Elementary 1.08
Nov. 30th, 2012 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which I continue to be in love with how serious the show takes Joan's job and the whole recovering addict story element, we get a new character, and also, I love you, Joan Watson.
You know, Dexter during its first four seasons was uncontestly an often brilliantly written show, which Elementary is not by many means. However, if I look back at the way Dexter used the "addict" gimmick in season 2 (when Rita thought Dexter was an addict, made him go to AA meetings, where he met Lila who became his sponsor and the antagonist of the season, but not before the show got some mileage out of the "is serial killing an addiction and can Dexter stop it?" question), it's amazing how shallow the use of that particular plot device appears in comparison.
This is the first episode to explicitly address the fact Joan's time as a sober companion for Sherlock is coming to an end. And so she's looking for a sponsor for Sherlock. Now, I think a lot of shows would have simply let that end, after a few rejected candidate in Watson becoming the sponsor (never mind that she can't be, since she's never been an addict) and made that the justification for her continued presence in Holmes' life, but not this one. Which I love not just for the nod to realism, but for the continuing delicate and compelling way the show handles all the power issues (potential and actual) between Holmes and Watson. As Joan says, sober companion is temporary, a sponsor is long term, life long, if possible. Now if this Holmes and Watson are supposed to end up as permanent friends, it can't be because Joan is in a position that continues to make her responsible for Holmes in some fashion, that doesn't allow her to call it quits if that was what she wanted. A friendship has to be because people want to be friends, not because if one of them leaves, the other is likely to slide back into addiction.
And that's before we get to Alfredo. Who I hope will be a regular like Gregson and Bell. I like that both Watson and Holmes get their biases shown up here. Holmes picks Alfredo precisely because he seemingly fits a cliché guaranteed to tick Watson off. And Watson is uncomfortable at first; this is important because Joan isn't a saint or automatically free from all prejudices. And then both Joan and the audience get to see Alfredo as his own person, with a backstory and his own reason for wanting to be a sponsor, and who looks like he'll be not only a good match for Holmes but also capable of handling his bs very well. Exceeeeeeelllent. Meanwhile, it's of course evident that Holmes doesn't want Watson to leave but has no way of admitting that. Yet. Methinks that'll be his big mid-season challenge. (And again, it's important that this will happen in a situation where her reason for staying won't be worry that without her, he'll backslide.)
Case of the week: hello, Lisa Edelstein. Otherwise, business as usual. I don't think we've seen Gregson getting his glasses on to examine something before, though.
You know, Dexter during its first four seasons was uncontestly an often brilliantly written show, which Elementary is not by many means. However, if I look back at the way Dexter used the "addict" gimmick in season 2 (when Rita thought Dexter was an addict, made him go to AA meetings, where he met Lila who became his sponsor and the antagonist of the season, but not before the show got some mileage out of the "is serial killing an addiction and can Dexter stop it?" question), it's amazing how shallow the use of that particular plot device appears in comparison.
This is the first episode to explicitly address the fact Joan's time as a sober companion for Sherlock is coming to an end. And so she's looking for a sponsor for Sherlock. Now, I think a lot of shows would have simply let that end, after a few rejected candidate in Watson becoming the sponsor (never mind that she can't be, since she's never been an addict) and made that the justification for her continued presence in Holmes' life, but not this one. Which I love not just for the nod to realism, but for the continuing delicate and compelling way the show handles all the power issues (potential and actual) between Holmes and Watson. As Joan says, sober companion is temporary, a sponsor is long term, life long, if possible. Now if this Holmes and Watson are supposed to end up as permanent friends, it can't be because Joan is in a position that continues to make her responsible for Holmes in some fashion, that doesn't allow her to call it quits if that was what she wanted. A friendship has to be because people want to be friends, not because if one of them leaves, the other is likely to slide back into addiction.
And that's before we get to Alfredo. Who I hope will be a regular like Gregson and Bell. I like that both Watson and Holmes get their biases shown up here. Holmes picks Alfredo precisely because he seemingly fits a cliché guaranteed to tick Watson off. And Watson is uncomfortable at first; this is important because Joan isn't a saint or automatically free from all prejudices. And then both Joan and the audience get to see Alfredo as his own person, with a backstory and his own reason for wanting to be a sponsor, and who looks like he'll be not only a good match for Holmes but also capable of handling his bs very well. Exceeeeeeelllent. Meanwhile, it's of course evident that Holmes doesn't want Watson to leave but has no way of admitting that. Yet. Methinks that'll be his big mid-season challenge. (And again, it's important that this will happen in a situation where her reason for staying won't be worry that without her, he'll backslide.)
Case of the week: hello, Lisa Edelstein. Otherwise, business as usual. I don't think we've seen Gregson getting his glasses on to examine something before, though.
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Date: 2012-11-30 10:39 am (UTC)Alfredo seems like he could be an interesting recurring or regular character, given his criminal background and current philosophical attitudes. I'm still hoping that Bell develops some actual characterisation beyond "good cop" though.
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Date: 2012-11-30 01:25 pm (UTC)*crosses fingers for more Alfredo, and for old, err, young Bell getting fleshed out*
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Date: 2012-11-30 10:44 am (UTC)HouseSherlock this time!no subject
Date: 2012-11-30 01:31 pm (UTC)I probably said this before, but if the BBC Sherlock is evidently inspired by Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Elementary I think owes its inspiration to The 7 Percent Solution by Nicholas Meyer, which is the one SH version which also takes this whole addiction business really seriously. Alfredo in that case might be a modern equivalent of Meyer's young Sigmund Freud.