This week, Eli Stone teetered on the fine line between the poignant and the banal -- and got it right. If you made it to the end without at least flirting with the idea of tearing up, check your pulse.

It was a night for some fine, fine acting by Matt Letscher as Eli's brother Nate, and for the relationship between the brothers, which I find increasingly believable and nuanced. We begin the episode with a girl walking around in her underwear, while Eli sleeps. Way to get viewers' attention right at the top of the episode, guys. Turns out it's a vision -- and, Eli finds out later, what he's experiencing is Nate's life, 10 years ago.

The husband of a former patient of Nate's is suing him; Nate, the UNOS coordinator at his hospital, is in charge of prioritizing which patients are next in line for organ transplants. And he moved a sicker patient to the front of the list to get a new heart, ahead of the patient in question. Nate swears to Eli that he didn't do anything wrong, but he's clearly not telling all.

Then the vision comes back, prompting a visit to Dr. Chen, and a great line from Eli during their very awkward moment about the possibility that he's America's Next Top Prophet. It occurs to Eli that what he's experiencing are Nate's memories from the day their father died. Eli, two days from taking the bar exam, wasn't there.

In court, the patient's husband hypothesizes that Nate moved the other patient past his wife on the transplant list because she was an alcoholic. Uh oh. Yah, Nate didn't mention this part, and given their family history and their father's drinking, Nate's decision is looking pretty shady, regardless of what he says about maintaining his patient's confidentiality.

On the stand, Nate explains that he kept the woman's alcoholism off the UNOS form, because didn't want her to be denied a new heart. Opposing counsel raises the issue of Nate and Eli's father's alcoholism, and affadavits by Nate's friends and colleagues giving testifying to how much he hated it. Things are looking dark, when Eli's vision comes back (accompannied by George Michael's "Father Figure" in the background), and he learns that the car accident that led to their father's death was caused by a sudden heart attack, not drinking. There's a chance to save him with a heart transplant -- and Nate vetoes it.

Eli confronts Nate, and Letscher does a great job of not milking the anguish he's understandably been feeling all these years. Of course he thinks he killed his father. Of course he's holding himself responsible and calling all of the legitimate reasons for his decision just excuses. "Tell yourself that in the middle of the night when you can't sleep," he says sadly. It turns out that the patient asked Nate to reprioritize the list and told him that she was an alcoholic. She made him promise never to tell her husband, who she knew wouldn't understand.

Back in court, Eli calls a woman named Dina Allston to the stand -- not to ask her questions, but so the jury could see the woman who got the heart. It's important to remember that while there was a death, someone's life was also saved, he says. And the jury sides with Nate. 

While all this is going on, there's a somewhat interesting, if throwaway, B storyline case that thankfully keeps us from focusing too much on the fact that Dowd continues to pursue Taylor after their rendezvous. For a lawyer who presumably understands the ins and outs of sexual harassment, the guy is a talented harasser. Taylor tells him she wouldn't date someone her father would disapprove of, leading Dowd to discuss the possibility with Jordan in the most sad, transparent way ever. The look on Victor Garber's face is priceless, like he's trying to keep himself from gagging at the idea of his daughter with Dowd, and he talks to Eli about it. Predictably, Eli loses his mind about it, while at the same time getting weirdly jealous when he learns that Maggie got engaged. I get the purpose of the Taylor-Dowd storyine, and it's played nicely up until now, but I think it's waning. And in the name of all that's holy, can we please drop the Eli-Taylor-Maggie triangle?

What started this rigamarole was when Taylor, taking the lead chair in a divorce case, asks Maggie to work with her rather than Dowd. The case involves a wife who meets a man online and then arranges to meet him in person. And it turns out that ClooneyDouble32 is actually her husband. The husband alleges that she violated the fidelity clause in their prenup by arranging to meet someone not her husband. But since the guy she's meeting was her husband, did she really violate anything?  Do you like pina coladas?

Both husband and wife opine about how amazing it was to find this person online -- this person who resembles nothing about his/her spouse. Which ultimately prompts Taylor to recuse herself and Maggie, and force the husband's lawyer to recuse himself, for 72 hours while they work it out. "It's a big world -- these two people found each other not once, but twice," Taylor says. "I strongly encourage you to talk to each other. There's a reason you two keep falling in love." See, this is how you know this show is fantasy -- no real lawyer would do that.

Back to the end, and a terrific Stone brother moment in which Nate tells Eli he's not sure he should have the aneurysm removed. Something's happening to you, Nate says, and what you've seen is impossible unless it's beyond science. Eli confesses that he's been jealous that Nate got to say goodbye to his dad -- and then has a vision that allows him to finally bid farewell on his own.

What did you think? Do you think Maggie's engagement will stick? Will Matt and Taylor end up getting together? Should Eli go ahead with the surgery?

Comments

okay, i like the show, but it was a bit ridiculous that eli called up the dinah lady and essentially gave a closing. i'm no lawyer, but uh, i'm pretty sure that isn't allowed, although someone can correct me if i'm wrong.

tony | Apr 4, 2008 4:53:02 AM | #

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Yes! I immediately thought of the Pina Colada song!

Elizabeth | Apr 4, 2008 5:43:38 AM | #

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In the B case with the wife who supposedly cheated on her husband with her husband I was confused. At one point the other lawyer says that the prenup clearly states that the first one to cheat on the other loses everything in the divorce. So, why is it that the wife is at fault? Didn't the husband cheat on his wife at the same time? Am I overthinking this or is this just sexist?

I was also half-expecting Eli to walk into the middle of the street during one of his visions, narrowly missing a car driving by because he didn't see it. Anyone else?

Yossarian | Apr 4, 2008 6:38:47 AM | #

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The woman is put at fault because she asked the husband out first, which leads to the possibility that she will commit adultery after that.

Terrific episode, btw.

Sammy | Apr 4, 2008 7:18:56 AM | #

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Loved that last scene. Did you notice Nate's look when Eli said that at least he got to say goodbye to their father. Then Eli jumps back as Nate and their father says "Eli". So apparently he recognized Eli in Nate. I wonder if Nate's memories are the same and he knows that their father said Eli and not Nate when talking to him.

Either son could have said those same things to their father with different meanings.

Great episode altho I have to admit I kind of missed not having a dancing/singing Taylor and Maggie montage.

RKM | Apr 4, 2008 8:30:38 AM | #

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I absolutely loved this episode. It had a little bit of something for everyone. I would like to see Eli with Maggie and Taylor with Dowd. It was a lame scenario but Victor Garber was priceless. I have to admit that I did "tear up" several times.

Lynn | Apr 4, 2008 8:34:35 AM | #

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The dad can see the future, as Eli sees the past/future.

So I think the dad was speaking to Eli. Of course in that case Nate didn't understand why the father would have been addressing Eli to Nate at the time of his near death.

Jo | Apr 4, 2008 9:52:27 AM | #

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I had to watch this episode later than it aired, since it was on opposite Without a Trace, so I'm glad I did that before reading this, lol. Anyway, I've always liked Nate's character, a lot more than most of the other ones on the show (including, at times, Eli). I wish he could be on more often, and not just as the one running the various medical apparati and saying, "Here's what's physically wrong with your head," or something similar. There is a whole side of Eli that can be explored through his relationship with Nate, and I hope the writers take the opportunity to do so. As for the case, I make the same comment that I do for the show New Amsterdam: I think the court cases are merely glue that hold together the different, disparate elements of the rest of the show that wouldn't do well on their own. Sure, the cases are sometimes beyond unlikely in their presentation (this episode's is a prime example of that), but Eli Stone is a show about more than just legal matters, which is why we all seem to like it, even when it gets rather ridiculous and almost Cop Rock-ish in the plotting. I do hope that ABC gives this show another season, because there are many elements that have yet to be explored completely, and they need to be in order for the show to be fully appreciated. ABC needs to move it, though, because it'll likely get stomped by the other networks now that new shows are back. My only real complaint? As much as I like George Michael, it's time to find a different greatest hits collection from which to swipe vision-songs...Def Leppard or Pat Benatar perhaps? I can imagine Eli in the middle of a boxing match while "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" is playing in the background. Just as long as it's not a collection of Back Street Boys greatest hits; I just might have to jump ship then.

Dark Disciple | Apr 4, 2008 12:27:26 PM | #

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Dark Disciple, I'm getting so I can recognize your entries even before I see your name! Good point about the law cases just being "glue" to hold the various elements together. As such, I can overlook some of the more implausible actions.

No, I don't expect Maggie's engagement to "stick." No, I don't think Eli will go ahead with the operation. It's iffy anyway, and now even his brother is climbing aboard the "prophet" bandwagon.

meggins | Apr 4, 2008 1:22:07 PM | #

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Great episode!

But I think I need to jump ship now as the show's turning me evil...I seriously want an earthquake to hit Silver Terrace (or whatever it's called) and for some of Patty's friends to die so she can shove that attitude of hers!

Just kidding about not watching; I really do enjoy this show.

j | Apr 4, 2008 1:31:27 PM | #

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I just wish that the Matt Dowd character didn't exist. If that character wasn't a part of this show, it would be much better IMO. It seems like he bogs down the show everytime he appears. I know that they need someone to spar with Taylor and to make it seem like she has a romantic interest (other than Eli), but there is nothing there. To me his character is fake conflict rather than actual conflict. That is a pet peeve of mine in tv.

Rishi | Apr 6, 2008 3:08:59 AM | #

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Love the show!!! A+

Catherine | Apr 13, 2008 8:09:42 PM | #

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