The Blueprint: Leverage Season 5 Episode 10, The Rundown Job

I still can't get over how Eliot and Hardison do their "secret" handshake- even though Eliot is miffed that Hardison ate his sandwhich.

I still can't get over how Parker calls Eliot "Sparky," and he's scared enough to rip open his apple- because he actually thinks Parker somehow got a razor blade in it.

I still can't get over how Eliot tells Hardison that he won't help him if he goes to far with "Ice Man," and when Hardison calls him out on it- Eliot blames Parker.

I still can't get over how Hardison comes to Eliot when he needs help brushing up on wine.

I still can't get over how Parker goes to Eliot when she's looking for something to love and he teaches her to love food.

I still can't get over how Parker is allowed to poke and push Eliot.

I still can't get over how Hardison riles Eliot up and it's just reflex for Eliot to say; "DAMNIT Hardison."

I can't get over how they became a little family all on their own.

Ok so i don't have the time to go in and get a screen recorded video with volume but look here

When parker says she wants to kill Dalton Rand, she's looking to Nate. She's asking Nate if they can kill him. Eliot volunteers to kill him. Parker turns to look at Eliot when he starts to speak. Eliot "I don't kill people anymore" Spencer volunteers to kill Rand of his own volition. Parker isn't even asking him, looking to him. He just cares so much about Parker being hurt that he volunteers to do something that hurts himself without being promted or asked personally. This is just something that means so much to me. This is only season 2 but the strong connections are already there

don’t think this rap talk means i’ve taken my eyes off of rafah.

nah since marvel is trending again I’m going to say it again louder for the people in back — canon steve rogers would never have chosen an “idyllic 1950s white pickett fence life” because the only place that man belonged was a picket LINE. the whole point of his character was that his work was never done. there was always going to be another oppressor, another bully, another person who takes advantage of the underprivileged for him to stand up to. from the moment he gained consciousness he, a chronically ill son of a working class mother living below the poverty line, used his voice and his body to protect & fight for what he believed in. I’m not sure there was ever a time pre-super soldier serum where he didn’t have a black eye. he could put the shield down all he wanted but he could never retire from being steve rogers — someone who never once turned a blind eye, who never once wanted a “reward” for his work, who never once abandoned his friends. this isn’t up for debate. this is almost a century of comic book & film/animated precedent. he may have been a man out of time, but in his words “it’s tempting to want to live in the past. it’s familiar, it’s comfortable. but it’s where fossils come from”

Kuroko no Basket will always have a special place in my heart, and this is one of the reasons why:

Her. Aida Riko. Everything about her makes KnB the best sports anime to me.

No, 'cuz the fact that this beloved sports anime made the coach of the main team a woman - a 17 year old girl at that - made a huge difference in the show for me. It's such a pleasure to watch Riko have just as much passion for the game as the team, for her to be such a key character in an otherwise widely male-dominated anime genre.

She makes sure to push the team to improve, doing everything in her power to make make them go past their limits (the roofrop ceremony, breaking Hyuuga's figurines, getting Mitobe to block Kagami etc), she always makes sure to get their spirits up, even if it doesn't always work out (getting them to go eat steaks, the lemon with honey slices), and she does what's best for them, even when they don't like it (pulling Kiyoshi from the Kirisaki Daiichi game, subbing the first year duo out, putting Furihata against Akashi).

Like, she's such a smart and relatable and real character??? The fact that she also gets her romance with Hyuuga, but is done so organically, and they're such good friends?? The fact that they rely on each other as coach and captain?? The fact that they founded the club together?? Plus, she is still able to have a deep friendship with Kiyoshi with no romantic tension or friction between the three of them?? It shouldn't be this refreshing to see a female character like this, but it is, which is what makes Riko so amazing.

And she's not the only one.

Momoi is also such a great female character that you rarely see in these shows. Yes, she's the feminine manager of an enemy team, but she's just as much part of the Generation of Miracles friend group as the others are, despite not being a player. The fact that she gathers information about their opponents and comes up with strategies to highlight her team's strengths and shut down the enemies is incredible. She also has a crush on the main character that is obviously unrequited, yet it's handled so gracefully?? She is who she is despite her feelings for Kuroko, and I love that for her, because instead of following Kuroko to Seirin, she chose to stay with Aomine. Her loyalty to her childhood friend is so strong and so pure that she never gave up hope that Aomine would find his love for basketball again. That he'd smile again– that she'd get her old friends back.

Truly amazing.

And an honorary mention goes to another female character whom I wanted to see more of:

"Kagami was written by a woman," yes, because Alex Garcia made Kagami, bitch. That's her son you're talking about. Alex being the one who taught Kagami basketball is so badass of her. She's Mother.

Let's hear if for the female characters of Kuroko no Basket!!! The rest of the sports anime world could never!!!

Season 3 has to happen for my sanity.

things I need to see in season 3:

kirin and rachel bonding over how their sports stress them out and the toxic environment of it

martha and josh bonding over their experiences of sa and trauma, and being able to talk to each other about it because they both understand

toni trying to fucking launch herself at kirin or scotty trying to hit on shelby

fatin and leah becoming more and more comfortable with physical affection with each other, and fatin thinking more about her sexuality involving girls

kirin trying to take control and dot fucking owning him and ordering him to go make a fire and then him being like “……” because they all had to use a fucking lighter

and then dot’s just is fucking shocked over how these dumbasses survived for more than a week

the girls all standing to the side watching henry and dot fight over the best way to preserve food

kirin trying to hit on fatin and then seeing leah murdering him with her eyes

and Rafael is just watching to the side and like “oh she’s gay”

martha never having to lay a finger on any animal again to kill since the others are doing the job for her, and she’s actually doing other things like gardening or foraging

kirin and josh’s friendship deepening along with ivan’s and kirin’s

toni forgiving shelby and loving stroking her head as her hair is growing back

fatin braiding all the girl’s hair amazingly bc we all saw her beautiful fishtail braid in the last episode

toni fighting it and slapping her hands away until fatin fucking wrestles her and pins her down

just all the girls being in love with each other and happy while the boys watch and then start to bond a bit more with each other

no, you don’t but he will look after you anyway

I think my favorite thing about The Old Guard is that, as weird as it sounds, all the immortals have human limits. Like, yeah, they can’t die and they heal hella fast, but the writers didn’t inexplicably translate that into them having superhuman speed or strength or agility like I’ve seen in many other superhero media.

They get tired. I’ve honestly never seen so much sleeping in an action movie.

And they can be restrained with zip ties and buckles and held down by normal-ass dudes and get the shit beat out of them because of course they can.

When they’re injured, they act like it. Even if its just for a few seconds. They moan and groan and limp and wince and never try to pull any of that dumb macho “I’m used to it” bullshit. Pain fucking hurts no matter how many times you experience it and this movie expresses that beautifully. Immortal doesn’t mean invincible.

The way that Grover keeps saying he's 24 when we know full well that satyr's age half as fast as humans.

Can we take a moment for Grover, because at the mental age of 12, he's given charge of another person's life, and his only job is to protect him. He swears to keep him safe and keep him alive. He's failed in the past and that lurks in every dangerous situation they encounter. He keeps bringing up that he's 24 maybe for comedic relief or maybe to remind himself he's had 24 years of world experience, even if he just feels like an overwhelmed 12-year-old, placed in charge of two danger-prone kids who keep trying to sacrifice themselves for each other, on a quest doomed to fail?

The satyrs have been protectors for decades, but It just occurred to me that they're basically just kids trying to protect kids from monsters they probably wouldn't be able to beat.

Anthony Lockwood my beloved

One of the things I love most about Lockwood is that he is the textbook example of the "one who is scared to love" but instead of being extremely cold and callous all the time like your normal tragic backstory male mc, he can't stop himself from loving.

The thing is, we know he tries. (See THB). He tries to keep everyone at a distance, tries to be cold and calculating, but he can't do it. He wants to be Sherlock Holmes, highly functioning sociopath, but he can't do it.

And it shows up in the smallest ways: how immediately understanding he is of Lucy when she doesn't want to explain what happened at Jacobs' even though he is interviewing her for a job. How he stood up for the bratty nightwatch kid when Ned was bullying him, simply because he didn't like watching someone smaller get picked on. Or when he mercifully changed the bet with Kipps, because at the end of the day it was a petty bet to begin with, and they had just been through so much together, and honestly it didn't matter anymore. There was no reason to humilate anyone. How he will always protect another agent, even if they are Fittes. Heck, he even stands up for the Fittes' agents, saying "they're just kids like us." It's the adults he has beef with.

Lucy mentions that any news of a death by ghost-touch weighs on Lockwood. He is incredibly patient with Danny Skinner and perturbed that a kid this young is in his living room alone.

All three of them think of Lucy as the one with the bleeding heart. She's a Listener, a feeler, the one who is most affected by the past suffering of the ghosts. But that's for the dead.

Lockwood is a bleeding heart for the living. He tries not to be. He hates it. Because caring means risking hurt. Caring means you can lose what you care about. But for as hard as he tries to pretend he doesn't, for as good as he is at acting like nothing can phase him, it does.

Lockwood is scared of loving. But he can't stop.