leverage: redemption so far

ok so you might recall in ancient times i posted about watching leverage: redemption

i ended up watching the released episodes approximately one episode per week, except for the end where the friend i was watching it with and i decided to just barrel through the last 3 at once or something. now, part 2 of this new season is coming out this month so despite it having been a few weeks at this point since part 1 i wanted to provide a quick reflection

first of all, it was good. i want to preface with this because while these days i don't really end up watching a lot of movies or TV in my free time, i did specifically set up time to watch redemption with the expectation that it would be entertaining and it was in fact a good watch

anyway be warned: spoilers below!!!

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one obvious thing is the style is slightly different than the original. there's new music, the cinematography is slightly different, and of course since the returning characters have been growing for years in the meantime, the character dynamics are evolved (but there's now breanna and the lawyer guy to mix things up). the thing about reboots like this is that unfortunately they would never be able to be exactly like the original was. but regardless, i was really happy with the way the show turned out

so let's talk about the missing characters. nate is gone (not going into this right now but let's basically say hatsune miku played nate in the original¹), and the canon is that he passed away. the first episode kind of gets right to this with a scene where sophie is in the graveyard at nate's grave, but we never really learn what happened. in the meantime, we get to learn some interesting things about nate posthumously, particularly in the last episode of this segment, where a former IYS Insurance accountant who was good friends with nate talks about how nice nate was to the accountants, who were basically the underground heroes of the operation even though the insurance agents tended to get all of the credit for catching fraud. which is obviously a big contrast to how nate treated the team in the original, and it's played to some comedic effect. more importantly nate apparently trusted this accountant guy enough to basically tell him everything about the leverage team, which also sucks because the main conflict of the episode is the guy basically trying to publish a book about leverage which would unfortunately seriously threaten the team if it got out.

meanwhile sophie effectively becomes the new nate. she starts to basically lead all the operations, and she does end up being quite good at it. even with 2 new members of the team, who are kind of both off the rails in their own ways. at the beginning, it takes a lot of effort for the crew to convince sophie that they should start stealing things again (parker: we should steeeaaaalll something) but sophie does get really into it eventually

hardison is also missing, and with hardison goes one of the funniest character dynamics in the original series between him and eliot, which is sad. on the other hand breanna is adorable. i'm not sure i have that much to say about hardison's absence other than the canon reason is kind of contrived but whatever. breanna is very different than hardison, she's not just someone cast to fill in that missing role and act exactly the same, instead she brings a lot of her own personality and comedic dynamics to the team on her own and is a major reason this reboot is so good in my opinion. one of the main things breanna brings around episode 3 is this monologue that kind of explains her motivations that i think generally resonates with a lot of zoomer types (including an dragon). she's just like, i'm here because the world sucks. i lived through two recessions and also literally the nazis are back and i want to do something about this. and in fact she does, like these episodes have the team take out some of the absolutely slimiest business side handlers the world has to offer tbh, between a construction CEO who cut corners to save a quick buck and killed a bunch of workers in a building collapse, a smug ass pharma exec who profits off children dying (and he's just so fucking insufferable about everything, i feel like his whole character was made to mirror martin shrekli² or something so it's really satisfying when he gets owned and of course the children get the lifesaving treatments they need), and there's also this techbro who appears to be a zucc mirror, profiting off deploying mass surveillance in a town. so breanna does get to make a difference, and gets into her role on the team very quickly. plus breanna and parker end up having some cute interactions

and then there's the returning characters. parker is still adorable and of course having an obviously nd character be treated nicely in a tv series is really good to see

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 ...

mood tbh

eliot is somehow more of a model for positive masculinity than before. and tbh eliot is really good and i love that the main macho punchy action guy gets to be eliot because besides being the macho punchy action guy he is also capable of a lot of emotional maturity and he knows how to cook (guys that can cook? impossible). during one episode where he's sent to infiltrate the security guard operation of a riverboat, he ends up bonding with the head guard and making sure personally that he ends up safe at the end. plus the guy makes eliot some carrot cake

one of these days i am going to literally make the eliot sandwich. i want to try it tbh,,,,

on the new lawyer guy, i think he's also good. unfortunately the problem is he was played mostly towards the reboot's "redemption" theme, and as such didn't really end up being super memorable on his own. he's mostly a blank slate, trying to learn about how the team operates and this being played to some comedic effect sometimes (especially when he doesn't understand the classic memes from the original series). i don't even remember his name though, and i'm too lazy to look it up right now so that's why he's "the lawyer guy" which is kind of unfortunate. i guess it's kind of interesting how the main theme of the reboot revolves around the guy that i honestly have the least commentary on. though ultimately it is of course a really good thing that he's trying his best to atone for the sins of his past life. i think he'll make a good thief, eventually

so..... that's basically it. for now. the second half releases next friday and i'll be trying to watch one episode per week starting then. look forward to more livetooting, at least. i think it's going to be really good