accessory of the day is this rare glimpse of earrings <3
delighted to inform you all that the fake identity hardison sets up for eliot in the hot potato job (and then has to hurriedly adapt for sophie) lists him as six feet, two to three inches taller than his actual height. I can only assume that this is part of a longer pattern of teasing eliot about his height and seeing how much variation he can get away with.
#if I'm choosing to have fun with it at least <3#the boring answer is that hardison varies it a little to keep the identities from being too similar#or that the writers flat out write eliot as taller than the actor#but now I'm picturing the grumpy looks eliot would give hardison about this and it's giving me a nice warm glow‚ so.#the hot potato job#orig
you know, I remembered parker as just being uninterested and distracted in the hot potato job ("so, the diamond is in the potato?" "park- there is no diamond. verd agra. super tuber. haven't you been listening?") but actually I think she was led astray by the second conversation of hints and odd emphasis that sophie and nate were having during that briefing to make sure none of the team noticed sophie's bra in plain sight.
sure, hardison told her that the place wasn't bugged when she mimed the question, but if it were, she might have to figure it out through hints and doublespeak anyway, right? hints like "so, this super tuber's worth more than, say, diamonds."
when I say "and who amongst us hasn't been in that situation" please know that I am, at best, only half joking.
#orig#the hot potato job#parker#autistic icon for real#like yes she's also cheerfully uninterested in the reasons for this con but I owe her an apology for assuming that was all#and bless them but nate and sophie were NOT subtle#I'm going to have to hold the question in my head of whether eliot pinged that nate and sophie are an item or not#parker might notice the bra and not register the significance but venerable slut (affectionate) eliot spencer should be another matter
I got through it, folks
for your appreciation <3
#red widow trainwreck#orig#I took screenshots of other characters too but luther or felicity or- god forbid- alexandra would take So much explanation#and would not really be worth getting ppl invested in the source material#and this is not-moreau being cute and scary and vulnerable etc#which is what I was there for in the first place#yes he's actively dripping in the sweatshirt one. it's gross. yes that's his dad who he loves and worries about in the bed. he's okay!#nicholae <3 my worst blorbo actually and that's saying something
if anyone needs a little softness post-werefic please know that:
1) wolfeliot starts out kind of prickly and dignified around the team. spending any time with them in wolf form just hanging out pretending to nap is a vulnerability and a mark of progress; accepting physical affection or accessories takes longer.
the first time, parker doesn't exactly ask. she plonks herself down beside him, doggie bandana in hand, and sophie's going "parker I don't think- that might not be-" and eliot's grumbling a little growl under his breath but, ultimately, not doing a single thing to stop her.
he looks very handsome.
2) so werequinn is incredibly tempting for so many reasons right? it feels wrong to me personally to give just one of them this to deal with, animal hangouts would be peak cuteness, @darkfinch has very much sold me on the benefits and contributed at least half of the details-
and there are, in fact, backstory possibilities that make up for the fact that this is meant to be a Rare Curse and Difficult To Handle.
but for cuteness' sake let me just say that werequinn is a very dumb big cat who he insists on treating as a seperate creature with his own shit going on. he enjoys long walks on the beach long nighttime adventures with his best buddy, biting people as a sign of affection, biting people as a sign of malice, and making a nuisance of himself when eliot's cooking.
and he answers only to Mr Paws.
#orig#werewolf eliot au#quinn#no progress on feeling out a sequel but it felt off-brand for me to drop an angst ficlet with no followup so#eliot as a wolf takes a WHILE to relax enough to allow it but absolutely ends up with clients' kids climbing over him#while he pretends to look grumpy about it#absolutely refuses the comfy dogbed hardison finds for him so hardison has to get a nice comfy rug as decor instead#wolf eliot is so very dear and near to my heart. just know that.#EDITED TO FIX STRIKETHROUGH. why does that just sometimes not work
The thing about werewolves is that they're doomed to fail. It's a curse, see. An ugly one. If you want to disrupt an organisation, if you want to cause mass panic, and most importantly if you have the funds and the connections, you contact a guy who knows a guy who knows a warlock who can hook you up with what you need. In the early oughts, when Eliot's working his way steadily up the rungs of Moreau's organisation, someone slips a bomb into their ranks. He wakes up in a cell.
a hurt no comfort Moreau-era werewolf Eliot situation, featuring dog metaphors and cannibalism vibes, and barely an AU. enjoy.
(1.5k)
a thought that's brought me great joy the past few days: eliot getting teased in the group text by means of videos of wolves being extremely soppy
one upside of this whole thing is I just told a mutual "do you think moreau's heart broke a bit when eliot broke too much to be able to work for him anymore"
I think I'm going slightly mad trying to analyse red widow as good media. I could write up a whole thoughtful post about how moreau and schiller are similar characters seen with very different framings because red widow glosses over the gritty reality of the world the protagonist is born into and gets dragged into after her husband's death, and it would have some merit, OR I could just accept that red widow is just very bad and best watched with one's brain entirely disengaged until a nicholae scene pings as interesting.
(which some of them really are. genuinely, nicholae and moreau make the same "there are assets and liabilities" and "please be an asset" points. nicholae gives a lovely little villain speech about money and trust being the only things that matter in business. his casual murder of a poor sod that I and the protagonist had actually come to like, shrugging it off with "there are many [name]s" like that's some consolation, was delicious. the torture joke he made while someone was trapped in an elevator with him, reminding them that they probably shouldn't be wasting his time, made me clap with joy - and the way the actor can differentiate between genuine warmth and the kind of smile that is 100% a predator's warning with, as far as I can tell, only his eyes, is just so good.)
(I just need to avoid falling into the trap of treating the whole thing, or even just nicholae's character as a whole, as something that stands up to good analysis. no matter how much the creators' love for the story shows in some of it. and no matter how much a talented actor clearly thrived in the role.)
(folks I'm going through the five stages of grief about this fuckin show.)
#the blessing and curse of bad media#I'm enjoying this a lot but I'm honestly not sure how to Stick with a fandom for something I can't bear to rewatch#nicholae will always have a place in my heart though. the bastard.#edit if anyone is really very curious I do in fact have his scenes in clip form now <3#red widow trainwreck#red widow critical#orig
banner change, for posterity:
sticking to the theme and switching from one messed up guy in desperate need of a nap to another 👍
#you're actually getting a higher def version of the martin still because I wish only good things for you#martin is running on sleep deprivation and fumes whereas nicholae is just so so tired and missing his competent second-in-command very much#the new one might not be long term but i'm enjoying it for now#orig
listen. the damien moreau vibes are very fun, nicholae schiller is very cute, but I want to talk about how much he cares about his father.
how laszlo schiller will turn the television back on to keep watching sports while nicholae's taking an important call and nicholae just gives him a look about it that speaks of exasperation and nothing more. how nicholae takes advice from his father, with a grain of salt, yes, but internalises it all the same, which I didn't really see until darkfinch pointed it out. how we don't see any true cruelty or resentment in this relationship at all, which compared with the absolutely toxic petrov patriarch situation is kind of stunning all by itself.
#red widow#red widow tv series#nicholae schiller#laszlo schiller#orig#that feeling when you check a character tag and realise no-one's posted in it yet. why do I do this to myself#this is an assessment of the relationship skewed towards nicholae I think and there are disability-adjacent bits I haven't really dug into#but I think can maybe fall under the umbrella of#''when you're a crime boss and your dad lives with you and you take care of him and he has opinions on your business#there's Gonna be friction.''#I'm going to go look at photos of goran being cute now send help this show can fit so much in it. just. so much. muchness.#red widow trainwreck
wolves-in-the-world reblogged
I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that I watched the entirety of red widow in one day, quickly started rooting for the goran višnjić crime boss character more than anyone else, and collected far too many screenshots and gifsets about it.
…ah.
damien moreau is terrible because we see him from leverage's and especially eliot's point of view, we're shown several different ways he's almost comically villainous, and the first time we see him he almost drowns a character we know and love.
nicholae schiller is a fucking delight because we see him drinking tiny cups of coffee and lurking in elevators and boxing for fun and genuinely laughing, and the bad stuff he does is kind of at a remove. he really cares about his dad. he spends an inordinate amount of time just trying to locate his stolen property. he lets the protagonist get away with a lot more than he ought to.
it's really NOT a good show. many of the writing choices are frustrating, some of the really key characters are kinda flat and some are just awful to watch, the most obvious ship is tainted to my mind by my deep desire for one of them to actually be sensible and consistent, and all of this is from someone who cheerfully played stardew valley through the non-nicholae bits, which is to say most of it. but if you're watching it for bonus moreau vibes and goran višnjić being very cute, you're in for a treat.
fair warning for...
- crime
- violence
- drug use
- overuse of the word "housewife" and general misogyny
- children who see some shit and a teenager who goes through some shit
- a brief and tasteless reference to prison rape
- brief anti-Romani sentiment from shitty characters
- brief references to the Holocaust
- nicholae being the most interesting character present, honest to goodness, I expected to love him but did not expect to want him to win, he has such a place in my heart now and I just have to reckon with that. he NEEDS to get a higher desk.
my thanks to @darkfinch for recommending and enabling, I am not the same person I was yesterday 👍
#now if you'll excuse me I've gotta go sort through these gifsets for queueing <3#orig#red widow#goran visnjic#goran višnjić#there is a youtube playlist of all the nicholae scenes but it's distressingly low quality#and I haven't even mentioned my friend luther who is guard dog coded and very sweet </3#normal media experiences happening here!! I'm gonna rewatch and make a note of the nikolae timestamps for future time-saving purposes.#red widow trainwreck
Anonymous asked:
do you ever think about how/why despite all the times he gets grappled or thrown or jumped from the back I don't think anyone ever grabs Eliot by his ponytail. which seems so spectacularly grabbable. the answer is probably that it would harsh the untouchable coolguy vibe that the writers want for him so bad but what a missed bit of choreography
friend I absolutely cackled at "spectacularly grabbable" but this is very much not your fault or something I'm dwelling on <3
you're RIGHT though! damn, that could've been fun to see. I definitely see it as a doylistic choice too, but it would be so so good to see him taking someone down with extreme prejudice because they thought they could win that way - not even sure how he'd handle it, either.
(also because I'm me I'm choosing to think quinn resorts to this experimentally while sparring and eliot gives him THE most betrayed aggravated look you've ever seen.)
#orig#eliot#punchy lads#I have a normal amount of thoughts about fictional characters' hair#I actually reread bits of my unshareable longfic recently - started before this blog‚ even - and it's funny to realise#that I wrote quinn as a dirty fighter then too. even while sparring.#I feel like he and parker would have similar approaches and would be best sicced on each other tbh
"Listen, next time I steal you a train, get on it."
"Look, man, you're not gonna rain on my parade today, Nate. I made a bomb. Out of a menthol light."
I'm kinda re-evaluating my opinion on the san lorenzo job this watch through. I've seen people point out before that it's a lighthearted and rather easy job after the high stakes of the previous episode, with no real catharsis for eliot on the moreau front. and I've generally agreed with that assessment. this time, though - well, for one thing, me and my limited angst tolerance are very glad for the respite.
and the impression eliot gives is almost that he has had his catharsis, or knows he's getting it now. whether it was by letting nate hold him back and trusting in nate and the team to take moreau down - letting himself fall back into the role of just working with them to keep them safe, not trying to work alone like he did under moreau, like moreau cornered him into doing in the warehouse - or... well.
the other theory is messy, is the thing. it's morally grey at best and not the healthiest option. but eliot got to walk out into a warehouse of monsters just like the one he used to be and put an end to them. he picked up a gun one last time to use it on people who were even worse than him.
it's not that I want to glamourise that. it's not that I think those murders don't count to him, though perhaps, yes, they could count less than the others at his hands, if he lets himself think of them as a little less than human even after the fact. it's too messy for me to be sure of that. but I think there could be something very cathartic, to the part of him that thinks he's monstrous, that he's damned, to be able to externalise those feelings for once, when they must have been weighing down on him harder than they had done for years.
it's fucked up, as catharsis goes. but I don't go to fiction for the best moral examples these days, so I find myself glad, all the same, that he had it.
#the san lorenzo job#the big bang job#eliot#leverage angst#orig#putting my head in my hands about it honestly#like there are absolutely other problems to be had with this episode for sure#but this is the one I expected to be reminded of and ended up surprising myself instead#the day I started getting overinvested in fictional career killers was the day I started developing a better relationship with fiction tbh
the thing about eliot spencer as a character, right. the thing about him.
(and as always your mileage may vary on my analyses so if we disagree that's cool actually)
is that he is in fact a somewhat emotionally constipated idiot who is occasionally sensitive about his perceived masculinity and gets defensive about emotional intimacy around other men (largely hardison, who's much more comfortable expressing affection and embracing a softer kind of masculinity), but eliot displays enough emotional awareness and sensitivity and respect for women etc etc that anyone who's been subjected to that era of television will put on rose-tinted glasses without even looking twice.
(and he is, don't get me wrong, incredibly emotionally aware for a professionally punchy guy with enough trauma to sink the titanic. it still startles me to see.)
on top of which we have the layers and the accessories and the excellent hair with the secret braids and the way he barely has an ego and he's good with kids and protective of his team without taking it too far, and some of us never stood a fucking chance.
#eliot#eliot spencer#orig#further discussion in further tags#I'm being perhaps a little critical and there are other ways to read eg the fragile masculinity moments#but I Do think they were intended this way and largely come across this way#I'm quite happy playing with a fanon eliot who's better at this shit is the thing? it feels faithful enough to the original.#but this is something I'm chewing over in a rewatch and it's interesting so far#the fact that he pretty consistently respects women doesn't stop him from treating men and women differently y'know?#the fact that his bantering with hardison expresses affection and gets quite soft over time#doesn't stop him from pushing hardison away on a semi-regular basis. often physically.#the fact that the fandom unanimously decided he's an utter gentleman in matters of dating#doesn't quite negate the time he physically stopped aimee from getting away when he wanted to talk to her#though that's one I might disregard because it's so early and I think they hadn't quite figured out the characters then#and it was admittedly a brief moment followed by very consensual happenings#perhaps. honestly. eliot may be reflecting the attitudes of the show here.#which were very progressive for the time and are still startling on several fronts now but also showing definite signs of age#arguably fanon eliot (as I understand him) is eliot adjusted for inflation. as it were.#there's a lot going on here I'm having a normal amount of thoughts about it I'm. stopping now
accessory of the day is this decorative dogtag pendant from the runway job that somehow hints both at a target and at crosshairs, an objectively sensible choice for the fashion-conscious hitter.