CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 10 "Tremors" - Review

Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is being questioned by Cassandra Walker (Elizabeth Marvel) for the life threatening injury to Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill).

The episode goes back and forth between present and the past events that have led to the current predicament faced by Holmes and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu).

Captain Tom Gregson (Aidan Quinn) was delivering a lecture when Silas Cole (Zachary Booth), a schizophrenic young man walks in claiming that he is a Knight who has killed his Queen.

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Sherlock Holmes talks down Silas and he is apprehended by the NYPD. Sherlock, Joan and Bell soon discover the corpse of Silas' “Queen”, Rada Hollingsworth in her apartment. 

Meanwhile, in the present, Dr. Gretchen Primler (Angel Desai) informs Joan that Detective Bell is on his way to recovery. Sherlock and Joan continue their investigation and interrogate Dr. Phineaus Hobbs (Jordan Lage) about Rada Hollingsworth.

James Dylan (Danny Mastrogiorgio) is the suspect in Rada's death. When Joan takes the stand, Sherlock himself questions her about their methods.

I recommend the viewers to check out the episode to find out the resolution to the mystery.

Canonical References

1. The judge asking Elementary Holmes to spare the flourishes and Joan talking about coloring the lines - Holmes often chides Dr John Watson for embellishing his accounts of their exploits - From The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: "....since I have often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are his own accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste instead of confining himself rigidly to facts and figures.”

2. Elementary Sherlock observing that Cassandra Walker keeps a bust on Ben Judas on her day planner - This reminded me of the plot of The Adventure of the Six Napoleons

3. Miller's Sherlock Holmes showing sound knowledge of the law - Dr John Watson mentions in A Study in Scarlet that Sherlock Holmes “has a good practical knowledge of British law.”

4.Captain Gregson scolding Miller's Sherlock for being so brazen in showing his contempt for the proceedings since he thinks they are beneath him - Dr Watson states about Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Empty House: “Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.”

5. Miller's Holmes remarking to Cassandra Walker: “Nothing on earth would make me reveal a secret of such nature” - Sherlock Holmes comments about Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Creeping Man: “Dr. Watson is the very soul of discretion”

6. Elementary Holmes explains about the use of potassium chloride as a poisoning agent - Dr John Watson lists Sherlock Holmes' knowledge in A Study in Scarlet: “Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally.” and “Chemistry.—Profound.”

7. Miller's Sherlock commenting on how he and Joan provide free services to the state of NY - Sherlock Holmes often takes up cases for the intellectual challenge, without any monetary considerations

8. Elementary Sherlock Holmes lecturing to Joan Watson about the the world not being in black and white, but in shades of grey - Nice reference to Dr John Watson being the moral compass in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories

9. Elementary Sherlock practicing singlestick left handed on a dummy and also correcting Detective Bell's incorrect description of the craft - Dr John Watson states that Sherlock Holmes “is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman” in A Study in Scarlet

 

Guest star Frankie Faison as Judge Brewster O'Hare, has a spark in his eyes throughout and seems to be relishing every minute of his performance.

 

Elizabeth Marvel is adequate as Cassandra Walker. Clyde, the turtle makes a comeback for a very brief cameo. 

Jonny Lee Miller continues to show the characteristic dry humor of the Canonical Holmes. Miller's Sherlock also makes Yorkshire pudding, a nod to his British origins.

 

Lucy Liu seems half-hearted in her performance. 

The mystery component is OK. The episode impresses much more as an exploration of the methods and characteristic traits of Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson and how a modern society would perceive them. 

This is what Elementary has been claiming to be doing all along: a character driven drama focused on Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson.

After 33 attempts (episodes), they finally got it right. 

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Step Nine

BBC Sherlock Season 1 Episode # 3 "The Great Game" - Canonical References (Part II)

Dear Readers,

Here is the concluding post of compilation of the references to Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories and novels in the third episode of BBC Sherlock Season 1 “The Great Game”. 

Click here to read the first post.

1. Sherlock's line expressing his lack of knowledge about “Who's Prime Minister or who is sleeping with who..” - Dr John Watson lists the limits to Sherlock Holmes' knowledge in A Study in Scarlet: “Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing”.

2. Sherlock's reply to John in the cab: “Don't know. Dangerous to jump to conclusions. Need data.” - Sherlock Holmes states in A Scandal in Bohemia: “I have no data yet. 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.”

3. John Watson referring to the fact that he and Mrs Hudson have been watching too much telly – Reference to this exchange from The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor:
Sherlock Holmes: “You have been reading the papers diligently of late, have you not?”
Dr John Watson: “It looks like it,” said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the corner. “I have had nothing else to do.”

4. Sherlock's line to John after coming out of Kenny Prince's house: “You smell of disinfectant” - Sherlock Holmes mentions 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.”

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5. Sherlock's comment to Detective Inspector Lestrade: “We’ve been here before. Carl Powers? Tut-tut. Our bomber’s repeated himself.”  - Sherlock Holmes rebukes Inspector Alec MacDonald in The Valley of Fear: “Tut, tut, Mr. Mac!—the first sign of temper I have detected in you.”

6. Sherlock using online gossip to solve the case of Connie Prince – Sherlock Holmes listens to gossip on the streets in A Scandal in Bohemia.

7. John's protests to Sherlock: “There are human lives at stake, Sherlock. Actual human lives. Just so I know, do you care about that at all” – Reference to the line spoken by Sherlock 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.”

8. Sherlock's advice to John: “Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist and if they did, I would not be one of them” – This reminded me of the following line spoken by Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy.”
 

9. Sherlock's observation about Moriarty: “Just once, he put himself in the firing line” – Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem: “But at last he made a trip -- only a little, little trip but it was more than he could afford, when I was so close upon him.”

10. Sherlock's line about Moriarty: “Well, usually, he must stay above it all. He organises these things, but no one ever has direct contact”. Miss Wenceslas, owner of the Hickman Gallery also confirms the same when she says that she never had any “real contact” and that there were “just messages, whispers…” – Sherlock Holmes states about Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem: “He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed -- the word is passed to the professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught - never so much as suspected.”

11. Sherlock replies that he has 7 ideas, after inspecting the corpse of a security guard – Sherlock Holmes has a similar exchange with Annie Harrison in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty: “Do you see any clue?” “You have furnished me with seven, but of course I must test them before I can pronounce upon their value.”

12. Sherlock dismisses John's praise of his deductions about the murder of the security guard as “meretricious” – Sherlock Holmes comments about Dr Watson's writing skills in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier: “Alas, that I should have to show my hand so when I tell my own story! It was by concealing such links in the chain that Watson was enabled to produce his meretricious finales.”

13. Sherlock Holmes gets the information from his informant that the assassin, Golem is hiding in Vauxhall Arches – Dr John Watson mentions in The Sign of the Four: “They landed me at Vauxhall, with my heavy iron box, and with a bluff, genial inspector as my companion.” There are also mentions of Vauxhall Bridge Road in the novel.

14. John is not clear about Sherlock's plans even after they reach Vauxhall Arches and has to ask him: “Anytime, you want to explain?” - Dr John Watson mentions about Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client: “There was a curious secretive streak in the man which led to many dramatic effects, but left even his closest friend guessing as to what his exact plans might be. He pushed to an extreme the axiom that the only safe plotter was he who plotted alone. I was nearer him than anyone else, and yet I was always conscious of the gap between.”

15. Sherlock explains to John, who is surprised after hearing his roommate's appreciation for the beauty of the night sky: “Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it” - Sherlock Holmes has a similar experience with Dr Watson in The Adventure of Black Peter: “Let us walk in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the flowers.”

16. Sherlock refers to the “Homeless network” as his “eyes and ears all over the city” - Sherlock Holmes explains about the Baker Street Irregulars to Dr Watson in A Study in Scarlet: “These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organisation.”

17. Sherlock is seen employing his boxing skills against Golem, the assassin in the planetarium – Dr John Watson lists Sherlock Holmes' skills in A Study in Scarlet: “Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.”

18. Sherlock deducing the presence of a criminal mastermind behind the case of the fake painting as well as the murders of Connie Prince and Carl Powers – From The Final Problem: “Again and again in cases of the most varying sorts -- forgery cases, robberies, murders -- I have felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally consulted.”

19. Sherlock following Watson on the case of the missing defense plans without the latter’s knowledge – In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes sends Dr John Watson to Dartmoor to work on the case and then goes to Dartmoor himself deliberately keeping everyone in the dark about his presence

20. The plot involves the brother of Andrew West’s fiancee stealing the defense plans – In The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, Joseph Harrison steals the titular treaty from the office of his sister's fiance, Percy Phelps.

21. Sherlock informs John that Mycroft threatened him with a knighthood again - In The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Dr Watson writes: “I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month that Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day be described.”

22. Sherlock's sitting posture at 221 B Baker Street is a reference to Sidney Paget's illustration for Arthur Conan Doyle's story: The Adventure of the Red Headed League

23. Sherlock's exchange with Jim Moriarty: “People told me I don’t have a heart” “We both know that’s not true” - Reference to this line written by Dr John Watson in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs: “For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.”

24. Sherlock's line to John: “All right. Are you all right?”- Sherlock Holmes' line from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, after Dr Watson gets shot at by Killer Evans: “You’re not hurt, Watson? For God‘s sake, say that you are not hurt!”

25. John's comment to Sherlock: “You ripping my clothes off in a darkened swimming pool” – Reference to Dr Watson's statement about Sherlock Holmes from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs: “He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.”

26. Sherlock calling Jim a “consulting criminal” - Sherlock Holmes makes the following statement about Professor James Moriarty in The Valley of Fear: “"Having an English job to do, they took into partnership, as any foreign criminal could do, this great consultant in crime.”

27. The following exchanges between Sherlock and Jim Moriarty are taken from The Final Problem:

• “Is that British Army Browning L9A1 in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?” –  “It is a dangerous habit to finger loaded firearms in the pocket of one's dressing-gown.” (The Final Problem)
• “Don’t  be silly. Some one else is holding the rifle. I don’t like to get my hands” – “He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized.” (The Final Problem)
• “No one has got close to me. And no one ever will”. – “The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught -- never so much as suspected.” (The Final Problem)
• “Now you are in my way” - “You stand in the way not merely of an individual but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unable to realize.” (The Final Problem)
• “You can’t be allowed to continue. You just can’t.” – “It is necessary that you should withdraw” (The Final Problem)
• “Come to warn you. Back off” – “You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,” said he, swaying his face about. “You really must, you know.” (The Final Problem) 
• “I would try to convince you but everything I have to say has already crossed your mind!” “Probably my answer has crossed yours.” - “All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,” said he. “Then possibly my answer has crossed yours,” I replied. (The Final Problem)

I welcome the readers to point out any references that I might have missed.

Click here to read all my posts about BBC Sherlock.

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