i kinda love that leverage redemption erased everything and everyone that was terrible on the original, and wrote stories that are now more acceptable on television than it was in the early 2000s. in this reboot, sophie is allowed to become the big hearted teacher that she has always been.
in the season one finale of leverage, eliot and hardison tell nate that they actually prefer sophie being the mastermind and running their cons ("you learn, and you con."). unlike nate, who rarely lets the team in on his plans, sophie - despite being a revered and feared grifter - takes the time to teach her craft to anyone who wants to learn, even to a newcomer like maggie. she explains the rationale behind why certain cons must be done a certain way. the team has little experience in the long con, but sophie does, and she teaches them the overarching picture of a scam, while respecting their individual professions and skills.
sophie isn't afraid to let the team try new things even during the con itself - things might go awry but she trusts them to handle themselves. even in the original, sophie gives just enough advice to parker on how to communicate with hardison, then lets parker calm hardison down when he was buried alive. she never ever condescends to the team, recognizing that they are world-class experts in their respective trades. this openness that sophie has is an aspect of leverage that i have always loved. it was also clear that during her absence in season two, the team was missing an emotional anchor. they confided in sophie about their fears and anxieties not because they don't trust nate, but because sophie always listens. maybe it is due to her profession as a grifter that sophie understands people and what they need so well, but nevertheless, the crew - a group of misfits from society - find solace in sophie.
but since nate was the mastermind, we didn't see this aspect of sophie as often during the original. and to be fair, the tragedy of nate's life also meant that show was also filtered through his anger - which isn't a negative, anger is a response to injustice - but sometimes, his anger tore the team apart.
with the departure of nate, leverage redemption cleverly makes the women the masterminds. we see sophie be the anchor of the crew - she guides and teaches them, and lets them handle themselves for the most part. with breanna, sophie is careful not to strike down her ideas. she trusts breanna's intelligence, and only offers advice when breanna needs it. there are just so many occasions when breanna thinks of a con, and everyone runs with it because they love and trust her. beyond this, sophie also encourages breanna to think of college - this is something nate would never do, consumed by rage and sometimes insularity. they may be very old thieves in this out of passion and a visceral sense of justice, but breanna can still forge a real life for herself. there is a lightness to the reboot that allows more space for compassion (it must be said, the show was always kind.)
even with the inclusion of a veteran like noah wyle, the series doesn't pander to his experience. harry wilson may be fifty years of age, but when it comes to running honest cons, he's an amateur, and the show treats him as such. harry has to find a specialty of his own, and sophie is there, giving him a chance to learn and fall over and again. you learn, and you con has become the theme of leverage redemption, and it is everything the original could have been.
it's even more special that instead of letting these women adopt stereotypical traits associated with male leads - stubborness, intractability and anger - leverage redemption shows us a world where compassion and grace are powerful and affecting emotions. sophie, breanna and parker have already established that they can stand on their own and hold their ground - they are assured in who they are, and don't have to resort to condescension and rage to get what they want. i find it incredibly moving and also an example of a reboot that is spectacularly done.
Loved the episode, absolute delight, but I don’t think they thought about the implications of putting it right after the deepfake nana-haters episode or they would have made some reference to it
It is nearly impossible to overstate how historically accurate that party was. Those costumes are 100% exactly what the court of Louis and Marie would have worn if they had access to modern materials and modern social norms. I would like to mention, for anyone who doesn’t already know this, that the blue and pink wigs are actually (not just spiritually) historically accurate. (Also that that is actually the source of the term “bigwig”)
The dude mansplaining how it’s wrong to mansplain
Love the watch cakes. Disappointed that we didn’t pan up to find them being made by the fucking chocolate guy,
The contrast between Tara’s “Aw 😘 I’d kill you too” and Astrid’s “I would never actually kill you”. Two completely opposite ways of showing respect
From most people, “I can’t steal a mother’s love” would be a trite Hallmark card kind of statement. From Parker, who spent years in the foster system desperately trying to get some kind of connection and support, in any way she could think of? It’s a simple, heartbreaking statement of fact. I can’t steal a mother’s love. I’ve tried.
So with the new episode of Leverage: Redemption coming out tomorrow, I wanted to throw something out there before anything else happens.
When I saw Harry and Sophie give each other this look at the end of The Swipe Right Job:
I said out loud to my empty apartment,
“No, no, no. Oh god, please don’t.”
Because I am dreading that this is supposed to be a hint to a romantic relationship between them.
And could we just not?
Like one of my biggest praises when the first season came out was the relationship between these two and how much I appreciated that it was a platonic one. Then season 2 continued with that dynamic and just let them be two people of the opposite sex that are there for each other with (platonic) love and support in difficult situations where they help one another grow and learn. It really was/is great to watch.
So I let my guard down with season 3. Didn’t even question the fact that they had set it up for them both to be actively dating at the same time. Honestly don’t even mind that plot line, because it’s interesting to see these two adult characters having to move on from their previous relationships that ended for different reasons and see what doing so means for them. Especially with Sophie’s journey being well built and slowly worked through. It never felt like the show shied away from the fact that she could find someone else after losing Nate, but it allowed itself to acknowledge that she needed time to grieve and find herself again before doing so. Again, really well done.
But now we come to the question, and problem of, who she is supposed to be with. Because first it would be a little weird for her to end up with an one episode character, though maybe they could make it work with someone introduced in the next episode or two. But that’s debatable. Well what about the original crew? That only leaves Elliot as a choice, and despite remembering at least two episodes from the original series that had the two of them flirting with each other, that seems like a sudden and odd turn for their relationship without any real build up or reason (so far and hopefully forever). What about bringing back a character from the previous series? I mean they keep mentioning Sterling and I’m always happy to see Mark Sheppard. But that feels like sticking her with a Nate 2.0, and still doesn’t fit with their previous relationship and interactions. Well the series has clearly included more LGBT+ representation, what if Sophie dates a woman next? Cool, cool, we always love a bisexual queen. Doesn’t really solve the other issues though, does it? I mean the only established female character we have as an option I can think of is Tara (who I was so excited to see have a cameo), but that runs into some of the same roadblocks as the other two. Also there’s a whole different discussion to be had about suddenly making a character queer like that, but that’s for another time and another post. So taking all of that into consideration, who does that leave? Well the conveniently available, “newly” introduced male character that Sophie has spent the last 2 seasons bonding with.
And that is exactly what I was worried would happen when the show was first announced and the character of Harry Wilson was introduced. Did I think it would take, or that we would even get, 3 seasons to get there? No. Does that make it better in anyway? Still no. In fact, it makes it worse, because as I just said I have loved watching their current relationship form and how it has played out in the series and making them romantically involved kind of ruins it for me. So I’m here now literally praying that they won’t do it.
I’m sure there are people who ship them, and like good for you, no hate for the ship. I just prefer them in a platonic relationship, plus the added representation of a strong connection between characters of different sexes that doesn’t involve them being related, one or both being gay, or them eventually dating each other. So I personally can never get behind them being a couple, probably ever.
But yeah, that’s my take. Guess I’ll have to wait to see if I was right to be worried.
i know we talk a lot about how insanely committed Eliot is to his fake jobs, but I don't think we appreciate the double blind job enough. Like- Eliot *Ladies man Eliot* gets rejected by the CDC lady for being too committed to a company *he doesn't even work for*
