Eli Stone: One More Try

A few episodes ago, Eli Stone had its best episode so far when it delved into darker territory with Eli's father. Every episode before and after that has been the same old song and dance, literally. In "One More Try," I was given the same exact series of events that drive every outing. But it's just getting worse. The visions aren't as mysterious (if they ever really were), the cases seem more ridiculous and the storytelling has yet to improve. Gone is the potential this series once had.

The episode started with Eli and Maggie arriving in Molokai, Hawaii. I was then cast back three days, left to wonder how and why the two lawyers ended up on the island. Unfortunately, the episode doesn't really make the Molokai trip a mystery. As soon as Eli mentions that a witness in a court case he has to retry disappeared five years earlier, it's easy to guess said witness might enjoy long walks on the beach. There's nothing to analyze with Eli's visions, nothing to interest anyone. He sees surfers on a beach; he eventually ends up on a beach with surfers. The visions are supposed to be guiding our hero, but in this episode, it was Maggie who tracked down the missing witness in Hawaii. Eli simply had an "Oh, yeah," moment when he put Maggie's work together with what he had been witnessing (gospel choir equals "Gospel of Surf"). Essentially, the visions were a complete waste, making the entire conceit of the program a complete waste.

Meanwhile, there are still all sorts of unbelievable character developments in the show. Eli's assistant Patti was still full of unexplained hatred for Taylor. Taylor, for some unexplained reason, was hired to work for her father's firm. Keith Bennet, the black lawyer hired by Jordan in the last episode, showed up for work this week, but unlike the loud, aggressive, pompous man I was first introduced to, he just became a background character. Without more explanation and development, watching Eli Stone becomes frustrating. Patti's hatred of Taylor is annoying without an explanation. Taylor's arrival only seems convenient for the writers as an easy way to keep her involved. And Bennet went from a slightly interesting character to a token.

Another ridiculous surprise this week was to suddenly see Matt Dowd thrown in as a character with his own storyline. Wait -- don't know who Matt Dowd is? He's the smarmy associate of Eli's who, up till now, has spent his time making wisecracks about Eli's odd behavior. In "One More Try," he was suddenly a character I was supposed to care about, with feelings and everything. The case he was given involved his ex-girlfriend, who is now a lesbian, fighting for shared custody of her soon to be born child with her ex-girlfriend, who is now a "heterosexual Jesus freak." But like every episode of Eli Stone, these interesting, oddball cases suffer from minimal screen time and weak writing, which make it impossible for them to ever make a full connection with the audience. There were a lot of tears and emotion as this case unfolded, but I couldn't have cared less.

Will Eli Stone ever go beyond this oversimplified formula of cheesy visions and case-of-the-week antics? By the looks of things, the answer is no. I just can't imagine that viewers will continue to tune in each week if the storylines and story structure remain so repetitive and unoriginal. The series needs a darker side. The series needs to bring back Tom Cavanagh. The series simply needs to get better.