Elementary: A Difference in Kind (4x24)

This episode didn't really feel like a finale. It was a little underwhelming when you think about some of the stuff that's happened in other finales of Elementary. But I didn't dislike it, either.

Cons:

The culminating plot of this season focused on Moriarty's network, but no Moriarty. I get that the realities of Natalie Dormer's schedule don't allow for her to appear right now. That's unavoidable. But the buildup surrounding the idea of Moriarty was so intense that the lack of a follow-through was guaranteed to be a letdown, no matter how brilliant a plot they threw at us. And the plot itself was... meh. Basically, it comes down to this: Moriarty's network is still without a definitive leader, and the attempt on Morland's life the year before was actually an attempt to take him out of the running, because some people thought he'd make a good leader. In the end, Vikner is taken out by his competitors, and Morland takes on the network of Moriarty's organization, planning to dismantle it from within.

Essentially, the biggest complaint I have here is that there's no follow-through. Moriarty doesn't make an appearance. This season had a lot of buildup centered around Sherlock's recovery process, and we haven't talked about that for a while. There was no follow-through on Joan's morally grey behavior either. That might have been fun to explore. And within the episode itself, there was no real follow-through on the tension centered on Sherlock and Joan's safety. The bomb in the Brownstone that formed the cliffhanger last week was dismantled in the first thirty seconds by Sherlock, no sweat.

We resolved Morland's presence in the season, and I liked the resolution perfectly well. But at the same time, there seems to be so much more that we could have done with Morland before he left. I didn't want some big hug and reconciliation between Morland and Sherlock - that would have felt disingenuous. But maybe Morland's presence in the season could have changed Sherlock in a more profound way. Other than the incredible character and acting work done by Miller and Noble, I feel like Morland's presence this season was ultimately fruitless.

Pros:

That being said, the main plot was not without merit. There was good suspense towards the very end of the episode, when Sherlock and Joan believe that Morland has given himself up to Vikner to protect them. As they rush towards a building where they got a track on Vikner's phone, they hear that there's a body inside. As they rush forward, my heart was in my throat. I genuinely wondered if it was going to be Morland's body. The reveal that it was Vikner wasn't a big surprise, but it was still a relief, in many ways. Morland makes the decision to take over Moriarty's network in order to protect Sherlock. He repeatedly insists that his quest for revenge for his lover's death only goes far. There is a price he is not willing to pay for his vengeance: "I will not lose my son."

Despite my complaint that Morland's presence didn't change Sherlock in a big way... I do actually like the fact that Morland's love for Sherlock and his sacrifice isn't enough to right all wrongs. Sure, Sherlock will rush forward with his heart in his throat to discover whether or not his father has died. Sure, he'd probably grieve him in his own way were that to happen. But much like with Mycroft, a sacrifice isn't enough to undo all old wrongs. Morland's willingness to sacrifice himself for Sherlock was sweet to a point - but things in this father/son relationship are never going to be smooth sailing. I think my favorite moment between them was before Morland decides to take over Moriarty's organization. He's been offered the position, but Sherlock insists that he wouldn't be good at it: "you would have been a spectacular failure, by the way. You don't have the stomach to be an evil mastermind." That was about as close as Sherlock can come to admitting that he knows his father is not a completely evil man.

Switching tracks a little bit: I also want to talk about the humor in this episode. The quippy-ness was here in full force. I think the most understated moment of humor for me was also a rather dark example. Sherlock finds his father with some of his men in a warehouse with a dead body at his feet. Sherlock takes in the scene, and then Morland says, quite blandly, "I didn't do it." There's no doubt in Sherlock's mind, or in the mind of the audience, that he's telling the truth. We're past suspecting him of murder by now. I also liked how Sherlock suggested that his father go into hiding. Maybe he could join Mycroft on whatever island he's hiding out on. Sherlock always figured that his father had a "secret lair under a volcano" somewhere. Despite Sherlock's earlier assertion, he does seem to cast his father in the role of super-villain quite often.

Now let's switch to my favorite element of this episode, and indeed of the show as a whole: Joan and Sherlock's relationship. There were so many little hints that they see themselves as a unit. Sherlock begins the episode with a joke about Joan making him watch bad movies with her, which I love for its simple domesticity. When Sherlock and Joan go across the street and break in to find the guy who was watching them, Joan knows the alarm code because she fed the fish last year when their neighbors were on vacation. Sherlock remarks that this isn't the sort of knowledge he retains, emphasizing that they complement each other's weak spots. I think my favorite little hint was that Sherlock kept calling the Brownstone "our home," emphasizing that somebody was watching them in their safe place. He said it a couple of times: "our home," which served as a contrast to Sherlock calling the Brownstone Morland's "least valuable real estate holding." It's just a building to Morland; it's a home to Sherlock and Joan.

Just before Morland leaves, he offers Sherlock his safe house. Sherlock turns around and offers it to Joan, thinking that it might be a good idea for them to maintain some distance. Morland had told Sherlock that "being loved by you is a dangerous thing," and Sherlock starts to wonder if his very presence is a danger to Joan. As he puts it to Joan, his father believes that he's "cancer to my friends and colleagues." This could have made for an angst-ridden final moment of the season, but instead we get another affirmation of Sherlock and Joan's bond. Joan instantly rejects this notion, and the two move forward in a more secure place than ever before. Sherlock is not Morland, and Joan can take care of herself.

Of course it's super sweet that Morland refers to Joan as the "person [Sherlock] loves most," which is just the way Mycroft had talked about her too. We're still seeing no hints of romance between them, which I am 100% in favor of. We've survived four whole seasons. Let's keep that going. We end on a light note of humor, as Joan and Sherlock are apparently going to go out to dinner with Joan's sister, and Joan wonders if they should invite Bell. "He's single, she's single..." Sherlock rolls his eyes and notes that his father was wrong to believe that he was the one who posed the greatest threat to their circle of friends. I'm just in love with the idea of Sherlock and Joan having a "circle of friends." I'm in love with the idea of Sherlock accompanying Joan to a dinner with her newly discovered sister. These two are just the sweetest.

So. All of this delicious friendship stuff with Sherlock and Joan might have felt slightly anticlimactic, given that Season Three ended on such an intense note. But now that I've sat down and wrote out this review, I think on balance I'm happy that we had a rather gentle ending to the season. It amps up the tension for whatever they're going to throw at us next season. With Joan and Sherlock in a better place than ever before in terms of their relationship, what wrench can they throw into the mix to stir up some drama? I'm excited to find out. Despite its flaws, this show has the most intricate and fascinating Watson/Holmes relationship that I've ever seen.

7.5/10