Eliot (Christian Kane) is bound to a chair and injected with a serum that will make him relive his worst memories to break him. Alas for the bad guys, the only thing that gets broken is the chair when Eliot breaks free.
When Harry (Noah Wyle) is captured and bound by the bad guys, Parker comes to the rescue. Alas, while she’s untying Harry she gets news that the plan has changed and Harry must stay put. She ties him back up but gives him her favourite taser, which he manages to drop.
When Harry (Noah Wyle) is captured and bound by the bad guys, Parker comes to the rescue. Alas, while she’s untying Harry she gets news that the plan has changed and Harry must stay put. She ties him back up but gives him her favourite taser, which he manages to drop.
i’m just obsessed with the fact that the three of them still work so many years later. from what i’ve gotten textually from the show, yes, hardison and parker are dating, but the family unit is hardison/parker/eliot.
hardison and parker are shown to be physically affectionate, but there’s an electric and stable type of connectedness between all of them showing how in each other’s lives they have been:
eliot and hardison pointing where the stolen art belong,
parker and eliot always ending up together,
parker and hardison getting excited together,
the inside jokes,
the big decision making.
parker highlights his emotional connection to this specific team and eliot brings out his sense of duty. the other couldn’t provide the emotional support the other can, but as a unit, there’s help at every corner. parker still has eliot who has been her partner in (undoing) crime for years. eliot has parker, his partner that keeps him sharp. and both of them rest easy knowing hardison is using his big heart for good.
however, while canon has established that they have thoroughly,
thoroughly,
thoroughly
been in each other’s lives, it has not been explicitly stated it’s a polyamorous thing. canon, for me, would be them saying in no uncertain terms that eliot has also lived with them, or something like that. or perhaps, they would establish it in the middle of the second half of the season.
that being said, i have an enormous amount of fun with the show, and for whatever reason we haven’t been able to get our canon ot3, i’m so happy we see them as a family first and foremost, because it would have been so easy to let that disappear between the years.
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.
someone help I want to make a series out of the goons that blog about the leverage ot3 on the dark web but I can’t find all the posts I made goon headcanons in the tags
what she means: when parker tells eliot, “i’m scared you’ll move on from all this and i can’t do this without you,” it’s a direct parallel to the, “can you hear me, alec? i need you” scene in the grave danger job ep of the og show. that parker can express this to eliot without the pressure of a life-or-death situation is an enormous testament to her growth over the past offscreen decade, and the line also thematically establishes eliot as a part of parker’s life who is just as important as her current romantic partner. we thought these three people had sorted their shit a decade ago, but what we’re actually watching unfold is the slow coalescing of this found family, as eliot realizes he doesn’t want to deprive himself of good things and parker realizes she feels upset and threatened by eliot’s relationship without understanding why. parker’s jealousy is ALSO new and seems to have taken her by surprise, which means that as eliot is realizing he’s been repressing his desires, parker herself is realizing she has wants and needs that she’s never quite quantified before. add to all this the absolute fucking hilarity of eliot’s Viscerally Disturbed reaction to being called parker’s brother, and you have two people who are transparently in love but not quite far enough in their character arcs to be able to acknowledge it. hardison’s absence has made both eliot and parker way crazier to both their benefit and detriment. he needs to come home but all three of them are in fucking love and every arc choice happening here is amazing holy god i can’t believe i get to watch this i’m losing my fucking mind
I know not everyone’s happy with how the OT3 was presented in Leverage: Redemption. But frankly, this is an excellent answer from John Rogers and is absolutely in line with everything that he’s said about it.
The OT3 was never going to be explicitly canon for exactly the reasons John Rogers outlined here – to define it in any way would kill somebody’s version. The OT3 means so many different things to each individual that ships it; there’s no one right and there’s no one wrong way to interpret it.
I will also point out that John Rogers knows the difference between enjoying media as a fan vs enjoying media as a creator. As he points out those are two very different things and as such, need to be understood and perceived from very different perspectives.
I can’t believe Eliot was married for over nine years and didn’t notice.
Anyone want to elaborate on that?? Orr??
Eliot Spencer is the king of denial.
He has spent the last eight years after the end of Leverage with Parker and Hardison, have gone on to run a brewpub (that Hardison bought for him), they have a “gigantic house that they all share” (per John Rogers), the food trucks are basically Eliot AND Hardison’s combined babies, is ridiculously domestic with both Hardison and Parker in every scene the share together (the OT3 as well as Hardison + Eliot / Parker + Eliot), is quite hesitant to pursue a relationship (The Double Edged Sword Job) and only “seems happy” (Eliot’s description of Parker’s assessment) (The Hurricane Job) when he is in that other relationship.
Dude is fucking MARRIED in everything but name to Hardison and Parker and does not realize it.
