Elementary: All In (4x19)

Since there are two reviews for Elementary this week, I'm going to try and rapid-fire these. We'll see how it goes. I'm bad at being brief.

Cons:

The main case involved an illegal high-stakes poker game, with a hidden spy, and the NSA gets involved, and Agent McNally is there, and a robbery that ended up just being a distraction. Since the other things going on in this episode were so much more interesting, I got sort of lost in the case. It wasn't that it was bad... I just didn't care that much.

Pros:

There were some great things about the case, though. I love Sherlock's not-at-all veiled distaste for the NSA, and the way he thwarts their attempts to spy on him within his own home. I also loved the fact that Bell solved a key part of the mystery by uncovering the spy equipment in a light in the apartment where the poker game was taking place. It was also interesting how all the players at this high-stakes poker game seemed to be involved somehow, but each had their own criminal motivations unconnected with the actual robbery.

The real meat of the episode was in the client who brought this poker game robbery to Sherlock and Joan's attention. Her name is Lin, and she runs to Sherlock after getting shot from within her own apartment. She claims that she knew Mycroft before he died, and that she used to be with him. As the episode progresses, Joan investigates and learns that Lin is lying about knowing Mycroft. Further digging reveals the truth: Lin is Joan's half sister.

I wanted to be annoyed about this rather soap-opera-ish reveal, but I'm not. At all. In fact, I think it's rather amazing. First of all, I've been complaining about the lack of Joan-centric personal stories for a while, and now we get a two-episode week that focuses on her and a new family member. They did this really clever thing where Lin was acting like a petulant little sister throughout the whole episode, before we even knew the big secret. She was annoying Joan with pestering questions, borrowing her clothes without asking, etc. Also, Lin is a bit of a criminal, using her real estate license to provide empty places for these elite poker games. It's an interesting idea to give Joan a criminal for a sister, even if Lin has stopped her illegal practice and is now helping the police. It feeds in to this idea of Joan entering a morally grey area that we've been playing with all season. Then there's the fact that Joan and Lin actually share the same father, not mother, as I expected when the episode first started. Joan's father had never been a part of her life, but he was a part of Lin's life. This is explored much more fully in the second episode of the week, so I'll talk about it there.

In all, this was a decent episode with a fun case of the week and a really cool new guest character. Hopefully Lin will actually continue to play a role beyond her appearances in this week's double header. I'd love to learn more about her!

8/10