Eli Stone

Taylor: Okay, Columbo, you got me. Referencing the rumpled seemingly absent-minded police lieutenant portrayed most famously by Peter Falk. The character first appeared in The Chevy Mystery Show in 1960 and then featured in a stage play. The character was then incorporated into the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie in 1968 and has since run as a series of TV movies through 1978 and later from 1989 to 2003. The character is best known for his unseen wife, the absence of a first name, his catchphrase "Just one more thing," and the fact that most of the mysteries are "inverted," where the audience knows who the murderer is and the mystery is figuring out how Columbo will catch the killer.

Frank: Kind of a Quantum Leaper, huh? Referencing the TV series, 1989-93, starring Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett, a quantum physicist who tests his theory of time travel by making himself its first subject. He finds himself transported from body to body in time periods throughout his own lifetime, always seeing the body as it appears in mirrors. As with Eli, Sam has a scientific explanation for his experiences but is believed to be guided by God.

Maggie: Posner is like Darth Sidious. Referencing Star Wars and the evil Dark Lord of the Sith. As Senator Palpatine, Sidious undermines the Republic and eventually maneuvers himself into becoming Emperor and destroying most of the Jedi Knights. He meets his end at the hands of Darth Vader in the closing serial, Return of the Jedi. Throughout the series he is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid.