Elementary - Season 1 Episode 13 - Recap and Review - The Red Team

Recap and review of Elementary - Season 1 Episode 13 - The Red Team:

Elementary has gradually implemented serialized elements to its story over its half-season run so far, and it's helped to heighten much of the drama from episode-to-episode, particularly "M.", as we pick up where that episode left off, a week after Sherlock decided to set his vengeful attentions on Moriarty. While the episode introduced the notion of Moriarty into this version of the Holmes canon, it doesn't elaborate on him. Holmes is suspended from the NYPD for his rogue actions in "M.", and most of his work in this episode is set towards solving the central mystery of "The Red Team", the anti-American analog of the military college's annual war games exercise. Though this mystery could easily have been a method for reintegrating us into the routine of a crime procedural, and orienting us away from the overt serialization of the last several weeks, I feel that the mystery of "The Red Team" gives us a pretty good look into the inner processes of Sherlock Holmes, and the relationships he has with others, particularly Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn).

As in any popular crime procedural, this week's case involves a death that appears simple on the surface, but which quickly balloons out of control, in this case involving a far-reaching network of collaborators. The hit-and-run death of a message board conspiracy theorist leads Holmes to investigate the disappearance of another poster from the message board, which Holmes himself frequents, leading to the discovery of the missing man's body, strung up in an apparent case of autoerotic asphyxiation. However, it turns out that the conspiracy theorist was actually right about his Red Team theory, which implies a potential breach in Homeland Security. As Holmes discovers, the members of the Red Team are being silenced one-by-one, from the shooting death of one member to the poisoning of another (the results of which trigger symptoms reminiscent of early onset Alzheimer's, rendering him unable to ever blow the whistle on the plan). It's the most circuitous plan the show has done yet, as it's easy to lose track of what everyone's motivations are, or who's trying to keep what secret. The overarching villain in the scheme, a man named Dresden, seems myopically concerned with preserving the Red Team's secret, at all costs. To this end, he winds up taking an NYPD police detective hostage, leaving Holmes to play negotiator, talking Dresden down from his madness by telling him that he knows what the Red Team's secret is, and that he's told a colleague. In essence, he can't win by killing every Red Team member, because the secret he's trying to protect won't die with them. Dresden submits to the authorities, and Holmes earns his reinstatement.

This reinstatement plot is the primary narrative thrust of the episode, even in spite of the overarching investigation. The trust between Holmes and Gregson has been irreversibly fractured by Holmes going overboard in "M.", deceiving the NYPD in the pursuit of his own vengeful aims against the man he felt was responsible for the death of Irene Adler. Holmes feels that Gregson is overreacting by suspending him, rationalizing that what he does is for the greater good, and that by benching him, the city is being denied the good that Holmes can do with his work. Gregson doesn't see it that way. As a consultant, Holmes technically isn't an employee of the NYPD, so while he might be able to make an end-run around certain protocol that actual detectives wouldn't be able to breach, his continued presence on the investigations is predicated on a trust that Holmes has with the state of New York, and its police force. He negated that trust by breaking the law in the pursuit of vengeance, and this betrayal of trust is clearly something that hurts Gregson. They might not act like best friends, but I feel like they meant more to each other than either was willing to admit, particularly Sherlock, who is reinstated but can't celebrate it because he's too busy mourning the loss of his friendship with Gregson. Or, if not the friendship, than the easy-going rapport they share, founded on trust and belief in one another's noble intentions. After Holmes is able to defuse the situation with Dresden, Gregson asks him to meet at a bar. They have an argument over the necessities of their respective professions. Gregson says that he will never forget that Holmes was planning to murder someone on his watch, an act that Gregson simply cannot abide. However, Holmes is too good at what he does for Gregson to continue on with his suspension. And so Gregson reinstates Holmes, but not before getting one last thing out of his system - a punch to the gut. "Welcome back" indeed.

It's one of the more interesting conflicts for the show to develop, particularly because Gregson is one of the only other characters with whom Holmes regularly interacts - well, him and Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill). But it's also intriguing in the contrast it presents, an inversion of the standard dynamic: the friendship with Gregson often contrasted with how badly things were going with Watson (Lucy Liu). Sure, Holmes and Gregson were occasionally antagonistic with one another, but never to the level of the early interactions with Holmes and Watson. Yet, as the trust and friendship erodes between Holmes and Gregson, it would appear that Holmes and Watson have never been more comfortable with one another. In a conversation with her psychiatrist, Watson tries to rationalize her indefinite stay with Holmes (as we learned in "M.", Watson's time as Sherlock's sober companion has come to an end, and Mr. Holmes doesn't wish to keep her on, a fact she's concealed from Sherlock by lying that his father agreed to her staying). Her explanations fall on deaf ears, as the psychiatrist correctly tells her that this is a violation of her trust with Holmes, and that she's risking losing whatever faith or trust he's placed in her. Worse, she could be the key component to a potential relapse. Watson seems to understand this, but her desire to stay with Holmes (partially out of fondness for Holmes, and partially out of the fascination and thrill of the kind of work he does) has overruled her better judgment, it would seem. This should create some narrative friction, going forward, as Watson tries to keep her secret, all while Holmes juggles his twin miseries of having lost Gregson's respect and trust, and also his one-track pursuit of Moriarty.

"The Red Team" is a boilerplate episode of Elementary, and it works on nearly every level. The fleshing out of the ancillary members of the cast (from Gregson to Bell, who has more lines this week than just about any other) is encouraging, as are the serialized elements that reappear, such as Sherlock's "Moriarty" name card (now with several attached cards snaking out from that starting point). This, of course, is without even getting into how funny the show can occasionally be, from Holmes thinking he can still hail a cab with a whistle, to his macabre, self-effacing introductions (“My name is Sherlock Holmes. I am a temporarily suspended consultant for the NYPD. This is Joan Watson. She keeps me from doing heroin.”) The show has earned its post-Super Bowl slot by presenting a character study wrapped in the warm, familiar cloak of a weekly mystery. It's a formula that undoubtedly works for the show - and, if the ratings are any indication, for the viewer, as well.