Right.

John: Where when we in the pilot, for example, the first half of season one we did a lot of stuff really realistic and it turns out to be visually not very interesting.

Aboud: Right, right.

Marc: This was a good graphic save that Derek did, cause we couldn't afford to shoot a building at night with all these vehicles outside the building.

Chris: Oh this is great.

John: Yeah.

Marc: So we said let's come up with a graphic.

John: I love that little leaving them hanging.

Aboud: Don't leave me hanging.

John: Don't leave me hanging.

Aboud: How great is Derek Frederickson, our graphics person.

Chris: Oh yeah.

Marc: Fantastic.

John: It's a crucial part of the storytelling of this show.

Marc: Yeah.

John: And it's interesting- and you guys glommed onto it very quickly, but when writers start on the show, a big part of writers learning to write Leverage is learning that they don't have to write speeches- go to the screen.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: The screen is there, it's six feet across, you know, use it.

Aboud: The screen in many ways represents a sort of objective reality. You know, that's one thing for facts to be parceled out in dialogue.

Michael: [Snores]

[Laughter]

John: Oh god did you go to Harvard? That's a really Harvard-

Michael: Oh I'm sorry.

Aboud: Yeah.

Michael: We back?

John: Ordinarily you could-

Aboud: Sorkin writes our dialogue, Sorkin writes all our dialogue.

John: You could ordinarily think that Colton fell asleep because it was boring, but he really fell asleep because it wasn't about him.

[Laughter]

Michael: I just hadn’t spoken on the commentary track, so-

Chris: There you go, there the great-

John: Great Wil Wheaton gloat and grin. And now we're in a totally different episode! I love this.

Marc: That's right.

John: We’re in a totally different plotline here.

Aboud: Some emotional stuff out of Nate and the team.

Marc: Yeah, Nate takes it on the chin.

Chris: Mea culpa. He's very mea culpa this season, we don't get that a lot out of him.

John: Well you know, this was one of the things we were building to this season, is because the way he behaved last year, he has to accept that he is a peer of them now.

Aboud: Right.

John: Yeah, now he can't just dictate, he is one of the team and he has to take his lumps.

Aboud: He's one of the thieves.

John: Yeah now we're about to cut from the lovely mall to a real- to the guts of the sanitation building. What was it like shooting in the sanitation building?

Michael: Smelly.

Marc: It smelled- it actually smelled a lot worse above ground, it was hard. I mean getting all the gear down there was tough.

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: It was dystopian.

Marc: It looked beautiful!

[Laughter]

John: It was [laugh] Viggo Morrison with the shopping cart.

Marc: You can't build tunnels like this!

John: No, no you can't. It's really one of those places you have to shoot the location.

Marc: Yeah you just- we got a lot of production value out of it.

Chris: And then the fake fact I like that they had underground tunnels in Boston back in the day.

Aboud: That was inspired by the fact that downtown LA, combination of things: downtown LA does have an abandoned pedestrian infrastructure that was built in collaboration with Disney. They wanted to put Wedway people movers throughout LA and realized it's sunny here all the time, you never will need that!

[Laughter]

Aboud: And they wisely stopped the project. The other half of it is the steam tunnels of MIT.

John: Yes.

Chris: Oh okay.

Aboud: Which are notoriously fun to run around.

Marc: And here you go, you get Wil Wheaton in tights.

John: Yeah, I love the fact that he has anticipated- that he is gone and either bought or made this outfit to close the deal.

Michael: Well he had it.

Aboud: So unnecessary!

Michael: He owned it.

John: There’s no reason!

Chris: It is very much- no you wanna approach a Santa-

Michael: Chaos used to go to ren faires, he had that.

[Laughter]

John: Exactly. Will might've owned that costume.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: I'll ask him when I talk to him next time. And now we've got a cross going, we've got like our third heist in the entire show going at this point.

Michael: It's exhausting, frankly.

John: Also in Boston actually there was- there's apparently still a lot of leftover underground infrastructure from the Big Dig when they put in the tunnels to the Logan airport.

Aboud: Oh sure, absolutely.

Marc: This is a 360 around the work force table that we've never done before.

John: Is this one of those things you realize that you were about to do for the first time as you were preparing the shot?

Marc: Yeah.

John: Yeah, that's always a good thing.

Chris: But I like it. That's a nice way, you got Nate moving away.

Marc: I got him from one end of the table to the other end, and then an exit.

[Laughter]

Marc: Perfect!

John: Well it's hard, it’s one of the challenges is breaking up when we've got static shots is like: keep people moving.

Marc: And again to cover the five-hander.

John: When the writers strand you like that, with the big stinking load of pipe like that.

Michael: Huh what?

John: Nothing.

Aboud: Uh-oh.

Michael: Santa fight.

John: Santa fight coming up.

Aboud: No not yet, first the wall saw.

Marc: Looking at this, this is my favorite graphic, the wall- the graphic of the saw on the screen, when that shows up.

Chris: Now how many-

Aboud: He went to the trouble to make a graphic of a saw to chart the progress of the real saw.

Marc: And we see it! Yeah.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Here it goes.

[Laughter]

Chris: There it is! That's the saw.

John: You know what? That would not be hard to do, I can see why he would do that.

Marc: That's CG dust and debris there.

John: Really?

Marc: Yeah, cause our fake-

John: They wouldn't let us cut through the wall?

Marc: Our fake walls were not creating enough.

Aboud: It isn't creating enough masonry dust.

John: Our fake walls were too well made?

Aboud: Apparently.

Marc: This was actually the last scene of the episode that we shot.

John: And another great little cheat is bounce through the window and they're looking out at this big giant exterior that will never- we don't have to connect them with.

Aboud: Exactly.

Marc: Yes, big cheat.

John: But it's useful, I mean, we did this in the pilot, though, remember when we shot that we built a window that he was looking out at the opposite building with.

Marc: Yup.

Aboud: Flashback to our kid.

Michael: Oh ohhh.

Aboud: Putting two and two together.

Michael: Planting seed.

Aboud: It's under the north pole.

John: There you go. That's also a nice job you guys did, which was making sure everybody had a little hero moment, I mean besides the fight. One of the things we were trying to focus on this year- and you saw it a little bit at the end of season two, was that Eliot was a very unpleasant, dangerous human being, and as such, he has a strategic sense that comes into play into these situations. He's not just a hitter.

Aboud: Right.

John: Also nice respect the suit, there you go.

Michael: Mhh hm nice Dave Foley, this is-

Marc: His exit here is the best.

Michael: Yeah.

Aboud: Think Downey said this was his favorite line of the season.

Chris: It is my favorite line.

Marc: That little stutter.

John: No this is a-

Michael: The morphine line?

Aboud: That's later.

Chris: That's coming.

John: I can't believe you let me drive it later, because it just takes the stink off, I mean. That's a great group shot. I've never noticed that before. I don't know just cause we were jammed up when we were shooting this one.

Aboud: The way they break, how about that.

Chris: Very nice.

Aboud: Here we go.

John: Santa fight. I think we just chanted Santa fight in the writers room.

[Laughter]

Chris: [Mocking] Chaos.

Marc: [Mocking] Chaos!

[Laughter]

Aboud: Look at that stink.

John: And there's a nice moment here, actually, where he's gonna beat Chaos up because he wrecked Hardison's van.

Aboud: Yes.

John: One of those little moments of friendship.

Chris: Well didn't he sort of- Wil picked up on the van thing.

Marc: Oh yeah, he said-

Aboud: Oh Wil was-

Marc: Well I wrecked that van.

Aboud: I wrecked that van.

Michael: That's right.

John: They turned it into like he banged his girlfriend.

All: Yeah!

John: I'd forgotten that. And they did it on the set right?

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: He wrote that line on the set.

John: Yeah [laughs] wrecked that van.

Chris: This is great.

Michael: Wrecked that van.

John: Great Santa fight. And tricky too, this is one of those writing versus set challenges cause the way this was written- the geography of taking the bags and stuff was much easier; then you get down into the tunnel and it's like, ‘Oh, this doesn't line up with our imagination back in Los Angeles at all.’

Aboud: We’re gonna have to figure that out.

Chris: You smartly gave him a slightly different hued Santa suit so you didn't get confused as to who was-

Michael: He actually just spilled red wine on it.

John: Unfortunately hammered. Is that digital steam?

Marc: That is digital steam.

Aboud: Both.

Marc: We had a little bit and then we just added it to create the wall.

Chris: That's great.

John: Yeah, it looks nice.

Michael: Looks great.

John: Mark Franco, our digital effects guy here, adding production value every single week.

Aboud: Definitely.

John: I like the little braid in the Santa hair- would Santa have braids in his hair? i'm not-

Michael: Santa- some Santas have cornrows now.

Marc: He's Cherokee, part Cherokee.

John: Part Cherokee Santa? Alright. Fair enough, I did not know that

Aboud: I think that was actually a tie to secure it, but it's gotten loose in the fight.

Marc: Yeah.

John: It's interesting because all the December episodes are kind of our fable episodes, like the ones we've always wanted to do.

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know the steal a country, the Christmas episode. It's- they're a little gentler than the other ones.

Aboud: Sure.

John: You know.

Marc: This was the best stuff, filming scenes with children and stuntmen.

[Laughter]

Michael: When there were about 20 minutes had to go-

Marc: Without a fight!

John: Yeah, apparently there were all these laws about how many kids you can have-

Chris: Now where's the-

Michael: That's from Die Hard, right?

Chris: Where did that come from, did we buy that?

Michael: Looks like Die Hard.

Chris: We bought that, that was great.

Marc: That was a stock shot. Yes, you have ten minutes to film these kids or we’re all going to jail.

[Laughter]

John: Oh come on.

Aboud: Well stunt men and kids are enemies in the wild.

[Laughter]

John: That’s true.

Michael: Stunt men eat kids in the wild.

John: Well actually, that was a big deal - we had to have guys with those poles with loops on them right off camera to like grab the kids from the stuntmen.

Aboud: The wranglers.

John: That's right, Charlie Brewer popped one of these kids - just hit them right in the face.

Aboud: Oh totally, he had it coming.

John: The kid was obnoxious and missed his cue. This is- and we bring Christmas back. I like this is a good natured episode, I like this.

Marc: Yeah.

John: Even though Santa is brutally beating [laughs].

Aboud: I mean-

Chris: No, but then they are redeemed too, the evil Santas - they are moved by the children!

Michael: The kiss of a child!

[Laughter]

Michael: That'll do it.

Aboud: Their hearts are warmed.

Marc: That will do it every time.

John: Their hearts grow three sizes that day, that's nice.

[Laughter]

Aboud: And here we reveal that Eliot, on purpose, caused the steam wall as a ruse. Part of the clever plan of team Leverage.

John: They all look very happy here. And there you go, the undercover FBI.

Chris: Now did she flash a badge underneath the-?

Marc: Yeah, I think so.

Michael: I don't know what she flashed.

Aboud: It worked.

John: You know what, this is one of the things where it's like if a woman in an elf costume comes up and says she's an FBI agent, you're gonna believe her.

Marc: Course you are. Especially when she looks like that.

John: Yeah, exactly. And then she, you know, fights for the Christmas spirit, absolutely.

[Laughter]

Aboud: It's just-

John: Kindly FBI agents.

Chris: I think we need to-

Marc: There was a shot of Beth's sister in there as one of the mothers as well.

Michael: There we go, kiss! Awww!

All: Aww!

[Laughter]

Michael: I'm gonna give up my evil ways.

Chris: He loved it! Everybody!

John: Man, when I get out of jail in seven years I'm really gonna be changed.

[Laughter]

Michael: And here's the line!

John: “Can't believe you let me drive!”

[Laughter]

John: It's just so wrong!

Chris: Oh, that made me laugh.

John: Oh, and it really does take an actor like Dave Foley to land it, to kind of take the stink off it and- you know. This is it.

[Laughter]

Aboud: And then ho ho ho, you're right, that was ill advised.

John: And then.

Aboud: This guy just waiting, lying in wait for him.

John: Yeah. If Eliot-

Chris: And the backstory is he's an underprivileged kid, right?

Aboud: Exactly.

Michael: He's a latchkey child.

John: He’s a latchkey and now this is his last year for Santa.

Chris: Got a Rubbery Robby.

Michael: He's in juvie.

John: He's in really? What was he in juvie for?

Aboud: Caring too much.

[Laughter]

John: Really? I didn't know-

Aboud: Yeah.

John: -that was a crime.

Chris: There you go.

Marc: It's my third man shot of-

Chris: Yeah that's great.

John: That was really third man, that's nice. I wish we had the van going.

Aboud: The shadows. Put them up in a ferris wheel.

John: There you go. And man, you know what, we get a lot of mileage out of those FBI-

Marc: Jackets.

Aboud: Windbreakers.

Chris: Cafe press, we need to start.

[Laughter]

John: You know, I think they would probably have words with us if we started making FBI gear and selling it online.

Michael: Is that a problem?

John: That would probably be a problem.

Aboud: I think they'd have issues.

Michael: I like this bit.

John: The gloat.

Michael: Meaning of Christmas.

John: The meaning of Christmas gloat, just because Wil is so truculent.

[Laughter]

John: He's so hateful.

Michael: But he was right, the meaning of Christmas did not help them.

[Laughter]

Aboud: It barely applies!

Marc: Barely applies!

John: What I love is he's right, but that- I think that's kind of Chaos’s superpower, he is actually the only sane person in every episode he's in.

[Laughter]

John: Everyone else is living in Leverage-verse and he's kind of the cranky realist.

Aboud: He's the Frank Rhines.

John: He is, he’s the Frank Rhines of Leverage.

Chris: Oh here we go.

John: And this is a nice scene.

Chris: And this, now Marc, how long did this take?

Marc: This took a half a day.

Chris: Wow.

John: To shoot this whole sequence, the one scene.

Marc: Yup, this one scene.

Aboud: Lot of coverage.

Michael: I feel like there was stuff added that wasn't in the script. Like the- some of the Eliot with the sword and-

Marc: Yeah, I thought we'd do that. I added that just to give it just some action and plus, you know, Christain has a sword, why not?

Aboud: I don't think I added that much time though.

John: Yeah. I we originally had, like, killing ninjas-

Marc: Yeah, exactly.

John: Some ninjas arrive and he kills them, but that turned out to be too big.

Aboud: It's just the nature of having five people in that configuration, that's the trouble.

John: Well thank god for that corner of the bar. We found second year- we found that first episode second year and we were shooting all over the bar and were like how do we- ahhh this corner!

Michael: Oh, frame it around the portrait of JFK.

John: Rightfully so, by the way.

Michael: Yes.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: There you go.

Chris: Here we go.

Aboud: Watch this little bit he does. He pulls it ‘herh’!

Chris: Digital- that’s digital folks!

Marc: Digital glint!

All: Digital glint!

Marc: Course.

Michael: Now I forget, this was- we named it after the Kill Bill sword, which is not a real thing.

Aboud: Correct.

Michael: It was made up for Kill Bill, but this- I think now we're saying the Leverage universe exists within the Kill Bill universe.

Chris: No another great fake fact!

Aboud: From Kill Bill.

John: This establishes us in the Kill Bill universe.

Marc: Wait, this is my favorite part when he puts it back in.

Aboud: Here it goes!

Marc: Like Hardison’s gonna steal it.

John: And he's about to disappear off into the forest.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: No, it's great. Well it's kind of a will newton thing i'd like to see on the website now, people kinda connect the Leverage verse together with the Kill Bill-

Michael: They can write fanfiction. It's like Jackie Brown and-

John: Exactly. Because the Quentin Tarantino movies all exist in the same universe.

Michael: Yes.

John: There you go.

Aboud: And we should point out that when Mark Foley was going to- Dave Foley, excuse me, not Mark Foley.

Michael: Not congressional.

Aboud: Very different story. When Dave Foley’s going out of the country, he's going to San Lorenzo!

Michael: Ohh.

John: That's right.

Marc: Cause there's no extradition there.

John: Exactly, we established that you guys put San Lorenzo in there to establish that, that was very nice.

Aboud: Planted that seed.

Michael: Ope.

Chris: Oh that's great.

John: How did you do that?

Marc: We cut it, and glued it.

John: Nice. Just struck it. And I love the- she just likes money.

Michael: The smell of it, feel of it.

Chris: Just smelling it.

Marc: Gina was great in this scene, she played it really well.

John: Just sort of get me something shiny. This was great and this was tough. It was actually tough to see, yeah we had to digitally highlight that to get “your name here”. And people are wondering what she writes down. She does not write her full name down here.

Michael: We what was that- Falooza Pricklebottom or something? Is that her real name?

John: That is her real name, thanks for spoiling it for the audience.

Chris: People are gonna, you know, analyze the-

Aboud: The pen strokes.

Marc: Oh yeah, in the outtakes every time Tim would grab the napkin and go, “Steve?”

[Laughter]

Marc: Oh, and here's our snow.

John: Oh, yeah there you go.

All: Aww.

Michael: The innocent face of a child.

John: The lovely look on Beth's face, that's a hell of a read right there. Just busy-

Marc: Just walks right under the knife.

John: He's just thinking about killing, he’s really-. ‘I'm thinking about killing, you kids are thinking about Christmas.’ Now this is actually one of my favorite ending shots of all three years-

Michael: You can't see- they can't see, but you're crying.

John: I'm crying, I have tears running down my eyes.

Michael: Oh no that's Guinness.

John: That's Guinness [laughs] smeared all over me like I'm a small child.

Michael: Crying Guinness.

Marc: Digitally enhanced snow.

John: That smile back? That's killer.

Marc: Oh yeah.

John: That's killer right there.

Aboud: And he has to like-

Chris: He always has to-

Michael: Crane shot!

John: And then the crane. We paid for the crane, use the crane.

Marc: That's right, watch the flake land on her tongue!

All: Ohh great! [Laughter]

John: Digital?

Aboud: No, that was real!

John: That was a real one!

Marc: Enhanced!

John: And that was The Ho Ho Ho Job! That was a ton of fun. Thanks for watching and stay tuned.

Aboud: Merry Christmas!

Michael: Merry Christmas everybody!

John: And a happy new year!

#Leverage #Leverage TNT #Leverage Audio Commentary Transcripts #Audio Commentary #Transcripts #Parker #Alec Hardison #Elliot Spencer #Nate Ford #Sophie Devereaux #Season 3 #Episode 14 #Season 3 Episode 14 #The Ho Ho Ho Job

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dollarbin · 7 months

Text

Dollar Bin #12:

Mickey Newbury's Live at Montezuma Hall / Looks like Rain

I don't recommend you storm your local Dollar Bin in desperate search of this double album from Mickey Newbury.

Rather, I insist that you do so. Now.

You're still sitting there, so I'll explain what you'll get for your dollar: a seemingly unedited concert from 73 on Disc 1, and a full reissue of Newbury's 69 studio record, Looks Like Rain, as a bonus disc.

Today, on its own, copies of Looks Like Rain cost $30 to $100 or more. And that's if you are lucky enough to find a copy. As near as I can tell, just about all of Newbury's catalog is stone cold out of print in every purchase format from download to 8 track. Newbury's grandkids must have Ph.D's in economics and some kind of master plan; or they're just pissed.

But fret not. No one need pound the pavement or their discogs keyboard. No one need take out a home loan for a copy of the original record. Looks Like Rain is waiting for you in the Dollar Bin, attached to the Montezuma concert. I saw four available copies last week alone.

And so, let me now declare that this double album Is The Soundest Investment Of 2023. You heard it here first day traders: don't buy low; don't sell high. Buy Mickey Newbury.

Let's start with Looks Like Rain.

1969 was a pretty big year in music, yes? Astral Weeks and Electric Ladyland came out in late 68, so let's start the countdown of epic greatness there. The Velvet Underground, Five Leaves Left, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Dusty in Memphis, Abby Road, The Band, Songs from a Room, Let it Bleed, At San Quentin, In a Silent Way, Clouds: 1969 is not a good year in music, it's The Best Year in Music. Fairport Convention managed to release not just one, but three timeless records all in that one year.

You won't find Looks Like Rain listed alongside those albums on any best-of lists. But that's only because people are dumb. After all, look at the current presidential polling.

Newbury's 69 record offers glorious space between every note, much like Van Morrison's phrasing in Astral Weeks' or Young's soloing in Down By the River. Take a listen to She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye. The percussion and choir are barely there; a song that could be 45 seconds long, start to finish, gloriously stretches itself out to shimmer and glow, then gives way to the pulsing rain.

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Newbury's lyrics throughout this record are often timeless, much like Leonard Cohen's own writing from that year. Sure, no one, short of T.S. Eliot with his patient etherized on a table, can stand alongside Cohen when he compares a bird on a wire to a drunk in a midnight choir, and no one else in that, or maybe any, year could rewrite Genesis's story of Issac as an updated Masters of War complete with a peacock waiving its fan, but Newbury offers us miniaturized perfections that set the stage for Kris Kristofferson's imminent arrival the following year. Just listen to him describe a lost love:

It's not her heart Lord, it's her mind.

She didn't mean to be unkind.

Why, she even woke me up to say goodbye.

I could go on and on. The album, with its sitars, sound effects and transitional whistling, is as experimental for country music as Abby Road or In a Silent Way were for pop and jazz respectively. Newbury's vocals ache and individualize - no one else will ever sing like this - in ways Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits and Tom Petty would spend their entire careers emulating. Nothing here is dull; everything is wholly original. I'd happily eat Newbury's poison red berries any day; and I'd chase them down with Van's cherry wine.

Just listen to T. Total Tommy. The rain gives way to a Fotheringay-like guitar piece that merges with Kenny Buttrey's insistent cymbal work (which he'd forever cement in all our minds through Heart of Gold two years later) and a beautifully bent bass line. Newbury overlays this lovely tension with his own midnight choir, finger snaps and lead vocals that are somehow wise, sad and joyful all at once. Some men kill with bullets, Newbury tells us. Others, use a pen. I'd happily listen to 16 more verses of this song but Newbury shuffles off early as we rush to flip the record.

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And remember: this is just 1/2 of what you get from this Dollar Bin diamond.

Live from Montezuma Hall finds Newbury playing the part of Jerry Jeff Walker's wise uncle. At the same time Walker was guzzling Sangria in Luckenbach, Newbury was greeting his audience with humble, often incomprehensible, hilarity. But sides of the record start with Newbury rambling, first about a pot smoker halfway up in the audience, then second about a neighbor of his parents' hound dogs. I have no idea what he's saying some of the time but I love every moment, and I can understand why Kristofferson, Jennings and Nelson all bowed down to this guy even though the record buying public largely ignored him.

Both of his side opening rambles give way to foot stompers, then we dive straight into some of the best white guy soul music I know of. But there's a problem lurking on Side 2...

I imagine that one of the biggest reasons Newbury's music hasn't taken off this century is the nature of his most famous song, An American Trilogy, which Elvis co-opted throughout the 70s. I'm a dad to three cool kids and they always perk up when Newbury is playing in the house. But every time American Trilogy starts up on the turntable I rush to turn it off. It's 2023. Black Lives Matter, and no one reasonable, including me, is real excited to hear Confederate marching music, even if Newbury is doing the singing.

It's a shame. If Newbury, who died over 20 years ago, had lived to see the present moment, he'd have had the chance to speak about the song and put things in better perspective. Gordon Lightfoot did a wonderful job with this kind of thing at the end of his life by frankly apologizing for the mysogenistic nature of many of his early songs.

Not everyone gets this kind of thing right though. Stephen Stills is still alive and well, and he has yet to apologize for his entire body of work. He should do so.

Now, I know nothing about Newbury's politics or attitude towards people of color. But, happily, a full listen to Live At Montezuma offers a strong potential defense against the idea that he was a racist through and through. His intro to Cortelia Clark, and the song itself, offers, to my privileged white ears anyway, the strong hope that Newbury could be deeply thoughtful and caring towards people less privileged than himself.

Okay, we talked all that through. Let's go out on a high note, shall we? Take a listen to another of Newbury's timeless classics, this one from Frisco Mabel Joy, then go spend all your hard earned cash on every Newbury record your local Dollar Bin offers. I promise great returns on your investment.

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Hope you all are well. Thanks for reading.

#Youtube #mickey newbury #stephen stills still sucks #1969 #jerry jeff walker

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nellie-elizabeth · 2 years

Note

fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. let’s spread the self-love 🤍✨

Thank you @portraitofemmy and also @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier!!

Okay, I'm going to pick one non-Magicians fic for the list but the other four are all gonna be Magicians... what can I say, I think I've grown hugely as a writer since 2019 when I started writing for Queliot! Everything before that doesn't hold up particularly well, in my opinion. I'm also going to try really hard not to go too hard on the recency bias thing. I tend to think I'm getting better as a writer, which means I think my newer stuff is, by and large, stronger than what came before it... but let's go! In no particular order...

A Comet Pulled From Orbit (The Magicians)

This is a novel-length AU of The Magicians which combines the magic and characters from that universe with the immortality and some of the basic plot from The Old Guard comics/film. I worked harder on this fic than I ever have any other piece of writing in my life... I had tons of backstory detail for each of the characters, I plotted it out meticulously, read every word aloud to myself to smooth out the prose along the way. I think it's my most polished work, my most book-like book, and I have enormous fondness for it. It's Alice POV, but Queliot is still the romantic pairing that gets the most... screen-time, as it were. Alice and Eliot are the main characters, but it's also got Kalice, Margo/Julia, and general ensemble feels galore.

Regrets, or the Absence Thereof (The Magicians)

My favorite smut that I've written - this is a depiction of the famous Marqueliot threesome, but it's through the lens of Eliot revisiting the memory in his Happy Place, set in 4x05. So you've got Eliot watching a past version of himself, along with Margo and Quentin. It plays with Eliot's memory and sense of self, what he knew then vs. what he knows now, his mosaic memories creeping in as he watches he and Quentin have sex for the first time.

When Quentin Met Eliot (The Magicians)

It's When Harry Met Sally only with Queliot! Quentin Coldwater as Harry Burns, Eliot Waugh as Sally Albright. I've been told by people that this may be the best thing I've written, and I do feel very proud of it. Bonus points that it comes with such gorgeous art from @aniallating!

is it too late (or could this love protect me) (The Magicians)

Messy, sprawling, Quentin POV in a no-magic AU where Eliot and Quentin were friends in undergrad who have been slowly drifting apart for the past several years. Now, Quentin is engaged to Alice Quinn, when a revelation about Eliot's feelings rocks his world. I'm super fond of how this one came out, it was written really quickly and in a total writing frenzy the likes of which I have not been able to replicate often. It plays around with flashbacks and flashforwards and has a lot of my favorite lines I've ever written in it!

textual communication (Roswell, New Mexico)

And... just so not everything on the list is Queliot, this is a fic I wrote for Malex. I did a whole series where I wrote one short fic per episode of the show, 39 in total. This one is for episode 3x01 and it's a series of texts and emails between the two characters, written during a year in which they were apart. I don't even know precisely why I like this so much, it's very different from most of what I've written but I just had so fun trying the epistolary style, so to speak. I found something of the characters that I was looking for in writing it.

~~~

I tag anyone who wants to play, this was fun!!

#my posts #queliot #malex #the magicians #roswell new mexico #my fic

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make-me-imagine · 1 year

Text

Not So Unrequited Love

Plot: Eliot seems to be happy with his new relationship with U.S. Marshall Maria Shipp. All the while, Y/n, who has had feelings for Eliot for years, watches. After an overheard conversation, Eliot learns just how stupid he has been.

Requests: Reader is jealous of Maria + “You said you wouldn't fall in love with me." "I lied."

Requested By: Two Anons. Prompt is one half of a request. I will use the other prompt in a separate fic I have planned.

Warnings: Tame themes of jealousy and unrequited love.

Words: ~3k

A/N: This is also a re-write of how Maria and Eliot's relationship ends.

"I think I got someone I can call to help us out with that part of the con." Eliot spoke up from beside you as he grabbed his phone and got up to leave.

You felt your chest tighten at his words, knowing exactly who he was referring too. Your fist tightened around your pen.

Parker smirked "Tell Maria hello for me."

Eliot glared at her "You don't know that was who I was gonna call, Parker!"

As Parker rose to follow him she continued to smile "Then who is it, huh? You got another girlfriend I should know about?"

"Parker, don't antagonize him!" Sophie sighed before she turned to you and Breanna. "I'm going to go find our Mr Wilson, you two get ready."

You and Breanna both nodded, watching Sophie leave. Your eyes locked on Eliot outside as he spoke on the phone. He had a smile on his face as he disappeared around the corner.

Breanna looked over at you, noting the way your face had fallen from moments before. She noticed it every time Maria came up in conversation.

"Sooo..." She began slowly as she eyed you.

You looked at her, noting the look on her face. "Are you about to ask for a favor?"

She shook her head "No, not a favor."

"Then what?"

"I was just wondering why it is you seem so effected every time Eliot and Maria are brought up."

You straightened up a bit at this, which she did not fail to notice.

She continued with a hint of caution in her tone "I mean, you're the only one who doesn't make jokes. Who doesn't ask Eliot how he and Maria are. And anytime she gets brought up, you tend to go quiet, or find and excuse to leave."

You smiled softly "You're better at noticing things than I gave you credit for."

She shrugged her head "So what is it?"

You shook your head lightly, uncertain if you should tell her.

She leaned a little closer, her face expressing a small pout. "Come on, please? 'Cause I gotta be honest. When I first showed up here, I really thought you and Eliot were a couple. I mean you two are perfect for each other."

You let out a soft breath "Yeah, I've heard that before."

"So?" She gave you a hard look.

You rolled your eyes lightly before you looked past her to make sure everyone was gone. You took a breath before you began.

"When the team first got together, me and Eliot got along a lot faster than we did with the others. I'm not really sure why, we just...clicked. He would often insist that he didn't like working with a team, that he was better alone, blah blah. One day when we were talking about it again, once the team was a bit more settled. I joked that it was because he wasn't only afraid of finding a family, but falling in love."

Hearing a noise outside, you paused for a moment. Seeing Eliot leaving, you figured he was going to meet Maria. You sighed softly before you continued.

"And honestly, by that point, I...had developed feelings for him. So the joke was kind of a test I guess, to see if he showed any interest"

Breanna leaned a little closer. "Did he?"

You let out a soft dry laugh "Actually, he just retaliated with some dry sarcasm. Saying things like 'Men like me don't fall in love'"

You mimicked his deeper voice and Breanna chuckled.

"But then he said, that I had to promise to never fall in love with him. It was a joke at the time, and I agreed not too. Not that long later I figured it was for the best. I mean, we have a dangerous life, it's dangerous to fall in love in our line of work. But the longer I spent with him and the others, the more I felt at home.

Breanna spoke softly "And...the more you fell for him?"

You nodded softly as you tapped your fingers on the table. "Me and Eliot are close, but not that kind of close. He's never shown any interest in me, not like that. So I just- I stay with him in the ways that I can. While he falls in love with attractive marshals." You smiled, but it did not meet your eyes.

She shook her head as she stared at you with a mix of pity and surprise "You gotta tell him!"

"No, I don't Breanna. He's got Maria, and as far as I can tell, he's happy with her. I'm not the type to try and bust that kind of thing up. Eliot deserves someone, and it took him a long time to get over the not falling in love thing. It may not be me, but, at least it's someone. Besides! What if-" a fearful thought you had many times washed over you. You let out a soft breath. "What if I do tell him, and..."

"And he doesn't feel the same." She said with dejection.

"That would kill me Breanna, and the team would never be the same again." You shrugged, the sadness on your face evident "I can't risk that, I wont."

"So you're just gonna watch the man you love, love someone else?"

You nodded "The things we do for love Breanna, especially unrequited love, often hurt."

Hearing your phone buzz, you looked down to see a text from Sophie. "It's time" You knocked on the table before you began to leave, stopping you spun back around and pointed at her "This stays between us."

She nodded, before she watched you go. A newfound pity, and respect for you heavy on her chest.

--- --- --- ---

Sitting in the food truck with Breanna, you listened to the various conversations over the comms. While Harry schmoozed up to an old evil lawyer, and Sophie made her way back to the truck, you heard the tail-end of Eliot and Maria's conversation.

Your's and Breanna's comms weren't on, so though you could hear them, they could not hear you.

"You owe me for this one Eliot." Maria said.

"Yeah yeah I know." He said with an obvious smile.

"Maybe dinner? When you're done...working, or whatever this is."

"Yeah, dinner sounds good."

"Good. Call me later then."

Breanna made a sound akin to a sick cat "She is really good at" she mimicked a fishing rod "Reeling him in isn't she?"

"Breanna!" You said softly.

"What? I'm on your side."

"On Y/n's side of what?" Sophie's voice came from behind you as she entered the food truck. You looked at Breanna with a mild warning look.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." You said coolly, as you rose. Grabbing your ear comm, you began putting on your coat.

"Mark primed and ready for me?" You asked Sophie.

"Yes." She said while watching you closely, unconvinced of your dismissing comment.

Once you let the truck, Sophie looked over at Breanna, who quickly looked away and began typing.

Sophie sat beside her "Breanna, if something is going on between Eliot and Y/n I need to know. Are they fighting? What is it?"

Breanna looked nervously from her screen to Sophie. "I'm not supposed to talk about it."

Sophie narrowed her eyes "But you clearly very much want to." Her eyes widened a it "Is it a secret? I love secrets! Y/n has a secret from me?"

Breanna shrugged, weighing the consequences. "Okay-" she began as she muted Sophie's the comms so you would not be able to over hear once you turned yours on, "First tell me this. Have you ever thought that Y/n and Eliot should be together?"

Sophie rose her brow "Oh I always thought they should, but I never understood why they haven't." Sophie gasped "What is it, now you have to tell me!"

"Alright Sophie, Maria is gonna help." Eliot frowned when he heard no response "Sophie? Breanna? Y/n what's going on?"

"What?" You whispered.

"Sophie and Breanna aren't responding to me."

"They're in the truck, I just left them. I gotta go, I'm approaching the mark."

Eliot sighed as he walked up to the food truck. Seeing the door slightly ajar, he opened it slowly, fearing someone else may be inside. He paused though, when he heard Sophie and Breanna.

"What is it, now you have to tell me!"

Eliot was about to call out to them, but stopped when he heard Breanna.

"Have you ever noticed Y/n withdrawing and getting weird whenever Maria comes up in conversation?"

"Oh yeah definitely."

Eliot frowned, he never noticed that. He would have noticed that. He felt a small jolt of realization, as he recalled that you tended to avoid any conversation about her. He thought you were doing it for his sake, but maybe not?

"Right?! So, it's because Y/n has been in love with Eliot for years!"

"What!?"

Eliot felt his heart drop as he felt his breath catch.

"Eliot made a joke years back when Nate first got you guys together, that Y/n had to promise to never fall in love with him. They said they wouldn't, but Y/n already had feelings for him then too."

"Oh my God."

Eliot's hands tightened on the handle of the truck as he continued to hold his breath. Everything from years ago rushing back into his head.

"Y/n said that Eliot never showed any signs of being interested in them so they never acted on it. And Eliot would say things like he doesn't fall in love, ya know, typical Eliot stuff. But now, years later he's with Maria and not Y/n, and now they just have to watch, while their heart is being ripped apart watching the man they love, be with someone else."

"Oh dear, poor Y/n." Sophie said with a dejected tone.

"And Y/n refuses to tell Eliot because they don't want to jeopardize ruining the team."

Eliot stepped away and leaned against the truck, finally taking in a staggered breath.

All this time, you had loved him? The years that he spent convincing himself to never feel anything for you. Because it would be dangerous, because you deserved better? The whole time, you were doing the same, for him.

As much as it broke his heart never being with you the way he dreamed, he convinced himself it was for the better. So when people like Maria came into his life, he jumped in. Now he knew that every time he did that, he was hurting you.

All this time, you had never gotten into a serious relationship. Was this why? What it because of him?

"Eliot? Hello!?"

Breaking from his thoughts as Sophie's voice rang in his ears, he shook himself from his thoughts.

"What?"

"Are you coming back to the truck? We have to go."

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He replied, waiting for a few moments before he went into the truck.

Right now he needed to focus on the con, but once it was over. He would fix this. He would set it all right.

--- --- ---

You grinned at the client as she shook Sophie's hand, before turning to the rest of you "Thank you all so much."

"I hope you're able to get back on your feet quickly, let us know if there is anything else we can do." You said softly.

As she thanked you all again and walked off, you looked around at the others. You paused momentarily as you saw Eliot staring intensely at you. His face a mix of emotion you weren't sure you could identify.

Seemingly pulling himself from his thoughts, he pulled his eyes from you as he turned to follow the others inside.

Letting out a sigh as you looked around, you smiled, glad the con went well.

Looking at the time, you felt a small tug at your heart as you recalled Eliot's promise to Maria of dinner. You sighed as you tried to shake the thought from your mind, as you had many times before.

Taking a short break with everyone before they left, you were left alone, sitting at the tables outside the restaurant. You slowly spun the glass in your hand as you stared into the bubbles of the drink.

You were so lost in thought, you didn't see Eliot come around the corner. You didn't see him stand there for a while as he watched you.

He felt guilt pull at him as he watched you sit alone. After most cons, you and him would sit outside somewhere, talk, laugh, eat, watch the stars. It was your thing.

But recently, he would leave after cons to go see Maria. Just another thing he took from you.

Finally walking up to you, you heard his steps and looked up. You smiled at him with mild surprise. He smiled in return, feeling a warmer tug at his heart than before.

"Everyone leave?"

"Yeah" You nodded before you frowned slightly "I thought you were getting dinner with Maria?"

Eliot let out a sigh as he sat in the chair next to you. "Yeah, about that. I did see Maria, but it wasn't to get dinner."

You furrowed your brow "Something happen?"

He nodded "Yeah. Uh, me and Maria aren't going to be seeing each other again."

You sat up a bit straighter, both pain for Eliot, and a small amount of relief washed over you. "What happened?"

"I did." He said softly.

You turned in your chair to face him "I don't get it."

"I ended it, because...I overheard a conversation between Breanna and Sophie earlier."

"About...Maria?" Your heart was beginning to pick up pace as you swallowed hard. What exactly did Breanna and Sophie talk about when you left?

He shook his head "No, about you."

You stared at him with a blank face as you processed what he said. When you left Sophie and Breanna in the truck, she had just walked in after Breanna made a comment about being on your side.

"Oh God." You muttered before you leaned down, setting your head on the table a bit harder than you intended "What did the say?" You asked with a dejected tone.

Eliot smiled a bit as he sat forward, putting his arms on the table and leaning forward. He spoke softly "About how your in love with me. And that you have been for years."

Your heart was pounding in your chest, as your neck burned hot. You were afraid to look up, afraid Eliot would have a look on his face that told you he didn't feel the same.

But then you remembered what started this conversation. He ended it with Maria because of what he overheard. Did that mean-

Looking up, you saw Eliot with a soft smile staring down at you. No judgement, no repulsion, no rejection.

"You said you wouldn't fall in love with me." He said softly with a smile.

You let out a soft breath "Yeah, well. I lied."

His smile grew a bit "So did I."

You squinted a bit in confusion and he replied "About when I said men like me don't fall in love. Because I did. With you, years ago. And every single day since I, regretted telling you not to fall for me. I never really thought you would, but I wanted it."

"Is that why you never told me?"

He nodded softly "And I'm sorry. If I had, if I had shown any of the things I was feeling...things would've been different"

You shrugged lightly but smiled "Not so different."

He smiled "Maybe not. But they would have been better. I would have gotten what I wanted the most."

"Which is?"

"To be with you in all the way's we never had."

"I anted that too. But you aren't the only one who hid it. I was so convinced you never would that I never showed how I felt either."

He shook his head "I guess we both got that guilt in common then. But at least now we can amend that, and make up for the time we lost."

You smiled, but your face fell. "But what about Maria? I never intended f-"

He shook his head as he leaned forward, setting his hand on top of yours.

"It never would have lasted with Maria. She's a Marshal, and I'm- well, you know. It would have ended sooner or later. And I would rather be with the one person who has always been there for me, seen the best and worst parts of me and never left my side. I'd rather be with you than anyone else."

You gazed softly at each other for a few moments as he gently caressed your hand.

"Since I've been going to see Maria after all of our cons recently, I neglected our routine of getting dinner together. Have you eaten?"

"I have not."

He motioned his head towards the restaurant "Let me make you something to make up for it."

You smiled as you both began to rise "I would never say no to that."

He smiled as you both move to go inside. Suddenly stopping, he grabbed your hand and pulled you into his chest. Staring into his eyes, he smiled at you before his eyes flicked to your lips. Meeting your eyes again his lips quirked into a bigger smile.

Smiling in return as you both inched loser, your lips met in a soft kiss. Placing your hands on his chest, he moved his hands to your waist as he deepened the kiss.

As much as you were going to chastise Breanna for telling Sophie the one thing you told her not too. You'd be forever secretly grateful that she did.

xx End xx

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