{"id":4419,"date":"2015-01-29T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-01-29T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4419"},"modified":"2015-01-22T15:30:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T23:30:31","slug":"mark-watches-leverage-s01e09-the-stork-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/01\/mark-watches-leverage-s01e09-the-stork-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Leverage’: S01E09 – The Stork Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the ninth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>, this show destroys me with Parker. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Leverage<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of child abuse.<\/b><\/p>\n

This hurts. AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GOOD.<\/p>\n

Sophie<\/b><\/p>\n

Lord. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m having so much fun with the recurring jokes and gags in this show, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely true for Sophie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting ability, which only appears to work if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on a job. How her brain works is a mystery to me, but seeing her as a nun (HOW LONG HAVE Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL BEEN WAITING FOR ME TO SEE GINA BELLMAN AS A NUN,\u00c2\u00a0OH MY GOD<\/i>) in a film about werewolves was just the icing on the cake. Nearly every episode, this show gives me a chance to see these characters in ridiculous outfits while on the job, and it never gets old. NEVER. Seriously, Timothy Hutton was also incredible here as Nate AS the director. HIS HAIR!!!<\/p>\n

The Con<\/b><\/p>\n

This was such an uncomfortable premise that only got worse as the episode went on. In hindsight, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of amazing to me how this particular episode straddled the line between humor and horror. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gotten lost in all the bad \u00e2\u20ac\u0153acting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the parody of Hollywood, and then WHAM. Orphanages as a front for gun running, which is child abuse as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned. But \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Stork Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ends up being a dual con with two targets, though it takes Parker to bring the team to that point. Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complicated. I think that if the team had listened to Hardison in the first place, they would have kept the orphans as part of their plan.<\/p>\n

But this had to test their morality, and I understand why they all turned Hardison down, especially Parker. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll devote most of this review to her in a sec.) The line between good and bad is always blurred on this show, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s generally pretty easy to tell which side these characters fall on. But they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all pragmatists at heart, which is why they work so well together. They understand that they might have to do strange or discomfiting things for the job. At the same time, they have to know when to put aside any personal issues. As much as they might\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i> to save those orphans, they recognize that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out of their element here, having stumbled upon something horrible. For Hardison, though, it seems obvious. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave all those kids behind, and he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom a future where they\u00c2\u00a0don<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> help those kids.<\/p>\n

Parker<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, then, that Parker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past (and part of Hardison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) plays so heavily into this narrative, both for the growth of these characters and to get us to understand why they would act the way they would. As someone who was raised by a foster parent, Hardison is drawn to saving the kids that Parker finds in the orphanage. Like I said, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no reluctance on his part. He knows that he needs to do this, no question.<\/p>\n

Parker, however, moves through various emotions: shock, horror, revulsion, and then\u00c2\u00a0sadness<\/i>. When she refuses to help those children, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not because she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. Parker just isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t used to people caring about her. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not used to trusting the system that she was a part of because it abused her, spat her out without the childhood she wanted, and now she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s different. Her social awkwardness is often funny, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not here. You get a sense that she wishes she could be normal, that she could act like everyone else.<\/p>\n

Look, this is a deeply uncomfortable conversation to have, and I think my country has a severe problem when it comes to foster care and adoption. I was in foster care before I was adopted, and I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve touched on being a transracial adoptee a few times in the past. It can be a nasty, painful world for some of us, and the narratives around adoption don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this any easier. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been told that I need to be thankful for having been adopted because I could have been abandoned. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a dismissive technique meant to silence me because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a whole lot easier to ignore me than have to hear about the problems that come from this system or from adoptive parents. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier for Parker to dismiss those children (at least at first) than have to cope with the idea that she may have put them in the same system that messed her up.<\/p>\n

There is a romantic angle, briefly so, in this story, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that Hardison\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comment about enjoying how Parker turned out was not the focus of this story. In the end, Parker made a difficult, foolish choice to try to save those children all by herself. It was reckless and silly, and she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. She couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t abandon them; she probably wished she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not been abandoned herself. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a projection, sure, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a powerful one. Notice how she grimaces when Nate says they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dropping the children off with the World Health Organization. Even when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s helped change these children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives for the better, she still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite trust the system at all. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thankful that the show doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0make<\/i> her. Unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve dealt with adoption or foster care, you have no idea what that can do to a person. Parker does, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important part of the puzzle of her characterization.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Stork Job\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!<\/a>
\n– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features will be\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, seasons 2 – 4, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>.<\/b>
\n– The 2015 Mark Does Stuff tour is being announced!!! Check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"