Elementary 4.07

[selenak]

In which we meet a family member of Joan's we haven't before.



Mind you, at first I was irritated because I thought, "hang on, isn't her father a homeless guy she hasn't seen in years?", and then I recalled that was her biological father and that the show had established the existence of her stepfather who raised her (and the fact he'd cheated on Mary Watson), we just hadn't met him in person before. Anyway, I enjoyed this entire subplot, not just because it brought back the Watson as chronicler element (last heard of in s3 when Kitty and Sherlock find out Joan had written and then deleted "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes) by Joan, in the end, deciding to work with her father as editor on the further fictionalized adventures. It was also a cliché free take on a father and daughter relationship in a procedural (where typically the daughters want to prove something to daddy and/or win his love); Joan originally having had a good relationship with her father but becoming estranged from him when he hurt her mother by cheating on her makes complete sense with who Joan is. And I like that she was projecting a bit in her assumption that Sherlock would be upset, and that he in fact had no problem with it. (The two big instances of Sherlock being upset on this show about ending up recorded had other reasons - one was when someone from the NA meetings published things he said there, because that was an invasion of a safe place, and the other was when he found out Joan had written about their cases because, as Kitty pointed out to him, the prospect of seeing himself through her eyes was unsettlin to him at first. Otoh of course he couldn't care less on his own account what Joan's father thought about him, especially in a clearly fictionalized version.)

Case of the week: that last scene between Holmes and "Cassie" in her cell made me wonder whether she'll join his correspondants. Also that this version of Sherlock really has a way to connect to clever female criminals and/or manipulative damaged teenager masterminds. I don't mean sexually (the only one where this applies is Moriarty, and his relationship with her started when he thought she was Irene and guilty of no worse criminal deeds than art forgery); but there's Abigail the patricide whom young Sherlock became pen pals with, and I thought of Adam the teenage serial killer from s1 as well.

Incidentally, it was also one of the few cases where the solution wasn't obvious (Marcus Bell's theory was the one I had, but I had also believed Cassie earlier when she made her case, because the episode allowed the actress to be that convincing). It did feel a bit contrived as far as the mechanics were concerned (if Cassie's con was dependent on her replacing the real Nina, wasn't assaulting her to collect her hair rather risky, since that could have brought real Nina on the police radar? also, if Underhill was already suspecting that Cassie wasn't Nina, how come he let her close enough for her to use that pepper spray, and how did she drag a man of his weight from the car?), but the actress was really good, so I handwaved. And I liked the emotional continuity of Gregson, who is a father, reacting differently to the whole "do parents recognize their children after a decade or not?" question than Sherlock and Joan did.

Comments

[ide_cyan]

The DNA testing plot point in this episode really bugged me. You need the root of a hair to get a good DNA sample; otherwise you only have mitochondrial DNA, which can only establish a maternal link. The episode had a familial link to a father established via hair that was both dyed (and dyed blond, from dark brown, and so bleached first) and therefore degraded, AND cut off rather than plucked, and therefore without roots.

[percysowner]

I thought that too. I was pretty sure you needed a hair follicle for accurate DNA testing (I didn't know that you can get a maternal link without the follicle), but I hand waved it because every show in TV says hair=perfect DNA match.