Line #19 Series/EliStone


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Eli_Stone_449.jpg]]
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6	This is a show caught in among {{Dramedy}}, {{Fantasy}} and TheMusical.
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8	Eli Stone (played by Creator/JonnyLeeMiller) is a lawyer for one of those scum-sucking firms, who develops an [[LamarckWasRight inherited]] and inoperable (supposedly) brain aneurysm. The [[DisabilitySuperpower brain aneurysm]] gives him all kinds of hallucinations, many of which involve song and end with everyone in the room staring at Eli as he's just dive-bombed the carpet during a meeting. These visions tend to have something to do with a case he's working on, indicating that the aneurysm gave Eli PsychicPowers. Eli's hallucinations start somewhat [[FreakOut wrecking his life]], leading him to break up with his fiancee, take on charity/pro bono cases, nearly lose his job/career, etc.
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10	At the end of the first season, Eli [[IJustWantToBeNormal had an operation to remove the aneurysm anyway.]] Thanks to StatusQuoIsGod, he got it back...but [[IJustWantToBeSpecial this time he wants it]], and gets a MissionFromGod.
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12	!! Provides examples of:
13	* AbortedArc: In the second season Eli has a vision which shows Maggie defending lead paint manufacturers in the supreme court. This signals that Maggie may become evil but this case is never mentioned again and we never see Maggie become truly amoral.
14	* AmoralAttorney: Eli, at least at first. Pretty much the entire lawyer cast except Maggie starts off this way.
15	* BaitAndSwitchTimeSkip: One of the last episodes in the first season moves along as normal until Eli suddenly realizes that for the past week he hasn't changed his suit or had any non-plot-relevant conversations with anyone. This is his realization that he's not actually awake, he's under anesthetic while surgeons operate on his brain aneurysm.
16	* BenevolentBoss: Zigzagged with Jordan, who flips back and forth between adoring Eli and being (for good reason) mad at him.
17	%%* BigSecret: Eli's aneurysm and his visions. (which comes out)
18	%%* BlitheSpirit: Maggie.
19	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Or so Eli appears. He is in fact all kinds of awesome, since many of his lawyerly quirks are in fact side effects of the same aneurysm visions that help him win his cases.
20	* TheCassandra: No matter how many lives Eli's visions save, nobody (especially nobody with the last name "Wethersby") ever heeds his latest warnings.
21	* CataclysmClimax: Eli has visions of an earthquake in Silver Terrace that will also take out the Golden Gate Bridge, which eventually happens in "Waiting For That Day." This show takes place in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, it must have been tempting to put a quake there... but the actual quake is a clear case of artistic license. A building on the 22nd floor loses all of its SoftGlass in the shaking, yet everyone's fine, and people on the ground in Golden Gate are standing around, ''perfectly still'', watching the bridge collapse. (Not to mention that a quake close to SF would cause a lot more damage.)
22	** And then the bridge is shown completely intact in flyover shots during season 2.
23	*** In fairness, at least six months pass between the two seasons - presumably the city just worked quickly to repair the bridge.
24	* CelebrityStar:
25	** Singer George Michael of Wham! is a recurring character in the first season, both in hallucinations and playing himself.
26	** Seal also makes an appearance in Season 2.
27	** God's fiduciary is played by Sigourney Weaver.
28	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Most of the people Eli sues.
29	* CrowdSong: Everyone knows all the lyrics because it's a hallucination.
30	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Matt.
31	%%* {{Dramedy}}
32	%%* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Eli and Maggie, cited to Eli's face by Taylor.
33	%%** Not to mention that Eli himself has a vision of it.
34	%%* {{Fanboy}}: Jordan, about George Michael
35	* {{Fauxreigner}}: "Dr. Chen" is introduced this way.
36	* FlashForward: Eli finds out that he marries Maggie and they have a baby in the future, and he's somewhat famous.
37	** Except not. WordofGod says it is actually Maggie and Nate's baby.
38	* AFoolForAClient: One episode featured a lawyer who sued a law firm for not hiring him. The lawyer represented himself during the lawsuit, claiming he didn't need another lawyer. [[WildMassGuessing Perhaps no lawyer would support na African-American suing another African-American for racism]].
39	* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Dad's diary [[spoiler: which forecasts events happening ten years after his death! And then is totally subverted when Eli ''burns it''. And then gets de-subverted when we find out that "Dr. Chen" photocopied the whole thing before Eli burned it. He says Eli isn't ready to know that much future yet, but keeps it around as a guide. Eli has also had visions of the book.]]
40	* HandsomeLech / JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Matt
41	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After a near-death experience, Jordan decides to change the firm to help those who can't afford fancy lawyers rather than their high-priced (and often corrupt) clients. Rather than join him, his two partners force Jordan out of the firm. As he's packing up, Taylor enters to point out how a few years earlier, one partner was going through a divorce, the other having issues with the IRS and each wanted to hide assets and thus signed over the property deed to Jordan. Which means even though he's out of the firm, Jordan happens to own the entire ''building'' and smugly tells his now-former partners to find someplace else to work.
42	* HollywoodLaw: So very, very much. Particularly bad in the episode "Sonoma" which not only has half the lawyers thrown in jail because the HangingJudge used to date one of them, it forces two sets of lawyers from opposing firms to ALL be working for the same woman. Conflict of interest much? Also has SurpriseWitness and [[SmokingGun Smoking Painting With Matching Necklace]].
43	** Not to mention the time where Eli switched sides and suddenly prosecuted a case against his own law firm ("Chinese wall"). Note: According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_wall#Law this article]] from Website/TheOtherWiki, the Chinese Wall actually exists, so it's not as though the writers simply made up a law. The real issue is that, Chinese Wall or no, it's illegal in the U.S. for one firm to represent two conflicting parties.
44	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: George Michael songs in the first season
45	* ItsNotYouItsMe: Eli breaks up with Taylor because he thinks the aneurysm is a relationship-killer, even though she's willing to stick with him.
46	* JerkassHasAPoint: In the Pilot, Matt Dowd is a major prick about the plantiff's belief that a vaccine caused her son to become autistic, however, he is correct that there is no established causal connection between vaccines and autism.
47	* LamarckWasRight: Eli inherited the aneurysm from his father. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because both Eli and his father were chosen to receive the aneurysm.
48	%%* LawProcedural
49	* LoveTriangle: Eli, Taylor and Maggie. Later, Eli, Maggie and Scott and then Eli, Maggie and Paul. Eli, Beth, and Nate.
50	* MagicalNativeAmerican: "Dr. Chen" kind of operates as one, though he's not Native American (and may not exactly be Chinese, either). Real name: Frank Leibokowski. "They want incense, mystique, foreign accent, they want the "Dr. Chen."
51	%%* MakeTheDogTestify: With a gay chimpanzee.
52	%%* MentalTimeTravel
53	* MissedTheCall: After Eli's [[RefusalOfTheCall surgery]], his brother briefly seems to be picking up Eli's visions for him. [[spoiler: "God's fiduciary" says essentially that one Stone brother is going to get the visions, period. And if Eli doesn't take 'em, Nate will do just as well.]]
54	%%* MusicalEpisode: Most of them
55	* NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: The inexplicable actions of an autistic child are a way God communicates with Eli.
56	* NewspaperDating: Notably, Eli finding out he's 10 years in the future in "Patience" by picking up a newspaper talking about Iraq withdrawal (this episode was produced in 2008) and finding out he's ten years in the past by seeing a newspaper recounting Princess Diana's death.
57	%%* OrWasItADream: All the time. It's not.
58	* ParentalAbandonment: Jordan actually drove Taylor's mom off after they split up.
59	* ParentalMarriageVeto: Not actually involving marriage, but Jordan indicates he'd put the smackdown on Matt dating Taylor.
60	%%* PosthumousCharacter: Eli's dad
61	%%* ProphecyTwist
62	%%* PropheticFallacy
63	%%* PsychicPowers
64	%%* SassySecretary: Patti
65	%%* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: Maggie
66	* SecretLegacy: Eli's dad, who everyone thought was just a drunk, also had a brain aneurysm that gave him PsychicPowers.
67	%%* {{Seers}}
68	* SelfDefeatingProphecy: Eli can sometimes prevent his visions from coming true.
69	* ShipTease:
70	** The show makes you think Eli and Beth will date again. She ends up dating his brother.
71	** Eli and Maggie are teased throughout the series, and [[spoiler: only sort of get together in the series finale. According to WordOfGod, Maggie too ends up with Nate.]]
72	* ThereAreNoTherapists: [[spoiler: Eli's therapist turns out to be "God's fiduciary" and he's been hallucinating visiting her for months.]]
73	* UltimateJobSecurity: ''Constantly.'' It's a frequent plot point that Eli should be canned and yet can't be. {{Justified\|Trope}} in the pilot, when Beth specifically put into her settlement agreement that Eli can't be fired no matter what he does. [[spoiler: Jordan apparently doesn't have this, though.]]
74	%%* TyrantTakesTheHelm: When Marci takes over
75	%%* VisionQuest
76	%%* WriterOnBoard (Maggie!)
77	%%* YouNoTakeCandle: Frank talks this way when he's in his "Dr. Chen" persona.

Context Series / EliStone