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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CNN Blackfish (2013) - Review

The movie opens with 911 distress calls about killer whale attacks on their trainers.

We then go back to the 1970s, when killer whales (also called “Orcas”) were captured for display purposes. Baby orcas were specifically targeted. It is heart-breaking to see the families not leaving the captured ones behind, even when they had the option to do so.

When SeaWorld was legally told to stay away from Washington, they immediately moved to Iceland to procure more orcas.

Now comes the focus of the movie, a male killer whale called “Tilikum”. Captured in 1983, he showed extraordinary physical growth right from a young age.
 

Tilikum was initially placed at Sealand of the Pacific, where he was paired with a trained killer whale. Based on Tilikum's performance, both were offered food (as positive reinforcement) or denied food as punishment.

Tilikum's mistakes made him the unfortunate victim of physical attacks by other orcas. On top of that, the orcas were put in a small enclosure that limited their mobility. All these incidents are suggested to have caused a growing psychosis in Tilikum.

This would soon manifest in 1991, when Tilikum claim his first victim, Keltie Byrne. He would go on to claim two more victims: Daniel P. Dukes (with his private parts bitten off) and a trainer, Dawn Brancheau.

But Tilikum is the only killer whale to go rogue in the documentary. Kasatka initiates an assault on his trainer, Ken Peters that goes on for a few minutes and is gripping to watch. To watch a human at the complete mercy of a huge animal underwater is frightening.

The director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite has done a tremendous job. Kudos to her for presenting an objective view of the dangers inherent in holding such powerful and intelligent living beings in captivity. Even worse is subjecting such life forms to perform actions and tricks, that they would never do in the wild.

Along with the director, the other stars of the documentary are the ex-SeaWorld trainers who honestly express their concerns about the hazards and reality of holding killer whales in captivity. The initial parts of the documentary has some scenes, where the trainers discuss their fascination with killer whales and how they were inspired to work for SeaWorld.

It is tough to accept one's lapse in judgment and full credit to these real life heroes for their profound contributions.

Orcas have very advanced brains and are very social beings. They are capable of communicating with each other using sounds and language. It has been documented that each pod of whales have their own set of signs and communication signals.

Orcas live as long as humans do (unlike how some of the SeaWorld employees in the documentary would have us believe).

Again, it is interesting to note that there has not been a single human casualty due to killer whale attack in the wild. All the casualties have occurred in the marine theme parks.

The movie raises some hard hitting questions:

1. Is it ethical to subject such intelligent and caring living forms to a captive life in a relatively small enclosure for their entire lives? Who is responsible for causing the killer whales to attack (and sometimes kill) their trainers? Is it the orcas themselves or the marine mammal parks or the people who encourage this industry by buying tickets to such shows?

2. Is it a wise move to use Tilikum's genetic material to create new babies, given his track record of aggression towards his human handlers? Does not that tantamount to taking unnecessary risks of having such incidents recur?

3. Was it ethical in the first place to take away baby orcas from their families to live their entire lives in captivity? Even now, baby orcas are taken away from their mothers, to be transported to other branches of SeaWorld. The decisions are made based on monetary considerations, without any regard for the emotional well being of the whales themselves.

4. Further, does it make any sense to let children watch other equally (if not more) intelligent living beings behave in an unnatural way. For example, killer whales are trained to “wave” to the audience using their fin. This is something that the whales never do in the wild. Is that way we want the young children to take away from such shows?

Unfortunately, Tilikum and other orcas are still held captive. Let us hope that this movie will help create the necessary public awareness and consensus to have these killer whales released to the wild.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite and her crew have delivered a one of a kind experience that will change your perception of Orcas/Killer Whales and marine theme parks forever.

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CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 6 "An Unnatural Arrangement" - Review

Sherlock takes Joan to a police station to observe cell inmates to sharpen her skills of observation and deduction. Joan protests that they can make better use of the limited number of Friday nights.

A NYPD detective, Craig Basken (Peter Hermann) approaches Joan with a request for assistance in solving a seemingly trivial case.

Captain Tommy Gregson's separated wife, Cheryl Gregson (Talia Balsam) encounters an masked man in her house. The intruder claims to be looking for her husband.

Cheryl shoots at him in self defense and wounds him. The unknown stranger makes his escape.

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James Monroe (Ted King), a neighbor gives his eye witness account of the intruder's escape on foot.

Captain Tommy Gregson (Aidan Quinn) gives access to all of his personal files to Sherlock and Joan, with the intention of catching his enemy.

Sherlock notices that one Dustin Bishop has been persistently sending emails to Gregson. Sherlock and Joan break into Dustin's apartment and (surprise, surprise) Dustin has been shot.

Holmes and Joan's investigation leads them to one Jacob Esparza (Armando Riesco) and subsequently Elizabeth Roney (Sarah Wynter).

I recommend the readers to check out the episode for the resolution.

Canonical References

1. Miller's Sherlock deducing that a prison inmate's crime involves a litter of purebred Yorkshire Terriers - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes deduces that Dr James Mortimer is “the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff.” 

2. Elementary Sherlock deducing that Sam Clennon had military experience in Afghanistan - Sherlock Holmes makes the famous deduction about Dr John Watson in A Study in Scarlet: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

3. Miller's Sherlock expresses his disapproval of marriage as something that forces two participants into unhealthy monogamy - The Canonical Holmes too expressed his aversion to marriage, but for completely different reasons. He states in The Sign of the Four: “But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment.”

4. Joan's statement about Elementary Holmes: “You have been doing this since you were a kid. I have some catching to do” - Sherlock Holmes tells Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual - “Yes, my boy, these were all done prematurely before my biographer had come to glorify me.”

5. Miller's Holmes brings Tibetan fried bread to Joan for her breakfast - Sherlock Holmes informs Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Empty House: “I travelled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa, and spending some days with the head lama.”

6. A significant deduction involves the silence of Elizabeth's dog, Gotham - This reminded me of “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time” in The Silver Blaze.

Trivia

The song "Heal" from Long Way Down by Tom Odell is played in the closing scenes of the episode, when Elementary Sherlock is observing Joan Watson.

This was another weak episode. I watch the show mainly to catch the nods to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories.

Recommended only to die-hard fans of the show.

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CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 5 "Ancient History" - Review

The episode opens with the dead body of a man besides his battered up motorcycle. 

Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) is shopping with a friend, Jennifer Sayles (Danielle Nicolet) who is trying to track her acquaintance from a one night stand, Tony.

Sherlock refuses to take up Joan's "case" due to professional pride and instead takes  here to a mortuary for fresh cases. He comes across the corpse of Leo Banin (Dean Neistat), the aforementioned victim.

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Sherlock and Joan discover that Travis Hardwick (Wass Stevens) was being threatened by Leo. Sherlock tracks down Travis to a seedy motel.

And the episode just rambles on...

Canonical References

1. Elementary Holmes' statement: “The good thing about a wild goose chase is that there is a delicious goose to eat at the end of it.” - I was reminded of the Canonical story, The Case of the Blue Carbuncle.

2. Joan scolds Miller's Sherlock: “You have not left the house for a week”  - In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes tells John Watson about himself: “I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right.”

3. Elementary Sherlock Holmes listening to the taped video of the buzzing of bees in the background, as he tries to solve the case - In the story His Last Bow, Sherlock mentions he is writing a book on Bee Keeping entitled “Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen”.

4. Joan's line to the bartender: “It was a long shot” - In Silver Blaze, Sherlock Holmes tells Dr Watson: “A long shot, Watson, a very long shot,...”

5. Miller's Sherlock practicing his single stick skills on a dummy - In A Study in Scarlet, John Watson notes that Sherlock Holmes “Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.”

Miller's Sherlock had some good moments in the episode and at the same time does some patently unSherlockian things as well.

The episode seems to be strongly inspired by the Canonical novel The Valley of Fear. Leo's wife, Lara Banin (Mia Barron) refusing to believe he was a killer and Leo having a good reputation in his neighborhood. Further, Leo's wife believing that he had a bad past and Leo running away from his gang and the gang having made an earlier attempt on Leo's life. Finally, the use of a motorcycle - the assassin uses a bicycle in The Valley of Fear.

Just like the previous episode "Dead Man's Switch" (based on The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton), this one falls flat too.

Better luck next time, CBS.

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Step Nine

BBC Sherlock - Season 3 Premiering in the US on Jan 19 2014

Dear Readers,

Here is some great news for fans of BBC Sherlock.

Benedict Cumberbatch returns as Sherlock when the third season premieres in the US on Jan 19 2014 at 10 pm EST on PBS Masterpiece.

As has been the case with the previous two seasons, Season 3 will also have 3 episodes.

The first episode, “The Empty Hearse” is based on The Adventure of the Empty House. It has been penned by Mark Gatiss and directed by Jeremy Lovering.

Steve Thompson has written the script for the next episode, “The Sign of Three”. Readers familiar with the Sherlock Holmes Canon will recognize the obvious reference to The Sign of the Four. Colm McCarthy directs this episode.

Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat takes over the writing duties for the season finale, “His Last Vow”. Directed by Nick Hurran, the episode title refers to “His Last Bow”, the collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories published between 1908 to 1917. The last story in that series is also referred to by the same name.

Having enjoyed the show so far, I am excited for the Season 3 premiere.

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Canonical Nods in "The Empty Hearse"

Canonical Nods in "The Sign of Three"

CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 4 "Poison Pen" - Review

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) receives a call from Mistress Felicia (Keesha Sharp), a call girl. Her latest client is found dead in a black bodysuit, right when she is about to provide her services.

Holmes deduces that Titus Delancey (Steve Greenstein), head of APMG Financial Consulting has been poisoned with a overdose of nitroglycerine.

Burt Jefferies (Paul Fitzgerald), head of acquisitions at APMG is interrogated, after Holmes discovers that he bought the bodysuit from a store known as “The Pleasure Parlor”.

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Anne Barker (Laura Benanti), nanny to Titus' children becomes the new suspect, as she herself was once accused of her father's death (also because of nitroglycerine poisoning) way back in the 1990s. Anne's real name is Abigail Spencer and Holmes had taken a strong interest in her case and communicated with her for some time, before she disappeared to start a new life under a new name.

Anne reveals to Holmes that she was recently being followed by someone and gives the license number. NYPD discovers that the number belongs to a detective hired by Titus' wife, Peri Delancey (Noelle Beck) to spy on all women in her husband's life. Peri is intent on getting a divorce and is trying to frame her husband in an affair.

The NYPD is confident that one of these two women are responsible for the murder of Titus. Sherlock thinks otherwise and Joan believes that his feelings for Anne is influencing his investigation.

I recommend the readers to check out the episode to find out the resolution. 

Canonical References 

1. Miller's Holmes is seen boxing with an unknown opponent in the opening scene and practicing on a punching bag in the closing scenes - In A Study in Scarlet, Dr Watson mentions that Sherlock Holmes “is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman”. In The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, Sherlock Holmes states memorably: “It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian.”. In The Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes reminds the ex-prize-fighter McMurdo of the three rounds they fought at Alison's rooms on the night of the latter's benefit. McMurdo, in turn, fondly remembers Sherlock's “cross-hit under the jaw”.

2. Miller's Holmes deducing that bourbon was used to hide the odor of nitroglycerine - In Silver Blaze, Sherlock Holmes deduces that curry was the medium used to disguise the taste of powdered opium, used to drug the stable-boy.

3. Elementary Holmes is seen using a bullwhip with considerable ease and precision - This reminded me of Sherlock Holmes' weapon of choice - riding crop. Holmes uses it in a number of cases: A Case of Identity, The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Speckled Band and The Six Napoleons.

4. Miller's Holmes talks about following Abigail Spencer case in the 90s, when he was 15 years old - In A Study in Scarlet, Dr Watson mentions about Sherlock Holmes: “Sensational Literature.—Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.”

5. Elementary Sherlock remembering the fact that Abigail wanted to have a Phoenix tattoo from the correspondence they shared years ago - Sherlock Holmes has a strong memory and is well known for remembering even seemingly trivial points.

6. Elementary Holmes' statement: “nothing so mundane as love” - Dr Watson states about Sherlock's attitude towards love in A Scandal in Bohemia: “All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind.”

7. Miller's Holmes agreeing with Joan that Abigail was his first murderer in his career - In the Canon, Sherlock Holmes refers to The Adventure of the Gloria Scott as “the first in which I was ever engaged”. (Credit to John Foster for catching this reference)

8. Miller's Holmes lists a couple of reasons to prove that he knows that truth about Abigail Abigail Spencer and asks: “Shall I go on? I can” - In The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, Sherlock Holmes comments to Dr Watson: “You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right.”

9. Joan observes some scratches near the lock to a table drawer - In The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, Sherlock Holmes observation of scratches round a keyhole proves significant to solving that case.

Interesting to know that Miller's Holmes reveals that he corresponded with Abigail Spencer under the pseudonym, Sean Holmes and also about his childhood experiences. Sherlock's statement: “If it were not so frustrating, it would be interesting” was a nice touch.

Still, it is Joan Watson who did the crucial deduction that ultimately solved the murder. This has been the trend in most of the recent episodes.

The plot and the episode was definitely more interesting than the previous one. Miller and Liu were solid. Jon Michael Hill and Aidan Quinn continue their token appearances as Captain Thomas Gregson and Detective Marcus Bell respectively.

Trivia

The song “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.)” by Jim James can be heard in the closing scenes, when Miller's Sherlock is practicing his boxing skills on a punching bag. 

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Step Nine