Television is full of men and women with varied skills, some of which warrant the distinction of being “badass,” but I feel as though TV characters who encompass all the qualities worthy of the term are few and far between. Without a doubt, Leverage’s Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) is one of them. You need only watch last night’s episode as proof.

The episode, which marked the show’s return from hiatus, centered around the team infiltrating a world of secret societies to crack a case about missing homeless veterans. As part of their mission, Eliot found himself enlisted in an experiment that was advertised as a study in how to cure PTSD. But after getting inside, he came to realize that they weren’t trying to cure PTSD, they were trying to cause it.

At night, while in captivity, Eliot and the rest of the participants were subjected to incessant loud rock music. Sometimes they were put in below-freezing temperatures. But the real mind-breaker was the interrogation sessions. Each man was given a word at the beginning of the experiment and the goal was to go as long as they could without telling their captors the word. For each day they were successful, they earned $100.

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