Showing posts with label CBS Elementary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CBS Elementary. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2015

Elementary Season 3 Episode 15 "When Your Number's Up" – Recap and Review


Elementary Sherlock Holmes Season 3 Episode 15 When Your Numbers Up

The post contains spoilers and readers who have not yet seen the episode are recommended to skip the review, if they wish to avoid plot details.

This week, Elementary surprises us with a Columbo-type mystery - the killer is revealed at the beginning and the rest of the episode is about how the killer is caught in the end by Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu).

Dana Powell (Alicia Witt) has lost her husband, Nick in a crash involving a Aceway Airlines Flight 1059. In addition to Nick, there were 80 other victims. 

Dana intends to get a hefty payoff from the airlines. She kills two men, who have also lost their relatives in the same mishap. Her first victim is a homeless man, Henry (Moti Margolin). The second man to fall prey to Dana's machinations is Freddy Duncan (Jason Pendergraft).

After shooting both men at point blank range, she leaves cash near the corpses. Her aim is to draw attention to the crash victims and subject the airlines to compensate the crash victims' families.

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Dana tries to divert attention by leaving a quote at the crime scene. This quote is credited to Arlen Shrader (Michael Cumpsty), an attorney at Arlen Shrader and Associates. Arlen specializes in victim compensation. He in turn points the finger at another attorney, Erin Chatworth (Anastasia Barzee) with whom he had a brief affair. He dumped her in order to capitalize on the aforementioned air disaster.

Dana's sister, Penny (Maria Dizzia) also doubles up as her accountant. Penny informs Dana that she needs to make some payments urgently in order to retain her house.

Dana pretends to be the next target of the killer. She sets up a bullet shot through her house window.

As can be expected, Sherlock sees through the deception and works out the solution.

Canonical References
1. Sherlock mentions that Luc does not speak at all and goes on to mention how much this makes Luc such a good companion to him - In the Canon, Sherlock Holmes once complimented Dr John Watson: “You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion”


Elementary Sherlock Holmes Joan Watson crime scene investigation Season 3 Episode 15 When Your Numbers Up

The secondary subplot involves Joan's return to the brownstone. Sherlock tries to get her to reverse her decision. After a couple of discussions with him, Joan moves into the basement of the brownstone.

This was an OK episode. Only Alicia Witt managed to breathe some excitement into the episode. Her scene in the kitchen with Penny was fraught with tension.

Sherlock and Joan are their usual selves. Ditto for Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) and Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn).

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Image Source: CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

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Elementary Season 1 Review
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Friday, February 13, 2015

Elementary Season 3 Episode 14 "The Female of the Species" – Recap and Review

Gina Gershon Allison March Joan Watson Lucy Liu in Elementary Season 3 Episode 14 The Female of the Species

This post contains spoilers. Readers who are yet to see the episode are recommended to skip it, if they wish to avoid details.

After being subjected to hemlock poisoning, Andrew Mittal (Raza Jaffrey) has died. Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) investigates and discovers that Elana March (Gina Gershon) is responsible for her boyfriend's death.

As readers might remember, Joan had Elana arrested in the first episode of the third season, “Enough Nemesis To Go Around”. Elana had one of her assassins, Marion Desjardins mix the hemlock in Andrew's drink. During her meeting with Joan at the prison, she teases her about her impending breakup with Andrew. 

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) receives his latest case from Vernon Joseph (Chandler Williams), the moderator of Beecircuit.com forum and Curator of Mammals at the local zoo. He needs Sherlock's help to track down two pregnant zebras who have been stolen recently.

Since Joan is still mourning Andrew's death, Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) teams up with Sherlock. Sherlock deduces that a truck belonging to the Axiom Parcel Delivery (APD) company was used in the theft.





Sherlock lists all the intended deliveries for the stolen truck and deduces that one of the recipients, Criterion Equine Services is a lead worth checking out. Sherlock and Bell discover the two zebras and the corpse of Dr. David Chang, one of the veterinarians.

Sherlock deduces that the thief wanted to steal the zebra foals. Working on Joan's advice, Sherlock and Bell track down one of the newborns, who turns out to be a quagga. Quaggas are an extinct species of Zebras. 

Sherlock deduces someone working at the zoo is working on “De-Extinction to bring back the Quagga species for their own monetary benefits.

Sherlock zeroes in on one of the zoo employees, Ben Reynolds (Louis Cancelmi) after deliberately falsely accusing another employee Donovan Gaines (Anthony Gaskins) for the theft.

Ben refuses to co-operate with the investigation. The NYPD assigns officers to keep him under surveillance escapes through hidden tunnel in his apartment. Sherlock lays a trap for Ben and has him apprehended successfully.

In the subplot, Joan apologizes to Santhosh Mittal (Brian George) for being responsible for his son's death. Santhosh expresses his wish that had Joan taken more proactive steps earlier, his son would still have been alive. Later, Elana sends a death threat via mail to Joan.

Joan receives a letter from Jamie Moriarty (Natalie Dormer) who claims responsibility for Elana's death in her cell. In the final scene, Joan decides to move back to brownstone and completely concentrate on her work as a detective.

Canonical References

1. Elementary Sherlock uses the nickname Sigerson to lure Ben into a trap. He claims to use that pseudonym occasionally - In The Adventure of the Empty House, Sherlock Holmes uses the alias Sigerson”, as he explains to Dr John Watson: “You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend.”

2. Ben escaping through a network of tunnels from beneath his apartment - This is a bit tenuous, but reminded of the plot element of the Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Valley of Fear, in which John Douglas hides inside his own house after killing Ted Baldwin. 
 
Elementary Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat in Season 3 Episode 14 The Female of the Species

This was a good episode. The exchanges between Miller's Holmes and 's Detective Marcus Bell were genuinely funny. The episode focussed on how Sherlock's methods were different from that of Bell and his department.

Sherlock is not one to stick to a working schedule of certain number of hours a day. He just keeps working on the case till a solution is found.

I liked Sherlock's comment about Vernon's username BeeBeeking17” being offensive to both apiarists and musicians alike. I also liked his line: I am not against contemplative silence.”, while explaining his working style with Joan to Detective Bell.

When Detective Bell informs Sherlock that he does not eat red meat, Sherlock responds that he is a man of hidden depth. Miller's delivery was excellent and was very similar to the dry wit often practiced by the Canonical Holmes.


Elementary Quagga extinct zebra species Sherlock Holmes Season 3 Episode 14

An interesting point - Unlike Joan, Bell gets a decent wake-up call courtesy of an alarm clock.


Joan gets her own version of Moriarty in the form of Elana March. Gina Gershon is as devious in the role, just as Natalie Dormer was a Jamie Moriarty. Unfortunately, Gina's role came to an end today. Perhaps, we will see her in flashbacks in future episodes.

Her discussion with Sherlock, in which she confesses that she has always found it tough to separate her personal life from the detective work was executed well.

Lucy Liu has also directed this episode and deserves applause for delivering one of the best episodes of this season.

 
 
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Friday, February 6, 2015

Elementary Season 3 Episode 13 "Hemlock" – Recap and Review

Elementary Sherlock Holmes Jonny Lee Miller in CBS Season 3 Episode 13 Hemlock

After the departure of his protege Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond), Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is desperate for company in the brownstone. He is even willing to use the women he sleeps with as a sounding board.

The opening scene shows one such instance where a shirtless Sherlock is discussing a case with couple of scantily clad women on the bed. Despite his enthusiasm, the ladies do not share his passion for crime solving.

The next day, Holmes receives a new case in the form of Jill Horowitz (Amy Hargreaves), who suspects her husband Steven Horowitz of having an affair. Steven is an attorney at Dorchester-Reid, a famous law firm.

At the firm, Sherlock and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) find out that Steven had been fired six months back. But, Steven has hidden this fact from his wife by having his secretary continue to take her calls and continue the pretense that he still has his job.




Steven runs SMH Inc., a debt collection agency. The NYPD picks up Eduardo Pena (Jacinto Taras Riddick), one of Steven's employees for questioning. He informs them that Steven had let go off all his employees last week.

Sherlock deduces that Eduardo has stolen the list of Steven's list of people. One of them is Owen Downey in Connecticut. Sherlock and Joan discover that he is bed-ridden and suffering from a life threatening disease. His aunt, Carla (Jayne Houdyshell) tells them that Steven had forgiven Owen's debt and was more of a friend to him.

Sherlock deduces that Steven was killed due to his sudden change of mind about collecting debts. The killer turns out to be one Coleman Brown (Ben Livingston), a partner in a firm whose attorneys turn out to be Steven's company, Dorchester-Reid.

Canonical References
The episode's plot reminded me of the original story, The Man with the Twisted Lip. In Arthur Conan Doyle's work, Neville St. Clair claims to be working a regular respectable job in the city. But he is actually a street beggar, earning alms to support his family.

In the customary subplot, Andrew Paek (Raza Jaffrey) is back in town, after setting up business in Copenhagen. He invites Joan to meet his father, Santosh Paek (Brian George) over a dinner.

Joan Watson boyfriend Andrew Raza Jaffrey Elementary Season 3 Episode 13 Hemlock

But Joan is having doubts about the future of their relationship, as Sherlock correctly deduces. She decides to break up with him.

In the closing scene, she is having coffee with him and informs him of her decision. Andrew starts gagging and falls unconscious to the floor. Joan tries to revive him.

SPOILER ALERT................ (Scroll below to read)
















The preview for the next episode indicates that Andrew has died from hemlock poisoning in his drink.








........ END OF SPOILER

This made me think as to why this episode was named Hemlock”, when that poisonous material plays such a small role in today's episode.


Joan Watson wearing black blazer dress CBS Elementary Season 3 Episode 13 Hemlock

Everyone's favorite turtle, Clyde make his reappearance. He is inadvertently painting. 

After a relatively strong first half, this episode was a bit of a letdown. The impact of Kitty's absence was quite telling.

Hopefully, the next episode will pick up the steam as Joan seems to be the target this time (as was Kitty in the previous episodes).

Click here to read all my posts about CBS Elementary.

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Elementary Season 1 Review
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Friday, January 30, 2015

Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 "The One That Got Away" – Recap and Review

Kitty Winter and Sherlock Holmes in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

As readers might remember, it was revealed at the end of the previous episode, Del Gruner (Stuart Townsend) was the man who had abused Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond) five years back.

The episode begins with a flashback to eight months back with Kitty Winter in Scotland Yard. Kitty is trying to offer her assistance to the official force on a case involving the kidnapping of Latif, a boy by a suspected pedophile, but is politely turned down. While leaving the Yard, she runs into Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller).

Cut to the present. At the brownstone, Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) refuses to believe that her boss, Del Gruner had anything to do with Kitty Winter's sexual assault. Sherlock tries to convince her that Del has the money and power needed to track down Kitty.

Someone is listening to this conversation. Shortly, Joan receives a call from Del, informing her that she has been fired.

Del is taken for questioning by Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill). He denies any involvement in the murder of Simon de Merville (P.J. Sosko) and/or the sexual assault on Kitty Winter.

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Due to the lack of any concrete evidence, the NYPD lets him go. Kitty decides to go back to London. She texts Sherlock that she has landed in London, but is actually still in the NYC. She is keeping an eye on Del Gruner.

Detective Marcus Bell informs Sherlock about Tabitha Laird (Jessica Blank), who had some bad experience in the past with Del Gruner. Tabitha works for Hearth and Home Foundation, a charity foundation, on whose board Del serves as a member.

Tabitha agrees that there were a couple of incidents involving Del. She insists that she has patched up things with Gruner and that there are no differences between them right now.

Joan pays a visit to Del at a function hosted by the foundation and warns him that he will be behind bars soon. She informs him about the meeting with Tabitha, at which Del becomes visibly alarmed.
 
Back at the brownstone, Sherlock deduces that Del had impregnated on his earlier victims and that that child is none other than Tabitha's adopted son, Jesse Laird.

Kitty kidnaps Del from his apartment and keeps him as hostage with the intention to torture and possibly murder him. Sherlock observes an elastic band at Del's place and realizes what has happened. He is able to make this conclusion as he had trained Kitty to break locks using the same tool back in London.

Sherlock tracks her down using an app on her mobile phone. He reveals to Kitty that she had saved him in London. He assures that whatever decision she takes regarding Del, she will always hold a special place in his heart.

Del Gruner Kitty Winter rapist abuser in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

Within a few hours, Sherlock is informed by Captain Gregson that  Del Gruner has been arrested. His face is heavily bandaged and he is unconscious. Gregson indicates that he might have to go after Kitty, if she is named by Del as the person who inflicted the horrific injuries on him.

Kitty finally leaves for London and calls Sherlock for one last time.

The episode keeps shuffling back and forth between the present happenings in the NYC and the budding relationship between Sherlock and Kitty in London, a few months back.

This was a good episode. A bit heavy on melodrama for a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. For a change, this did not sound as phony as it sometimes does on BBC Sherlock. Kudos to Miller and especially, Ophelia Lovibond for making these scenes work.

Joan Watson wearing black dress in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

Joan also steals the limelight in her scene, when she warns Del to let go of his tight grip on her arm, citing the fact the she is a trained fighter and is not just some hapless victim for Del to intimidate.

In the original story, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, Kitty throws vitriol on Baron Adelbert Gruner's face, thus disfiguring him for life. The Elementary adaptation follows a similar thread, with the difference being that Ophelia's Kitty uses a nutmeg concoction instead.

With Kitty gone (atleast for the near future), it is back to square one for Sherlock and Joan. The third peg in the wheel is gone and it is Sherlock and Joan' show all the way from the next episode.

Click here to read all my posts about CBS Elementary.

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Image Source: CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

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Elementary Season 1 Review
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