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Elementary 3.05
Which is the equivalent of the one Doctor-lite, one Companion-lite episode on DW they used to have per season to give one or both of the lead actors an episode off during shooting. It works out endearingly well.
My guess is Lucy Liu may have need the time for some movie project or another tv appearance? Anyway, the explanation of Joan being on her Danish holidays with Andrew had been established in the previous episode, but for all that she's physically absent, she's still an emotional presence for both Sherlock and Kitty, who by now is my favourite new character ever since the much missed Ms. Hudson got introduced in late s1. It's the first time since eons that Joan doing the traditional Watson task of chronicling her and Holmes' adventures is brought up again, and we find out she deleted the manuscript - on one computer. (Obviously she must have a copy elsewhere.) The discovery of this leads into one of those negotiations of boundaries which are Elementarys forté. Sherlock starts off with paranoia, both re: Joan and re: Kitty. Kitty who by now has grown far less defensive or worried about her own place in Holmes' and Watson's lives suggests this might be because reading Joan's version of him and hearing it from her are two different things. But neither of them reads the manuscript because Joan after all deleted it and apparantly didn't want it shared (at least not yet), which reminded me of Joan not reading Kitty's file until Kitty herself asked her to. Kitty pouring the soft drink on the laptop as a way to stop the dithering was a great and economic gesture, too. In a way, it's also about control of narrative, and who has it: by conceding not just to Joan-as-storyteller but Kitty-as-storyteller at the end, Sherlock accepts that they do just as much as he does.
The subplot about Gregson and his daughter - btw, did we meet her before? I only remember the wife from previous seasons, though I might blank out on something - could have been cliché but wasn't. Gregson hitting the man who hurt his daughter is understandable from a human pov, but it's not what she needs, and it's not what the subplot is about, made clear by starting off after this incident, and presenting the daughter's pov, that she doesn't want everyone around her to see her as a victim, as valid, not something that she has to overcome. There is no narrative implication that there is only one right way for a woman to respond to an assault, and that any other reaction is cowardly and/or temporary stalling until the woman in question comes around. Of course, Gregson also has a point - a cop who assaults his female colleague is not someone you want to have the authority and power of a cop. So the narrative offers a compromise; Gregson goes through the humiliating public handshake with the guy because that's what his daughter wants and needs him to do, not to play her avenger; but at the same time, Kitty finds a way to remove the creep from the ranks of the police without Gregson's daughter having to go through the public shaming that sadly still often comes for victims. Kitty doing this out of her own initiative, not because Gregson asks her (let alone Holmes, who doesn't know anything about this entire subplot throughout the episode) also both avoids the avenging male trope and uses her own background (both what happened to her and the fact she's a detective in training) in a positive way.
In conclusion: season 3 rocks! After five episodes, I'm confident in saying this.
My guess is Lucy Liu may have need the time for some movie project or another tv appearance? Anyway, the explanation of Joan being on her Danish holidays with Andrew had been established in the previous episode, but for all that she's physically absent, she's still an emotional presence for both Sherlock and Kitty, who by now is my favourite new character ever since the much missed Ms. Hudson got introduced in late s1. It's the first time since eons that Joan doing the traditional Watson task of chronicling her and Holmes' adventures is brought up again, and we find out she deleted the manuscript - on one computer. (Obviously she must have a copy elsewhere.) The discovery of this leads into one of those negotiations of boundaries which are Elementarys forté. Sherlock starts off with paranoia, both re: Joan and re: Kitty. Kitty who by now has grown far less defensive or worried about her own place in Holmes' and Watson's lives suggests this might be because reading Joan's version of him and hearing it from her are two different things. But neither of them reads the manuscript because Joan after all deleted it and apparantly didn't want it shared (at least not yet), which reminded me of Joan not reading Kitty's file until Kitty herself asked her to. Kitty pouring the soft drink on the laptop as a way to stop the dithering was a great and economic gesture, too. In a way, it's also about control of narrative, and who has it: by conceding not just to Joan-as-storyteller but Kitty-as-storyteller at the end, Sherlock accepts that they do just as much as he does.
The subplot about Gregson and his daughter - btw, did we meet her before? I only remember the wife from previous seasons, though I might blank out on something - could have been cliché but wasn't. Gregson hitting the man who hurt his daughter is understandable from a human pov, but it's not what she needs, and it's not what the subplot is about, made clear by starting off after this incident, and presenting the daughter's pov, that she doesn't want everyone around her to see her as a victim, as valid, not something that she has to overcome. There is no narrative implication that there is only one right way for a woman to respond to an assault, and that any other reaction is cowardly and/or temporary stalling until the woman in question comes around. Of course, Gregson also has a point - a cop who assaults his female colleague is not someone you want to have the authority and power of a cop. So the narrative offers a compromise; Gregson goes through the humiliating public handshake with the guy because that's what his daughter wants and needs him to do, not to play her avenger; but at the same time, Kitty finds a way to remove the creep from the ranks of the police without Gregson's daughter having to go through the public shaming that sadly still often comes for victims. Kitty doing this out of her own initiative, not because Gregson asks her (let alone Holmes, who doesn't know anything about this entire subplot throughout the episode) also both avoids the avenging male trope and uses her own background (both what happened to her and the fact she's a detective in training) in a positive way.
In conclusion: season 3 rocks! After five episodes, I'm confident in saying this.
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Unfortunately, I think my episode started slightly late because of football broadcast beforehand and the ending got cut off my recording. Did you catch what Sherlock and Kitty said about Watson at the ending (after Kitty killed the computer and ended the argument?)
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S: I'm going to need some help taking these back tomorrow.
K: Fine, but I'm knackered. So I propose we go one day without any early morning nonsense.
S: You're making great strides. Now is the time to dig in! *pauses, puts stuff down.* You weren't entirely wrong about Watson. She does have the right to tell her own stories. I may have felt some... mild trepedation about subjecting myself to her...full appraisal. Almost imperceptibly mild.
*shot of Kitty's "yeah right" face, though she says nothing*
S (continues): Anyway, I've decided that (he picks up the papers he had Kitty sign at the start of the episode) this non-disclosure agreement was made in error. *starts tearing papers up; shot of Kitty looking at him*
S (continues) I want you to feel free to, um, produce your own memoirs. Should you feel the need.
K: I'm not much of a writer.
S: Well, let me know if that changes. Who knows, if you do write a book, someone might be interested to read it. I should emphasize he's not saying this tauntingly but tentatively, i.e. basically saying he wants to read it.
K: *looks touched, slowly ascends stairs while S continues with the packing; end of episode*
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I love Kitty <3
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