Now That's An Episode (Leverage 1x10 "The 12-Step Job")

[rsadelle]

Wow. Just, wow. I loved "The 12-Step Job."

First, superficially, Eliot and Hardison! I loved the little annoyed look Eliot gives him when Hardison says he knows the Thai massage place takes plastic, and then how excited they are about going to a strip club (and was I the only one who thought they were walking off awfully close to each other?), and then they get to go be all Hardy Boys all over town and Hardison holds his own in the fight, even if he doesn't know what to do with a gun. (Oh, jeez, crazy Leverage-as-Eroica AU bunny: Eliot as Klaus, Hardison as Dorian, Parker as James, Nate as the Chief [or is he the Director in the official translations?], but who would Sophie be? G, maybe? Of course, the real problem with this bunny is that Parker's totally the Dorian in terms of skills if not temperament.) And then Eliot flirting with the receptionist and Hardison telling her they're together. Ahahaha! I liked it that Eliot neither played into it or was upset by it, he was just kind of there. I've been thinking I'd like to see them do an episode where they have to pretend to be gay, because I know Nate could do it easy, and Chris could but I didn't know if Eliot could. Apparently he just has to have Hardison do it for him.

Secondly, also superficially, Parker! I liked that she was all apologetic about stealing the gun and saying she didn't mean to, it was just a reflex. And then I may have rewound to watch her running up and leaping on Eliot and hugging Hardison again, and then she wouldn't let go of them. Awwwwww.

Now, on the more serious front, what a fantastic job they did with Nate in rehab. Last week's plot was supposed to be that Nate's drinking was getting in the way of doing the job, and it didn't work for me because Nate's always drunk and they always get the job done. Sure he's an alcoholic, but he's a functional one. It was nice to see how he falls apart when he's not drinking, and having Hurley be a foil for him worked for me even though I'm sure some people found it too obvious. I also liked that it didn't take and that he walks off to get a drink at the end. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than a couple of days in a rehab center to help Nate.

Comments

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I did love all the Eliot-Hardison interaction, though I really wish Hardison's gay persona had been a little less swishy. That grated on me.

I have to say, though, I hated the whole rehab plot. I mean, Sophie had a certain amount of a point, but right now I could live my whole life without watching Sophie/Nate shenanigans, and I say that as someone who used to love Sophie/Nate. I feel like they've beat that into the ground, though. (I agree with you that it was good that he didn't just recover after three days, though. That would have been quite realistic.)

I did love how into therapy Parker got, and that's just reinforced bu that really cute story chash posted this morning.

So liking 2 things out of 3, you would think I liked the episode, but honestly the Sophie/Nate stuff grated on me SO BADLY that I almost stopped watching halfway through.

[rsadelle]

Yeah, it was a little annoying; on the other hand, he and Parker are the least actor-like of them all, so his off-the-cuff acting is maybe a little weak.

Huh. I thought the Sophie/Nate stuff didn't work at all in "The Wedding Job" but worked really well in this ep. I read a couple of reviews/reactions (this Christian Kane Google alert is getting me to all kinds of things) where people said they're waiting for Nate's drinking to actually get them in trouble on a job and that the conflict over his drinking is bringing drama to the Nate/Sophie relationship. I think it's her worrying about it that could endanger the job, and I almost expected it to cause problems with the con in this ep when she kept coming back to him in their therapy circle. I think it worked because they were in a rehab center, because it was about his drinking and not the same conversation about their relationship, and because she says, "I'll just let you think about that," and leaves the room when he says his dad and his grandfather were both addicts instead of pushing the point. I really, really liked it that she left him alone to deal with it, especially because she just keeps pushing at their conflicts in every other episode.

Oh, Parker. I also I liked that Sophie was doing a good job in her mom role in not only knowing what Parker was drawing but also taking her back to be with people more like her.

[rsadelle]

Or to be concise: I liked that it was that it was about him not about them.