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'Eli Stone': So much for faith
I'll be sitting second chair again for this week's Eli Stone, which is more of a pleasure each week as the show grows into its own mythology.
We open with Eli shaving, only to be interrupted by an earthquake. After some frantic scrambling -- shouldn't a lifelong Californian know to take cover in a doorway? -- Eli grabs a modern-art duck and runs into the hallway, where a neighbor sniffs at what we now know is a hallucination.
Back at the office, Eli approaches Maggie about her behavior since the kiss, and seeing as he brought it up, let's address it here: I hate it. The writers have nicely shaded Taylor's character so that she's not just some blonde ice queen. She knows Eli, she still cares, she's clever enough to take him to a George Michael concert. Jonny Lee Miller and Natasha Henstridge have chemistry, and while I like Maggie as a character, the love triangle feels clumsily tacked on. Later we'll see Maggie totally submit to Eli's apparent craziness, which jarred me even more. Eli needs to earn belief.
Besides, Maggie had no idea who Carole King was.
Anyway, Taylor and Eli are working together on the Solinsky case. Specifically, Arvin Solinsky (guest star James Remar) is gentrifying a neighborhood called Silver Terrace, but the low-income residents, including at one point Patti, don't want to move. Solinsky and the city have already offered the residents a settlement, which was rejected. That said, the Taylor-versus-Maggie rendition of Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move" was done very well, complete with earthquake effects.
Dr. Chen helps Eli realize the earthquake visions mean Silver Terrace will be destroyed by an earthquake. Helping Arvin win will actually remove the residents from harm's way. Naturally, nobody believes Eli, especially not Taylor or Patti. In fact, Patti takes the stand for the Silver Terrace residents, which makes me wonder whether that's a conflict of interest. Any lawyers want to weigh in?
Long story short, the judge approaches Eli and mentions how his son, a budding developer, sure would love to work with a pro like Arvin. Hello, bribery. Eli refuses, but next time we're in court the judge rules that he must enforce the city's eminent domain ruling, and the Silver Terrace residents are out. In a nicely understated scene with Taylor, we're left to infer Eli accepted the bribe in order to save lives. The problem? No earthquake. Eli finds Patti in a Silver Terrace church at the appointed time, but feels not so much as a tremble.
In the end, Eli confronts Chen: All of this, he says, really has just been his aneurysm. No greater good was served with the Solinsky case aside from greed, and our hallucinating hero resolves to have the aneurysm repaired or die trying. Wow. Mediocre episode totally saved by the final scene, an examination of faith versus proof with neither side clearly in the right. That's a lot of nuance for what's been a fairly optimistic series.
The Turk case: More yawns. In the end, Jason Turk's wife breaks spousal privilege on the stand, leading to a mistrial. Jason and his wife set it up. Why? Who knows? Dowd insists Jordan drop Turk as a client; Jordan agrees and names Dowd his new heir apparent instead of Eli. And... so? I hope that comes to bear at some point soon.
One last note: I fully expected Eli and Taylor to lose, the earthquake to strike and Silver Terrace to be destroyed in an earthquake. This show uses a very Old Testament definition of prophet, and when people ignored Lot or Moses, they were struck down (or turned to pillars of salt or deprived of their firstborn sons) with no hesitation. While it would've been intriguing to see lighthearted Eli cope with working for a jealous God, the loss of faith storyline has promise as well.
That said, next week Real George Michael returns!
I was deligthed with this episode and that final scene with Eli and Chen ... that was the best part of it ... this show has some great storylines in store if ABC renews it ...
Erwin | Mar 20, 2008 8:44:05 PM | #I agree with blogger in that it was a fairly poor ep with a great final scene (in fact all the scenes with Chen were the shows finest).
Rishi | Mar 20, 2008 11:24:20 PM | #I liked Patti's acting in the church. Very well done.
And the Maggie vs. Taylor "I Feel the Earth Move" bit was great.
Bryan | Mar 21, 2008 12:27:22 AM | #It's good to see a hallucination where it's not immediately apparent that it's not a hallucination. Now we don't have to shake our heads and ask "Why are you responding to it Eli?"
Speaking of the earthquake, perhaps it signified the judge's proposal, since Eli would have been on shaky ground for considering it... Or maybe the earthquake was to get Patti back to her old neighborhood (the one she abandoned years ago). Or am I just overthinking things?
The Maggie love triangle is actually starting to grow on me. Taylor makes logical sense, but Maggie is starting to make emotional sense. Her wide eyed naivete paired with Eli's dour cynicism makes for an interesting match up.
That last scene has been building up since the first hallucination. It's good to have it out there now.
Yossarian | Mar 21, 2008 7:02:01 AM | #I Love this show. Jonny Lee Miller is awesome. Thanks for a good blog Andy, but I disagree with your comments regarding Maggie. You can see it, she also has chemistry with Eli. I have faith in the writers and am curious to see where they are going with this.
Lynn | Mar 21, 2008 8:46:04 AM | #I really liked the scene where Maggie believed Eli, mostly b/c it made me see Eli in a new light. When she said she believed him, he was so emotional he teared up and made me realize how difficult all this is for him. First, he starts having crazy visions. Then he finds out it's from an aneurysm that could kill him at any time. Then he breaks up with the woman he loves. After that, he is demoted at work and loses the respect of his mentor. Finally he believes that these visions are from God, but he can't share this with the most important people in his life: his brother, Taylor or Pattie. Or when he trys to share, none of them believe him. He only has Chen, who is awesome, but who Eli has only known for a short time.
Lindlee | Mar 21, 2008 8:49:43 AM | #I have had a hard time with this how. I love JLM, and I think the performances are stellar. But, the characters are annoying. And the Turk case was a retread of one of John Larroquette's appearances on The Practice without the big reveal of why the discussion of immunity/double jeopardy was so important. I have either fallen asleep during each episode or just turned it off before the end.
The hard thing is that I want to like it.
Jen | Mar 21, 2008 10:22:26 AM | #"show" not "how"
Jen | Mar 21, 2008 10:23:09 AM | #I look at the earthquake relating to Patti's loss of faith since she stated she hadn't been in the chuch since the last time she prayed.
I bet future episodes will resolve this whole faith/no faith issue and this is just the start.
Roger | Mar 21, 2008 11:04:42 AM | #Got to have faith. The ratings are marginally up and this week for the first time it had the most viewers in its time slot. Low ratings but this show might make it yet to the 2008-2009 season.
Sasm | Mar 21, 2008 11:54:29 AM | #I also have to disagree with the Maggie comment. Ever since Maggie and Eli had their kiss, I've been much more interested in the show.
Eli and Maggie are much better than Taylor and Eli. Every episode including this one continues to prove that.
On a shallow note, I don't see the chemistry between Taylor and Eli. They really do NOT fit together visually AT ALL!!! UGH
yeah..i have to disagree with you..i like the maggie/eli thing going on. I think Taylor is a bitch, especially when she convinced the client to go on with the case. Maggie is innocent and beautiful and would go well w/ eli. they have more chemistry then him and taylor...and Jonny lee miller and Loretta Devine really pulled it out for this episode, which i don think was mediocre at all..
will | Mar 21, 2008 5:07:34 PM | #I just LOVE the show. It is my #1 show of all times and I hope it never goes off
Lawanda Perry | Mar 24, 2008 8:01:30 PM | #I love this show, and have from the beginning. I also missed a couple episodes (notably, the one where Eli and the paralegal kiss), but I still managed to love the show from episode one. I really hope it comes back next season (given the fact that Journeyman - another favorite - is not ever coming back). Catch it Download Elistone Free here
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