“	I'm sorry it was too far away for you to punch. I'm sure that really frustrates you.	”
— Alec Hardison, "The Homecoming Job"

Eliot Spencer is a United States Black Ops soldier turned retrieval specialist who is now the protector of the Leverage team. A man of many talents, little is known about his past aside from his connections to the US military. His character serves as a gallowglass, an elite warrior who protects and aides an aristocratic leader, such as Nate.

Eliot's role on the team is to protect the individual members, and particularly, to get them out of trouble faster than they get into it. Many of his adversaries underestimate him, as Sterling discovers in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job". Eliot is a skilled fighter with a razor sharp mind and zen-like demeanor. He prefers hand-to-hand combat to guns, for which he has an active dislike, despite his skills as a marksman. This is likely due to the fact that Eliot prefers to disable his opponents rather than kill them. Eliot also has some surprising skills. He is a talented gourmet chef and claims to grow his own food.

When asked about Eliot and his development, Christian Kane replied,

“

Time goes on and Eliot's not the hired killer if you will. You start to see that he's starting to give more and more of his heart to the team and the people he's helping, and at some point, I know that's probably going to hurt him, to be honest with you. He's probably going to snap back to even worse than he was before.

”

While not an actor like Sophie, Eliot can blend into his roles easily when called on to play the role of grifter. Although he worked alone for years, Eliot has slowly grown to trust being on a team. Eliot's relationships with the individual members of the team vary and are still developing. He respects Nate as a leader, allies with Sophie to keep Nate in line, has a friendly rivalry with Hardison, and with Parker, while her behavior perplexes him, he trusts her to do the job.

During an actors' panel at Con-Con 2010, Kane explained that he based Eliot on B.A. Baracus from The A-Team TV series, saying, "I just decided he was gonna be pissed at everybody." For inspiration, he purchased the "iPity" application for his iPhone, which will play a random phrase by Baracus.

History

Early Life

Not much is known about Eliot's early life as he keeps much of it secret.

As a child, Eliot was abandoned at a hospital. A woman who worked there took him home, and she and her husband, Billy Spencer, adopted and raised Eliot. ^[1]

Eliot was a quarterback in high school. He took home economics to pick up girls.^[2] Some details about Eliot's teenage years seem to conflict - his high school sweetheart Aimee lives in Kentucky, while the family hardware store that Eliot worked in while he was in high school is located in Oklahoma. As a teenager, Eliot was obsessed with the song Kiki by Ralphie Roy and played it on his guitar until his fingers bled.

Eliot's father, Billy, ran a "hole in the wall" hardware store and wanted Eliot to take it over, but Eliot wanted to get out of the small town and change the world.

Eliot grew up hearing his father's glory stories from his time in the war and wanted to be a hero just like him.^[1] When Eliot was eighteen, he enlisted in the army and the night before he left, he and his father got into a fight as Billy didn't want him to enlist. ^[3] While Eliot was in the army, Eliot's mother passed away, and Eliot wasn't able to come home for her funeral.^[1]

Aimee

When Eliot was younger, he gave his sweetheart at the time, Aimee, a promise ring, fully intending to marry her one day.^[4] When Eliot left for the service, he couldn't talk with or visit Aimee as often^[5]. Over time, Eliot lost contact with Aimee because of the activities he was involved with for the government. Eliot was involved with liberating Croatia during this time^[6]. Eventually, Aimee got married to someone else and they didn't have any contact for years.

Military Time

Eliot most likely was a member of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta referred to as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group, "The Unit", or within JSOC, Task Force Green. A special operations force of the United States Army, under the operational control of the Joint Special Operations Command. This is a high possibility, considering Eliot took a SEAL out in 20 seconds. In addition, he could have been the Commander of this unit, as General Flores calls Eliot, Commander^[7]. One interview states that Eliot was a part of "Blackwater", a private military company^[8].

In "The Last Dam Job", Eliot mentions that he has not been "that person" (alluding to his military time) for ten years.

In "The Blue Line Job", Eliot mentions that he had brothers too (most likely in the army), and he did the dirty work, so they didn't have to.

When Eliot was out of service and working for his second PMC, he started doing jobs that went across the line. His team was reconning a restaurant in Belgium that Toby ran. Eliot ended up talking with Toby, who taught him how to use a knife and inspired his love of cooking.^[9]

Retrieval Specialist

Eliot worked closely with Moreau as a retrieval specialist sometime in the past. The worst thing Eliot did in his life was for Damien Moreau. ^[10]

In 2005 Eliot was working as a retrieval specialist on a job in Belgrade, Serbia. The merchandise he had to collect was a baseball card, and he took out a whole room of thugs with guns with his bare hands.^[11]

Other Points:

• At one point in his past, Eliot went up against The Butcher of Kiev, giving him his scars. ^[6]
• Eliot got over his claustrophobia by locking himself into a woodshed. ^[12]
• Eliot saved General Flores' life at two points in his life. Though he only counts it as one and a half as he was sent to kill him^[7]
• Colonel Vance and him worked in the service together.^[13]
• It's possible that Eliot's most traumatic experience is something called Operation Kansas, which happened at Christmas time.^[14]
• During Eliot's military time, his friend Paul saved his life after he was shot twice.^[15]

Season 1

Victor Dubenich recruits Eliot, along with Alec Hardison and Parker, to do a con run by Nathan Ford. The team is tasked with stealing back intellectual property, which Victor claimed had been stolen from him. However, the team discovered that Victor wanted the documents for himself, having never belonged to him. Nate recruits Sophie Devereaux to help them to work together to get back at Victor. The team, having all previously worked alone, agrees to do the one job, but after realizing how good it felt to take down the bad guy, they agree to do another job together, with Nate leading them. ^[11]

It is during the first episode that Eliot reveals he doesn't like guns.

Eliot is doing a job in Berlin when his partner turns to him with a gun, only to be interrupted by a call from Hardison. In the time since their last job, Hardison, together with Nate's funding, set up a base in an apartment building in Los Angeles for the team to work out of.  The crew agrees to take on the job, but they begin to get worried once they realize people could get hurt. After they finish the job, the team agrees to keep working together. ^[16]

Eliot gets the team to help the father of his ex-sweetheart, Aimee. Aimee and her father own a horse farm in Kentucky. Eliot hasn't spoken to Aimee in 18 years, and she is hesitant to let him help her and her father. After Eliot and the team help them, Aimee and Eliot share a kiss and have a brief hookup. ^[4]

During "The Wedding Job", it's revealed that Eliot can cook and takes it very seriously. Also, in the episode, he goes up against an old rival, "The Butcher of Kiev", who he takes out with an appetizer.

Due to Nate's increased drinking, the team stages an intervention. The team tells Nate he needs to take down Ian Blackpool, the head of IYS, who denied Nate's son's hospital bills. On the con, Eliot gets embarrassed after finding out the woman he was flirting with at the party is Nate's ex-wife, Maggie. The con ultimately goes sideways, and the team scatters. ^[17]

Three months after the team's covers were blown, each of them individually stakes out the art gallery with the intention of robbing it. None of them felt good having not finished the job. After taking down Ian and IYS, the team agrees to scatter for a few months till the heat has died down on them. ^[18]

Season 2

Sophie invited the team to watch her performance in The Sound of Music. After Sophie's performance, they all go back to Nate's place, which is above a bar. With Sophie feeling horrible due to negative reviews on her performance, Parker suggests they steal something to cheer Sophie up. The team takes on a case Nate accidentally got involved in. After the job, Hardison buys Nate's building, becoming his landlord and begins setting up the new Leverage HQ in Nate's apartment with Eliot knocking out a wall with a sledgehammer. ^[19]

Eliot goes undercover as a boxer in "The Tap-Out Job", where it's revealed that Eliot has been teaching Parker fighting moves.

In "The Three Strikes Job", Eliot has to infiltrate a baseball team as a new member. Eliot tells Hardison that he doesn't like baseball, as he doesn't like any sport you can't score on defense. Eliot turns out to be very good at baseball and even gets a sandwich named after him.

The team gets themselves into some high stakes, taking down a corrupt mayor. Nate makes a deal with Sterling offering himself up to let his team go free. ^[20]

Season 3

The team wants to break Nate out of jail during his trial, but Nate wants to do his time and thinks it's too risky. While in jail, Nate finds the team a job. During the job, the team manages to get Nate out of jail. The team attracted the attention of a woman who forces the team to take on Damien Moreau, or else she'll make sure Nate goes back to prison. ^[21]

In "The Studio Job", Eliot helps Kaye Lynn Gold get her brother's song back and is revealed to be very good at singing. Eliot gets very close to Kaye Lynn, and they even make out.

When the team learns that Damien Moreau is coming to Washington DC, they realize it's the perfect opportunity to take him down. Eliot offers to go with Hardison to get inside Moreau's crew. To get into a visit with Moreau, Eliot uses his real name, worrying and confusing Hardison. It is quickly revealed that Moreau and Eliot know each other and that Eliot worked with Moreau sometime in the past. Moreau lets Eliot go as long as he kills someone for him. Hardison, angry at Eliot for keeping such a big secret from the team when he knew they were going after Moreau, tells the rest of the team. The rest of the team isn't happy either. Eliot tells them he didn't want to tell them about his time with Moreau as he was trying to protect them. He tells them that the worse thing he's ever done was for Moreau. When Parker asks what he did, Eliot tells her not to ask him that because if she does, he'll tell her. Together, the team helps Eliot fake the person's death Moreau asked him to kill.^[10]

Damien runs to San Lorenzo, and Eliot calls his friend in the country, General Flores. General Flores gets captured, further making the team even more determined to take down Moreau. Together they go to San Lorenzo and make the politician Moreau had "bought" lose the race, getting him arrested and saving General Flores. ^[7]

Season 4

In "The Carnival Job", Eliot is tasked with watching the mark's daughter, Molly.

In "The Boys' Night Out Job", Eliot gives Hardison advice about his relationship with Parker, telling Hardison he thinks he's going too slow with Parker.

In "The Lonely Hearts Job", Eliot gets gifts for the girls anonymously, letting Hardison and Nate take the credit.

Season 5

During the team's break, Eliot spent time with a friend of his, Colonel Vance.^[22]

Hardison contacts Sophie, Nate, and Eliot as he and Parker find them a job. Hardison has opened a new Leverage HQ in Portland, Oregon. He bought the Bridgeport microbrewery as a part of their cover. The move was due to Nate's place being surveilled by law enforcement of all types. ^[22]

In "The French Connection Job", Eliot asks Nate to help his friend Toby. Toby taught Eliot how to use a knife and cook and was one of the people stopping him from going dark. Seeing Eliot and his love of cooking, Parker begins to get sad, believing she doesn't have a thing. Parker then asks Eliot to teach her to like stuff.

In "The Low Low Price Job", Eliot opens up about his father. Eliot admits that he hasn't spoken to his father since he was 18, as before he went off to join the service, they had a fight. At the end of the episode, Eliot goes to Oklahoma City, seeming to visit his father. But the episode ends, seeming as if Eliot's father isn't home.

The reason the team moved to Portland is revealed to be that Nate was after the black book, a record of all illegal transactions made by bankers and wealthy people that led to the financial crisis of 2007–08 that Interpol has. After the team successfully pulls off the con, Nate decides to retire, proposing to Sophie. Eliot thanks Nate for helping him find what he was searching for, in the team. Sophie and Nate say their goodbyes to the others. Eliot promises to keep Parker and Hardison safe in their absence. Hardison, Eliot, and Parker continue to take on cases, with Parker leading the team. ^[23]

Leverage: Redemption

Season 1

Eight years after Sophie and Nate leave the Leverage team, Sophie begins to get texts from Eliot, Hardison and Parker, all of which she ignores. Later the team meets Sophie at Nate's gravestone. The group is meeting up to mark the 1-year anniversary of Nate's passing. The others tell Sophie what they've been up to and how they've set up twelve international Leverage teams. Parker tells Sophie that she and Eliot do most of the travelling. Eliot started a food truck company called Brick & Basil to give jobs to the ex-military. They spend most of their time supervising other crews and don't do jobs themselves as often. They are concerned for Sophie as she wasn't returning any of their calls. Parker suggests they steal something, and Eliot says it might be a nice distraction.^[24]

They catch someone else attempting to steal a painting at the museum. The team learns his name is Harry Wilson, a lawyer. The team agrees to help Harry earn his redemption by taking down Fletcher Maxwell. Maxwell ultimately goes on the run to Panama to avoid getting arrested. Harry and the team realize the job isn't done. ^[24]

The team heads to Panama to continue their con to take down Fletcher Maxwell. They later find Breanna, Hardison's foster sister, has been stalking them. Breanna joins the crew. After the con, Hardison buys the building Harry found so the team can use it as a new HQ. Hardison tells them he has to leave to go help out in Sri Lanka and leaves. Harry offers to stay on the team as their inside man, as he knows how the corrupt businesspeople operate, having helped them in the past. ^[25]

During The Paranormal Hacktivity Job, Harry and Eliot go to Brunei to help Hardison's with an extradition

In The Double-Edged Sword Job, Eliot first meets Maria Shipp, a US Marshal and starts dating her.

During a con where the team was giving a librarian a spy action adventure before he dies, RIZ kidnaps Eliot. The head of RIZ, Alexandra Bligh, injects Eliot with a red serum to break him. She uses a memory of his, Operation Kansas, believing it to be his most traumatic experience. Alexandra says that Eliot's reluctant to spend the holidays with his father, having found out that his Dad's friend from Vietnam invited Eliot to join them. Eliot doesn't break, and the librarian, Robert, breaks him free. Encouraged by his conversations with Robert, Eliot intends to visit his dad for Christmas, seeing him again for the first time since he was eighteen. When Eliot gets a text saying his dad was a no-show, he goes off in the opposite direction. ^[26]

After a con, Eliot and Parker get stuck on an island in the middle of a hurricane. Eliot calls Maria to come to pick them up. Parker says she likes Maria as Eliot seems happy with her. At the end of the episode, Parker tells Eliot that she's worried he'll leave them for Maria. ^[27]

Eliot realizes that keeping what he does a secret from Maria is putting distance and a strain on their relationship. Eliot asks Parker for advice as he admires her and Hardison's relationship. Parker tells Eliot he can't have secrets for it to work; he has to let Maria know him. ^[28]

Eliot calls Maria to get her help with a con. Eliot then tells Maria what he does, and she realizes he is a criminal. They admit that they're in love with each other. Maria thinks Eliot is worth the risk, but she still sees him as a criminal, so she says goodbye. Later during the con, Eliot talks with Hardison and Parker telling them he wishes he could find someone he could actually tell about his job. Hardison and Parker tell him that they will be there for him forever.^[29]

Season 2

During "The Tournament Job", Eliot bonds with the esports members, finding similarities to his own past with one of the team members, Tam. Through bonding with the members, Eliot begins to appreciate video games as a sport.

When Eliot's friend from the military, Paul Orozco dies, Eliot is hired to investigate. Eliot later finds Paul alive, having faked his death, and together they take down Kurlander. ^[15]

After talking with Paul, Eliot is encouraged to talk to his dad after not talking to him since he was 18. When Eliot won't tell the team where he's heading, they remind him that they could have Hardison track him. Eliot caves and tells them he's going to Oklahoma to see his father. Sophie sends Parker and Breanna to lend Eliot emotional support. In Oklahoma, Parker, Breanna, and Elliot end up saving Eliot's father, Billy, from getting beat up. Billy is unwilling to talk to Eliot, but Eliot and the team stay to help him take down a fracking rig company. Later, Eliot talks with his father and apologizes for missing his mom's funeral. After taking down the fracking rig, Billy and Eliot reconcile as Billy says he's proud of Eliot, and Eliot assures his father that he's a hero.^[1]

When the London Leverage team's con goes sideways, the main Leverage crew head to London to investigate. They determine the conspirator to be Sophie's former mentor Ramsey. They also come across Astrid Pickford, who Sophie reveals is her stepdaughter. With Billy the Gent's help, they set Ramsey into a trap in the museum, where Astrid arrests him. Later, Sophie gets a call from Arthur, who had orchestrated everything to set his own trap for the Leverage crew, setting them up to seem to be behind the thief of the Maharaja crown.^[30]

Sophie hesitates when the alarms going off in the museum, causing her and Eliot to get locked in. The other team members work to free Eliot and Sophie, trying to slip unnoticed out of the museum which is now swarming with law enforcement. While Eliot and Sophie talk, Eliot says he isn't redeemable, but he's come to terms with that and is thankful for the opportunity to be useful. When the team gets free of the museum Sophie realizes that Arthur must have hidden the crown in the museum and suggest that the team find it to take him down. The team goes back in, and work alongside Astrid to make Arthur lead them to where he hid the real Maharaja crown. ^[31]

Season 3

TBA

Skills

Eliot Spencer is very well versed in the distinctiveness of certain organizations. He has a very distinctive knack for it, and it is often used as an inside reference.

• Although not as perceptive as his colleague Sophie Devereaux, he is skilled at reading body language, as shown in his ability to identify ex-cia off of their stance, an active bomber off of his behavior, and could tell a young boy was being abused at a glance. He is also seen to be adaptable in his own body language to be able to suit different situations, as is seen in his ability to set marks and children at ease, or intimidate people as he sees fit.
• Able to resist every truth serum known to man.
• Numerous fighting styles: Boxing, Muay Thai, Jujitsu, Krav Maga, Kickboxing, Eskrima, Panantuken, Kenpo Karate, Judo, Hapkido, Jeet Kune Do, Wrestling and Aikido are just some of the martial arts he has demonstrated in the series.
• Unparalleled hand-to-hand fighting ability considering he was able to take out 4 armed guards in the time it took Hardison to drop a bag after said guards caught him.
• Fixer (often working backup in the con to clean up messes, either physically or in execution, or in a supporting role to the "Inside Man"), he can play the "Inside Man" but usually leaves that job to Sophie Devereaux.
• A similar asset of Eliot's is the tendency for people to underestimate him. (Maggie Collins noticed this in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job".) This allows Eliot to surprise his opposition when he shows his true skills and talents.

• Survival in hostile environments.
• Skilled swordsman, and is very good with guns, though he doesn't like to use them.
• Strategic: Able to plan/predict the best possible way the team or other people might take out someone else.
• Gourmet chef.
• Calm demeanor.
• Ladies' man.
• Accurate throwing ability whether its darts or pebbles.
• Commercial semi tractor-trailer driver.
• Singer/guitar player: He had a fan club and a bunch of fans (who were quite an obstacle for him). He sang well enough to not need Hardison's auto-tuning. This episode ^[32] marks the first time we have seen Eliot nervous, so much so that Parker startled him for the first time ever. However, despite being nervous, he still managed to get the attention of a music executive.
• Weapons expert.
• Baseball superstar: Had a sandwich named after one of his aliases due to a walk-off single.
• Excellent hockey player. He plays as an enforcer and evidently trains to fight people on the ice. ^{[33] [34]}
• Knife expert: Doesn't matter if it's cutting an onion or cutting through 8 Yakuza in 4 seconds. Apparently, this expertise with knives stems from his very attractive home economics teacher in high school ^[35]. He has dealt with cleaver-wielding Triad members before. ^[36]
• Familiar with hostage negotiations - He is able to list the 3 types of calls one can get after the first hostage call.^[37]
• Skilled marksman: Despite the fact he dislikes guns, Eliot is a very skilled marksman, as he took on several of Damien Moreau's men with only two guns. He was even able to shoot one of them without looking at the target.
• Familiar with the 9 places professional killers will use to deliver an injection to make a murder look like a heart attack – he spots the giveaway mark under the fingernail. ^[38]
• Very good spatial awareness and sense of direction - Was able to calculate where Hardison and he were, and what direction they should head in, even though they were imprisoned in a van. ^[39]
• Knows how to throw trackers off his scent - He rubbed skunkweed on his clothing and left blood off the trail.^[39] He claims to have done this before while handcuffed to a dead man.
• Bombs and bomb disposal - Talked Sophie through it when she has one in her hands.^[40] He can also make bombs out of fertilizer and molasses. ^[39]
• Very well traveled: Has been in many, many countries due to the nature of his work.
• Diversely knowledgeable - Able to recognize a Russian man by a footprint in the snow, and discern static noise from a recording as from military satellites.

Languages

• Hebrew ^[40]
• Farsi - (Doesn't speak it but seemed to understand it)
• Arabic ^[41]
• German ^[42]
• Russian
• English
• Spanish ^[43]
• Klingon^[44]

Weaknesses

• Lack of knowledge/experience in cutting-edge technology but is working on improving his skills.
• Can be slightly paranoid due to his spy/black-ops history.
• Doesn't like hitting cops.
• Grifting: while he is adaptable and fully capable, as seen when he plays roles in the con, when high levels of finesse or manipulation is required he tends to fall back on his self-dubbed “messy” methods, as seen in “The Ten Lil’ Grifters Job."
• Susceptible to neurolinguistic programming, as Sophie has him pouring and preparing tea for her with a few strategic squeezes over time.

Accomplishments

• Helped liberate Croatia.
• Did some 'hinky' stuff in Pakistan between season one and two. Whether it was with the CIA is unknown.
• Stopped a possible nuclear bomb in Tehran.
• Took out an Uruguayan Death Squad with a piano wire.
• Retrieved a collector's baseball card in Belgrade, Serbia – took out 8 gunmen, without a gun, while sipping a cup of tea.
• Almost Killed the Butcher of Kiev with an appetizer.
• Took down several different Mafia.
• Runs a chain of food trucks around the globe, hiring former veterans, called Brick & Basil.

Relationships with Other Characters

Overall

In the family dynamic of the team, Eliot often plays the role of the oldest son. He is much more aware of the con than his "siblings," Parker and Hardison. But overall, Eliot is the defender and enforcer of the team. He'll put his own safety and well-being way after his "family." Although he contributes a lot, he doesn't like to take credit for protecting his 'family' as he thinks that it is his job. He cares for them silently.

Alec Hardison

Eliot and Hardison clash often, particularly in the first season when they were rivals (Muscle vs. Mind). However, after a while, they both developed an appreciation of the other's skills and now they share more of a friendly rivalry. Also, Eliot really enjoys picking on Hardison. He is often heard saying the catchphrase: "Damn it, Hardison!" They are also very protective of each other. Eliot says in "The Office Job," "nobody throws Hardison off a building. ...except maybe me."

Parker

Eliot is often baffled by Parker's behavior, but at the same time, he is very protective of her. In "The Future Job" Eliot offered his services to tear off the psychic's arms and/or kill him after the psychic makes Parker cry. Sometime in Season 2, he helped train Parker in hand-to-hand mixed-martial-arts. He also loves to annoy her and make fun of her the way a playful elder brother would. In Season 3, he shows how protective he is of Parker by choosing not to disclose what he has done while working for Damien Moreau when she asked. In the Season 4 opener, he and Parker bond over the fact that they are able to do things, make hard calls, that the rest of the team cannot because they are too soft-hearted. He is someone Parker trusts to have her back as he would never let anyone or anything hurt her.

Sophie Devereaux

Here is where Eliot breaks away from the "Eldest Son" dynamic. The relationship between Eliot and Sophie is not a mother to son. The two operate more like peers. Sophie likes to press Eliot's buttons, especially in episodes like "The Reunion Job" where after Eliot makes fun of her fear of roaches she uses neurolinguistic programming to make him serve her tea. When Sophie's absent for Season 2, Eliot starts to take on more of a leadership role, which comes to fruition in "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job." In The Potato Job, he reveals he's been teaching her a few things when she punches Hardison to sell her cover.

Nathan Ford

Eliot and Nate have a complicated relationship that predates the Leverage team. While Nate is the leader and brains of the team, Eliot is in charge of ensuring there is always a backup plan or escape route for when things fall apart. When Nate goes over the line, Eliot and/or Sophie call him on it. Still, whenever Nate asks Eliot to put his body on the line, he does not back down from the task. At key moments in their relationship, when Nate challenges him to walk away, Eliot says that he can't and will back Nate up all the way down. When Nate agrees to take down Damien Moreau, Eliot silently looks for ways to take him down without endangering his Leverage family.

Other Characters

Eliot's Father (Billy)

Eliot's relationship with his father is strained at best. The night before Eliot left to join the army, he and his father got into a fight, and Eliot hadn't spoken to him since that night.

Eliot failed to reconnect with his father on two separate occasions. Once in The Low Low Price Job and once in The Bucket Job.

Eliot finally reconnects with his father in The Fractured Job, and the two seem to repair their relationship.

Aimee Martin

Eliot is a ladies man who is always seen with a different girl and does not seem to want to "settle down." However, Aimee is the one girl who got the closest, as he gave Aimee a "promise ring." That relationship was rekindled in "The Two-Horse Job" but nothing really came of it. In "The Studio Job," Eliot confesses that he promised to be there for her whenever she needed him, but he also made the same promise to the United States Government and found out he could not make that same promise twice. Presumably, Eliot went to join the military, expecting Aimee to wait, and she couldn't.

In what is Leverage's most glaring continuity error, Aimee went to high school in Kentucky, where she was Elliott's sweetheart. The terrain, and horse racing references strongly suggest that it is central Kentucky. This directly contradicts later episodes in which we find out that Elliot grew up in Oklahoma. Missouri, a 240 mile wide state, as well as the Mississippi river, stand between the eastern most tip of Kentucky and the Eastern border of Kentucky. Central KY would add another 200 miles give or take to the distance between the two high schools that Elliot would have been enrolled in at the same time.

Tereza Mbenga

Tereza is the wife of Aloysius Mbenga, a minister in the African country of Malani. On the orders of Damien Moreau, Eliot had an affair with Tereza Mbenga, eight years before the events of The Zoo Job. The two developed genuine feelings for each other. When Eliot meets her again while doing reconnaissance on Mbenga’s house, she tells him she’s dying of cancer, and they share a kiss before he leaves.^[45]

Maria Shipp

In The Double-Edged Sword Job, Eliot first meets Maria Shipp, a US Marshal and starts dating her. There are small references to Maria in episodes she doesn't appear. Such as Eliot texting her and the team making fun of his budding relationship.

In The Muddy Waters Job, Maria sends a letter addressed to Teddy Bear to Eliot, as she thinks he's cute when he's angry.

Eliot realizes that keeping what he does a secret from Maria is putting distance and a strain on their relationship. Parker encourages Eliot to let Maria know him. ^[28]

Eliot calls Maria to get her help with a con. Eliot then tells Maria what he does, and she realizes he is a criminal. They admit that they're in love with each other. Maria thinks Eliot is worth the risk, but she still sees him as a criminal, so she says goodbye. ^[29]

Paul Orozco

Paul was a combat medic and served in the military alongside Eliot. When Eliot believed Paul was dead, Eliot attended Paul's memorial service and was deeply affected by his friend's death. After he discovered that Kurlander was involved, Eliot was intent on avenging his death.^[15]

Eliot has stayed at Paul's house in the past. A photo of the two of them hides the opening to Paul's secret weapons stash.

Vehicle

Eliot owns a 2008 Dodge Challenger GT HEMI SRT 8, which is orange with two black stripes. The car appears throughout the show.

Notable Episodes

Leverage

Season 1

• "The Nigerian Job"
• "The Wedding Job"
• "The Two-Horse Job"
• "The Bank Shot Job"
• "The First David Job"

Season 2

• "The Tap-Out Job"
• "The Order 23 Job"
• "The Zanzibar Marketplace Job"
• "The Three Strikes Job"

Season 3

• "The Studio Job"
• "The Gone Fishin' Job"
• "The Underground Job"
• "The Rashomon Job"
• "The Ho Ho Ho Job"
• "The Big Bang Job"
• "The San Lorenzo Job"

Season 4

• "The Carnival Job"
• "The Experimental Job"
• "The Boys' Night Out Job"
• "The Radio Job"

Season 5

• "The Blue Line Job"
• "The French Connection Job"
• "The Rundown Job"
• "The Low Low Price Job"
• "The Long Goodbye Job"

Leverage: Redemption

Season 1

• "The Too Many Rembrandts Job"
• "The Bucket Job"

Season 2

• "The Tournament Job"
• "The Walk in the Woods Job"
• "The Fractured Job"

Season 3

• TBA

Notes

• Eliot has a recurring inside reference, as he can identify organizations and items from their distinctive styles. He is able to identify mercenaries, terrorists, criminal organizations and Special Forces operatives by the minor details they give out, such as the sound of their weapons fired or, for example, a Force Recon Marine by the style of his knife thrust, as well as ex-CIA just by their stance. i.e., "You can tell they're [blank] just by the way they [blank]?" "It's a very distinctive [blank]."
• Eliot won't hesitate to kill if he feels he has to in order to survive or to protect those he cares for, evident in The Big Bang Job.
• Eliot became a legendary 'wetwork' artist among the seediest of the criminal underworld, most notedly working for criminal mastermind Damien Moreau.
• His most often repeated quote is "Damn it, Hardison!"

Trivia

• Carries a pocket knife.
• He doesn't like guns (first noted in The Nigerian Job).
• Had a hidden stack of emergency cash in the bottom of Nate's single sofa seat, the one which he usually sits on, which he takes out for the Bottle Job.
• He fought The Butcher of Kiev who was armed with a butcher knife in front of a burning structure. Eliot managed to break free and hit the right side of The Butcher's face with a burning plank, scarring his cheek permanently. He encounters The Butcher again during The Wedding Job and takes him out with a saucepan, a whisk and the lemon juice and serving tray.
• It is implied in The Experimental Job that Eliot possibly was a Green Beret.
• In the DVD commentary for The Office Job, it is said that Eliot is former Delta Force.
• Worked as a mercenary for various governments, and has "taken lots of jobs standing in embassy basements."
• Chased the same thief as Nate in his role as a retrieval specialist, which according to KFM, was how he first came under Nate's radar.
• Was Damien Moreau's best assassin for an undisclosed period of time. There was a job in Belgrade that Moreau alludes to.
• Has been subjected to mock-execution, which apparently, is not as bad as being stuck watching Sophie perform in her play "Death of a Salesman."
• Was in Vietnam, in a town called Ban Houei Xai along the Chinese border. Coincidentally, Sophie has also been there.
• According to James Sterling's people, Eliot is wanted in five countries, including Myanmar, which has a half a million dollar bounty on his head.
  • According to Eliot, he has a price on his head in three countries.
  • Eliot also suspects he has a Fatwā against him.
• Is in possession of a United States Air Marshal badge.
• Dabbles in chess, but appears to question its status as an Olympic sport in The Queen's Gambit Job.
• His personal vehicle is a gray Chevy Silverado pickup truck but he also owns an orange Dodge Challenger modified and used in The Boost Job.
• When he was a child, he closed himself in a small, dark shed for a few days to get rid of his claustrophobia.
• Grows his own food.
• Hates beets.
• Sleeps only 90 minutes a day.
• Displays sympathy and anger in "The Order 23 Job" toward a young boy (Randy Trent) who is beaten by his father (Randall Trent). Though this might have indicated he suffered abuse when young, the DVD commentary for the episode revealed that his motivation for his actions is that he doesn't like people who beat children.
• Taught Parker several Mixed-Martial Arts moves, allowing her to take on a more physical role in the team.
• Eliot does not own a television.
• He mentions in The Miracle Job that "my nephew would like Bibletopia", indicating he has at least one sibling with a male offspring. In , it is revealed that his sibling's name begins with a "J."

• In high school, even though Eliot was the football team's quarterback, he took home economics. It is where he got an appreciation for knives and possibly started his interest in cooking. While on a job, he met Chef Toby Heath, a professional chef who taught him how to cook and put his knife skills towards creation rather than destruction.
• Previous girlfriends mentioned in the show: Aimee Martin, a neurologist, a flight attendant, a Japanese policewoman, "lots of models," Mikel Dayan, and Kaye Lynn Gold.
• It is revealed in The Big Bang Job that Eliot used to work with Damien Moreau. The "worst thing [he] ever did in [his] life, [he] did for Damien Moreau."

• Eliot never reveals what the "worst thing" he ever did was, seemingly to protect Parker's innocence but also to protect his past and privacy, but it is implied that it involved killing a lot of people and their innocent families

• Eliot's car was modified and used by the team in The Boost Job.
• In The Last Dam Job, he tells Nate that before he killed a man, (not in the line of duty), "he had God in his heart, and he had a flag on his shoulder." and "he has not seen that kid for 10 years."
• According to the word of Dean Devlin, Eliot was supposed to have an Uncle Henry in Santa Barbara, referring to Psych. However, since an episode of Psych had Shawn saying that he doesn't want to miss the season finale of Leverage because of a case, the whole possible epic crossover never happened.

• Roots for the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team in their annual grudge match with Texas.^[46]
• Has worked for more than one private military contractor. ^[47]
• Apparently achieved the rank of Commander at some point. Or he was the commander of a group (e.g. Green Berets). In US military it has many uses.^[48]
• Used to have short hair, but apparently keeps his hair long now to reduce recognition from former foes.
• Eliot's last name is likely a reference to the series Spencer For Hire, as per a discussion on John Rogers' website.

References