Elementary 6.09
Jun. 27th, 2018 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Alfredo is back, and we hear more about Mycroft than we did during the entire season where his and Sherlock's father was the recurring guest star.
Case of the week was random-y, though the corpse eating rats were suitably gruesome black humor, anti-science fanatics undoubtedly exist, old people injecting themselves with teenage blood sounds like another weird factoid that has to be true, and you know, I best there are quite a couple of disgruntled trust fund sons yearning to abolish the awards their family had instituted so they can keep the money.
But the meat of the episode was the return of Alfredo, not seen since the Oscar kidnapping seemed to end his relationship with Sherlock. Yay! Mind you, the whole "help me rob someone who owes me money" ploy was dumb from the writers because wouldn't Alfredo be an obvious suspect, and woldn't he more likely swallow his pride and ask for a loan rather than risk prison and the ruin of his career as a security advisor? But thankfully, it was just the hook because soon we had moved away from this and into Alfredo, as he did in their sponsor-sponsee days, making Sherlock confront something about himself. (Also, Sherlock actually did the sensible thing of providing the money legally.)
Now Elementary has done better with Watson's various relationships than with either Mycroft or Morland, in that Joan's mother, brother, adopted father, unseen bio dad and sister all felt like plausible people while Mycroft and Morland, who got more screen time, felt more like plot devices to illustrate Sherlock's issues. (Not to mention that they got some of the same storybeats: they're hiding something, seem to be in league with the villains du jour, but lo, it turns out they're really motivated by the wish to protect Sherlock.) Still, I remember feeling quite irritated that it took more than half a season for as much as a mention of Mycroft when Morland was around, and even when he was finally mentioned (briefly), most of the scenes were still written as if Sherlock had been an only child. It irks the continuity hound in me.
So this episode bringing up Mycroft again, discussing his relationship with Sherlock quite extensively and answering the question what became of him after he exited, pursued by mobsters, would have been welcome from that perspective alone. But what made it really good for me was that it's done in a way that actually points to something that is true - Sherlock's grudge tendency when he himself has been the recipient of various not just second but third etc. chances - while also letting him vocalize something that works re: this particular version of Mycroft (as opposed to the others) and Sherlock's resentment of him before he was given cause. "He had such a capacity for joy" wouldn't work with any of the other Mycrofts I can think of, but it does for the s2 character.
In conclusion: well done, show, and also, I hope that wasn't the last we've seen of Alfredo, now that he's back/ the actor's available?
Case of the week was random-y, though the corpse eating rats were suitably gruesome black humor, anti-science fanatics undoubtedly exist, old people injecting themselves with teenage blood sounds like another weird factoid that has to be true, and you know, I best there are quite a couple of disgruntled trust fund sons yearning to abolish the awards their family had instituted so they can keep the money.
But the meat of the episode was the return of Alfredo, not seen since the Oscar kidnapping seemed to end his relationship with Sherlock. Yay! Mind you, the whole "help me rob someone who owes me money" ploy was dumb from the writers because wouldn't Alfredo be an obvious suspect, and woldn't he more likely swallow his pride and ask for a loan rather than risk prison and the ruin of his career as a security advisor? But thankfully, it was just the hook because soon we had moved away from this and into Alfredo, as he did in their sponsor-sponsee days, making Sherlock confront something about himself. (Also, Sherlock actually did the sensible thing of providing the money legally.)
Now Elementary has done better with Watson's various relationships than with either Mycroft or Morland, in that Joan's mother, brother, adopted father, unseen bio dad and sister all felt like plausible people while Mycroft and Morland, who got more screen time, felt more like plot devices to illustrate Sherlock's issues. (Not to mention that they got some of the same storybeats: they're hiding something, seem to be in league with the villains du jour, but lo, it turns out they're really motivated by the wish to protect Sherlock.) Still, I remember feeling quite irritated that it took more than half a season for as much as a mention of Mycroft when Morland was around, and even when he was finally mentioned (briefly), most of the scenes were still written as if Sherlock had been an only child. It irks the continuity hound in me.
So this episode bringing up Mycroft again, discussing his relationship with Sherlock quite extensively and answering the question what became of him after he exited, pursued by mobsters, would have been welcome from that perspective alone. But what made it really good for me was that it's done in a way that actually points to something that is true - Sherlock's grudge tendency when he himself has been the recipient of various not just second but third etc. chances - while also letting him vocalize something that works re: this particular version of Mycroft (as opposed to the others) and Sherlock's resentment of him before he was given cause. "He had such a capacity for joy" wouldn't work with any of the other Mycrofts I can think of, but it does for the s2 character.
In conclusion: well done, show, and also, I hope that wasn't the last we've seen of Alfredo, now that he's back/ the actor's available?
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Date: 2018-06-27 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-28 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-29 05:36 pm (UTC)