CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 8 "Blood Is Thicker" - Review

The episode opens with the Holmes brothers, Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Mycroft Holmes (Rhys Ifans) indulging in a bout of single stick fighting with each other.

Haley Taylor (Kersti Bryan) is killed and her corpse lands on top of a parcel services truck.

Holmes deduces the location of Haley's murder. Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) informs him that the apartment where Haley was murdered belongs to business tycoon, Ian Gale (William Sadler).

Ian's lawyer informs Sherlock and Joan that he is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia overseeing the plans for a new chip processing plant. Sherlock observes and deduces that Ian is using a stand-in and is in hiding.

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Sherlock and Joan track down Ian Gale to his private room in a posh hotel. His wife, Natalie Gale (Margaret Colin) is taking care of him, in addition to the doctors attending on him. Ian reveals that Haley was his daughter.

Ian has had a heart transplant recently, but his body is rejecting it. 

In the customary subplot, Sherlock is avoiding Mycroft after making appointments. Mycroft wants to hand over the keys to 221 B to Sherlock Holmes.

Mycroft Holmes informs Sherlock that their father (yes, Holmes Sr does exist) is expecting Sherlock to return to London and show some gratitude.

Haley's mom, Maureen Tyler (Johanna Day) reveals that she and Haley had an argument before her death.

When Joan and Bell interrogate Natalie, they discover that she was a pediatric surgeon and had the necessary medical knowledge.

Detective Bell informs Sherlock that the fingerprints of Ray McKibben (Kieran Campion) were found at the place of Haley's murder.

I recommend the readers to watch the episode to find out the resolution to the mystery.

Canonical References

1. Sherlock Holmes gets the better of Mycroft Holmes in their single stick fight - In A Study in Scarlet, Dr John Watson notes that Sherlock Holmes “is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.”

2. Mycroft Holmes referring to his restaurant, “Diogenes” as his creation and being proud of it - Sherlock Holmes explains about Mycroft Holmes to Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men...My brother was one of the founders,.. ”

3. Sherlock's statement to Joan: “My wants in life are simple: a loaf of bread and a clean collar.” - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes tells Dr Watson: “I brought Cartwright down with me—you remember the little chap at the express office—and he has seen after my simple wants: a loaf of bread and a clean collar. What does man want more?”

4. Sherlock's line to Mycroft Holmes: “Well, I have many passions. Work being first amongst them” - 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. Sherlock's line: “I have not had a paying client for a while. I have been approached on numerous occasions of course, but the interests have not been mutual” - Sherlock Holmes often takes cases in the Canon, purely for the intellectual challenge, without any concern for monetary considerations.
 
Interestingly, the plot of this episode too involved horse racing, similar to previous episode, “The Marchioness” (based on Arthur Conan Doyle's story, The Silver Blaze).

Jonny Lee Miller gets to show some of the characteristic dry humor possessed by the Canonical Holmes. Joan Watson gets to do some of the main deductions (both medical and non-medical).

Margaret Colin gives one of the best performances in Elementary in a long time. This marks her second appearance in a CBS adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. She previously played Jane Watson (a descendant of Dr John Watson) to Michael Pennington's Sherlock Holmes in the 1987 TV movie “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. (Credit to an anonymous commenter for this trivia)

Rhys Ifans' Mycroft Holmes is beginning to take on a more sinister nature, as he makes a last phone call to someone, I am guessing to be Jamie Moriarty/Irene Adler (Natalie Dormer).

Trivia
The song “Unofferable” by Half Moon Run can be heard in the final scenes between Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes
 
Not a bad episode, but not one of the best either. Hope the upcoming episodes will be better.

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CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 7 "The Marchioness" - Review

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is in an alcoholics recovery session. Mycroft Holmes (Rhys Ifans) visits New York with his ex fiancee Nigella Mason (Olivia d'Abo).

Mycroft Holmes has been diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. He was able to find a match, thanks to Nigella. He wants to return the favor by enlisting Sherlock's help to solve the mystery behind the murder of Nigella's current boyfriend, Dalton Ladd.

Dalton Ladd is the overseer of horses for his master, Robert Suffolk, Duke of Marquess. Though Nigella is married to Robert, his infidelity causes her to focus her affections on Dalton.

Dalton has been shot dead by an intruder trying to break into the stables with the intention of poisoning the champion, Silver Blaze with concentrated potassium.

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El Mechanico (Andrew Samonsky), an assassin for the Robles drug cartel is the suspect in the case as well as 13 others. But when he is apprehended by the NYPD and has his fingerprints taken, they do not match the ones on the police record.

I recommend the readers to watch the episode to find out the solution.

Canonical References

1. Miller's Holmes's line in the opening scene: “My senses are unusually keen” - Sherlock Holmes himself states in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “I have, as my friend Watson may have remarked, an abnormally acute set of senses,...”

2.Elementary Holmes is seen listening to radio transmissions in search for a case - Sherlock Holmes searches the agony columns in the newspapers for prospective cases in the Canon.

3. Elementary Sherlock's statement: “A lingering meal in the midst of an investigation is a hindrance.... A conversation is an annoyance.” - Sherlock Holmes often skips food (and sleep) when he is working hard on a case. He is also known to avoid human company and any conversation for long stretches of time, when he is concentrating hard on a solution to a case.

4. Miller's Holmes remarks about Mycroft: “He means less work.” - Sherlock Holmes remarks in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: “But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.”

5. Miller's Holmes waking up Joan Watson with his single stick - Sherlock Holmes often wakes up John Watson from his sleep in many cases. Further, Sherlock Holmes is a single stick expert.

This episode is Elementary's attempt at adapting Arthur Conan Doyle's original story The Silver Blaze. The opening scene in the alcoholics recovery session, where Miller's Holmes explained his desire to be born in earlier times was a nice touch.

Then the episode takes a nosedive with Sherlock Holmes discussing about his bouts of sex in the past with Nigella.

Not to be outdone, it is revealed that Mycroft Holmes and Joan Watson have had sex as well during Sherlock and Joan's visit to London in the episode “Step Nine”.

They now join the equally horrendous pairing of Miller's Holmes and Dormer's Moriarty.

Thank you, CBS.

Recommended only to die-hard fans of the show. The lesser your knowledge of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Canon is, the more will be your enjoyment.

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