Eli Stone

[kingdom2000]

Anyone watching Eli Stone? I have been watching it cause created by Gugginheim whose comic work i like. The cast is good. The concept is cute. The writing though is horrible. Really really really horrible. The characters go from being smart to doing stupid things at the drop of a hat. The lead character knows he has hallucinations, is supposed to be really bright...yet everytime he responds to them for a "funny" moment when all his buds look at his once again as if he lost his mind. It was cute for 3 eps, now its old and undermines the character.

And the law scenarios. They couldn't have sprung for an intern to do basic research? I mean not a single episode has any foundation on law. If anyone has watched any law show and then watched this one they would know how patently wrong the laws depiction in this show are. Its like they are trying to be "cute" with the law the way that Boston Legal is but without any real understanding of the law. Hint: Spring for a consultant. Shoot I am sure ABC has a crap ton of lawyers available.

I guess I am just annoyed. I was hoping that a comic book creator could do something more then mimic Ally McBeal. Maybe the problem is unrealisitc expectations since usually a comic book writer shows more creativity in their pinky finger then the average TV writer (course I am biased).

[Cam63]

Never heard of it up until your post.

[TCJohnson]

I know what you mean.

I watched the first episode. In it, during a trial, the judge asked Eli to approach the bench to talk to her. Both lawyers approached and the other judge said she just wanted to talk to Eli. The other lawyer apologized and sat down, and Eli and the judge talked.

I may be wrong, but isn't that ex-parte communication? isn't that grounds for a mistrial?

By the way, the show is also riddled with medical mistakes, apparently. The chances of getting an aneurysm in the right cerebral artery is very, very small. For one thing, no such artery exists (according to a medical friend of mine).

[Kyuubi]

There's something else on ABC besides Lost?



I just thought the time between episodes was filled with dead air. Huh. . .

[ShaunN]

Yes, I've been watching "Eli Stone" but, for me, the jury is still out. I share all of your criticisms. I don't know much about US law, but it did strike me that the resolution to some of his cases seem downright ludicrous. And I completely agree that, by now, he should not be reacting to his visions. I can see him spacing out and just staring blankly - now that everyone knows he has an aneurysm that is making him see things, that would be their cue that he is in the middle of a vision. I remember in "A Beautiful Mind" (the movie - never read the book) there is a scene near the end where the lead character, (forget his name), played by Russell Crowe, is approached by a man about winning the Nobel Prize. Crowe turns to a passing student and asks him/her if there is actually anybody standing there talking to him, since he has learned that he cannot be certain of what his senses show. You would think that Eli would have learned that by now.

On the positive side, I think that the idea of higher powers communicating with us through altered perceptions or apparent "abnormalities" is interesting. A similar argument has been made about monks and meditation. MRI scans show that serious meditators do alter their brain chemistry and the operation of their neural activities in significant ways. This leads to the obvious question: are their brains simply inventing what they see and experience because of the altered chemisty, or is the altered brain chemistry allowing them to experience the world at a different level of perception? In the case of ES, it's pretty clear (especially after the last episode) that his medical problem has opened up a whole new window of perception for him. I know that if I was confronted with incontrovertible proof that my father saw the future or that my life was being affected by forces beyond my comprehension, it would certainly change everything. Hopefully, the writing will begin to capture these dynamics as the story evolves.

On another note, I can't stand Eli's secretary Patty and the way she keeps attacking his former fiancee. If the intention was to make us hope that Patty is run down by a bus, it's working.

Sincerely,

Shaun