Throughout Season 1 and 2, I love that we see Bernie and Elliot going to feed the ducks independently of each other.
I think Elliot says he grew up in this area, when he goes to dig out the bullets he shot into a tree when his dad was teaching him how to use a gun, so it would be somewhere he went fairly regularly as a child with Bernie, which is confirmed by what Bernie says when she thinks the young child feeding the ducks near her is Elliot. I guess it was her way of protecting Elliot and herself from Joe’s alcoholic rages and violence.
Once again, the casting director/team did a great job finding a kid who realistically looked like young Elliot, both for that scene and for the home videos at the end of the Season 2 ep. The actors for young Joe and Bernie were perfect too.
While I think it is good that Elliot had some good memories of his father, we know that the smallest thing could send him into a violent rage as in S7, Elliot says he moved a tree on the diorama they had worked on together and Joe threw it on the floor and stomped on it until it was destroyed, then beat Elliot for crying about it ( and probably beat him again for getting an F). The scenes we see of them together in the home videos made me think of how Elliot interacted with his kids when they were little as well as when they were older, but Elliot is consistent in always doing that.
I like to think Elliot took his kids to feed the ducks, maybe even going to the same place he went.
Eli’s decision to join the police force I think must have been sparked by the brand new officer who helps him when he runs away and is going to jump off the bridge, as Eli grew up with Elliot no longer in SVU, just doing security and less dangerous police work. I’m sure he heard about what Elliot did from his siblings and maybe Elliot himself, and, like most little boys, I’m sure he thought it was super cool that his daddy was a detective. So maybe he was thinking about it then the interaction with the police officer really solidified that idea in his mind.
I also really like how Eli is super protective of his family, just like Elliot is. He’s also just as stubborn as his father and 3 out of 4 of his siblings. He also internalises his feelings until they come out as anger and has trouble asking for help, just like his dad.
Eli wanting to jump off the bridge made me think of Dickie wanting to join the Marines in Turmoil, S 11, as they both seem to think it will be easier if they go away and stop disappointing their dad.