Eli Stone s01e13 Episode Script

Soul Free

In about an hour from now there's gonna be an earthquake.
Previously on "Eli Stone" Oh my god! It's like I see things now things that were always there, but that I just never noticed before.
Your dad told me that I would make good on my debt to him one day.
I didn't know what your dad meant.
I recommend that patients should get their affairs in order.
I should draft a will? Before I go in for my surgery You want us to witness your suicide note? It's a statement about how and under what circumstances i don't wanna live.
C.
B.
P.
holding.
B.
P.
100 over 70.
That's good.
The graft is secure.
I'm preparing to tie off the aneurysm.
Oxygen-- head is good.
Respiration's normal.
Pulse is dropping.
Damn it.
It ruptured.
He's hemorrhaging.
He's in defib.
Reclip proximally.
- Quickly, people, now! - Pressure's dropping.
Let's run in some more volume.
More suction.
Thanks.
So you got that, thing this week, right? If by "the thing" you mean getting my skull sawed open, Then, yeah, that's friday.
Well, listen, if, uh, anyone deserves to not die, or be brain-damaged, it's you.
And look on the bright side, if you do end up a vegetable, two words, sponge bath.
Thanks.
That's comforting.
Keith.
We need to talk about the Allen depo, right? Actually, I was looking for Eli.
Great.
I'll be in my office.
Everything okay with Mosely? Aside from still being in prison? He's good.
I saw him last week.
But, uh, I wanted to talk to you about something else, though.
I thought they fixed that already.
Look, I know this is a big week for you, hey, is there anyone in this office who doesn't want to talk about my neurosurgery? Look, I appreciate your concern, but I'm gonna be fine.
Did they have an aftershock or something? I must have slept through it.
Okay, I-I get it.
You don't want to talk about it.
But if you change your mind, or you just want to go out and get hammered, drinks are on me.
Thanks.
Take care of yourself, man.
Any idea why people in the office are treating me like i'm made of glass? Um, I couldn't say.
You should get ready for your 10:00.
Patti, you don't have to threaten people to be nice to me.
Well, what else do you want me to do, Eli? People don't get brain surgery every day.
Treat me like you always do.
In fact, I demand that you are meaner to me than usual.
Where's the mayor of Sasstown when I need her? Can we just act like everything's normal? Your 10:00 is here.
I didn't realize I had a 10:00.
That's because you don't listen.
See? See? That's the spirit.
Sorry.
Hi.
Are you Patti? So nice to meet you in person, mr.
Green.
Meet Eli Stone.
He's been expecting you.
Yes, I have.
Could you just remind me what this is about? I need you to help me die.
Assisted suicide is illegal in California.
I'm not interested in suicide, mr.
Stone, assisted or otherwise.
My wife wants me declared incompetent.
She wants to take away my right to make my own medical decisions.
So, uh, a-are you ill? Cancer.
It started in my colon, but it spread.
I've been through chemotherapy twice.
Both times I went into remission, and both times the cancer came back.
My wife wants me to have chemo again but I won't do it.
You don't want to go through it again? No.
God told me to be at peace.
And in my experience, chemotherapy is not peace.
You spoke to God? Yeah.
Well, he spoke to me.
I prayed, and I told Him what happened, and it just came to me, n-not a voice, exactly, but a feeling.
When it comes to chemotherapy, for me, It told me, or He She told me, third time's not the charm.
Obviously, I'm not a doctor, so I guessing, without the chemotherapy - I'll die, probably, or maybe not.
I-I-I just prayed, and God told me to put myself in His hands.
And my wife doesn't want me to.
Will you help me stop her? - Have you completely lost your mind? - Original.
In three months, I haven't heard that once.
Sorry, but sane people don't predict earthquakes, and they definitely don't sign D.
N.
R.
s - right before high-risk neurosurgery.
- Why not? Because postsurgical outcomes can be unpredictable.
For someone like you, you can come out with a horrible prognosis and six weeks later be totally fine.
So even if I come out a vegetable, I might not stay a vegetable? Yeah, well, if you want to get technical about it.
Or I could stay a vegetable, or in a coma.
That's why I need a D.
N.
R.
Just because the surgery is risky doesn't mean you should put your life in some random doctor's hands.
I'm not.
I'm putting it in yours.
You want me to be your health care proxy? Are we gonna go back to the "crazy" jokes? No, you've lost your mind for real this time.
What is so insane about asking my brother, who also happens to be a doctor, to be my health care proxy? Nothing, except the last two people your brother did that for happened to die.
Valerie Masters refused the heart.
You said so yourself.
She made a decision.
Yeah, but dad didn't.
Look, I-I know my limits.
Ten years ago, I made a bad decision, - and I'm not doing it again.
- You won't.
- You don't know that.
- Yes, I do.
Nathan, you've been right about everything so far, the aneurysm, Dr.
Rajapaksa.
Whatever happens, I trust you.
And if I don't trust myself? That's the beauty of it.
You don't have to.
What matters most is that I believe you'll do the right thing.
And by "right thing", you mean if things get bad, if worse comes to worst, you want me to I want you to let me go.
Dr.
Stone? Dr.
Rajapaksa wants to see you.
It's about your brother.
Eli Stone Season 1 Episode 13 Soul Free So I heard about your case and, well, I was thinking my schedule's pretty free.
I could second chair.
Uh, that's okay, Maggie.
I can handle it alone.
Well, no, of course, you can.
I wasn't implying that You even know what the case is about? - Not really.
- I had a feeling.
So what are you really doing here? Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I just, I owe you for last week, For saving Scott For everything.
You're trying to get in on the dying guy case with the other dying guy before both guys get flushed down the proverbial toilet.
Yes.
No.
Wait.
What? You're afraid I'm gonna die.
No, I'm not.
I'm not.
In fact, I would really, really prefer it if you didn't.
It's just this operation, it's it's dangerous.
Really dangerous.
So maybe I am a little scared.
I mean, aren't you? Truthfully? Living or dying, either of those is fine with me.
It's the something in between that scares me.
But for the record, dying is not really on my agenda, so - Okay, you can second chair, but no sniffling.
- Okay.
Thanks.
No one wants to die, but I'm going to, Rebecca.
I just choose to die on my own terms.
But we choose life, David.
That's what we do.
Moses' last words to the israelites, "choose life.
" She called it "the 11th commandment" in one of her sermons.
My wife's a rabbi.
Did I forget to mention that? Yes, actually, you did.
But that explains the talking to God part.
Jews haven't talked to God since the biblical age, and in any case, you'd have to first believe that God exists.
David doesn't.
- That's not true, Rebecca.
- Fine.
He doesn't believe God exists except during baseball season.
As it turns out, I was diagnosed during baseball season.
I'm hardly the first person to find faith in times of crisis.
That's a large part of what faith is for, isn't it? We're not questioning your belief in God, just your belief that God spoke to you.
I prayed, and I got answers.
How does that make me less competent than millions of other people? Because the answers you got advised you to abandon your children.
They advised me to die with dignity.
And if that's God's plan, I can't imagine a greater lesson to teach my children.
They don't need lessons.
They need their father, as long as possible.
Where have you been? I've been calling and calling.
Why? Has something happened? There's nothing that makes me crazier than you not answering your cell phone when I call, and I know you were in the car.
Well, I must have had it on vibrate.
Well, how hard is it to turn your ringer on? Do I have to follow you around telling you, "ring, ring, Eli, somebody's calling", when the person that's calling is me? - Okay! I'll turn my ringer on! - Good.
And your mama dresses you funny.
Oh, the mean thing.
I'd forgotten how good you are at that.
Jordan wants to see you, probably some new stupid thing you did.
Now get outta here! I can't stand lookin' in your face.
Thanks, Patti.
Well, don't just stand there.
There he is.
Go.
Go! Eli.
Walk with me.
Sir, I know I said I wouldn't take any new cases before friday It's not about the case.
As W.
P.
K.
's former and current managing partner Speaking of which, I know I congratulated you a couple of days ago, but I'm having this weird dejavu kind of day, so in case I didn't, congratulations again.
May I continue? When you walked into my office eight years ago, you know what I saw? A strapping young lawyer with a full head of hair? A greedy, self-righteous little sycophant.
An ass.
I am flattered, Sir.
But as I got to know you, I saw you were more.
You were driven, competitive, and when I found out, you were dating my daughter, going to be my son-in-law, I couldn't have been happier.
You were the man to follow in my footsteps, to take W.
P.
K.
to the prestigious heights I had dreamed of.
I put you on the fast track for partner.
- But then you got an aneurysm - And I changed, I know.
Is this little walk and talk about how much I've disappointed you? Sometimes You are still an ass.
What--what's going on? Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the junior partner in charge of pro bono initiatives, Mr.
Eli Stone.
All right! Me? What? Oh, my God.
Kudos, man.
You deserve this.
Eli, we're so proud of you.
You mean so much to everyone here.
Couldn't have happen to a better guy.
Except me, of course.
Eli, I'm so happy for you.
Oh! Wait.
I-I know what's going on here.
Sir, um, being partner means more to me than you'll ever know, but if you're doing this because you think I'm gonna die or as an incentive to live.
Eli, you have it all wrong.
I made you partner because your compassion changed me.
Please Wake up.
And how would you describe David's religious beliefs? David was born jewish, but he never had any faith to speak of.
He always said if I hadn't been so pretty, he would have married Shiksa.
So when--when David said that God had spoken to him Well, at first I thought it was a joke.
Now I'm convinced it's just a symptom of his depression.
Depression? When the colon cancer progressed, when David didn't respond to the new chemotherapy, he he grew more and more despondent, hopeless.
He claims to have found new faith and hope.
Well, if that was the case, he wouldn't be giving up.
He'd fight to live, to--to see our children grow up, for as long as he can.
That's what God wants.
Thank you.
The God that you believe in.
The God of the jewish faith.
Judaism teaches that God instilled in us the gift of learning.
Human beings have learned to expand the horizons of science and medicine to create treatments, however brutal or dangerous, which can fight disease, which can save our lives.
That's why I believe God wants David to live, because he created a world in which there is a chance for my husband to survive.
I just want him to take that chance for me and for his children and for himself.
That's why I married her.
She's great under pressure, isn't she? She's very convincing.
Are you having second thoughts about helping me? What exactly did God say to you? How did it happen? Did--did you, did you see someone or I hear a song, or I can't explain.
It's not like I heard a voice, exactly.
It's--it's more like a a moment of clarity.
And I felt calm.
I had peace.
That never happened to me.
And you know, it's never happened to Rebecca, and she's a rabbi.
Want your office back? A partner should have a big, private office that isn't a library.
Who knew that, uh, imminent death could be so upwardly mobile? You know I couldn't be more proud of you, right? Well, that means a lot Especially 'cause you're one of the people I trampled on on my ruthless climb to the top.
I've been wanting to tell you something.
I suppose now is as good a time as any.
You're the most important person in my life.
I thought it was Carlo, the guy that colors your hair.
I'm serious, Eli.
You taught me about love and not just the romantic kind, but the all-encompassing lifetime kind the kind that sustains through tragedy and triumph.
- Through breakups - And brain surgery? Taylor I'm gonna do my darndest not to die.
Listen to me.
You're not dead, all right? You're not dead.
Listen to me.
I said I'd be there for you no matter what, Eli, and I meant it.
Taylor? - Hey.
- Good to see you.
You, too.
- Are you hangin' in there? - Me? Yeah, I'm, I'm fine.
They were almost done with the surgery, just about to clip the aneurysm.
Thought he was out of the woods, and then there was a hemorrhage.
Then another.
The artery walls were weakened due to pressure from the aneurysm, and the surgery just made things worse.
Eli went into cardiac arrest, and the heart attack cut off blood flow to his brain.
And the aneurysm? It's gone.
But You know, in an alternate universe, Eli and I would be married now, and I'be the one having to make the decision to - The decision.
- Eli already made his decision.
He he didn't want to live this way.
Nate, it's easy to say that when it's a hypothetical, but when the worst actually happens just because Eli asked you to let him go - It doesn't mean you have to honor his request.
- No.
But I have to honor him.
I've already let him down, and I can't do it again.
I just I can't.
Everything's going my way.
I made partner--junior partner.
They had a cake for me-- uh, red velvet.
Congratulations.
It's what I've been working toward for years, and now I have it.
I earned it.
It--it's just "for what shall it profit a man if he shall" regain the corner office and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36, from your new favorite book.
I have a new client.
He's dying of cancer.
He says that God spoke to him.
Did he use a musical number? No.
He just took away his burdens.
He feels like this great weight has been lifted from him.
Makes me think.
- What has God done for you lately? - Well, yeah.
This guy, He grants inner peace and me, he just tries to scare the crap out of.
Maybe God's showing you his love by scaring the crap out of you.
So this is spiritual corporal punishment? Why are you looking at me like that? Back on the commune, which is supposed to be a place of harmony and connection to nature, I never felt close to God.
That's why when I went out on my own, I immersed myself in the study of religion, all religions, so that I could find him.
Funny thing is, all those years of seeking Him out, and He goes and finds me when He sent a smug, stubborn, pain-in-the-rear lawyer right up to my door.
You've lifted my burdens, Eli.
Now you're doing it, too.
Why is everyone talking to me like I'm gonna - Nathan? - Can I help you? Actually, I'm here to help you Help Eli.
Maybe you could say that again.
I had a dream about Eli.
Part of him is alive.
He's still in there, - and I think he's trying to get a message out.
- A message? Through a dream to his acupuncturist? To his friend, to someone who might be more open to these messages.
If it happened to you, you'd think it was just a dream.
Well, it happened to you, and I still think it.
No offense.
He doesn't know the surgery happened yet, Dr.
Stone, but he's close.
Two weeks ago, I would have called you a quack and sent you on your way, but now Eli told you things, things about your past that he had no way of knowing.
And then he put me in charge of his D.
N.
R.
Even comatose, he's a tool.
But today I'm supposed to take him off of life support.
And I think I'm supposed to convince you otherwise.
I want to listen.
I want to believe you.
More than anything, I want to believe that if I just wait long enough, Eli will wake up.
Then why don't you? Because I can't.
Because I know he's not okay, and he is not going to get better.
Medical science isn't everything.
If you've listened to anything Eli had to say, you'd know that by now.
Then It's not about what I know.
It's about what Eli wants, and he was very, very specific.
And if I start to substitute my needs for his, Then I'm Yeah.
It's like I'm betraying him.
We're not betraying him, Nate.
This is my dad.
With me.
I worked for him.
No chance you photoshopped this? I can barely check my e-mail.
Nate, years ago, your father foresaw me helping Eli, and finally, I-I think this is my chance to.
Give him more time.
I'll wait 48 hours.
- But if Eli doesn't wake up - He will.
Then I'll do my best to believe in that, too.
"Be at peace"? That was God's message to you? It's so simple.
I guess that's why it's divine.
So chemo could extend your life or even save it.
Why wouldn't you want that? Is your wife right? Are you depressed? No.
In fact, in some ways I'm happier than I've ever been.
This is how I want to spend my remaining days, and isn't it my choice to make? Thank you, David.
What did God sound like, Mr.
Green? Well, I-I didn't hear a voice.
Well, if you didn't hear a voice, how can you be so sure it was God? A feeling came over me, and I can't describe that feeling, that serenity, as anything other than divine.
And before that, you were despondent? Yeah.
What about the first time the chemo worked? Elated.
Why? What's your point? Well, one minute you're up, the next minute you're down.
Is there a question in our future? Well, I'm just wondering if this serenity isn't just the latest peak on the rid, that your overloaded brain created a moment of clarity so that you'd just let go, against all scientific evidence that chemotherapy, Sir, can, in fact, save your life.
You know, there's a scientific explanation for the burning bush? Dry local fauna under a volcanic fissure, but none of us were there, Rebecca.
None of us know.
How can you know it wasn't divine? Let me enjoy my last moments on this earth with you and the children.
I'm going to lose.
Mrs.
Green, um, you really shouldn't be here.
I'd--I could get sanctioned for talking to you ex parte.
Well, I won't tell if you won't.
Rabbi's honor.
Look, I know I can't convince a judge to substitute David's judgement for my judgement.
Then Why put David through this? Because I do think I need to convince David.
I need to convince him to keep fighting, and I need your help.
Rabbi, he's made his decision.
I know you, mr.
Stone.
I know all about you.
What do you know? You're sick.
You're fighting for your life just as my husband should be fighting for his.
I know about the earthquake.
I know about all of it.
Mostly, I know you are more than just a lawyer, and I know David chose you for a reason, and I believe that reason is for you to show him that difficulties can be overcome, that fighting for your life is worth it.
The jewish tradition teaches that to save one life is to save the entire world.
You have within you the power to save a life.
I beg of you Use it.
I think we can win this case.
I think I can get the judge to stop Rebecca from forcing you to take the chemo.
Well, that's great news, but apparently, not to you.
Rebecca came to see me.
I thought that was against the rules.
Well She's a rabbi.
We talked.
And the thing is, David, I I think she's right.
I think you should want to live and not just for her or for the kids, but for yourself.
Aren't you supposed to be on my side, Eli? Rebecca, the doctors, and now you're trying to convince me? I'm not like them.
I'm--I'm--I'm more like you.
I I believe that God spoke to you.
I just think that you heard him wrong.
He sent you a doctor.
He sent you a rabbi.
And now he sent me.
A doctor, a rabbi, a lawyer, sounds like the start of a joke.
I think that God wants you to fight for your life.
I am.
I'm fighting For the life I have now.
You know, you never asked me what my life was like before cancer.
Well, I had everything.
I had a great job.
I had a great car.
I drove home every night to a great house with a great wife and kids, except I never saw my family.
I was always at work.
You know why I-I never went to Rebecca's services at the synagogue? Because I got home so late every friday night, that saturday mornings I was too exhausted to get out of bed.
Was I a skeptic? Yeah.
But who could blame me that that life had no meaning? - It - Sounds familiar.
I was sleepwalking.
Don't you see, Eli, that if I never got sick I'd still be asleep? And I'm awake now.
I have a full life now.
And it's a life I never thought I'd have.
And I owe it To that moment with God.
I have a purpose now.
That's what I'm fighting for.
This case is not about God.
The mere fact that David Green has embraced death to such an extreme, over the pleas of his wife and children, is evidence itself that he is not competent to make this decision.
Rabbi Green, her children and his doctors have been unable to force this man to do the right thing, but this court can.
And it should.
Rabbi Green thinks that there is no way David could have spoken to God.
Well, there's no way to prove that he did.
But there's no way to prove that he didn't, either.
Counsel asked David to tell us what God sounded like.
Why? I think if we have faith, we believe that God speaks to us each in different ways.
A few months ago, I started hearing and seeing things that indicated the presence of God in my life.
I tried to follow what I thought God wanted, and I paid the price.
Looking back, I think it's been the best time of my life.
David had a feeling.
I saw George Michael.
Is that crazy? If it inspires us to change our lives for the better, then I hope, I pray We're all crazy.
David wants to live the rest of his life in a way that brings him closer to God.
That may not be what we would choose for him, but it's not our choice to make.
It's his.
- Taylor? - Dad, hi.
- We should get going.
- Yeah.
Yes.
Um, just give me a sec, okay? - You're crying.
- Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I know you hate crying.
Honey, I don't hate crying.
Okay, I hate it.
But these are difficult, more than difficult times.
I understand.
Not exactly how I thought it would go when I started working here.
- Do you regret it? Working here? - No.
No.
It hasn't been easy.
For what it's worth, I realize a lot of that's been my fault.
I take it from your silence you agree with me.
It's okay, dad.
You're just being you Mr.
difficult.
I want you to know I'm trying to not be myself anymore.
If Eli was If Eli was here I was gonna make him a partner.
I'm starting a pro bono practice.
I'm changing.
The firm is changing.
I want you to be an integral part of that.
Please, honey, stick with me.
I need you here.
How could I not? In ruling on Mr.
Green's competence, I am not unaware that a verdict in his favor may well sign his death certificate.
Mr.
Dupler used Mr.
Green's alleged conversation with God as evidence that he is mentally unstable.
Mr.
Stone warned us against calling faith a form of insanity.
But in the eyes of the law, Mr.
Green's faith is irrelevant to this case.
I must consider his decision to not pursue a course of treatment that will make him temporarily sicker but which will not guarantee him a permanent cure.
From that perspective, Mr.
Green's decision is perfectly rational.
The law respects a dying man's wishes to keep on living by whatever definition of living he chooses.
The motion to have David Green declared incompetent is hereby denied.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you for giving me my life back.
- Get the crash cart.
- No.
It's all right.
This is what he wanted.
Good-bye, my love.
Something's not right.
I I've been wearing the same suit and the same shirt and tie for days.
I don't ever remember going home or how I've been getting from place to place.
It's like I'm somewhere, and then I'm someplace else.
And making partner and the case being about living or dying the way everyone's treating me - It's like - It's like what, Eli? I already had the surgery, didn't I? It went bad Like in the vision.
Sorry, bro.
Am I Did I shove off? Does it matter? What the hell kind of question is that? I don't want to be dead! Then don't be.
What does that mean? It means what it means.
Would you just stop being annoying and enigmatic? I don't know what to tell you.
I'm not really here.
Neither are you, for that matter.
It's kind of trippy, isn't it? You could let go.
No one blames you, Eli.
No one's angry.
They're sad And they'll hurt.
They'll hurt for a long time.
But the world will go on without you, Eli.
The world doesn't need Eli Stone.
Unless Unless? I have You can say it, Eli.
It's okay.
I'm sure it's nice for Him to hear.
I have more to do? I-I have more to do.
I think so, too.
How do I get out of here? Do I, uh, take a red pill or, you know, get Scotty to beam me up or How about riding the needle? Does acupuncture work if it's technically imaginary? You listen to figment Dr.
Chen! Yeah.
Thank you.
For what? You're talking to yourself.
I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow.
That was lame, dude.
Hello? Is anyone there? George.
What are you Oh, man.
Are you God? Well, some men have said so.
I don't know how to get back.
Sure, you do.
You've always known.
I have? * Birds flyin' high, * you know how I feel * * sun in the sky you know how I feel * * breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel * * it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me * * it's a new dawn, it's a new day and I'm * * feelin' good * * fish in the sea you know how I feel * * river runnin' free you know how I feel * * blossom on a tree you know how I feel * * it's a new dawn, it's a new day * * it's a new life for me * * and I'm feelin' good * * dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean * * butterflies all havin' fun * * you know what I mean * * sleep in peace when the day is done * * that's what I mean and this old world is a new world * * and a bold world for me * * you know how I feel * * you know how I feel freedom is mine * * you know how I feel it's a new dawn, it's a new day * * it's a new life and I'm feelin' Good *
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