Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Hate Sassy Patti
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 02.20.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Eli's bummed about the fact that he dumped Taylor, but doesn't have much time to think about that, as he gets a vision of a guy in a hospital gown begging him to help him. The visions get out of control in a staff meeting, but when Eli goes to try to beg some drugs off Nate, he finds that the star of his visions is alive and well and living in Nate's office. Turns out the guy is pretty famous, as he was in a coma for years. He's suing his former business partner and wife, who married each other and basically stole his company. However, Eli advises the guy to contest the annulment his wife got, which will entail suing the church that granted it. Eli does well in court and looks like he'll succeed in getting the annulment overturned, but he talks Coma Guy into realizing that he can't get his wife back. However, the visions persist, so Eli begs Nate to do more tests on Coma Guy. Nate refuses, and Coma Guy accepts a big settlement, whereupon he collapses almost immediately and dies. Both Stones feel awful, needless to say, but when Nate gets hammered and comes over to Eli, Eli fesses up about the prophetic aspect of his visions, and Nate, in turn, remembers a link between Eli's visions and their dad, thus coming to believe that Eli's telling the truth. In other news, an older guy of some repute, "Mason Andrews," comes to Jordan for help on a racial-discrimination-hiring suit, which is interesting since the both the plaintiff and the defendant are black. The plaintiff alleges that Andrews is prejudiced against only poor black people, and argues his own case. We get to see Jordan in action for the first time, which is pretty cool, and he wins but then offers the plaintiff a job, which is also cool. Good week for Victor Garber. Taylor shows up for lunch with Jordan, and also tells Eli that she'll be picking up her stuff later that week. She's very unhappy, of course, and later Jordan calls Eli in, thinking that maybe he unwittingly influenced Eli to break things off with his daughter. Eli meets Taylor at the apartment, and they have a more conciliatory talk. Eli uses the lesson from the case of the week to realize that staying with Taylor is the right play, and they hook up. Taylor talks to her dad, and although he's worried that she's going to end up getting hurt, she makes it sound like she's going to stand by her man. Also? Sassy Patti needs to shut up so hard. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Eli is trying to return the engagement ring he got for Taylor, but the woman won't take it back without a receipt, which Eli can't find. Okay, seriously, show, stop it. Eli's supposed to be this amazing attorney, and we've now seen him start off episodes by failing to win an argument with an airport security guy, a tow-truck guy, and a saleswoman. When he stops by the hospital to see his brother next week, is he going to be verbally thwarted by a candy-striper?
Nate: "That'll teach you not to pay retail." Heh. The brothers are on the phone, with Eli curled up in a blanket on the couch. Eli tells Nate he misses Taylor, and wonders if maybe he did the wrong thing. Nate: "You did do the wrong thing, buttwipe!" Hee. I think Nate might be my favorite character now, although the idea that the cute doctor is still single is pretty ridiculous. But it's not like eligible straight men are hard to come by, am I right, ladies of San Francisco? Eli eats popcorn as he says that Taylor would end up miserable with him, but Nate rightly points out that that should be her decision. He advises him to get Taylor back before he becomes even more pathetic, and goes on that Eli is the worst bachelor ever. "Instead of hooking up with old girlfriends, of which we know there's not many, you break out the microwave popcorn, and you spend your nights in bed watching reruns of TV movies on the WE Network!" HA! That's characterization you can sink your teeth into. And more importantly, laugh at. Needless to say, Eli is doing exactly what Nate said, except for the part where he's on the couch, a difference of which he's quick to inform Nate. Nate says he's got to get some sleep, and then we hear a deeper intonation of "Help me, Stone." Eli first thinks it's Nate, but when Nate hangs up, he hears the voice again, and warily turns toward the TV to see a close-up of a thirtysomething man repeating, "Help me, Stone." If this is the best WE has to offer, I think they need a shakeup among their network execs. ["They can start by bringing back the Felicity reruns like I've bitched about a hundred times." -- Sars] After the remote fails him, Eli runs over to the cabinet and turns off the TV, but when he looks to his right, the guy is there in his living room, and we see that he's wearing a hospital gown as he repeats his entreaty. After a little more of this, he disappears, and Eli starts to relax, but then, in a horror-movie-esque camera setup, when we pan around Eli, we see the guy standing on his right again, causing Eli to squeal like a little girl. As if Nate needed any help proving his point.