Elementary
Episode 14: The
Deductionist
By: Carlos Uribe
Elementary
is about Sherlock Holmes in modern-day New York City.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
“At
this moment, Elementary is a fun show that is good at what it does:
showing the journey of Sherlock and Joan solving weekly murder cases.
The question ultimately becomes on whether Elementary will become
more than just an average crime procedural or whether it will be
happy being a basic detective procedural. “
It
is those words that ended my review for the pilot of Elementary. I
found it to be a fun show that had the potential for more. I haven't
seen a single episode since then but I've heard generally good things
about it. When Elementary was announced that it was going to have a
post-Superbowl episode, I decided to check the show out and see what
has become of it. It should be noted that my experience is contained
to this episode alone. This is important to note because a show is
able to have particularly strong or weak episodes that don't reflect
on the quality of the show as a whole. What I can state is that based
on this episode and the pilot, I can state that the answer to my
ultimate question appears to be that it was content to remain a basic
detective procedural. There's a possibility that I'm wrong and this
episode wasn't as strong as other offerings or is actually weaker.
While this means that my opinion of the show overall might not be
accurate, this doesn't necessarily mean my viewpoint is worthless. I
can't be the only person to have checked out the pilot, saw promise,
and saw this episode. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the viewers
that tuned into this episode were first-time viewers of the show in
that they haven't seen a single episode before this point. The
viewpoint that I can bring to this episode is therefore of a viewer
that the Tiffany network was trying to impress by giving me a sample
of a show that should have figured itself out by now. What I can
state is that I'm not more or less likely to watch another episode as
I didn't see anything that was bad but I also didn't watch anything
that made me think that this was must-watch television. It was simply
too average.
The
weekly case begins with a serial killer going into the hospital to
give his sister a kidney disease. He predictably uses this cold open
to escape so that he can start a killing spree. The twist is that he
goes out of his way to break his pattern. He used to go after blond
females before he got caught but now he goes out of his way to spare
one. He didn't go crazy with disassociate identity disorder but
rather he's seeking revenge on the profiler that worked his case.
This profiler had so wanted to be right that he had been sexually
abused by his father that she actually made up a source to back it
up. His father couldn't take this attack on his character so he
hanged himself. His mother soon followed suit. The serial killer,
along with his sister, were seeking out revenge against this
profiler. They didn't just want to embarrass her professionally but
to take her life away. It was a decent twist but the episode made a
couple of mistakes. The first is that it revealed it's true colors as
a typical broadcast drama when the profiler survived her attack. It
might have been too dark to have actually killed her off but it would
have made for a more memorable and impactful episode. The second is
that the profiler's character was completely defined by the
protagonist. She never really felt human but rather acted based on
what the plot needed at the time. It doesn't help that the actress
wasn't particularly good. The weekly case itself was rather
predictable as I was able to see the twists coming from a mile away.
It was kind of obvious he was deviating from his profile and why.
The
strength of the episode is supposed to lie with Sherlock. It makes
sense that an episode that is supposed to introduce a whole bunch of
new viewers would want to make it clear that he has self-destructive
behavior. It uses this by turning the profiler as an investigator
that had helped Sherlock solve a few cases, slept with him, and
investigated him. She wrote an article about him that shares the
title with this episode. In this report, she calls him a genius mind
at deducting things but she predicted his drug abuse and stated his
personality quirks would lead to him self-destructing. It would be
his ultimate fate that he wouldn't be able to avoid. There is
evidence presented throughout the episode that the profiler is
capable of making mistakes such as when she lied about the sexual
abuse or when she stated that Sherlock wouldn't be able to make a
friend. The show is able to tell us his internal conflict but it also
shows us in the final scene when Sherlock dares the serial killer to
prove his profile wrong. It's not enough to quite convince him but at
least the show isn't shying away from showing how messed up he is. On
the other hand, he's the kind of character that has been shown on
television hundreds of times before. It might help that he's the
original that they were all inspired from but it still feels like
familiar territory.
The
comical relief in the episode is supposed to come from Sherlock's wit
(which is decent) but also through Watson's plot. She finds out that
the person subletting her apartment has been used it for pornography
and that she's getting evicted for it. It's a serious topic but the
show never takes it seriously enough for it to really get depressing.
The show doesn't really take it lightly either but it's clear that
this is meant to be the “light” side of the episode. Considering
how close to the dark the weekly case gets and it's no wonder why the
writers felt it was necessary. This plot is resolved accidentally by
Sherlock when he notices continuity errors and Watson is able to
realize her landlord was involved in an unlicensed production. This
is apparently against the law so she's able to blackmail him for free
storage and a new couch. Considering how this is an introductory
episode to many viewers, I'm not sure this plot speaks enough about
the character to really get the viewers to know this version of
Watson very well. This becomes more problematic when you consider
that she doesn't really play that large of a role in the actual
episode as it's very focused on the serial killer, profiler, and
Sherlock.
It
is entirely possible that this episode might win over some viewers
that were on-the-fence on whether to watch the show or not but the
quality wasn't there to convince me. This is a show I could see
myself watching on a marathon in the middle of the night at a hotel
but not one I would watch first-run. Superbowl episodes hold the
potential to win over new viewers-I'm not sure this was the episode
to do it if there are better ones out there. I'm not sure why the
episode didn't feature a Sherlock villain that the series is
associated with it because it would have been the perfect
introduction into the world of Elementary. If this is the best this
show has to offer, then it wasn't a bad choice. If this isn't, then
this was a major fumble by CBS.
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