spellbinding storytelling: a different kind of fairytale

my last two spellbinding storytelling posts were largely complaint based, so today we're mixing it up and talking about something i love: the television show leverage. specifically, i want to talk about alex hardison and parker, two of the main characters. known to the fandom as either 'pardison' or 'pretzels', hardison and parker have what i think is the best written romance on television. and trust me, that's saying something, because i honestly and truly live for romance. i'm a sucker and a softie.

the crux of parker and hardison's relationship is the way the show handles parker. parker is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. she's the world's greatest thief, discovered as a foster kid by an older art thief who trained her to be his protege and pseudo daughter. she was in the foster system for unknown reasons. we see her blow up a house after being mistreated by a man, but there's no indication as to whether this was her birth family or a foster family. parker is, to say the least, damaged. she takes things very literally, she does not trust easily, and she has a drastically different understanding of the world than most people. in some ways, she can be childish. her favorite foods are all sweet and sugary, and among her scant personal possessions is a stuffed rabbit from her childhood.

hardison is also a foster kid, but he got a little bit luckier. taken in by a woman he calls nana, he grow up with siblings and a stable home, and loves his family. we never meet his nana, but he speaks of her often, and it's obvious they're close. hardison is a hacker, and it's implied he got into the business partially for his nana's benefit, stealing money from the bank of iceland to pay off her medical bills.

we learn about hardison and parker's pasts in season 1, episode 6, the stork job. the team travels to serbia to track down a woman running an orphanage scam to help a couple get the child they were meant to adopt back. parker behaves erratically for the entire job, at one point stabbing a mark with a fork and jumping out a window to run away. this leads nate, the team's leader, to tell hardison to keep an eye on parker. even in the early episodes of the first season, there's a bond and trust between parker and hardison that parker doesn't share with the rest of the team, while on a routine surveillance mission, parker uncovers a less than pleasant secret. dozens of orphan children are being held prisoner, and essentially used as a cover for a weapons smuggling operation. parker flips out, unsure what to do about this, and opens up to hardison about her past, leading him to open up in turn and try to comfort her. parker worries about the kids, saying they'll end up like her. hardison responds by telling her he likes how she turned out.

this is the central point of their relationship. hardison genuinely likes parker, exactly the way she is. he is open about this, but never overwhelming or creepy. he's friendly, and at times flirtatious, and attentive to the ways parker reacts to them. from her end, hardison is parker's go to partner. if she needs to fake a romance to get out of a situation, or depend on another teammate in a high pressure situation, hardison is always her first choice.

at the end of the first season, the team scatters, all going to undisclosed locations. hardison asks parker where she's going, and while she doesn't tell him, she does say she'll see how hard he looks. then, when they all reunite for season 2, hardison mentions searching for her, and parker gives a line that clearly indicates her awareness of the situation, including hardison's feelings and intentions. she tells him that people are like locks, and that sometimes you have to be slow, and patient, and fiddly in order to get through to them, this sets the trajectory for their friendship and romantic relationship the rest of the show.

the first actual conversation they have comes in season three, in an episode called the double blind job. hardison finds the team a client, a young woman whose sister died because of a drug company's malpractice. parker is clearly uncomfortable with her, and in particular how close the woman becomes to hardison, even awkwardly calling him by his first name, something that will only ever happen one other time in all the show's five seasons. at the end of the episode, parker is watching hardison say goodbye to the young woman, and her jealousy leads her to break a beer bottle with her bare hands. sophie, another team member, advises parker to talk to hardison. after hardison sits down, parker stumbles awkwardly through an attempted confession, but panics at the last minute, telling hardison she's been having feelings for 'pretzels', instead of telling him she was jealous of his potential relationship with the young woman.

what makes their relationship so amazing to me is that hardison understands this immediately. he doesn't push or needle, trying to get her to admit it. his reply is simple. he tells her that 'pretzels' will be right there, if and when she decides she wants them. he tells her, in her own language, in words she will understand, that he will wait. that he knows this is difficult and complicated for her, and he's going to let her call the shots and set the pacing. their entire relationship is written this way. he makes sure she knows he's there, but also that she knows she's in control. if she gives him the green light, he'll be there, but he'll gladly sit on red or yellow as long as she needs.

as the show progresses, all their relationship milestones are instigated by parker. the official beginning of their relationship, their hugs, their real, non-staged for cover kisses. it's the most tender and careful representation of how to love a trauma victim i can think of.

two particular exchanges between them stand out in my mind, both in the show's penultimate fourth season. in 'the grave danger job', hardison is buried alive. parker is put in charge of talking him down and keeping him calm. this episode is the closest we get to a dramatic confession scene, and it's not about romance. when hardison is at his worst, on the verge of panic taking the last of his oxygen, parker calls him by his first name. she tells him she needs him. she calls him her friend. this is the first and only time we hear her say something this open and raw and honest. it's the only time we hear her say she needs another human being. this is related to the other scene from season 4 i want to discuss.

in 'the queen's gambit job', parker has to wear a pair of weighted boots to trick a security system. hardison is trying to teach her to walk in them using a ddr mat, and parker freaks out. the weight of the shoes make it almost impossible for her to run away, and she's clearly worried for her safety. we know from other episodes that she's been abandoned on jobs before by people she thought she could trust, and it's also obvious she trusts the team, and hardison in particular, more than anyone else she's ever known. she shows her fear, and hardison doesn't hesitate to reassure her that the team is here for her, she's not alone, and specifically that he is here for her. he hums a tune, using dance moves and a reference to an earlier job to help her find her footing. then during the actual break in, parker asks hardison to hum for her, over the coms, to help her through. it's one of only a handful of times she reaches out and explicitly asks for help. and hardison does it, right away, without hesitation.

it's the best romance build up i've ever seen, because it's about two people who care, but are very different and very damaged, doing their best to learn how the other communicates. there are bumps in the road, places where they say or do the wrong thing, but their intentions are always to love and understand the other. their relationship begins and ends with their trust, and their friendship. and we, the viewers, see them build this trust, and then support it again and again. even their fights are never about a lack of trust, their faith is never shaken.

there are times when i'm rewatching those episodes where i can feel my heart swell with joy because it's just so soft, and true, and careful. while i wasn't a foster kid, i've had my own share of issues, and been blessed enough to find friends and family and a romantic partner who are unfailingly patient and willing to learn my language. seeing that shown so lovingly on a tv show is overwhelmingly wonderful. it's a story that's been told a lot, sure, damaged girl and the boy who fixes her, but that's not really what's happening.

parker and hardison are both damaged, and no one is fixing anybody. it's a story of people, at two different points in their recovery, learning how to love each other. parker doesn't always know how to be close to people, but she's trying. hardison is closer to being 'normal' than parker his, but he is always patient, without ever being condescending. it's good to know stories like this are out here. it's good to know people still want to tell these stories.