Elementary 4.14
Feb. 26th, 2016 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we finally get some backstory intel on the late Mrs. Holmes, while the case of the week contains a riff on a ACD trope.
The whole "master of disguise" thing, of course, which Original Holmes does all the time in the Doyle stories. Having Sherlock explain why that wouldn't work for him anymore these days is a bit meta, but was still a nice moment, especially the backstory about him having acted at school. Which was when he was writing fan letters to Alistair, so clearly Alistair was his inspiration. (I now want that AU where he actually tried being an actor.)
Otherwise the case of the week used the Triads as background but made sure to let the actual villain be a white man who wasn't a professional gangster and instead preyed on the weak and elderly in a home for same. Though the most interesting guest star of the episode in that plot to me was the 70 something female crime lady.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing Holmes family melodrama tale: the teaser made me wonder whether Sherlock and Joan drove all the way by car but then I remembered the distances and decided they must have taken a plane to Montreal and then the car. Though if I was living alone in Canada and elsewhere, I certainly would not let a strange woman in to make a phone call, I'd make the call for her. Anyway, Sherlock later referring to Sabine's daughter as a step relation and showing some jealousy/resentment about Morland's concern for her makes me think we'll see her again, and also it was a believable emotional touch. By far the most interesting bit in this subplot, though, was that we finally got some information about the late Mrs. Holmes, starting with her first name, which is May.
May did not die tragically when Sherlock was still a toddler, as I'd assumed because that's the standard dead mother/estranged father media combination. Instead, what Sherlock until now thought that happened was that Morland divorced her when Sherlock was 8, got custody of his sons (btw, thanks, episode, for name checking Mycroft again when appropriate), didn't give her much money due to prenup and thus ensured she died in a ghastly neighborhood; what Morland now says actually happened was that May was an addict, had a relapse, and he divorced her, got custody etc. in anger over that. I'm a bit torn; otoh, I'm against anything that makes addiction look like something you can inherit biologically (and since Sherlock had no idea, it's not like he picked up by example, which of course is far more likely in terms of what having an addict parent can mean), otoh, the episode doesn't imply that, and certainly it continues the trend from the last episode with Morland in it to make the Sherlock and Morland dynamic more specific to them and less standard daddy issues. Especially since Morland admits he didn't due the cutting May off as a kind of tough love in the hope this would shock her into getting on the wagon again but because he because he was so angry at her, as retaliation. And certainly "I look at you and I see your mother" makes sense of his avoidance of Sherlock, of hiring Joan by distance and not meeting her until this season etc., in a way that "busy businessman" does not. (It also gives Sherlock more to resent Morland for than "had never time for me".)
(I do wonder, given Mycroft was older, whether he knew re: their mother? It's the kind of retcon that would work with the relationship if he did but didn't tell Sherlock.)
Of course, the fact that Sherlock references Moriarty in his last conversation with his father makes me wonder whether either Sabine or May will turn out to have faked their deaths, since we seem to be doing parent-child parallels this season.
Trivia: is that an Arab newspaper Morland was reading?
ETA:felis told me it was an Indian newspaper.
The whole "master of disguise" thing, of course, which Original Holmes does all the time in the Doyle stories. Having Sherlock explain why that wouldn't work for him anymore these days is a bit meta, but was still a nice moment, especially the backstory about him having acted at school. Which was when he was writing fan letters to Alistair, so clearly Alistair was his inspiration. (I now want that AU where he actually tried being an actor.)
Otherwise the case of the week used the Triads as background but made sure to let the actual villain be a white man who wasn't a professional gangster and instead preyed on the weak and elderly in a home for same. Though the most interesting guest star of the episode in that plot to me was the 70 something female crime lady.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing Holmes family melodrama tale: the teaser made me wonder whether Sherlock and Joan drove all the way by car but then I remembered the distances and decided they must have taken a plane to Montreal and then the car. Though if I was living alone in Canada and elsewhere, I certainly would not let a strange woman in to make a phone call, I'd make the call for her. Anyway, Sherlock later referring to Sabine's daughter as a step relation and showing some jealousy/resentment about Morland's concern for her makes me think we'll see her again, and also it was a believable emotional touch. By far the most interesting bit in this subplot, though, was that we finally got some information about the late Mrs. Holmes, starting with her first name, which is May.
May did not die tragically when Sherlock was still a toddler, as I'd assumed because that's the standard dead mother/estranged father media combination. Instead, what Sherlock until now thought that happened was that Morland divorced her when Sherlock was 8, got custody of his sons (btw, thanks, episode, for name checking Mycroft again when appropriate), didn't give her much money due to prenup and thus ensured she died in a ghastly neighborhood; what Morland now says actually happened was that May was an addict, had a relapse, and he divorced her, got custody etc. in anger over that. I'm a bit torn; otoh, I'm against anything that makes addiction look like something you can inherit biologically (and since Sherlock had no idea, it's not like he picked up by example, which of course is far more likely in terms of what having an addict parent can mean), otoh, the episode doesn't imply that, and certainly it continues the trend from the last episode with Morland in it to make the Sherlock and Morland dynamic more specific to them and less standard daddy issues. Especially since Morland admits he didn't due the cutting May off as a kind of tough love in the hope this would shock her into getting on the wagon again but because he because he was so angry at her, as retaliation. And certainly "I look at you and I see your mother" makes sense of his avoidance of Sherlock, of hiring Joan by distance and not meeting her until this season etc., in a way that "busy businessman" does not. (It also gives Sherlock more to resent Morland for than "had never time for me".)
(I do wonder, given Mycroft was older, whether he knew re: their mother? It's the kind of retcon that would work with the relationship if he did but didn't tell Sherlock.)
Of course, the fact that Sherlock references Moriarty in his last conversation with his father makes me wonder whether either Sabine or May will turn out to have faked their deaths, since we seem to be doing parent-child parallels this season.
Trivia: is that an Arab newspaper Morland was reading?
ETA:
felis told me it was an Indian newspaper.
