ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZOHMYGOODNESS!
Guys. GUYS. GUUUUUUUUUUYYS!
Feelings. All of them. I have them. LEVERAGE U SEXY, PERFECT, DARLING SHOW YOU. I'M GOING TO MISS YOU BUT YOU HAVE MADE ME SO HAPPY & GAVE ME A PERFECT SERIES FINALE. I WILL DREAM OF YOU. & WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PORTLAND, BOSTON, LA & CHICAGO. (Spoilers ahead. But u owe it to urself to watch the finale. Rly. I'll wait.)
1. I have NEVER been so tense. & then the Agent was like "your friends r dead" & I LEGIT grabbed the furniture in front of & behind me cuz WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE MEAN, NATE? & DEAN? WHAT HAVE YOU WRITTEN???
2. & then Nate's all WHY WOULD I LIE? & I abt flinched, tho my heart was breaking for him.
3. & then aaaaaallll the kids were bloody. ALL of them. & got vacant stares. & my heart. I asked myself "Who was the genius who decided I should watch this alone? cuz I feel a need for therapy coming on. Or at least a grp hug."
4. & then E got shot thru the heart. & there was blood. & I was worried.
5. "They've been improving the Steranko over the past 2 years, based on our break in, btw." Continuity ftw. Can I just say, I LOVED all of these callbacks. Such as:
5a. Sophie doing Macbeth. Again. LOL & the boys bein all "oh come ON, did she just get worse??"
5b. The way Nate set up in the basement with the projected plans monitoring his team with headset, a la The Nigerian Job
5c. Parker hiding in the server room, kinda like in The Inside Job, needing her fam to help her complete her mission Ok this was just what they wanted us to believe. But still.
5d. Nate mentoring/fathering Parker & explaining involving her in heist planning
5dd. Us finally seeing all the breadcrumbs from this season (Nate pushing Parker to plan her own con in TBWJ, Nate pushing Eliot in a similar way in the Gimme A K Street Job & them sending the kids off on their own in The Rundown Job) lead to Nate's Ultimate End Game
5e. Us finally knowing what the Alec/Nate seekrit meeting at the end of The Very Big Bird Job was all abt
5f.Team helpfully chipping in with all the bad things Nate's been over the past 5 years
5g. Sterling & Nate's odd love/hate/respect banter
5gg. Srsly. Nate & Sterling could be bffs. If u ignored their need to one-up & generally aggravate each other.
5h. The team set up from, I think it's the end of The Nigerian Job, where Nate gives his little speech to the sobbing couple, except this time it's Parker giving it. Oh. My. Body. I got SO excited. I was making all kinds of happy noises & gestures. SHOW! Why must u be so perfect, Show?
5i. BOTH the boys sharing the line "20 lbs of crazy in a 5 lb bag" this time, with affection ;)
5j. Parker, making that happy screaming noise from The Queen's Gambit Job as she ziplined
5k. The elevator changing scene from TNJ, tho this time, the boys show that they're comfortable enough with each other & Parker for it to not be as big of a deal as it was back then
5l. Parker being the one to say "I got u." a la Alec in TQGJ
5m. Sterling making his presence known by sliding a glass along a surface before we see him, a la TQGJ
6. I LOVE that being a team has
i. healed Nate of his issues
ii. given Sophie/Lara/whatever the hell her name is a safe place to flourish & experiment so that now, for the first time, she can say "I'm exactly where I need to be."
iii. helped Parker to fully be. She's cool with having emotions now & is secure in the way only a woman who has been accepted & loved for 5 years can be, even though she's an orphan, & Eliot will always think she's crazy. But LOOK at the way those two interact in The Broken Wing Job: she calls him. He helps her, even though he's prepping for a fight. & again in The French Connection Job, where he helps her re-connect with her joy. The love, guys, it's real.
iv. healed Eliot's heart. He was a hitter, but over time Team has seen him for who he is: a simple, down home boy who is fiercely loyal, virtually indestructible, a MASTER of all things culinary, every woman's weakness, COMPLETELY reliable. & they have loved & accepted him & expect him to be more than just a hitter. He is Eliot Spencer & they revel in all his facets. He told Alec abt his Dad. If that's not r'ship development, idk what is
v. given Alec focus. & expanded his skill set. & given him the love of his life. & a big brother in Eliot, a father & mentor in Nate & a friend & mentor in Sophie. Love, LOVE, LOVE the team dynamic. Love that the whole is soooooooooo much more than the sum of its parts. Love the way Parker can hack & grift & tase now, & that Alec can grift (tho God help us if we don't pull him back from making it over the top.)
In short, Leverage has been my happy place & with this finale they show everyone else how a Show should be written from beginning to end--lots of rly cool arcs, character development, r'ship development, mind-blowing cons, love & call backs of WIN.
Chuck was my other happy place & that show teaches all other shows how to mix it up like a BAWSE --spy-fi, comedy, drama & compelling arcs. Ngl, tho, the Chuck ending left me pretty raw, tho hopeful. I much prefer how Leverage ended BUT Chuck? Wins on soooooooooo many levels that I can in no way disregard how happy it made me & how perfectly they tackled putting all these genres into one AMAZING Show that I was proud to fight for. & the UST to RST on Chuck was prrrreeetty amazing. Chuck & Sarah will always be one of my fave couples, as is Devon & Ellie. & I LOVE how they did family on Chuck & I AM A JEFFSTER FANGIRL, ngl ;) & I LOVE how well developed the "minor characters" are too. In short, Chuck is genius. Speaking of genius, go watch Once Upon A Time. That's gonna need a whole other post, so maybe later. But it's GENIUS.
& Castle is writing the book & how to go from UST to RST with finesse. He tells her he loves her, then backpedals when she claims amnesia, then he comes so close to saying it again when he's arguing with her abt Montgommery's case, then the following year he doesn't back down: "idk WHAT we are. We kiss, we never talk abt it, we almost die we never talk abt it...I love u, I love u, Kate, & if I mean anything to you at all, plz: don't do this." & then when Kate came back to Rick's apt, he was happy to see her, then remembered he was mad at her, then she kissed him & he gave in to it, & then he pulled back & demanded to know what changed, which she told him, & then told him "I just want u.", @ which point he RLY started kissing her back (& props to the crew for bathing them in a golden glow there) & he looked at her scar y'all...evidence of how he almost lost her. & now they're in alllllllll kinds of fun r'ship shenanigans, with their adorbs selves. Which, I have loved Bones, but Bones botched the RST by skipping over it. It's all "I'm pregnant." Wait whut? For who? WHAT R U IMPLYING, SHOW???". I felt cheated. After all I'd been thru with these 2, I deserved to see it play out properly, with the talking to resolve their hiding issues (like Rick & Kate had). Anyhow.
I LOVE FANDOM. That is all.
Happy Boxing Day y'all, & I hope u had the Merriest of Christmases.
Feelings. All of them. I have them. LEVERAGE U SEXY, PERFECT, DARLING SHOW YOU. I'M GOING TO MISS YOU BUT YOU HAVE MADE ME SO HAPPY & GAVE ME A PERFECT SERIES FINALE. I WILL DREAM OF YOU. & WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PORTLAND, BOSTON, LA & CHICAGO. (Spoilers ahead. But u owe it to urself to watch the finale. Rly. I'll wait.)
1. I have NEVER been so tense. & then the Agent was like "your friends r dead" & I LEGIT grabbed the furniture in front of & behind me cuz WHAT THE HELL DOES SHE MEAN, NATE? & DEAN? WHAT HAVE YOU WRITTEN???
2. & then Nate's all WHY WOULD I LIE? & I abt flinched, tho my heart was breaking for him.
3. & then aaaaaallll the kids were bloody. ALL of them. & got vacant stares. & my heart. I asked myself "Who was the genius who decided I should watch this alone? cuz I feel a need for therapy coming on. Or at least a grp hug."
4. & then E got shot thru the heart. & there was blood. & I was worried.
5. "They've been improving the Steranko over the past 2 years, based on our break in, btw." Continuity ftw. Can I just say, I LOVED all of these callbacks. Such as:
5a. Sophie doing Macbeth. Again. LOL & the boys bein all "oh come ON, did she just get worse??"
5b. The way Nate set up in the basement with the projected plans monitoring his team with headset, a la The Nigerian Job
5c.
5d. Nate mentoring/fathering Parker & explaining involving her in heist planning
5dd. Us finally seeing all the breadcrumbs from this season (Nate pushing Parker to plan her own con in TBWJ, Nate pushing Eliot in a similar way in the Gimme A K Street Job & them sending the kids off on their own in The Rundown Job) lead to Nate's Ultimate End Game
5e. Us finally knowing what the Alec/Nate seekrit meeting at the end of The Very Big Bird Job was all abt
5f.Team helpfully chipping in with all the bad things Nate's been over the past 5 years
5g. Sterling & Nate's odd love/hate/respect banter
5gg. Srsly. Nate & Sterling could be bffs. If u ignored their need to one-up & generally aggravate each other.
5h. The team set up from, I think it's the end of The Nigerian Job, where Nate gives his little speech to the sobbing couple, except this time it's Parker giving it. Oh. My. Body. I got SO excited. I was making all kinds of happy noises & gestures. SHOW! Why must u be so perfect, Show?
5i. BOTH the boys sharing the line "20 lbs of crazy in a 5 lb bag" this time, with affection ;)
5j. Parker, making that happy screaming noise from The Queen's Gambit Job as she ziplined
5k. The elevator changing scene from TNJ, tho this time, the boys show that they're comfortable enough with each other & Parker for it to not be as big of a deal as it was back then
5l. Parker being the one to say "I got u." a la Alec in TQGJ
5m. Sterling making his presence known by sliding a glass along a surface before we see him, a la TQGJ
6. I LOVE that being a team has
i. healed Nate of his issues
ii. given Sophie/Lara/whatever the hell her name is a safe place to flourish & experiment so that now, for the first time, she can say "I'm exactly where I need to be."
iii. helped Parker to fully be. She's cool with having emotions now & is secure in the way only a woman who has been accepted & loved for 5 years can be, even though she's an orphan, & Eliot will always think she's crazy. But LOOK at the way those two interact in The Broken Wing Job: she calls him. He helps her, even though he's prepping for a fight. & again in The French Connection Job, where he helps her re-connect with her joy. The love, guys, it's real.
iv. healed Eliot's heart. He was a hitter, but over time Team has seen him for who he is: a simple, down home boy who is fiercely loyal, virtually indestructible, a MASTER of all things culinary, every woman's weakness, COMPLETELY reliable. & they have loved & accepted him & expect him to be more than just a hitter. He is Eliot Spencer & they revel in all his facets. He told Alec abt his Dad. If that's not r'ship development, idk what is
v. given Alec focus. & expanded his skill set. & given him the love of his life. & a big brother in Eliot, a father & mentor in Nate & a friend & mentor in Sophie. Love, LOVE, LOVE the team dynamic. Love that the whole is soooooooooo much more than the sum of its parts. Love the way Parker can hack & grift & tase now, & that Alec can grift (tho God help us if we don't pull him back from making it over the top.)
In short, Leverage has been my happy place & with this finale they show everyone else how a Show should be written from beginning to end--lots of rly cool arcs, character development, r'ship development, mind-blowing cons, love & call backs of WIN.
Chuck was my other happy place & that show teaches all other shows how to mix it up like a BAWSE --spy-fi, comedy, drama & compelling arcs. Ngl, tho, the Chuck ending left me pretty raw, tho hopeful. I much prefer how Leverage ended BUT Chuck? Wins on soooooooooo many levels that I can in no way disregard how happy it made me & how perfectly they tackled putting all these genres into one AMAZING Show that I was proud to fight for. & the UST to RST on Chuck was prrrreeetty amazing. Chuck & Sarah will always be one of my fave couples, as is Devon & Ellie. & I LOVE how they did family on Chuck & I AM A JEFFSTER FANGIRL, ngl ;) & I LOVE how well developed the "minor characters" are too. In short, Chuck is genius. Speaking of genius, go watch Once Upon A Time. That's gonna need a whole other post, so maybe later. But it's GENIUS.
& Castle is writing the book & how to go from UST to RST with finesse. He tells her he loves her, then backpedals when she claims amnesia, then he comes so close to saying it again when he's arguing with her abt Montgommery's case, then the following year he doesn't back down: "idk WHAT we are. We kiss, we never talk abt it, we almost die we never talk abt it...I love u, I love u, Kate, & if I mean anything to you at all, plz: don't do this." & then when Kate came back to Rick's apt, he was happy to see her, then remembered he was mad at her, then she kissed him & he gave in to it, & then he pulled back & demanded to know what changed, which she told him, & then told him "I just want u.", @ which point he RLY started kissing her back (& props to the crew for bathing them in a golden glow there) & he looked at her scar y'all...evidence of how he almost lost her. & now they're in alllllllll kinds of fun r'ship shenanigans, with their adorbs selves. Which, I have loved Bones, but Bones botched the RST by skipping over it. It's all "I'm pregnant." Wait whut? For who? WHAT R U IMPLYING, SHOW???". I felt cheated. After all I'd been thru with these 2, I deserved to see it play out properly, with the talking to resolve their hiding issues (like Rick & Kate had). Anyhow.
I LOVE FANDOM. That is all.
Happy Boxing Day y'all, & I hope u had the Merriest of Christmases.