Elementary - Season 1 Episode 8 - Recap and Review - The Long Fuse
Recap and review for Elementary - Season 1 Episode 8 - The Long Fuse
Credit: CBS
Elementary is developing into a confident procedural with a solid pairing at its center. Much of tonight's "The Long Fuse" centers on Watson (Lucy Liu) needling Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) to get a sponsor to aid in his rehabilitation. Though the plot itself didn't exactly set the world on fire, it was worth it for the character-building moments that issued from its development. Though the title mostly refers to the bomb at the center of the case of the week, it also serves as a reference to Watson's partnership with Holmes. As a sober companion, Watson is only scheduled to remain with Holmes for a period of six weeks - a period that is rapidly closing in on its end. From this standpoint, it not only makes sense that Watson would want to make sure someone is in line to take over for her once she's gone, it's also fittingly poignant, and tells us all we need to know about how far they've come as a pair in only eight episodes. Moreover, Holmes seems to implicitly reject the possibility of Watson leaving him by shooting down all her candidates for a sponsor, and only agreeing to a former carjacking ex-con under the assumption that Watson would dismiss him. This is far from the case, and Holmes eventually has to confront the reality that things change, and he just might be losing Watson like he lost Irene (though hopefully not as permanently). This exploration of character makes for one of the best episodes of Elementary yet, even though the episode itself is rife with smaller problems that keep it from truly achieving its full potential.
This week's case involves a bomb that's detonated several years after being planted, leading Holmes to investigate who planted the pipe bomb. The murder investigation leads Holmes to confront a public relations executive (Lisa Edelstein), who proves an interestingly flirty match for Sherlock. This leads him down the proverbial rabbit hole, as he follows leads from eco-terrorist implications in the bombing, to the discovery of a dead body hidden behind a wall in a building. Holmes is on fire this week, and the mystery builds at a satisfying clip, to where the episode never lacks energy, and never feels boring, as a result. However, all this due diligence is somewhat undermined by the casting of Edelstein, best known as Cuddy on House, who's the most recognizable face among the various personalities encountered over the course of the investigation. It's a casting spoiler in the plainest sense of the term, as it would have been hard for anyone with even a passing familiarity of Edelstein not to assume she was the killer. And that is exactly what turns out to be the case, as Edelstein was being blackmailed by someone with knowledge of her past as a prostitute. Edelstein turns in a fine performance in the role, but I wish they'd have written a better role for her, or maybe cast her in a role with the potential to return in the future, as I can't imagine that she'll be coming back to the show in the role she played here. The mystery itself was definitely one of the strongest of the series so far, however, even despite the "casting spoiler" that nerds like me pick up on. And it's not like it spoils the episode anyway, as there's the aforementioned character development to sink our teeth into.
Holmes chooses the ex-carjacker, named Alfredo (Ato Essandoh), as his sponsor, and though Alfredo has the appearance of a shiftless layabout, he's actually a very proactive, hard-working, honest man. Well, as honest as any ex-car thief can be. He has an earnest desire to see Holmes accept his help, but he astutely observes that Holmes has to want his help in the first place, it can't be forced upon him by Watson or by anyone else. Ato Essandoh, perhaps best known for his work in the 2006 film Blood Diamond, is pretty wonderful in the role of Alfredo, lending gravitas to the portrayal, depicting Alfredo as a man who, while he doesn't play around when it comes to wellness, doesn't take himself too seriously. I really enjoyed him and hope he sticks around for at least a couple of episodes, if not for the rest of the season. This series needs more regulars, since it's essentially a four-person cast with Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill), and the show could stand to do a little worldbuilding in the character department. As the episode rounds out to a close, Sherlock grudgingly assents to hanging out with Alfredo (helping him test car security systems as part of Alfredo's job) after initially rescinding his endorsement of the man as his future sponsor once he realized that Watson actually didn't have problem with the guy. Though Holmes insists to Watson that this hang-out doesn't mean he agrees to allow the man to sponsor him, the fact of the matter is that Holmes has to address the issue of the impending end of Watson's term as his sober companion. Though it's obvious that the show isn't going to jettison the Holmes/Watson dynamic they've taken such care to establish and nurture, Holmes still needs to work through his dependency and abandonment issues, owing to the death of Irene Adler and the icy indifference of his own father.
"The Long Fuse" is solid TV throughout, and it'll be interesting to see how the series figures out a way to keep Watson around once her term ends. I can't think of any other way than to have Holmes relapse, and that alone could present a truly inspired arc that recolors our perception of Holmes as we know him. We've seen him as a sober man fighting to stay that way by keeping himself busy. He relies upon the sharpness of his mental faculties, so it would be jarring, even fascinating, to see him unmanned in such a considerable fashion, robbed of his acuity by a weakness he just can't shake. Of course, just because they possibly could go that way doesn't mean they will, and I'm sure that whatever method they settle on to keep Watson around will be compelling in its own right. As long as the show maintains a consistent level of character-based stories for us to really dig into, it won't really matter if the procedural aspects skew a bit on the obvious side. Elementary is certainly a series with the skill to pull it off, in many respects, and "The Long Fuse" is among the episodes that makes that case for the show.