I like quality leather. While I don’t have an entire closet full of designer shoes and purses, I appreciate a Coach handbag, a nice pair of leather sandals, or a pair of boots.
I will never look at them the same way again.
Many fans have waited for weeks for Josh Dallas to appear as the Connecticut Cobbler on The Hunting Party, and he impressed us with a creepy but layered performance.
Dallas played Elliot Carr in The Hunting Party Season 2 Episode 8, an artisan shoemaker who designed leather goods from exotic sources, including elephant, black rhino, and human hides.
The Pit practically tortured Carr so that he felt remorseful after his escape, and the trio couldn’t understand why he returned to abducting victims.
The Connecticut Cobbler Had Something to Prove
Elliot Carr did not have daddy issues. He had uncle issues. He served as his uncle’s apprentice, but his uncle regarded him as a pesky bug, so Elliot intervened and killed him.
I love how sinister he sounded about becoming God and holding his uncle’s life in his hands.
Elliot craved power and control, and the trio has seen that in many serial killers, but Bex maintained that Elliot seemed bolder.
He wore stylish leather boots made out of his uncle’s at his police interview, flaunting the crime. He felt no remorse and felt exhilarated to be rid of that man.
While Elliot wasn’t emotionally connected to his other victims, he often went after confident people.
He looked so in control in his shoe store, and I enjoyed the customer who’d fly across the world for his merchandise.
To be that famous. And then it all fell down.
The Pit Used Psychological Torture to Reform Elliot Carr
We’ve seen some hideous treatments at the Pit, but this one was the worst.
While I’m not totally against the death penalty, preparing Elliot over and over again for his execution and then stopping it was torture.
It exhausted him, and after they did it numerous times, Elliot wanted to die, noting that this treatment was cruel in his therapy sessions.
It was a take on the Memento Mori treatment, and when used effectively, it teaches patients not to take others for granted and to appreciate life.
Prisons had used it in Japan before, so inmates never knew when their execution was planned, keeping them on edge.
I suspect the Pit used it similarly, wanting to lessen Elliot’s lack of control since he eliminated all of his victims’ control when he skinned them.
It still seemed heinous watching him suffer, but it may have created a different kind of criminal.
The Trio Used Their Best Work to Trap Elliot Carr
You put The Hunting Party trio together chasing Elliot Carr, and it was an entertaining, twisty ride.
While we didn’t understand it until later, seeing skinned marks in the shape of shoes and Elliot massaging cocoa butter into their skin should have been a clue.
He preserved them, not violently killed them. He only went after people who needed an ambulance and then waited until they died, instead of helping them.
We’ve never seen a case yet when another criminal initiated the crime, and Iggy Roberston was an idiot, but he never meant to kill anyone.
Elliot ended up killing at least one more victim because he never called for help, though.
I laughed when I heard that Bex and Hassani made Shane the bait. It sucks to be the youngest in the “family.
That scene was so funny because they were all laughing about their teen years, but they had to get into position when multiple ambulances showed up.
The trio had some of their best moments. Shane seemed so skeptical of Elliot sending shoes as an apology, but Bex was so sure his mentality had been altered.
Elliot Carr Needed Victims to Sustain Himself – What a Killer Twist!
The trio was flabbergasted to find Elliot’s DNA on those shoes, thinking it would be an old victim.
I could not believe that Elliot Carr used his own skin to create leather loafers, but he wanted to repent and experience how his victims suffered.
Seeing his skin ripped off his chest just terrified me, and it explained why Elliot kept abducting victims near death already.
He didn’t want their death on his conscience, but he needed their skin to replenish himself.
It’s why he needed a doctor’s assistance. Unlike the Pit doctors, Dr. McMillon had morals and refused to help Elliot unless he let the other victims live.
That showdown was epic and timed perfectly with the trio’s arrival.
He didn’t want their death on his conscience, but he needed their skin to replenish himself.
That was so different than any other serial killer. Well played.
Can I say I love how Bex Henderson looks holding a gun? Hassani and Shane are always efficient, too, but Bex is a total badass.
I wish we could have seen Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas interact more, but the trio doesn’t usually have many scenes with the Pit escapes.
I appreciated that Bex tried to reason with Elliot Carr, appealing to his new sense of conscience, asking him not to let anyone else die.
Josh Dallas delivered one of his most emotional performances as Elliot, who appeared devastated that his new shoes were never mailed.
In a demented way, he showed remorse and seemed even more guilty as he tried to kill himself. I think the Pit treatment messed with his head.
Loving Mother or Manipulative Mastermind?
I understand Shane. He’s longed to know his birth mother for years. It’s difficult to turn that longing off just because Col. Lazarus killed someone.
I get that. If I had the opportunity to meet my birth mother, I’d jump at the chance, no matter who she was. Common sense be dammed.
Shanne felt conflicted. He suspected, as did his team, that she had nefarious motives for taking over the command center, but also hoped it had something to do with him.
Meeting Lazarus for dinner in private could have been dangerous. She has her son right where she wants him, but she doesn’t have many maternal instincts.
She wanted to pretend she did by cooking for Shane and making up for lost time. Part of me empathizes with her. She went through a lot and has reformed, but then I remember her smothering Dr. Dulles.
We still don’t know what she promised him about watching out for Shane, but Shane looked like he fell for her spell as Hassani and Bex learned about even more of her secrets.
There’s something creepy that Lazarus wants to transfer and work with some of the creepier killers.
We fear Shane will have to select a side, and it could tear the trio even further apart.
Over to you, The Hunting Party Fanatics. Did you enjoy Josh Dallas’s performance? Has Col. Lazarus reformed, or is she manipulating Shane?
Let us know in the comments.
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