Thoughts On Elementary

Realize I haven't been writing a whole lot recently. I've been juggling a couple of different things with writing (including an actual book...maybe) as well as using my Tumblr for those ideas I want to share. Tumblr is fantastic. It's quick in that there tends to be some sort of instant gratification that shows you it is being seen by people, etc. It's also incredibly weird in that you'll find a lot of slashfiction starring James Bond and Ben Whishaw's Q. While I'm comfortable enough to admit that both men are attractive in their own ways, a sexual relationship between them isn't exactly my cup of Earl Grey.

So what to write about? Well... I caught up on the latest episodes of the CBS produced modern take on Sherlock Holmes ELEMENTARY this weekend. And it has stepped up its game. While the BBC's SHERLOCK has been focused on modernizing the classic canon (for example Baskervilles, Study in Scarlet and, most recently, The Final Problem), Elementary has been focused primarily as a police procedural. I suspect that's been the case because the procedural has become CBS' bread and butter with their CSI series as well as the uncertainty of television. Why introduce elements when you're uncertain you'll get a chance to properly explore them especially when only have 40-odd minutes a week? But with the show being picked up for the year, it's taken chances to stretch its legs. 

Earlier, it introduced a deceased Irene Adler into Holmes' back story. Her death has driven the events to allow the series to happen. Quick summary: Holmes and Adler were in a relationship for a number of months. Beforehand, Holmes had dabbled in the traditional drug use for the typical traditional reasons. But after her death, his drug use spirals into a raging and crippling addiction that forces him into rehab. Post rehab, his father (a new yet off-screen addition to the canon) hires a sober companion in Dr. Joan Watson. Holmes works in liaison with the NYPD's Captain Gregson handling mostly homicides.

While past episodes have been decent for procedurals while still embracing all of the ridiculousness of the genre (the murdered hotel manager worked in correlation with prostitutes...wait she's a Russian spy...oh, her daughter killed her upon discovering she was a spy...oh, actually her handler killed her), the latest episode focuses heavily on Holmes with his past coming back to haunt him and a new twist being added to the mythos. A serial killer previously investigated by Holmes in London has arrived in the states and made his immigration known by his signature kill of a hanging a person upside down through a tripod device with a wench, slitting their throat and draining them of blood. This mysterious M. seems to have targeted Holmes by placing a note inside his home.

This M. is played by a rugby loving Vinnie Jones. Eventually it is revealed that one of his 37 victims was Irene Adler. And once Holmes has figured out this M.'s appearance and location he moves to exact vengeance on the fiend. And stops him before he can commit another murder with a baton to the face. Next we see them with M. chained up and Holmes prepping to torture and kill him. During the usual chit-chat preceding torture, it's revealed that while he has killed several people, he was imprisoned during the time of Adler's death.  And the bomb drops that he's a hired assassin named Sebastian Moran. And his employer? Moriarty.

This is the first that Holmes has heard the name. And Moriarty has already made the mad game between the two extremely personal, murdering the Holmes loved. The episode ends with Holmes allowing Moran to live and turning him over to the police, going home and removing all the various crime scene photos, headlines and notes from his wall and replacing it with a single post-it: Moriarty while this fucking awesome song keys in.

               

Elementary has started keying in on the Holmes that everyone knows and is already working on twisting it to something new and not entirely expected. The game is afoot.