The series follows the life of the show’s title character, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer (Jonny Lee Miller) who begins experiencing unexplained visions, often at the most inopportune times, such as during meetings with his boss (Victor Garber) and in intimate moments with his fiancée (Natasha Henstridge). Many of these spectacles at first seem irrelevant and annoying, but they quickly turn bizarre, even unnerving. The apparitional appearance of pop star George Michael singing his hit song Faith in Eli’s living room, for instance, stretches the suddenly befuddled protagonist’s limits of believability, causing him to question his very sanity.
As events unfold, however, Eli realizes that the visions have significance; these profoundly meaningful, fittingly synchronistic materializations awaken him and steer him in a new direction – that of taking on the worthy causes (and cases) that no one else will handle. That’s how, for example, he comes to represent the mother of an autistic child whose condition was believed to be caused by a faulty vaccine preservative. Or how he takes on the case of immigrant agricultural workers whose infertility is suspected to have been the result of pesticide exposure. But as fulfilling as these undertakings might be, Eli embraces this newfound gift of prophecy reluctantly, especially when he discovers what actually might be driving it.
The series features snappy writing and a host of colorful supporting characters, such as Eli’s wisecracking though devoted assistant (Loretta Divine) and a sage but streetwise acupuncturist/spiritual advisor (James Saito). The plot lines are solid, presenting genuinely uplifting stories, but telling them without the overwrought sentimentality of many of this genre’s predecessors (think of the scripts as having been more inspired by Mad magazine than Kodak moments). Some of the visionary sequences are a bit over the top (and feature a little too much George Michael music for my taste), but the show’s real strengths shine through in its quieter moments, when it aptly illustrates how small gestures can reap rich rewards.
It remains to be seen if Eli Stone can find an audience, especially in the wake of the recent
