The other day I was talking to my friend who watches this show, and he asked me where the A-plot was in this season. I sat there and I thought about it, and then I realized that if anything is an A-plot, it's the philosophical divide between Sherlock and Joan, and how it subtly affects their partnership. It's not big or showy, but it's undeniably interesting, at least to this viewer. However, that doesn't mean this episode or this season have been flawless. Far from. Let's discuss!
Cons:
This episode was, for the most part, solid due to the chemistry and charisma of the actors playing our two leads. Nelsan Ellis as Shinwell is also doing a fantastic job. However, even the stellar acting is not quite enough to cover up a fairly predictable plot. The bad guy was beyond obvious, especially since the promo told us there was going to be a corrupt agent involved, and we already saw the guy pull a gun on Shinwell in an earlier episode. The fact that we're supposed to be shocked by this "twist" is beyond laughable, given how the episode plays out before that.
I also found the ending just a tad bewildering. Essentially, Sherlock decides to help Shinwell out by wiping the prints on a gun that would have sent him back to jail. That's interesting, and I might have even put it in the "pros" section were it not for the fact that I don't understand where Sherlock is coming from with all of this. For most of the episode, Sherlock behaves like a man who is above the entire situation. He's really only stepping in out of respect for Joan's personal investment. And yet he's willing to break laws to help Shinwell? Because of a one minute conversation with Bell about how easy it is to break bad when put back into jail? It felt a little rushed, and that's disappointing coming off of a very nuanced performance form Johnny Lee Miller through the bulk of the episode.
Oh, and one other little thing: I generally like Sherlock's weird and annoying ways of waking Joan up, because I think they speak to the comfort and familiarity these two have come to share as partners. In the early days of the show, these wake-up calls were invasive and pretty awful, but Joan then sets up her boundaries by putting her foot down about some things, and allowing others to continue. Nowadays, the wake-ups have come to represent the fact that Sherlock and Joan feel completely comfortable with each other. Which is why I was so disturbed with this particular wake-up, which involved Sherlock playing a recording of somebody screaming in terror so that Joan would wake up and believe that somebody was in physical danger. Like... what the hell, dude. You're crossing some lines, here!
Pros:
The reason I can still rate this episode decently high is that the plot doesn't really matter very often with this show. Honestly, who cares if it's predictable? The character work is just so phenomenal!
Let's start with Shinwell. I can't say I saw the twist coming, that he was an FBI informant, but I absolutely can say that Shinwell's behavior has been inconsistent and a tad off since we first met him. I was putting that down to a less than stellar script, but now I can see the actions of a man deeply torn about his life and his loyalties. A man who is willing to inform on his old gang, but who has to push away Joan, a good person who just wants to help, in order to get there. A man who responds to a corrupt FBI agent because corrupt leadership is all he's ever known. It's an interesting and moving dilemma, one I was happy to follow throughout the episode. When Shinwell thinks he's going back to prison, all because the guy he was informing for never actually registered him as an informant, I really felt for the guy. It was heartbreaking to think that he'd be sent back due to a technicality, after all the hard work he'd been putting in. The episode ends with Shinwell working on fixing a little old lady's leaky roof, a task he feels he must complete before he's locked up again. It might sound hokey, but it's not. It's one of those very human impulses, to do some good before the shit comes raining down. Shinwell doesn't think he's strong enough to beat back the darkness a second time, and that's a really compelling human tragedy.
I also really like how involved Shinwell is in his own story. He doesn't sit back and let Joan and Sherlock do all the investigating. He's incredibly involved. He's actually the one who realizes why the FBI agent killed the victim, and puts all of the pieces together. That's a nice refreshing twist on the ordinary Sherlock Holmes formula.
And then there's Sherlock and Joan's relationship. I'm really obsessed with the way this whole season has been examining the interplay between Joan's apparent need to help people, and Sherlock's obvious continuing need for Joan's partnership, and how these two things seem to be moving the characters in differing directions. It's subtle, and it probably doesn't test well to the general procedural-cop-show-watching audience, which might be why this show is floundering in the ratings. But my God, it's beautiful. You could tell that Sherlock finds the entire case of a dead gangster beneath his interest, even when it turns out a corrupt FBI agent is involved. He's here because Shinwell is involved; in other words, he's here because of Joan.
I think the best and most understated moment of the episode actually comes very close to the beginning, when Joan and Sherlock have just left the crime scene. Sherlock has called Joan to the scene and told her all about the person seen fleeing the scene who matches Shinwell's description. He doesn't start condemning Shinwell on the spot, however. He actually seems rather concerned, and asks Joan for her interpretation of the events, deferring to her judgment of Shinwell as a person. That is, until Joan reveals to Sherlock that the last time she saw Shinwell, he threatened her. Sherlock's expression immediately changes. He pauses, and then starts to turn around and walk back in the direction he came, ready to run off and tell the officer in charge of the investigation all about Shinwell. Joan tries to downplay Shinwell's threats, and Sherlock comes back with descriptions of Shinwell's height and weight to impress upon Joan that she might have been in very real danger. It's from this moment on that Sherlock can't seem to give Shinwell the benefit of the doubt.
I think there's something there, even though the episode doesn't dive into it. Sherlock may not totally understand Shinwell, and why Joan has taken an interest, but he's willing to be supportive of their relationship until the second he hears that Shinwell threatened Joan. That's... I mean, I was going to say adorable, but it's also a bit alarming. I want to see more explicit evidence of the lines that Sherlock Holmes will cross for Joan Watson, because I think there's some frightening stuff waiting for us on the other side of that.
Comedy shout-out of the week goes to Bell, who was barely in the episode. When Sherlock shows up at the end, hoping to distract himself from Shinwell's impending fate, he snidely asks Bell if he'd even noticed Sherlock hasn't been there the past two days. Bell sarcastically talks about how he was worried the whole department was going to shut down, so thank God Sherlock has returned. The line reads that Jon Michael Hill does on this show... he's so amazing.
That's all I've got. I guess what I have to say about this episode is the same thing I have to say about this show in general. It's so amazingly intricate and complicated and unlike anything else on TV when it comes to the character work between the leads. And then the plot is also just kind of there, doing its thing. Still, I hope this show pulls out another season or two... I'm not ready to say goodbye!
8/10
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