#abby posts leverage

BREANNA: Maybe we can't take on the world's bigger problems. SOPHIE: What we can do is help one person and then the next and then the next….

Okay, I know that these are soundbites with no context, but I'm just really excited by how much this trailer reveals about how self-aware Leverage: Redemption is, both the people making the show and the characters living in it.

Leverage has been yelling from the start that the system is rigged. It was designed from the very beginning to favor the rich and powerful, and it's only gotten worse. Alexandra Bligh came right out and said it in The Harry Wilson Job:

MS. BLIGH: The world has changed. We no longer manipulate the system. We are the system.

Yeah, we're all watching a silly little tv show, but that statement rang with truth you won't hear from pure fiction. It's something that's glaringly obvious from…well, everything. It's why Harry Wilson is all over the trailer still committing crime with the crew despite last his best intentions to go legit season finale. Because working within a corrupt system sometimes means that you have to cheat to win.

HARRY: My friends specialize in fixing problems that the system won't.

Yeah. They're not heroes. They're just necessary. And they will continue to be urgently, desperately necessary until true, substantial systemic change is achieved. I'm reminded of The Homecoming Job in Leverage S1 where a doctor who'd been fighting for resources to help disabled veterans stared in disbelief at a truckful of cash that the crew had just given her.

DR. LAROQUE: The world doesn't work this way. NATE: So change the world.

This bit from The Double-Edged Sword Job:

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Um

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x

Harry Wilson is a nice man.

Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting that. I guess when I heard "fixer" and "lawyer to the wealthy," I was expecting a brash, arrogant scumbag who would eventually un-sleaze with the power of found family and vigilante justice.

But he's not?? He's likeable right off the bat, visibly vulnerable, and he latched on to the crew without any degree of chill. He's open with his emotions, comfortable with being the butt of the joke, and humble about being out of his depth. He accepts rebuke, listens to advice, and offers support with remarkable earnestness. This man is—against all my expectations—a damn sweetheart.

But the narrative makes no bones about it: Harry Wilson is—or has been, until very recently—a bad man. He's done incredible damage, blithely rationalizing it all as "just doing his job." So caught up in the rush of the challenge and the thrill of his own competence, he failed to realize that his veneer of neutrality is flimsy cover for the fact that he's slipped completely over to the dark side. He could've been one of Leverage's targets not so long ago, and he would've deserved it.

This isn't new, but it's an uncomfortable truth we often forget: evil can be nice. Evil people can be just doing their job and doing it well, then going home to dote on their family and sleep soundly at night, oblivious to the harm they'd inflicted. Their victims know they're evil, but everyone else would call them nice. Nice is not the same as good.

The interesting thing about Harry is that he actually had a paradigm shift and saw himself for what he was. Do you know how difficult that is, for a man insulated by all the trappings of wealth, success, and privilege to actually be shaken from complacency to confront his own broken humanity? There was no personal tragedy, no near-death experience nor voice from heaven giving him an epiphany. But he looked at his victims, and for once he saw them, and he took the hit. He let his self-delusions shatter, made himself sit with his shame and remorse, and now he's actively trying to make it right. The nice man on the path to becoming a good one.

Eliot Spencer and Sophie Devereaux in The Tap Out Job

This scene is an intimate glimpse into Eliot's inner life, and it's also one of my favorite interactions between him and Sophie. She comes to him in concern, well-versed in her role as the one who, to quote Hardison in The Two Live Crew Job, "makes sure we're all okay." It's emotional labor that she does with a lot of skill and care, but for once it's not needed here. Eliot's got it handled.

More self-aware and emotionally intelligent than the typical bruiser character, Eliot has never shied away from doing his own internal work. He still has his jagged edges and blind spots, but not in this. When it comes to his relationship with violence, Eliot has found his equilibrium. He couldn't have been a member of this team, if he hadn't. Couldn't have let himself care for them—and them for him—if he'd thought he was a ticking time bomb. Couldn't be the protector if just being around him put them in danger from his own demons.

I love it for so many reasons:

It develops Parker's relationship with both Harry and Breanna.

It shows that Harry is sensitive enough to pick up on Parker's distress, and kind enough to check in on her in the middle of a job (with the extra consideration of keeping it off the comms).

Parker still has trouble with some aspects of social interactions, and I love how this shows that she hasn't been "fixed." She doesn't need to be. She's learning, she's growing, but some things still trip her up, and that's okay. Her family's got her back.

Mentoring is a challenge for anyone, but Parker's moment of insecurity here is a mix of her defensiveness over "Parker stuff" (being a thief is her Thing and she's frustrated that she can't find the vault on her own), and her anxiety when she thinks she's "doing it wrong" with people. The fact that she felt comfortable showing this vulnerability to Harry speaks volumes.

Harry said exactly the right thing, in such an incredibly gentle way. This really cannot be further from what I expected the Fixer's characterization to be, and I'm continually delighted.

Then later on, when Parker takes his advice by giving Breanna words of affirmation, they do this:

They're doing thumbs up together! She's watching Harry while he's smiling so fondly and encouragingly as he listens to Parker being a good mentor. His hand is even on her arm. And Breanna's on the other end of the comms with a cute little smile. It's such a sweet moment that does so much relationship and character building.

I used to wonder what the new guy would bring into the team dynamic. We know what he brings to the jobs, but this show has always been more than just the jobs. It's about the relationships, about this remarkable family they've created. Based on how many times we've seen Harry have quiet, sincere talks with a member of the team who's feeling down, apparently what our Mr. Wilson has to offer is his particular brand of gentle support.

Alec Hardison playing the violin in The Scheherazade Job