@leverage-ot3 / leverage-ot3.tumblr.com
we all agree the tap out job was really extra right. like its one of my favorites but the rest of the leverage crew couldn't handle the idea of eliot throwing a fight so hard that they planted six thousand dollars worth of guns and ammunition and a saxophone on a guy and also tricked him into thinking he'd witnessed a murder
The Tap-Out Job is such a good episode. We get Eliot background/development, Eliot and Sophie bonding, the early seeds of Sophie's arc this season (when she taps out of this round, if you will).
A few things that stood out this time around:
--How protective Nate is not just of Sophie, but also Eliot during the scene where they find out they're blown. When Sophie gets cornered, Nate beats Eliot through the door. When Tank challenges Eliot to a fight, Nate crosses in front of Eliot to push Tank back. He physically engages a trained fighter twice his size because even though he knows Eliot would win that fight, he doesn't have to.
--They do that team-standing-in-a-circle overhead shot like they do every time they split up but this time it's because Eliot is gonna go his own way. Except that after a pause the rest of them follow him. Good stuff.
--Eliot and Sophie and the idea of control.
Thinking about the extremely slutty way Eliot drank the fake drugged water in The Tap-Out Job. Why did he do it that way. Was that a directorial choice? A fan service moment? Did the ghost of Eliot Spencer take over Christian Kane’s body in that moment? Was he trying to throw his competitor off his rythm? Did he simply not realize how slutty it looked? Many thoughts. Head full.
I liked the way eliot played his character in the first part of the tap out job (lev 2x02). head down, shoulders curled in, his hair hiding his face. he seems softer. younger. smaller. just some guy, beaten down by a crass, obnoxious man, but who still has an air of innocence.
and yes it’s still an act. always an act. but also it’s not. because I think eliot is playing a part of himself. he’s peeling back his more typically stoic front and revealing a more vulnerable side. maybe one from when he was all of those things—soft, young, small. from before the world hit him back.
we see glimpses of it in his conversations with sophie. his passion for fighting as a sport. the heart at it’s core. his heart, when he taps on chest, and says he can take the punishment. because not everyone can.
and sophie’s come around since the beginning of the episode. she sees past the performative masculinity, the brutality. and sees the fights thru eliot’s eyes. she understands now. they are communicating on a level beyond words.
and it’s that moment. eliot practicing before his thrown fight, giving it his all and glowing with it. that we see the echoes of that softer, younger, smaller eliot he’s channeling for his character.
except he’s not soft, young, or small anymore. he’s solid, wiser, and tall up in the platformed ring. he understands all the levels of fighting now. the nuances of passion and pain. sport and hurt. it’s a center, of sorts. a ring to stand up in. inside.
and he lets sophie see. let’s her get a glimpse into that interior. shows her the capital T truth of himself. and it’s beautiful. because it’s serious and it’s vulnerable. but it’s also joy. sometimes it’s just a fight. like two kids on the playground. crunchy and messy and terrible. wonderful in the worst ways. like a bag pork rinds.
we all agree the tap out job was really extra right. like its one of my favorites but the rest of the leverage crew couldn't handle the idea of eliot throwing a fight so hard that they planted six thousand dollars worth of guns and ammunition and a saxophone on a guy and also tricked him into thinking he'd witnessed a murder
it’s the same photo twice
notable moments from The Tap Out Job
leverage 2.02
Jack: Somebody drugged his water. It's an old boxing trick. He couldn't defend himself, and... He's still in the hospital.
that’s fucked
- - - - -
can we just acknowledge for a moment that they didn’t make him overly ripped? how he didn’t have an eight pack or a six pack or anything like literally ANY OTHER show would do? how eliot is clearly portrayed as strong and easily the most dangerous person in any room but he doesn’t need to be super Built™ to do it? he’s strong just the way he is and he doesn’t need a super toned chest to do it. he has a healthy chest for his profession and no one, literally nobody questioned it.
because, every other show would do that. but not leverage. never leverage. because leverage loves to subvert and go against all stereotypes and expectations that all other shows fall for.
*super deep breath but then speaks real quietly in an inside voice because I love you and don’t wanna yell*
Reminder that this is actually what a person who can do what Eliot does the way he does it looks like! If you look at Hollywood’s idea of action heroes and bodybuilders who are both trying to achieve specific looks, you see super cut muscles and over defined lines. Sure maybe they can lift 200 pounds but not very effectively and not for long. If you look at weightlifters, or boxers when training, or even people who actual do demanding labor for a living? They look a lot like Eliot, allowing for natural variation in body type. This is why Hugh Jackman passed out during/right after filming Wolverine fight scenes. He was weight cutting (aka restricting water) as well as being on a restrictive diet to begin with, all for a look-not to be able to fight.
Fat protects your muscles and provides them energy, properly hydrated tissue is plump and full, and everyone stores excess protein/carbs (which is what “fat” usually is, extra you materials so your body can keep replenishing you as you wear out) slightly differently based on a host of things including genetic predisposition.
Chris Kane put on weight for this scene to be in the weight class to fight the other guy, an actual MMA fighter, but I highly doubt he did it without knowing he’d have to still be able to fight and move like he normally does. Remember, this is a tv show, not a movie. Chris has to be able to film scenes like normal and he did a majority of his own stunts, if not all (I’ve never quite found a clear yes/no as to whether he did them all but I know he did most of them. I desperately need the commentaries). So I’d be very surprised to find out he put on a huge amount of weight for this episode. It would look weird to have Eliot change sizes that way, even accounting for the fact that most likely CK often had stunt padding on under his clothes.
But let’s put it in some context for the character, too, because character meta gets me out of bed in the morning and rocks me to sleep at night. Eliot is a fighter yes, but it’s a specific type of fighting in context. He’s not a MMA fighter or a boxer or any other professional athlete. He fights to survive and to protect. He has to be able to fight three guys, run some distance, solve a problem like a locked door or identifying escape routes, fight some more, continue to operate around any injuries, and probably run some more for good measure. An Eliot who fights three guys and then passes out from exhaustion is not an effective Eliot.
To say nothing of the fact that Eliot fights guys with weapons. Fat is a good cushion not only for the pushin’ but also to take hits from batons or bats or to provide more barriers between your soft organs and the bad guy’s knives. Slice a super cut guy along his side and you’ve done major muscle damage. Slice along the side of a guy with a few extra inches of fatty tissue and Eliot’s gonna add your knife to his collection of ‘stabby things I took from people who didn’t deserve them’.
Your body also needs fuel to heal! The extra you materials really come in handy when trying to repair yourself. It’s a bit like being able to grab parts from the tool shed as opposed to going to Lowe’s. (Not that I avoid going to Lowe’s except I do because Lowe’s has a tendency to eat my paycheck. They just display the hatchets and drills so prettily). And well, Eliot gets hurt. A lot. It’s what he does. So having the parts on hand means he heals more effectively. Being adequately fed and watered means you’re healthy and healthy people heal faster.
Bringing more character into it, we often see flashbacks of Eliot in prison type situations and/or being tortured. Having a little extra weight on him means he can potentially go longer before lack of food starts to reduce his efficacy. And we know Eliot likes efficacy. And this is all from a standpoint of Eliot being good at what he does! This is to say nothing of the fact that the man loves to cook and drinks a reasonable amount of beer. Eliot with snacks is a familiar image and yeah, it’s for the team to share but you can bet he eats it too.
This is an exceptionally long post telling you things you already know because I’m incapable of simply saying “Yeah!” when I really wanna say
“Thank you Leverage for not only protecting your actors by not making them starve themselves and dehydrate themselves for the sake of an ab shot they may not even genetically be capable of without damaging their bodies but also for not giving two shits about Eliot potentially not being eye candy simply because he’s not what Hollywood standards have decided are hot this week, you portrayed a realistic man in a realistic role for him and I thank you. Also Chris Kane probably gives really good hugs, he just has that look which is tangential to the point but I’m making it anyways.”
Reblogging this again for the added comments and to tell @letsstealsomethiefjuice that I love them ;; ;; and according to John Rogers, there’s a running gag that Kane’s stunt double has the easiest job in Hollywood lol
this
@letsstealsomethiefjuice you said everything I was trying to say and I love you for it
can we just acknowledge for a moment that they didn’t make him overly ripped? how he didn’t have an eight pack or a six pack or anything like literally ANY OTHER show would do? how eliot is clearly portrayed as strong and easily the most dangerous person in any room but he doesn’t need to be super Built™ to do it? he’s strong just the way he is and he doesn’t need a super toned chest to do it. he has a healthy chest for his profession and no one, literally nobody questioned it.
because, every other show would do that. but not leverage. never leverage. because leverage loves to subvert and go against all stereotypes and expectations that all other shows fall for.
