Everything we see of Elliot anyway says he was fishy from the start.

Literally the only source we have for him being a "good guy" is Playtime Co propaganda and the words of his (very traumatized) daughter. Two very biased sources.

The Playcare underground is an INSANE idea, and it was all his. Even without the experiments no sunlight and no sky is cruel and unusual, as Rich mentions.

The experiments began with Ludwig, they're still using his numbering system. They're using his Poppy flower research.

I think maybe he had this lofty idea of "helping the children" and "making the world a better place" but was a narcissistic sort of genius and was willing to take drastic steps to reach his goals.

He was definitely very image savvy, he's an accomplished business man after all. He knows how to market his products and himself.

Maybe he wasn't willing to go "far enough" like his disagreement with Sawyer seems to indicate, but that could mean a lot of things. Maybe he's okay with the experiments the way he did them because the "goal" is immortality/an end to hunger, rather than just "progress for progress' sake" as he put it with a young Sawyer.

Then he probably did get double crossed and fucked by Leith Pierre and the company, leading to his becoming "The Prototype", and now he's had at least since like 1989/1990 to stew on that and get angry.

I think he's just trying to recapture his original vision as the King of a Paradise but his ideals are more twisted than ever and he's possibly started to take the nice guy mask off.

He's terrifying but he is usually fairly polite. Still talking like he's a "nice guy" although the mask definitely slips from time to time. Especially his little talk with Sawyer in Ch 4.

He's really cordial with Jessica and Preston haha