Showing posts with label The Leviathan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Leviathan. Show all posts

Saturday, December 15, 2012

TV Review: Elementary Episode # 10 - "The Leviathan"


Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary Episode # 10 The Leviathan
Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes

After a couple of particularly weak episodes, Elementary makes a rare comeback. This episode is not great by any stretch of imagination, but is not the mediocre fare that I have become used to.

A supposedly uncrack-able bank vault called “The Leviathan” is breached and Sherlock is hired by Micah Erlich (Reg Rogers) to catch the culprits. A bunch of clues and some customary character development scenes and Sherlock has solved the case successfully!

The problem with this episode (and the show in general) is not that it is terrible. It is just that it is not terribly exciting and is in fact quite predictable … and these factors do not bode well for a mystery based show, least of all one that is supposed to be based on a certain Bohemian English detective.

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Canonical references
  1. The bank theft by 4 guys reminded me of the story - The Resident Patient, which had a similar plot.
  2. “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” – This is hands down my all-time favorite Sherlock Holmes quote. Elementary is on to this secret somehow as the quote was repeated at least 3 times!
  3. Miller’s Holmes quotes the following line almost verbatim from The Red-Headed League: “I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.”
  4. Miller’s Holmes displays his knowledge about a certain species of flies that feeds on corpses - A nice nod to A Study in Scarlet where Watson makes a list about the topics on which Holmes either displays astonishing levels of expertise or is just plain ignorant.
  5. Joan Watson is fast asleep on the bed and is roused out of her sleep by Holmes. 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. Miller’s Holmes is not sure about the rates for a job that he estimates will take 2 hours to complete. In The Problem of Thor Bridge, Holmes states: “My professional charges are upon a fixed scale... I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether.”
  7. Miller’s Holmes notices some expensive paintings when waiting to meet a suspect. In The Valley of Fear, Holmes mentions to Inspector MacDonald about noticing a very expensive painting in Professor Moriarty’s study. I agree that this is quite far-fetched, but still stuck out to me strongly enough that I decided to put it down. May be, it is the hopeless fan inside me, trying my best to find something exciting in an admittedly dull show.

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson in Elementary Episode # 10 The Leviathan
Lucy Liu as Joan Watson
We also learn some new things about Miller’s Holmes:
  1. He hires consultants with highly specialized skills, such as lock picking or decrypting code written in Malbolge, an esoteric programming language.
  2. He plays piano with considerable level of expertise.
  3. He does not drink.
As we have seen in the previous episodes, we have a customary subplot: A dinner meeting with Joan Watson’s family – her brother Oren Watson (Steve Park) and his girlfriend Gabrielle Harper (Jennifer Kim) and Joan’s mother, Mary Watson (Freda Foh Shen). As readers familiar with the Canon will remember, Watson’s brother is mentioned briefly in The Sign of Four.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary Episode # 10 The Leviathan
Jennifer Kim as Gabrielle Harper

Holmes praises Joan’s contributions to his work and his recovery from drugs. Later we come to know that Holmes was actually being economical with truth and was just telling things that Joan’s family wanted to hear.

The mystery element had a good twist in the end. On the whole, a passable way to spend one’s time.

Trivia
Holmes plays the song “Scenes of Childhood: I. of Foreign Lands and People” by Robert Schumann on the piano.



Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Elementary Episode # 10 The Leviathan
Reg Rogers as Micah Erlich

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Image Source: CBS

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