(Cont.)
This is mainly for @werewolfsmile and anyone else who wants to shout into the void with me about this ot3!
So far season 4 started off strong with lots of little ot3 moments I’ve been clocking on my latest rewatch. Today I watched “The Office Job” through “The Gold Job” and wanted to recap. Ngl it isn’t much…
Still good things but it was a lot of what we already see which is still beautiful. But mainly it was a lot of leaning, being in each others spaces, and a lot of the handshake. (For the purposes of this post I’m skipping “The Girls Night Out Job” and “The Boys Night Out Job” simply because those two are a whole other beast of ot3 moments that I would like to gif separately and also not a lot of touching (besides the handshake in the boys night) which is what we’re focusing on here.)
“The Office Job” is my favorite comfort episode of Leverage. Everything about is pure gold. Despite Hardison and Eliot arguing the whole time about a sandwich they still manage to pull together in the end and have one of the funniest moments in the episode which is of course topped off by the handshake. Once again mainly in each other’s spaces or leaning this episode.
“The Lonely Hearts Job” also such a great episode of basically the ot3 parent trapping Nate and Sophie and Eliot out here doing the absolute most showing he knows his team in the end of the episode.
As for casual touches a lot with Eliot and Parker (I feel like there’s always more with Eliot and Parker in trying to find more with Eliot and Hardison but mainly they just always lean in each others spaces and orbit each other, compared to Eliot and Parker which sometimes have a similar but different dynamic due to comparing how Parker in the beginning of the series was very adverse to touch. Not from Hardison and Eliot now though:)).
This scene starts out with them with a gap but they gradually get closer (I know this can happen when scenes are reshot. As I always say though let me read the subtext how I want. They were further apart then they got closer soooo)
My favorite thing is the shoulder bumping as they’re walking out. All I have to say.
Here they’re betting whoever gets the highest bid gets a steak which is super cute later because Eliot loses and puts up a fight about making it but then totally has heart eyes and smiles when he “loses” that argument too. Why wouldn’t he make his boyfriend a steak. There’s also a later scene I totally forgot to gif when they’re getting the guy flirting with Sophie out of the way and he calls Hardison (who’s in character) an idiot and I know Eliot did not need to take him down as hard as he did all I have to say.
And once again we have the leaning in each others spaces, shoulder touching, and once again the handshake. None of the other bachelors were standing this close on stage just saying.
Then we have “The Gold Job” where Parker literally gets up to sit next to Eliot? Wonderful. But then there’s some shoving but for context the whole scene was kinda tense because Hardison was running his first con. But then right before the camera changes Eliot moves closer!!!
But then they end up further apart again which I’m assuming may be due to reshoots.
Just generally the comfort between all of them gets me in these scenes. They’ve come a lot way and even though the beginning of season four I feel like shows this a lot more I’m still glad I’m finding scenes with their casual touches as I’m finishing out season 4.
That’s all I have for tonight :D I’m finishing up season 4 tomorrow so I’m sure I’ll be adding to this later.
Hope you like my gifs :) haven’t gifed in so long but I’m happy I’m learning again. Quality still needs work though.
Bonus:
Here’s a bonus gif of Eliot looking like he’s blowing a kiss in the button cam footage in “The Office Job” because I thought it was funny. This is once again getting added to my “why didn’t I notice this before” list. I just wanna know for whom Eliot. :)
The Rundown Job was really the OT3 episode, uh?
I knew they worked well together, that's been obvious for a while. But in an episode of just them, it really hits how in sinc they are.
Hardison and Eliot doing their little handshake after watching Parker do her acrobat thing through a lazer grid.
Eliot's first concern being to get Hardison and Parker to safety. Them refusing to let Eliot go up against a terrorist attack. Parker's line about how they change together, for better or worse.
Eliot not being scared of the terrorists attack because he has Hardison and Parker on his side and he believes in them more than anything.
Also when Eliot put his hand on the back of Hardison's neck and looked into his eyes? That was so intimate. The tension was serious with undertones of sexual. It had the same tension as Parker diffusing the bomb.
The silent communication. The celebrating each other's victories.
Eliot throwing down the crutch in favor of leaning on his partners.
I'm sure other stuff I missed, it being only my first watch through and all. But that's the stuff that stood out the most to me.
leverage is so fucking funny. man manages to find the most mentally ill and neurodivergent group of thieves on the market + an even more mentally ill guy whose literal job description was trying to chase all of them, and forces them into a found family speed-run by trying to blow them all up. they lowkey stage a full fucking country wide coup and are like eh 🤷 just another wednesday. this might be a fun place to vacation tho i guess. sophie shows up to her own funeral twice. they're so good at convincing people of their shit that they make a guy's body start reacting to an illness he doesn't have because it isn't real. go completely out on a limb and basically hand this one guy a new password for his computer so they can get into it and he goes with it. parker and hardison have straight up just "fake it 'till you make it"d into the fbi without even attempting to cover their tracks beyond just These Two Guys. half their clients never asked to be their clients and don't know they're their clients, and the other half are random people who find them who fuckin knows how, meanwhile no government agency can track them down without selling their soul to sterling. they make a point to have a dramatic scene w a Big Bad Shadowy Government Guy who doesn't actually get caught or brought to justice or anything telling them he's going to hunt them all down, and in any other show this would probably earn at least a minor arc later on but he literally never shows up again. an entire season finale hinged on a cake and a bunch of clams. they accidentally made eliot a celebrity not once, not twice, but three times. parker blew up her foster parents' house when she was like. nine. and it's hardly a footnote. hardison is just casually an artistic prodigy but it's only ever brought up for the most background of background gags. eliot's biggest beef with parker and hardison for like two and a half seasons is that they won't stop making weird food with lasers and refuse to realize they can't make a decent beer to save their lives. sophie's immediate response to being shot is to call her shooter a wanker. there's a character who has literally killed a man with a mop and they had the audacity to only put her in one episode.
"I'm glad you found a family." -Amiee
"W-what... those guys?" -Eliot sputtering
Yes, Eliot. Those guys. The very same guys who you couldn't walk away from. The same guys who get on your nerves- but for some reason you protect. Those guys who have you wrapped around their fingers. Who remind you that your smarter than you think.
Those guys as in;
Nate who needs protecting from himself.
Sophie who needs protecting from her past.
Hardison who needs protecting from his mind.
Parker who needs protecting from the monsters she's lived through but are still around.
You, Eliot- you big teddy bear- decided they were worth it. So you stayed for them. You sir, stayed because they needed you.
Those guys are your family.
I need an Eliot hug right now.
I need Hardison to put his hand on my shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze and a silly joke.
I need Parker to threaten bodily harm and have everyone chastise her for it.
I need a day with Sophie drinking tea.
I need a night sitting next to Nate as he listens to my problem.
I need a day where I play video games with Breanna and Harry.
I just- I need a day where it doesn't feel like I'm getting fired for doing my job.
he's fighting a beautiful buff lady. her shirt gets ripped and she's left in her slutty little tank top. "come on," you think. "why is the woman always wearing sexier things than her male counterparts." but fear not. now HE takes off his shirt and he's left in HIS slutty little tank top. equality. and then they kiss