Elementary Season 3 Episode 20 "A Stitch in Time" – Recap and Review

In Arthur Conan Doyle's original story, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League (REDH), a cunning criminal (John Clay) digs a tunnel from the basement of his unsuspecting employer (Jabez Wilson) to a nearby bank to steal the cash. Sherlock Holmes of course, stops the theft and catches the robbers red handed.

Elementary writers offer us a modern take on REDH. Instead of Mr. Wilson, we have another simpleton, Claire Renziger (Anita Gillette).

The case starts with Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) investigating the murder of Garrison Boyd, a famous rationalist/atheist.

Sherlock and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) question Finn (Andrew Rothenberg), who has had some unfriendly exchanges with Boyd just days before his death.

A suspect emerges in the form of one Collin Eisely (Eric Bogosian). Collin is a businessman who owns a few buildings . But he seems to have an alibi. He directs Sherlock to the aforementioned Mrs. Renziger, one of his tenants.

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Claire believes that her husband Harry's ghost is trying to communicate with her. Claire seems to be of the opinion that Harry has discovered about her extra-marital affair with a certain Jim Harmon. She is of the strong opinion that her husband's ghost is uttering “Jim Harmon” as he goes around terrorizing her.

Sherlock however does not buy into her theory and deduces that something more logical is afoot. He infers that the supposed voice of Harry was actually some human being uttering some similar sounding Arabic term “Im Haram”.

Sherlock works his way to figure out the apartment of Nadim Al-Haj (Lohrasp Kansara), by tracking down his fellow tenant, Yolanda Massee  (Marcy Harriell). Coincidentally, Nadim stays in one of the buildings owned by Collin.

Piecing together the pieces of the puzzle, Sherlock finally deduces that Collin's plan was to delay some electronically transmitted financial information by a few milliseconds and make millions of dollars in the process.

The secondary subplot involved Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) helping Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn)'s daughter and NYPD Detective Hannah Gregson (Liza J. Bennett) on a case involving a series of thefts. Hannah seeks Joan's help, as the officer in charge of that particular case is held up with some other work.

Sherlock warns Joan that Hannah is only a mediocre detective, but Joan believes in Hannah. Joan solves the mystery behind the thefts, but is surprised when Hannah takes all the credit instead of passing the information to the concerned officer. Captain Gregson advises Joan to stop helping his daughter any further.

The plot was OK. The acting was adequate.

I did like the opening scene, which has Sherlock Holmes wearing the beekeeping suit as he examines his bee colony inside the brownstone. His investigation reveals infestation of the colony by the parasitic species of Varroa mites.

The Irregular, Mason (Robert Capron) made his customary appearance due to the electronic nature of the case.

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Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 "The One That Got Away" – Recap and Review

As readers might remember, it was revealed at the end of the previous episode, Del Gruner (Stuart Townsend) was the man who had abused Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond) five years back.

The episode begins with a flashback to eight months back with Kitty Winter in Scotland Yard. Kitty is trying to offer her assistance to the official force on a case involving the kidnapping of Latif, a boy by a suspected pedophile, but is politely turned down. While leaving the Yard, she runs into Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller).

Cut to the present. At the brownstone, Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) refuses to believe that her boss, Del Gruner had anything to do with Kitty Winter's sexual assault. Sherlock tries to convince her that Del has the money and power needed to track down Kitty.

Someone is listening to this conversation. Shortly, Joan receives a call from Del, informing her that she has been fired.

Del is taken for questioning by Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill). He denies any involvement in the murder of Simon de Merville (P.J. Sosko) and/or the sexual assault on Kitty Winter.

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Due to the lack of any concrete evidence, the NYPD lets him go. Kitty decides to go back to London. She texts Sherlock that she has landed in London, but is actually still in the NYC. She is keeping an eye on Del Gruner.

Detective Marcus Bell informs Sherlock about Tabitha Laird (Jessica Blank), who had some bad experience in the past with Del Gruner. Tabitha works for Hearth and Home Foundation, a charity foundation, on whose board Del serves as a member.

Tabitha agrees that there were a couple of incidents involving Del. She insists that she has patched up things with Gruner and that there are no differences between them right now.

Joan pays a visit to Del at a function hosted by the foundation and warns him that he will be behind bars soon. She informs him about the meeting with Tabitha, at which Del becomes visibly alarmed.
 
Back at the brownstone, Sherlock deduces that Del had impregnated on his earlier victims and that that child is none other than Tabitha's adopted son, Jesse Laird.

Kitty kidnaps Del from his apartment and keeps him as hostage with the intention to torture and possibly murder him. Sherlock observes an elastic band at Del's place and realizes what has happened. He is able to make this conclusion as he had trained Kitty to break locks using the same tool back in London.

Sherlock tracks her down using an app on her mobile phone. He reveals to Kitty that she had saved him in London. He assures that whatever decision she takes regarding Del, she will always hold a special place in his heart.

Within a few hours, Sherlock is informed by Captain Gregson that  Del Gruner has been arrested. His face is heavily bandaged and he is unconscious. Gregson indicates that he might have to go after Kitty, if she is named by Del as the person who inflicted the horrific injuries on him.

Kitty finally leaves for London and calls Sherlock for one last time.

The episode keeps shuffling back and forth between the present happenings in the NYC and the budding relationship between Sherlock and Kitty in London, a few months back.

This was a good episode. A bit heavy on melodrama for a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. For a change, this did not sound as phony as it sometimes does on BBC Sherlock. Kudos to Miller and especially, Ophelia Lovibond for making these scenes work.

Joan also steals the limelight in her scene, when she warns Del to let go of his tight grip on her arm, citing the fact the she is a trained fighter and is not just some hapless victim for Del to intimidate.

In the original story, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, Kitty throws vitriol on Baron Adelbert Gruner's face, thus disfiguring him for life. The Elementary adaptation follows a similar thread, with the difference being that Ophelia's Kitty uses a nutmeg concoction instead.

With Kitty gone (atleast for the near future), it is back to square one for Sherlock and Joan. The third peg in the wheel is gone and it is Sherlock and Joan' show all the way from the next episode.

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Elementary Season 3 Episode 11 "The Illustrious Client" – Recap and Review

The episode delves heavily into Kitty Winter's (Ophelia Lovibond) past and the abuse she went through. The man who inflicted the horrific injuries on her has arrived in NY. His latest victim, Melanie Vilkas is a personal message to the authorities and Kitty in particular.

As can be expected, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) pay extra attention to this case. Joan is lucky that her new boss, Del Gruner (Stuart Townsend) is very accommodating and gives her permission to spend time, despite having just joined the company very recently. 

The local authorities initially suspect Melanie's fiance, Brandon Powell. But Sherlock and company know better and interrogate Ron Davis (Robert Eli), the man whom Melanie had met on an online dating site. Ron was supposed to meet her at a pub on the same night she disappeared. Ron declines having met Melanie, claiming that he found her to be less beautiful in person than her online profile picture had suggested.

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A strong suspect soon emerges in the form of Simon de Merville (P.J. Sosko). He is a known face with the NYPD and is heavily involved in supplying women for prostitution. Just as he is tracked down and the NYPD arrives to take him down, he flees.

Simon has a sister, Violet de Merville (Tammy Blanchard) who works as a nurse. She claims to have only helped Simon by stitching him up, after having a fight in a bar. 

Sherlock deduces Simon's hiding place, but is too late as Simon is killed before he can be arrested.

In the closing scenes, Kitty recognizes the voice of Joan's new employer, Del Gruner as belonging to the man who had sexually assaulted her five years back. She also identifies him visually, after looking him up on the internet.

Canonical References
1. The episode titled is a reference to the Canonical story “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client” (ILLU).
2. The name of the character played by Stuart Townsend, Del Gruner is a shortened version of the name of the main antagonist in ILLU: Baron Adelbert Gruner.
3. The  character of Violet de Merville - In ILLU, Sherlock Holmes takes up the case in order to break the impending marriage between Violet de Merville and Baron Adelbert Gruner.
4. Violet looking out for her brother, whom she acknowledges was always “different” - This reminded me of The Hound of the Baskervilles, in which Mrs Barrymore cared for her brother, Selden. Selden is an escaped convict who is now hiding on the moor and receives food and clothes from the Barrymores.
 

Being familiar with the original story, I was not that surprised by the revelation involving Del Gruner.

I did enjoy Kitty's impromptu meeting with Violet, that involved Kitty using her single stick to coerce Violet into disclosing information about Simon. In ILLU, Sherlock Holmes takes Kitty Winter to meet Violet de Merville in an attempt to dissuade her from marrying Baron Gruner. Kitty was one of Gruner's former mistresses and Sherlock hopes to convince Violet by utilizing Kitty's personal experience. 

I liked the following quotes by Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock:
1. Given the narcissism that consumes the modern epoch, a solitary selfie is a minor miracle. 
2.  A fugitive is more difficult to anticipate than an obsessive. 
3. Those of us with exceptional sensitivities are prone to motion sickness. 

The acting was intense, with both Miller and Ophelia giving exceptional performances. A good episode by Elementary's usual standards.

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Elementary Season 3 Episode 9 "The Eternity Injection" – Recap and Review

Alfredo Llamosa (Ato Essandoh), Sherlock Holmes' (Jonny Lee Miller) sponsor is back. He presents a new challenge to Sherlock in the form of “Odin”, a tough-to-crack sensor.

A Shauna Milius (Julienne Hanzelka Kim) arrives at the brownstone. She worked with Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) at the hospital and is seeking her help to locate her missing colleague  Marissa Ledbetteris.

Sherlock follows Marissa's credit card trail and finds her corpse in a dumpster behind a pub.

Autopsy reveals that Marissa had the DNA of a man under her fingernails. This man turns out to be Christopher Jacoby. His wife, Sarah (Andrea Syglowski) strongly believes in his innocence. Christopher also went missing around the same time Marrisa was killed. 

Mason (Robert Capron), the irregular last seen in the episode “Bella”, tracks down Chris from the surveillance cameras installed around the city. From the picture, Chris looks shabby, in contrast to the clean-shaven face he supposedly maintains.

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Sherlock and Joan try to track down Chris, who is living as a homeless individual. He has been murdered. Sherlock discovers a journal Chris has been maintaining. Sherlock learns that Chris had started to lose his mind in the recent past.

It is revealed that both Chris and Marrisa received deposits of 1,50,000 USD in their bank accounts. Sherlock deduces that Chris was being injected with a drug “E-ZED-M-77” by Marrisa as part of a illegal drug trail.

The drug has been created by Purgatorium Incorporated, a pharmaceutical company. It is a time dilating drug that alter a person's perception of time.

Sherlock deduces that there were five other patients receiving doses. One surviving patient is Louis Carlisle (Luke Robertson). He provides the useful information that in addition to Marrisa, there is a black man aged around 40 who looked to be in charge.

This person turns out to be Dr Dwyer Kirke (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.), head of Ubient Pharmaceuticals. He is arrested by Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) when he comes to visit his ailing aunt.

Dwyer confesses to conducting the trials, but steadfastly refuses to disclose the identity of the person who sponsored his research work.

But Sherlock is up to the task. He digs into Dwyer's background and discovers that one James Connaughton (Dakin Matthews) has been the benefactor who has funded Dwyer's education.

James is suffering from a serious disease and is supporting the drug trials in an attempt to prolong his life. James claims to have played no part in the trials.

Sherlock and Joan next force James's nurse Brett Won (Brian Lee Huynh) to reveal the details. In order to provide a closure to the victims of the drug trial, Brett provides the details.

As Sherlock, Joan and NYPD arrive to arrest James, we learn that he has taken a heavy dose of the drug to prolong his freedom before landing in jail.

This was an OK episode. The focus is primarily on Sherlock and his struggle to maintain his abstinence from drugs. His solution to a working arrangement that involves Bella/Edward/Jacob (from the Twilight mythology) was another reminder of why this version of Holmes is quite unlike the Canonical Version.

Sherlock playing “Reveille” on Bugle to wake up Joan failed to generate any laughs.

Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond) is relegated to the background. The scene involving her trying her hand at picking locks was funny, with both Sherlock and Joan providing her unsolicited advice.

A run-of-the-mill episode that should appeal to fans of the show.

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