(S01E13) The surgery is done. The brain aneurysm is gone. But Eli's life hangs -- or hung -- in the balance. This was a very trippy episode, a term Dr. Chen uses to explain to Eli why everything seems so out of whack. By the end of the hour, I'm not sure we can say with any certainty that Eli is really back. But it sure seems that when faced with a choice of letting go or letting God, he took the latter and opened his eyes.



This was perhaps the strangest Eli Stone yet, dealing with big issues. The case Eli is handed involves a man, David Green, who has terminal colon cancer and wants to die with dignity rather than endure more chemotherapy. The parallels to Eli's case are drawn in a non-linear way, so for most of the show the legal case seemed real. So did all the actions in the office, except the more those scenes played out, the more surreal the felt.

Eli was being eulogized before his death. Everyone took turns saying goodbye and saying the things that Eli would have wanted to hear. Jordan made him junior partner and put him in charge of pro bono work. Taylor said he was the most important person in her life. Patti did just what he asked of her, she was mean and sassy and slapped him around (metaphorically). Even the Dowd wanted to hug it out with him.

But counterpoint to those idealized tributes and positive moments were scenes that didn't include Eli, and that were the truth of the episode. It was wrenching to see Nate facing the prospect of enacting Eli's living will and taking him off life-support. Taylor was all in black, and speculated that if she and Eli had married, she'd be making the choice, not Nate.

The show played with reality a lot, and that's was especially true when Dr. Chen wakes up in the middle of the night, then seeks out Nate to buy more time for Eli. Somehow, someway, he had a feeling that Eli wanted him to do what he was doing. Was it a psychic message from Eli to the acupuncturist? Was it Dr. Chen fulfilling the promise he made to Mr. Stone years before? Whatever it was, he got Nate to hold off for 48 hours before unplugging Eli.

Once Eli wins the case -- which was all in his head -- he comes face to face with Dr. Chen who is really just his Jiminy Cricket. Through Dr. Chen, Eli realizes that he has more to do. To get back to life, Dr. Chen uses the needles and Eli has one more major encounter. Is it God? No, it's George Michael with a big musical number involving him, Jordan, Patti, the staff from WPK, and I think a June Taylor dancer or two. The song was "Feeling Good," and it was the impetus Eli needed to open his eyes.

He does and then, that's it. The end. If this is the end of the series, the writers have left us a hopeful scene that Eli Stone awakens, choosing life and determined to go and do more good works. If the show is picked up -- and ABC, listen, it should be! -- Eli has only opened his eyes. We don't know what's next. Will he have the brain he had before? What will he be able to do? There's all kinds of possible futures. And since Nate said the surgery had successful snipped the aneurysm, will he have any more visions? I hope the show does come back. I would like to see where they take these characters.

Other Points of Interest
-- The David Green case was excellent, maybe the best of the season. Richard Schiff (The West Wing) and Jayne Brook (Sports Night) as his wife, the Rabbi, were very good. The whole question about choosing how to live, not just continuing to live, was clearly delineated. It also brought to the forefront specific questions about God; posing more questions than answers, which I liked.

-- They kept referring to Rebecca, David's wife, as the Rabbi. They repeated it over and over. The Rabbi, the Rabbi, the Rabbi -- it would have made a good drinking game!

-- We learn that Eli has been at WPK for eight years. He's been striving to make partner and was working feverishly to succeed. When David describes coming home on Friday nights too late to attend his wife's services and too tired on Saturday morning to wake up and go to synagogue, Eli nods his head in recognition of the life he had been living before the aneurysm.

-- Eli refers to his relationship with God as spiritual corporal punishment. David describes his message from God as peace. Eli describes his visions as God scaring the crap out of him.

-- There are references to sleepwalking, which in retrospect was a hint that the legal case was all taking place in his dream state.

-- Eli realizes that the journey he has taken since the aneurysm have been "the best time of my life." Although he also says, he has paid the price.

-- To get back to life, Eli refers to Star Trek, "Beam me up, Scotty," and also The Matrix. He asks for The Red Pill. That's the one that takes you to the unknown. The Blue Pill, if he had mentioned it, would have put him back into a fake reality.

-- Eli tells Dr. Chen, "I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow," evoking The Wizard of Oz. Another dream state from which he has to awaken. I love when Chen tells him that the line is lame.