Elementary Season 3 Episode 21 "Under My Skin" – Recap and Review

At the alcoholics meeting, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) notices another member, Lloyd (Michael McGlone) behaving suspiciously. “Lloyd” is actually a private detective who is keeping an eye on Sherlock's recovery sponsor, Alfredo Llamosa (Ato Essandoh).

Alfredo's former employer, Castle hired “Lloyd” to keep tabs on Alfredo. Alfredo had been fired by Castle after some disagreements he had with another employee. Sherlock tries to help Alfredo, but the latter refuses his offer by claiming they are not friends.

The episode's main mystery starts off with a Maggie Halpern (Sarah Bolt) being taken in an ambulance. Her ride comes to a halt when an unseen person shoots to death the accompanying EMT (Dana Berger). Then the person drives away, thus effectively kidnapping the woman.

The suspect is Wallace Turk (Terry Serpico) who has been using Maggie as a drug mule. Escanso, a doctor in Brazil was the one who planted the drugs inside Maggie.

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Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) question Dr Ward (Fisher Stevens). One of his patients, Janko Stepovic (Gene Farber) is a criminal mastermind who runs a drug smuggling syndicate.

Janko himself is killed outside his house. The very next day, Dr Ward's attorney, Sarah Penley (Natalie Gold) offers information in exchange for protection for her client.

Dr Ward provides the location where the dead bodies were buried. After taking a look at the corpse, Joan deduces that it is Dr Ward who is the killer.

Sherlock ends up firing Alfredo as his sponsor in order to be able to take an active part in his personal life.

Canonical References

Sherlock's comment about the perfume worn by the slain Janko - Sherlock Holmes states in The Hound of the Baskervilles: “There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.”

This was an OK episode. No great performances or great moments of humor to leave an impression on one's mind.

Everyone's favorite turtle, Clyde makes his appearance in the scene, where Sherlock is trying to make sense of the Voynich manuscript.

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The opening scenes offer a quick recap of the previous episode “Tremors”.

Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) is back to work, though he is relegated to doing mostly desk work.

Alfredo Llamosa (Ato Essandoh) is teaching Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) about breaking into a car without setting off the sensors.

Donald Hauser is being accused in the media of running a Ponzi scheme. Hauser tries to shoot himself to death, but is shot by an unseen intruder.

Miss Chloe Butler (Heather Burns), Donald's personal chef discovers her client's corpse and informs the police.

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Chloe is revealed to be a former client of Joan and informs Joan that the last person to meet Donald was Jacob Weiss (Richard Masur).

The aforementioned TV anchor/reporter, Rosalie Nunez (Kristine Johnson) who exposed Hauser's pyramid scheme is also killed.

Nelson Maddox (Lucas Hall), former lover of Chloe is observed in the police security tapes in skateboarding area near Rosalie's apartment.

Chloe is fighting a custody battle over her son, Shane and is desperate to keep her past a secret from her husband and the court. Chloe first pleads and then holds Joan to her client confidentiality agreement.

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Alfredo wants Sherlock to become the sponsor for another addict, Randy (Stephen Tyrone Williams). Sherlock is hesitant and is temporarily saved by a phone call from Joan. 

Sherlock and Joan's investigation takes them to an art gallery, where they run into Fabiana (Rebecca Dayan). Fabiana claims not to know Nelson.

Deputy Commissioner Frank Da Silva (Peter Gerety), head of demographics unit tries to convince Detective Bell to work for him.

I recommend the viewers to check out the episode to find out the resolution to the mystery.

Canonical References

1. The writing of the word “THIEF” on the wall - In A Study in Scarlet, the killer leaves the word “RACHE” written in blood on the wall.

2. Miller's Sherlock Holmes expressing his frustration at having to solve the murder lonesome, as Joan leaves to meet Chloe Butler - Sherlock Holmes writes in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone.”
 
3. Elementary Sherlock making deductions about the killer based on the deducing about the killer's whereabouts based on the scent of Osage orange - Sherlock Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent.”

4. Miller's Holmes remarking to Alfredo: “You know my work. It is all consuming” and “Duty calls. It always will.” - Sherlock Holmes states in The Adventure of the Red-Headed League: “L’homme c’est rien–l’oeuvre c’est tout,..”. This French saying roughly translates as “the man is nothing, the work is everything”

5. Elementary Holmes asking Fabiana if she saw “anything out of the ordinary” - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes tells Sir Henry Baskerville: “I think anything out of the ordinary routine of life well worth reporting.”

After a strong episode, this is an OK episode. Not bad, but not one of the best either.

Jonny Lee Miller gets some laughs with his quip about Randy's name. The discussions between Elementary Holmes and Joan about disclosing their findings about Maddox to NYPD in the light of Joan's agreement with Chloe was good.

The next episode of CBS Elementary “The Diabolical Kind” airs on Jan 02 2014, with the return of Natalie Dormer as Irene Adler/Jamie Moriarty.

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Step Nine

TV Review: Elementary Episode # 20 - Dead Man's Switch

For the first time, we have a modern update to one of the original stories - The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.

This week's case is courtesy of Holmes' sponsor Alfredo (Ato Essandoh). Alfredo's own sponsor Ken Whitman (Thomas Jay Ryan), is one of Milverton's blackmail victims. Ken's daughter Eva (Portia Reiners) has been drugged and raped by one Brent Garvey (Tom Guiry).

Milverton (David Mogentale) gets his materials by buying old storage units. In the original story, Milverton paid housemaids/valets to obtain sensitive information.

Holmes breaks into Milverton's house to recover the material(s). Holmes unwittingly becomes a witness to Milverton's murder by an unknown assailant.

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Holmes reports the murder to Captain Gregson and convinces him to keep the murder a secret for the sake of other blackmail victims. Holmes wants to find out the identity of Milverton's associate, who might leak the remaining videos to the world.

One of the other victim's father, Anthony Pistone (Joseph Siravo) has been arrested for trying to bury Milverton's body.

I will leave it to the readers to find out more details for themselves.

Canonical References

1. The character of Charles Augustus Milverton is the antagonist in the story The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
2. Miller's Holmes refers to Milverton as being "more despicable than even murderers" - Reference to this Iine spoken by Holmes about Milverton in the story, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton: "....I would ask you how could one compare the ruffian, who in hot blood bludgeons his mate, with this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?"
3. Miller's Holmes breaks into Milverton's house to recover some materials and becomes an unwitting witness to his murder - In the story, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, the same thing happens except that Holmes is accompanied by Watson.
4. Holmes compliments Eva Whitman on her violin playing skills - Reference to Holmes being a good violin player as mentioned in A Study in Scarlet
5. Holmes wakes Joan from her sleep to discuss about the case - In the Canon, it has happened in many cases – either due to the sudden visit by a client (The Adventure of the Speckled Band) or after Holmes has had a sudden brainwave (The Man with the Twisted Lip)
6. Joan mentions beehives in a discussion about pets with Holmes - Watson mentions that Holmes has taken to bee-farming in The Adventure of the Second Stain. In His Last Bow, Sherlock Holmes has written a book: “Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen.”
7. Holmes is seen listening to a police transmissions scanner- The Canonical Holmes read the agony columns in the papers for potential cases.
8. Holmes makes some deductions based on the paper quality - Holmes makes deductions about paper quality in several stories inclucing A Scandal in Bohemia.
9. Holmes uses handwriting analysis as part of his investigation - The Canonical Holmes used handwriting analysis to solve crimes in A Case of Identity and The Reigate Puzzle. 
10. Miller's Holmes states that he has "no interest in in public celebrations, speeches, encouragements or the bestowing of chips" - Watson mentions in The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot: "...I have continually been faced by difficulties caused by his own aversion to publicity. To his sombre and cynical spirit all popular applause was always abhorrent,..."
11. Holmes recognizes the scent of cat litter at Milverton's house - Holmes mentions in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: "I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses, and a faint but incisive scent was apparent."
12. Holmes refers to his tattoo needle as the "only needle these arms see anymore" - Reference to the Canonical Holmes' use of cocaine injection using needles

I felt that more emphasis was laid on Holmes' drug addiction than on the mystery element. Despite having a number of references to the original stories, the episode was not very interesting.

We learn that Miller's Holmes is

• ambidextrous
• an accomplished tattoo artist

Miller's Holmes describes himself as being as "stealthy as a shadow". The Canonical Holmes has often shown that he has acute senses of sight, hearing and smell. This would be a logical extension of his skill sets.

Miller's Holmes also shows his knowledge of British history. He uses the metric unit "kgs"  - another reference to his British nature. 

Joan Watson does her own detective work by listening to scanners. She makes a deduction about the shoe size of the killer from the boot prints on a corpse. Holmes also refers to both of them as being consultants for the NYPD and even refers to her "former" career as a sober companion.

Alfredo too does some surveillance work.

Gregson and Bell do not have much to do in this episode. We do learn that Captain Gregson has daughters, a fact that Holmes utilizes to his advantage.

Trivia

• The song "Cello Suite No.1 Prelude" by Johann Sebastian Bach is played by the character of Eva Whitman when Holmes interrupts her.
• Joan gifts Holmes lines from the poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
• The song "Two Trains" by Yo La Tengo is played in the aforementioned gifting scene

If this episode is any indication, I think it would be best for the writers to stick to writing original stories. Some of the best episodes so far (Child Predator, M and The Deductionist) are examples to support this theory.

Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Steve Thompson are doing a great job at giving us modern updates of the classic stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

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