Elementary: Bits and Pieces (6x05)

Michael is so creepy, you guys. I'm so worried about what's going to happen!

Cons:

I was thrilled to get a bit of a focus on Gregson this week, but I get nervous because I don't know that I trust this show to follow through in developing its secondary characters. Basically, I liked what we got, but I'll like it less if we don't see it continue.

The same sort of thing is true when it comes to Joan. We get things like her sudden interest in parenthood, and then no hint or mention of it this week. That makes sense, given everything else that's going on, but I want Joan's characterization to get the same careful and meticulous development that Sherlock's is getting. Time will tell.

Pros:

The case this week involved tissue donation, a rare strand of the bird flu, and a mysterious severed head. In all, it was one of the twistier procedural plots, and there were aspects of it that certainly departed the realm of "typical." What I appreciated was that somehow the reasonable-ness still showed through, as the characters all reacted appropriately to the crazy things that were happening. The main example, of course, is that Sherlock has a memory lapse, and arrives home with a human head in a bag. He doesn't attempt to hide it from Joan, they call the proper authorities, and Sherlock admits his ongoing health concerns to Gregson. All in all, given the absurdity of the scenario, it's handled properly. Sherlock has a fair point when he's speaking to Gregson. Up to that point, he hadn't had any memory lapses that would cause him to think that such a damaging consequence would be possible. The second something bad happened, he dealt with it properly.

The case itself had a lot of twists and turns, as I mentioned, and I like that due to Sherlock's injury, Joan is taking on more and more of the cases. It's fun to see her succeed. We get to see her and Bell team up and interview some people. The ease and camaraderie between them is clear even if there's not a ton of screen-time devoted to it.

Gregson is pissed at Sherlock for lying to him. The reaction seems to be a mixture of hurt and anger and disappointment, and I was excited to see this particular emotional cocktail explored with so much attention. Sherlock is undeniably brilliant, but Gregson can't let him play by a different set of rules from everyone else. He's done so in the past, and it hasn't always worked out so well. This is one of those things that Elementary does differently from any other Sherlock Holmes adaption I've seen. Sherlock is a human being who exists within a system and needs to play by the rules. Gregson is his superior, and he doesn't take kindly to being deceived. There's a great moment where Sherlock starts to say that even with his current handicaps, he's a better detective than anyone else around... but Sherlock stops himself from speaking out loud. Gregson picks up on it and pounces, furious at Sherlock for his ego and his lies.

The episode ends with Sherlock coming to talk to Gregson again. Gregson grudgingly says that Sherlock can come back to work, because the doctor cleared him, but he makes it clear that he'll be keeping a close eye. It appears that the trust between these two men has been damaged. Gregson's reasoning for being angry seems to be grounded entirely in the professional sphere, but Joan does suggest that Sherlock should apologize for keeping a secret not as a colleague, but as a friend. As I mentioned above, I'm skeptical that we'll actually get a lot of Gregson material moving forward, but I hope I'm wrong.

Finally, there's creepy, creepy Michael. He knows where Sherlock lives now, so... that's sinister. He's checking up on Sherlock, more specifically checking up on the missing persons case. Sherlock is a bit preoccupied with other things, and so he tells Michael that there have been no new leads. We later see Michael talking at a meeting, where he says that he tried to give his friend a project to help him, but it didn't seem to work, so he'll have to try harder to get his attention. This is clearly a crazy person who has fixated on Sherlock and is willing to kill people to get him to pay attention. It makes a sad amount of sense that Sherlock would miss the signs that Michael is a deeply disturbed individual. He's got a lot going on in his own head. I can't wait for Michael and Joan to meet, because I suspect that it might be Joan, not Sherlock, who first thinks there might be something scary going on.

There you have it. A solid episode. I appreciate the fact that Sherlock takes his condition seriously. It's nice to see the consequences of physical trauma addressed. Often, shows like this have the main characters getting thrown around all the time, and there's never any lasting result. The stuff with Michael continues to intrigue me... let's see how it plays out moving forward!

9/10