one of the really distinctive things (hehe get it,,,, really distinctive,,,) is leverage is the only show ever that for me really pulls off funny character dynamics while being a heist show. there's some other heist show i remember watching that i absolutely hated because it just took itself way too seriously
and that's back
i mean literally i'm watching this with my friend who also loves leverage and we're just laughing in the vc the whole time. redemption absolutely stays true to the comedic elements of the show and that's the most important thing imo

on the other hand it is known that the actor who plays hardison was only doing redemption part-time, so we know he's not going to be around a lot (he's here for e1 though) which imo _sucks_ because hardison and eliot have such a good dynamic and it's really going to be a shame that's not going to be present the whole time (presumably). but now there's new characters so there is also whatever antics they're going to be up to which you can look forward to!

overall e01 was 👌
definitely as a huge nerd for the original series it was worth the year or so of anticipation

so the new guy
the new guy as you might know from the trailer is a corporate lawyer. he's spent years defending the people that the leverage team targets, the corrupt and morally bankrupt businessmen in the megacorps that hurt lots of ordinary people
now what this episode really drove home, imo way harder than the original series though it's been a few months since i last rewatched it (lol) was the way that these frankly evil business guys screw over tons of people to make a quick buck
this is an anti-capitalist sentiment which is like, on one hand, one of the major underlying themes of the whole series from the beginning, and also one of the reasons i am constantly just like,, how the fuck did TNT let that air originally, among their typical cop shit?? but it comes harder this time, we see a bit of this lawyer guy's backstory and really end up feeling his anger towards the mark of episode 1, and his guilt for perpetrating the mark's crimes against humanity

it's an interesting perspective. this is the eponymous new theme of this reboot, and it's not something that has ever happened before. leverage has always bonked the bad guys and not looked back. but this time, this corporate lawyer guy gets on the team for this redemption, ironically, as a criminal (this is the central theme of the show basically, "sometimes bad guys make the best good guys")

also i thought i was going to be dropping spoilers in this but i managed to write a lot of this without spoiling anything that's not in the trailer and information we had before the release of episode 1 so yeah. i'm not forgetting to update the CW here

also watched episode 2 (couldn't help it)
here eliot _finally_ drops his signature line (friend and i were waiting for that moment tbh)
plus we see the other new character. hardison's sister, who introduces herself in about the most memey way you can possibly imagine. i think this is just her personality. she's what hardison was like as a kid after all. she has the kind of sense of humor where you see this buff security guy who could damn well nearly beat up eliot (nearly...) asking for your boss and you decide to spin around in your chair and then go hi yes i am the boss ;)
and sophie rightfully points out this was pretty much hardison on the ice man job and she's right
point is while she's basically replacing hardison for some of this season (we assume) i think she is going to be a valuable character and we will have to watch her character development

also when the inside of the food truck was revealed friend and i were just like,,, howmst the fuck do they fit that in the damn food truck,, like it's literally hammerspace in there

https://cybre.space/@haskal/104400315788884933

24 June 2020, 2:13 pm

it has literally been over a year

and yes the new character is gay, apparently. i was right about that. at least if they kept that part of the original casting call

which is !!!!!!!!

like
https://cybre.space/@haskal/104164318050691734

here i asked for queer leverage on,,, hecking 13 May 2020 and i may actually have what i wanted holy shit

though by the end of s02 there is nothing in the show content that would explicitly indicate gay
imo they're cowards and we better not be let down by fucking bezos studios

you know what's ironic like,,,, i have always been like how the fuck did TNT approve airing the original leverage given it's uh, themes,
but literally watch episode 1 and then, realize, this time, literally bezos paid for this

ok also this is going to be my official leverage redemption thread

https://cybre.space/@haskal/106569390914887942
this heckposting was off thread but i'm gonna try to post here to keep it all in one place

cold take: parker is ace & eliot is aro

hot take: parker is trans and nb

extremely hot take: eliot is trans

breanna good imo

breanna saying what's on all our minds
like
"i lived through two recessions and also literally nazis are back"
"the world sucks"

also the new guy (he will literally always be the new guy idr his name to be completely honest. yes breanna is also new but fortunately her name is memorable)
he was adorable lol he tried to say the nate line

eliot bonded with a friendly security guard guy while infiltrating as a security guard and got all sandwichy about carrot cake the guy made for him that parker stole

also the new running joke with parker is literally just "i'm parker"

breanna: how
breanna: ... how.. did you steal that...
breanna: like WTF. how
parker: i'm parker

someone: yeah like that one time you catered for that mafia wedding

eliot: it wasn't just catering it was a _culinary experience_

literally eliot is back and somehow even more of a role model for positive masculinity than before

i wanna make the eliot sandwich tbh
sounds good,

the thing about a show that involves social engineering to a large extent is literally you got actors acting like they're acting
meta acting.....

sophie: ok so your social strategy is going to be-
parker: don't worry i have cards. see? if the other person says what's on the front of the card then I say what's on the back
sophie: parker you can't just reduce social interaction to a flowchart
sophie: .....
sophie: ... ok these are good though ...

also big fucking mood in my imo

OMG

LIBRARY GAY

we didn't get breanna gay (at least not canonically but like she's totally gay imo)

but here a client is gay
he's just like
i'm gay

breanna: what the F--LOPPY DRIVE

breanna is so good

[random belligerent white man]: [harassing a homeless guy]

eliot: [grabs the guy and stares at him] leave.

sophie: we're doing this for nate too

breanna: he would have like this huh

sophie: he would have _hated_ it lol. which would have made me want to do it a little more

breanna: you didn't cast me as the hacker????

sophie: because i need you to actually _be_ the hacker

parker: who do you think i am some skiddie from def con?

hacker parker has orange soda

lol

new guy: holy cow
the librarian's actually a spy???

eliot: i should have known it was you RIZ clowns

i can tell because you hire all these mall cops :)

ok eliot is amazing