TV Review: Elementary Episode # 6 - "Flight Risk"

Sherlock and Joan with Gregson and Bell in Elementary

Holmes discovers about a plane crash by listening to the police scanner. The detective in charge of the investigation, Miranda Molinari (Reiko Aylesworth) makes it perfectly clear that NYPD and associated “consultants” are not welcome at the crash site.

Holmes cheerfully disregards this and proceeds with his investigation anyway. He deduces that one of the passengers was killed before the plane crashed.

All the passengers were working for a law firm and were involved in a lawsuit against a company for causing cancer. Soon one of the suspects seems to be on the run and as expected Holmes catches the culprit.

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The mystery is good but is overshadowed by the other subplot about Sherlock’s past.

Holmes’s father wants to have dinner with Sherlock and Joan. Sherlock is not appreciative of the idea and confidently predicts that his father will not turn up. In a way, Sherlock Sr. (Roger Rees) ends up having the dinner with Watson and this was the most hilarious scene in the episode.

Joan does some deductions on her own and tracks down “Sherlock Sr.” for some additional information about Sherlock’s past. And what we get is a doozy – Irene Adler aka The Woman.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes

Jonny Lee Miller finally delivers a solid performance. This is the first episode where Miller’s performance has started to grow on me. It also helps that Miller and Lucy have a great chemistry. Miller's Holmes has the right combination of humor and assertiveness, that makes him a good on-screen version of the Canonical Holmes. 

It is heartening to see Miller establish his credentials as a credible Sherlock Holmes, after Stephen Moffat and some fans of Sherlock had written off this series so prematurely. As Holmes said in A Scandal in Bohemia: “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

Lucy Liu continues her amazing run as Joan Watson. If the previous episode focused on her past life, this time it is Sherlock’s past. Since Miller’s Sherlock has never been happy to discuss his past, Joan has to do some investigation herself and she does not disappoint. Full credit to Lucy for giving us one of the best Watsons.

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson

Roger Rees made a fine impression and I look forward to his (hopefully) further appearances on the show. The discussion between “Sherlock Sr.” and Joan in the library about the definition of friendship was executed nicely and very Sherlockian in nature.

To the best of my knowledge, this episode had the least number of Canonical References:

1.   The dinner meeting of Sherlock Sr. and Joan Watson reminded me of the following line from The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone – “My old friend here will tell you that I have an impish habit of practical joking”.

2.   Irene Adler – It would be interesting to see how Irene fits in this adaptation and which actress is cast for the role.

I thought this was the best episode so far. Well done, Guys.

Reiko Aylesworth as Miranda Molinari

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TV Review: Elementary Episode # 5 - "Lesser Evils"

Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu in CBS Elementary

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) discovers that someone is killing victims with terminal diseases and passing them off as natural deaths. The killer is injecting Epinephrine into the victims to cause their deaths.

Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) runs into her old friend, Dr Carrie Dwyer (Anika Noni Rose) who also works at the same hospital. Joan is concerned about Dr Dwyer's current patient, but her pleas fall on deaf ears.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes

Holmes and Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) interrogate a list of suspects and zero in on a doctor. Does he turn out to be the killer? Can Joan save her friend's patient before it is too late?

Miller is showing continuous improvement in his performance. CBS recently ordered a complete season for the show. Hopefully by the end of the first season, Miller would have carved his own niche among the pantheon of actors to have portrayed the detective.

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Joan not only stands up to Sherlock’s quips, but helps Holmes in the case as well. Joan started learning the skills of observation and deduction in the previous episode and I like her continuing character arc as the show progresses. Lucy Liu has given her best performance in this episode.

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson

Here comes my favorite section of the review – The references to the Canonical stories:

1. Miller’s Holmes discovers that there are 2 different handwritings in a patient’s consent form. Sherlock Holmes made a similar deduction in the story – The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle.
2. Miller’s Holmes and his friend visit the same beekeeping chat room. 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”.
3. In the opening scene, Miller’s Sherlock is conducting an experiment on a corpse. In A Study in Scarlet, Stamford informs Watson about Holmes’s habit of beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick.
4. When Joan Watson asks Miller’s Holmes about having sushi for dinner, Miller’s Holmes mentions about mercury poisoning and explains that Anisakis is a worm can infect human beings. In A Study in Scarlet, Watson make a list of topics on which Sherlock Holmes has knowledge. In this list, Watson mentions Holmes as having variable knowledge in Botany and is well up in poisons generally.
5. Miller’s Holmes shuts himself inside the hospital room to make sure no one tampers with the scene of the crime. In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes expresses his regret at the lack of prints on the pathway to the scene of a crime due to the movement of people – “If a herd of buffaloes had passed along, there could not be a greater mess.”

This episode had lot of humor injected throughout. I especially loved the elevator scene with Holmes and the janitor. That was pretty funny.

The only downside was the excessive use of medical terms. Given the nature of the murders, this was understandable.

Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson

In conclusion, this was one of the better episodes in the show.

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