They say, you cannot change the whole world: change yourself first, so that you can help others. There is a television series that has changed me more than anything has changed me before.
Eli Stone is without a doubt the most important TV show the world has right now.
I started watching it because a friend of mine suggested I might like it. I didn’t actually like the first episode, but I got hooked pretty quick, nonetheless. It wasn’t the witty dialogues, and the stuff about a law firm should have put me off, really: I never liked any law stuff, I always thought the law is corrupted the way men want it to be. What started to attract me in the show was the increasingly notable presence of a kind of spirituality that doesn’t preach, yet puts a very definite finger on every crucial issue we should be dealing with: family relationships, romantic relationships, work ethics, moral teaching within manmade institutions, the way people treat each other for the sake of money and power, and how all of this can be turned to everyone’s advantage. Eli is a lawyer who used to be much worse, but a brain aneurysm makes him have visions about the people he knows, about cases he is taking, and more importantly, about cases he should be taking. It’s God’s little prank on him while he’s on his way to redemption. Eli has to cope with a lot, and yet, when at the beginning of the second season his brother gets the aneurysm, Eli takes it back from him, to protect him from a life of anxiety and hardships.
The last episodes have been nothing but brilliant. The legal cases represented are perfect reminders of how we maltreat our fellow neighbours, and how we should make it up for them. Watching this show is like getting a private spiritual guide-book: we can read it in the privacy of our home, and yet, we can’t avoid feeling prompted to do something, anything to change the world. Eli’s life and how he is holding up despite everything inspires, enriches. Beside him, there are others in the show whose lives go through changes, and from their mistakes, we are granted a free lesson in forgiveness and love.
I cannot believe this show is cancelled. I cannot imagine the world without Eli. There is nothing negative in this show, there is no hatred, not without redemption: everything is in order, everything comes full circle. I cannot grasp how the world is immune to the teachings of this show. I cannot accept the fact that from the end of January, there will be no more Eli Stone. Despite all the petitions and the hard work fans are putting into saving it, I am losing hope that the show will continue after ABC stops showing it. I want to believe, but it’s so hard right now…
It’s not for me… by the time they stop showing Eli, I will have 28 episodes altogether… the teachings in those episodes will always be valid… the effect Eli had on my life will never go away. But I believe stronger than ever that THE WORLD NEEDS ELI STONE. With his help, the world CAN be a better place.
