A modern prophet (Eli Stone)

Member Name: Smallpotatoes

Product:	Eli Stone
Date:	29/10/08 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The vision sequences are excellent. Good character development so far. Inoffensive.

Disadvantages: Not very exciting, provocative or funny. The formula could quickly get stale.

Eli Stone is a new weekly series on the SciFi Channel created by Marc Guggenheim, formerly of Law & Order, CSI: Miami and Brothers & Sisters. In the title role Johnny Lee Miller plays a shallow, materialistic lawyer who had everything except scruples and is engaged to the boss's beautiful daughter Taylor (Natasha Henstridge).

However, this untroubled existence is soon to be disrupted by the sudden onset of bizarre visions for although he doesn't yet know it Eli Stone has an inoperable brain aneurysm, a condition which causes vivid hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, and could kill him at any moment. At least, that's the medical explanation for what is happening to him. But Eli's acupuncturist and self-appointed spiritual advisor has a different theory: that Eli is in fact a modern prophet being guided by the hand of a greater power to help the disadvantaged and downtrodden - the very people in fact he has built a career on defeating.

The visions Eli receives are often visually and audibly stunning, featuring gospel choirs, song and dance routines in the office, war zones in the board room, and even George Michael on the coffee table! Each week, Eli must follow his visions wherever they lead him and help win a case in the name of compassion, rather than profit. Needless to say this does not always sit well with his boss, fiancee or colleagues, and much of the show's drama and comedy comes not from the cases themselves, but from the constant struggle Eli has simply to hold on to his existing job and relationships - and sanity.

So far I have enjoyed what this new series has to offer. It's a quirky take on the standard legal procedural style. What keeps it fresh are the characters, particularly of Eli's boss and fiancee, who are not the shallow conformists they at first seem, and are surprisingly human and believable. Whether it stands the test of time will rest on how well the writers and actors are able to develop these characters for our amusement - there is, surely, only so much that can be done in the confines of a weekly formula. I will be impressed if they are prepared to break that formula in the future in the interests of keeping the show's current momentum. The only alternative is a slow decline as viewers gradually tire of a programme that is the same every week. Without character development, Eli Stone is not funny or exciting enough to hold its audience.

Summary: If you liked Quantum Leap or Bruce Almighty you might enjoy this.