Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Eli Stone: “Freedom”

It says something about how much I warmed up to this show since the first episode that I didn't quite mind the inevitable illegal alien subplot that seems to be the first thing American TV writers think of whenever they want to introduce a Hispanic character. (Illegal drug smuggling, of course, is the second.)

Granted, I would have preferred a more original approach to the subject than the one this episode used and it says something about the rest of the episode that I found myself getting attached to the show anyway.

I'm still not happy about all the focus on the white male lawyer character but I like the way actress Julie Gonzalo (an Argentine-born actress best known for playing Veronica's roommate Parker on the last season of Veronica Mars) was introduced as an idealistic associate named Maggie. Granted, it would have been nice if the writers hadn't felt compelled to Anglicize Ms. Gonzalo's character but then Parker wasn't exactly a very Latin character either. Then again the idea that all dark-skinned Hispanics are non-citizens who need the help of white non-Hispanics because they're intellectually incapable of solving legal problems on their own while all light-skinned Hispanics are just Anglos in disguise is not one that I would like this show to encourage. After all, if that is the type of stereotype we can expect from a liberal TV show, God only knows what we can expect if the conservatives ever take over.

On the plus side, I do like the way Loretta Devine's character Pattie was portrayed even though I usually find the sassy black female stereotype as tiresome as the Hispanic illegal alien stereotype. Of course, it would be interesting to imagine how the show would be like if the show was ever written from her point-of-view but I'm not going to hold my breath expecting that to happen.