I could not agree with Sparky more. Not one speck more.
The abused child turning into a badass seems done to death to me
And this is me.
I know I've ranted about this in other threads over the years but the K-Pax school of storytelling continues to give me a ferocious pain. Not EVERY serial killer, whacknut, malcontent or bully is such because they were abused as kids. Yes, lots of abused persons have ongoing issues, but not all of us are doomed to be broken, or even haunted for the rest of our lives. It's just sloppy-shorthand writing and I resent it.
I haven't seen last night's Leverage yet...my usual outlets don't seem to have it up this morning...so I can't comment on those specifics but I totally missed the 'he's been abused vibe' from Eliot last week. "Reasons" doesn't necessarily translate to abuse in my mind, despite living it AND being trained to spot the signs.