#leverage talk

[wondertwinc]

The Lonely Hearts Job

One of my favorite Nate and Sophie episodes. This is the first episode that we truly get to see intimate Nate and Sophie up front and center. We’ve gotten bits and pieces of them throughout this season [S4], but this episode just turns me into goop every time. 

We have a very jealous, very pouty Nate for the first part of the episode which is a beautiful thing in an of itself.

Then we have that scene between Nate and Sophie on the bed with the stupid looks and the kissing and the talking about intimacy and dating, etc.

That’s followed by Sophie coming out to sit on the arm of Nate’s chair in a robe. I really enjoy the intimate way in which she grasps his bicep for a moment before she sits down and then how she just leans up against Nate and settles against his shoulder. I love how content he looks even though he’s disgruntled. 

Then we get an actual date which, even though it’s a part of the con, is so very Nate and Sophie. 

“Tease. Five letter word makes your hair stand up.”

Their stupid little meet-cute scenario is so cute it makes me nauseous. 

Then on the actual date, Nate gives her his jacket and tells her that she’s beautiful. 

This is also the first time I’ve noticed that Nate takes out his comm when he’s talking to Sophie and his admission that “I picked you.”

Also that kiss and the forehead touch.

I love all the touching we get in this episode: the way Sophie takes his arm, how she touches him so intimately but without thought, the kisses - how she wraps her arm around his neck at the end.

[wondertwinc]

The Wedding Job

I love season one of Leverage so much because while we’re slowly building on Nate and Sophie’s backstory through bits of conversation we’re also starting out on the journey that is Parker and Hardison (and also Parker and Hardison and Eliot).

The Wedding Job (S1E07) is one of my favorite Leverage episodes is terms of Nate and Sophie because we get more than a little from Sophie in this episode in terms of how she feels and has felt about Nate for possibly ten to eight years (give or take). 

Toward the beginning of the episode is perhaps one of my favorite lines of dialogue from Leverage, when Sophie is talking about their potential client and how she’s having to wait for her husband to be freed from jail while not so subtly implying how she’s felt about having to wait in regards to the relationship she wants with Nate. You can tell her speech hits the mark by the look on his face and ends up staying with them throughout the remainder of the episode.

One of the reasons I love Nate and Sophie so much are because they aren’t a will they/won’t they couple, they’re an eventuality. You know it’s going to happen from their first scene in The Nigerian Job (S1E01). 

Nate’s speech later on in the episode when he’s playing the vicar calls back somewhat to his conversation with Sophie in The Miracle Job (S1E04) when she tells him that what happens next is up to him. 

“And some people should consider that other people, you know, they don't, uh, maybe they need a little time, you know, before they start dating some people again and-and-and start committing and...”

We already know that Sam has been gone for a little over two years at this point in time, but what we don’t know is how long Nate and Maggie lasted afterward. We meet Nate when he’s still attempting to drown his problems instead of picking up the broken pieces, which is why I think it makes his speeches to Sophie in season one all the more special because he’s still wounded but it’s so clear that he has strong, dominating feelings for her.

And I’m 100% sure that the tears in Sophie’s eyes during his speech cement the fact that she has the same overwhelming feelings for him.

[wondertwinc]

The First David Job

Or the episode that makes me wish we had more Nate and Maggie interaction in the show than we actually do. 

I love Maggie to death and I love how despite everything that has happened between her and Nate you can tell that she still loves him, very deeply so, but she’s no longer in love with him - that torch has been passed to Sophie.

She loves him, though. You can see that it hurts her to think that Nate is in such a bad way and the fact that she steps up so quickly and offers her services to him - to help close the deal, to give him money - to offer him the bed she thinks he needs - says a lot about who Maggie is (and which is probably why Nate fell in love with her).

I’m halfway convinced that Maggie would’ve told Ian the statue was real even if it wasn’t just to help Nate out a bit.

This episode also leads me to believe that Nate and Maggie’s marriage probably fell apart because of the distance that grew between them while Nate kept such a big secret and held on so tightly to his guilt (and anger). Her reaction to him being a drunk (and his conversation with Sophie after their yelling match) also leads me to the conclusion that Nate only started drinking heavily AFTER his marriage with Maggie was over.

This is also the first episode in which we see Nate awestruck with a female who isn’t Sophie because a part of him still believes that he’s in love with Maggie (and a part of me does too, just a little bit). It’s also the first time we see Sophie a bit jealous and knocked off kilter because here is Maggie, the woman who was once married to Nate - the knowledge of which kept Nate and Sophie both from stepping over the line throughout the years.

My favorite conclusion garnered from this episode is that as much as Nate still has feelings for Maggie, he doesn’t look at her in the same way that he looks at Sophie - with so much longing and need that it’s almost tangible.

[wondertwinc]

The Two Live Crew Job

“I’ve never heard you say my real name, how sad is that?”

“So tell me.”

The tidbits of Nate and Sophie that we get in this episode are just - perfection.This episode is also a big turning point in their relationship, because up until this point Sophie has been the one pursuing Nate and wondering just how long it will take for him to come around - but in this episode Nate finally asks Sophie “And how long will that take?” in regards to her burying all her other lives and just - being there with him and the team.

This episode [S02E07] has two of my favorite Nate/Sophie scenes from the entire series. The first of which is when she’s in the apartment and holding the bomb. That small back and forth between her and Nate and their expressions speak volumes, but none more so than the knowledge that Nate stands in the doorway waiting for Sophie to drop the bomb. The moment she lets it go and turns to run he’s there holding out his hand to grab her and pull her to safety. 

We don’t get the rest of that scene (sadly) but we know for a fact that Nate is the one that gets her out of the building and probably shields her from the blast because he is the one that stays behind.

“You killed her. You and your silly crusade.”

Then there is their near kiss in the graveyard that always sends chills up and down my spine because there is so much longing in that moment and you can just see the heartbreak rolling off both of them in waves when Sophie dips her head and tilts it away just before their lips brush. 

It’s so crazy to think that from here their relationship only goes up and up and up.

[wondertwinc]

The Radio Job

I love that even when Sophie is furious with Nate for standing her up, the moment she sees the luggage she’s like ‘where are we going’. Not him. We.

The fact that she knows him well enough to not believe his bull has always been a great thing of wonder, but also the fact that the team doesn’t question why Nate is going off on his own speaks to their own knowledge of the man that is Nathan Ford.

This entire episode is a wild ride emotionally, especially when we get to the end. The scene with Nate and his father and then the bomb exploding and Eliot screaming Nate’s name. The way Hardison has to hold back a panicked Sophie and very worried Parker.

How Eliot shakes at Nathan’s shirt to try to get his attention to make sure he’s all right when already all Nate can think about is revenge... it is such great build up for The Last Dam Job.

[wondertwinc]

The Snow Job

“You know me. I can do this.”

“I knew you two years ago.”

“Well, I’m still the same person.”

“No, you’re not.”

“.... no, I’m not.”

[wondertwinc]

There are some episodes I really wish Sophie was in for season two like The Botte Job [S2E11] and The Zanzibar Marketplace Job [S2E12] for very similar but different reasons. 

The Bottle Job because of how Nate walks up and grabs Tara around the waist (would he have been so bold with Sophie or would he have gone a little farther) and the idea of Nate being jealous while Sophie flirts with a mark right in front of his face. 

The Zanzibar Marketplace Job because there needs to be more Sophie and Maggie interaction in this show, but also because a) we find out Maggie is dating their mark and b) Nate and Tara pretend to be a couple. As much as I adore Tara, I really wish Sophie had been around for this episode because I feel like it would’ve created an interesting dynamic between Sophie and Maggie and Nate and Sophie (as well as Nate and Maggie in the long run).

[wondertwinc]

The Zanzibar Marketplace Job

“So what happened to Sophie?”

It’s so obvious from this line that Maggie knows about Sophie where it concerns Nate, that she noticed there was something between them in The First and Second David Job [S1E12 & S1E13]. 

What I’ve always wondered is if Maggie had any idea whatsoever about Sophie prior to seeing her in action with Nate as the series progresses along. In The Miracle Job [S1E04] Nate confesses that he felt like his relationship with Sophie was a form of cheating (because of their emotional entanglement) despite the fact that they never crossed any lines physically. The fact that Nate carries that little bit of guilt with him makes me think that Maggie had to at least suspect that there was something going on outside of their marriage even if she didn’t know what it was or who it was with.

It’s obvious that even now Maggie cares a great deal about Nate, which I doubt she would if she thought for a single moment that he actually cheated on her.