#leverage reboot

OK, first off. Wow. Just. Wow.

The repetitions of “something like that”

Also, “you’re not breaking up the band, you just wanna try a little prog rock”. OMG, Harry, you are such a dad and ily.

Also, Breanna is SCARY.

There were probably other wonderful parts of this episode but they have completely been erased by Eliot coming in and stopping the machine… but not to stop Parker. I just. I just… I…

also that ending. What a twist! What a way to make the bad guy repent! (From Latin root Pensare — to think; to re-pent is to re-think about your actions and your decisions)

Also her presentation was very. Um. Scattered. But I think maybe essentially correct?

Also… how much of this season has been different modes of ethical thought? Chidi? Chidi I need you!

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.