Big news in the world of Elementary this week. Following the surprisingly good opening few episodes and the encouraging critical reaction CBS, the show’s American network, has ordered a full series. Judging from another enjoyable and entertaining episode, this decision is entirely justified.
This week’s case revolves around Wall Street and the suspicious deaths of a set of corporate high flyers. The episode is never less than intriguing and contains a few surprises along the way. There is a slight dip in quality just because there is less at stake compared to the previous episode’s child abductions, but it is still an enjoyable piece of television.
Performance wise, Jonny Lee Miller continues to prove a highly watchable lead and makes for an entertaining Sherlock. This episode also forces him to confront a few of his personal demons and it finishes with a very well acted scene between Holmes and Aidan Quinn’s Captain Gregson in which we see the first small cracks begin to appear in Holmes’ guarded veneer. Lucy Liu’s Watson is also beginning to open up and feel more like a character with which we can empathize.
One of the most pleasing aspects of the episode is the developing relationship between Holmes and Watson. It is reassuring that, based on the evidence so far, the writers are proving able to explore and expand this relationship whilst keeping it strictly platonic. One of the chief concerns from the outset was whether the Holmes/Watson dynamic would descend into a cliched “will they/won’t they?” romantic situation. Thankfully, the writer’s are proving to be above this on the evidence of the series up to this point and especially in this episode. The two are able to confide in a way that demonstrates the blossoming of their partnership while an increasing mutual trust and respect is starting to develop. Certainly it if a relief that the show seems to be mature enough to be able to handle a male/female relationship like this without having to resort to any predictable shenanigans.
Now that a full season has been commissioned, it will interesting how the writers allow the show to evolve and what answers they have in store for some of the show’s key questions particularly regarding when we might meet Holmes’ mysterious father and the oft mentioned incident in London that drove Sherlock to New York in the first place. Here is one viewer who is intrigued to find out what lies in store.
Review by Jonathan Gray
0 comments:
Post a Comment