Elementary 3.01

A great season premiere. S2 had been a mixed affair, not least because as opposed to s1, where you had individual cases but also long term developments (from sober companion and client to friends and partners, Joan's decision to change jobs permanently, Sherlock dealing with the Irene matter, to put it unspoilery), in s2 what long term developments there were had to do with Mycroft and that wasn't the best of arcs, Joan except for the last ep as in something of a standstill, and not coincidentally the standout s2 episodes were all either one shots independent from ongoing developments (the Philip Seymour Hofmann inspired one comes to mind, as does the one with Sherlock's old pen pal) or continuing fallouts from the previous season (the one with Moriarty). Wait, I take it back, there was also the Marcus Bell mini arc which WAS good. But you'll notice none of these, except the Moriarty one, had much to do with Joan (and even the Moriarty one only a little - yes, the thing with the portrait was fanfic inspiring fun, but they didn't really interact in this episode). And part of the charm of the show is the equal partnership, so not a few viewers during s2 often asked in frustration "where's the Joan of it?".

( Well, looks like the show found a way to address this... )