Eli Stone: Help

When last I left Wethersby, Stone & Associates, Patti’s daughter Angela was in a world of hurt for having cocaine show up on her blood test for her DUI. Now Eli has a vision – of Patti singing the infamous Beatles song, no less (and isn’t Loretta Devine amazing?) – that his assistant needs his help. Which she does, because as Patti tells him in the midst of freaking out, Angela has now been arrested on drug charges. Cue Keith making his unhappy face.

Keith, Eli and Patti rush to Angela’s aid to find out she’s being accused of having stolen some fentanyl from the hospital she studies at in order to sell it for cocaine. Angela insists up, down and backwards that she’s innocent, which Eli believes because his vision had Patti telling him literally “She’s innocent.” Keith, on the other hand, is pretty sure she’s guilty, ticking off everyone else in the process. How cool is it, though, to see more of Jason George this season? Another under appreciated supporting actor.

Meanwhile, Matt and Taylor have no clue what to do with themselves. After apparently having a breakthrough last episode, Taylor is back to pushing Matt away. As in, she refers to him as the “biological father” when he says “boyfriend” to the nurse at her sonogram. Ouch! The final straw comes when Matt pulls strings to get Taylor into a Seal concert (more on that in a sec) and when he says “I love you,” she just blinks at him. This, of course, makes Matt incredibly angry, and he gives Taylor a lecture about how he’s finally in touch with his feelings and honestly in love with her before he walks off. I hate to repeat myself, but how cool is it to see Matt Dowd, of all people, become a character I honestly want to root for?

And in the ‘C’ story, Taylor finds out that her father’s second marriage is now on the rocks when she gets the call about his corporate credit card. Seems Mrs. Wethersby hasn’t been too happy with Jordan’s change of heart this season and they’ve separated. One has to feel for Jordan after all he’s done, especially when almost everyone else seems to be finding love – Keith and Angela, Matt and Taylor, Eli and his mystery date at the end of this episode (um, no), and let’s not forget Nate and Beth Keller. Neither of whom are in this episode. Darn.

Maggie is conned by some new annoying lawyer into helping a rich corporate heiress set up a trust fund. Which would suck if said heiress didn’t know Heidi Klum, who happens to be married to Seal, who happens to be Taylor’s favorite musician…yep, you guessed it. That’s how Matt got tickets to the Seal concert and it’s how Taylor gets Seal to perform on the law firm balcony as her way of sucking up to Matt and proving she really does have feelings for him. Aww. It would be cuter if the writers hadn’t insisted on making Taylor’s dialogue such a dead giveaway that there was going to be a random Seal appearance.

Back in the main story, Angela says she only did coke once at a party and offers up some guy to prove it. While looking for that guy, Keith finds someone else: Angela’s dealer, who says she was trading the fentanyl for cocaine. She’s very clearly guilty, no matter what Eli’s vision says. When Patti finally confronts her daughter (three episodes in the making!) the two have a massive argument where Angela tells Patti that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Eli is confused until Jordan confides that Patti was once an alcoholic until he intervened. She never went to rehab, though, simply stopped drinking, and Jordan wonders if this might push her over the edge. Eli finds her at her old bar, and listens to her talk about how hard she pushed her daughter and how she blames herself. When Patti told him “she’s innocent,” she didn’t mean legally, but she meant that she blames herself for everything going on around her, and that’s why she needs Eli’s help.

The boys broker a deal for Angela that keeps her out of jail, even if she will have a hard road to get back to medical school. Matt and Taylor make up. Jordan…mopes. And in what seems like “we stuck it on the end of the episode because we ran out of time to do it properly,” Eli goes on a blind date with some woman named Ashley.

Eli Stone: The Humanitarian

Things have been pretty unusual for Eli and the rest of the people who didn’t fall on to the dark side, with the split of companies and all. So far this season, Eli didn’t really get a chance to work a “real” case and do so with the little help from above, since they clearly leave no doubt now that, at the very least in Eli’s mind, his visions are a direct message from God.

Eli has been having visions and he’s been in court, even though he was not always allowed to, but it was to help Jordan and ensure their new company would have a future. Now that this is done and everyone picked a side, they can slowly move into a new daily routine. Except that, here, it’s never that easy, and they don’t ever get such a thing.

So yes, Eli worked a “regular” case and yes, he had a vision about it. Three, in fact, three visions. But here’s the thing : turned out the visions weren’t premonitions to warn him that a fire was coming up (as I actually thought at first…), they needed a little interpretation : “stay away from that case” was the message.

That was a first, in two ways. First of all, his visions have never told Eli what he should not do, what he should stay away from, what cases he should avoid, his visions have on the contrary brought Eli to his cases and/or clients, they have guided him to ensure that what needed to be done would be done. This time, however, and for some undetermined reasons, they were telling him to back off. So I guess the visions are even more than ever reacting to what Eli does.

And now for the secondary effect : Eli, for the first time ever (unless I’m mistaken) decided to go against his visions. He knew what they meant, what he was “asked” to do, or not to do, but he decided that “God” must be wrong on that one, and that he would simply ignore the visions and take the case anyway. And he won, he won the case which resulted in the firm getting a very important client, which then led to other clients to join in.

This was more than welcome, because while they were struggling, the Empire was counting scores and they were clearly winning, 86 to 5. But now that Eli won, and did so while still managing to stand up to his client, because while pretending to have his son’s best interest in mind he was actually only thinking of himself, Eli was inspirational — the son now wants to get emancipated, and he’s turning to Eli for help.

This could be trouble, obviously. This could be trouble for the very young firm, and for Eli - since threats against his brother have clearly already been made. And with in mind the fact that Eli was told, with not one, not two, but three visions, to stay the hell away from this case in the first place… Well, this could be trouble. I don’t know what will happen next, what will Eli do, but it sure sounds interesting.

Meanwhile, many fillers and boring subplots. For starter, but Jordan bursting into a song didn’t really do it for me, and got a little long on the side. Anyways, while she’s not the excruciating pain she used to be last season, I really couldn’t care less about Maggie not fitting in at the new place and whatnot.

Just like Taylor and Matt having problems, all the while he doesn’t know that she happens to be pregnant, makes me sleepy. And if I was happy to finally see Keith get something to do this season (I mean did he do anything before that??) I soon saw it vanished, when it turned out that he only got a bogus case so that he could start dating Patty’s daughter. Butter knife or not, this failed to be good. (Side bar: how old are they ? She seemed quite younger than he is, no?)

I can only hope the addition of cocaine to the mix is there to make things interesting, though I’m not sure it really will be.

Eli Stone: Should I Stay or Should I Go

And here I was, thinking I might hear The Clash during this episode… Anyways. If there is one thing I’ve always praised when it comes to this show, it is change. Changes are usually not a common thing on TV, you don’t often see any real change in the life of a show, but on Eli Stone changes are pretty much the rules. Everything is always changing and evolving, and not always the way you think it would.

Of course the major changes going on at the moment, are the separation of Jordan and his former partners, and the new firm he is now creating, with Eli as a full partner. Seems that Eli will be his successor after all. And as I expected, during the split every employee is being pursued by Posner, not only because theyare great lawyers, but also to hurt Jordan.

Some choices seemed pretty obvious, and as the episode was moving forward it looked like, indeed, Maggie would obviously stay, just like Matt could eventually decide to do the same after all. And he was actually convincing, both in that he actually cared for this case he was working with Eli, and that he really was affected and wanted to win it and help those people, and also in that it affected him to much and he didn’t want to do that anymore, didn’t want to live with loosing cases such as this one.

So far I used to think of him as mostly a jerk, and I never really understood what Taylor saw in him, but for the first time I think he actually looked like a nice human being. That’s the Eli effect I guess.

I was shocked to see Eli working on this case. Not because of the case or anything, but because it seemed to be the first time maybe ever since he got his aneurysm, and the related visions, that Eli was working a “regular” case. Usually he has visions, visions that lead him to the case, tell him which case to take or how to win it.

But this time, Eli’s visions seemed to be all about Maggie, and not the case. Eli cares about her for some reason, and he really didn’t want her to leave. Turned out his visions actually caused her to leave, and were at the same time - and in some quite twisted way - related to the case Eli was on. About Eli, Maggie, marriage. I did see a future with the two of them together last season, but this season also introduced the idea that all of Eli’s visions, unlike what I first saw and his dad’s, Eli’s visions might never come true.

The whole “Live Brave” could very well never happen now, because Eli changed something. Just like his visions made him do what he was trying to prevent - Maggie turning to the dark side. Now while I guess I can see why Eli cares for Maggie, even though it would have to be more superficial than anything, I mean she might have believed him first, but she was also a real incompetent PITA, really.

Which bring me to question why did Posser hire her ? I know, as she said, he wanted to hurt Jordan and Eli, and he knew grabbing Maggie would probably do just that. But it’s not like Maggie was Patty, it’s not like Eli really relied on her all that same. Plus, they offered her a lot, senior associate and a raise, and still working on cases she wants to, all that to hurt Eli & Jordan ?? Because, while this season she actually behaved, last season she was clearly awful, she didn’t know anything about anything, she didn’t know how to question a witness, nothing.

Really, it was hard to believe she was actually allowed to be in court, because anyone who graduated, just to get your diploma, you had to know more about law than she did. So it seemed to be a bit much for them to go that far, but what do I know.

Now it seems the the new company will have a lot less people around. Of course Eli, Jordan, Taylor and Patty are still there, but we know Matt and Maggie left. It wasn’t really clear, but I’m assuming Keith did stay with Jordan, and maybe will get something to do as a result of it? What’s for sure is that changes went down, this is a new start for Eli & co, and I’m really curious as to what will come next. What’s great is that because everything is always changing, you never really know what to expect from this show.

For a while now, Eli hasn’t been having his usual visions, linked to a case he got really involved in. There was Jordan being sued, loosing his company, the split and everyone leaving, but now that all of this is done, it will be interesting to see how things will actually evolve.

Eli Stone: Unwritten

Wow.

There are always shows that promise big payoffs, emotional moments, episodes that can’t be missed. Rarely do those actually occur; the good parts get given away in commercials, or the twist ending you saw coming a mile away, or it’s no big deal after all. Since the beginning of the season (only two episodes before this, believe it or not) the writers of Eli Stone had been teasing us with the idea of big changes ahead. They definitely delivered on that promise.

Eli and Taylor are arguing over whether or not Jordan should take the stand at his competency trial. Jordan agrees with Eli that this is a bad idea. It seems Jordan agrees with Eli about everything, which miffs Taylor, but at least they seem to be getting along. Not so for Taylor and Matt, because Matt suggests that having his own daughter defend him is going to make Jordan’s case look biased, and that she doesn’t have to take the case to make her father proud of her. There’s the Matt Dowd I know and vaguely like, but Taylor doesn’t seem thrilled.

The next day, Eli’s not thrilled because Nate’s been poking around in their dad’s journal again. He wants him to help one of his patients, whose name he found in the journal. Apparently their lead paint liability case is supposed to go all the way to the Supreme Court, which never happens. Eli says he’s too worried about Jordan’s trial. Yet God decides to tell him to clear his calendar: he gets a nightmarish vision of Matt, now working at Posner & Klein, telling him he just got beaten senseless at Jordan’s hearing. The vision is enough to make him quit as Jordan’s counsel, which makes everyone unhappy. Except for maybe me the viewer, because I get to see more of Keith this episode and Keith is awesome.

You know who else is awesome? Dr. Chen. He tells Eli to stop freaking out about his dad’s journal and manages to get it away from him. So Eli takes the lead paint case and I find out why these cases don’t work: with multiple layers of paint in a building it’s impossible to determine which manufacturer actually made the paint that caused the illness. He decides he’ll just sue all of them. Except he doesn’t know how.

Keith and Taylor aren’t having much luck with Jordan’s hearing. While Taylor kicks butt by bringing up past good deeds her father has done, she ends up having to cross-examine her own stepmother (makes me wonder what happened to her mother?), who admits that Taylor told her she was concerned about Jordan. Oops. Jordan is not happy and decides like it or not, he’s going on the stand anyway. He goes back to the office, which leads to the most awesome scene ever.

Eli wants to explain to Jordan why he quit Jordan’s case, but Jordan doesn’t want to hear about visions considering his entire world is falling apart around him. Victor Garber basically rips out my heart and tears it into little tiny pieces as I saw a very proud man at his lowest point. He wants to blame Eli, but Eli tells him that it was his decision to do what he did without them really talking about it first, and they argue. It’s leaving his mentor’s office that Eli has a vision of how he’s going to win his case. Thankfully he’s not on Jordan’s case because Posner wants to blame Eli for making Jordan nuts, since Eli admitted in the premiere that he talks to God.

Jordan takes the stand in his trial and talks about how he used to be a different person. He’s wielding this cocktail napkin he found while talking to Keith, on which he and his two fellow partners wrote their mission statement thirty years ago. Something about the public good. Yeah, that’s not true anymore. As Posner and Klein squirm and look genuinely chagrined Jordan tells the court he’s going to make that napkin relevant again. Never since The West Wing have I felt so much love toward a napkin.

Everything seems to work out in the end, almost: Jordan is declared sane, but he loses the backing of the WPK board and as such, his partnership. Not that he cares, because he’s going solo. Eli’s clients take an offered settlement that will pay all their bills, and Eli sneakily suggests to another attorney that he look into the case. Namely, with Jordan and his new firm. And oops, seems Jordan’s the only one whose name is on the title to the offices, so really it literally is his firm. Touche. Not to mention he makes Chen proud by burning his dad’s journal. He’s better off without it.

There’s one last hitch, though: in his last vision, Eli does in fact see the new attorney taking the lead paint liability case to the Supreme Court, but he sees Maggie…working for Posner & Klein, representing the bad guys! This is like that episode of The Simpsons where Homer accidentally changes the world because he sneezed in the past. Eli is shocked. (I’m not, really, because the camera totally gives away that she’s standing on the wrong side of the courtroom way before she opens her mouth.)

Eli Stone: Grace

Well I think we all know what the big to-do was regarding this whole episode: Mrs. Tom Cruise. If she wasn't married to Tom Cruise, I can guarantee you that there wouldn't have been nearly as big of a deal made about a former star of Dawson's Creek appearing on Eli Stone. Certainly she didn't make herself into an international sensation with her performance on Batman Begins. Hell, she was replaced in that for the sequel.

So how did Mrs. Tom Cruise do? Well, I won't say that she brought a whole new level of magic to the show, because it has plenty of that already. But she proved a nice diversion, and not too distracting from the ongoing plotlines. From her opening musical number, in which she performed very well, to the final moments on-screen with Eli, she showed quite a range of talent. Maybe Tom will let her out of the compound more often to get some more acting gigs. She should remind him that's what she did before she became Mrs. Tom Cruise.

Legal Motions

In the end, I'm not going to say that I completely understand the point of Eli's vision, or of Nathan's actions in response to his dad's notebook. I guess Dad knew Nathan would find the notebook at just the right time and then wanted him to send Grace the ticket but not tell Eli about it. Man, Dad's visions were a helluva lot more specific (and far reaching) than Eli's. Maybe Eli's will grow with time.

The continuing evolution of Jordan Weathersby is interesting to watch. I fully expected him to get huge resistance from the rest of the partners, especially Posner and Klein, and it was great to see Katey Sagal back in that latter role. It's such a turnaround from how Jordan's character started last year, and it seems to have come upon him so abruptly I can certainly see how they'd think he'd lost it. I'm not even sure he hasn't.

Isn't it a shame that no matter how many times Eli proves himself to Taylor, by the very next episode she's resisting everything he says or does or thinks. At least he has Maggie in his corner. Poor guy.

The "visions" have been tremendously toned down this season thus far, as have been the extravagant musical numbers. Is it a budget issue or a modification of the direction of the show? Maybe less visions and more traditional legal maneuverings is on the horizon. Personally, I hope not because as goofy as some of them could be, it was those visions that really made Eli, and Eli for that matter, stand out. In fact, the case that was at the center of this week's episode was pretty mundane.

Ultimately, I'll say Grace was a bittersweet presence for Eli Stone. I'm not sure that I buy into the notion that they were just there to show the other that happiness was still possible for people like them. I think I'd have rather them choose an actress with some more availability than Mrs. Tom Cruise and actually give Eli a relationship for awhile. They could always kill her off if they wanted to move in a different direction.

Eli Stone: The Path

So there were no doubts about what show I was watching, the new season of Eli Stone kicked off with a huge musical number. Okay, actually it started with Eli in a therapist's office talking to guest star Sigourney Weaver, revealing that it's been six months since his surgery and that the aforementioned dance number was the first time he'd heard singing and music like that since.

I kind of liked the approach of filtering my catch-up on Eli's life through his therapy session. But since this is Eli Stone, things aren't always as they appear to be. What is as it appears to be is the fact that Eli Stone is returning to the prime-time lineup in fine fashion. Some of you may recall that I wasn't gushing with praise about this show last season, but I really feel that it's found its feet and evolved into a pretty good little show. I even found myself *gasp* caring about what happened to various characters throughout tonight's episode.

So therapy sessions with Sigourney Weaver were a whole new form of delusion for Mr. Stone. Or is she really God's fiduciary? And his sessions with her set up a whole new layer to the show. If Eli is an appointed visionary, it makes perfect sense that when he removed the aneurysm from his brain, effectively "quitting," they'd look for a suitable replacement. Whoever "they" is. And why not like right next door.

I don't know why, and I certainly didn't see it coming, but I absolutely loved seeing Eli's brother Nathan have a vision. I thought Eli's vision at the open of the episode had signified that he didn't need an aneurysm to have them, but maybe that was induced by Sigourney? However short-lived it was a great dynamic for Eli's skeptical brother to have a chance to experience the life disruptions he put up with last year.

It's also nice to see that Eli's inspiration and presence at the firm is going to continue poisoning Jordan Wethersby. By poisoning, I mean turning him for the better. Now if only I could stop being distracted by his weirdly "car door open" left ear. I'm sure the ramifications of his having abandoned the bank meeting and insulted their management will create new challenges for him at the firm and with his daughter.

I'm envisioning a struggle throughout this season between the forces of good (Stone, Maggie and Jordan) and the forces of stereotypically evil lawyers (Matt, Taylor and Posner). Considering that the firm has been performing so much on the dark side over the years, this could be disastrous for Eli and Jordan. And I won't commit to which side Matt and Taylor will utlimately sit on, but they've been strangely resistant to long-term change for the better thus far.

Snippets

Post-surgery, post-visions, Patti gave Eli an MP3 player so he could hear music while he worked. A very sweet gesture as well as a statement of what side of Eli she preferred. It's easy to forget what kind of a guy he used to be.

So Dr. Chen is in the smoothy business now. Acupuncture chased down by a delicious fruit smoothy. Feel the fruity goodness seeping out of hundreds of tiny little holes all over your body. Huh, I guess it could work.

I know it's not politically correct to say so, but Ms. Henstridge looks like she's put on a little weight during the off-season.

The door was left open for Ms. Weaver to return in the role of God's fiduciary, or whatever I'll decide to call her, and I hope they let her walk through it again. It adds a depth and sense of purpose and plan to the visions. It gives me something to try and work out between episodes.

George Michael doesn't have a song named "The Path." Just another example that the show appears to be evolving into something more this season.

It is annoying that after so many visions and predictions proven true over and over again last season, nobody believes Eli still.

I wanted to see Posner's reaction to the fact that Eli was right. He's just one of those personalities you want to rub it in over and over again.

Eli never got his license to practice law renewed. And then he practiced law. Wonder if they'll follow up on that. In the end, Eli made a deal with Sigourney Weaver, or God, to take the aneurysm and the visions back. It's a little disappointing that I won't get to see the visionary brothers Stone, but it does look like I'm going to see Eli and Jordan on some kind of crusade. After all, Jordan told Eli, "I know what we have to do now."

I'm pleased to see this show reaching out to become something more than what it was. It was a nice little gem at mid-season last year and due to the strike it was one of the few "new" shows on the air.

Eli Stone: Waiting for the Day

What the hell? Did I really just see what I thought I saw on Eli Stone? The entire episode was predicated on Eli having a vision that if it were to come true, would be catastrophic. He sees the Golden Gate Bridge destroyed when an earthquake hits San Francisco. This isn't the first time he's seen this kind of destruction, but the last time nothing happened. So, then, what am I to make of the fact that this time around, it really does! Like I said, is this really real?

Seriously, what happened in this episode suggests that this is the penultimate moment for Eli Stone, the character and the series. Everything is building to Eli having the surgery to remove the aneurysm that's supposedly causing all his sensory hallucinations next week. Eli meets with the surgeon and is advised to get his affairs in order. With just a 50-50 chance of surviving or becoming a vegetable, Eli asks Matt -- who now calls himself "The Dowd" -- to write his living will. When Taylor finds out and insists that nothing will happen to Eli, he tells her he doesn't want to be Terri Schiavo'ed, hence the documents. Patti learns that if Eli dies, she gets all his George Michael CDs.

Unable to get anyone to believe his visions, Eli turns to Dr. Chen. He alerts Eli to Dr. Daniel Foote who claims to have a machine that determines earthquakes. His forecast coincides with Eli's vision, so Eli takes Dr. Foote's claim to court to get the city to close the Golden Gate Bridge for that time of the quake. Eli winds up facing Marci Klein, Jordan's nemesis at W.P.K., who is determined to win in court and make Eli look ridiculous -- which in turn will prove to the partners that Jordan's faith in Eli is ruining the reputation of the firm. By getting Maggie, who was second chair with Marci, to testify against Eli, Ms. Klein wins in court. Before the partners, Jordan speaks eloquently about humanity and the need for an Eli Stone in every business. Still, when the votes are counted, Marci wins and Jordan is ousted as managing partner.

Even though the judge rules against Eli and Foote, a representative of the city tells them that the mayor is a believer. The bridge will be closed -- just in case. Eli pleads with his co-workers to have faith in him and leave the 22nd floor offices and go to Golden Gate Park where they will be most likely to survive The Big One. Some do, the partners don't, and just as Jordan gets the news that he's been trounced, the quake hits and glass shatters all around. A beam crashes to the conference table and he asks for a re-vote, having been proven right about Eli.

At Golden Gate Park, Eli, Nate, Patti, Dr. Chen and Maggie (plus her cute fiance, Scott), watch as the Golden Gate Bridge collapses in two! And that's that. This was a 6.8 quake on the Richter scale and all they showed was the bridge collapsing (thank you, CG effects) and some rubble in the office. Where was the devastation? Where was The Big One in Silver Terrace? For all the build-up, nobody's hair got mussed! I realize this is episodic TV, not a feature, but please -- if you're going to make it real, make it real. I was left with a big 'what the hell?' I guess we'll find out next week.

Other Points of Interest:

There was no music in this episode. No joyful song. No clues in the lyrics. Nada. Zip. I missed it.

Why was there no connection to the last episode's messianic show? If you had a vision of a possible future where you're leading a cause, with the message to Live Brave beating in your head, wouldn't you be thinking about it? Eli didn't even bring it up.

There was carryover from the last episode in The Dowd and Taylor. He finally got a dinner date with her and proceeded to act like a jerk. It was fun to see Eli choose him to do the living will because he wanted a lawyer with an "utter lack of humanity."

Jordan really went to bat for Eli. He referred to himself as being "made of Kevlar." That appeared to be so after the earthquake left him unscathed. He also had a good scene with Eli, letting him know that Eli's weird cases have been allowed because of Jordan's good graces. He used the phrase, "at my pleasure," like Eli was his servant. Very imperious. Very Jordan.

When Eli speaks to his co-workers, he says of himself that he's the lawyer with the hole in his head and an inappropriate song in his heart

Eli's feelings for Maggie are getting complicated. After giving her a frame as an engagement gift (Patti bought it), Maggie puts a picture of Scott in it and Eli recognizes that Scott was driving the cab in Eli's vision of the bridge collapse. After losing in court, Eli implores Maggie to believe his prediction of destruction and save herself and Scott. To convince her that he knows Scott's involved, he uses the pet name Scott has for Maggie -- "Macaroni."

I like Katey Sagal as Marci Klein, but she's really coming off as too much the Wicked Witch. She needs to have something else going for her besides proving Jordan wrong. Was she telling the truth about a past affair with him? Her manipulation of Maggie was predictable. Hell, Eli warned Maggie that Marci would use her against him, and Marci did.

Nate should have been with Eli when he met with the surgeon. I'd want my M.D. brother with me when I'm planning on having brain surgery.

Eli Stone: Patience

Wow! What an episode. Well, not the whole episode; the last two minutes. For the first time on Eli Stone, I got a glimpse of where the visions may be taking Eli. Also, if the vision of the future he had is on target, then the thing in his head, the aneurysm, is either not fatal as I've been told, or -- perhaps -- Eli will have the surgery and live many more years. At least until 2018. That's if I'm to believe that the vision he had is the real future...

But first let's talk about the "Patience" episode. I'm not really loving that title, but I guess it makes sense when you think about the totality of the show. Eli has one of his sensory hallucinations and finds himself in Times Square, New York City, in the middle of a huge rally. People are chanting a theme, "Live Brave," and there are signs and banners promoting the Live Brave movement. The man at the microphone is named David Mosely and he's being cheered.

Eli follows the clues in the vision and discovers that David Mosely is a prisoner in Tipton Bay, a correctional institution rife with organizational abuses. Teaming with Keith Bennett, the WPK criminal lawyer -- who happens to have been Mosely's attorney ten years ago when the prisoner refused to heed his advice and wound up doing hard time -- Eli takes on David's case. The bad man in the center of all this is Warden Brown and with the help of Maggie and the unnamed legal clerks in the firm, as well as another clue from the vision, Eli finds the one man who can expose the warden's abuse of power and tyranny, Daryl Rhodes. In the end, however, David's parole is denied by the Governor, so he has to have patience and wait another year for a new parole review. Hence the title.

Eli is pulling all kinds of long hours working on the Tipton Bay Prison hearing, all pro bono which ticks off Marci Klein -- Klein as in Wethersby, Posner and Klein. She appears from the London office to needle Jordan about how he's running the office, in particular, letting Eli do all this free legal work and scaring off the big money clients. Jordan refuses to be intimidated by Marci, but she announces that she's taken office space on the 20th floor and plans to monitor the situation more closely. Oh goodie.

Meawhile, Patti coaxes Eli who connives a way to get Matt and Taylor to represent the rights of two gay chimpanzees -- Steve and Pete -- who have been forced to live apart at the zoo by anti-gay-chimp activists. Silly storylne; cute chimps. 'Nuff said.

The real kick in the head was the last two minutes, as I said. Eli sees the vision one more time and discovers that David Mosely is not the speaker at the event. He is there to introduce Eli Stone as the man behind the Live Brave movement. It's Eli who's the prophet. Eli kisses Maggie and their child, then takes the stage to thunderous applause. Oh my, does this mean, is this true? Is Eli meant to change the world? Who can say -- I'm left to speculate. Wow.

Other Points of Interest

-- The silly chimp story was kind of sweet, and they acknowledged that it was silly. Still, Matt vamped a very funny defense, citing Chimpanzee Torte Protection (CTP).

-- Chemistry between Eli and Maggie is definitely brewing, but I liked that he tried to push her away and back to her Ohio fiance. You gotta love a guy that noble.

-- Keith is a character with mucho integrity. He reaches out to David Mosely, offering to help him get the parole by teaching him the law.

-- For a guy who's worked 36 hours straight, Eli should have looked a little bedraggled, maybe in need of a shave. Unbutton that collar, man.

-- Taylor was impressed by Matt enough to give him a chance to take her out to dinner at the most exclusive restaurant in the Napa Valley. A ballbuster till the end, that girl. Matt was less smarmy this week.

-- No George Michael music. No brother Nate.

-- Dr. Chen is feeling neglected.

-- The first shots of David Mosely (David? Moses? Biblical connections to leaders) were done in silhouette, so all you saw was an African-American man being cheered by a huge throng. It looked a lot like Barack Obama at his rallies.

Eli Stone: Heartbeat

The title of this episode was called "Heartbeat" because Eli's case involved a heart transplant -- two actually -- but "Reflections" might have been more appropriate. Eli awakened in Nate's body and continued to find himself reliving his brother's life ten years before. And not on just any day, but the day that their dad died.Overall, this was a particularly interesting episode because it seemed to lay the groundwork for where Eli Stone is going. Since it's likely that the show is going to be renewed, the prospect of Eli getting that surgery, which may correct the aneurysm that's causing his visions, may not be happening after all.

Picking up the threads from the previous episodes, Maggie returned from her trip home and everybody could see that something was different about her, everyone but Eli. Of course, when he finally did see the change -- the engagement ring on her finger from an unseen fiance -- it was at the same time he was freaking out about Taylor having slept with Matt. I don't know who was more freaked about that really, Eli or Jordan. Neither of them want Taylor with Matt, and Taylor is saying she doesn't want another interlude with him, too. But in a scene in which Matt seemed to be channeling Arnie Becker from L.A. Law, he was sure that Taylor's no was really just her way of saying yes.

But the more important story was Eli's legal case: defending Nate from a man whose wife had died when she was passed over for a heart transplant based on Dr. Stone's decision. With Eli jumping into the past and reliving Nate's life ten years before, he discovered that Nate had had a similar case and made an eerily similar choice, when their father was in the hospital and dying. It turns out that he didn't die in a car crash like Eli thought; he'd had a heart attack. When given the chance to accept a heart transplant for Mr. Stone, Nate chose to let someone else have the heart because the old man was an alcoholic and likely never to stop drinking.

Did Nate make the same choice about Karen Masters, his patient who had died when she didn't get a new heart, because she was also an alcoholic? Interesting question, but the answer was a bit of a cop-out. In confidence, she had told Nate to give the heart to a more worthy candidate. Only after Eli proves to him that he knows about their father's transplant opportunity, does Nate explain that he didn't tell Eli the whole truth about Karen so as not to betray her confidence. Very noble, but considering the fact that his career was on the line, I think he would have told Eli anything and everything to save his ass.

Nate is duly impressed with the accuracy of Eli's flashbacks/revelations/sensory hallucinations to the point that he envies the fact that his brother has an aneurysm. Okay, maybe not the ailment, but the ability that Eli has acquired. The show keeps dancing around what is actually happening to Eli. Even Dr. Chen is running out of ways to explain what the visions/memories/whatevers mean. Between you and me, I love the mystery. It makes the show more delectable not knowing what it's all about. And I think that's why he's not going to risk losing this thing by having the operation.

Other Points of Interest:

George Michael was heard when Eli first goes to the hospital (as Nate) to see Dad. The song is "Father Figure," and when Eli recognizes it on the elevator, he says, "So not in the mood for this."

Great scene between Jordan and Matt when the latter discusses his romance with Taylor, referring to it as a hypothetical case involving Parent Co. and his subsidiary Daughter Inc. who may be contemplating a merger. The look on Victor Garber's face was priceless. When he says Parent Co. would crush any attempt at a merger, he reminded me of the Jack Bristow in Alias at his most lethal.

Nice touch with the ancient cell phone from ten years ago. But the cover of the newspaper showing Princess Diana's death as a time marker? That was tacky.

The wrap-up of Nate's case was kind of obvious. Eli brings in the woman who received the heart transplant instead of Karen Masters, basically saying that Nate made a difficult choice that doctors must make all the time. The jury agrees that Nate did not act with malice and they find in is favor. It was a tidy ending, but it was a good twist that Howard Masters refused to let Nate off the hook. He wished Nate the pain he's still feeling.

Taylor and Maggie teamed up on the "B" story, a couple accusing each other of infidelity when they meet online anonymously and plan an assignation at the Fairmont Hotel. It was essentially the story in "The Pina Colada Song" -- you know, by Rupert Holmes? "If you like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain..." Like I said, silly.

Patti is being seriously underused. She got off a good line when Eli said the messages he's been getting may be from God. She asked if God looks like Morgan Freeman or George Burns?

Hopefully, this won't be the last of Tom Cavanagh as Mr. Stone. It could be because of the closure thing, but I would prefer seeing more of him in other flashes. The way things are going with Eli, he could be flash forwarding soon and find Dad there in some reincarnated form.

When Nate said that Eli should re-think the surgery, he said that what his brother was going through may not be medical. He described Eli's ailment as "beyond science." I liked that; we may be heading to Twilight Zone territory.

Eli Stone: I Want Your Sex

This epsidoe I was asked to believe that A) George Michael would bother getting involved with a teenage girl expelled from school for disrupting an assembly, and B) that there would ever be a court case as ridiculous as the judge taking his son to court to force him to donate bone marrow. I'll start with the bone marrow case.

First, the character of the judge is incredibly unlikable. Still, the tone of the episode was asking the viewers to feel sympathy for the guy and see his point of view. That was impossible. He was a complete jerk, he abandoned his son when he was two and his only reason for taking his kid to court was because, as the judge stated it, "I want to live." What a selfish man. Regardless of this fact, the episode never actually set up why such a case would even be legal. And if they did and I missed it, it just goes to show how poorly the legal stuff comes across in this show. At no time did I ever believe this case would ever actually take place, which eliminated all the drama. When the presiding judge declared that there was no legal precedent to force one person to give their body parts to another, after the lawyers closed their arguments, I nearly shouted "No s**t," to the television screen. This was a complete waste of a B storyline.

Not that the A storyline was any better. The series obviously has a thing for George Michael. Eli's first vision was of the singer, the episodes are all titled with a George Michael song and he's already made two guest appearances. Finally given a major guest role, the singer did fine playing himself. George Michael, after a prolific dream, hired Eli to help get a high school student reinstated after being expelled for disrupting an abstinence seminar by playing Michael's "I Want Your Sex."

I was expected to accept that George Michael had this vision leading to Eli and then… that's it. No further investigation by Eli, no questioning what happened in the dream. After such a huge statement like that you'd expect… something! Instead, it was simply stated, accepted and everyone moved on. Hard to believe.

The episode threw in plenty of extra stuff, like Matt Dowd's one night stand with Taylor, and Nate dating Beth, Eli's old college flame from the first episode. Slightly entertaining was Jordan's "fan boy" behavior around George Michael. Less entertaining was the message the episode tried to get across about sex education in the schools and how great America is and goodness knows what else George Michael was talking about. But even with all the added material, I can't get past the fact that as I'm watching Eli Stone, I find it to be the most unrealistic show about a man experiencing visions from God that I've ever seen.

Eli Stone: Praying for Time

In "Praying for Time," Eli's day started with a vision of a terrible earthquake. This had the potential to be the most interesting vision so far in the series. After all, Eli does reside in San Francisco, a city known for its temblors, and an earthquake is a far more realistic threat than, say, a fire-breathing dragon. Unfortunately, the episode did little with the realism of the hallucination, instead inserting a silly song and dance with the crumbling walls. Eventually, with the help of some needle time with Dr. Chen, Eli was able to revisit his initial vision and discovered that Silver Terrace, a run-down section of San Francisco, was going to be completely destroyed by an earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale.

At the same time, Eli was representing a wealthy real estate developer who had legally gained the rights to evict the residents of Silver Terrace and erect skyscraper condominiums and shopping areas. The Silver Terrace residents, however, were taking the real estate developer to court in an attempt to keep their homes. Here's where things got ridiculous. Eli interpreted his vision as a sign from God to win his case as quickly as possible so the Silver Terrace residents would be removed from their homes and be elsewhere when the earthquake hit. He came to this conclusion with no knowledge of when said earthquake was actually going to take place. This bothered me for the remainder of the episode because all I could think about was the fact that more people would be in danger if the earthquake hit after the high-rises were built and occupied and the streets of Silver Terrace were filled with shoppers. But this was never acknowledged as a possibility.

Continuing down a path of the convenient coincidences this show is famous for, turns out Eli's former assistant Patti grew up in Silver Terrace. This was supposed to give the situation some added drama, but since Patti hadn't even visited Silver Terrace in quite some time, it only stuck out as a silly attempt at drama.

Meanwhile, in what seemed like an entirely separate television series, the case of baseball player Jason Turk came to an end. The case had finally reached the courtroom, and after several scenes of examinations and cross examinations, Turk's wife lied about being coached into revealing confidential information which led to a mistrial assigned with double jeopardy. It was all generic courtroom stuff that's been done to death (and better) in the hundred or so lawyer shows that came before it.

By episode's end, convinced he needed to kick these poor people out of their homes to save their lives, Eli made an unethical arrangement with his client and the judge's son. If not for the mish-mash of ideas that came before it -- including the poorly conceived plotline with Maggie -- this was an interesting twist. After committing his breach of ethics, and after no immediate earthquake occurred to convince him he did the right thing, Eli became fed up with his visions and declared he would find a surgeon who could remove his inoperable aneurysm. I'll see how that goes.

Eli Stone: Heal the Pain

Eli Stone continued on its path of providing middle-of-the-road entertainment, and it did so with an episode that was actually halfway decent. Not that there was anything extremely different about it, just that there were less things to be annoyed with in this installment. The visions actually directed Eli to make certain choices and the case offered up some more great chemistry between the lead and Maggie Dekker. Unfortunately, the baseball murder case, which just isn't as interesting as the writers seem to want me to believe, has become a continuing storyline.

The big vision was a giant fire-breathing dragon tormenting Eli, first in his closet and later on the city streets. It wasn't long before I learned the vision's connection to the real world. A 15-year-old boy asked Eli to help him make a malpractice case against a Dr. Agon. Get it? "DrAgon." Seeing the name, Eli immediately agreed to take the case, even though the likelihood of winning was almost nonexistent. Though possibly a little too straightforward, a vision like this is at least better than some I have seen where it's a stretch to make any sort of plausible connection to the real world. Later in the episode, a white knight protecting Eli from the dragon turned out to be his brother Nate. Again, a little too spot on, but at least it directed Eli to his brother who then gave him information to help break the case.

The case itself, as has been the norm for Eli Stone, was fairly black and white. A doctor had done wrong and a hospital had covered it up. There was never any doubt that Eli and Maggie would bring out the truth. But while the case was rather bland, watching Eli and Maggie working together continued to be a treat. This episode in particular gave the pair a lot to play with by having Maggie as lead counsel while Eli, as a silent second chair, was pulling all the strings. I wasn't thrilled with the surprise kiss when the case was won, however. Clearly their chemistry has been building with each episode, but a slow burn of a relationship would have added more depth to the couple rather than having them awkwardly kiss so soon. This isn't to say that can't still happen, but a kiss in this episode seemed to quash their chemistry rather than build it.

As mentioned before, the baseball murder case continued this week, and appeared poised to carry over into at least one more episode. Me, I'm not a fan. As I stated last week, it annoys me that the writers want us to believe a District Attorney would even try to prosecute a ball player for murder, apparently aiming a ball hit during a game at the head of the third base coach. This week, a video of the player hitting a target repeatedly (down the third base line, no less) was brought to light, but deemed inadmissible at trial. Even so, attorneys Bennett and Dowd quibbled over a defense strategy and viewers likely couldn't care one bit. This one didn't. The show is called Eli Stone, but Eli and his visions are in no way involved with this case.

This is still a mediocre program, but at least "Heal the Pain" wasn't a complete pain to watch. The show was even able to do something different with Eli's reaction to his visions. No, the dragon stuff was business as usual -- Eli falls down, people look at him funny. But this week, Taylor took Eli to a George Michael concert and for the first few moments, Eli was convinced he was having another vision. It was a truly fresh moment for a show that has so quickly become stale. If the series can continue to put smart, fun spins like this one on Eli's situation, Eli Stone may raise itself to a higher level yet.

Eli Stone: Something to Save

"Something to Save" should have been a fantastic episode. This should have been Eli Stone's most memorable episode of the season. This should have been the episode fans of the series would talk about for years to come. Because this was the episode where Eli's condition became public and changed the way his colleagues view him. Instead, it was more of the same mediocre storytelling from that "quirky" show that airs after Lost. (I'm convinced that most of the ratings points Eli receives come from people who leave their TV on while discussing what just happened on the island.)

This episode started with a good idea by having Eli facing disbarment for his odd behavior. It was about time that somebody, anybody, called Eli out for his ridiculous antics. Unfortunately, Eli can't find anyone to represent him. In the series' most inspired moment of the season, one of the attorneys who refused the case was played by Alan Rachins and was alluded to be his character Douglas Brackman, a lawyer from the classic series L.A. Law. The reference to a series that's been off the air for 14 years was very telling for the show. Clearly the program is skewing towards an older audience. The type of audience that finds it amusing every time Eli is caught singing a song that only he can hear, even though it happens the same way every time in every episode. And if that's what they're shooting for, they're succeeding.

"Something to Save" was just as banal and repetitive as the episodes that came before it. The idea of Eli facing disbarment should have added some much needed conflict, but at no time did I ever feel like anything was actually going to happen to my hero. Even when doctor brother Nate became involved and was ready to lie for his sibling, I never once thought Eli would actually let that happen. If I can guess what's going to happen, what's the point in watching?

A big reveal in this episode was the reason why Patti absolutely hates Taylor. This has been bugging me so much in the series that when the moment came where Patti was going to share her reason, I literally leaned forward and thought, "This better be good." It wasn't. Turns out Patti didn't like the man Eli became after his engagement to Taylor. I guess that's all well and good, except I as a viewer am only familiar with Eli post-engagement, and so far he's been a pretty decent person. It didn't make any sense.

And speaking of not making sense, was I really supposed to believe the Assistant District Attorney would seriously prosecute a baseball player for hitting a foul ball that killed the third base coach… for premeditated murder? Quirky court cases can be fun, but there has to be at least some sense of reality involved.

If anything saved the episode, it was the fine performance turned in by Tom Cavanagh in the flashbacks with Eli's father. It's this dark backstory to Eli's upbringing and the history of the aneurysms in the family that give the series it's only interesting dynamic. In the flashback, I learned that Eli's father could see visions of the future. This led to Dr. Chen revealing his association with Eli was no coincidence. Clearly, the father's visions were far more powerful (and likely more interesting) than the songs and dances Eli's been suffering. And in this episode, Eli's vision didn't even lead him to change anything. The people around him did all the work. In the end, "Something to Save" did nothing to help Eli Stone.

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.

Eli Stone: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Eli Stone has only aired four episodes, but already it's become tired and repetitive. The potential the series once had seems lost as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" gave me the same old thing: quirky visions, bland trials and false emotions. A neat concept can only take you so far. To make it work you need great writing, great stories and great performances. Eli Stone is barely keeping things mediocre.

Take this main story. Eli was guided to the aid of a former comatose patient who woke up after five years to learn his wife had left him and married his former business partner. At first, it seemed the man simply wanted his stake in the company back. Eli realized the best way to reverse what happened would be to have the annulment of his marriage deemed illegal since the man was unable to participate in the process. Or something hokey like that. (Actual "law" seems to be the last thing Eli Stone is concerned about.) This led to multiple "suing God" references that no living human being would ever actually make. The show was shooting for quick, humorous banter in situations like that, but they fell miserably short. Just because you're saying the line fast doesn't make it witty.

As the case continued, Eli realized it wasn't the company but his wife that the man truly longed for. Not that there was any real emotion expressed to convey this. As is common for the show, there was little depth to the story. Characters said a lot, but you hardly ever got the feeling they truly meant it. The wife and her new husband talked about caring for Coma Guy, but they still went ahead with trying to buy him off. And then when Coma Guy did drop his lawsuit, the wife stated, "That's the man I fell in love with." What, the guy who gave up trying to be with you? Nothing in the story made sense.

Same thing went for the secondary court case involving black-on-black racism. The entire case was ridiculous. A big law firm didn't hire a young, obnoxious lawyer, so the lawyer sued claiming the firm founder didn't like "his kind" of black people. This might have worked if the young lawyer wasn't such a complete jerk. Rude, obnoxious and a brat. So it was even more unfathomable when, after said young lawyer lost his own case, that Jordan would turn around and offer to hire him. How am I supposed to care about these characters if I can't believe in these choices they're making?

Besides my annoyance with the actions of the two main court cases, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was littered with reasons to be bored with this program. The connections between visions and reality were far too convenient: man needs help in vision, man shows up in real life. And how many unoriginal times are we going to watch Eli become lost in a vision only to find himself in an embarrassing situation when it ends? This week Eli was caught singing and dancing in front of coworkers. You know, like he did in the pilot and the episode after that.

The show, and this episode especially, just doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a courtroom drama? Is it a romantic comedy? A fantasy show? A religious show? It's trying to be all those things, and it's not succeeding with any of them.

Eli Stone: Father Figure

Okay, it looks like I have the formula down pretty well now. Eli's going to have some bizarre visions that will jeopardize his personal and professional life, but those visions will help him make decisions as to what to do. Could it be a brain aneurysm? Sure, if aneurysms can specifically name clients that he hasn't met yet. Instead of creating a compelling long-form narrative, Eli Stone is going to be a typical legal dramedy with a few spot visions thrown in to mess with Eli's life. That's it and it's a shame.

I guess I wanted more for Eli. And maybe there's still time to give it to me. I have to say, I didn't care for this episode's case at all. Not that the case itself wasn't compelling, but that Eli perpetuated the perjurous statements of a twelve-year old boy, knowingly sending an innocent man to jail (at least for awhile), all to bring home a woman who didn't want to serve in the war any more.

The progression of Eli's and Taylor's crumbling relationship headed for its inevitable dissolution, and first "love" Beth came back into the scene. Laura Benanti (Beth) is listed as a regular cast member, so I've got to figure her role will grow and I'd wager she'll become the sympathetic lover Eli needs. Though it's very possible they'll hook her up with Eli's brother Nathan first so there can be Moonlighting unrequited passion. I hope they do something because the chemistry between Johnny Lee Miller and Natasha Henstridge is so flat it's awkward to watch.

Victor Garber remains a good actor, but his character continues to ride that fine line between stereotypical senior partner and somewhat compassionate future father-in-law. Oh and bonus for going ahead and having the completely cold-hearted senior partner there for Garber's Jordan to look good next to. I'm still waiting for these characters to inflate a bit and become well-rounded.

Eli's "friend" Dr. Chen keeps pushing the angle that Eli is a prophet, which Eli rejects wholeheartedly. So why does he keep going to him? Because the acupuncture triggers memories? Removes the visions temporarily? Or as a conveniently placed plot device to push the prophet angle forward each episode. And how did Chen become a friend anyway? Wasn't Eli just recommended to go meet the guy in the first episode and then found out he was a quack. By the intro of the second episode he was referred to as Eli's friend.

No junior partner (Maggie) could be that terrible in court. Sure, nerves and jitters can cause some screw-ups but when she said "like Jeopardy" to remind herself to question the witnesses, I almost rolled my eyes. She went to law school to be a lawyer. They go over how to question witnesses. What to do, what not to do. Either she was really, really, really nervous, or she barely graduated. Plus, she's very sweet and kind. So a sweet and kind terrible lawyer who wants to save the world ... what's she doing at this law firm? The firm is the stereotype of a corporate law firm that focuses entirely on the bottom line and billable hours and screw everything else. It just doesn't seem a good fit for her at all. That and I can't figure out her role either. Is she there to be a driving force to help Eli in his new direction in life?

Outside of the cases, which haven't impressed me too much, the side stories are at least somewhat compelling. I am curious how Eli's continuing visions will affect his future at the firm. Can he keep from losing his job, especially in the fallout of that ending? Should he bother to? I know he worries about losing his health and malpractice insurance, which is valid, but maybe losing all of that will push him further down his prophetic road. He'll have to find other ways to make a difference.

I'm still willing to forgive Eli Stone a lot because it's trying to find its voice and way in the television landscape. There's still potential in the premise but I worry that it is settling quickly into what will become its routine. I hope I'm wrong. I'm actually still intrigued enough to keep with it for awhile more.

Eli Stone: Freedom

Ah, now I see the pattern! The titles of all the first season episodes of Eli Stone will be titles or references to titles of George Michael or Wham songs.

This episode I was treated to a rendition of Michael's "Freedom 90" sung by a boys' choir. Their first appearance on the show was okay, but they really got high marks from me during their choreographed number later in the show, accompanied by Jack Bristow senior law firm partner Jordan Wethersby. I don't know if that voice was really Victor Garber's or not, but it worked pretty well nevertheless.

I have to say that I very much liked the series premiere of Stone: it had a funny and whimsical beginning that carried the rest of the program. This week, not so much of that. It's not that I didn't enjoy the episode, but the lightness that surrounded last week's installment just wasn't there this time around. In fact, if Eli didn't have any visions, this episode could have been swapped with one from Ally McBeal.

I think it had a few things going against it. Since it was only the second episode much of the beginning was subject to a recap by a number of the characters of what had happened the previous episode. And, that's after a one-minute recap at the very beginning of the program. I really didn't need all of that information; the first recap should have covered it all. The other thing going against it was the lack of visions that Eli had. Other than the quick glimpse of the boys' choir at the start of the episode and the two scenes with the biplane (reminiscent of North by Northwest, perhaps?) the next vision was until about the third break.

Of course, the visions seem to be limited to the plot of the particular episode. For instance, the red biplane was there because the client Eli was about to take on was a pilot; the boys' choir was there because this was where the client's son (which she gave away for adoption) was singing. Still, I wish there was a bit more substance to them, and that they were spread out throughout the episode, so that the bulk of the show wasn't my basic legal dramedy.

The third thing going against this episode was the introduction of associate Maggie Decker. I have only one word to say about her: really? Okay, she's a first year associate, and I'll give her a little slack. But, not being able to raise objections in court and properly question a witness? Come on! I have never been to law school but I know they must have mock trials on occasion to work on that type of stuff.

Thing is, it looks like Maggie may turn out to be Eli's partner during his transformation into a different type of lawyer. She would be the right person for him to work with as he could pass along all of the knowledge that he has gained over the years directly to her. I just hope that they downplay Maggie's ignorance and make her a stronger partner for Eli.

There were a number of good things going on. I am glad that Eli just didn't drop his fiancee in order to live his life fully before he eventually dies. I've seen that so many times before and I like that Eli is sticking with the woman he will marry, despite what she said to him last episode. I also like Jonny Lee Miller in the role of Eli Stone. I can't put my finger on why, but for some reason Miller reminds me a bit of Vince Vaughn in some of his characteristics. In other words, he has that nice guy-doesn't take any crap type of attitude that Vaughn has shown in movies like Dodgeball.

Who I really enjoy is Victor Garber, mostly because he isn't an arrogant d*&k of a lawyer. Despite the fact that he owns a huge law firm that caters to big business, somewhere in there he is still a human being. The best example of this is his conversation with Eli after he doesn't take the huge Supreme Court case. Even though he doesn't understand what Eli is doing he certainly respects his decisions. Perhaps that's because, deep down inside, he envies the way that Eli is re-inventing himself.

Eli Stone: Pilot

"Oh, Did I mention I recently found out I could be a prophet? Yeah, I was shocked too."

What better lead-in could a show about a guy who may be a prophet having visions of the future (or may just be plain crazy) want than the season premiere of Lost? But while I went into it expecting something different and interesting, I instead found a fairly standard legal drama with a gimmick. Sure, I could argue that Pushing Daisies is nothing more than a standard mystery show with a gimmick, but the characters and charm of Daisies can win out over that. So far, Eli is missing that ingredient.

The big controversy of this episode was in the presumption that a woman could successfully argue that a preservative in a vaccine caused her child to have autism, and have this argument stand up in court. And I was floored when at the end of the episode, ABC felt the need to plaster a big disclaimer on the screen.

THE PRECEDING STORY WAS FICTIONAL AND DID NOT PORTRAY ANY ACTUAL PERSONS, COMPANIES, PRODUCTS, OR EVENTS.

When I saw this disclaimer I laughed out loud. It's a TV show. Of course, it's fictional.

As for the show itself, I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed so far. It has potential, but unless I start to see something more compelling in these visions of Eli's, then it's going to seem more and more like they're just a convenient gimmick to move the story where the writers want it to be. And if I'm going to believe Dr. Chen's assertion that maybe Eli is some sort of prophet, I'm going to need to see a lot more importance in either where his visions are taking him and/or the visions themselves.

The characters themselves have some potential, but too much are just filling roles. For example, by the second time Eli went to see "Dr. Chen," I not only knew that the latter was going to become a principal character, but I also knew that his accent was fake and he wasn't really anything more than a guy with a gimmick to get by. Kind of like the show.

It's great fun to see Victor Garber as both Eli's boss at the firm and his fiance's father, especially since the two seem to be developing a professional rivalry. Now for my money, the girl who plays Taylor is miscast as Eli's fiance as the two share very little chemistry. In fact, there was a lot more chemistry between Eli and Beth Keller. Beth is his client, the mother of the child with autism and the girl to whom he lost his virginity. Coincidences? Of course not, it's prophecy. My guess, and hope, was that this was intentional and he'll eventually leave Taylor for Beth.

Also convenient is having the doctor who diagnoses his brain aneurysm (so maybe they're not prophetic visions?) be his brother. I don't know, it just seems like they're forcing things a bit. I hope the visions become a lot more extravagant.

Standout Moments:

His brother dropping the classic Field of Dreams line "If you build it they will come," when Eli is going in for his MRI.

George Michael actually appearing in the episode singing his signature song "Faith." And can I say that George is looking great for his age.

The autistic kid spelling out "GEORGE MICHAEL" in his wall of blocks, lending to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there is something to this prophetic stuff. After all, it's what compels Eli to take up Beth's case, going up against his own firm.

Tom Cavanagh (Ed) as Eli's dad, who may not have been as useless a drunk as his family thought he was; he may have suffered from visions as well.

Eli's mom transporting her husband's ashes in a can labeled "Chock Full o' Nuts."

Dr. Chen's explanation of the whole series in a few lines: "Everything has two explanations, the scientific and the divine. It's up to us to choose which one we buy into. The science explains the enlarged vessel in your head, but does it explain how the girl you lost your virginity to happened to be suing your law firm? How her son happened to spell out a message to you with his blocks? ... Almost all religions believe that there are those who are sent to us to help us find our way. Some people call them prophets. ... God told Moses he'd send send a prophet to every generation. Why not a lawyer?"

Patti his sassy secretary.

Ultimately, while I wasn't blown away with the pilot, I'm still intrigued by the premise and hope there's something more substantial underneath what I've seen so far. There is some potential with the established character dynamics. It'll be interesting to see how long before Eli will lose his job at the law firm. After all, if the changes he wants to make in his life, as told to Beth at the end, involve more standing up for the little guy against big corporations, that stands in direct contrast to what the firm, and his boss and future father-in-law, are all about. I haven't given up on Eli yet, but I was hoping for something more.