Showing posts with label Ophelia Lovibond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ophelia Lovibond. Show all posts

Friday, January 30, 2015

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

Kitty Winter and Sherlock Holmes in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

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.

Del Gruner Kitty Winter rapist abuser in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

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 Watson wearing black dress in Elementary Season 3 Episode 12 The One That Got Away

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 1 Review
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Sunday, January 25, 2015

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

Kitty Winter in Elementary Season 3 Episode 11 The Illustrious Client

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.


Del Gruner Joan Watson new employer in Elementary Season 3 Episode 11 The Illustrious Client

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.
 
Sherlock Holmes and Kitty Winter in Elementary Season 3 Episode 11 The Illustrious Client


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 1 Review
Elementary - Cast Review

Friday, January 9, 2015

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

Sherlock Holmes Joan Watson Elementary Season 3 Episode 9 The Eternity Injection

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.

Sherlock Holmes Elementary Season 3 Episode 9 The Eternity Injection

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.

Lucy Liu Joan Watson Elementary Season 3 Episode 9 The Eternity Injection

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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Elementary Season 1 Review
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Friday, December 19, 2014

Elementary Season 3 Episode 8 "End of Watch" – Recap and Review


Elementary Sherlock Holmes examining corpse body at a crime scene in CBS Elementary Season 3 Episode 8 End of Watch

NYPD Officer Alec Flynn (Jim Ford) has been killed in what looks like an ambush attack. Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller)  discovers that Alec had a toy gun with air pellets.

Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Sherlock question Alec's former partner,  Officer Miles Polano (Andrew Dolan). He claims to be innocent and denies any involvement in the murder, despite admitting to having difficulties in the past.

Alec's widow, Brie (Rebecca Brooksher) informs Joan and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) that she threw Alec out of the house after he started stealing her things to get the drug he got addicted to, after being injured on duty.

Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) discovers a video showing Flynn buying a fake gun. Shortly, a one-eyed man emerges as the main suspect in Flynn's homicide. ATF Agent Hernan (Leslie Silva) identifies this person of interest as Niko Buros (Robert Mammana), a gunrunner.

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Before he can be arrested, Buros claims his next victim, Officer Casey Hatem (Shezi Sardar). Joan meets up with Officer Doud (Rajesh Bose), whose nephew is Casey.

Joan deduces that the number 6 is not a name but a nickname for one of Alec's teammates. This person turns out to be Charlie Riggs (Geoffrey Wigdor).

Sherlock theorizes that Niko is not targetting random police officers, but those with a connection to Rodman's Armory. Niko wants to steal the weapons and uses the killed officer's funeral ceremony as a strategy to distract the cops.

Niko is apprehended by Detective Bell and taken into custody.

Canonical References

1. Elementary Sherlock almost quotes verbatim the following lines from The Sign of the Four: “My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence.” 

2. At the drug addiction meeting, another attendee informs Elementary Holmes about the blog BrainAttic - Possible reference to this line spoken by Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet: “I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose....Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

3. One of the quotes featured in the blog is the following line from The Final Problem: “At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.”

Detective Marcus Bell in Elementary Season 3 Episode 8 End of Watch

This was one of the weaker episodes. The main plot was lacking in excitement.

Secondary plot involves Sherlock on the trail of someone publishing his quotes on a Tumblr blog. Kitty Winter (Ophelia Lovibond) talks to one Astrid (Kerry Butler) about the blog. 

Sherlock asks Kitty to stop working on the case and tracks down Daren (Gregory Abbey), who has been maintaining BrainAttic. Daren insists on maintaining the blog, despite Sherlock's insistence on the opposite. Daren claims that people (including himself) find inspiration from Sherlock's quotes. In response, Sherlock maintains silence in the next session.

Joan Watson and Kitty Winter working together at the crime scene in CBS Elementary Season 3 Episode 8 End of Watch

I liked Ophelia's comment about Sherlock being quotable. There were other nice touches as well - Miller's Holmes commenting that he is not a man who likes to share his secrets. He is also seen practicing Kyudo, Zen archery. This scene reminded  me of the darts used by Tonga, the pygmy islander and Jonathan Small's trusted companion from The Sign of the Four.

Miller's Sherlock detects the scent of two perfumes on Daren's person: Sherlock Holmes states in The Hound of the Baskervilles: “There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition”.

On a side note, there was no sighting or mention of Joan Watson's boyfriend Andrew Paek (Raza Jaffrey). Readers might remember that at the end of the previous episode, Joan was seen preparing a special feast to celebrate Andrew's return from Copenhagen. Kind of like how Mrs Hudson too appeared in just one scene, only to disappear altogether.

Click here to read all my posts about CBS Elementary.

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Elementary Season 1 Review
Elementary - Cast Review