I Love How In Leverage Nate Ford Doesn't Get Monologued To By Villains. He Gives A Monologue, With Genuine

Ithan Holstrom home alone

Rewatching Narnia has made me realize two things:

all of them, in those first few scenes especially, are just so young. like they are children children. when you watch Narnia as a kid yourself, you don't really notice but wow theyre really all infants in that first film???

The Pevensies without a doubt are the most accurate representation of siblings in any movie ever

Finally watching 3x01 of redemption and I loooove the Hardison and Eliot thing where Hardison will poke fun at Eliot, just generally tease him, right after Eliot’s just done this big act of violence - “there’s my special guy, how was your first day of school?” Because it’s very standard “teasing is their love language” but I think it comes from a place of Hardison poking the bear so Eliot will know his family isn’t afraid of him. Like, after Eliot knocks half a dozen people unconscious like it’s no big deal, there’s this characteristic reassurance from his family, this, “I know you’re still you.”

Shut up everybody I’m emotional

Okay so, I was watching Lockwood & Co right, as you do, specifically the episode after Lucy and Lockwood jump into the Thames to escape from glitter sword

So, when they get back we see them getting dressed out of their wet clothes and it’s such an important scene that they included and here’s why:

There’s the scene with Lucy and it shows her looking at the necklace, but not putting it on. She picks it up and she gives it a sad almost regretful look before she puts it down and we know that she was fiddling with it with the Penelope meeting which is what clued Penelope in so to her it signifies Lockwood and their relationship and she isn’t putting it on but she isn’t throwing it away either. She’s mad at him, she definitely hasn’t forgiven him, but she’s not tossing him away either.

Now Lockwood, this is the one that got me excited. We have seen him wearing “normal” clothes in front of Lucy before. It would seem to be the obvious decision that, since they believe everything is over and the next step is to go to sleep, to get into comfortable clothes. But Lockwood doesn’t do that. Lockwood is one of those individuals who use the way they dress as a defense, a sort of armor, and when Lockwood gets dressed he dresses in his usual suit and tie, in his armor before he goes down to talk with Lucy. He has no clue where he stands with Lucy anymore, that ease he shows earlier with that sweater and t-shirt is gone and he’s preparing himself for the worst case scenario. He’s preparing himself for Lucy to leave him and then he walks in and Lucy’s wearing regular Lucy clothes (but then again, she doesn’t use her clothes as armor) and she’s not facing him and he’s so nervous and scared and you can see it on his face. He’s not wearing his coat, he still has hope that maybe just maybe he hasn’t completely fucked everything up but he doesn’t know and it scares him

IDK Lockwood and him using clothes as armor makes me emotional everytime does anyone else see this???

bi culture is having ur first bi panic between glen and maggie from twd

The part I appreciate the most in the Lockwood and Co show is how it handles depression and suicidal thoughts in teenagers. As a theme, it’s not often (ever) done well. Lockwood and Co is the only story I can think of that depicts it in a nuanced, realistic, non-romanticized way

but first, before I get into it: [if you’re in crisis or need someone to talk to and don’t want to/can’t use your national hotline, highly recommend Samaritans, genuinely saved my life] okay, let’s go

Lockwood is the most obvious, with his general disregard for his own life and admitted suicidal ideation. Lucy struggles with her self-worth and the intensity of the emotions she’s subjected to. George worries that he doesn’t belong, that there’s something useless or wrong about him. The show depicts these thoughts and feelings in a way that isn’t overblown or dramatized, it’s all but casual. Which is how it happens. Depression or suicidal thoughts don’t crash into you all at once, they creep into your life without you noticing

But more importantly (and again, something I’ve never seen anywhere else), the show also offers counterpoints to those thoughts and feelings. It shows that there is a way out, even though you may feel trapped and hopeless. This is crucial for the show’s target demographic. Bad media depictions of depression or suicide get internalized, contribute to the stigma, and make it harder for people to ask for help. This show doesn’t do that. This show tells its audience that, yes, things are scary and painful and it fucking sucks, but it’s not hopeless. And it says it so well

In the second episode, when Lucy wants to quit, she admits something that I’m almost certain she’s never told anyone

“sometimes I just think I’d be better off dead”

And when I watched this the first time, I expected Lockwood to react the way I’ve seen people react in my own life; with silence or panic or downright dismissal. But he didn’t. He stays calm and he says something that is so so important to hear when you’re struggling under the weight of feelings like this

“I understand that”

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I suddenly woke up stupid early on my day off with multiple weird random aches and pains and a revelation about the Leverage chess metaphors.

They’re all wrong.

Look, I obviously adore the white knight/black king motif, and it works really well for that very specific discussion of Nate’s shift in morality and position at the opening of the series. But the show as well as I and other fans have then tried to take that equation and apply it to other jobs and to the crew as a whole. This is fun and awesome, but I believe you’re going to get it wrong every time if you start from the white knight/black king line. 

Because in all other situations, Nate is not the king.

Couple important things about kings in chess: 1. They don’t move much. They can only move one space at a time, and for most of the game they stay in their own little box, well guarded by other pieces. This is because 2. When the king is checkmated (threatened with capture and no possible escape), it’s game over. There is no more hope. This is the sole requirement for losing the game. No matter who else is in play, if the king is down, you lose.

This is NOT how Nate operates. Yeah, he makes the plans, but he doesn’t just hide in the office while everybody else carries them out. He’s almost always right up in there playing the most obnoxious guy you’ve ever met or smashing windows or something. And if Nate gets captured, it’s not game over, in fact, it often isn’t even a PROBLEM. Let’s look at a few times that happens, just for fun: - In The King George Job, Nate’s getting beat up and Eliot slightly panics and is about to run to help, when Sophie says “NOPE, don’t do that, I can fix this without blowing our cover” and saunters in at her leisure. The jig isn’t up and she’s not even particularly concerned about him getting punched. I love it. - In the Maltese Falcon Job, Nate sacrifices himself to save the team. This is a classic thing to do in chess and chess metaphors, but, I cannot stress this enough, you cannot sacrifice your king. That’s just called LOSING. -In The Long Goodbye Job of course the whole con is structured around Nate getting caught. I guess this one kind of makes sense because the whole point is to look like they HAVE completely lost, but then at the end it appears that Nate’s going to secret prison and everyone else is escaping WITH the black book, so they STILL would be losing Nate but winning the job. 

So if Nate isn’t the king, who is?

Hardison.

Let’s look at our points about kings again:

1. Doesn’t move as far or as quickly: Yes, Hardison ALSO gets out there and participates in the cons, everybody does. But Hardison does stay in the background more often, because that’s where his power is. He does the behind the scenes tech stuff and the remote stuff, he can wreck your shop without showing up through the power of the internet. He also does the forgeries of identities and objects, which are also done in his own space. At the same time, he has less physical power and less range – you don’t want him in a fistfight, or a gunfight, and his grifts are notorious for being a little… uh… interesting. So he has limited physical range and power but at the same time… .

2. The game is over if you lose him. That far-reaching behind the scenes power is absolutely vital for 90% of the jobs. He does the massive amounts of research and hacking legwork needed just to START a job, even before you get to actually completing the job. You are pretty much dead in the water without Hardison. But that’s just from a practical standpoint. Losing Hardison is also a crisis from an emotional standpoint. He’s our moral compass and our sweet baby brother and when Hardison gets in trouble there is no “well he’ll be fine for a few minutes” and no “well he kinda had it coming.” No, when Hardison is in trouble everything else grinds to a halt and everyone comes running. (See: The Experimental Job, The Grave Danger Job, The Long Goodbye Job.)

So like, yes Nate is in charge. But the king isn’t in charge on a chessboard, the king is just a piece with a very unique role, which Hardison fills much better than Nate does. So, now that we have our real king, who are our other pieces?

Queen: Parker. This has nothing to do with her dating Hardison. The thing about the queen is she can do a little bit of everything – she can move in any direction, making her the most dangerous piece on the board. Parker’s whole character arc is about learning all the different roles and how to access the whole playing field. She’s the only one who plans and executes an entire episode-length job by herself (okay, with a little help from her girlfriend). Plus, the other cool thing about a queen is she has a built-in transformation story – a pawn that crosses the board can become a queen, which Parker mimics by initially being dismissed as “the crazy one” and ultimately becoming the mastermind.

Knight: Sophie. I know, I wanted Eliot to be the horsie too, but this makes more sense. The knight’s deal is that it’s sneaky – it’s the only piece that can turn corners – and it can jump over obstacles. Sophie’s whole philosophy of grifting is that she shouldn’t need to know about safes or security systems, she should be able to bypass (jump over) all that by insinuating herself with the mark (being sneaky by playing a character to get behind enemy lines)

Rook: Eliot. This is the straightforward one – it goes in a straight line. It also literally represents the castle walls. It’s also so, so fucking helpful to have around, I fucking hate losing my rooks. It’s your solid right hand man, basically. Is this a little reductive of Eliot? Absolutely, but I’m jamming five complex characters into five predetermined boxes, it’s not all gonna be nuanced. And I think Mr. Punchy would like being seen as the fortress that everybody depends on, and to let all the nuance go under the radar. That’s where he likes it. 

Bishop: Finally, here’s where Nate is hiding. While the rook can only go straight (lol), the bishop can only go diagonally. Nothing can be straightforward for the bishop, he always has to come at things from an angle. Like, you know, constantly looking at all the different angles of a situation and finding the right angle to come at a mark from. Also, the bishops sit right in the middle right next to the king and queen. I don’t know that this is historically accurate, but when my dad taught me to play he told me that was because the bishops were important councilors to the rulers, they were the ones who had important wisdom that would tell them the best plan of attack. So the king here isn’t necessarily the one making the plans – that’s the bishop. And finally, apparently the bishop is called lots of different things in other languages, but we’re operating in English, which means it makes Nate a priest, and that makes me happy.

The best night scenes I’ve watched

I've seen a lot of praise for the Netflix Lockwood and co. adaptation. I haven't read the books, enjoyed the show. Lots of people already said a lot of positive things about this series concerning plot, characters, and so on that I largely agree with

You know what hasn't really been talked about?

How BRIGHT and WELL LIT everything is. Like, this show mostly happens at night, with characters running around with torches to see anything, because their job has to be done during the night.

But I can still SEE EVERYTHING.

I noticed that in the graveyard scenes especially. The sky is pitch black, we know it's the middle of the night. But the grass in green and I can SEE IT.

Love them for not going down the path of GOT, DC, and so many more. Of saying "well, it's the middle of the night, so nobody can see anything, and neither can the audience".

Instead they went "we told our audience it's the middle of the night, we're showing it to them, but we're also giving them the opportunity to see what actually happens on screen".

Amazing.