Elementary - Recap: Joan, But Not Forgotten

"The Man With the Twisted Lip" is one half of a larger story, and as with any multi-part installment, some plotlines just drop off, not necessarily because they've been forgotten, but because there's still story left to tell. Such is the case with this episode, which starts out taking a macro view of Sherlock's refusal to let people in, and instead becomes a story with a micro view focusing on Sherlock's specific relationships with Mycroft (Rhys Ifans) and Joan (Lucy Liu). Thus, what we have is a story with loads of dramatic potential -- except none of it will be realized until next week, at the earliest. The decision to split the story in half is the result of this week's cliffhanger, in which Joan is kidnapped by a shady criminal network that Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) has been tracking (a network that may or may not be connected to a man that is at Mycroft's restaurant every time Sherlock visits), and I'd be lying if I said this didn't feel like a rather routine "SEASON FINALE in all-caps" direction for the series to take. But so much of the drama in Joan's abduction is couched in the bad terms on which she and Sherlock parted, meaning there's an extra layer of emotional conflict on top of this all. Joan is someone whom Sherlock has taken for granted as a human being, independent of the tremendous help she's been as a colleague. And now, this abduction is forcing him to recognize just how highly he values her.

Credit: CBS

I'm in a bit of a strange spot in that I want to rave about this episode, but just enough about it didn't work that I can't. I can appreciate, at some level, the circuitous nature of the case this week. In a way, it reminded me of those old episodes of The Simpsons where the first five minutes would appear to set up one story before the narrative would veer left and go in a completely different direction for the rest of the episode. That was kind of the general feeling here, as Sherlock and Joan start off investigating the disappearance of Paige Dahl, the sister of Tess (Teal Wicks), one of the women from Sherlock's support group meetings. Yet what seems like a fairly simple case becomes something else entirely, ballooning to the point where the disappearance and murder of Paige Dahl ends up being a bit of an afterthought. Same with the emotional turmoil of Tess, who just vanishes from the narrative altogether. Maybe she'll return next week, but the case is so much bigger now from where we started that it would feel almost jarring for the story to loop back around to her grief.

Credit: CBS

Such as it is, the case goes from being the tale of a missing addict to the larger conspiracy involving the murder of Zach Piller, a man employed by private military contractor McCarthy-Strauss. Piller planned on exposing the murder of 10 CIA operatives in Afghanistan, but was silenced before he could publish his report. Upping the stakes in this whole debacle is the presence of a series of insect-sized drones capable not only of surveilling targets, but also poisoning them directly, such as what happens to Dr. Paul Sutherland (Jeremy Shamos), Piller's psychiatrist and a paid consultant for McCarthy-Strauss. People are getting paid to stay silent, and when that doesn't work, they're being killed. Maybe it's McCarthy-Strauss bigwig Kenneth Carlson (T. Ryder Smith), or maybe it's a conspiracy that goes far deeper. Either way, I don't think the case is anywhere near as interesting as the episode seems to think it is, presence of insect-shaped reconnaissance drones notwithstanding. By the end of the episode, Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Bell (Jon Michael Hill) take Carlson in on suspicion of involvement in the deaths of Piller, Dahl, and Sutherland, but nothing is for certain right now, and it's just as well, since nothing is exactly certain in any of our other stories this week.

Credit: CBS

Mycroft is back, and he's apparently here to court Joan. For her part, Joan isn't exactly opposed to dating Mycroft, but she states she'd need to find her own place and finally move out of the brownstone first. Naturally, Sherlock isn't thrilled about any of this, and repeatedly violates Joan's privacy by attempting to dissuade Mycroft from pursuing her any further. Knowing what we know about Mycroft, and the very real possibility that he could be working with British Intelligence or some other such organization, it makes sense that Sherlock would be suspicious of him. Yet his mistrust in Joan's better instincts reveals a lot about the character, as does his opening dialogue at one of his group meetings, in which he declares pursuing human relationships is gradually losing his appeal since he has no peers. In essence, because no one is on his level, no one could relate to him as a human being, which begs the question of what benefit there is to pursuing a human connection in the first place.

Credit: CBS

It's kind of sad that, after all this time and all the progress he's seemingly made since the show began, Sherlock still feels this way. But I suppose learning Irene Adler was really Moriarty is something that still affects him, to say nothing of his strained relationship with Mycroft and the deterioration of his relationship with Joan, who gradually comes around to Mycroft's opinion that Sherlock doesn't value her beyond what she can provide to him as a colleague. By the end of the episode, when Sherlock tries to apologize for violating her privacy, and reassert that he values her for more than just her work, she appreciates the sentiment but notes that it only ever seems to come once he's already gotten what he wanted (in this case, her help solving the McCarthy-Strauss killings). And she's not exactly wrong, as Sherlock seems to mull over this observation once Joan has left. Perhaps it'll be the impetus for his no longer taking Joan for granted. Even if not, Joan's abduction by the shadowy cabal Sherlock has been tracking will likely be all the impetus he needs.

Credit: CBS

Even in its weaker moments, Elementary still works as a window into a fundamentally broken man who is in a continual process of reassembling. Sherlock needs Joan, he just isn't sure how to fully express that need. Similarly, I feel Mycroft means more to him than he might be willing to admit. Sherlock is still working through the emotional issues plaguing him as the result of Irene Adler/Moriarty's betrayal last year, in addition to the recent death of Alistair. A personal case to solve could serve as the shock his system needs, but even episodes like "The Man With the Twisted Lip" are evidence that it should never have to get that far for Sherlock to realize what he has, and what he stands to lose.