Elementary 5.02
Oct. 17th, 2016 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Holmes meets Another Mr. Sloane, and Watson does seem to get the arc I was hoping for after the premiere.
First of all: hello, Ron Rifkin! I've missed you on my tv screen post Alias, because you've only shown up in minor roles such as this one. But it's always great to see you again. And now I want a crossover where Sherlock is investigating Arvin Sloane and it turns out that it's all some grand scheme because what Arvin is really after is Rambaldi Artifact XYZ and he orchestrated all to make Sherlock find it for him.
Anyway, re: guest stars: The young woman who played the daughter of the Chinese official was terrible at her lines, which makes me conclude she was either a pop celebrity making a cameo or actually the daughter of a Chinese official. Otoh the actress playing Nelle Biggerstaff, Shinwell's sister-in-law, was awesome in her one and only scene, and I hope we'll see her again. And it was lovely continuity to meet C again, Sherlock's correspondant.
The case of the week was a welcome time of our duo being put on investigations by private citizens; Elementary's Sherlock might prefer working for the cops, but ACD's definitely took far more cases from private clients, and I miss that, so I'm thrilled when it does happen. My only problem was that the gang boss having the heroin dealer Sherlock wanted tracked down killed instead of just providing the name was glaringly obvious to this viewer, and should have been to Sherlock. Now you can make a care for moral ambiguity and Sherlock aware this might happen and willing to let it (there's precedent), but then don't let him pretend to be surprised, show.
The great Imperial Jade seal of China as the McGuffin amused me for personal writerly reasons and past research. (It got lost when the Yuan (= Mongols, Genghis Khan's descendants) dynasty ended and the Mongols were expelled from China; more likely than not, they took it with them.) Finding out Joan's Chinese name was interesting. I wonder how to take her favouring the People's Republic over Taiwan as the one with the better claim to the seal, though. Sherlock and Joan making prints with the seal which Sherlock later put on the wall was in the line of Sherlock keeping that stolen painting for one night before bringing it back to the museum and again neat character continuity.
How do you transcribe Joan's Chinese name in Roman letters, for possible future use?
Joan's subplot with Shinwell continues as I'd hoped, and I like that everyone gets to make good points. As Sherlock says, she doesn't yet know Shinwell very well, and there's no way of saying whether or not his daughter would be better off with or without him. And it's absolutely understandable that the girl's aunt, who did know him in his drug dealer life, would not take that risk. Otoh, Shinwell so far comes across as sincere, and the actor is excellent, with the last scene conveying both joy and pain as he watches his daughter from a distance and is glad in the knowledge that she's doing so well while having made the decision of his own not to contact her yet. A good redemption story needs to both acknowledge the pain the person redeemed has caused and to show their sincerity to want to change, and by playing Nelle Biggerstaff the way the show did, they seem to be on a good track for that. I also loved how Lucy Liu plays Joan in all her scenes with Shinwell; she wants to help him, but she's also aware there's simply no way of knowing it will work out even with the best of intentions,or that he's sincere. (Her expression when he says he bets she doesn't know any drug dealers was great.) There are parallels to her past work as a sober companion, but also differences; Shinwell doesn't have to be helped from relapsing, there isn't a routine she can establish, and no prospect of handing him over to a sponsor after a while.
BTW, I hope Shinwell will continue to call her "Doc"; it makes sense since he originally knew her as a surgeon, and it's a welcome reminder she's Dr. Watson, whether or not she practises.
First of all: hello, Ron Rifkin! I've missed you on my tv screen post Alias, because you've only shown up in minor roles such as this one. But it's always great to see you again. And now I want a crossover where Sherlock is investigating Arvin Sloane and it turns out that it's all some grand scheme because what Arvin is really after is Rambaldi Artifact XYZ and he orchestrated all to make Sherlock find it for him.
Anyway, re: guest stars: The young woman who played the daughter of the Chinese official was terrible at her lines, which makes me conclude she was either a pop celebrity making a cameo or actually the daughter of a Chinese official. Otoh the actress playing Nelle Biggerstaff, Shinwell's sister-in-law, was awesome in her one and only scene, and I hope we'll see her again. And it was lovely continuity to meet C again, Sherlock's correspondant.
The case of the week was a welcome time of our duo being put on investigations by private citizens; Elementary's Sherlock might prefer working for the cops, but ACD's definitely took far more cases from private clients, and I miss that, so I'm thrilled when it does happen. My only problem was that the gang boss having the heroin dealer Sherlock wanted tracked down killed instead of just providing the name was glaringly obvious to this viewer, and should have been to Sherlock. Now you can make a care for moral ambiguity and Sherlock aware this might happen and willing to let it (there's precedent), but then don't let him pretend to be surprised, show.
The great Imperial Jade seal of China as the McGuffin amused me for personal writerly reasons and past research. (It got lost when the Yuan (= Mongols, Genghis Khan's descendants) dynasty ended and the Mongols were expelled from China; more likely than not, they took it with them.) Finding out Joan's Chinese name was interesting. I wonder how to take her favouring the People's Republic over Taiwan as the one with the better claim to the seal, though. Sherlock and Joan making prints with the seal which Sherlock later put on the wall was in the line of Sherlock keeping that stolen painting for one night before bringing it back to the museum and again neat character continuity.
How do you transcribe Joan's Chinese name in Roman letters, for possible future use?
Joan's subplot with Shinwell continues as I'd hoped, and I like that everyone gets to make good points. As Sherlock says, she doesn't yet know Shinwell very well, and there's no way of saying whether or not his daughter would be better off with or without him. And it's absolutely understandable that the girl's aunt, who did know him in his drug dealer life, would not take that risk. Otoh, Shinwell so far comes across as sincere, and the actor is excellent, with the last scene conveying both joy and pain as he watches his daughter from a distance and is glad in the knowledge that she's doing so well while having made the decision of his own not to contact her yet. A good redemption story needs to both acknowledge the pain the person redeemed has caused and to show their sincerity to want to change, and by playing Nelle Biggerstaff the way the show did, they seem to be on a good track for that. I also loved how Lucy Liu plays Joan in all her scenes with Shinwell; she wants to help him, but she's also aware there's simply no way of knowing it will work out even with the best of intentions,or that he's sincere. (Her expression when he says he bets she doesn't know any drug dealers was great.) There are parallels to her past work as a sober companion, but also differences; Shinwell doesn't have to be helped from relapsing, there isn't a routine she can establish, and no prospect of handing him over to a sponsor after a while.
BTW, I hope Shinwell will continue to call her "Doc"; it makes sense since he originally knew her as a surgeon, and it's a welcome reminder she's Dr. Watson, whether or not she practises.
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Date: 2016-10-17 10:38 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2016-10-17 06:47 pm (UTC)The show was not especially to my taste (it came close enough to SFU and had a similar enough premise that I think I was expecting something more transcendent) but there were some excellent cast members. It's one that I might give another go to when I can watch it all at once.
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Date: 2016-10-17 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
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