TV is the New Reading

‘Eli Stone’ engaging, quirky

One of the coolest things about working in Eli Stone’s law firm is that the lobby is huge and lends itself beautifully to outrageous musical productions, even if they are only experienced by Stone himself.

Stone is the focus and title character of “Eli Stone,” a quirky midseason comic drama on ABC.

In the pilot episode, Stone, an associate, embarrassed himself by clapping along to a vision of a paralegal kickline backing up British pop icon George Michael in a mainstage production of “Faith,” a hit released in the late 1980s.

The effect was that of a person dancing along to an mp3 player that only they can hear. It’s embarrassing. Don’t ask me how I know.

Last week Stone once again found himself grooving along as his father-in-law-to-be (and boss), along with several associates, seemed to be presenting a floorshow of Michael’s “Freedom ’90.” Of course he knew by this time that they hadn’t really burst into song, so he didn’t start dancing along. However, all he could experience was the song – he had to wait until it was over to actually talk to his boss. So when the song ended and Stone’s nose was in his boss’s Armani tie, he had to come up with an excuse and quick.

Visions

This sort of quick thinking is called upon a lot by Stone as he encounters trolleys and crop-dusters and choirs and other hallucinations, brought on, it would seem, by an inoperable brain aneurysm, similar to one his late father had that made connections and presented weirdnesses that made Stone think his father was a drunk. When similar stuff started happening to him, however, it creeped his fiancee out a lot but he gained a deeper understanding of what his father had been going through and it motivated him to grant his father’s final request – scattering his ashes in the Himalayas.

While there’s an underlying medical cause for the hallucinations – or visions, as he’s calling them – the source of them, what they’re guidng him to do are still pretty hazy. Of course, it would be disappointing to be able to explain absolutely everything. In life, and especially in shows like this, sometimes you just gotta have faith.

His fiancee is frustrated by them, his acupuncturist is trying to get him to accept them as prophecies, and his assistant is just thrown by her boss’ sudden erratic behavior and the bizarre, seemingly off the mark things he’s asking her to track down. But the people in Stone’s life tend to love him so he’s coming at it all from a place of support.

Too weird?

As shows go, it’s reasonably engaging. It’s not a standard courtroom drama by any stretch, and it may end up being even quirkier than “Boston Legal,” which would otherwise have seemed impossible but there’s definitely a case to be made.

The problem it faces is in its suspension of disbelief. Sure, the vivid hallucinations are eye-grabbers from the point of view of the average viewer, but Stone has to remain functional in order to maintain his livelihood. Family ties or not, there are problems with associates diving for cover under their assistant’s desk from wars that aren’t really there and tackling their bosses to save them from non-existent bi-planes.

In reality, the folks with the whimsical aneurysms often end up confined and medicated or wearing aluminum hats and pushing shopping carts around. His father’s illness had torn his family apart, so Stone already has a great example of what to avoid.

Whether his visions are guides or distractions is hard to say for sure from just the first two episodes, but If he can keep his perception of reality under control enough to hold down his job, that may be a good enough goal for the first season.

Features Editor Terry J. Aman compiles the Best Bets for The Minot Daily News.

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