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Just know that I write this blog with a very heavy heart. I've only recently discovered this show and already, I've made it to the second and last season.
Rarely has a show filled my heart with such joy and rarely has a show made me so upset to reach the latest episode and realize that there won't be anymore. That the actors moved on to far greener pastures while I'm still stuck behind in the dead grass, wandering aimlessly in this great field of TV not knowing what to do with the rest of my life.
Yes, there have been other shows that I've took such passionate stands on like not watching a single episode of Glee because my own show got cancelled or watching a show like Scandal religiously because it is that great. But Eli Stone filled a deep seated crater that I didn't know I had and I owe it all to Marc Guggenheim and Greg Berlanti. Those two minds together is a powerhouse. They're the great minds behind Arrow and No Ordinary Family. No wonder I like this show so much!
It seems as if shows done in 2006-2008 had the most awesome premises, great actors, but for some reason, just couldn't get enough traction to keep going. Here was a time that people were taking big, huge risks in TV that paid off for loyal fans like me. Now, it seems like TV has gotten so complacent and it's sad. But, if not for that, then we wouldn't appreciate the rare gems like this show or any other show that comes along.
As I watched the final episode, I felt like crying. No longer was I able to know what happens to these characters in the future. I won't know what great things Eli would go on to do and it's terrible that the writers' strike happened. If not for that, I'm one hundred percent confident that this show would still be on today. Granted, we wouldn't have Elementary and Jonny Lee Miller wouldn't be in it, but still, this show was that good.
This show follows Eli Stone, one of those loathsome lawyers who actually likes his job. He's cocky, arrogant, rich, and engaged to his boss' daughter. By anyone's standards, he was living the life. But then came one horrible (awesome?) day when he began to hear music that no one else could hear. And so begins the tale of Mr. Stone, attorney to the big guy in the sky. Eli became a modern day prophet. He climbed off his white horse and began to mingle with the little people, to take cases for free and speak where they had no voice.
It's very easy to raise an eyebrow at the grandeur of the premise. This guy is God's prophet with a change of heart and in almost every episode, there's musical number or some fantastical and whimsical hallucination God is giving him in order to help save the ones God tells Eli to save. What I liked most, though, was how even though this was a show about God, they didn't necessarily play around with it. They didn't have Morgan Freeman in an abandoned warehouse giving and ex parte meeting with Eli and telling him which cases to take.
This is an example of religion in TV done right. It was there but it wasn't a central focus to the story. There's two explanations that they give. It's being God's prophet but also having the same brain aneurysm that destroyed his father. So it gave them room to decide which side Eli falls on. He wasn't a quick convert, like, oh God is talking to me, I absolutely believe in him. Eli questioned, he defied, he went his own way, they really made him struggle in this show and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing the title character.
If it weren't for Elementary, I wouldn't have known who Jonny Lee Miller was. Yet, in Eli Stone, it's such a huge departure between the two characters, I'm surprised it's the same person. Jonny has an uncanny ability to really disappear into his roles and actors like these rarely, if ever, come along. It made me look at his other credits, yes, he is British so it made sense that I wouldn't have seen his stuff until he crossed over to the American market. He was in Aeon Flux starring Charlize Theron, and again, this was another example of how much of a chameleon he is. I didn't know it was him but I specifically remember how adorable I thought he was!
Anywho, this show begins with Eli living his life. He's engaged to his boss' daughter and he's a successful attorney who actually likes his job. I know, go figure! But, he begins to see George Michael in his living room or at his office, singing and doing these elaborate dances that sometimes involved the people in his life and Eli would get swept away, until someone brought him back down to earth.
He enlists the help of a acupuncturist who helps Eli decipher the meaning of his visions. His brother is a doctor who helps him with any and all problems and though they have their moments, they're the best brothers I've seen in a long time.
What I liked was how they really threw Eli on top of the proverbial cliff and threw boulders at this guy. He lost his fiance, lost favor with his boss, became a laughing stock of his firm, lost the other girl he loved, found his soul mate but she left him, and almost died. There was just no mercy for this guy and again, my weird fascination with tragic heroes was never more so than for Eli Stone. But even though Eli went through all of this, he was never a pathetic character. JLM played this character with a certain charm that made it near impossible to pity him for any reason.
What I also liked was how Eli was dealing with some real issues. He voiced basic human concern like being alone forever. I know most people feel that way, him it's doubly so, but still, it's a concern that people have. We are a social race, we can't survive on our own no matter what people say. Eli was willing to be a prophet for God, it was just that he was worried that he'd be alone forever.
Eli Stone is a rare gem of a show that doesn't come along often. You have to suffer through more doctor/cop/lawyer shows and really high concept shows until you get something like Eli Stone. It's hard not to like this show. If you're a fan of musicals and tragic heroes, complicated love plots, and quirky characters, definitely watch it!
Natasha Henstridge played Eli's fiance who bore the brunt of his aneurysm apart from him. This is in no way reflective of the actress, but she was a real bitch on this show. She just wasn't a good match for him. In the first couple of episodes, you kind of have to accept her as Eli's girl because that's what the writers wrote. But they just weren't a good match. If someone is going through something tramatic, especially something as big as a hole in your brain, you're not going to make it all about you and that's exactly what her character, Taylor, did. She made it all about her.
What ensued was a tennis game of breakups. She breaks up with him in the freakin' doctor's office when Eli learns his has an aneurysm and then he breaks up with her when he realizes it's affecting her life in a bad way. Okay, I get Eli was really important to her, but what follows wasn't right.
She basically gets with Eli's jerk of a nemesis and the only thing she can talk about is Eli. I mean, there is a point to how much you can talk about your ex no matter how much your new beau may know him. If I was the guy, I would have been walked away. Who wants to sit through that? And then Taylor wants to act all glassy eyed when the guy actually shows some emotion about it as if she didn't know what was going on.
As if that weren't bad, Natasha is a big lady. She's not only tall, but she had broad shoulders, and they wrote her character kind of like a man. I get that her dad doesn't like to show emotions and though I don't like my female characters to be a blundering idiot, I would have liked to see more substance to Taylor. Of anyone, she should have been the first person to believe Eli when he said he was having visions of which cases to take. Yes, it's far fetched, but if your man believes it, don't count him crazy all too soon. And again, she wants to walk around glassy eyed as if she didn't see it coming that he was breaking up with her.
All in all, I really didn't like her character. I thought she was mean, spiteful, hurtful, and completely unright for him. I don't know where this idealogy of women have to be men in skirts came from, but they really need to stop.
Of course, you can't talk about Eli Stone without commending Loretta Devine. Everyone knows she's a great actress because she's just so good at what she does. She plays Eli Stone's secretary who basically does whatever she wants to with that creative snark Loretta is known for. She could have easily been a 2D character but she was a major influence in Eli's life. She may not believe that he's a prophet for God but she knew that it was changing him in a good way and that's all she wanted. Apart from me, she hated Taylor too because she didn't like who Eli became when he was with her. I can say here that I completely agree.
What I also liked was the little glimpses into Patti's life. In the first season, it was more about Eli and getting the show off it's feet but now that they had a confirmed season 2, they could start playing around with things. There was a suggestion that Patti was involved with one of the partners of the firm, Posner, and she wouldn't even look at him. I was hooked on that little exchange because I really wanted to see where it would have gone. You can't just dangle something that juicy in front of a starving animal and then take it away never to be out again. That's just not right.
It did come as a surprise because there was never any clues to suggest something between them until that one episode where Posner was talking to Patti. But still, it was just enough to make me want to know why they got together, how they were doing, and how they broke up. That would have been a very interesting story arc because we could see Posner trying all his sleazy ways to woo Patti and she resisting him and then Eli's like ooo what's going on?
But alas, they left it at that and then in season 2, there was a little thing about her daughter. Honestly, I didn't even know she had a daughter or maybe I was just caught up in Eli's world that she may have mentioned it in passing and I just didn't catch it. Maybe this was kind of a deciding factor in cancelling the show aside from the writers' strike. They were introducing a lot of stuff that people might not have remembered or even heard.
I did enjoy the little glimpses into Patti's life though. It was good making her a person instead of just another character to influence Eli to do his best in life.
I've had a love hate relationship with this next character of epic proportions. Maggie played by Julie Gonzalo was supposed to be a love interest for Eli. In the beginning, she was just a ditzy aspiring lawyer who kept fumbling over so much that it really irked Eli. Surprisingly, I didn't find her annoying nor did her can't do well personality ruffle any feminist feathers. Even when she was flailing, she didn't count on any man to save her. She just wanted a shot and I liked that about her.
What I also liked was the tension between Maggie and Eli. It wasn't sizzling as some couples I've seen on TV, it was more gradual and somehow it was more satisfying to me. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer the sizzling will-they-or-won't-they, but for these two, I think they went along at a good pace. They started out being annoyed with each other and somehow out of annoyance turned affection.
Maggie won her first case and she was so excited that she kissed Eli. I couldn't help but celebrate because I really didn't like him with Taylor but absolutely loved him with Maggie. But of course, whatever I like has to be shot down and it's too good to be true to think that Eli could have a happy ending. After the kiss, Maggie tried to act like it didn't happen and Eli told her that he didn't want to burden her with his eccentricities. But it was so sad because she was the first one to believe him when he said he was having visions from God.
So Maggie is sad, runs off to Ohio and comes back engaged. Anyone can see that they like each other but Eli refuses to believe it. Late one night, he kisses her and she's like you can't do things like that and runs away. Here is where our relationship started to turn sour. I get that she's so in love with Eli that it hurts because he's on the fence about being with her. (Another classical male thing about not wanting to be with her but not wanting anyone else to be with her either.) But she ends up turning into a class A butthole and a huge ice queen. She's so cordial and unfriendly to Eli and then betrays him by going with the new firm. Like how mean is that? The old one practically raised her and she abandoned ship for a higher paycheck and her own department. She started off sweet but turned into another power hungry attorney.
Then, on a case, Maggie and Eli ended up sleeping with each other and instead of letting him get his words out as men are so slow to do, she got angry, stole the documents and acted like a real bxxch towards him. She wouldn't let him talk and told him that it took sleeping with him to get over him. I didn't buy that crap for a second, she still loved him, but whatever. She just turned into a real butt and I didn't like it. There's a difference between being upset over nothing and blowing it up the way she did. Had she just let him explain himself, they probably would be together.
I just really didn't like her character towards the end. It was another case of men in skirts because if women are too vulnerable, they're weak and can't cut it in a man's profession, and if they're too icy they come out as real buttholes and no one likes them. I think writers have a hard time balancing the two and I'll admit, I'm like that too. That's partly why I don't like the book versions to Twilight or The Gunger Games. Bella is a neurotic nobody who just so happened to hit the vampire lotto but her personality is like a wet dirty mop. Katniss is some robotic emotionless drone who at the slightest hint of affection, treats it as if she's going to walk the plank.
As far as characters go, these are pretty much the heavy hitters. There are more but they're more central to Eli's story than have one for themselves.
What I also liked about this show was that Eli had problems with his dad. This goes beyond the normal "my dad ruined my life" bit. Eli had real issues with his dad. His dad, played fantastically by Tom Cavanaugh (why is he always playing sick people?) had the same hole in the brain as Eli but no one knew that. They thought he was just a drunk who only cared about himself and couldn't see the damage he was doing to his kids.
Instead of tying it up in a neat little bow, the creators carried this theme with them throughout the whole run of the show which I thought was clever. It's so easy to tidy things up but Eli's dad was such a central influence on who he became as an adult and he got his second chances thanks to his visions. Eli and his brother Nate spent years hating their dad but then they just now realize that it was misplaced because he had something he couldn't identify, control, or explain to his kids who only saw a negligent father.
This show had some really heavy elements going on and it was so easy to get swept up into that but they balanced it so well with the comic bits. They had musical numbers, they had dancing, they had flashbacks, they had all kinds of things going on meshed with the serious things like Eli's dad or feeling alone and that's what made this show really clever. I'm really, really sad that this show didn't have the chance to go on and see what else was in store for Eli. The show ended on a really happy note and it's obvious that Eli and crew are going to be fine. But still, I would have liked more adventures in Eli land.
You won't be disappointed in this show, at all. Like I said, if you're a fan of both whimsical and serious shows, this one is perfect for you. I like old concepts with new twists and this show doesn't disappoint.
