Eli Stone – In which there is some closure

Thank you, ABC. Though you may be insensitive bastards who decided to cancel Eli Stone, you at least had the balls to finish the season and give fans some form of closure. Granted, it wasn’t what they really wanted — several successful years of quality storytelling, followed by a tearful, yet happy, ending. But, with television the way it is, they’ll take what they can get. Even if the ending is half-assed, like Bob mentioned in his post.

Since Mr. Degon so eloquently put my thoughts into his post (stop reading my mind, Bob!), I felt that the final review for Stone shouldn’t be about the ending as a whole, but about the characters that remained. Eli, Jordan, Taylor, Matt — over the last 26 episodes, these folks went through more emotional transformations than a normal human could handle. A majority of these transformations took place in the last three episodes, with the series finale being the place where they were completed.

Take Matt Dowd, for instance. When we met Matt, he was quite the sexist tool. While a decent lawyer, he just didn’t have many of the people skills that Eli or Taylor were impressing clients with. However, once he started “dating” Taylor, that changed. The stereotypical, slobbering male disappeared and, in its place was a caring and loving human being. By the end of the series, Matt was actually proposing to Taylor and hurrying to get married as quick as possible.

Taylor also encountered transformation in her life. After being dumped by Eli, she went through several periods of anger, resentment, and pity. When they all combined into one huge ball of depression she decided to sleep with Matt. That’s when her true transformation into a strong, independent woman and lawyer began. The end result was a person who wasn’t shy in letting people, including those she loved, know what she thought. In the series finale this led to a marriage proposal to Matt and, seemingly, a lifetime of happiness.

Then there’s Maggie: a perfect example of how a character transformed on Eli Stone. Originally a shy junior associate who wouldn’t leave Eli alone, Maggie became a smart and capable attorney. So smart and capable that, over the last few episodes, we began to worry that it was turning her into something we didn’t want to see: a cold, calculating attorney who’s only goal was to win.

Since she was barely seen in the finale, one could’ve speculated that there would be no on-screen romantic connection between her and Eli. She did come back, and that’s when we realized that Maggie had two transformations. The first as a strong and determined lawyer and the second, as she sat by Eli’s hospital bed, as a woman who could no longer hide her feelings for the man she loved (uh, that would be Eli).

And, what about Eli? While Mr. Stone certainly went through a crapload of transformations, he actually came full circle as the last scene faded away. No, really! Look, when we first met Eli, he was a man who did things ‘his way.’ After the visions began and his attitude began to change, he became a (sometimes angry) follower rather than a leader. With the finale, and his conversation with God/his father, he has gone back to doing things ‘his way’ once again. And, if that included falling in love with Maggie rather than his soulmate, so be it.

Sigh. It was a good ride while it lasted. If Eli Stone had premiered a few years ago, when spiritual shows like 7th Heaven and Touched by an Angel were popular, it may have had a different fate than early cancellation. Unfortunately, it aired during the newest cutthroat era for TV and suffered for it. I want to thank the creators of Eli Stone for at least trying something different. I hope that your future endeavors are more successful.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Jul 15, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT