#leverage 5x05

[leveragecentral]

Leverage (2008-2012) The Gimme A K Street Job (S05E05)

[smol-warrior-1258]

It really is so gratifying to hear these stories of how much the Leverage writers/crew care (and rage) about the real world topics bc you can absolutely see it in the end product

Source

Update: Article

[unproduciblesmackdown]

pinning to the workshop corkboard: you've heard of winston "i'm cassandra" billions clairvoyance concepts for fun & profit, hear also of winston billions sphinx concepts (you must be This understanding of what he means to proceed)

[kajaono]

The Gimme a K street Job had such a mediocre plot but it was hilarious! Remembered me a lot about The Rashomon Job

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Gimme a K Street Job

leverage 5.05

lemme just start by addressing the episode synopsis: “to take down a competitive cheerleading company which profits by putting teenage girls at risk, the team must tackle their most corrupt foe yet: congress”

y’all they went SO HARD for 2012 and I stan them SO HARD for that

- - - - -

Parker (into video camera on phone): Do you hate me? You hate me. Is that why you’re making me—

[Leverage Headquarters]

Parker (on display): —do this?

Nate: No, Par-Parker, these girls... they need a coach, and you’re the best gymnast I know.

Hardison: Besides, it puts you on the inside at Pep H.Q. In D.C. They’re running cheer camp for the next week up until championship.

Parker: But they’re teenage girls. What do I know about teenage girls?

Nate: You were a teenage girl?

Parker: Only sort of

parker I guarantee you’ll be in your element soon enough

but, in the meantime, parker complaining to nate like an offended child to a parent is everything

- - - - -

Sophie: Look, did you know about this? Girls being dropped from 20 feet. It’s unbelievable.

Parker: I know, right? 20 feet? Psh! Walk it off.

Sophie: Parker, you do know that normal people don’t just “walk off” a 20-foot fall, right?

Parker: So... all those times I pushed Hardison off a building and he was all “aah!”... he wasn’t just being funny?

(Hardison shakes his head)

Eliot: I thought it was funny, Parker.

Hardison: No way in hell was it funny.

Eliot: You’re always upside down, man.

Hardison: I fell off a building. I was upside...

Eliot: Like a Himalayan tree frog.

Hardison: You calling me a frog? You calling me a damn frog? Say it again. Say it to my face

I’d die for this chaotic ot3

eliot “I thought it was funny” spencer made sure to both reassure parker and fuck with hardison in the saME B R E A T H

- - - - -

Nate: Ah, there’s the crux of the problem right there. Technically, legally, cheerleading is not a sport. It’s an activity.

Sophie: What’s the difference?

Eliot: A sport has legally mandated safety standards.

Nate: Yes, and a for-profit company cannot run a sport, which is why pep wants to keep Competitive cheer from becoming a sport.

I don’t know why I was expecting someone to bash cheerleading the show had never ever let me down and I should have known better

- - - - -

Sophie: Ah, I love government. Shady deals, back-room meetings... It is grifter paradise.

Eliot: This is wrong. We work outside the law, not smack-dab in the middle of it.

Nate: Relax, Eliot. Elected officials are the easiest marks in the world. Between their ego, the greed, and the politics... More hooks than a bait shop

another fucked up government episode let’s go

- - - - -

Eliot: Right. Assuming it passes.

Hardison: Assuming what? It’s a bill to keep high-school girls out of wheelchairs. Who’s gonna vote against it?

[Congressional Meeting]

LeGrange: Ladies and gentlemen, this bill is a staggering... I say a staggering overreach of government power.

Eliot: You were saying

eliot is smug and loves proving hardison wrong on principle

- - - - -

LeGrange: Now, I was a quarterback in high school, so I think I know a thing or two about cheerleaders. And one thing I know is that they do not want big government getting all up in their business.

(Barron and Snyder enter the room)

LeGrange: Cheerleaders are strong, independent young women. They don’t need a bunch of white-haired old men from Washington telling them what to do. They don’t need a nanny state dictating their every move

this whole thing was so gross wtf

- - - - -

(Hardison uses his phone to create feedback on the sound system. A technician struggles to fix it while Hardison hands Eliot his phone)

Hardison: Just press this button.

LeGrange: I said, who knows what...

(Eliot presses button and the feedback gets worse)

they lowkey grinned at each other when they did it ,,,

they’re a chaotic duo that thrives on fucking with people and I stan them so hard for it

two words: assholery boyfriends

- - - - -

Nate: No, not... not marks. Elected officials. We do this right, we’ll have them eating out of our hand by dinner.

(hours later, Hardison enters looking exhausted. The others are seated around looking tired as well)

Eliot: “Eating out of our hand by dinner,” huh?

Hardison (sits down): Anybody else feel like we’ve been chewed up and spit out

and that’s government, people

- - - - -

Sophie: I like stealing things that are real. Cash... of course. Land... sure. Art... yes, please. Corn subsidies? Not so much.

let sophie steal expensive art from rich snobs pls it’s what she deserves

- - - - -

Girl: Um, coach?

Parker: Right! Okay, who’s up for some basic gymnastics drills?

(Parker presses a button and LASER light lines shine between orange cones. A girl in the back raises her hand)

Parker: Yes. You. What are you called?

Madison: Madison. Can I be excused? I don’t feel well.

Parker: But... We have... laser grid, Madison. Laser grid. Huh?

(on phone call)

Parker: They’re so jaded

I hope they still learned how to dodge lasers at the end

also ,,, THEIR PERFORMANCE WAS SO GOOD AT THE END PARKER TAUGHT THEM SO WELL

- - - - -

LeGrange: No, no. Listen carefully, son. Now, people don’t donate to me to buy my vote. People donate to me because they already know how I’m gonna vote. People donate to me because of my integrity. Now, if your people are interested in me, I’m happy to have your money. But if you think you can buy a vote off of J.J. LeGrange, well, you got another think coming.

[Empty Office]

Sophie: You mean...

Eliot: Yeah, I mean the guy’s got integrity. Elected official or not, you can’t con an honest man

congressman: *is honorable*

eliot:

sophie:

hardison:

nate:

*team collectively embodies the surprised pikachu meme*

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, so what’s your next play?

Eliot: Well, you’re supposed to be the mastermind. He doesn’t want power. He doesn’t want money. Maybe he really is an honest man.

Nate: Everyone has a hook, Eliot. Everyone has a weakness you can exploit.

Eliot: Do you?

Nate: No. You?

Eliot: No. Look, maybe this doesn’t fit into your world view, Nate, but there are some people out there that just want to serve. Trust me. I served with them.

Nate: Okay. Well, if all they want to do is serve, you can exploit that, too.

they totally have hooks and it’s the team but smh act like y’all are untouchable whatever

- - - - -

(Parker turns on a light in Ashley’s face)

Ashley: Madison talked to me in confidence.

Parker: A big word for a little girl.

Nate: Where’s Madison?

(Parker leans down into Ashley’s face, growling)

she literally G R O W L E D LMFAO

- - - - -

Parker: Madison? Madis... (sees Madison) Madison, hey, what are you doing down here? (helps Madison up) Everybody’s freaking out. Come on, we got to get you to the competition.

Madison (jerks away): I don’t want to compete.

Parker: What? Why not?

Madison: I don’t want to mess up again.

Parker: What are you talking about? When do you mess up? You’re great.

Madison: Seriously?

Parker: Oh. You were Marcy’s spotter.

Madison: I don’t know what went wrong. We’d done it a hundred times. Everything was going perfectly. (sits down) I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.

(Nate clears his voice. Parker sits beside Madison)

Parker: Look... I’m not afraid of heights or falling or... Anything I probably should be. But do you know what I am afraid of? Letting down the people I care about. Look, you don’t have to compete if you don’t want to compete. But I think your friends are gonna feel a lot safer knowing that you’re there, instead of having no one there.

(Madison nods)

Parker: Right? Did, uh, that work? Because I kind of got to get all the way up to the roof, so... (leaves the area)

parker NEVER would have been able to be vulnerable and understanding like that in the earlier seasons and we are SO PROUD of her and her character growth

+

“But do you know what I am afraid of? Letting down the people I care about.”

SHE LOVES HER FAMILY SO MUCH AND NEVER WANTS ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO THEM

also ,,, nate’s fond look at her when she’s saying this ??? im soft

- - - - -

Cheerleader: Ready! Ready!

Announcer: Let’s hear it for the MHS Badgers!

Announcer: Ready! Ready! Let’s go!

Nate: Ready?

[Congresswoman Berkus’ Office]

Hardison: Ready.

[Sophie’s Office]

Sophie: Ready.

[Hallway]

Eliot: Ready.

[Pep Athletics Headquarters]

Parker: Ready.

Nate: Let’s go.

they’re so extra I love them

- - - - -

Ashley: Where’s coach?

Madison: She’ll be here. She won’t let us down.

Man: Wolves, you’re up.

Female announcer: Let’s give it up for the Wolves.

Parker: I’m here! I’m here! I’m here! All right, let’s huddle up. I bet you guys could use a pep talk right about now, huh?

(cheerleaders agree)

Parker: For Marcy?

Madison: For Marcy.

Parker: Go, wolves.

All: Go-o-o-o, wolves!

(cheerleaders perform an outstanding routine. Barron approaches Nate as he watches)

parker THRIVED during this episode and you can’t change my mind

- - - - -

parker watching over the cheer team with pride is my religion

- - - - -

also BIG PROPS to the producers that showed male cheerleaders too

- - - - -

LeGrange: Hi. (to Parker) How are you? J.J. LeGrange.

Parker: I don’t vote.

parker is chaotic and we love her for it

- - - - -

Hardison: And what was that about?

Sophie: Huh? Oh, I was j... I was, um, just planning a little trip to the gulf. The military are breaking ground on Fort Devereaux.

Hardison: Fort Devereaux?

Sophie: Mm-hmm. I love government.

Parker: Missed you guys this week. Good game.

I WANNA SEE FORT DEVERAUX

also parker wrapping her arms around sophie and hardison, happy to have her people and admitting that she missed them? the pOWER

- - - - -

Nate: Good job on this one.

Eliot: I know what you’re trying to do, Nate. You could have told me how to hook LeGrange the whole time, but you wanted to see if I could figure it out on my own. I trust someday very, very soon, you’re gonna tell me what kind of game you’re playing.

Nate: Good job on this one.

(Nate walks away. Eliot smiles, but watches him walk away)

eliot’s bashful little smile at the end is everything

[agent-mcsweetheart]

The Give Me A K Job

Here are my thoughts and favorite moments from this episode (The five are colored like this: Nate Parker Sophie Eliot and Hardison):

Because I’m a dork I absolutely love the routine at the beginning like those stunts??? A++

“So yes, I am the “moron” in charge.”

Who works on 1 inch mats???

The girl was breathing and she was doing CPR???

“They’re teenage girls! What do I know about teenage girls?” “You were one once?” “Only sort of!”

“I know right? Pffft, 20 feet, walk it off.” “Parker, you do know that normal people don’t just walk off a 20 foot fall, right?” “So all the times I pushed Hardison off a building and he was all ‘aahhh’ he wasn’t just being funny?” “No way in hell it was funny!”

Eliot calling him a frog and he >:(

Nate turning it into a sport (Which it should be that shit is hard)

Um ok cheerleaders don’t like the government but if they were to keep them safe and set decent safety standards than they would still hate them but they would be safe

All the cheerleaders following Parker and talking

“Let’s go steal us a congressman”

ok so like. The one congresswoman’s point about not taking money from the arts is good but you should still like protect the children

Parker pulling out the laser grid kjsfgh

That congressman is annoyingly clean

Hardison being an adorable dork and “Bam! What! More money!!”

They way the girl just fell backwards

“Don’t- Don’t pop a nerve. Don’t throw a book.”

...competitive cheer is more than just stunts and jumping up an down im-

“I will call my whole rolodex!”

The honest congressman wholly offended about the bribe

“I don’t vote.” “Oh you will.”

FORT DEVERAUX

[leverage-ot3]

eliot seeing an opportunity to roast his boyfriend hardison: 👀👀👀

↳ requested by @thirdtwin3

[demonicvulcan]

tlhingan-tlhup replied to your post: i just watched the last episode of Leverage...

! I’m faced with finishing season 5 and I don’t know if I can! But if I don’t soon I’ll never be able to!

thats actually exactly what happened to me, but you DEFINITELY have to see the last episode. you CANNOT get this far into the show and not see the end. its agonizing, happy, and resolved. and parker/alec/elliot is so canon it hurts me so muchhhh

[pebblesrus]

index of tags

this is an addendum to my catalogue of posts

qwat au | team lesbiquinn | baby au | meg au | 

moreau’s fiddle game au

edits | incorrect quotes | photos/gifs with superimposed words

saved fics [not my work]

episodes that have tags

the nigerian job [1x01]

the twelve step job [1x11]

the first david job [1x12]

the tap out job [2x02]

the two live crew job [2x07]

the future job [2x13]

the jailhouse job [3x01]

the studio job [3x06]

the gone fishin job [3x07]

the big bang job [3x15]

the san lorenzo job [3x16]

the long way down job [4x01]

the carnival job [4x06]

the grave danger job [4x07]

the cross my heart job [4x09]

the boys night out job [4x14]

the last dam job [4x18]

the blue line job [5x02]

the hot potato job [5x05]

the rundown job [5x09]

the long goodbye job [5x15]

if not tagged with a specific episode, posts are tagged with characters names. most posts are not double tagged with episode and character.

eliot spencer

alec hardison

parker

sophie devereaux

nate ford

mr. quinn

damien moreau

anything even tangentially related to redemption is tagged with leverage redemption

[otp-armada]

Right before I woke up this morning, for a moment, my mind dreamt of a scene of Clarke on the Ring. She makes it to the rocket on time. It's her and Bellamy standing at the observation window, watching Earth burn. It's the two of them looking to the future, their people's and their own, together. 4x13 ends with a flash-forward of six years, but one of Spacekru as a family. As we see the eight of them laughing together at a dinner table, the camera pans to a weighted, happy glance shared between Clarke and Bellamy, him lifting their joined hands to his lips, two matching, thin rings of gold metal on their fingers. And that's how the audience comes to know they have coupled up. Boom. Out.

My ears are ringing from the collective shrieking we would have done.

My waking hours are here, and I'd like to play this scenario out to my specifications.

The first half of 5x01 is Spacekru flashbacks, showing us how they bonded to become a family and how Bellarke got together.

In the long, quiet comfort of the Ring, our heroes give voice to their past traumas and heal old grievances.

Clarke tells Bellamy about her father, Bellamy shares stories about his mother. She tells him about her father's kindness and gentle nature, his limitless heart. Jake's teases about Clarke drawing on every plain surface she could find, a habit that began with her childhood. Passionate as she was for sketching, she was in the midst of early medical training. Her exposure to the Council and the Chancellor is what gave Clarke her political acumen. Clarke recounts the games they used to watch with the Jahas. Before long, she's explaining the rules of soccer to a confused but amused Bellamy. Bellamy tells her what little he remembers about his parents before his father died. Aurora's smile. Her sacrifices for her children. Her tenacity. Her love of mythic stories she passed onto him. The overwhelming sense of responsibility she instilled in him from too early an age. Bellamy talks about the challenges of a life spent hiding a little girl under the floorboards from the Ark. Bellamy shares the rewards of being the only pair of siblings to have existed in nearly a hundred years. Unbidden by the role of big brother in Clarke's company, he gives voice to the constraints placed on his life. The hardships of living in Factory Station, while Clarke shrinks in guilt over her bountiful upbringing in Alpha. They both recall the pain of watching their parents get floated. There, in front of their eyes one second, gone forever in the blink of an eye. Clarke discloses that, while privileged, she was a lonely child. Were it not for Wells, she would have had no friends. She talks about him, what Bellamy never got to know about Wells Jaha.

The atmosphere shifts, and their conversations progress to contemporary times.

They discuss their respective tendencies to want to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. It takes time, but Clarke finally divulges why she felt compelled to leave Camp Jaha. How bereft she felt. Her nightmares and loneliness in self-imposed exile. Wandering around the freezing cold of the woods. Bellamy can't rein in the pain as he reminds Clarke that she didn't bear it all on her own. She couldn't have, not when he was the one left behind to pick up the pieces Mount Weather shredded. He was the one seeing their faces every day. She asked him to come back with her, to their people, once before, and he did. But when he asked her to do the same, she left. They both know it's not apologies he's looking for. It's a promise, a reigniting of an old promise made between two lost souls needing the other when the world threatened to drown them. They readily give in.

Their conversation takes an unexpected turn when Clarke explains why she gave in to Bellamy's plan to go undercover in Mt. Weather. For her to be strong enough to save her people, she couldn't let love hold her back, make her weak. From the second Bellamy left her sight, she regretted it. They both recognize it as the confession she didn't intend to say. Shock settles in. With newfound confidence, it triggers an admission of Bellamy's own feelings. Cue canon Bellarke.

Once the air between them is clear, it was only fair that the effects of Mt. Weather be a topic Clarke and Bellamy discuss with the third member of the room that fateful day. It leads them to the complicated subject of Jasper, the three of them breaking down in tears over their fallen friend.

Six years of peacetime spent in Clarke's company shapes perspective on the girl herself. She's not Clarke Griffin, the fierce and stoic Skaikru leader, equipped with all the answers. She's not Wanheda, the great legend. She's just a girl, with vulnerabilities, insecurities, fears, and demons, just the same as any of them. She becomes a person to them. Real flesh and blood. A human being who does indeed break. And no one is more startled by this revelation than Raven. It's another contentious relationship of Clarke's requiring time to mend. Although sharing feelings doesn't come easily to Raven, the two eventually crack their sibling-like rivalry where Abby and Finn are concerned.

It's the presence of a fellow cockroach well-versed in the glamourous lifestyle of isolation that gets Murphy out of his self-destructive streak. In their own ways, they have both been the outsiders. They make an uncanny pair of confidantes, so says the rest of the kru. But somehow, it works. Trust doesn't come easy for Murphy, and he and Clarke have their fair share of issues. Close quarters force the two of them and Emori to work it out. For all that Clarke excels at contrition, deserved and undeserved, she's also never been one to beat around the bush, no matter Murphy's preference to lash out in his signature style of sharp sarcasm at moments of his choosing. As it is for Bellamy, Clarke's belief in Murphy as a good man is an overwhelming force, one he is not sure he's worthy of, but privately welcomed nevertheless. In time, there arrives a sense of respect and loyalty between them no one foresaw.

Clarke's penchant for extending her hand to the outsiders doesn't end with Murphy and Emori. Clarke was the first to bring Echo on board and, she is the first to treat their errant Azgeda former spy as family. Post-season 4 to the series' end, Echo's character development is at the forefront of her story arc, never filtered through a subpar pairing needed to fuel an insipid love triangle where her leg of it is marked for eventual demolition.

Since I am bound by limitless imagination, let us pretend this was a 2-hour season premiere.

The flashbacks take us through the six years to the present. Spacekru's happiness is juxtaposed, as we transition to below the ground, by the hellscape Wonkru is trapped in. The second half of 5x01 is Wonkru flashbacks, a la 5x02.

5x02 takes us back to Eligius IV, to the passing of Order 11 (is that what it was called?). A young pilot named Shaw chooses to defy his captain's orders, releasing their prisoners. They proceed to take over the ship, killing Shaw's crewmates and captain, Charmaine Diyoza assuming command. She corrals Paxton McCreary and his men to her side. With their mutiny a success, Diyoza tells Shaw to plot a course for Earth. All the while, we see Shaw wrestling with the bloody aftermath of his decisions. They reach Earth's orbit, ready to go home, unknowingly under the watch of 8 survivors in space.

The Eligius prisoners touch ground on the last arable patch of land on Earth and quickly find themselves ensnared in a series of traps by an unknown number of assailants. Their assailant turns out to be a solitary preteen. They capture her, interrogate her. She speaks a language they've never heard. I'm making it a point to emphasize those infernal shock collars do not exist in my little world.

5x03 plays out similarly onboard the Eligius mothership. Our kru arrives, not to borrow a cup of sugar, but to steal the hydrazine for their journey home. Clarke, Bellamy, and kru debates the morality of killing 300 strangers in their sleep before deciding to use them as leverage. Raven and Murphy stay behind. Six Spacekru members fall to Earth and are captured by Eligius. They are taken to Diyoza, where they find a little girl dressed in Grounder garb. Bellamy and Clarke use their trump card to free themselves, Madi, and use their resources to locate Wonkru, with an additional promise to share the land and their knowledge of life on Earth.

5x04 plays out the same, more or less, without the awkward tension of a Bellarke trying to reacclimate themselves to each other's presence again. Diyoza brings Madi, Bellamy, and Clarke to Polis, where Bellarke negotiates for Wonkru's release. They meet Blodreina and her cult of warriors. Fandom squeals seeing Octavia greet her sister-in-law. Wonkru (and Blodreina) comes to realize that they have found a surviving Nightblood. Diyoza betrays the accord, taking Abby and Kane to Shallow Valley and leaving Bellarke and Madi at odds with Octavia.

5x05 sees Bellarke continuing to act in concert as a team, eager to reunite with their lost people while keeping a protective eye on Madi. Tensions brew between them and Blodreina. Marper and Echo return and they all turn back to Polis.

Blodreina refuses to grant pardon to Echo. Spacekru fights on her behalf, while Echo is willfully recruited for Octavia's mission. Madi meets Gaia under Clarke's watchful eye. When Madi is introduced to the Flame, Clarke tries to persuade her not to be swayed by the Flamekeeper's influence. Because this is my fantasy and I can do what I wish, it turns out that Clarke and Bellamy are expecting their first child. Clarke, believing the Flame to be a curse for its bearer, wants to spare Madi a bloody fate. She wants to abolish this aspect of Grounder culture, fearing the chances her child may become the next natural-born Nightblood. She dreads the possibility of her child as the next participant in the Conclave or the next Commander.

Another sidenote I am interjecting. Here, toxic motherhood isn't a defining characteristic of Clarke's, to aid in her isolation and subsequent, continual emotional decline. In my world, she gets to be a protective mother, a loving wife, a compassionate friend, and a caring daughter, all rolled in one little blonde package. She gives love freely, as she does in canon, but receives it in kind. She doesn't sink to rock bottom, nor must she, to be the heroine she is. She draws on the good and the bad experiences she's had to teach others. She imparts her lessons to those in need. Love is a commodity her life isn’t devoid of.

Clarke and Bellamy argue over what to do about Blodreina. Neither wants her to be harmed, but Bellamy maintains that she is, above all, his sister. He needs to believe Octavia is still within reach. He cannot abandon her now that they're together again. Clarke petitions Bellamy to take their family to Shallow Valley before it's too late. They compromise, agreeing to remove Octavia from the board long enough for Indra to take Diyoza's proffered deal. Their plans fail, as per 5x08, and Octavia arrests Clarke, an execution set for after the baby’s birth. We retain the glorious Blake scene of 5x08. It breaks Bellamy's heart to hurt Octavia, but she forced his hand. He has to protect his wife and their baby.

Tensions come to a head between husband and wife, courtesy of 5x09. Bellamy, having exhausted all other options, decides Madi must ascend to Commander to accomplish their goals. It is the only way to protect them all and save the valley. I am once again interrupting my spiel to remark that Clarke knows, unequivocally, she is included on the shortlist of family Bellamy is most ardently trying to protect. Forget "included," she's at the top. Clarke, ever the protective mother, disagrees, citing endangerment to Madi from Octavia and her patriots. Clarke argues that, of Diyoza and Octavia, Diyoza is the lesser evil to their family. As long as they remain within Diyoza's rules, they have nothing to fear from her. Bellamy, seeing Clarke's deep-rooted fear, agrees.

They are delayed by Marper, who wish to stay within the bunker, living off the revitalized algae farm. Bellamy and Clarke don't want to leave them behind until Monty points out that they, for once, deserve the chance to choose their fate, as all of the people of Earth. Octavia recuperates in time to arrest Bellamy, sending him to the fighting pit. Clarke fights to defend him but is detained. Clarke wants to fight alongside him, but they both know she has to live to raise their baby. They are permitted a final goodbye, and they have an emotional last exchange, a.k.a. Kabby parallel. Like Kane before him, Indra is forced to separate another family.

Octavia assures Bellamy that the baby will be under her protection. By now, Bellamy has reached the end of his rope with his baby sister. He loves her, but he can't distinguish her from the monster she's become, and it's about to cost him a life with his family. Disgusted, Bellamy scoffs at her overtures. He reminds her that his child deserves to have its parents. Clarke's earlier words come back as he tells her that she is his family's worst enemy. It wasn't enough for Aurora to leave him responsible for raising his sister at six years old. For the first time, his life is right, and she's the one who's about to take it away. He reminds her what it was like to lose her mother at 17, to never know her father. She knows how devastating it feels. Yet, left up to her, his child would be an orphan. He finishes with a devastating blow: it'll be those he holds as his family who will take care of his wife and child.

Clarke breaks free of her restraints, making plans to cause disruption to the bunker and getting Bellamy out in the ensuing chaos. She is stopped by Monty, who wants to use the opportunity to give Wonkru a better choice. Clarke tells him she isn't gambling Bellamy's life. Monty breaks again, pointing out that the last time he helped her and Bellamy, they split blood, and their plans still failed. Clarke reluctantly relents out of guilt, knowing how Mount Weather continues to haunt Monty. She does, after all, trust him with her life.

Bellamy fights Indra in the pits until the proceedings are interrupted by an intervening Monty, brandishing a pure, white flower in a sea of blood and darkness. Just as he begins to sway Wonkru to his non-volatile solution to the impending war, Blodreina forces compliance by burning the algae farm.

As Wonkru mobilizes for war, the fractured Spacekru and Madi take the rover to the valley to find their friends. They destroy the worms in transit.

They save an incapacitated Abby, who later recounts the Dark Year. Bellamy can't stop the horror he feels at the ordeal his sister has lived through. He feels a pang of guilt he knows is irrational while wrestling with the knowledge that she is still responsible for her choices now.

They reunite with the rest of Spacekru and are surprised to learn McCreary has taken control of the camp. With Diyoza and Kane's assistance, the eye in the sky is reinstalled, giving Eligius the advantage. As much as they want to prevent this war, they cannot leave Wonkru to die in the gorge. The group breaks off. One team is sent to disable the eye in the sky. The other team uses Madi's knowledge of the valley's layout to head off to fight alongside Wonkru in the gorge.

By the time they arrive safely, only Octavia, Indra, and Gaia are left alive. Bellamy convinces Octavia to retreat instead of sacrificing herself. He tells her she has to live with what she's done instead of taking the easy way out. For the most part, I'm picturing the scenes play out as they did in canon. At base camp, Wonkru is in disarray. Too many bodies are left littered from this war, with Blodreina at fault. To stop the in-fighting, Madi attempts to assume control by invoking her natural right to lead as a Nightblood. Some dissent, claiming she is not yet Commander. With support from Gaia, Octavia, and Bellamy (who makes sure this is what she wants), they sway Wonkru to Madi's side. Freshly invigorated, Wonkru prepares for a second assault.

Back on the Eligius ship, Clarke, Raven, and Shaw release an imprisoned Diyoza. They allow themselves to be captured and taken to the ship's central control. While McCreary attempts to force Raven to pilot their ship, she and Clarke regain control. Meanwhile, Bellamy convinces Madi to let the prisoners live.

From here, may I present two alternatives:

Scenario 1: Clarke kills McCreary before he can launch the missile from the mothership. With Spacekru controlling the ship's weaponry and Wonkru overtaking the prisoners, Eligius capitulates. After much deliberation, a new accord is reached, allowing for all survivors to live in peace as a singular society. Spacekru gets their 80 acres. The last of the 10(2) become parents to the next generation. It takes time, but Bellamy and Octavia's relationship heals. Eventually, she earns back her place in his life as his sister. She becomes one of many to welcome Bellarke's little one to the world, ecstatic to be a loving aunt. Generations later, the Earth recovers.

Scenario #2: The missile is launched. Earth's survivors must escape to space to survive. Marper opts out of cryosleep and has a son. It takes Monty ten years to realize Earth may never recover from its last doomsday. He wakes Spacekru+ to determine options. Between him, Raven, and Shaw, the three configure a self-running algorithm to decode the Eligius III mission files. They wire the pods to awaken its occupants every decade to check the algorithm's progress. The McIntyre-Greens go into cryosleep with some gentle persuasion from Bellarke. They won't leave their people behind. Thirty years later, Earth remains dormant. The files reveal the existence of a planet that could support human life, lightyears away, in the binary star system in the Goldilocks zone. They plot a course.

No, it's not as thrilling as the original ending. But if our heroes are going to traipse across the universe, only to return to their home planet, then Marper will not be sacrificed for nada. They will live out their days, a little older, a little wiser, but surrounded by their friends. They will not say farewell to their son at his ripe old age of 26.

There isn't much I would change about season 6, not where its major storylines are concerned. Clarke meets Cillian for his insight on Abby and Kane's deteriorating conditions. I would alter Madi's arc to where she takes the Flame in Sanctum and uses the time while the grounders are in cryosleep to train under Gaia's tutelage. Madi becomes attached to Bellarke, and it leaves her susceptible to Sheidheda's influence when her newfound familial figures find themselves at risk from the Primes. She'd see Sheidheda as a necessary evil to save her people, not unlike Clarke submitting to Lxa's clout. I would have Sheidheda preying on Madi's fears that she'd be alone again as she was during Praimfaya if she doesn't respond with vigor.

Season 7 gets a similar, substantial overhaul I've been thinking about for months but haven't yet written down.

The end.

(When am I going to stop with these sidenotes? After this last point, I promise.) Jason ran too tight a ship to let his post-apocalypse masterpiece become overtaken by frivolous romance. Without this pitfall, what stopped him from coupling Bellarke up before the end? Nothing. He could have a Bellarke that remained symbolic of the show's themes and mythos. A show that thrives on chaos would never run out of conflict to stir the pot. Falling apart and weaving themselves back together has been the model of their relationship since season one. Why couldn't they do this and be a couple? Why couldn't they have the Memori Model? They could have, but Jason chose the path of the slowburn. There's no fault in this. There is a fault in choosing to rescind the previously established story when it comes time for the threads to finally tie together. And I will never forgive him for it.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

the tmc quants and their confronting taylor styles like. winston will do it but first he has to marinate on it; he might even run it past a focus group but one time they were like “hmm points made” and the person dating taylor passed it along but the other time they were like “shut up. shut up” and then he went for it himself when taylor walked in and literally asked for it and taylor’s bff went “Shut Up” and he did. both he and rian will give smaller Questions / Comments / Concerns type skeptical feedback bits in the moment but then drop it. rian may also broach some ongoing issue without as much preparation/elaboration as winston brings, but also drop it, but also unlike him drops it in a way that she probably hasn’t given up forever. shoutout to her willingness to more so marinate in discontent. not because this is like successful or strictly helpful or whatever but because we’ve all been there, and really, partners or not (not) speaking of taylor being supposedly unchanged since lauren last saw them & rian being hired five episodes before that, and this whole interim maybe being one in which taylor is not so much questioning themself or being as flexible as they’ve ever been at all times, maybe it’s about rian being more used to that than having known them before, maybe rian just tends to only kind of go halfway in on a confrontation. except for when it was taylor really being the instigator in 5x08, but even then, rian ended up deigning to bring a much more reconciliatory approach in the end vs more in the moment Irritation, which, even then, was maybe more about her taking control of the interaction in that moment and getting to exit it than trying to fully tackle the issue, although also taylor has like, all the leverage as the boss, so what’s she gonna do to really shut this down until she’s willing/able to approach them for a more grounded discussion. anyways, she is certainly not averse to Some Drama even if she’s not raring to fully tackle head to head conflict. although also this is all speaking about her material before anything’s come to a head, whether it’ll involve more of a Confrontation than we’ve gotten so far, or simply her just walking out (she can leave, real winners quit) so of course it’s gonna be like “rian: not willing to have a wholeass confrontation and sort out a conflict then and there?” like yep that’s all the data points we’ve gotten so far......funny though she jumped right into the confrontation of Is Winston Fired Or Not in 5x05 and That was resolved on the spot, but that’s also not something directly involving her w/any stakes, and it was a winston arc, i.e. gonna resolve in the same episode, most likely. while winston is spontaneous, also down for nonzero drama, but would rather be listened to when he’s only somewhat irritated, b/c it’s only when he Hasn’t been that he gets more irritated, which does not stop him—not until someone barely figuratively twists his arm into giving up by insulting and/or threatening him or what have you. or rian jumps in and gives a spin on things that has had nothing to do with anything since, but since once wendy forgot about it she left him alone entirely and then left the company, so mission accomplished? she hasn’t been like, wow winston you haven’t been a bellwether like i vouched for, boooo....why’d she argue for keeping him lol, maybe thinking he’s funny but not on purpose. and there’s another Confrontation Lens: rian will dunk on him and winston may just go :\ or maybe will argue something back for a second but will drop it readily enough, what would happen if the two of them were earnestly at odds about that or like, anything else. what if they fought about taylor omg the drama. it’s 9:21am i haven’t gone to sleep yet. anyways they’ll sure both back down, but differently, and winston will more readily jump into some confrontation even if that means he’s Increasing the hostility levels vs the other party necessarily pushing it to a conflict, but rian may hold on to something beyond that moment even if she doesn’t get resolution on it then & there

maxed out the unbroken paragraph limit, whoops. anyways and this is also surely affected by rian being a more prominent character, which also means being taken more seriously by other characters (and the writing, probably) and means she can Have threads like, remember the past half dozen episodes of her being :/ about something taylor was up to / some interaction they had with her, vs winston, as mentioned, more likely having any subplot of his restricted to an individual episode, maybe two. (his crush on rian may be an exception, which may be thanks to the fact no Serious Resolution is intended; it’s not really meant to be A Thread :/ ) and nobody has the disdain/dislike/disinterest towards rian as is directed towards winston, since idk, maybe if she was bullied about it more when she tried arguing with taylor / standing ground in a conflict, she’d also drop it at the end of the episode, but that is not relevant, which is fine b/c who needs it

[fen-ha-fuck-you]

I guess this is an unpopular opinion, but I disagree with all the "Echo deserves better than that" takes about her S5 arc. Because does she, really? B/E happened off-screen, frankly hurt Bellamy's characterization, and she and Clarke HAVE no connection outside of Bellamy. I don't expect their scene to be all about Bellamy (because these writers won't let Bellarke be textually romantic), but it SHOULD be, imo. THAT is the tension, the connection. NOT focusing it feels like dishonest writing.

I mean, you’re free to disagree, obviously. That’s a completely valid opinion.

My take regarding the one conversation that’s happening in the BTS photos that Jason shared is that both Clarke and Echo deserve better than to have it be entirely about Bellamy. 

I don’t like Echo’s season 5 arc so far. I haven’t been quiet about that. I don’t like her on a personal level, either, nor do I like how she’s basically just been a prop for Be/cho (and I hate that relationship, too). I do like her as a character. The 5x06 promo makes it look like we’re actually going to be able to see how Echo has developed during the time jump, which is what I think most of us have been waiting for. And if we get the flashbacks Bob mentioned, then we’ll get more clarity on both Bellamy and Echo’s season 5 characterization, which I think we desperately need.

I do disagree fundamentally when you say that Clarke and Echo have no connection outside of Bellamy. They have always both been very strong characters with very strong motivations and loyalties, and it feels like a disservice to ignore that. 

Clarke has always respected and connected with people who match her dedication in a leadership or leadership-adjacent role, even when they aren’t on her side. Bellamy, Abby, Kane, Anya, Lincoln, Dante, L.exa, Jaha, Roan. This season, we’ve already seen Clarke beginning to respect Diyoza. There is absolutely no reason this wouldn’t also be true with Echo. 

And since the onset of season 5, we have two very important other connections that Clarke and Echo have outside of Bellamy. 

First is the rest of Spacekru. Clarke already cared about them before they came back down. They were already her family. Now, six years later, they’re Echo’s family, too. They both care about all of them. 

Second is the fact that using the Eligius prisoners as leverage was originally Echo’s idea. Bellamy implemented that idea, and that idea ended up saving Clarke’s life. And as Clarke herself implied in 5x05, that matters to her because if she had died, Madi would be alone. 

On another note, Bellarke is already textually romantic. Diyoza’s line in 5x04 about killing “the hostage taker and his girlfriend” was a big deal for that exact reason, especially considering in the very next episode Diyoza also made a textual romantic connection between a canon couple that Bellarke constantly parallels. Those lines exist for a purpose.

The show has already set up Bellamy being the main tension point between Clarke and Echo. No one is arguing that. But there are others. The only way for a conversation between Clarke and Echo to be dishonest writing would be to pretend that loving Bellamy is the only thing they have in common. 

[potpourri-of-ecclecticism]

Wait how do we know that Murphy hits the ground before Raven?

We know that he’s hit the ground from these early 5x05 promo stills. He’s with Spacekru and looks flustered, scared, maybe a little angry and concerned?

Anyway, whether or not he’s with Raven I still don’t know. But there’s a good chance that she’s away somewhere injured on the ground or held as a hostage/leverage on the Eligius mothership.

Either ways, MURPHY BETTER BE GETTING RAVEN HELP! Raven needs you, John :(

Ooh, and there’s a new promo for 5x05 which I’m going to go watch. Thanks for the ask, anon! :)

[agl03]

AOS Promo Break Down 5x05

Here we go!  As always spoilers could change my take on these.

Part of the “Rewind” going back to the diner.  Fitz looking sad, Jemma talking to him (hey its the most we’ve gotten in months, they are in the same room even if its in a flashback).  She might even be saying something to him to try to make him feel better before she is taken away.

Point where I’m going to die from feels point one as Fitz realizes the others are gone.  I’m expecting someone to show up not long after this to take him into custody.

I’m thinking this is initially after he was taken into custody as if its the government that gets to him they will want to know where the others are.  However the guy in the suit could also be Enoch...but Enoch knows exactly where the team has been taken and the only reason for asking Fitz where they were would be if its part of a ruse.

Yet another point where I get to die from feels as Fitz has to watch Jemma carried away by another Monolith.   There is a reason she is front and center there.  Fitz and Hunter either crash their way to access to this footage or someone is showing it to him.  

HUNTER!!!!!!   Not sure if FItz was able to get word to Hunter before he was locked up or if Hunter got world FItz and the others were in danger another way.  But he’s THERE!   “Your attorney is here,” Is being said by a woman so I am thinking that Fitz may just be in military custody and that is General Hale or Lt. Evans talking.  

Under the thing because this one will get long:

More feels! Sadly they didn’t let us see Fitz’s reaction to Hunter coming in to see if he was surprised about it or not.  

Escape doesn’t seem to be going exactly as planned here.  However, I’m not 100% sold the chopper was Hunter’s way out.  Rather its the miltiary or another group also coming after them.  Its also odd how it crashes, perhaps an Inhuman or advanced tech takes it down.

Nice to see Fitz’s sass is back....and they worked with the Overlord beard.

Fitz has tracked down Enoch and know’s Enoch sent them to the future.  What is hard to say if this is before he’s taken by the Military or after Hunter breaks him out.  He’s very cleaned up here, scruff is at lower levels.  Also note the door behind them, so I think my theory that the Lighthouse is in the past and the team will use it upon their return is looking good.  

I shall dub it the Space Zephyr because I have no idea who it belongs too or when it is.  Earth looks pretty in tact there so this could be Enoch’s ship or if its in the future its where Fitz lands when he makes the jump.

How do I get to them.  This could be where Enoch tells him he’s not on the list and tough cookies or if the teams being sent was part of some sort of leverage where the demands are made.  

Militiary is after someone.  Its either looking for Fitz/Hunter, Polly/Robin Hinton, or Enoch (but that doesn’t look like his house from 1).

1. Fitz and Hunter steam them some solider uniforms and go under cover.

2. Its the Zephyr

3. You go Fitz, get rid of those uninvited guests

Hunter also undercover as a solider.  I’m guessing whatever is at this base is important in getting Fitz to the others.  Because the building behind Hunter looks like the same ones in the earlier scenes with him initially breaking Fitz out.  So they’ve returned to get what they need.

There is Lt Evans,last time we saw her was when Talbot was shot.  This also looks like the team in the earlier shot crashing into the house so she is after Fitz/Hunter, Polly/Robin, or Enoch.  I’m not sure who the guy in the suit is that is with her, he’s not on the press release.

Poor Fitz gets a rather rude awakening here as these guys come to collect him.  They are either fitznapping him (really we met our quota with that one last season thank you very much), taking him for interrogation, or to meet with someone.

The Zephyr!   Not sure who they have piloting it but yay Zephyr.  It looks like someone is taking it back from the Military based on the hanger.   The building on the left there looks like the one from the same base in earlier grabs.  This could be what Fitz and Hunter go back there to get.  

Cliff notes version, not necessarily in the right order.

Fitz unfreezes in the diner alone

Gets captured by the military (who also takes the Zephyr)

The Military will want something from him.

Hunter busts him out

FItz seems to discover the team is in the future before he tracks down Enoch, Robin could be how he finds out.

Fitz/Hunter liberate the Zephyr

Fitz finds Enoch and the Lighthouse

Fitz makes a plan for getting to the future and getting the others home.

Feels, there will be lots of feels.

More time will pass for Fitz than has passed for the team, I’m still thinking at most 6 months though.  

Enoch goes to the future with Fitz

Fitz lands somewhere else than the others did and may be been there longer than the others.

[spacezeke]

Zeke Activity Tracker: UPDATED (5x04 / 5x05 sneak peak) 

Got them back down to the ground (Raven parallel?)

Advocates peace for all.

Rides a fucking motorcycle.

Brought Clarke water when everyone else probably denied her it for hours.

Is cocky and outgoing without being a dick.

Tried to stop Charmaine from shocking Clarke excessively.

Stood against McCeary’s violence on Clarke and in general.

Believes Clarke, stands by her but still stays loyal to his own people, that brought him on board.

Loved talking to Clarke.

Proved that Bellamy was telling the truth about the remote disable to their cyropods 

Nearly matched Raven into hacking back into the ship to disable the remote access. 

Refused to call the prisoners “his” people

Stood up against Diyoza for using the missiles on the bunker. 

Gave the wrong launch codes on purpose to prevent killing hundreds of people. 

Proved dominance against McCreary but using his piloting as leverage. 

Pulled gun on McCreary to stop him from killing Murphy, presumably gonna aid in their freedom.  

[doykeitdyke]

What was that all about? What kind of a ‘game’ does Eliot think Nate’s playing? What is Nate up to?