ELI STONE: FREEDOM (TV)
Summary
One in this drama series about a San Francisco attorney that experiences potentially prophetic visions after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain aneurysm.
In India, Eli is not permitted to take the coffee can that contained his fathers’ ashes back to the United States with him, saddening him deeply. He returns to his office in San Francisco; many of his co-workers believe him to be suffering from a nervous breakdown. He goes to a company meeting where he is assigned a big case for a wealthy client. Maggie Dekker, a first-year associate to the firm, suggests Eli take on a less lucrative case involving an immigrant couple’s lawsuit against their employers, a produce company whose pesticides have supposedly caused the clients’ sterility. Eli doesn’t want to take Maggie’s case. He begins hearing choral music in the middle of the meeting and expresses dismay that his hallucinations have returned.
He visits Dr. Chen about the return of his hallucinations. Chen advises him to follow whatever signs he is given, restating his belief that Eli is a prophet of some sort. Eli is still uncomfortable with the idea. Later he talks with Taylor, noting that he still has difficulty talking about his aneurysm. While making out with her, Eli again hears music and hallucinates that he is in the middle of a church, complete with boys’ choir. He goes to see Nathan and talks about his recent visions and his trip to the Himalayas. Outside the hospital, Eli hallucinates seeing a biplane flying over him. At the office, he sends Patti on an investigation based on his recent visions.
Maggie speaks to Eli about her case, but Eli still refuses to take it. Mr. Wethersby calls in Eli and expresses concern about his recent behavior. Eli again hallucinates a vision of the biplane headed towards him and nearly tackles Mr. Wethersby, alarming him. In the scuffle, Eli sees the biplane in a photograph from Maggie’s case files, realizing that her client is a pilot. He interprets this as a sign that he needs to take the case.
Eli and Maggie meet with their clients, the Ramirez couple. Eli expresses a distinct lack of confidence with his ability to win the case. The case enters trial and Eli struggles against the opposing lawyer. Meanwhile, Mr. Wethersby talks to Taylor in private about Eli’s erratic behavior. She insists that he is fine, but is secretly distraught about the situation. She encounters Patti in the ladies’ room and tries to strike up an agreement with her to help Eli despite their less-than-friendly terms. Taylor offhandedly mentions Eli’s aneurysm and Patti is shocked; she was not informed of it.
After the first day of trial, Eli and Maggie meet with the opposing lawyer, who asks them to dismiss the case. Doubt has been cast on the authenticity of the Ramirez couples’ citizenship, and it is likely they could face deportation. Eli rejects the offer and tells the Ramirez couple that he will fight against the deportation claim. However, this will take him away from the lawsuit already in progress; Eli wants Maggie to continue the trial while he is away, asking her to stall as long as possible.
At the deportation trial, Eli asks for a continuance until after the lawsuit is over. Maggie, meanwhile, is having difficulty in court owing to her inexperience. Eli rushes over to the other courtroom but is unavoidably delayed. Meanwhile, the opposing lawyer attempts to infer that Mrs. Ramirez’s infertility could have been caused prior to her exposure to pesticides. This forces her to tearfully admit that she had a baby before she met her husband, but that she gave the child up for adoption in a church. The opposing lawyer capitalizes on this to cast doubt on Mrs. Ramirez’s truthfulness. Eli arrives at the trial, but he is too late.
Eli speaks to Maggie in private and berates her about how she handled the case. He tells her that the jury’s sympathies will no longer be on their side, essentially dooming the case. Maggie counters by criticizing Eli’s attitude and walks off. Patti approaches Eli, upset that Eli didn’t trust her enough to tell her about his aneurysm. Later he talks to Taylor and asks her not to tell anyone about his aneurysm. She notes that it seems as though Eli is deliberately pushing her away.
The jury rules against Eli. Mr. Ramirez talks to Eli afterwards about his quandary concerning his wife’s truthfulness. Eli notes his own unwillingness to talk about his problems with his loved ones. As Mr. Ramirez leaves, Eli once again hallucinates seeing the choir and sees his entire office break into song and dance, led by Mr. Wethersby. In actuality, he is staring Mr. Wethersby down; he awkwardly excises himself from the situation. He goes to speak to Dr. Chen again, who tells him the immigration case is more important than the lawsuit. Eli gains inspiration from Chen’s comments.
At the immigration trial, Eli calls Mr. Ramirez to the stand in an effort to prove him worthy of citizenship. He demonstrates that the Ramirez couple not only could qualify for citizenship under ordinary circumstances, but that they demonstrated great bravery and a belief in American ideals in their efforts to cross the border. The judge finds in favor of Eli and the Ramirez couple is given the opportunity to become naturalized United States citizens. They thank Eli for his help and set out to find Mrs. Ramirez’s son. Eli suddenly realizes that his visions of the church correlate to Mrs. Ramirez’s story of how she left her son in a church, and gives them the probable location of their son from the list he had Patti compile.
Eli refuses Mr. Wethersby’s offer of the lucrative case, saying he wants to devote more of himself to cases more oriented towards social justice rather than representing the rich. Wethersby talks about his own personal investment in Eli and agrees to his request, comparing him to Don Quixote. Eli reconciles with Patti and Maggie. Later he begins telling Taylor about recent events in an effort to open himself up to her. The episode ends as they make out once again, Eli hallucinating that he is in the middle of a war zone. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: February 7, 2008 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 01:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:92839
- GENRE: Drama, legal; Drama, fantasy/science fiction; Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, legal; Drama, fantasy /science fiction; Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2008-2009
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Best Buy retail stores
- TV – Commercials – Cheez-It crackers
- TV – Commercials – DonateLIFE.net organ donor service
- TV – Commercials – H&R Block tax service
- TV – Commercials – JC Penney department stores
- TV – Commercials – Jared jewelers
- TV – Commercials – Kay jewelers
- TV – Commercials – Kmart department stores
- TV – Commercials – Lexus automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Lincoln automobiles
- TV – Commercials – March of Dimes March for Babies charity walk
- TV – Commercials – Mazda automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Nissan automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Olay body wash
- TV – Commercials – Olive Garden restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Pedigree dog food
- TV – Commercials – Remax real estate
- TV – Commercials – Stouffer’s frozen meals
- TV – Commercials – T-Mobil phone service
- TV – Commercials – Verizon Wireless cell phones
- TV – Commercials – “Across the Universe” DVD release
- TV – Commercials – “Definitely, Maybe” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “A Raisin in the Sun”
- TV – Promos – “Brothers and Sisters”
- TV – Promos – “Eli Stone”
- TV – Promos – “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”
- TV – Promos – “Lost”
- TV – Promos – “Oprah’s Big Give”
- TV – Promos – “The Oscars”
CREDITS
- Christopher Misiano … Executive Producer
- Greg Berlanti … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Marc Guggenheim … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Alex Taub … Co-Executive Producer
- Andrew A. Ackerman … Co-Executive Producer
- Andrew Kreisberg … Supervising Producer
- Leila Gerstein … Co-Producer
- Michael Cedar … Co-Producer
- Melissa Berman … Co-Producer
- Jennifer Lence … Co-Producer
- Chris Cheramie … Associate Producer
- Carl Ogawa … Associate Producer
- Michael Schultz … Director
- Blake Neely … Music by
- Zach Woodlee … Choreographer
- Jonny Lee Miller … Cast, Eli Stone
- Natasha Henstridge … Cast, Taylor Wethersby
- Loretta Devine … Cast, Patti Delacroix
- Matt Letscher … Cast, Dr. Nathan Stone
- Sam Jaeger … Cast, Matt Dowd
- James Saito … Cast, Dr. Chen
- Julie Gonzalo … Cast, Maggie Dekker
- Victor Garber … Cast, Jordan Wethersby
- Mark Harelik … Cast, Attorney
- Yvonne DeLaRosa … Cast, Blanca Ramirez
- Jos Viramontes … Cast, Oscar Ramirez
- Lorna Raver … Cast, Judge Gilberg
- Robin Gammell … Cast, Judge
- Tom Amandes … Cast, Martin Posner
- Dave Engfer … Cast, Eager Associate
- Keely Watson … Cast, Ordinary Guy
- Ossie Mair … Cast, Customs Official
- Barry Livingston … Cast, ICE Attorney
- Cheryl Carter … Cast, Jury Foreperson