#koortega

So, some of you might not be aware, but there is actually a huge age difference between the Leverage OT3. Parker is 8 years older than Hardison, and Eliot is 14 years older than Hardison (six years older than Parker).

Now, while Eliot is subtly portrayed as older than the other two, the show doesn’t really go into the age differences of the three all that much. The only time you get an indication that Hardison is really younger than anyone else is in the finale of season three when Nate says that Hardison is a “kid with an attitude and a problem with authority.” Nate never calls Eliot or Parker a “kid” so the implication is that Hardison is the youngest of the group. So really, we can all be forgiven for not realizing that there was any large age gap, and since nobody’s ages are really stated, we can only go by the ages of the actors.

For those of you who don’t know, then: surprise! Aldis Hodge, who plays Hardison, was twenty-two years old during season one! In fact everyone’s ages during season one are:

Hardison - 22

Parker - 30

Eliot - 36

Let’s bear that in mind as we go forward.

Leverage does a very good job of being a show that relies on subtlety to tell its deeper story. The writers of Leverage made a show that is easily watchable on just one level - as a fun lighthearted heist show. That’s why it’s so easily watchable and such a comfort show for a lot of people. But there are other layers there if you care to pay attention and that’s what makes it such a great show to watch over and over, because there is a fuckton that’s going on underneath that surface.

This is all to say that, even though the ages of the OT3 is never addressed, we have to assume, given all the care and thought and layers the team put into everything else with this show, that they were well aware of the ages of their actors when they cast the show and bore that in mind when directing, writing, and working with the actors on their characters.

Now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way and can presume, to some degree of certainty, that the writers were aware of the age differences and kept that in mind when writing the dynamics and that the actors were also furthermore aware and kept this in mind when acting the dynamics, let’s dive into what those age differences mean.

Because here’s the thing. In some ways, six or eight or even ten years is not that big of an age difference–depending on where you are in life.

Parker and Eliot have six years between them, but you don’t see that in any of their interactions. They behave as if they’re the same age. Parker’s more “childlike” qualities (which in my opinion is a way her autism expresses itself–autistic people are often viewed as “naive” or “childlike” and you can read my meta about Parker and Eliot being autistic here) don’t have anything to do with her age and everything to do with how her mind works. Eliot’s behavior isn’t explained by his age but by his military service and history as a hitman. There’s nothing to indicate in their behavior with one another that they are in fact not the same age–and once you hit your thirties, that’s how it is. A six year age difference in your thirties is not that big of a deal. Compare that to, say, a fourteen-year-old and a twenty-year-old, huge deal.

Then we have the age difference between Parker and Hardison. Eight years, and Hardison is in his early twenties. That’s… more of a big deal. It’s not a huge deal but… it’s something to take into consideration.

Because in your twenties, you are doing a huge amount of growth. I’m currently twenty-five and I recently had a fling with someone who’s currently twenty-one. And when I tell you I freaked out when I learned their age… I think my face bluescreened. I definitely experienced a glitch. Because I did so much growth between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five, and there can be a literal chasm of maturity in between those two ages.

So Parker, while she’s not a typical person who cares about societal conventions or rules, is probably keenly aware of that age difference, and how it feeds into Hardison’s views of the world. When you’re young you have this amazing ability where you feel like you can take on the world. You feel invincible. We see it in teenagers all the time. And that’s both a beautiful and a terrifying thing.

Which therefore colors how Parker views Hardison’s behavior–and especially how Eliot views Hardison’s behavior. Parker, being eight years older, probably feels like Hardison can be a little too optimistic about things, and a little overly zealous.

But Eliot? Eliot is fourteen years older. And that is a BIG age difference. Fourteen years might not be so big if, say, you’re 35 and your partner is 49. Sure, they’re on the older end of middle age and you’re on the younger end, but you’re still generally in the same area of life. But if you’re 45 and your partner is pushing sixty, you start to feel the difference. And if you’re 36 looking at this TWENTY-TWO YEAR OLD who is, for all intense and purposes, COLLEGE AGE!?

Yeah, you feel that difference. You feel that gulf, that gap. It’s the damn Grand Canyon.

And it puts a WHOLE ADDITIONAL LAYER on the Hardison-Parker-Eliot dynamic in a beautiful way because, Hardison spends the entire five years of the series slowly but surely luring Parker and Eliot into a relationship. Not in a creepy way, but in a “you guys mistrust affection and don’t do well in traditional relationships, so I’m going to take things slow and go at your pace and adjust to fit your needs” kind of way. Hardison has one (1) conversation with Parker where they discuss “pretzels,” and he doesn’t bring it up. She does. She tells him that she really likes pretzels (Hardison) but that she’s scared of how much she likes them, and Hardison assures her that the pretzels (him) will always be waiting for her, whenever she’s ready. Because even though Hardison hasn’t said it (and never will), Parker recognizes where this is going and wants to be clear that she’s not ever going to want to just jump in feet first. Ironic, considering her favorite hobby is leaping off tall buildings, but anyway.

Hardison realizes that if he said to Parker and Eliot, “hey, here’s a dozen roses, will you let me take you out to dinner,” they would bolt for the hills as fast as they could. So instead, he just makes it clear through his actions that he loves them and wants to be in a relationship with them, and pays attention to how they respond. He goes at their pace, and lets them do the math and figure out how he’s feeling and how they want to respond to it. If Parker or Eliot didn’t want to go further in the relationship and wanted Hardison to back off, he’s giving them the chance to do so. But if they want to accept it and move forward, that path is open to them, no pressure. And they never have to put a label on it.

CAN YOU IMAGINE, you are this battle-worn world-weary mistrustful person who has seen the darkest sides of humanity, who only a year ago was in an emotionally abusive and manipulative relationship (yes I’m referring to Damien Moreau and you can read my meta about him and Eliot here if you are so inclined), and then this child, this child, comes out of nowhere and wants to be friends with you? He cracks jokes and claps back and is unfazed by your Eeyore behavior and looks you dead in the eyes as he’s undressing in front of you with a ‘fuck me’ expression on his face and is a genius and beautiful and daring and literally everything you are not, everything you lost because you were once that same “take on the world and damn the consequences” type of kid–

–and this child, this college-age baby, is the most mature goddamn person you’ve ever met.

Hardison is not an older, wiser, emotionally mature person who is letting the Damaged Youth catch up to him. He is not the same age, the person who Parker and Eliot might have been if they’d had better lives, different lives (better parents in Parker’s case and a different career in Eliot’s case). Nor is he a wide-eyed ingenue who heals them simply by being innocent sunshine.

No, Hardison is smart, capable, communicative, patient, and the farthest thing from innocent. He takes one look at these two people, realizes they have serious trauma and issues, and so sets about making them feel safe with him, understood with him, and listened to by him. He does things that align with their interests, he does everything in his power to use his tech know-how to keep them safe, he goofs off with them and helps them feel at home. He takes the lead where they’re comfortable (planning taking over Nate’s apartment at the beginning of season two, for example) and relinquishes leadership when they need it (telling Parker she decides what to do with the “pretzels,” following Eliot’s directions while on heists).

If I were Parker or especially Eliot, my mind would be fucking blown.

When you add in that Parker and Eliot are much older than Hardison, this adds another layer to his understanding of them. Hardison isn’t looking at two college-age kids like himself who just grew up in harsh/different environments. He’s looking at two people who have lived a decade longer than he has, and have a fuckton more experiences, both good and bad, as a result. He is respecting that they are probably set in their ways, and have long-established boundaries. He’s proving to them that he might be younger, but he is able to operate at their maturity level. He’s showing them they don’t have to slow down for him. He can keep up. He’s respecting them.

It makes Eliot and Parker’s discussions about Hardison and their treatment of him that much more poignant, because they’re not just looking at someone who had a better life experience than they did–remember, Hardison was raised by a good foster parent who basically adopted him and gave him a steady family life and he got into hacking because he’s a genius, bored, and has authority issues–they’re looking at someone who is so much younger than they are. They’re looking at someone who has so much of his life still ahead of him, who is still a “new player” in the criminal world, someone who is not scarred and damaged goods the way they are (of course I the writer am not saying they are damaged goods, but from Eliot and Parker’s POV, they are).

Like my God no fucking wonder they’re so antsy about accepting Hardison’s affection. He’s a kid! He can’t possibly understand what he’s getting into! Parker caves sooner than Eliot as we see in the series and I bet you that the smaller age difference helps with that. There’s less of a gap. And Eliot, who is keenly aware of society’s rules, has an encyclopedic knowledge of them so he doesn’t fuck them up (again I will die on the Eliot is Autistic hill but anyway), knows–or thinks he knows–that Hardison’s youth is going to impede him in understanding Eliot and that Eliot can’t possibly snatch away Hardison’s opportunities at a better life, a better future, by tying himself to Hardison.

Hardison, of course, doesn’t see it that way, doesn’t see it as giving up any kind of future, he sees Eliot and Parker as his future. But when you’re fourteen or eight years older and you see this person going “no it’s you that I want” and all you can see are your own flaws and their virtues, it’s hard to let go of that. It’s hard not to go, “but you deserve someone your own age, someone who isn’t old and broken like I am, someone who can give you more time and won’t be in a walker while you’re still running around.”

And then there’s the pure shock as this child who is supposedly so much more wide-eyed about the world than you are proves himself to be more patient, more mature, more understanding than you could ever have imagined. No wonder Eliot is mistrusting and demands Hardison jump through hoop after hoop, holding himself back. No wonder Parker demands they go slow. It’s partially for themselves, to prove that this boy could possibly be real, and it’s partially for Hardison, because they want him to be sure about what he’s getting himself into.

Knowing the age differences between these characters makes Hardison’s wooing of them that much more of an achievement and makes Eliot and Parker’s slowness to accept his love be that much more understandable. No wonder Parker and Eliot have more issues than Hardison, they’ve had a decade to add on the experiences that gave them those issues. No wonder they’re slower to trust, more jaded, crankier.

No wonder they look at Hardison with such starry eyes. He’s in some ways still a boy to them, this beautiful shining boy, and then he turns around and proves that he is a man, an adult, that he can take whatever they dish out and go as slow as they need.

And since you’ve noted the change from the pilot to S2, specifically 2.07, I love this idea of Laura being sort of this catalyst to help Sweeney shift his priorities the other way - instead of seeking war and being a collaborator of death, he ultimately chooses to love and bestow life. And the more he does so, I think the more confident he becomes in realizing that that is the right path.

And that confidence is never more apparent when you compare Sweeney in S1 vs. S2. There are quite a few overt examples, but I especially love the subtler details of how we see that, notably in Sweeney’s general vibe and body language. For example! In the pilot episode, there’s this constant acidic undertone laced into Sweeney’s words in that first scene at the Crocodile Bar. You can hear it whenever he interacts with Shadow/Wednesday, and it’s like you get the sense that this dude’s just angry all the time - like he sleeps angry, gets dressed angry, eats his breakfast angry, etc. But that anger is contained, you know? It’s passive-aggressive, and there’s this key moment where he’s asking Shadow whether he knows who Wednesday really is. And it’s all secret-like, and then Wednesday pops out with drinks and Sweeney’s all, “oh shit…shhh…“ like he was afraid of getting caught:

Then throws him this resentful look, but says nothing and looks away, like he wants to stab Wednesday through his good eye, but knows he can’t.

When they meet again in the morgue’s kitchen in 2.07, the sharpness in his voice is gone. No more snide, backhanded comments…instead, there’s exhaustion and a sense of tired resignation, even as he tries to quit and demand for his battle, it seems almost half-hearted. Or maybe he’s just tired of asking for it. Either way, it’s kinda telling, right? He knows Wednesday isn’t going to give it to him that easily, and it’s also this realization of what it’s going to cost him to get that battle. Maybe in the past, the circumstances in his life made it easy for him to do shitty things for Wednesday - he didn’t have much to live or fight for. But now? It’s Laura he’s fighting for (and his own (sorta newfound) sense of integrity), to the surprise of Wednesday and probably even himself.

You ever hear of that thing where an idea or belief can hold greater power and truth, just from the sheer act of you speaking it into existence? I feel like that’s kinda what’s going on here.Like, he was never really all that conscious of what Laura means to him until that ^ moment, and you can tell from his subsequent conversations about Laura with Salim and then Shadow how much Laura does play a role in how much he cares about her, and possibly more so than his battle. And indeed, by the time we get to the big dinner/death scene, the battle he’s long angled for feels less prominent. Like Laura, he recognizes that the “root fucking cause” is Wednesday, that Wednesday was “always his battle”…which is quite the change from what he told Laura once, of how “gods fuck with us, that’s just what they do…” he now shares the same anarchist spirit as her…see, they’re perfect for each other!

And back to body language, look at his swag during the dinner scene in 2.07…it’s a nice contrast to ^ that S1 scene – the way he disrupts the dinner and keeps all eyes on him vs. him doing anything but be intrusive at Jack’s, e.g. playing darts; how he openly tries to upend Wednesday’s plans in front of Shadow and anyone else sitting blithely in Wednesday’s corner vs. clamming up about Wednesday’s true nature to Shadow; and finally, the physical confidence he throws around, the eye contact, the irreverence of his tone challenging Wednesday:

*SPLOOSH* Amirite?

I think some might say that Sweeney would’ve eventually come to blows with Wednesday, that maybe Laura wasn’t as intrinsic of an influence on him, but to me, I think his actions in 2.07 only confirm how important the Laura Factor is, given how little power he actually has. Because at the end of the day, Sweeney doesn’t have much power at all, if any, really, and I think that’s the most important aspect of why Sweeney does what he does. Why he agrees to be Wednesday’s bag man for centuries on end, why he kills Laura when he knows it’s wrong, and why he longs for a glorious death in battle that’ll restore his sense of honor…but then Laura comes along, and suddenly, he has this weird power to affect things - it’s not godlike power like Odin’s, it’s these little things that work to reverse how much Sweeney held importance in things that made him miserable. I’m talking about the #soft movies he made like how he can refused to kill her again for Wednesday, yelled at her for rotting too fast, how he let Laura and his coin go after their big blunder in Nola, and how he tried to ensure Laura’s safety by warning Shadow to keep her away from Wednesday…these are choices that, to me, illustrate how much it’s purely about Laura and her well-being and not necessarily about his battle, his coin or anything else that’s self-serving. That maybe he can’t change his own destiny much, or really sever his ties with Wednesday, but he can, at least, do something to change Laura’s for the better. And that’s quite the change from the guy who was planning watching her liquefy so he grab his gem.