Care to overanalyze that scene where Eliot goes to visit his dad but didn't get an answer? I think it was season 5, and that scene... it just hit me in the feels so bad. I think it was the only time in the series he ever cried.
The one where everything hurts? Absolutely
And yes, season 5, the Low Low Price job!
And it is indeed the only time we see him cry (he does get red-eyed in the Big Bang Job, but not quite as much).
So, first thingâs first - Iâm glad they went the way they did. Iâm...okay not glad he didnât get to see his dad. But I am glad that the show went with that option, if that makes sense?
Like, it sounds mean, I get that. A happy ending where he sees his dad and they mend their relationship wouldâve been great.
But goddamn, no other show does character consistency like Leverage.
And Eliot showing up out of nowhere and mending things with his dad? Just...doesnât fit. Itâs a nice warm and fuzzy - but it doesnât fit. Eliot, for all intents and purposes, walked out on his family. Walked out on his fiance (âpromise ringâ bull, Aimee thought she was getting married. And she doesnât strike me as a woman prone to exaggeration).
He walked out. Now Iâm not saying what he did is unforgivable, or any shit like that. He was 18 (at least, maybe up to 21, we never get a good date, but itâs heavily implied that he left really young and as soon as he could). He was a kid. And kids fuck up.
But - by his own admission - the kid that walked out? He died.
The Eliot that walks up on that porch is not the Eliot that left. And thatâs important. Thereâs a really big difference in the grown-up kid that walked out coming home again, and a stranger trying to take his place.
And I think thatâs why this is when we see him react like he does.
Itâs him realizing exactly whatâs been lost. Because it doesnât matter what you build out of the ruins. It doesnât matter what you craft yourself into. If youâre happy, in a better place, or at least, in a place where you can be happy again. Where you started is always going to be important, and realizing that itâs just...gone? Hurts.
But I think itâs something Eliot - this Eliot, our Eliot - ...not âneededâ, but something that was necessary. Especially after he gave that speech to Nate in the Last Dam Job. This is Eliot dealing with the fallout of that exact speech, in a slightly different context.
This is Eliot realizing that something vital broke, years ago, and it canât be fixed. Something that is entirely essential to Eliotâs character as a whole. The entire Moreau arc? Was the idea that, even if you canât make up for what youâve done, you can move forward.
On a hopeful note - I donât think Eliot wouldâve been able to completely and totally commit to Leverage International without something like this happening. Without something that swept the rug out from under his feet and made him actually look at himself, and where he is, and where heâs going.
