TV Review: Elementary - Episode # 16 - Details

Jonny Lee Miller and Aidan Quinn in Elementary

The least explored character in the show has been without a doubt, Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill). Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) has had his share of fame in some of the previous episodes. Detective Bell, on the other hand, has remained a non-entity. He has remained the token member of the official force who bears the brunt of Sherlock’s sarcasm.

This episode seeks to rectify this situation and Bell gets to hog the limelight.

Bell is attacked by an unknown assailant in a car. Bell’s car flips, leaving him bruised. Bell suspects that Curtis Bradshaw (Anwan Glover), a powerful drug peddler from one of his earlier cases is behind the attacks. The case takes a new direction when Curtis himself is murdered.

The suspicion next falls on Bell’s brother, Andre Bell (Malcolm Goodwin) who is an ex-convict and out on parole.

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In the episode’s customary subplot, Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) has grown apprehensive about Joan’s safety since the incidents of the last episode. Holmes in his search for a martial arts trainer for Joan zeroes in on Bell’s colleague Paula Reyes (Paula Garcés). Holmes has deduced that Paula is good at boxing.

Continuing the show's downward trend, this episode is another weak one. Many of the attempts at humor fell flat. It felt like Miller was trying too hard to be funny.

His guerilla style attacks on Joan to test her reflexes reminded me instantly of the same antics employed by Cato (Burt Kwouk) on Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) in A Shot in the Dark, the second in the Pink Panther movie series.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes

I did like Holmes’ usage of the British term “Water Closet”.

Canonical References

1.   Holmes' attempt to get information from Curtis by placing a bet – Reference to The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, in which Holmes places a bet with the salesman to obtain information about the goose.

2.   Holmes conducting a Ballistics exam inside his apartment – Reference to this line from The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual: “ … Holmes, in one of his queer humours, would sit in an armchair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks,..”

3.   Holmes remark about catching the scent of recently used firearms in Bell’s apartment - Holmes states 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.   Holmes commenting that Bell was not stupid enough to conceal the gun (used to commit a crime he is accused of) in his apartment – Reference to The Problem of Thor Bridge, in which Holmes deduces that the discovery of the revolver on the floor of the governess’ wardrobe was meant to frame her.

5.   We see the set of locks on the wall in a couple of scenes - The Canonical Holmes is an expert in lock picking. He even mentions in The Adventure of the Retired Colourman: “Burglary has always been an alternative profession had I cared to adopt it, and I have little doubt that I should have come to the front.”

6.   Holmes treating Bell as just another resource for getting information – I think this is an indirect reference to this statement by Holmes in The Sign of the Four: “A client is to me a mere unit,—a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.”

Jon Michael Hill as Marcus Bell and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson

Trivia

The song “No Man is an Island” (Losers Theme) by Losers is played when Holmes is conducting his ballistics exam.

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Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Holmes and Watson

Sherlock is visited by Rhys, his former drug dealer. Rhys’ daughter, Emily has been kidnapped and the kidnapper sends a ransom note demanding 2.2 million USD. Rhys had stolen that amount from a drug cartel and it seems his past has caught up with him.

Holmes deduces that the kidnapper was in a nightclub before he abducted Emily. Holmes tries to get some information from a DEA agent working undercover in the club. Sherlock does acquire the “information”, but has to undergo considerable amount of pain in the process.

The kidnapper does not take kindly to the fact that Rhys has applied for outside help. He sends Emily’s severed finger as a warning and wants the money handed over the very next day.

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Rhys is convinced that Holmes needs his regular intake of drugs to solve the case sooner and attempts many times to reintroduce Holmes to drugs.

Racing against time and under pressure from Rhys, Holmes contacts his father to arrange for the money. Holmes, acting as the mediator, turns up at the meeting place to hand over the ransom money and secure Emily.

But, things do not go as planned and the kidnapper has other plans in mind.

This was an OK episode, as far as the mystery was concerned. I felt there was too much emphasis on Holmes’ addiction to drugs.

John Hannah as Rhys and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson

The episode scored well on the humor aspects. Both John Hannah and Jonny Lee Miller had some great lines that both actors delivered with great aplomb. Rhys referring to Watson as a “bird” Holmes brought over was hilarious.

Miller’s best lines were with reference to Emily’s tweets. He describes them to be “serving as a valid argument for eugenics”. He goes even further: “Demonstrates that brevity does not protect against dullness”.

He finally tops it off by saying that the time he spent “wading in the cesspool of social media was not a complete waste” and that he did discover a possible clue.

Lucy Liu’s Watson did not have much to do in this episode, other than warn Rhys from trying to make Holmes take drugs again.

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson

Canonical References

1. Sherlock talks about his case involving a mongoose – Reference to The Adventure of the Crooked Man
2. Rhys’ appeal to Holmes’ ego to take the case of his missing daughter – Reference to this line spoken by Watson from A Study in Scarlet: “I had already observed that he was as sensitive to flattery on the score of his art as any girl could be of her beauty.”
3. Holmes also indicates that he might talk about the case of the blue carbuncle in future drug recovery sessions – The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
4. Sherlock deducing the club name based on the print left by the kidnapper – In The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, Holmes uses a fingerprint left on the wall to solve the crime.
5. Holmes deduces that the cigar ash, left behind at the scene of Emily's kidnapping, belonged to Crema, a Dominican cigar. Holmes also refers to his ability to recognize 140 brands of ash and to his monograph on the subject – Holmes states in The Boscombe Valley Mystery: “I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco.”
6. Holmes cracks Emily’s bank password – Reference to Holmes’ statement from The Sign of the Four: “Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.”
7. Holmes determining the name of the Ethiopian dish by “tasting” it – In A Study in Scarlet, Stamford mentions to Watson about Holmes’ habit of beating the corpses with a stick to verify how far bruises may be produced after death.
8. Holmes asks Watson to check on Rhys, since he cannot hear of any sound to indicate that Rhys is still present in the house – Indirect reference to Holmes deducing that Susan, the maid was overhearing his conversation from The Adventure of the Three Gables: “I have been listening to her for the last five minutes, but did not wish to interrupt your most interesting narrative. Just a little wheezy, Susan, are you not? You breathe too heavily for that kind of work.”
9. Holmes’ statement to Rhys: “After today, you are never to darken my doorway again.” – A very similar line was uttered by James Browner in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box: “this man Fairbairn is never to darken my door again.”
10. We see a large number of locks on the wall in the ending scene – The Canonical Holmes is an expert in lock picking.

John Hannah as Rhys

Overall, an average episode and a considerable comedown from the previous episode, The Deductionist.

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