Elementary: The Adventure of the Ersatz Sobekneferu (6x10)

It's nice to see John Noble return to the small screen as Morland Holmes this week! And also that ending makes me SO PUMPED.

Cons:

I rather liked the case of the week, even if it got a little absurd. Usually this show is good at being clear, but not too obvious, about what's going on. I noticed a weird moment towards the start of this particular episode though - Bell and Sherlock are both examining the body, and Sherlock notes that there are various instruments and honey laid out around, and that the fleeing man seen by the witnesses was performing some sort of ceremony. At this point, I think anybody older than, say, ten years old, would immediately be able to guess that the victim was being mummified, and yet Bell doesn't pick up on this detail, and Sherlock has to spell it out for him. It was an odd moment of clunky exposition in a show that usually doesn't fall into this particular pitfall.

Often when watching Elementary, I am so much more fascinated by the subplot than I am by the main story that I almost resent the time we're spending on solving a random murder when we could have been focusing on other things. That's not quite the case here - I liked this murder mystery. However, I did find myself frustrated by what we didn't see. Sherlock undertakes a mission of his own to find a man who he believes has been stalking his father. We don't see any of the steps he takes to search this man out, although we do see the final confrontation between the two men. I found myself wondering what Sherlock had done to find this guy. He calls in MI-6 for help, we know that much, but what else? A whole episode could have been taken up with following the twists and turns of this case, and instead it was a footnote.

Pros:

While I admire Elementary's restraint in the strangeness of its murder cases, sometimes it's fun to have one that's a little bit off the rails. That's the case here, with art forgery, ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, secret paternity, and more. There are lots of good twists and turns, and the bad guy at the end of the day is the creeper who sexually harassed women in the workplace. I wasn't pissed off that they were presenting us with a reformed harasser or anything, but it was undeniably satisfying to see him carted away at the end, justice done for the woman he tormented and then had killed. Another detail I enjoyed was the extremely cooperative hit man - he spills the beans immediately, only realizing after talking to Gregson that he probably should have gotten himself a lawyer. That felt realistic to me - if I were ever in any sort of trouble, I think I'd confess as quickly as possible. It would be too nerve-wracking trying to lie.

Morland and Sherlock haven't quite buried the hatchet, but they are digging the holes, as Sherlock says. I like that metaphor, and it accurately represents how these two men interact in this episode. I think they are both gutted by Mycroft's death, and it's coming through in the cautious way they are tip-toeing around each other. Sherlock doesn't have a snippy comment when he learns that Mycroft was Morland's sole heir - he probably expected that. And when Sherlock says that upon Morland's death, his inheritance will go to charity, Morland only argues a bit. He ultimately says that he's glad Sherlock's wishes will be met. They discuss who will care for Clyde if something should happen to Sherlock and Joan (Kitty and her son get to have him, which warms my heart SO MUCH). Morland quietly calls Sherlock "son" at one point, after Sherlock confesses that he was hoping to mend the rift between himself and Mycroft. All of this stuff was powerful, subtle, and felt totally true to how these two emotionally stunted men would navigate their complex family emotions in the wake of a shared loss.

The big take-away of this episode for me is, obviously, the ending - Morland is pretty sure he knows who hired the hit man to take him out. He thought she was lying low, planning her next move, but he sees now that he's been fooled, and as we all know, he's not the first Holmes man to fall for her tricks. Moriarty is back. YES! Does this mean Natalie Dormer will be in the show again? Please please please! I'm so excited. I wasn't expecting this to happen so soon, especially with all the Michael setup, and the news that Elementary has been (surprisingly) renewed for Season Seven already. But I'm not complaining. This is going to change everything. Joan can't adopt a kid if a criminal genius is targeting her and her partner. Morland probably won't want to leave his son unprotected, especially given Mycroft's demise. What's going to happen? Are they going to capture her again? Will Moriarty have to die to put this to rest? Are we going to get a Reichenbach Fall moment??

Suffice it to say, I'm eagerly awaiting whatever comes next!

8.5/10