Elementary - Recap: Angry Birds
Recap and review of Elementary - Season 2 Episode 16 - The One Percent Solution:
This season, Elementary has taken the idea of Sherlock Holmes and made him into less of a mythic figure in his own world. Yes, he's still a bit of a legend within detective circles, with Gregson (Aidan Quinn) telling a colleague earlier in the season that Holmes closes cases faster than anyone he's ever seen. But this has been a season of humanizing effort, of making a mortal man out of the nigh-infallible Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller). And this is a smart approach for a procedural to take, since there's nothing to be gained from following a mystery in which the omnipotence of the protagonist prevents the villains from every being any real challenge. But then there are episodes like "The One Percent Solution," in which the idea of Holmes is inflated to mythic significance once more, as we are reintroduced to Gareth Lestrade (Sean Pertwee), Sherlock's former partner at Scotland Yard, who has opened up a practice and made a career by largely imitating Sherlock. It's more of an amusing episode than a substantive one, but a solid mystery at the heart of it all makes up the difference to where "The One Percent Solution" ended up being a fine episode.
Credit: CBS
So a bomb has detonated at a hotel restaurant and killed the CEO of a major organization, in addition to wounding several others. Sherlock and Joan (Lucy Liu) are put on the case by Gregson, but not by their lonesome: they will be assisted by Gareth Lestrade, who has made it his business to take credit for Sherlock's work, and to adopt Sherlock's methods as his own. Holmes is deeply annoyed by this, to say the least, and not simply for the vanity it displays. At a deeper level, I think Sherlock is simply frustrated at how much of his process Lestrade gets wrong: he has a beautiful female assistant that he fashions to be like Joan, not recognizing that Joan isn't (and never has been) Sherlock's assistant, she's his partner/equal; he also uses some of Sherlock's phrases in discussing deduction, and comes up with a few bone-headed processes of his own, such as the concept of a "deep dive," a vague memory exercise that sounds like hypnosis, but is probably just completely useless. In fact, Sherlock is so disgusted by the "deep dive" that he excuses himself while Lestrade is with a victim/witness named Michelle Forester so that he won't have to stick around and be subjected to it.
Credit: CBS
This becomes important later, but in that moment, it's little more than a manifestation of Sherlock's thinly-veiled contempt for what Lestrade has become. It's true that he does have some keen moments of insight, such as when he insists that they pursue a lead implicating serial bomber Aurelius -- a theory that Sherlock circles back around to before discovering the serial bomber dead in his own garage from an accident with his latest creation. But beyond those brief moments of clarity, Lestrade is a swindler, a man who teaches deduction to eager students in seminars, all of whom are, as Sherlock puts it, so used to flatulence that they no longer notice the smell. Sherlock used to have respect for Lestrade, but it's a sentiment that is becoming increasingly hard to justify. However, Lestrade is concealing deeper demons, stemming from secrets he'd rather keep hidden.
Credit: CBS
When Sherlock and Joan discover him on a security camera at the hotel booking a room for his boss under an assumed name, the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place, and Lestrade is forced to confess: he's basically a pimp for his boss, seeking out clients with whom he can have affairs, and then helping to provide them with whatever it is they need to ensure their silence. Lestrade is deeply ashamed of his work, and it's why he took such measures to conceal it from Sherlock. Yet it's this work that ends up becoming key to solving the case, as Sherlock finds out that the very first witness they interviewed, Michelle Forester, was once one of the clients of Lestrade's boss. This creates a domino effect in which Forester is arrested for the crime, but her arrest will mean that all of the sordid affairs of Lestrade's boss will have to come to light. And Lestrade is all too happy to wash his hands of the entire business, telling his boss that he refuses to allow a killer to go free just so one rich man can protect his secrets. And suddenly, we can see how Sherlock would see this as a man worthy of respecting.
Credit: CBS
Lestrade shares Sherlock's indefatigable commitment to justice, while Sherlock actually shares Lestrade's social paranoia, in some ways. Sherlock might insist he doesn't care what others think about him, but he's a man who is very much aware of what is said about him, and how he is perceived. True, he doesn't let it affect his work, but he does seem to take a vested interest in using his work not only to achieve justice or to challenge his own mind, but to prove the world wrong. Look at how he rehabilitates two roosters he rescues from a cockfighting ring. Romulus and Remus represent Sherlock and Lestrade. Their ability to be rehabbed from their formerly combative relationship signifies that Sherlock and Lestrade are capable of the same, and it's a beautiful, simple, almost elegant parallel that the show doesn't overplay.
Credit: CBS
"The One Percent Solution" is a solid episode featuring some great work, particularly from Sean Pertwee as Lestrade, who instills in the character a certain pathos. It's a great role, and I really do hope he comes back. Not as the fool, but as a man of seriousness and justice. But either way, Elementary continues to deepen its world with these complex relationships that can be used to serve the show in the future, even as they do terrific things for the show in the present.