I keep finding more and more reasons to love Leverage every time I re-watch the series (and funny enough I keep discovering them while Iâm in college)
So hear me out, after an assignment in freshmen year in a creative writing class where I used a Leverage episode as inspiration for a story, I created a kid of bet with myself that I could work a Leverage episode into at least one assignment each year, with extra points if I managed it in both semesters. Each class is new, so each time I manage to find a new episode that either made it so I knew about the topic before class, or I got to class and was like heyyyy that sounds familiar đ€
So without further ado, here is how I either learned something new from Leverage and/or worked it into a school assignment:
Fantastic fiction class: our job was to re-work a fairytale into a story of our own making, so of course I did Scheherazade. No one else knew about it, but the second I heard the prompt I was like âoh hell yeah, I got a good one for this!!â
Japanese Literature- Mystery and Suspense: I went full out on this one!!! I compared The Rashomon Job to Akira Kurosawaâs movie Rashomon and the story it was based on, In A Grove, by Ryuonsuke Akutagawa. I did a full on in depth analysis of the similarities and contrasts and the common themes of Japanese detective fiction present in the episode. It will forever be one of the papers I am most proud of! (Also, awesome aside, we were only allowed to do a piece of media if our teacher had seen it, and she said if it was something she didnât know, then we had to show it to her. So after class one day she and I just watched the entire episode in her office while I explained what Leverage is about. That teacher was amazing!)
I donât remember which class it was, but there was also a time where I was able to have a full on academic discussion, bs-ing my way through it, based only on the knowledge I had watching the D. B. Cooper episode đ
Again, donât remember what class, but the same situation happened in relation to the Spruce Goose too. Like, someone mentioned it and I was like âoh yeah, hereâs some weird obscure information I know about it!â And people were like âwhy do you know that??â Me: *slides further down chair* âno reasonâŠâ
The French Connection episode also led me to know wayyy more about truffles than I thought I did. To the point that I can kind of coherently explain to someone why they cost so much, why a pig is involved, and yes, they are in high demand to the point that illegal means /might/ be considered when sourcing them
The Gimme a K Street episode was really what made me respect cheerleaders. I was never in a school that had any, so all I had was the popular media depictions, but after that episode my respect for them shot through the roof
Intro to Disability Studies: I just need to get approval from the teacher, but I am probably going to try to write a paper on The Broken Wing Job and disability in media and the presence of inspiration porn and the fight between the depiction of people /with/ disabilities doing awesome things versus people doing awesome things /in spite of/ their disabilities
Sociology/Criminology classes: holy hell I was just re-watching this episode when it finally clicked!! And I was like ânooo, they didnâtâŠha, they did!!!â I was watching The Experimental Job, and tell me why it only just NOW clucked that they named one of the bad guys âZilgramâ đ€Šđ»ââïž And then the experiment Parker was a part of until she got kicked out, you know, the one with the test subjectsâŠgetting shockedâŠand it was the âvolunteerâsâ job to shock themâŠbecause the person in the white lab coat said it was okay? Yeah, THAT one. I wasnât sure why I basically knew about that test before I took those classes, all I could think was âheyyy, that sounds familiarđ€â
Lastly, basically all of the episodes have taught me so much about like money, art, scams, what to look out for when big companies do hinky stuff, basically like a little bit of something about everything! And donât get me started about Leverage: Redemption!! I swear all of these episodes just make it so I have a little bit of knowledge about how people are taken advantage of so when I watch an episode of Dirty Money on Netflix I already have a basic understanding of the topic! Friggin elder abuse!! I knew about it due to my Domestic Violence class but hot damn does Leverage: Redemption do it well!
Overall I just love Leverage and I have made it my personal mission to share the series with anyone and everyone I can, so have this little breakdown of how I manage to work it into my everyday life.
