on my rewatching leverage binge and honestly it's actually kind of gratifying how often Eliot gets his ass beat, he's a hitter that's his job, he's the one who takes the hits. But he's human and he can't always win right away but even when he gets taken down he always gets right back up
I'm re-watching Leverage right now, and a fun bit I noticed this time around that I hadn't spotted before is how Eliot will come out with some random-ass knowledge that saves a situation or answers a question and the crew is all "How do you know that" and he'll answer "Oh I dated a NASA engineer" or whatever. It's played a bit for laughs, but -
Since Eliot is heterosexual, it's showcasing that women have valuable knowledge and expertise in a wide variety of areas,
Eliot actually listens and talks to the women he's dating, to the point where he's learning and understanding what they're talking about,
And, Eliot respects women and their knowledge and always looks a bit miffed when the crew laughs at him for knowing things because he dated someone once.
It's a little thing, but this show is constantly surprising me with the amount of thought that got put into it.