Elementary: Meet Your Maker (6x12)

Oooh Marcus Bell subplot! Yay!

Cons:

The case this week had a few too many strange twists and turns. First it was about an online friendship, then about a "financial dominatrix," then about weird convention circuits, then about illegal gun manufacture. In some ways it was fun to have no idea where any of this was going, but in other ways it was strange how many leaps we had to take to get to the end. It wasn't bad or anything, just maybe a few too many strange paths to go down.

Pros:

I do like that this case was one that started as a private client for Joan. I feel like we're actually getting more consistent examples of her work and how she does on her own, which I greatly appreciate. Her sister actually referred this guy to Joan, and only after Joan realizes it's a kidnapping does she call in the NYPD. From there, Sherlock does lend his assistance, but it remains Joan's gig most of the way through, which I thought was a lot of fun.

I also must admit, it was fun to see the incel community taken apart in this episode. I'm fortunate in that I only heard about these gross monsters a little while ago, and haven't encountered any personally, so it's nice to see them roundly abused in a public setting like this. Sherlock's disgust for the incels was quite a delight to behold. He really is enlightened when it comes to sex, so I think the behavior of these misogynists is not only disgusting to him, but also baffling. The moment when the guy realizes that Sherlock lied to him was also precious. Sherlock informs him that lying to a man who plots ways to rape women was the "highlight of his day." Good. Get 'em.

In subplot news, Bell is startled to be approached by someone wanting to recruit him to the US Marshals. After some digging, he realizes that Sherlock put him up for the job. Sherlock is concerned that Bell is stagnating in his own career. He could do more. Bell says that loyalty to Gregson is what's keeping him back, but Gregson later goes to him and tells him that if Bell takes this opportunity, he'll be so proud. Bell tells Sherlock he submitted his application, and after completing some more schooling, he'll be off for training in six months.

I don't know if this is some long-form plan to write Bell off of the show, or if his role is simply going to be adapting - either way, I'm excited that we're getting some Bell-centric material here. Now, do I trust this show to actually give us a ton of time on this subplot? Probably not so much. But one great thing about Elementary is that it's always good at economy of storytelling. Whenever we do check back in with Bell, I know I'll be satisfied with the turns this story will take.

Also, I got a little misty-eyed with Gregson telling Bell he'd be proud of him for taking the job. It made me think a little bit about comparing Gregson and Bell's relationship with Sherlock and Joan's. Obviously there are key differences, in that I don't think Joan thinks of Sherlock as her mentor any longer. They really are on equal footing. But when Bell was talking about his loyalty to Gregson, I couldn't help but think about how much Sherlock and Joan would do for each other, and how unlikely it is that either of them could ever walk away from the other. I'm not sure this parallel was intentional, but I definitely noticed it.

There you have it. It looks like next week we're going to explore the whole "Joan tries to adopt a baby" plot thread. As you may know if you read these reviews, I've been skeptical about this from the beginning, but I'm definitely willing to keep an open mind. Fingers crossed that they treat the subject matter with all of the respect and time it deserves!

8/10