Elementary: An Unnatural Arrangement (2x06)

Somehow, the writers of Elementary found my blog and decided to answer my prayers. The last few reviews, I've been complaining about how Gregson and Bell haven't had enough to do this season. And now? We get an episode with a focus on Gregson! Woo! I'll just go through the plot really quick.

Gregson's wife comes home to find a man in a mask with a gun, asking for her husband. She manages to run upstairs and shoot at him through the door, but the mysterious man gets away with only a minor wound. Their first lead is a man who has been stalking Gregson, but when another person is attacked and then killed, Sherlock figures out the truth. Gregson wasn't the target - his next door neighbor was. This leads to finding a connection between the neighbor and the dead man that involves their time in the army on a guard detail for an important archaeological dig. In the end, it turns out that a supervisor for the dig and her ex-husband are the culprits behind it all. They were trying to cover up the fact that they had stolen artifacts from the site.

So, in all the actual crime-driven part of the plot was pretty average. Nothing mind boggling, but still interesting enough. I was fooled by some of the twists and turns. The only thing that really didn't fit was the bit about Gregson's stalker. That seemed like it could have been an episode all to itself... who the heck was that weirdo?

Anyways... that's not what this episode is really about. The real message is hammered in throughout the whole thing: it's about relationships. Partnerships. Specifically, Gregson and his wife are paralleled with Joan and Sherlock. And, no. Not in a romantic way. This show has never gone the romance route with Holmes and Watson, and I doubt it ever will. Instead, we see this interesting parallel in that Sherlock has a lot to learn about coexisting with another person, and Gregson has obviously struggled with that in the past as well.

Gregson's interactions with everyone in this episode were fantastic. I love the caring yet slightly awkward relationship between Bell and Gregson. Gregson and his wife have some lovely moments, too. Even though she's not a big character, the acting was done so well that their love story felt real and immediate. I found myself very invested in their marriage and on how they were going to try and make it work. I also love the exchanges between Sherlock and Gregson, especially when Sherlock tells him that he can make Watson available to him if he's in need of emotional support. Sherlock's speech to Gregson about the value of partnership was really touching. Sherlock holds to his original position on love and marriage, which is that it's all an elaborate ruse. However, he now sees the value of having a partner. Of all the adaptions of Sherlock Holmes that I've ever seen, I don't think I've seen the Holmes and Watson relationship explored with such finesse and care.

In a minor subplot, Watson is angry with Holmes because he solved a small robbery case she was working on. Sherlock doesn't understand what the big deal is - isn't it the results that matter, rather than who got to them? Watson tells Holmes that she wants to be useful, and she wants to get better at detection. So, Sherlock makes her a generous offer. He gives her all of his unsolved cold cases to work on. He makes a very logical point: he can't slow down to Watson's pace during current cases. It would be irresponsible for him to do so. So, he gives Watson a different way to practice. I loved these scenes between them throughout the episode. Sherlock has grown and changed so much since this show began. He knows he's better than Watson at deduction. But he is perfectly willing to concede that he's not an expert in everything, and that she's a very good detective as well.

So, in short, this was an excellent way of examining some very interesting relationships on the show. While not the strongest in terms of case-of-the-week, I was very excited to see Gregson's character expand, and I hope that he continues to be more involved as we move forward.

7.5/10