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Yup, already seen it all.
So, Maria Shipp. I am confuse.
When her and Eliot were together and not talking, the actor chemistry felt great. They vibe together really well. She was obviously cast and has her wardrobe based on being an Eliot foil of some sort. Her character was designed to look good with his. When they are apart and Eliot references her, he grins. But every time the characters are actually talking to each other they feel like they are about to break up. In The Muddy Waters Job she is just accepting being lied to while sitting in the dark. What the heck? In the hurricane episode I thought they were going to either break up or have a serious heart to heart after the whole 'seems happy?' discussion, but nope.
I get that the arc was that 'Eliot actually tries to open up and it doesn't go well'. I like that as an arc because sometimes you try and shit just doesn't work out. You do the thing everyone tells you to do, and due to factors out of your control it doesn't work. I like that arc. It's rare in stories and I find it validating. But they never sold me on the relationship. Also, Eliot opens up more to Blanche than to her. It's like, I think I know what they were going for but it was very clunky.
On a lot of shows, the existence of both male person + female person = assumed attraction and relationship. No need to build the relationship at all, it's just assumed. But, Leverage typically doesn't do that. That whole weird thing most shows do where a possible m/f relationship doesn't need to do anything but exist doesn't work for me, and it's very weird for Leverage.
So, the whole thing left me scratching my head. I can't even enjoy the Eliot-whump of his break up because I was too distracted wondering why Maria was putting up with his shit, obvious lying, and not introducing her to the important people in his life.
I feel like one of two things was going on:
A: The whole relationship arc failed to land for some reason
B: The show was relying on m/f relationships being so deeply the default they didn't need to relationship build. The plot makes sense to mainstream audiences, but I am always am baffled at them pulling 'she was a girl, he was a boy, can I make it any more obvious' card.
I know the show had to deal with a lot with actor availability, sudden rewrites to handle them, etc. So, it's possible that arc was a victim of that. I am going to assume it's that, but ... it's hard to ignore that the main problems I had with Leverage Redemption are the same problems I had with The Librarians. The Librarians is goofy and hand waves a lot of things, but also while I like the characters they don't sell me on the idea that they even like each other. They sell me on the dislike when they don't like each other, but fail on both friendship and romance. I am far from the only one with this observation about the show. For most of L:R, even the Eliot and Parker relationship was annoying each other without the balance of like ... supporting each other or having a moment showing how well they get each other or something.
I liked the series. I still think it's one of the best revivals to date. I love a lot of individual episodes and I still think that ... well, think that the episodes with John Roger's writing are among the best episodes of Leverage. But, overall, some things didn't click.
Taken individually the pilot was amazing, The Wellness Job was amazing, etc. But taking the season as a whole the relationship / relationship arcs were ... weak or missing for most of the season. There was character growth, but not ... the relationships.
As a fic writer I can work with this. I can decide that some of Eliot's actions were driven by dealing poorly by Hardison, his rock, the only person who BOTH really knows him and also hugs him, being gone. Lots of fic hooks, especially with most of the team not realizing how evil Harry actually was.
Leverage is a show that is very good at being satisfying. Whether it's the Wellness Job's exploration and take down of mlms while being sympathetic and careful to not just randomly shit on supplements or if it's Eliot making the obvious Proud Boys allegories look him in the eye while he beats the crap out of them, this season does bring it in individual episodes. But as a whole ... it was missing something.
I don't know who wrote the Wellness Job but that episode was sheer perfection. Weirdly, the credits don't have full credits and the IMDb listings aren't up yet ... and it's an IMDbTV production. The company whose business model is people wanting to look up show credits aren't giving us the writing and co-star credits.
So, Maria Shipp. I am confuse.
When her and Eliot were together and not talking, the actor chemistry felt great. They vibe together really well. She was obviously cast and has her wardrobe based on being an Eliot foil of some sort. Her character was designed to look good with his. When they are apart and Eliot references her, he grins. But every time the characters are actually talking to each other they feel like they are about to break up. In The Muddy Waters Job she is just accepting being lied to while sitting in the dark. What the heck? In the hurricane episode I thought they were going to either break up or have a serious heart to heart after the whole 'seems happy?' discussion, but nope.
I get that the arc was that 'Eliot actually tries to open up and it doesn't go well'. I like that as an arc because sometimes you try and shit just doesn't work out. You do the thing everyone tells you to do, and due to factors out of your control it doesn't work. I like that arc. It's rare in stories and I find it validating. But they never sold me on the relationship. Also, Eliot opens up more to Blanche than to her. It's like, I think I know what they were going for but it was very clunky.
On a lot of shows, the existence of both male person + female person = assumed attraction and relationship. No need to build the relationship at all, it's just assumed. But, Leverage typically doesn't do that. That whole weird thing most shows do where a possible m/f relationship doesn't need to do anything but exist doesn't work for me, and it's very weird for Leverage.
So, the whole thing left me scratching my head. I can't even enjoy the Eliot-whump of his break up because I was too distracted wondering why Maria was putting up with his shit, obvious lying, and not introducing her to the important people in his life.
I feel like one of two things was going on:
A: The whole relationship arc failed to land for some reason
B: The show was relying on m/f relationships being so deeply the default they didn't need to relationship build. The plot makes sense to mainstream audiences, but I am always am baffled at them pulling 'she was a girl, he was a boy, can I make it any more obvious' card.
I know the show had to deal with a lot with actor availability, sudden rewrites to handle them, etc. So, it's possible that arc was a victim of that. I am going to assume it's that, but ... it's hard to ignore that the main problems I had with Leverage Redemption are the same problems I had with The Librarians. The Librarians is goofy and hand waves a lot of things, but also while I like the characters they don't sell me on the idea that they even like each other. They sell me on the dislike when they don't like each other, but fail on both friendship and romance. I am far from the only one with this observation about the show. For most of L:R, even the Eliot and Parker relationship was annoying each other without the balance of like ... supporting each other or having a moment showing how well they get each other or something.
I liked the series. I still think it's one of the best revivals to date. I love a lot of individual episodes and I still think that ... well, think that the episodes with John Roger's writing are among the best episodes of Leverage. But, overall, some things didn't click.
Taken individually the pilot was amazing, The Wellness Job was amazing, etc. But taking the season as a whole the relationship / relationship arcs were ... weak or missing for most of the season. There was character growth, but not ... the relationships.
As a fic writer I can work with this. I can decide that some of Eliot's actions were driven by dealing poorly by Hardison, his rock, the only person who BOTH really knows him and also hugs him, being gone. Lots of fic hooks, especially with most of the team not realizing how evil Harry actually was.
Leverage is a show that is very good at being satisfying. Whether it's the Wellness Job's exploration and take down of mlms while being sympathetic and careful to not just randomly shit on supplements or if it's Eliot making the obvious Proud Boys allegories look him in the eye while he beats the crap out of them, this season does bring it in individual episodes. But as a whole ... it was missing something.
I don't know who wrote the Wellness Job but that episode was sheer perfection. Weirdly, the credits don't have full credits and the IMDb listings aren't up yet ... and it's an IMDbTV production. The company whose business model is people wanting to look up show credits aren't giving us the writing and co-star credits.
no subject
Date: 2021-10-09 06:29 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2021-10-09 07:01 am (UTC)From:** if not read no further **
Eliot dates Maria and she dumps him after a bit.
It does end on a 'but you have us' trio moment that most OT3 shippers I've seen are happy with? It's very up to interpretation, but so far I've seen positive responses to it.