TV Show Info:
Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: Jonny Lee Miller, Victor Garber, Natasha Henstridge, Loretta Devine, Sam Jaeger, Laura Benanti, James Saito, Matt Letscher, Julie Gonzalo, Jason Winston George
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Disney/ABC

Release Info:
Original Air Dates: January 31, 2008 - Present
Season Air Dates: January 31, 2008 – April 17, 2008
DVD Box Set Release Date: September 2, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon
Episodes: All 13 episodes from Season One.

In the war between the television stations CBS used to be my favorite. With shows like Criminal Minds, Jericho, and Numbers it’s easy to see why. After Jericho was canceled, CBS still had a few shows I liked, but I found my love for television switching more towards ABC. I had been a fan of Lost from the beginning, but with shows like Ugly Betty, Eli Stone, and Grey’s Anatomy I found myself watching ABC all the time.

I have watched Eli Stone since the day that it premiered on ABC. Like just about everyone else that watches television, I had caught many of the previews that aired for the show and considering the cast (Johnny Lee Miller, Victor Garber, and Loretta Devine) I knew that I had to check it out. The thing that originally caught my eye where Eli Stone is concerned was the somewhat original concept that came along with these great actors

Eli (Miller) is a ruthless lawyer that thinks he has everything until one day he wakes up to George Michael singing in his living room. Before he knows it, he discovers that he has a brain aneurysm that is causing him to see things. His aneurysm wants him to be a good person, so it gives him clues (many of which are frighteningly real) to let him know which cases he needs to take and who needs his help. While this wasn’t the type of life that Eli wanted to live, it’s obvious that he learns to adjust with the help of a nosy secretary (Divine), a disgruntled boss that is set to become his father-in-law (Garber), and an acupuncturist (James Saito) that is just trying to survive any way he can.

Eli Stone is one of those shows that is right for just about anyone. There are moments of comedy, moments of drama, and the sadness that is often associated with the ideas of living and dying. The acting is superb and the episodes, which work well as standalone episodes (generally an episode receives and sees the end of a case), do not get old if you see them more than once.

The Eli Stone: The Complete First Season Plot
The first season of Eli Stone was picked up as a mid-season replacement, but was signed for a second season after a huge following developed. The season only had 13 episodes for that reason. There is a brief description of each episode below.

“Faith”: Eli Stone (Miller) is a successful attorney working for Jordan Wethersby (Garber) and his law firm. He is engaged to Wethersby’s daughter, Taylor (Natasha Henstridge) and life is good. That is, until he becomes a modern day prophet due to a brain aneurysm. Hallucinations and visions inform him of the cases that he needs to take. The first set of visions lead him to one of his old college flame’s, Beth Keller. Beth believes her son contracted autism from a vaccine and wants to sue to maker to ensure that another child doesn’t suffer the same fate.

“Freedom”: Eli thinks all is well as the hallucinations initially fade, though they return soon enough. This time the case involves a Mexican couple suing a large corporation for their use of pesticides in the place of employment. Eli doubts his ability to win, but takes the case when his visions become too powerful, and truthful to ignore.

“Father Figure”: Eli goes head to head with Taylor in a child custody case with implications of abuse that give Eli visions of WWII. Worried that he will have to stop practicing law, Eli asks his brother Nathan (Matt Letscher) to cover up his medical records.

“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”: Eli finds it hard to come to terms with the changes in his life and his engagement with Taylor. Meanwhile, his visions lead him to a former coma patient that desperately wants to regain their life. Jordan ends up defending a friend in a discrimination case against someone that is of the same background.

“One More Try”: Eli decides to revisit a previous case that he won for an automaker and now realizes that he probably shouldn’t have. However, courtroom antics could ruin all of his good intentions.

“Something to Save”: Eli asks Jordan for help because it’s to the point where he may end up being disbarred due to some embarrassing courtroom drama. However, it is not completely Jordan’s job to save the day as Nathan, Eli’s brother and a physician, steps up to offer his testimony on his brother and his medical condition.

“Heal the Pain”: Eli manages to keep his job, but his duties are reduced and he ends up playing second fiddle to a newer, more inexperienced lawyer, Maggie (Julie Gonzalo). The two work on a case concerning malpractice.

“Praying for Time”: Eli defends a real estate mogul that wants to evict his tenants in order to build a more profitable shopping mall. Eli knows this may seem wrong, but goes through with the case in hopes of saving the tenants lives, after seeing an earthquake in his visions.

“I Want Your Sex”: George Michael is back. This time he arrives in person asking for Eli’s help on a case with a teenage girl. The girl was expelled for playing one of Michael’s songs during an abstinence lecture at school. Jordan takes the case and it becomes clear that he likes George Michael’s music. Nathan offers Eli some possibly good news about finding a neurosurgeon that might be able to remove the aneurysm but it’s a decision that only Eli can make.

“Heartbeat”: Eli watches the day their father died in his visions only he sees it through Nathan’s memories. Nathan requests Eli’s counsel for a case. Eli’s visions make it known that Nathan is hiding something that could be extremely important to the case.

“Patience”: Eli gets visions of a prisoner named David Moseley. His visions of David and Tipton Bay are so strong that he decides to take a case for him and other prisoners to defend prisoner’s rights. Meanwhile, Taylor is defending chimpanzee rights.

“Waiting for That Day”: Eli sees more visions about the earthquake, which leads him to litigation with San Francsico in hopes of having them close the Golden Gate Bridge. Eli works with a scientist against Marci Klein (Katey Sagal) and Maggie in a case that is detrimental to the lives of hundreds. Klein feels that Jordan lacks control over Eli and attempts to remove Jordan as partner.

“Soul Free”: The final case of the season involves a man’s right to die. Nathan ends up having to decide whether he should remove Eli from life support after his surgery to remove his aneurysm doesn’t go as planned. Eli sees God and oddly enough, God looks kind of like George Michael.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
Eli Stone is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in anamorphic widescreen. As you can expect from a new show, everything here comes out looking absolutely beautiful. I did not notice any compression errors, noise, or any other issues with the video quality. The colors were bright and strong without being over done. Buena Vista really gave this the right amount of attention because it looks just great.

Likewise, the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound gets the job done nicely. The George Michael tunes come through like he’s standing right in your living room. The sound effects from Eli’s visions are booming, and the dialogue is definitely easy to understand. No volume toggling was necessary. In addition to standard audio, subtitles are offered in both Spanish and French and Closed Captioning is available, as well.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are plenty of bonus features here to sink your teeth into. One of the most exciting to watch is the Extended Pilot episode with audio commentary. This gives you a chance to learn more about the plans for the show and what the creators had in store. It’s definitely worth watching if you’re a fan. Deleted scenes and bloopers are also available. Naturally, with any set of deleted scenes you usually end up watching things that were deleted for a reason, but these are worth checking out at least once.

Fans will adore the set of featurettes that are available for this season of Eli Stone. There are four main featurettes including “Acting on Faith: Eli and George Michael”, “Turning a Prophet: The Creation of Eli Stone”, “Creating Visions: The Effects of Eli Stone”, and “Inside the Firm: The Natasha Henstridge Tour.” All of these featurettes are interesting and give you plenty of information that you probably didn’t already know about this great series.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
If you haven’t seen Eli Stone yet you should definitely go and pick this up. Not only is it entertaining, it’s also original, which feels entirely too rare these days. The acting is excellent and the writing is perfection. When you put it all together it makes for a great show. This season was set to coincide with the coming of the second season, which starts in October. So, if you haven’t seen the show, you have time to pick up the first season and catch up.

Overall Rating:

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