Eli Stone s01e01 Episode Script
Pilot
Mundoli Village India Are you my guides? I'm Eli Stone.
Eli Stone.
I arranged a trek through the Ranikhet travel agency.
I'm going to the base of the Panch Chuli Peaks.
That's a laptop, so you-- you know, you might wanna I'll--I'll carry this one myself.
Thank you.
I got it.
Thanks.
Okay hey, it's me Eli.
I've got a lot to say, but I'm a little underdressed for the altitude, so I promise to be brief.
I'm fine.
I'm okay.
I'm all right.
I'm just gonna-- I'm gonna walk for a while.
I've been sitting for the last 30 hours, so I'm a lawyer.
I work at Wethersby, Posner & Klein in San Francisco.
Unless you own a huge company that's screwed over a little guy, you probably haven't heard of us.
Guys? Guys, could-- guys? Guys? Guys, could you-- could you take my picture? Here, uh, this--this-- that light's gonna come on when it's ready to flash.
Like I've never used a disposable before? what do you think-- sunglasses? No, no sunglasses.
It's gonna be a long week.
Let's see--lawyer, San Francisco Oh, did I mention I recently found out I could be a prophet? Yeah, I was shocked, too.
See, until recently, my belief in a higher power was limited to worshipping the holy trinity of Armani accessories and, my personal favorite, ambition.
Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly saintlike.
But I didn't mind that I wasn't the idealistic kid I used to be.
I was too busy being that guy-- you know, the guy you see in an office or across the restaurant and you think, "that guy has it all.
" Hell, I thought I did.
And then I heard the music.
Insert caption.
Opening paragraph.
Defendant Beutel pharmaceutical, comma, inc.
, I-N-C period, comma, space.
Opening parent, here and after, quote, Beutel, close quote, close parent pursuant to rules 26 and Patti! There's an intercom, Brando.
I swear, it's like we work in a cleaners.
Do you hear that music? It's been playing all morning.
What music? There was music playing.
I was wondering maybe you could do something about it.
You want me to do something about music I can't hear? Forget it.
Is my 2:30 here? They're in the conference room.
Also, the fiancee called.
Taylor called? Why didn't you tell me? You told me not to bother you.
Since when does Taylor bother me? Well, all right, I was thinking of me.
Okay, from now on, there's a moratorium on discussion concerning my future wife.
that includes e-mails and nasty facial expressions and not telling me when she's on the phone.
You take all the fun out of this job.
$60,000? $60,000? Saying the number twice doesn't double it, you know.
Y-you're gonna have to add another zero.
Really? Okay.
Let's see $60,000 plus zero equals $60,000! What about $80,000? No.
What? I'm--I'm what is that, like an organ or something? m-my cell phone plays "ode to joy," but it's on vibrate.
What, three law degrees, and all you guys can talk about is organ music and ringtones? Look, the only reason I came here today was because I thought Beutel was interested in finally doing the right thing.
Ms.
Keller, your case was adjudicated by the vaccine court, and they determined our client's vaccine didn't cause your son's autism.
Wow, except for "client," "son" and "autism," just about every word in that sentence was wrong.
First, it wasn't your client's vaccine.
It was a preservative in it.
It wasn't a court.
It was a procedural hoop I had to jump through in order to get here.
And they didn't say your client's vaccine didn't cause my son's autism.
They only said I couldn't prove it.
You still can't.
No credible scientist and no reputable study has been able to prove a causal connection between mercuritol and autism.
Then why is Beutel the only vaccine manufacturer who still uses it? You really wanna find out? Lobby Beutel's board to make you the C.
E.
O.
You've got about as much chance of doing that as you do of winning this at trial.
It would still be a trial, mr.
Dowd.
And even if the jury doesn't believe me, maybe everybody reading about the trial will, and maybe they'll make sure not to use your client's product to vaccinate their kids.
Ms.
Keller, you know the first thing I learned about litigation? Client's won't know if you pad the bill? okay, the second thing.
Litigation is only about what you can prove in a court of law.
Now we can offer you $90,000.
I sincerely recommend you take it and get on with your life.
$90,000's good.
- hey, the music.
Did you hear the music? - yes! Yes, I hear the music! No, seriously, there's music playing.
George Michael! That's who it is! George Michael? What the hell are you talking about? His song uh, "faith.
" Okay, not to be a prude, Eli, but I've got a deposition at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so could we forgot the role-playing this one time? I'm not--I'm not role-playing.
It's his--it's his song "faith.
" It's been following me around all day.
A song has been following you? Seriously, you don't hear it? if I say yes, will you come back to bed? It's coming from the living room.
I'm glad something's coming! If you build it, he will come.
That's not funny, nathan.
Mm, yeah, I was afraid of that.
Uh, it doesn't look good, little brother.
You have conjoined butts in your cranium, which actually, it makes you a double-butthead.
Look, aside from the mild concussion you got when your head hit the planter, you are in medical terms what we would call "fine.
" I-I can't be fine.
George Michael was in my living room.
There is nothing medically wrong with you.
It's just stress.
Stress gives you premature grays.
It doesn't make legendary british pop stars sing their greatest hits live from your couch.
This is typical bonehead Eli.
The second you get your life together, you think of some way to ruin it.
Call mom, would you? What am I supposed to do if George Michael comes back? Get an autograph.
Eli? Eli? Eli! And you say I yell.
That's the number for my acupuncturist-- dr.
Chen in chinatown.
He's a miracle worker.
My friend Viv-- he cured her tennis elbow and constipation in one visit.
Well, good for Viv.
But I don't believe in that stuff, so for a guy with auditory hallucinations, you sure are judgmental.
Your 2:00 is here.
I don't have a 2:00.
Don't speak.
Don't say anything.
Patti! Don't speak.
It'd be an ex parte conversation.
You're represented by counsel.
Not anymore.
I fired him this morning.
Then have your new attorney contact me.
In the meantime, have a nice day.
Patti can validate your parking.
I realized yesterday the only way I can win this is if I have an attorney who plays at Matt Dowd's level, and I think I found him.
He graduated valedictorian at stanford law, he clerked for ginsburg, and he's an eighth-year associate at a blue chip firm.
That's me.
You're talking about me.
Why--why you talking about me? Because I want you to take my case, mr.
Stone.
That's impossible.
I-I can't sue my own client.
There's an entire canon of ethics prohibiting it, and I'm pretty sure that they call it a canon 'cause it could kill me.
Blake vs.
Elkin, Overmeyer vs.
Fordes, - an article in the 2003 "harvard law review.
" - You see, this is why the internet is evil.
Your firm sets up something called a chinese wall.
Look.
I might be able to squeeze an extra 10 grand out of Beutel.
Now that's $100,000.
That vaccine made my son sick, and it's still on the market.
But I I'm sorry.
yeah.
oh, welL.
I had to tryright? Bye, Eli.
your place is not that easy to locate.
I meanI'm no marketer, but a little signage would do you wonders.
people who need find dr.
Chen.
Now "relah.
" "Cloh" eye.
Oh, relax and close my eyes.
You smart.
Must be good lawyer.
You say George Michael have great meaning to you.
Uh, I-I say George Michael was in my living room.
He doesn't have great meaning.
Yes.
You no remember.
I no remember because he doesn't.
You must make peace George Michael.
Maybe I should call his publicist.
Dr.
Chen help you remember.
Is this your first time? No, I well, h-h-how would you define "first time"? I thought so.
Okay, we need some music.
Oh, my god, Eli.
You have a George Michael album? What are you doing with a George Michael album? It's my roommate's.
He's in theater.
Whoa, I-I-I-I can't lose it to George Michael.
Well, we can just make out then.
Or it could, you know, make the whole experience more memorable.
You're cute, Eli, in a geeky, late bloomer-ish sort of way.
I've bloomed.
Not yet, you haven't, but you will.
By the time you're that lawyer changing the world, you are gonna be hot.
U.
C.
L.
A.
, 1991.
You were Lizzie then, not Beth.
Your hair was straight, and we had sex to George Michael.
It was 15 years ago, but it was you.
My hair was never straight.
I used a flat iron.
Why didn't you say something? 'Cause it was one night, and it's not like you remembered me.
Come on, Eli, we were both stoned on pot brownies and we had a random college hookup.
So you just used me for sex and tossed me aside like-- like most guys want? I'm not most guys.
No, you're just most lawyers.
That's not fair.
Hey, Ben? Ben, this is Eli.
Eli's a friend of mommy's.
He's not, uh I--I'm not Yeah I was pregnant for 8 years.
Sweetie? Can you please say hello? So you like blocks, huh? Words.
There's over 500,000 in the english language.
Wow, that's a lot.
They should collect them all in a book or something.
That's not counting names.
I'm counting them with names.
what is it, Eli? Uh, come by my office tomorrow at 10:00.
Wh--you're gonna take the case? No, I'm gonna be getting fired 'cause I'm gonna request to take the case.
Oh, look, I really want you to do this, but not if it's out of pity or sympathy.
It's--it's not sympathy.
Uh, there's over 500,000 words in the english language, and that's not counting names.
Bear with me, mr.
Stone.
I don't understand.
Is there some kind of problem with the case? No, the case is going great.
The sole exception being that you wish to switch sides.
W-we represent clients with conflicting interests all the time.
Is that the japanese wall you were talking about? - It's chinese.
- Whichever.
In those situations, the clients can pay.
Mr.
Stone, are you okay? I'm fine.
Totally fine.
Mr.
Dowd, you're atypically quiet.
Yeah.
Sorry, I was just redecorating Stone's office in my head.
Ordinarily, we offer quixotic plaintiffs nuisance value to go away.
We did.
Stone upped the offer to $90,000.
$100,000, actually.
She came by my office.
Let me see if I'm understanding this.
You had an ex parte conversation with the plaintiff? Uhwell, it wouldn't be ex parte if you let me represent her sir.
Explain to me, mr.
Stone, the rationale for upsetting a client of Beutel's magnitude on a case which is a complete and utter loser? Well, because, sir it'll make us rich.
More rich.
We all know that pro bono work is good for business, and this case, as you so correctly pointed out, mr.
Wethersby, is a complete and utter loser.
Therefore, the firm can reap the financial and the public relations windfalls without putting our bottom line at risk.
What is this I hear about the seven horsemen of the apocalypse actually letting you represent that woman? Her name's Beth.
Now ask Dan to get me points and authorities on chinese walls, and there it is again.
You hear that? Who was it this time, hmm? Cyndi lauper? Billy joel? The go-go's? It's not music.
It's, uh like a bell, a dinging.
Did you possibly fall down a flight of stairs, or did you start taking ecstasy? Maybe you fell down a flight of stairs because you are high on ecstasy.
hold on! Hold on! come on, Eli! Hurry up! Come on, Eli! There was a voice this time.
I'm pretty sure it was my dead father.
Dead parent.
Different needle.
You don't understand.
My father was an aimless drunk who ruined everything he ever touched.
He's, like, the last person I need to be hearing from right now.
No good hate dead people.
Relah.
Think good memory father.
Dr.
Chen help ungrateful son.
Come on, Eli! Hurry up! Hey, your mom told me about your debate trophy.
Sorry I couldn't be there.
Because you were drunk again.
Here.
A celebration present for winning the tournament.
It's the Panch Chuli Peaks.
They're in India.
I always wanted to see them.
We'll go some day.
"For Eli, so you'll remember.
" Remember what? That you're meant to do great things, that you're gonna go to beautiful places, speak inspired words, that you're gonna help people.
Dad, you okay? Yeah.
yeah.
Sure, kiddo.
Hey, uh, there's one more stop I gotta make, actually.
Tell your mother I'll be home in a little bit.
Ben was a dream infant.
He barely ever cried or got fussy.
Picked himself up at 10 months and walked at 12.
But at 23 months, everything changed-- right after I took him i for his 2-year checkup, and his pediatrician gave him a Beutel pharmaceutical flu shot.
Within a week, he was a totally different child.
He went from smiling all the time to not at all.
He used to run around the house like a live wire, and now his idea of playtime is stacking objects in rows.
And when he calls for me, which he hardly ever does he calls me Beth.
Uh, your honor "he calls me Beth"? Mr.
Stone, please approach.
Are you mr.
Stone? I figured I could hear this.
An overestimation on my part.
Now I'M walking away.
Your honor, we both know the only chance I have is for the jurors to identify with my client on an emotional level.
Not my problem.
My decision to let you represent the Kellers in the first place should've come wrapped in a box with a ribbon on it.
Do you understand? You're drawing an analogy between your decision and a gift, your honor.
And now I'm walking away.
But, ms.
Keller, isn't it a leap to blame a vaccine for Ben's autism? That vaccine changed my son.
One week, he was happy and healthy, and the next week, he was autistic.
What kind of C.
E.
O.
Would I be-- what kind of human would I be-- if I allowed my company to use a preservative in its vaccine that caused autism? Well, why not just get rid off the preservative just to be sure? Because then I couldn't market the vaccine at an affordable cost.
Look, I'm a parent myself.
And believe me, no level of risk is acceptable.
But there is no risk because there's no connection between mercuritol and autism.
Beth Keller said her son became autistic one week after exposure to it.
The truth is, no one knows what causes autism.
And in the absence of an explanation, ms.
Keller has blamed my company and a product that has saved the lives of tens of thousands of children.
We're gonna lose, aren't we? I'm sorry if by repeatedly telling you how we have no chance of winning I got your hopes up.
Maybe Sean was right.
My ex--he said all the money in the world wasn't gonna make Ben better, that I was obsessed with our son's illness and I should give up.
Is that why you guys split? Ours wasn't a ad-bearing marriage to begin with.
But after Ben was diagnosed, there was just no way.
I hope I'm interrupting something.
We'd better be going.
Come on, Ben.
What a nice woman.
Cute, too.
Is she available? I'm ignoring you.
what's that? A "please break off your engagement, I'm begging you" present.
It's an internal Beutel document.
Jeez, thanks, Patti.
You shouldn't have.
"suggests a possible correlation "between mercuritol and cognitive dysfunction, including autism.
" This is a study.
Proving even they thought mercuritol might be dangerous.
Patti, where'd you get this? A paralegal who works with Matt Dowd.
I lent her my tampons when she ran out.
First, ew.
And second, do you have any idea what you've done? This--this document's attorney-client privilege.
I can't use it.
I can't even know about it.
I could get fired and disbarred and killed, and not even in that order.
Don't whisper-yell at me.
Well, don't try to get me fired.
Well, you're the genius with the stanford diploma.
Figure something out.
God! so his father and I went outside to find Eli naked, covered in feathers and chocolate syrup.
Thanks, mom.
And thank you, too.
Oh, come on.
I was 10.
Just be glad I couldn't find tar.
that would be my parents.
Eli.
- Eli.
- Mr.
Wethersby--umJordan.
Hello, princess.
- Hey, daddy.
- Hello.
you're a brave man, Eli.
For getting engaged to the boss' daughter? That's not bravery.
That's stupidity.
I meant taking on the Beutel matter.
I would have to agree, particularly since Beutel's lawyers have been dealing from the bottom of the deck.
If you're referring to the Beutel study, which I suspect you are, be careful.
It's an ethical violation for you to be in possession of it.
Well, it was a violation for you not to produce it in the first place, so I guess that makes us even.
In point of fact, I didn't have to produce it.
At least, not after one of my associates stepped forward to take the plaintiff's case, effectively allowing me to seal it behind-- what's it called again? A chinese wall? In any case, that's why I'll be in court tomorrow.
Congratulations on the engagement.
It'll be a pleasure to have you in the family.
Eli, stop! Don't! Don't jump! Please, Eli! Don't jump! Look at me! - Look at me! Listen! - Just come down, please! What are you doing? Step down off the railing, Eli! - Please, Eli! Come down! - Don't! What you did last night, I realized that I had, uh, I had seen that kind of behavior before.
We both have with dad--hallucinations, seeing people, hearing things that aren't there.
Just stop me when this doesn't sound familiar.
I don't understand.
What does this all have to do with your father? Well, I'd always associated his episodes with alcohol, but it seems pretty clear he was suffering for something else, there was just no way of knowing it back then.
I took your M.
R.
I.
to our neurology chief, and, um He found something.
He found what? A brain aneurysm.
It's about, uh, 3 millimeters in size.
We wouldn't have found it unless we knew what to look for.
Now intracranial aneurysms can be hereditary.
It is not uncommon for them to afflict the same area of the brain in a parent and a child.
And in this case, it is in the right cerebral artery.
Any disruption of blood flow in this area would account for, uh, delusions of grandeur or hallucinations.
wh-when do you take it out? Because it is located so deep in the cortex, according to the chief neurosurgeon, it is not amenable to surgical intervention.
what if it bursts? It might not.
No, a lot of people live their whole lives with aneurysms, and then they die of perfectly bor-- perfectly boring things.
I'm so sorry, Eli.
I'll let you two talk.
well, we should probably move the wedding out.
That's not funny.
I don't know if I can do this, Eli.
You know, visions, the odd behavior-- I could take all that.
The idea of losing you at any moment are--are you breaking up with me? 'Cause I-I was just diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, and that would be really bad timing on your part.
I am just trying to process all of this.
Eli, where are you going? I'm late for court.
the plaintiff recalls Alan Cooke.
- What's your child's name, sir? - Objection.
Earlier, mr.
Cooke mentioned having a child.
He opened the door.
Overruled.
Your child's name, sir? Jenna.
Did Jenna ever receive a flu vaccine? Several, I'm sure.
Were any of them manufactured by Beutel pharmaceuticals? - Objection! - Objection! Hell, no.
Now we're gettin' somewhere.
Well, mr.
Cooke? I believe the choice of vaccine was Jenna's peatrician's decision.
Mr.
Cooke, do you recognize the man in the glasses who just entered the room? That's dr.
Varga, Jenna's pediatrician.
Or as I prefer to call him, my next witness.
Now I'm going to ask you one more time, mr.
Cooke.
To the best of your knowledge, did Jenna ever receive a Beutel vaccine? No, she did not.
Was that at your request, sir? Yes.
It was.
we're prepared to offer $360,000.
Sealed.
No admission of liability.
Check by the end of business.
I'm sorry.
No.
- No what? - No, I don't accept.
I want mercuritol taken out of Beutel's vaccines, and I want them to set up a fund for any other kids it made autistic.
Could you guys give us a few minutes? Beth, what I did in there was a stunt.
Matt's gonna go back in, he's gonna clean up the mess that I made.
Now we're down to summations here, and I'd have to give the one of my life and get struck by lightning for us to have a chance.
But I'm not gonna take their bribe.
If you don't take the offer, you're going to nothing.
Nothing.
Wow, yeah.
Okay, you--you're right.
We're gonna lose, but not because of Matt Dowd or Beutel or burdens of proof.
We are gonna lose because when you stand up to give the closing argument, the jury's gonna look in your eyes, and they're gonna see that you don't believe.
For the first time, I feel sorrier for you than I do for me.
Come on, Ben.
you always show up no appointment.
Dr.
Chen not jiffy lube.
Come back friday.
I went to the doctor-- the real kind.
You wouldn't, uh, happen to have any needles for an inoperable brain aneurysm I inherited from my alcoholic father who I've wrongly hated for 20 years? That totally blows, bro.
What happened to your accent? Long story.
Want a beer? I grew up on a commune.
From there, U.
C.
Berkeley-- philosophy major.
There's no future in existentialist ethics, so I got into acupuncture.
Unfortunately, nobody wants an acupuncturist named Frank Lebakowski.
They want incense, mystique, a foreign accent.
Yeah, they want the dr.
Chen.
That's great--even my treatments were imaginary.
Hey, eight years of coursework in holistic medicine, two years in beijing.
Give me some props.
Now tell me about this latest vision.
Ah, it's just pointless.
It's all just my defective brain playing tricks on me.
Everything has two explanations, Eli-- the scientific and the divine.
It's up to us to choose which one we buy into.
Now science explains the enlarged vessel in your head.
But does it explain how the girl you lost your virginity to happened to be suing your law firm? How her son happen to spell out a message to yo with his blocks? Okay, so what would your divine explanation for all of this be? Almost all religions believe that there are those who are sent to us to help us find our way.
Some people call them prophets.
A prophet.
You think I'm a prophet? Like moses? god told moses he'd send a prophet to every generation.
Why not a lawyer-- a high profile attorney handling cases that got a lot of notoriety, that the world would read about? The difference between those guys and me is I don't believe in god.
Sure you do.
You believe in right and wrong.
You believe in justice, in fairness.
And you believe in love.
All those things-- they're god, Eli.
And that that's god, too.
The first lawsuit alleging a connection between tobacco and cancer was filed in 1954.
But it took 30 years for a jury to award a single dollar for something we now all accept as patently true.
Is there proof mercuritol causes autism? Yes.
Is that proof direct or incontrovertible proof? No.
But ask yourself if you've ever believed in anything, in anyone, without absolute proof.
That's called faith, ladies and gentlemen.
And make no mistake, this is very much a case about faith.
It's about Beth Keller's faith.
She placed her faith in Beutel when she exposed her child to a vaccine mr.
Cooke wouldn't give his own daughter.
She placed her faith in the justice system to hold Beutel accountable, and now she's here, putting that same unshakable faith in the 12 of you.
I don't have Beth Keller's faith, but I do believe in some things.
I believe in people.
That's why I became a lawyer.
I believe that most people wanna do what's right.
And the right thing to do here is to remove mercuritol from Beutel's vaccines.
Unfortunately, our verdict can't order them to do that.
What you can do is award Beth kell a judgment so high that Beutel feels it has no other choice.
Sadly, without that verdict, I don't have faith that Beutel will do what's right.
But I have faith that you will.
How much longer? Uh, juries don't award millions of dollars in five minutes.
So for us, it's the longer the better.
Eli.
Someone came by the office.
Mom.
Your brother told me everything.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
- Are you all right? - I'm fine.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Apart from the, you know, aneurysm.
I had no idea.
It's horrible to think how much of my life I've spent blaming your father for something that wasn't his faulT.
Yeah, me, too.
It sure helps to explain a lot.
That's the coffee can! Where did you get that? It's your father.
It's his ashes.
You kept dad in a coffee can? No, of course not.
I transported him in the coffee can.
I didn't want to traipse a Honey, he wanted you to have this Him.
In his will, he expressed a desire to be cremated.
He wanted you to have the ashes.
He said that one day, you would know what to do with them.
Of course, I thought that was the request of a crazy person, and I didn't want to burden you.
But now I'm hoping you'll know what to do with them.
I think I do.
Jury's back.
That quick? - Mom, I gotta go.
- It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
I love you.
Okay.
Patti, take my dad back to the office.
I am not gonna even pretend to understand that.
good luck.
You've never wished me luck before.
I never cared whether you won before.
Neither did I.
Has the jury reached a verdict? We have, your honor.
In the matter of Beth Keller vs.
Beutel pharmaceutical incorporated, as to the claim of product liability, we find in favor of the plaintiff and order the defendant to pay damages in the amount of $5.
2 million.
You heard that, too, right? - 'Cause I've been hearing some things lately.
- No, I heard it.
Okay, we all know what happens next.
We appeal, appeal the appeal, appeal the appeal of the appeal.
Basically, run this thing out till little Ben's eligible for social security.
That's a nice try, but Beutel can't risk an appeal because they can't risk the publicity.
Speak quickly, mr.
Stone.
$2 mlion to the Kellers, the balance of the judgment gets invested in a fund for autistic children, and mercuritols removed from Beutel's vaccines, effective immediately.
Write it up.
Wait, one more thing.
Eli keeps his job.
He just won a multimillion dollar jury verdict.
We'd be hard-pressed to explain letting him go.
You'll understand if I want your guarantee in writing.
Shrewd.
I'll have mr.
Dowd draft it up.
Honestly, I-I don't know how to thank you.
Well, I think you just did with the "Eli keeps his job" bit.
That was nothing.
You changed our lives.
Well, I think I'm gonna be making a few changes to mine, too.
Don't be a stranger, okay? And thank you.
The man of the hour.
It's all over the courthouse.
What, that I'm back on the market? It wasn't exactly my finest moment at the doctor's office.
But I am sorry, Eli, and I love you.
I love you, too, and I wanna be with you.
- But - But? I have to go to India.
Right this minute, or you're free for lunch? so that's my story.
It's got sherpas ans George Michael.
It's got cable cars and prophecies and mystical chinese doctors who aren't really that mystical and aren't really that chinese.
I have a feeling that's just the beginning.
Mom said you spent your whole life with these visions.
I had no idea.
I'm sorry, dad.
I'm sorry for blaming you for things that weren't your fault.
Most of all, I'm sorry that I'm not the person at you said I'd be.
I'm gonna change that.
I promise.
I gotta call my father okay, guys.
Let's go.
Eli Stone.
I arranged a trek through the Ranikhet travel agency.
I'm going to the base of the Panch Chuli Peaks.
That's a laptop, so you-- you know, you might wanna I'll--I'll carry this one myself.
Thank you.
I got it.
Thanks.
Okay hey, it's me Eli.
I've got a lot to say, but I'm a little underdressed for the altitude, so I promise to be brief.
I'm fine.
I'm okay.
I'm all right.
I'm just gonna-- I'm gonna walk for a while.
I've been sitting for the last 30 hours, so I'm a lawyer.
I work at Wethersby, Posner & Klein in San Francisco.
Unless you own a huge company that's screwed over a little guy, you probably haven't heard of us.
Guys? Guys, could-- guys? Guys? Guys, could you-- could you take my picture? Here, uh, this--this-- that light's gonna come on when it's ready to flash.
Like I've never used a disposable before? what do you think-- sunglasses? No, no sunglasses.
It's gonna be a long week.
Let's see--lawyer, San Francisco Oh, did I mention I recently found out I could be a prophet? Yeah, I was shocked, too.
See, until recently, my belief in a higher power was limited to worshipping the holy trinity of Armani accessories and, my personal favorite, ambition.
Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly saintlike.
But I didn't mind that I wasn't the idealistic kid I used to be.
I was too busy being that guy-- you know, the guy you see in an office or across the restaurant and you think, "that guy has it all.
" Hell, I thought I did.
And then I heard the music.
Insert caption.
Opening paragraph.
Defendant Beutel pharmaceutical, comma, inc.
, I-N-C period, comma, space.
Opening parent, here and after, quote, Beutel, close quote, close parent pursuant to rules 26 and Patti! There's an intercom, Brando.
I swear, it's like we work in a cleaners.
Do you hear that music? It's been playing all morning.
What music? There was music playing.
I was wondering maybe you could do something about it.
You want me to do something about music I can't hear? Forget it.
Is my 2:30 here? They're in the conference room.
Also, the fiancee called.
Taylor called? Why didn't you tell me? You told me not to bother you.
Since when does Taylor bother me? Well, all right, I was thinking of me.
Okay, from now on, there's a moratorium on discussion concerning my future wife.
that includes e-mails and nasty facial expressions and not telling me when she's on the phone.
You take all the fun out of this job.
$60,000? $60,000? Saying the number twice doesn't double it, you know.
Y-you're gonna have to add another zero.
Really? Okay.
Let's see $60,000 plus zero equals $60,000! What about $80,000? No.
What? I'm--I'm what is that, like an organ or something? m-my cell phone plays "ode to joy," but it's on vibrate.
What, three law degrees, and all you guys can talk about is organ music and ringtones? Look, the only reason I came here today was because I thought Beutel was interested in finally doing the right thing.
Ms.
Keller, your case was adjudicated by the vaccine court, and they determined our client's vaccine didn't cause your son's autism.
Wow, except for "client," "son" and "autism," just about every word in that sentence was wrong.
First, it wasn't your client's vaccine.
It was a preservative in it.
It wasn't a court.
It was a procedural hoop I had to jump through in order to get here.
And they didn't say your client's vaccine didn't cause my son's autism.
They only said I couldn't prove it.
You still can't.
No credible scientist and no reputable study has been able to prove a causal connection between mercuritol and autism.
Then why is Beutel the only vaccine manufacturer who still uses it? You really wanna find out? Lobby Beutel's board to make you the C.
E.
O.
You've got about as much chance of doing that as you do of winning this at trial.
It would still be a trial, mr.
Dowd.
And even if the jury doesn't believe me, maybe everybody reading about the trial will, and maybe they'll make sure not to use your client's product to vaccinate their kids.
Ms.
Keller, you know the first thing I learned about litigation? Client's won't know if you pad the bill? okay, the second thing.
Litigation is only about what you can prove in a court of law.
Now we can offer you $90,000.
I sincerely recommend you take it and get on with your life.
$90,000's good.
- hey, the music.
Did you hear the music? - yes! Yes, I hear the music! No, seriously, there's music playing.
George Michael! That's who it is! George Michael? What the hell are you talking about? His song uh, "faith.
" Okay, not to be a prude, Eli, but I've got a deposition at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so could we forgot the role-playing this one time? I'm not--I'm not role-playing.
It's his--it's his song "faith.
" It's been following me around all day.
A song has been following you? Seriously, you don't hear it? if I say yes, will you come back to bed? It's coming from the living room.
I'm glad something's coming! If you build it, he will come.
That's not funny, nathan.
Mm, yeah, I was afraid of that.
Uh, it doesn't look good, little brother.
You have conjoined butts in your cranium, which actually, it makes you a double-butthead.
Look, aside from the mild concussion you got when your head hit the planter, you are in medical terms what we would call "fine.
" I-I can't be fine.
George Michael was in my living room.
There is nothing medically wrong with you.
It's just stress.
Stress gives you premature grays.
It doesn't make legendary british pop stars sing their greatest hits live from your couch.
This is typical bonehead Eli.
The second you get your life together, you think of some way to ruin it.
Call mom, would you? What am I supposed to do if George Michael comes back? Get an autograph.
Eli? Eli? Eli! And you say I yell.
That's the number for my acupuncturist-- dr.
Chen in chinatown.
He's a miracle worker.
My friend Viv-- he cured her tennis elbow and constipation in one visit.
Well, good for Viv.
But I don't believe in that stuff, so for a guy with auditory hallucinations, you sure are judgmental.
Your 2:00 is here.
I don't have a 2:00.
Don't speak.
Don't say anything.
Patti! Don't speak.
It'd be an ex parte conversation.
You're represented by counsel.
Not anymore.
I fired him this morning.
Then have your new attorney contact me.
In the meantime, have a nice day.
Patti can validate your parking.
I realized yesterday the only way I can win this is if I have an attorney who plays at Matt Dowd's level, and I think I found him.
He graduated valedictorian at stanford law, he clerked for ginsburg, and he's an eighth-year associate at a blue chip firm.
That's me.
You're talking about me.
Why--why you talking about me? Because I want you to take my case, mr.
Stone.
That's impossible.
I-I can't sue my own client.
There's an entire canon of ethics prohibiting it, and I'm pretty sure that they call it a canon 'cause it could kill me.
Blake vs.
Elkin, Overmeyer vs.
Fordes, - an article in the 2003 "harvard law review.
" - You see, this is why the internet is evil.
Your firm sets up something called a chinese wall.
Look.
I might be able to squeeze an extra 10 grand out of Beutel.
Now that's $100,000.
That vaccine made my son sick, and it's still on the market.
But I I'm sorry.
yeah.
oh, welL.
I had to tryright? Bye, Eli.
your place is not that easy to locate.
I meanI'm no marketer, but a little signage would do you wonders.
people who need find dr.
Chen.
Now "relah.
" "Cloh" eye.
Oh, relax and close my eyes.
You smart.
Must be good lawyer.
You say George Michael have great meaning to you.
Uh, I-I say George Michael was in my living room.
He doesn't have great meaning.
Yes.
You no remember.
I no remember because he doesn't.
You must make peace George Michael.
Maybe I should call his publicist.
Dr.
Chen help you remember.
Is this your first time? No, I well, h-h-how would you define "first time"? I thought so.
Okay, we need some music.
Oh, my god, Eli.
You have a George Michael album? What are you doing with a George Michael album? It's my roommate's.
He's in theater.
Whoa, I-I-I-I can't lose it to George Michael.
Well, we can just make out then.
Or it could, you know, make the whole experience more memorable.
You're cute, Eli, in a geeky, late bloomer-ish sort of way.
I've bloomed.
Not yet, you haven't, but you will.
By the time you're that lawyer changing the world, you are gonna be hot.
U.
C.
L.
A.
, 1991.
You were Lizzie then, not Beth.
Your hair was straight, and we had sex to George Michael.
It was 15 years ago, but it was you.
My hair was never straight.
I used a flat iron.
Why didn't you say something? 'Cause it was one night, and it's not like you remembered me.
Come on, Eli, we were both stoned on pot brownies and we had a random college hookup.
So you just used me for sex and tossed me aside like-- like most guys want? I'm not most guys.
No, you're just most lawyers.
That's not fair.
Hey, Ben? Ben, this is Eli.
Eli's a friend of mommy's.
He's not, uh I--I'm not Yeah I was pregnant for 8 years.
Sweetie? Can you please say hello? So you like blocks, huh? Words.
There's over 500,000 in the english language.
Wow, that's a lot.
They should collect them all in a book or something.
That's not counting names.
I'm counting them with names.
what is it, Eli? Uh, come by my office tomorrow at 10:00.
Wh--you're gonna take the case? No, I'm gonna be getting fired 'cause I'm gonna request to take the case.
Oh, look, I really want you to do this, but not if it's out of pity or sympathy.
It's--it's not sympathy.
Uh, there's over 500,000 words in the english language, and that's not counting names.
Bear with me, mr.
Stone.
I don't understand.
Is there some kind of problem with the case? No, the case is going great.
The sole exception being that you wish to switch sides.
W-we represent clients with conflicting interests all the time.
Is that the japanese wall you were talking about? - It's chinese.
- Whichever.
In those situations, the clients can pay.
Mr.
Stone, are you okay? I'm fine.
Totally fine.
Mr.
Dowd, you're atypically quiet.
Yeah.
Sorry, I was just redecorating Stone's office in my head.
Ordinarily, we offer quixotic plaintiffs nuisance value to go away.
We did.
Stone upped the offer to $90,000.
$100,000, actually.
She came by my office.
Let me see if I'm understanding this.
You had an ex parte conversation with the plaintiff? Uhwell, it wouldn't be ex parte if you let me represent her sir.
Explain to me, mr.
Stone, the rationale for upsetting a client of Beutel's magnitude on a case which is a complete and utter loser? Well, because, sir it'll make us rich.
More rich.
We all know that pro bono work is good for business, and this case, as you so correctly pointed out, mr.
Wethersby, is a complete and utter loser.
Therefore, the firm can reap the financial and the public relations windfalls without putting our bottom line at risk.
What is this I hear about the seven horsemen of the apocalypse actually letting you represent that woman? Her name's Beth.
Now ask Dan to get me points and authorities on chinese walls, and there it is again.
You hear that? Who was it this time, hmm? Cyndi lauper? Billy joel? The go-go's? It's not music.
It's, uh like a bell, a dinging.
Did you possibly fall down a flight of stairs, or did you start taking ecstasy? Maybe you fell down a flight of stairs because you are high on ecstasy.
hold on! Hold on! come on, Eli! Hurry up! Come on, Eli! There was a voice this time.
I'm pretty sure it was my dead father.
Dead parent.
Different needle.
You don't understand.
My father was an aimless drunk who ruined everything he ever touched.
He's, like, the last person I need to be hearing from right now.
No good hate dead people.
Relah.
Think good memory father.
Dr.
Chen help ungrateful son.
Come on, Eli! Hurry up! Hey, your mom told me about your debate trophy.
Sorry I couldn't be there.
Because you were drunk again.
Here.
A celebration present for winning the tournament.
It's the Panch Chuli Peaks.
They're in India.
I always wanted to see them.
We'll go some day.
"For Eli, so you'll remember.
" Remember what? That you're meant to do great things, that you're gonna go to beautiful places, speak inspired words, that you're gonna help people.
Dad, you okay? Yeah.
yeah.
Sure, kiddo.
Hey, uh, there's one more stop I gotta make, actually.
Tell your mother I'll be home in a little bit.
Ben was a dream infant.
He barely ever cried or got fussy.
Picked himself up at 10 months and walked at 12.
But at 23 months, everything changed-- right after I took him i for his 2-year checkup, and his pediatrician gave him a Beutel pharmaceutical flu shot.
Within a week, he was a totally different child.
He went from smiling all the time to not at all.
He used to run around the house like a live wire, and now his idea of playtime is stacking objects in rows.
And when he calls for me, which he hardly ever does he calls me Beth.
Uh, your honor "he calls me Beth"? Mr.
Stone, please approach.
Are you mr.
Stone? I figured I could hear this.
An overestimation on my part.
Now I'M walking away.
Your honor, we both know the only chance I have is for the jurors to identify with my client on an emotional level.
Not my problem.
My decision to let you represent the Kellers in the first place should've come wrapped in a box with a ribbon on it.
Do you understand? You're drawing an analogy between your decision and a gift, your honor.
And now I'm walking away.
But, ms.
Keller, isn't it a leap to blame a vaccine for Ben's autism? That vaccine changed my son.
One week, he was happy and healthy, and the next week, he was autistic.
What kind of C.
E.
O.
Would I be-- what kind of human would I be-- if I allowed my company to use a preservative in its vaccine that caused autism? Well, why not just get rid off the preservative just to be sure? Because then I couldn't market the vaccine at an affordable cost.
Look, I'm a parent myself.
And believe me, no level of risk is acceptable.
But there is no risk because there's no connection between mercuritol and autism.
Beth Keller said her son became autistic one week after exposure to it.
The truth is, no one knows what causes autism.
And in the absence of an explanation, ms.
Keller has blamed my company and a product that has saved the lives of tens of thousands of children.
We're gonna lose, aren't we? I'm sorry if by repeatedly telling you how we have no chance of winning I got your hopes up.
Maybe Sean was right.
My ex--he said all the money in the world wasn't gonna make Ben better, that I was obsessed with our son's illness and I should give up.
Is that why you guys split? Ours wasn't a ad-bearing marriage to begin with.
But after Ben was diagnosed, there was just no way.
I hope I'm interrupting something.
We'd better be going.
Come on, Ben.
What a nice woman.
Cute, too.
Is she available? I'm ignoring you.
what's that? A "please break off your engagement, I'm begging you" present.
It's an internal Beutel document.
Jeez, thanks, Patti.
You shouldn't have.
"suggests a possible correlation "between mercuritol and cognitive dysfunction, including autism.
" This is a study.
Proving even they thought mercuritol might be dangerous.
Patti, where'd you get this? A paralegal who works with Matt Dowd.
I lent her my tampons when she ran out.
First, ew.
And second, do you have any idea what you've done? This--this document's attorney-client privilege.
I can't use it.
I can't even know about it.
I could get fired and disbarred and killed, and not even in that order.
Don't whisper-yell at me.
Well, don't try to get me fired.
Well, you're the genius with the stanford diploma.
Figure something out.
God! so his father and I went outside to find Eli naked, covered in feathers and chocolate syrup.
Thanks, mom.
And thank you, too.
Oh, come on.
I was 10.
Just be glad I couldn't find tar.
that would be my parents.
Eli.
- Eli.
- Mr.
Wethersby--umJordan.
Hello, princess.
- Hey, daddy.
- Hello.
you're a brave man, Eli.
For getting engaged to the boss' daughter? That's not bravery.
That's stupidity.
I meant taking on the Beutel matter.
I would have to agree, particularly since Beutel's lawyers have been dealing from the bottom of the deck.
If you're referring to the Beutel study, which I suspect you are, be careful.
It's an ethical violation for you to be in possession of it.
Well, it was a violation for you not to produce it in the first place, so I guess that makes us even.
In point of fact, I didn't have to produce it.
At least, not after one of my associates stepped forward to take the plaintiff's case, effectively allowing me to seal it behind-- what's it called again? A chinese wall? In any case, that's why I'll be in court tomorrow.
Congratulations on the engagement.
It'll be a pleasure to have you in the family.
Eli, stop! Don't! Don't jump! Please, Eli! Don't jump! Look at me! - Look at me! Listen! - Just come down, please! What are you doing? Step down off the railing, Eli! - Please, Eli! Come down! - Don't! What you did last night, I realized that I had, uh, I had seen that kind of behavior before.
We both have with dad--hallucinations, seeing people, hearing things that aren't there.
Just stop me when this doesn't sound familiar.
I don't understand.
What does this all have to do with your father? Well, I'd always associated his episodes with alcohol, but it seems pretty clear he was suffering for something else, there was just no way of knowing it back then.
I took your M.
R.
I.
to our neurology chief, and, um He found something.
He found what? A brain aneurysm.
It's about, uh, 3 millimeters in size.
We wouldn't have found it unless we knew what to look for.
Now intracranial aneurysms can be hereditary.
It is not uncommon for them to afflict the same area of the brain in a parent and a child.
And in this case, it is in the right cerebral artery.
Any disruption of blood flow in this area would account for, uh, delusions of grandeur or hallucinations.
wh-when do you take it out? Because it is located so deep in the cortex, according to the chief neurosurgeon, it is not amenable to surgical intervention.
what if it bursts? It might not.
No, a lot of people live their whole lives with aneurysms, and then they die of perfectly bor-- perfectly boring things.
I'm so sorry, Eli.
I'll let you two talk.
well, we should probably move the wedding out.
That's not funny.
I don't know if I can do this, Eli.
You know, visions, the odd behavior-- I could take all that.
The idea of losing you at any moment are--are you breaking up with me? 'Cause I-I was just diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, and that would be really bad timing on your part.
I am just trying to process all of this.
Eli, where are you going? I'm late for court.
the plaintiff recalls Alan Cooke.
- What's your child's name, sir? - Objection.
Earlier, mr.
Cooke mentioned having a child.
He opened the door.
Overruled.
Your child's name, sir? Jenna.
Did Jenna ever receive a flu vaccine? Several, I'm sure.
Were any of them manufactured by Beutel pharmaceuticals? - Objection! - Objection! Hell, no.
Now we're gettin' somewhere.
Well, mr.
Cooke? I believe the choice of vaccine was Jenna's peatrician's decision.
Mr.
Cooke, do you recognize the man in the glasses who just entered the room? That's dr.
Varga, Jenna's pediatrician.
Or as I prefer to call him, my next witness.
Now I'm going to ask you one more time, mr.
Cooke.
To the best of your knowledge, did Jenna ever receive a Beutel vaccine? No, she did not.
Was that at your request, sir? Yes.
It was.
we're prepared to offer $360,000.
Sealed.
No admission of liability.
Check by the end of business.
I'm sorry.
No.
- No what? - No, I don't accept.
I want mercuritol taken out of Beutel's vaccines, and I want them to set up a fund for any other kids it made autistic.
Could you guys give us a few minutes? Beth, what I did in there was a stunt.
Matt's gonna go back in, he's gonna clean up the mess that I made.
Now we're down to summations here, and I'd have to give the one of my life and get struck by lightning for us to have a chance.
But I'm not gonna take their bribe.
If you don't take the offer, you're going to nothing.
Nothing.
Wow, yeah.
Okay, you--you're right.
We're gonna lose, but not because of Matt Dowd or Beutel or burdens of proof.
We are gonna lose because when you stand up to give the closing argument, the jury's gonna look in your eyes, and they're gonna see that you don't believe.
For the first time, I feel sorrier for you than I do for me.
Come on, Ben.
you always show up no appointment.
Dr.
Chen not jiffy lube.
Come back friday.
I went to the doctor-- the real kind.
You wouldn't, uh, happen to have any needles for an inoperable brain aneurysm I inherited from my alcoholic father who I've wrongly hated for 20 years? That totally blows, bro.
What happened to your accent? Long story.
Want a beer? I grew up on a commune.
From there, U.
C.
Berkeley-- philosophy major.
There's no future in existentialist ethics, so I got into acupuncture.
Unfortunately, nobody wants an acupuncturist named Frank Lebakowski.
They want incense, mystique, a foreign accent.
Yeah, they want the dr.
Chen.
That's great--even my treatments were imaginary.
Hey, eight years of coursework in holistic medicine, two years in beijing.
Give me some props.
Now tell me about this latest vision.
Ah, it's just pointless.
It's all just my defective brain playing tricks on me.
Everything has two explanations, Eli-- the scientific and the divine.
It's up to us to choose which one we buy into.
Now science explains the enlarged vessel in your head.
But does it explain how the girl you lost your virginity to happened to be suing your law firm? How her son happen to spell out a message to yo with his blocks? Okay, so what would your divine explanation for all of this be? Almost all religions believe that there are those who are sent to us to help us find our way.
Some people call them prophets.
A prophet.
You think I'm a prophet? Like moses? god told moses he'd send a prophet to every generation.
Why not a lawyer-- a high profile attorney handling cases that got a lot of notoriety, that the world would read about? The difference between those guys and me is I don't believe in god.
Sure you do.
You believe in right and wrong.
You believe in justice, in fairness.
And you believe in love.
All those things-- they're god, Eli.
And that that's god, too.
The first lawsuit alleging a connection between tobacco and cancer was filed in 1954.
But it took 30 years for a jury to award a single dollar for something we now all accept as patently true.
Is there proof mercuritol causes autism? Yes.
Is that proof direct or incontrovertible proof? No.
But ask yourself if you've ever believed in anything, in anyone, without absolute proof.
That's called faith, ladies and gentlemen.
And make no mistake, this is very much a case about faith.
It's about Beth Keller's faith.
She placed her faith in Beutel when she exposed her child to a vaccine mr.
Cooke wouldn't give his own daughter.
She placed her faith in the justice system to hold Beutel accountable, and now she's here, putting that same unshakable faith in the 12 of you.
I don't have Beth Keller's faith, but I do believe in some things.
I believe in people.
That's why I became a lawyer.
I believe that most people wanna do what's right.
And the right thing to do here is to remove mercuritol from Beutel's vaccines.
Unfortunately, our verdict can't order them to do that.
What you can do is award Beth kell a judgment so high that Beutel feels it has no other choice.
Sadly, without that verdict, I don't have faith that Beutel will do what's right.
But I have faith that you will.
How much longer? Uh, juries don't award millions of dollars in five minutes.
So for us, it's the longer the better.
Eli.
Someone came by the office.
Mom.
Your brother told me everything.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
- Are you all right? - I'm fine.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Apart from the, you know, aneurysm.
I had no idea.
It's horrible to think how much of my life I've spent blaming your father for something that wasn't his faulT.
Yeah, me, too.
It sure helps to explain a lot.
That's the coffee can! Where did you get that? It's your father.
It's his ashes.
You kept dad in a coffee can? No, of course not.
I transported him in the coffee can.
I didn't want to traipse a Honey, he wanted you to have this Him.
In his will, he expressed a desire to be cremated.
He wanted you to have the ashes.
He said that one day, you would know what to do with them.
Of course, I thought that was the request of a crazy person, and I didn't want to burden you.
But now I'm hoping you'll know what to do with them.
I think I do.
Jury's back.
That quick? - Mom, I gotta go.
- It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
I love you.
Okay.
Patti, take my dad back to the office.
I am not gonna even pretend to understand that.
good luck.
You've never wished me luck before.
I never cared whether you won before.
Neither did I.
Has the jury reached a verdict? We have, your honor.
In the matter of Beth Keller vs.
Beutel pharmaceutical incorporated, as to the claim of product liability, we find in favor of the plaintiff and order the defendant to pay damages in the amount of $5.
2 million.
You heard that, too, right? - 'Cause I've been hearing some things lately.
- No, I heard it.
Okay, we all know what happens next.
We appeal, appeal the appeal, appeal the appeal of the appeal.
Basically, run this thing out till little Ben's eligible for social security.
That's a nice try, but Beutel can't risk an appeal because they can't risk the publicity.
Speak quickly, mr.
Stone.
$2 mlion to the Kellers, the balance of the judgment gets invested in a fund for autistic children, and mercuritols removed from Beutel's vaccines, effective immediately.
Write it up.
Wait, one more thing.
Eli keeps his job.
He just won a multimillion dollar jury verdict.
We'd be hard-pressed to explain letting him go.
You'll understand if I want your guarantee in writing.
Shrewd.
I'll have mr.
Dowd draft it up.
Honestly, I-I don't know how to thank you.
Well, I think you just did with the "Eli keeps his job" bit.
That was nothing.
You changed our lives.
Well, I think I'm gonna be making a few changes to mine, too.
Don't be a stranger, okay? And thank you.
The man of the hour.
It's all over the courthouse.
What, that I'm back on the market? It wasn't exactly my finest moment at the doctor's office.
But I am sorry, Eli, and I love you.
I love you, too, and I wanna be with you.
- But - But? I have to go to India.
Right this minute, or you're free for lunch? so that's my story.
It's got sherpas ans George Michael.
It's got cable cars and prophecies and mystical chinese doctors who aren't really that mystical and aren't really that chinese.
I have a feeling that's just the beginning.
Mom said you spent your whole life with these visions.
I had no idea.
I'm sorry, dad.
I'm sorry for blaming you for things that weren't your fault.
Most of all, I'm sorry that I'm not the person at you said I'd be.
I'm gonna change that.
I promise.
I gotta call my father okay, guys.
Let's go.