(Ok I’m going to add emotional ranting to this gifset I hope no one minds.)
Because this scene, man. It gets me every time.
In the shows I watch, there’s always This Scene. White male hero who uses violence to exert control over his traumatic life is faced with suddenly losing that control! Woman comes and emotes! She helps him talk about feelings! Man gets through this loss of control by stoically gritting his teeth and then goes back to his old ways. He’ll never change. The woman watches in resigned, loving sorrow.
But Eliot Spencer just flips this script completely. He is in touch with himself and his emotions, and he knows that control over himself is more important (and possible) than asserting control over his environment. He is so at peace with himself that Sophie, the motherly caretaker, can only smile and walk away. He’s done his own emotional labor, and he doesn’t need her to do it for him. Eliot has no ego she needs to appease, no demons she needs to soothe. He likes Sophie, but he doesn’t need her. Eliot’s got this.
He might be one of the only male action heroes who does.