Elementary 1.12 M
Jan. 11th, 2013 11:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI must say, this whole initial thing was a tad distracting, because there is someone whom this particular letter of the alphabet belongs to, and it's neither SPOILER nor SPOILER. This being said:
This episode, tackling as it did two iconic ACD characters and a third via backstory, gave me a couple of examples that turned what I initially thought were meh decisions into clever twists. Firstly, of course: Moriarty as a serial killer for crazy reasons of crazy would have been lame. Moriarty using Moran as his faithful hitman (which is Doyle) and has Moran faking a serial killer MO so that the actual reasons for the deaths remain undetected and don't lead back to him? Now that's more like it. *rubs hands* Excellent updating.
M not being Moriarty but Moran was something I guessed when he got his text via cell phone. The Arsenal fannishness as how the modern day hitman spends his spare time cracks me up because I remember that big London Star Trek convention I attended, the first after TNG had ended its run, where all of the TNG crew and most of the TOS crew were there, and Patrick Stewart and Marina Sirtis went on about how the respective other cheered for totally the wrong football team and was indoctrinating their American colleagues wrongly. I forgot which of them was for Arsenal, but one of them was.
Now for the big one: Elementary!Holmes day of going dark side. Would or wouldn't he have killed Moran if Moran hadn't convinced him of the existence of Moriarty? Given that he told Joan explicity what he was going to do and didn't put much effort into hiding his traces, I'm tending to go with no, he mainly wanted a confession and needed to scare the man, but I like that the show leaves it open and you can just as well make a case for the opposite. In any event, I also loved the Joan Watson & Gregson team up both to save Holmes from committing a murder and to prevent a murder from taking place; that Joan doesn't even have to think about not telling Gregson (and that she and Holmes are crystal clear about that to each other). And Joan using her now sharpened detective skills to find Sherlock.
The other big one was the (temporary) answer to the "what will make Watson stay?" question. I'm trying to decide how I feel about this, but I'm mostly sure I'm for it. My big fear (though I had cautious confidence the show wouldn't go there) was that it would be because of a faked (or actual, but intentional) relapse on Holmes' part because that would be the kind of jerky manipulative move House, RDJ!Holmes or BBC!Sherlock would have made. Instead, Watson decides to stay on for a while longer because she's worried about him, yes, but not because of a faked or actual relapse, because he came close to going completely against his own ethics and killing a man. Now I do not want her to stay on solely for Holmes' sake, but I don't think that's on the offering. As a first reason not to leave, it makes sense. Also, the show set up that it will only be temporarily because it had Holmes' father refuse to prolong Watson's engagement, and her lying to Holmes by saying he has prolonged it. Given that Joan has to make a living somehow once the cheques from Holmes Père stop arriving, she'll have to come clean to Holmes sooner or later, plus I suspect Alistair or, who knows, Holmes Senior himself if the show ever introduces him might bust her. Presumably by then she will have decided to stay for the crime solving as well as the friendship.
Speaking of the friendship: the two scenes framing the episode, one with Joan in the mortuary telling Sherlock she'll miss working with him and what he's doing is amazing and the other of Sherlock, post bringing Moran to the station, repeating the same phrases back to her were just beautiful, encapsulating what I love about this version of the relationship. Because both of them mean it and say it with complete sincerity, because when Holmes says "I think what you're doing is amazing", he says it in a story that really has given narrative weight to Joan's work as a sober companion just as to Sherlock's detecting. Equality for the win! And understated affection and being there for each other.
Lastly: so there is a New York version of the Baker Street Irregulars. :) Also, methinks the people who are/were betting on Irene having faked her death could be on to something, given that this episode states that many of the M victim's bodies were never recovered (and we all know the rules of tv about missing bodies) and only identified by their blood at the crime scene, plus there has to be a reason why her death (or "death") happened when Moran was temporarily out of commission and thus not available as a hitman for Moriarty. And why Elementary!Moriarty just set Moran up for getting captured/killed. Which reminds me - at last! A minion of a Big Bad who has a mind of his own and, when faced with evidence his boss is about to hang him dry, decides to return the favour instead of being blindly loyal just because that's what minions do.
Now, what's that I hear about a three weeks hiatus? American tv, WHY?
This episode, tackling as it did two iconic ACD characters and a third via backstory, gave me a couple of examples that turned what I initially thought were meh decisions into clever twists. Firstly, of course: Moriarty as a serial killer for crazy reasons of crazy would have been lame. Moriarty using Moran as his faithful hitman (which is Doyle) and has Moran faking a serial killer MO so that the actual reasons for the deaths remain undetected and don't lead back to him? Now that's more like it. *rubs hands* Excellent updating.
M not being Moriarty but Moran was something I guessed when he got his text via cell phone. The Arsenal fannishness as how the modern day hitman spends his spare time cracks me up because I remember that big London Star Trek convention I attended, the first after TNG had ended its run, where all of the TNG crew and most of the TOS crew were there, and Patrick Stewart and Marina Sirtis went on about how the respective other cheered for totally the wrong football team and was indoctrinating their American colleagues wrongly. I forgot which of them was for Arsenal, but one of them was.
Now for the big one: Elementary!Holmes day of going dark side. Would or wouldn't he have killed Moran if Moran hadn't convinced him of the existence of Moriarty? Given that he told Joan explicity what he was going to do and didn't put much effort into hiding his traces, I'm tending to go with no, he mainly wanted a confession and needed to scare the man, but I like that the show leaves it open and you can just as well make a case for the opposite. In any event, I also loved the Joan Watson & Gregson team up both to save Holmes from committing a murder and to prevent a murder from taking place; that Joan doesn't even have to think about not telling Gregson (and that she and Holmes are crystal clear about that to each other). And Joan using her now sharpened detective skills to find Sherlock.
The other big one was the (temporary) answer to the "what will make Watson stay?" question. I'm trying to decide how I feel about this, but I'm mostly sure I'm for it. My big fear (though I had cautious confidence the show wouldn't go there) was that it would be because of a faked (or actual, but intentional) relapse on Holmes' part because that would be the kind of jerky manipulative move House, RDJ!Holmes or BBC!Sherlock would have made. Instead, Watson decides to stay on for a while longer because she's worried about him, yes, but not because of a faked or actual relapse, because he came close to going completely against his own ethics and killing a man. Now I do not want her to stay on solely for Holmes' sake, but I don't think that's on the offering. As a first reason not to leave, it makes sense. Also, the show set up that it will only be temporarily because it had Holmes' father refuse to prolong Watson's engagement, and her lying to Holmes by saying he has prolonged it. Given that Joan has to make a living somehow once the cheques from Holmes Père stop arriving, she'll have to come clean to Holmes sooner or later, plus I suspect Alistair or, who knows, Holmes Senior himself if the show ever introduces him might bust her. Presumably by then she will have decided to stay for the crime solving as well as the friendship.
Speaking of the friendship: the two scenes framing the episode, one with Joan in the mortuary telling Sherlock she'll miss working with him and what he's doing is amazing and the other of Sherlock, post bringing Moran to the station, repeating the same phrases back to her were just beautiful, encapsulating what I love about this version of the relationship. Because both of them mean it and say it with complete sincerity, because when Holmes says "I think what you're doing is amazing", he says it in a story that really has given narrative weight to Joan's work as a sober companion just as to Sherlock's detecting. Equality for the win! And understated affection and being there for each other.
Lastly: so there is a New York version of the Baker Street Irregulars. :) Also, methinks the people who are/were betting on Irene having faked her death could be on to something, given that this episode states that many of the M victim's bodies were never recovered (and we all know the rules of tv about missing bodies) and only identified by their blood at the crime scene, plus there has to be a reason why her death (or "death") happened when Moran was temporarily out of commission and thus not available as a hitman for Moriarty. And why Elementary!Moriarty just set Moran up for getting captured/killed. Which reminds me - at last! A minion of a Big Bad who has a mind of his own and, when faced with evidence his boss is about to hang him dry, decides to return the favour instead of being blindly loyal just because that's what minions do.
Now, what's that I hear about a three weeks hiatus? American tv, WHY?
no subject
Date: 2013-01-11 11:03 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-01-11 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2013-01-11 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-11 06:00 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I forgot to mention this, but: I did notice that the email to Joan was sent by one "M. Holmes", which could mean either that in this version, it's Holmes' father who is called Mycroft, or Holmes Senior is dead and it's Mycroft who is paying Watson and he and Sherlock keep up the Dad story for reasons unknown, and/or we got a hint that Moriarty is in fact Holmes' father. And possibly Mycroft. :)
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Date: 2013-01-11 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-11 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-12 10:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-12 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-12 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-11 09:01 pm (UTC)The first thing I thought when the email was from M. Holmes was "no, show, don't go there," but I'm hoping they were just being cheeky, and Mycroft is simply Holmes' Dad in this one (or the brothers are faking Holmes sr for whatever reason).
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Date: 2013-01-12 10:00 am (UTC)There are far too few intelligent thugs in fiction. They're usually either super geniuses or mindless creatures of instinct, when in order to make it believable how far they come before hero X stops them, they should have at the very least street smarts and a self preservation instinct. So hooray for Moran proving both!
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Date: 2021-02-08 10:43 pm (UTC)Most famously when he grabbed the hero-worshipped Paul Gascoigne by the testicles in a live-televised match.
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Date: 2021-02-11 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-02-11 12:34 pm (UTC)