Elementary: Miss Taken (4x07)

This was an excellent episode. Full of mystery, character development, humor, and angst. Let's just jump right in.

Cons:

Honestly I don't have any serious flaws to name. The only thing I might say is that the subplot focused on Joan discovering that her step father had written a book about her and Sherlock, and I wish we could have spent a bit more time developing this. Oftentimes Elementary does such a good job with both the main story and the subplot that I wish we could have separate episodes for each story. There have been some missed opportunities.

Pros:

Let's start with the subplot, though, because it really was quite good. Joan is furious upon learning from Gregson that a book has been published about a Chinese-American woman and a British man teaming up together as detectives in New York. She quickly discovers that her stepfather, using a pseudonym, has published the book. She angrily demands that he talk to his publisher and recant the book. When she talks to Sherlock about it, she's shocked to discover that he already knew about the book, and that it doesn't bother him - he's inspired other fictional accounts in the past, after all. Joan admits that one of the reasons she was so angry is because her stepfather had an affair, and she's never quite forgiven him. Later, her stepfather admits that part of the reason he wrote the book was because he missed Joan. Joan shows up and agrees to let him publish the sequel, and even decides to help him out with it.

I love it when Joan gets plot threads of her very own. It's so nice to see an exploration of a relationship with somebody other than Sherlock. And I liked her stepfather, and seeing the complexities there. The end was really sweet, when we see Joan accept that she's been distant with her stepfather, and that if her mother can forgive him for the affair, maybe it's time for her to do the same.

Apparently the book is quite the fictional account - the stand-in characters for Joan and Sherlock are sleeping together, a fact which the real Joan and Sherlock both brush off without embarrassment, claiming it to be absurd. I loved that. I will seriously never forgive this show if the two of them ever enter into a romance, and right now it looks like my chances of staying happy are pretty good. I also loved the meta aspect of this. They didn't emphasize it overmuch, but Elementary is a fanfiction of Doyle's original characters, and now a character in the show is essentially writing fanfiction about their lives. It gets very twisty, which is fun. Coming off of the Sherlock Christmas special, I actually thought Elementary's take on this was a lot more clever.

Then there's the main plot. A former FBI agent turns up dead, and the NYPD quickly connects him to a case of an abducted child, who went missing ten years ago and was recently found. Sherlock believes that the child's kidnapper, who has still not been found, might be the murderer, covering up secrets the FBI agent might have been close to uncovering. However, upon seeing the girl, he realizes a more shocking truth: she's an impostor. The abducted child has not been found after all. From here, a series of twists occurs. For a while, you think that the parents of the girl killed her, but Sherlock discovers that the impostor is lying about this as well. Eventually, they find the actual missing daughter, thus proving that the impostor was lying. The murder is actually left fairly unsolved - there's never any definitive proof that the impostor killed the FBI agent. She's sure she can talk her way out, and Sherlock isn't sure that she can't... this girl is one of the most brilliant liars he's ever come across.

The cleverness of this case kept me constantly on my toes. I was never sure what was coming next. Every twist was excellently executed, and I felt genuine joy when the abducted girl was reunited with her parents at last. The villain was a very proper adversary for Sherlock, too. I almost wish she could come back for future episodes. Great acting, and great scenes between her and Sherlock.

The last thing is sort of a weird thing to mention, but I want to praise this episode for not making me think about the A-plot. In fact, I didn't even notice that the A-plot was absent until I sat down to write this review and realized that Morland Holmes wasn't so much as mentioned. I appreciated the way this episode contained itself as a solid one-off story, without trying to reach beyond itself for anything more. As we approach the second third of the season, things are sure to ramp up. It's nice to see a well-crafted C-plot episode that's able to maintain my interest all the way through.

9.5/10