There are two queens in Team Leverage and currently Sophie is leading the Home Team, and we might see Sophie as the active leader but when all is said and done, Parker is still the one with the final say.
And in the Harry Wilson Job we can see Parker in the background, pacing like a caged tiger. She’s already angry from what happened to the people in the oil rig, but this new supposed betrayal by Harry? She’s beyond that now.
Look at her pacing in the background, she’s trying to contain her anger here and then she stops pacing and stands with Eliot. She’s still and quiet and tbh, Parker is all the more scary when she isn’t moving.
Seriously, Parker is the calm stillness before the storm, I know I’ve been enthusiastic about Sophie’s mastermind energy this season, but Parker is also a power. She’s just not choosing to wield it.
The way she’s even framed in this scene, in all black, with the sunlight behind her. It’s amazing tbh.
Eliot and Sophie know that with the reputation and cred Harry gathered, he’s a prime and ideal candidate for R.I.Z.
But Sophie can’t let it go, she’s still wondering why Harry still let her go.
Parker, however, was having none of it. The way she says, quietly but firmly, Harry Wilson was all out of chances.
But also this is Team Leader!Parker, this is the time where we’re reminded and Sophie is reminded that Sophie is leading the team because Parker is letting Sophie lead the Home Team.
Look at Parker’s body language, her whole vibe doesn’t brook any arguments and Sophie can read it plain as day.
Parker is reminding Sophie Harry was her project but Parker is done.
Parker’s voice gentled a bit when she reminded Sophie ‘Not everyone can be saved.’
I think one other reason why Parker is happy that Sophie is the Team Lead because as the Team Lead, Parker found she has to put herself at a distance because of some decisions she has to make. And we’re seeing here is that Parker, Parker who is the Head of Leverage International for 9 years running.
In a way, this reminds me of the Genetic empire in the current Foundation series where there is a balance of leadership between the Three Cleon Emperors, but also they can take the current emperor in the middle seat to task when needed.
It’s a subtle moment between Sophie and Parker but we can see it hear and I love it.
Two powerful women in their prime and never butting heads but also holding the other accountable when needed. I love this show so much.
i am THINKING again abt the qwat vibes circa 2005. eliot’s just left moreau and is compulsively stress-making bread for the fourth day in a row like “yeah but how do you live with all the Guilt” and quinns like. *around a mouthful of bread* “the what”
There are a lot of iconic squads of fictional characters out there who play off each other to absolute perfection. They keep us coming back for more and inspire fanfiction and fanart and shoving whatever piece of media they come from down the throats of everyone we know. (Just me?)
Frodo and Sam. Sherlock and Watson. Sam and Dean. The Gaang. Whether they’re siblings, lovers, frenemies, or bitter rivals, character dynamics can bring life to a work of fiction in a way few other things can.
What are your favorite character dynamics? Do you prefer duos or an entire squad? What elements in a dynamic make it truly *chef’s kiss*? Do your preferences differ if you’re the reader as opposed to the writer?
I’ll start things off with two of my favorite character dynamics/tropes. The first is grizzled and/or gruff loner character who Does Not Form Attachments that adopts the smol bean who is a living ray of sunshine or otherwise just their child/charge now. From John Silver taking Jim Hawkins under his wing in Treasure Planet to the titular Mandalorian forming a clan of two with Baby Yoda, I cannot get enough of this trope. It tugs at the heart strings and sets up great potential for suspense, strife, and angst. There’s something about the innocence of the smol bean proving the warmth of their rough and tough guardian and bringing out their potential for good, especially in the context of a more morally ambiguous character.
The second dynamic is enemy-to-adopted-weird-uncle-who-still-hasn’t-really-changed-sides-exactly. The most prototypical example of this is Hector Barbosa in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. He’s the primary antagonist of the first film, but by the third (spoilers) he’s marrying two of the heroes mid-battle. He’s not exactlyfriends with the good guys, but at the same time, he is. The longstanding comedic irony in this group dynamic is one of the primary draws for me, as well as that unique push and pull of being fond of someone you can’t necessarily trust to be on your side. I revel in the massive grey area of these kinds of relationships.
I don’t know that I have a true preference for group dynamics or one-on-ones, but group dynamics often prove to be more difficult to balance. There’s actually a pretty clean split between my two active WIPs. In The Calm Before, it’s more a series of one-on-one dynamics, while Here There Be Monsters has to deal more with how a larger group interacts and relates as a whole.
Join in and start chatting about character dynamics! Reblog or tag me in your own ‘Write Angle’ post with your take. No deadline for participation, and no need to necessarily answer the questions above - they’re just prompts to get the ball rolling!
Taglist under the cut. Drop me a line to be added/removed.
I think Sherlock knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes to Joan and Kitty. Sherlock knows that Kitty needs help. He also knows that Joan is best counselor he knows - she helped him, after all! He can’t just plop Kitty in her lap, though…Joan is rightly angry with him, and she would refuse him trying to push her into a therapeutic relationship with a sullen woman-child. So he brought Kitty to New York and engaged Watson, revealing Kitty’s history at the appropriate moment. He knows that Joan is a compassionate person who is fiercely protective of vulnerable people, so he knows she will want to help Kitty. Which she does.
This is, I think, one of the reasons that Sherlock keeps being so cavalier about denying that Joan was his partner instead of his student. I think he isn’t just being clueless, I think he is actively trying to tick her off, because he doesn’t want her taking care of him, he wants her taking care of Kitty. Think about when Sherlock first asked Joan to be his partner. He told her that he knew she was no longer his sober companion, and that he intentionally acted like he was doing well so that she would feel comfortable moving on. I think he’s doing the exact same thing right now.
Oh, yeah, and it doesn’t hurt that if she’s focused on Kitty, she might not notice that he’s using again…
this little conversation in this week’s ep seemed both hilarious and completely random for Sherlock to say, but on second thought:
He, or she, in this case,
This was the first indicator to me that Sherlock is thinking about himself and might be projecting his own childhood insecurities onto this situation. He has stated very early on that Kitty reminds him of himself, so it’s not surprising that he had a little slip of the tongue at this moment
From the father—clear-eyed view of the world, capacity of rational thought, etc.
Of course, at this point, we recognize that this point of view is pretty archaic, even sexist. As a logical individual, Sherlock shouldn’t put so much faith into this stereotype. But remember, this is the same man who compared his mental capacity to a glass of drink, a very erroneous and easily refutable conception. He seems to cling onto these sort of fallacies when they help him understand himself. So I imagine Sherlock at a very young age, reading up on this theory, taking it very seriously because his mother (it seems like) was not as involved in his life as his father who raised this rational and clear-eyed son.
They can also absorb certain qualities from the mother
The vagueness of this description further solidifies that he’s not sure what those motherly qualities are - perhaps he has never experienced them.
TLDR: As someone who seems to have suffered abuse as a child, Sherlock could be projecting the insecurities of his childhood onto Kitty, who is also abused and without typical guardianship (of course, the abuse that she experiences is not the same as his). Because he feels that Kitty is somewhat analogous to him, Sherlock might feel an urge to be a type of parent to her (and he may not feel capable of fulfilling this without Mommy Joan’s help).
At the end of Season 2 Sherlock felt very threatened by Joan’s move out of the brownstone and partly out of his life. It was so bad that it actually drove him to the need to use drugs again, which is kind of a huge deal!??!?!
The thing is though, that at that moment in time, all Sherlock wanted, and thought he’d ever want, was just to live at that brownstone with Watson, and they’d solve crimes together. That was as close to perfect as his life had evergotten, more perfect than even his life with Irene I’d say. With a romantic partner there is still a little sort of tension, a little sort of ‘competition’ with each other. But with Joan, he had a platonic soulmate; someone whom he could love freely, with complete trust and knowing where they stood with each other. She understood him and accepted him and made him better as no one else in his entire life ever had.
And Joan herself had grown so much, as both a person and a detective under his tutelage. She flourished and found a whole new unique career, they even adopted a tortoise together. He probably never gave a thought to her leaving - the brownstone was her home, and while I couldn’t say he imagined them to both grow old together in there, I’d imagine he refused to think about a future in which she left. Their life was perfect to him.
Like he said in ‘We Are Everyone’ he thought they weren’t cut off from the world at all, they had everything they needed (with each other and the cases). That they are in fact creating a better world to live in, while ‘eliminating anything extraneous’ (well at least what he believes to be extraneous, which seems to consist of social interaction on a regular basis).
But he realised that it wasn’t enough for Joan. She needed her own space, time away from crime solving and a place she could call her own sanctuary. He knows that she isn’t leaving him and that she still thinks the world of him, but he can’t help but feel like he is the one who wasn’t enough. That her version of a perfect life is one in which he is only a part of, and not entire.
He asked her to stay, but was rebuffed. I can’t even imagine how that felt to him. Like rejection I suppose, from your own soulmate. The temptation to use again was so bad that he needed to run away, push everyone away and go into hiding until he could get a grip on himself and redefine his perfect life. Of course, his reaction to the entire thing was basically to stick his head in the sand and pretend that he hadn’t really needed Joan, it was just the ‘partnership’ he needed.
Which we know is a crock of horse manure, but we’ll have to see how the rest of Season 3 pans out and if he admits to it or not.
but oh good gods, can we please talk about Joan’s voice and her body language and reaction because this scene is killing me and I could go on a 10-page rambling spree about this.
Joan has always been forthcoming in her emotional response to Sherlock - in anger, in irritation, or in her expressions of friendship, Joan never held back. She is so straightforward in her affection, so direct in expressing her anger (“you even made a friend. Me? I’m talking about me.” her Robert Frost poem gift, and that plate-smashing and lock-smashing scenes respectively) but in this scene she is so awkward and displaced.
She’s been surprised by his actions before, this is the first time we see her work through her feelings about it - Joan’s emotional response is usually instantaneous. It flares, they talk through it, and it settles. Sherlock can be sporadic, but Joan is still able to predict his behaviour to an extent.
But this is different - this is the first time he’s taken into account of her personal life without being invasive and controlling. She had every right to be angry and suspicious of his meddling with Andrew, because he has pulled worse crap than this before, let’s face it.
But Sherlock promised her he would change. She must have heard that same promise from so many ex-clients, and saw most of them fall through, so she recognised it as the placating gesture it was - and then he legged it to MI6 with a 5-sentence goodbye, so it’s not like he was showing much promise. But this is him making his way to fulfilling his promise, making amends and slowly bandaging their relationship together.
and so Sherlock’s admission, his respect for Andrew and her boundaries just comes so completely out of the left field. She is in increments sheepish, grateful and surprised and Joan doesn’t know how to react. She is left fumbling about for a response in the silence that follows, something that is usually Sherlock’s forte.
We had a glimpse of the power dynamic switch-up in the season premiere, and this is a wonderful continuation of that theme.
What’s some underrated character pair ideas, platonic or romantic?
Here’s some pairings I like that I feel are underused
platonic childhood friends with a stable, wholesome friendship
Sweet, angst free romantic pairings. Like yes, you need drama and conflict in a story but there are other ways to do that besides just creating drama between the two people. I love a sweet couple that just loves each other and supports each other through whatever problems they are facing.
Honestly just drama free relationships in general, where the story conflict is external.
Reluctant friends or rivals-to-allies-to friends/mutual respect. One of my all time favorite tropes. I go absolutely feral for this one.
When there’s no romance between two main characters with a lot of chemistry. Like you’d expect the story to make them love interests but they just stay really good friends. Platonic relationships are underrated imo, but they can have just as much depth, conflict, heart wrenching moments, and interest as romantic relationships.
Rainstorm, you have my whole heart. These are the stuffs of my stories!
The inherent eroticism of two vastly different characters who yearn to have what the other does and then strike a deal to teach each other their disparate ways. The tension of toeing at that almost imperceptible fine line of ‘I want everything about you’ and 'I want everything about you’. Of tenderly adorning all the parts of your life on another human being, of seeing the way they fit in and around what is familiar and home. Of being irreversibley changed by the tender hands of someone else’s guidance. Of a new and quiet understanding blooming between two previously entirely separate beings.
Instead of the sun/moon trope, how about the lightning/thunder trope
which of your otp is showy, bright and illuminating, always visible and dramatic, lights up the earth, usually looking for a fight – not subtle at all and truthfully, not very threatening
which of your otp is subtle but also very scary, is not always visible, is always a threat, shakes the earth, and is mostly peaceful until they’re not – a subtle but ever present threat
DONT JUST HIDE THIS IN THE NOTES WTF
[Image: tenyaiidasimping101 says, “one of the big differences between sun/moon and lightning/thunder is one of them is always meant to be together and the other is doomed to be separate for eternity”. End ID.]
I think I need to examine this dynamic much more closely.
Thunderman works as a hero name, but I’m not a fan of it for a last name
So their last name is now ✨️Velasquez✨️
Hank took Barbara’s last name
More defined powers
Hank has the basics, flight, super strength, speed and senses
Barbara’s got electricity and a sort of mind manipulation (cause our brains are just electric meat)
Pheobe has telekinesis
Max recieves ~nothing~ I’ll expand on this later
Billy can keep his super speed
Nora’s still got laser vision, but she’s also heat resistant and can melt things with more than just her eyes.
Back on Max, they get no powers and no gender. Both points cause tension for different reasons.
So before Nora and Billy were born, Hank and Barb raised their kids at a super-powered boarding school. (Max was allowed there because of their parentage.)
In that school, the curriculum was very intense/competitive, low-key raising child soldiers since they wanted the kids to be superheroes.
Hank and Barb compared their two kids often. Since they were heroes full time they didn’t devote much to their kids. Situations like taking a kid out for ice cream when they got an A and leaving the C kid at school happened unthinkingly.
This sort of stuff piled up to create a really vicious rivalry between Max and Pheobe. Kinda like in the show, but in the beginning, they’re a lot meaner and don’t genuinely seem to care about eachother in the slightest.
When Barb took time off work because she was pregnant with Billy, she spent time with Pehobe and Max, taking them home when school hours weren’t going on for once.
Realizing how little she knew about her kids and how stilted their interactions were, plus general burnout from her job, she had an epiphany.
She wanted to retire from whatever hero committee she and Hank worked for and hero independently part time so she could actually see her kids.
After discussing with Hank, she did. And he followed her. They moved to Hiddenville and got day jobs. Hank became a teacher so he’d be off when the kids were off. Barbara’s trying to make it as a writer.
Billy was never enrolled in the boarding school because they wanted to spend time with him. Because of how devoted Pheobe and Max were to school (to gaining validation from others) Barb and Hank thought they liked it. They came home on weekends anyway.
Hostility came to a head when Pheobe and Max got into a physical fight at school. No life threatening injuries or scars, but it was apparent that their issues were a little too intense for sibling rivalry.
The kids were withdrawn from the school at around 14/15, when the parents figured that was a bad environment for it’s competition.
I picture the Velasquez parenting in the same sorta gray area as the Fenton (Danny Phantom) parenting. Like they don’t intend anything bad and they’ll fix mistakes when they get too big, but they’re kinda neglectful and say things that will unknowingly hurt their kids.
Like about Max’s (lack of) powers, first there was the late bloomer rhetoric, then sorta treating them like they’re a fragile child for not being super.
Rewind, on a school field trip to a supervillain prison, Max listens to one talk it resonated with them.
Recently they’d been struggling in school with all the pressures. They felt like the least favorite of three now. So much of their time was taken up with school, they didn’t have time for anything they enjoyed. Puberty was a bitch too. They just felt so tired and angry all the time.
The villain talked about the arbitrary-ness of societal expectation and authority and it clicked for Max. They’re never gonna be the hero their parents (derogatory) want, so why not be the super villain they wanna be?
Their spite for their parents really festered. Especially after talking about supervillainy and getting dismissed by their parents. Anything personal was for them and them only, Hank and Barb wouldn’t get the privilege of knowing. They applied this logic to their gender when they figured it out.
Pheobe takes Max’s villainy seriously. She sees them as a menace, but one she has to bare with until her parents give her the go ahead to throw them in super prison.
She has a complicated relationship with Billy and Nora. On one hand, they’re little kids, heroes protect little kids! On the other hand, they rile up her inferiority complex. Billy and Nora have a normal, healthy sibling relationship. She also feels like they’re just later attempts because the earlier children (her and Max) were failures.
Max hates their parents by the time they have to acknowledge Billy and Nora’s existence. They’re mad that more kids were brought into this mess of a family, but they feel neutral towards the kids originally.
But as the three spend time together, Max realizes Billy and Nora are like silly little friends that live with you, so unlike Pheobe or the boarding school kids.
Billy is fine with all his siblings, but mostly confused why the twins are so weird towards eachother. Pheobe’s a little standoffish, but when you get her talking she’s real sweet. Max says they’re a supervillain, but aside from being mean to Pheobe and mom and dad, they’re mainly just mischievous.
Nora thinks her sister is a little too straight laced/ overbearing, but she always listens and makes time for Nora when asked. Max is more fun but they’re prone to hold a grudge and never hang around long unless you’re working on a project together.
The first arc would consist of Max and Pheobe trying to develop a healthier sibling relationship. Meanwhile Barb and Hank investigate their first villain as independent heroes?
Oddly specific romantic trope: sarcastic woman stuck in a dead end job with no prospects of ever leaving who’s just done with life meets little manchild who annoys her into finding hope and meaning again while he also learns to shift his priorities, eventually settling for something he never would have considered a “successful” life before
