Elementary - Season 1 Episode 18 - Recap and Review - Déjà Vu All Over Again

Recap and review of Elementary - Season 1 Episode 18 - Déjà Vu All Over Again:

Elementary tells a fairly poignant story with "Déjà Vu All Over Again", though it isn't necessarily an obviously poignant episode on the surface. The episode essentially charts Watson's development by making a more concrete example of how she's augmented her life to accommodate Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller), and how he's brought about a change in her that goes beyond a change in career. Watson (Lucy Liu) is approached by her old friends, who stage an intervention for her, as they've grown worried about her sudden change in outlook and career, and they kind of have a point. It's one thing to give up a career in the medical profession in order to be a sober companion, but it's another matter entirely to then move in with one of your clients and switch careers to detective, in order to study at the feet of a recovering addict who's hardly been clean six months. But it's also easy to see why Joan might take offense, since her friend is essentially portraying her time with Sherlock as being part of a downward spiral. Regardless, Joan is forced to engage in a bout of introspection, questioning her abilities as a detective/deductionist. This journey gives us the framework of the episode, and it proves to be an outstanding narrative choice since, outside of the ludicrous coincidence of the conclusion to the case, "Déjà Vu All Over Again" is one of the show's best episodes.

The episode starts on the day Watson become Sherlock's sober companion, as a woman is handed a bouquet of roses by a mysterious stranger before being pushed in front of a subway train. Meanwhile, Joan is out having dinner with her friends when she gets a call from a rehab clinic, and takes on her newest assignment -- but not before wondering what the hell kind of name is "Sherlock." Flashforward to the present, as Watson is now working with Sherlock's sponsor Alfredo (Ato Essandoh) to learn how to break into cars. It's part of her process in becoming more like Sherlock, by acquiring all the same skills that he has. This eventually comes in handy when Holmes and Watson get a case via an attorney friend of Holmes' father: the sister of the attorney's assistant went missing six months ago. The woman, named Callie (Roxanna Hope), made a "Dear John" video to her husband, Drew (Josh Hamilton), essentially telling him that she's no longer in love with him, and referencing the tragedy of the woman who was pushed in front of the subway train as her reasoning for not wasting any more time in a loveless marriage. Holmes decides to investigate the death of the woman pushed in front of the subway train, while assigning the disappearance of Callie to Watson, believing that it will be a good first case for her.

It's an interesting narrative choice to have Watson taking on her own case, as it not only tests the waters with the audience to see just how compelling they find Watson on her own, it also makes Holmes a secondary figure for the first time in the series, as he's not really the lead this week. The choice ultimately ends up working for two reasons: 1) Lucy Liu is doing excellent work as Watson, and 2) her case is far more interesting than Sherlock's, perhaps because the lack of a body means it isn't necessarily a murder investigation, and it's exceedingly rare for this show to tackle a case that involves a crime other than murder. Of course, Watson approaches the investigation as though it's a murder, interrogating the husband, Drew, who noted that this was the second time she left him, with her having only been gone for a few days the first time. However, this time, she seemed depressed about the subway victim and left, taking a rather large trunk with her. Watson confesses to Sherlock that the rehearsed nature of the husband's story has raised her suspicion, and though Holmes questions her deductive processes in coming to that conclusion, he never indicates that she's wrong -- he simply challenges her to consider every possibility. It's actually a pretty refreshing characterization for a mentor-student relationship, even though it's very much an unconventional version of that dynamic.

Meanwhile, Holmes is on the hunt for the subway killer, and speaks to a custodian from the victim's old office building. Holmes learns that the man had been previously arrested on a stalking charge, and he eventually admits to stalking the woman pushed in front of the train. However, he denies killing her, and he has the evidence to back it up -- a recording of the murder. The video does little more than absolve the custodian of blame for the woman's murder, though the street-performing violinist in the video leads Holmes on a path that leads to his case intersecting more substantially with Watson's, though not before Watson nearly blows her entire case by breaking into Drew's car to open a large trunk in the back of the vehicle -- a trunk which, Watson is convinced, contains Callie's body. This desperation was spurred by the doubt placed in Joan's head by her friends, who insist that she isn't a real detective, that she's simply running away from whatever problems she has in her life by burying them in a new line of work. In her attempts to prove them wrong, she winds up in jail for breaking-and-entering, and Holmes pays her bail. Holmes declares that they'll begin working their separate cases side-by-side.

This approach proves more successful, not just because Holmes and Watson work exceedingly well together, but because, as it turns out, their cases aren't separate at all. Watson discovers that Callie's video was made from the first time she left Drew, 18 months ago -- around the same time a woman with flowers for a sick friend was tragically killed by being pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. With this realization, the pieces all fall into place: Drew murdered Callie for leaving him the second time, then used the video from the first time to make it seem as though she left of her own accord. He then murdered the woman in the subway so that the police would assume Callie was referencing the recent subway victim, thus marking the video itself as recent. It's among the more needlessly complicated solutions to a crime that I can remember, and it's completely absurd that these two cases just happened to be connected, but it surprisingly worked, for the most part. And I'm not sure whether it was the relatively self-aware presentation of the case, or if it was just the confident performances of the actors involved, but the case felt pretty satisfying when it was all said and done, silly conclusion aside. And it also marks a significant shift in the development of Watson as a character, as she somewhat makes amends with her friend who'd doubted her, while changing her job title on her social networking profile to "consulting detective." If she wasn't in it for the long haul before, she certainly is now. This can only be a good thing, since it removes the question of their partnership from the equation, and simply allows Holmes and Watson to be partners.

"Déjà Vu All Over Again" is among the best of the season, fleshing out Watson's character, and developing her as both a foil and companion for Holmes. An episode like this goes a long way in illustrating the show's strengths, and its promise.