#ranging from old cowboy films to like... uncle iroh

[vickyvicarious]

OMG your tags on that Eliot/Experimental Job gifset!!!! And especially "eliot just becomes that abyss staring back" because wow a) what an amazing phrasing and b) the general tone of incredibly sad but beautiful reading of the scene/character/background. Such an amazing scene and phenomenal acting and writing.

(the post and little tag meta in question.)

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Ahaha, thank you! It really struck me - that scene has always gotten to me. Not only is Eliot’s part in that whole episode showcasing a part of him we rarely see so clearly, but that particular scene involves him weaponizing it. He so often is assured in his skills, enjoys being underestimated and then showing off and freaking people out with his competency, but it’s almost always softer than here. It’s nonlethal, it’s him using his skill to take his opponents down but not permanently. He generally has fun fighting, you can see it on his face. Only when things get serious does he get like this - not to say he doesn’t take his opponents seriously usually, but the level of intensity and lethality he displays is totally different.

One of the earliest scenes where you see him not messing around in this way is when he just grabs that gun the thug has tucked in his belt in The Miracle Job. It’s not nearly as intense, and honestly just comes off hilarious in the scene, but it also stands out to me as an early moment where he just moves forward and very deliberately shuts his opposition down by exposing the vast difference between their perceived toughness and someone who is actually deadly. You stick your gun in your pants to show off you have a gun? That’s not scary. What’s scary is the man you were trying to threaten stepping right up into your space and holding the trigger ready to fire directly into your junk.

This is that same kind of psych-out, except with far more rage behind it, and no physical threat whatsoever. Nothing directly stated or even too openly implied. But Eliot (who is literally resisting torture before and after this conversation) says just enough, lets his voice and gaze and complete calm say the rest. This man is completely out of his league in trying to get into Eliot’s head, and Eliot shows him that.

I love it. It’s really badass, really scary like I said, and honestly, yeah. Very sad. Because in order to do that sort of thing, you have to be genuinely deadly. You have to be the kind of person who has done those sorts of things. Not just fighting, but deliberate murder. Not just once, but enough that hesitation is a choice rather than an instinct. Eliot can, has, and if the situation required potentially would again be able to calmly kill someone. And that’s one of the other scariest parts of his little speech: he mentions names, who begged, who didn’t, he mentions “what food was on their breath” and that’s the one that floors me. That means he was up close and personal with them. Not just physically - to remember something like that, something so specific, means there is no mental distancing whatsoever. It’s no sniping from a distance, or pressing a button to set off a bomb, and not really processing that you just killed a person. Eliot was there every time, he did that and he knows it and will never forget. He regrets what he’s done so much, but he doesn’t waste time just wallowing in guilt any more than he blames anyone else: the fact is that he killed those people. It’s done. And his acceptance of that, combined with his certainty that he’s already brought upon himself the worst sort of torture by doing so, allows him to have these moments. 

He knows what he’s done, knows he can do it again. He doesn’t want to, but Eliot already knows how to live with himself after the fact. And when he shows that in this scene, it is such a powerful moment. I do stand by “abyss staring back” because honestly, when you watch that guy’s face - look at how smug he still is in the third gif. Then when Eliot starts talking in the fourth, his eyes are caught. He is pulled in, staring, gets so still and so unnerved. He can’t look away until Eliot finishes and the moment is broken, and at that point he is shaken. Trying not to show it but he can’t even fully meet Eliot’s eyes.

I really, really do love that scene so much. Like you said: great idea, fantastic execution.

#leverage #eliot spencer #leverage meta #angelrtsy95 #replies #my meta #thanks for giving me even more reason to babble about this scene #this is a trope i tend to love: the soldier who has done horrible things and is now dedicated to peace #ranging from old cowboy films to like... uncle iroh #but eliot is such an excellent case of it because he's not really retired #he just chose to use his skills - the same ones that did all that horrible stuff - for something better #and he did so early and he never stopped. his dedication to peace isn't just settling down on a ranch somewhere and never fighting again #it's actively doing good in the world #idk i love it