Elementary: Turn It Upside Down (4x22)

Eeeek! This was awesome. Totally awesome. I mean in some ways I should have seen it coming, but in other ways it was so well done that I didn't realize what it was all leading up to until it happened. Let's dive in.

Cons:

I really have very little to complain about. The one thing I'll say is that in this episode, Sherlock finds out what Joan has been up to with Emil Kurtz, and he is not happy about it, understandably. He yells at Joan, but later the fight is brushed under the rug with just a little too much haste. I wish we could have gotten a better resolution to their conflict. It's so rare to see these two at odds, and it might have been fun to explore the tensions just a touch more. Honestly, though, this is a tiny nitpick.

Pros:

Where to even start? How about with the basic plot. Joan tells Sherlock that she believes Emil Kurtz was assassinated, and thus the two of them turn their suspicions on Morland. Sherlock fills Gregson in on what's going on. When Gregson talks to Morland, Morland deduces that the NYPD believes he is a suspect in ordering the hit on Kurtz. He thus helps in the investigation in order to clear his own name. Turns out, there's a psychological test that determines people's moralities. Somebody who was on the team to help develop the test was using the results to find people who might be willing to do heinous things - murder, primarily - for the right incentive. These people were then being sent as assassins to clean up various messes.

The interesting thing about this case, first of all, is that most of the guilty parties are found fairly quickly. They find the actual assassin who killed Kurtz. They find out that he's actually killed other people as well, and eventually the trail leads them to the research assistant of the woman who developed the psychological test. Turns out, she was duped into thinking she was working for the CIA by providing the names and IP addresses of people who took the surveys. Who was really collecting these names? That's the answer that Sherlock arrives at towards the very end: Moriarty.

Too much awesomeness to even handle, here. The reason I didn't see the Moriarty twist coming is that Morland Holmes is such a fantastic red herring. I knew it wouldn't be as cut and dry as Morland ordering the hit, but I expected Sherlock to uncover something that would implicate his father in the whole scheme. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when it did, it came out of left field for me. I mean I'm not surprised that Moriarty is making a reappearance here. They've only been talking about her all season. But the quality of this episode on its own swept me up to an extent that I didn't even think about the bigger picture. I was totally in the moment.

Joan and Sherlock's relationship got some great moments. I mentioned that they fought at the beginning, and I would have liked to see more of that, but I'm still thrilled with what we got. Sherlock's anger at Joan was twofold. First of all, Joan hid something from him, going behind his back to spy on his father. Second of all, that's really dangerous. You could tell that a lot of his anger was motivated by fear. What might have happened if Joan was discovered talking to Emil Kurtz? She might have been killed as well!

Sherlock's biased opinions about his father shine through the entire case. When evidence comes to light, with Morland's help, that he was not guilty of Kurtz's death, Sherlock feels guilty. Not for thinking his father might be capable of such a crime, but for letting that belief cloud his judgment about the facts of the case. As horrible as his father is, he's not guilty of these deaths. Sherlock remains fairly level-headed, and he doesn't allow himself to get too caught up in foregone conclusions. Nevertheless, he does ask all of the suspects and connected persons if they've heard of Morland Holmes, clearly expecting a connection to crop up. I liked this mix of detached professionalism and biased determination. Also, I loved the scene when he talks to Morland about him coming over and freaking Joan out from last week's episode. There was this sense of... well, not protectiveness for Joan, exactly, but more like indignation that Morland would dare to encroach upon the safety and comfort of Joan Watson. I loved that.

There was one great scene that I have to mention. Sherlock tells Joan about his mother's own problems with drug addiction, and talks about how Morland had hid her ring in the Brownstone. Sherlock found it, and didn't want to give it over to Morland. He figured Morland was planning on using the precious gem to bribe somebody, and didn't want to disrespect his mother's memory in such a way. In some ways, this scene is just reinforcing what we already know - Sherlock is willing to open up and be vulnerable with Joan, as he tells her about the hardest things from his past. It's not new, but it's nice to see. What is new is the imagery and direction of this scene, and how it reinforces the marriage of sorts between Sherlock and Joan. Sherlock is on his knees, in a position lower than Joan on the screen. He offers her a ring. It's not really an offer, and it's not a romantic gesture. But it's nevertheless clearly supposed to cement their intimacy and their connection.

One of the very strongest elements of this show is Sherlock and Joan's relationship - and I'm not talking about the big dramatic emotionally revelatory moments like this one. It's in the comfort and domesticity they always have. The way Joan talks about telling Sherlock the truth "when they got back home." The casual, almost sibling-like way that Sherlock invades Joan's space and knows she'll be there when things get rough. This sense of their true partnership really came through in this brief moment, and I loved it.

Gregson vs. Morland! One of the highlights of this episode was the exchange between these two men. Gregson understand that Morland has influence and power that makes the NYPD look like a joke. Even so, he manages to be uber paternal about Sherlock and Joan, basically threatening to take matters into his own hands if anything happens to them. It was so awesome, because you've got Sherlock's actual father standing there getting a talking-to by the actually good father figure in Sherlock's life. What a powerful moment. Gregson is hardcore.

Moriarty! Argh. Like I said, I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. Even so, this gets me so, so pumped for the next two weeks. This finale is going to be intense. The strong trust and respect between Sherlock and Joan is bound to be tested by this newest conflict, and I can't wait to dive into all of that! Also, as a final note, kudos to Lucy Liu for directing such a heavy hitter of an episode. She did a phenomenal job.

9/10