lizzyp

I will be surprised if there is a season five too. And I'm not nearly as upset about it as I thought I'd be. I still watch Leverage reruns all the time, but this would not be must own DVD's for me. I feel like this was a missed opportunity. I really hope Devlin reevaluates his continuing relationship with TNT though.

I think that was the Shakespeare episode, wasn't it? That was the first and only episode my mom watched and her comment was 'what a shame there wasn't more for the rest of those actors to do!' And I think that may be what hasn't been working for me. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but the way Flynn pops in and sucks up all the screen time, then drops out for half the season is making it really hard for me to find a rhythm. And it's all about me, right? Another dead horse, and I'm sorry about this one too, but one of the best things about Leverage was that the team was almost like a character all its own. Each episode had a dash of each character and the stew they blended to make. I knew that even if I wasn't seeing a character they were still a part of the action. When Flynn comes roaring into the Library Jones, Cassandra and Stone are relegated to set dressing. They might get about 5 minutes screen time, all of them together because they are a team, but that's it. And I know that's part of Flynn's character, not knowing how to work with a team or be part of a team, but I needed that story to be shown differently because I ended up loathing Flynn. Then I felt justified in hating him when he disappeared without even saying goodbye to Eve. I still enjoy the show, but I'm a little disappointed. There were so many elements that I was really looking forward to (I loved the movies, I loved Leverage, I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark, I'm a trivia nerd, my mom was a librarian, John Larroquette! Stunning set,,,) but it didn't come together that way, so I enjoy it like a sit com now.

I really enjoyed the snippets of architectural history/ safe cracking how to's. It reminds me of why the Library chose these people and it got me realizing how much I've missed the focus being on their individual competencies. Now it's more of a throw away, but one of the things that really sold me on the series was in the premier when Jake and Flynn were geeking out over the painting. How awestruck Jake was when he said 'it's the Roman hypothesis!' Somewhere along the way they took a detour at slapstick, which is entertaining, but I love the geeky history stuff and Ezekiel's thief knowledge. I think Rogers used to call it 'competence porn.' I'm in a strange place where I still enjoy the show but not for the reasons I did in the beginning.

I don't hate that it was a Cassandra centric episode, I hate that it wasn't a team episode. I resent the Flynn centric episodes because there isn't enough of everybody else, so I guess my favorite episodes are the ones where everybody is interacting and each character contributes. Last week they went to team building camp and I'd have enjoyed an episode that built on that. Show them struggling to use some of the the things from the camp.

It does start to feel a little like they're setting up some kind of "Junior LIT" group.

I'm feeling a difference in the show this season- less concern with 'canon.'

That bothered me a lot. The whole first season set him up as a happy go lucky, no-conscience thief. He was immune to the Apple of Discord because he was already the worst version of himself. Had they chosen to have him develop into a caring, generous soul over the course of the show that would be one thing, but don't tell me in season 4 that what you told me in season 1 was wrong or that it didn't happen. That's an insult to long time watchers.

The family friendly aspect is one of the things I love most about it. I can watch the show with my 10 year old, who LOVES magical things and mythology. I can sneak in some history on her- like those cookbooks that teach you how to sneak veggies into your kids diet only more fun.

I could never decide for sure what I thought was the most offensive part about Leverage being cancelled. After the premier it seemed to get a little bit of step child treatment, and there was at least one season that was so poorly promoted that I almost missed the season opener, which I always thought was a bit of self fulfilling prophecy chicken/egg stuff. We're not promoting because it's got low ratings because we're not promoting because it's got low ratings. That annoyed me a great deal because it really was a well crafted show. But the fact TNT dropped it while keeping the Dallas reboot turned me away from TNT until this popped up. I didn't mind Rizzoli and Isles, but it seemed like it went a season or two past it's prime. Falling Skies got a huge huge amount of promo, and I tried to watch it but I pretty much hated it.

I think the schedule change makes me nervous because of how they moved Leverage around so much, then didn't do much to advertise the change. I'm having flashbacks. So I wouldn't be surprised to hear that TNT is 'slow to announce' a Season 5. But The Last Ship seems to have short seasons as well, so maybe I'm reading too much into things. I hope so, anyways. I sort of love my goofy little heist shows and when they married one to Raiders of the Lost Ark Lite I was hooked. But losing John Larroquette and his goofy phones would hurt me deeply.

The move to Wednesday rang some alarm bells for me. As did the 2 shows per week schedule. And the small number of episodes each season. But Christian Kane tweeting something about not being sure TNT wants them on their network anymore....it's been fun, I guess. Devlin should probably NOT pitch his next project to them.

"Break into a high school? I could do that blindfolded!" Pause. "Yeah, let's do that!"

...and no longer available on Netflix.

Ayana's look was just too much for me. When the sleeve came off right before the runway I was hoping she'd just take the other sleeve off too because I thought the edit worked. Same with Michael and Margarita's. When Michael had the bungee cords on the dress form I thought it would look cool over something lighter in color that really let the blue pop. Instead he layered it over a dark, tacky looking dress that cheapened the whole thing. Margarita's strap, which looked fantastic on the dress form, ended up being mostly covered when it could have been the showstopper part of the dress. Instead she just kept adding more and lost the vision I liked. I'm not sure I get the Brandon love, except that his designs always seem to be very well constructed.

What I wondered about was that her design didn't seem all that great in the first place- her screwing up the cutting and having to switch to the hot pink fabric didn't force her to change the design itself, did it? I know most of the designers ended up making rather boring outfits - mostly all things that we've seen before, but if hers was meant to be something else that was more exciting I missed it. Something like this would have fit well with Ashley's Havana nights collection. The thing I ended up liking most about that collection was the flower hats.

ohh- this reminds me of how much I loved the first season of Top Chef Masters. Remember when they had to cook something in a dorm room and Hubert Keller was rinsing pasta in the shower? Particularly that first season, the masters all seemed to embrace the challenges of the week because they know their stuff. I know the contestants on this show aren't masters and are trying to get their break, but some of them seem to roll with the crazy while others freak out over every little twist. I'm more interested in seeing how they solve the problem than the drama of the problem itself. I guess I'm saying I have a thing for competence porn?

Claire's is totally different, though, because her stripes were on the diagonal. Kidding. Wasn't there something just recently where I joked about someone's excuse being a super lame attempt to convince the world of something that was pretty obvious to to all the rest of us? Like Vanilla Ice explaining that he hadn't ripped off Queen. With regard to body types hindering creativity, I tend to think that varying body types would require designers to be more creative. That's why they hate it.

I loved the adoring look on his face when they were watching her on stage. Everyone else looked horrified but Nate appeared awestruck.

Speaking of Liris being a size 14 or whatever- can I go slightly off topic and bring up H & M? They are truly the most size-ist store I've ever shopped. I once sent their customer service department an email asking why they stock so few items in anything over a 10. This was after visiting 2 stores in one day. I was looking for a blazer in a 14 and couldn't find the one I liked in an size above 6. I noticed that about 70% of the items on their clearance racks are XS and S, so I pointed out that if the average woman in America wears a 14, why wouldn't they supply to meet that demand. Their response was that they stock all sizes and then restock what sells. Huh? If they stocked larger sizes and the larger sizes sell, wouldn't that mean they would restock the larger sizes? But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went back to the store. I found a sales clerk and asked her about L or 14 items. She said they rarely get them and when they do they sell immediately. Then I went through the entire store and counted EVERY blazer in a 14. I found 4, all the same ugly style. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining, H & M. They started their Plus size line not long afterwards, and I looked. I normally wear a 14-16 in pants and had to size up to a 22 for a pair of very basic khaki pants priced at $39.99. I left there and walked down the mall to The Gap, where I found a perfect pair of khakis in a 16 on the clearance rack for $9.00 To pull it back to the topic just a little, sizing is inconsistent and cyclically runs from 'vanity sizing' to 'body shaming.' And the retailers can't win, because they get criticized for one or the other. I think accepting and loving yourself is great, but they sure do make it hard sometimes. I have always appreciated that Tim Gunn recognizes that, from a purely business standpoint, this is a highly underserved market. And I don't care what size Liris is, she really knows how to walk that runway.

I would have expected this thread to be owned by Mr Michael Kors, but am delighted by all the wonderful moments that stand out for everyone! As the saying goes, thanks for the memories,you guys!

Part of the problem, for me, with Samantha's looks that were compared unfavorably to her own outfit was that the fabric and colors were not as vibrant and interesting. Much of her detail work was just too hard to see because everything was so dark and heavily layered while her own dresses for those runway critiques were silver and gold and luxe looking. Sometimes it is just the fabric choice that dooms a design, not the design itself or the execution. I really loved her pajama look and would have bought it for myself. Wandering Snark, I have noticed that the twins really seem to do basically the same thing over and over. Shorts/ short pants and a crop top.

Straps and harnesses seem to be this season's version of 'slap a big ugly zipper on it' from a few years ago. Hopefully they'll all get it out of their systems and stop wasting precious work time adding them.

Thank you sleepyjean. I guess Claire thinks that adding the peplum makes it TOTALLY different? Reminds me of the Behind the Music when Vanilla Ice tried to convince everyone that the hook from Ice Ice baby wasn't a direct rip off of Under Pressure. 'No see, mine has a peplum!'

I guess I'm not looking in the right place- is there any way you could link to the IG post?

The recent Nationwide commercial with Brad Paisley and a Manning brother is giving me all sorts of Leverage feels. First, the obvious similarity to Hardison's criticism of Eliot's performance in the Studio Job. If Manning said "Pitchy" in that commercial I would plotz. And then there is the creepy similarity between Manning and the boss from the greeting card company. Leverage casting was even more brilliant than I knew.