Elementary: From Russia with Drugs (7x07)

This episode was the first one all season that felt a little bit filler-ish. Not necessarily bad, or anything... just not as gripping as what we've been seeing so far.

Cons:

To start with, we get something of a conclusion to the odd little subplot with Gregson's replacement as Captain. Gregson is back on the job, which is great, but it turns out that he isn't exactly Captain Dwyer's biggest fan, as there have been reports of him harassing female cops. When one of Gregson's best cops suddenly quits, Gregson suspects that Dwyer did something to drive her off. Sure enough, he did, but the woman, Bree Novacek, is nervous about reporting it because of what that will mean for her career. Eventually, though, she does report it, and Dwyer is out.

I like it when Elementary gets political, particularly about the police, and so I'll praise that in a second below. But what a weird way to use Captain Dwyer as a character. He stuck around and did nothing, and then Gregson comes back and we get a one-off story about sexism in the police force? I guess I was waiting for this character to have more of a point. As an individual story, this was fine. As a larger part of the season, it was distinctly odd.

As I said above, this episode felt more like filler than anything else this season. We got a brief mention of Reichenbach, but that was it. I understand the need to keep things somewhat procedural-shaped, but it's frustrating to me that Sherlock and Joan are just allowed to go about their merry business when at the end of the last season, it was a big huge deal that Sherlock had to be banished to London. I guess I'm still frustrated that there weren't harsher consequences.

Pros:

As I said, I like it when Elementary gets explicitly political. Bree Novacek, the woman who is harassed by Dwyer, has an excellent point when she talks about the culture of discrimination. She says that Gregson is one of the good guys, but that he's the exception, not the rule. In some ways it's a good thing that Dwyer was such a nothing of a character, because it made it so clear that this was a larger problem, not just one rotten apple. That's an important part of the conversation that people don't want to hear when it comes to all sorts of injustices. It's not just that one bad dude - it's a culture that lets a lot of people get away with a lot of awful stuff.

I especially appreciated the way that Novacek framed her own dilemma, and the decision she ultimately made. She does decide to "do the right thing", so to speak, and report what happened to her. But she makes it clear that she doesn't feel guilty for hesitating over this decision, and she knows that what she did has set herself up for a whole world of hurt. What she did was brave, but she was under no obligation, and I like that the script made a point of that. It was also great that while Gregson did encourage her to speak out, he respected her choice in the matter and didn't pester her about it.

The main case this week was mostly bland, although it was fun to see Sherlock palling around with a Russian spy. As I continually point out, it's fun that Sherlock and Joan both take a part in the solving of the case. They're good as individuals and as a team. I also appreciated the medical aspect, and Sherlock's faith in science being the thing that formed the back-bone of his work on the case. Joan, however, is the one who gets to have the lightning-in-a-bottle flash of inspiration that pieces the whole thing together.

Wow, this is a short review... I guess I honestly don't have that much to say about this episode. It wasn't bad, but it's not one I think I'll be remembering after a few days, either.

7/10