Eli Stone: Father Figure
By fred | February 16, 2008
(S01E03) So I’m a bit late but here we go, we a new episode of Eli Stone. And as I said in the past weeks, I do like the show, and I do like Eli. The show isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad and I believe it’s still trying to find is voice, its own tone, and that’s not something that is always easy to do, it can take some time. One thing they got for them and that’s working just fine already, though, is their main character.
Regardless of the episode, the case, the stories, and what you think of them, forced to admit that that Eli is a really nice guy and you can easily see yourself spending about forty minutes a week around. But for that to work, we have to look at those cases and stories, because if they’re not good, that won’t work.
And so far… it’s not really there. The show is still quite flawed, and there’s lots of stuff that don’t really work. Although I have to say that, yes, some things got a little better already.
For starter, I liked how the visions happened this time. It’s not always the best, by that I mean it screams blue screen, but last week Eli’s reactions were completely stupid : he saw a little plane by the window while in a meeting with his boss, and yet jump to the floor screaming. Oh please! At least, this time he was completely “transported” into another world, he found himself in the middle of a war zone, with people fighting all around him and bombs exploding at his feet.
At least in such a place, it’s not hard to see why Eli would react to what he actually seems and hears. This was a nice improvement compared to last week over the way Eli react to his visions, but it’s still not perfect. For one, he doesn’t ever seem to be trying hard to fight them, even during his little gala. Secondly, those visions aren’t really helping. The way they give information about the case he has to take and what they give away, like the name of his (soon to be) client, doesn’t appear to be possibly random or coming from a brain aneurysm.
Something more subtle wouldn’t hurt. Also, I said in the past that if Eli were to go see his new Chinese friend each time he had a vision, so that he could put a little thing on his head and bang: Eli is reviving an old memory of himself, which happens to be somehow relevant to the current case/situation he’s facing, I said that if this was to happen regularly it would become old & boring real fast. Well, we’re there already : I’m bored during those scenes.
It seems that they have decided to make some casting change, as Eli broken up with his fiancée, because he loved her too much to put her through what his father put him through when he was younger. I don’t think I mind that much, since dating the daughter of the big boss wasn’t the best idea, and honestly those two didn’t share they greatest chemistry ever anyways.
In the mean time, they’re bringing back the old “girlfriend”, Beth, the first client from the pilot, and it could mean she would, somehow, become a new love interest for Eli. Despite all that ex-fiancée deal of his. Not sure how I’d feel about that, but what would be a good idea is to get ride of that stupid new associate they gave Eli, Maggie, and why not hire Beth instead. Oh sure, she’s no lawyer and couldn’t go to court, but let’s be real : neither can Maggie.
She’s was completely stupid last week, not even knowing she had to ask questions for instance, and I guess they were trying to have her be sweet, fun, light, and maybe even funny, but it’s absolutely not working. Seriously, get ride of her, please.
Back on the actual cases & stories. First of all, they’re not that great or compelling. It also feels a little that they’re trying to always go for some unusual case, ones that could create controversy. After the case of the vaccine that caused autism, the couple who thought they were Americans but were not, now they go for an army soldier who gets out of the Iraq mess because… her kid is a teenager.
And to mention again Ally McBeal, as this comparison has been done before : the problem with Eli Stone is that it’s too much of a regular legal procedural. It’s too much about the trials, and not enough about the characters. We don’t want another The Practice or any other legal drama, or dramedy, we want it to be different, to be more crazy, more fun, more special. And when we do go to court, it must be fun, like how it was when the Biscuit did his tricks or Richard, well, was Richard! Damn I miss him.
But this episode wasn’t bad, and if it keeps getting better and improving it could become a really nice show. Get ride of Maggie, get ride of Dr Chen, and change the way his visions “talk” to Eli, should be a good idea of where to start. For now I’m still sticking around, but if it doesn’t get better I might not…
