Elementary: Once You've Ruled Out God (6x02)

Yeah, I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Cons:

Sometimes when I watch a good episode of a TV show, but it's not like a perfect or groundbreaking episode, I try to make sure there are "cons" to talk about so that I can explain why I'm not just giving it a 10/10. This episode didn't have any flaws, it's just that the good stuff wasn't SO good that I'd put it up there with the best this show has to offer. I suppose I can just lodge my continuous complaint, which is that Bell and Gregson don't have enough to do.

Pros:

With procedural shows, there are some limitations to how creative you can be, so I'm always really happy when an A-plot can surprise me. In this case, the murderer is discovered at the end of the first act, and the real mystery of the episode ends up being about stolen plutonium and the threat of a terrorist attack by white nationalists. I wasn't expecting that at all when the episode started. I was pretty gripped.

Elementary can be pretty anti-establishment, so I wasn't surprised to see them tackle a terrorism story through the lens of white terrorists. After all, in America, you're so much more likely to be killed by white terrorists than any other race. I always get cringe-y when a show does the whole "a bomb is going to blow up New York" plot thread. There are just too many potential pitfalls. But as is usually the case with this show, I didn't need to worry. There's a certain understated element to this. No melodrama, no scenes of our characters contemplating their demise and saying goodbye to each other, or cutting a wire in the final seconds before calamity. Sometimes that stuff can be fun, but in this case we've got an actually realistic view of a group of professionals doing their damn jobs.

Sherlock seems to be doing okay for the most part - his symptoms give him a headache and there are a few minor annoyances, but he's able to keep working. There's not much to talk about here - I like that Sherlock isn't in denial about what's happening to him, but he's also trying to power through and keep up with the work. It's nice to see that Joan is continuing to help him, and that Sherlock is willing to do children's puzzles because Joan took the time to research good exercises for him to try.

The subplot involves the death of Joan's estranged schizophrenic father. She and her sister Lin are startled to discover that among his belongings there's a letter written to Joan, but not to Lin. Since Lin was the one who grew up with her father and really knew him, this is understandably difficult for her. Sherlock helps Joan decide to read the letter, and Joan discovers that the letter was written to Joan about Lin, because he wanted to make sure they found each other and became sisters.

Just. Please make this show about Joan Watson forever. I love plots that focus on her. And I especially love that while Sherlock is concerned for Joan, and helps her out, ultimately Joan is the one who makes her own decisions about what to do. Nowhere is this more clear than when Sherlock asks Joan if she finally opened the letter, and Joan chooses not to share its contents with him. It doesn't mean that she'll never tell him what the letter said, but in that moment it was about her, and Lin, and their father. And Sherlock's support of Joan during a rough time is also great. Sherlock isn't the hugging type, obviously. His form of comfort is to present the facts in a logical order, tell Joan that she's a great detective, and tell her what she already knows, but needs to hear out loud. They are both such good friends to each other.

9/10