Elementary 1.18

[selenak]

In which we find out Bubbles moved from Baltimore to New York and became a violinist, and also Sherlock's German is faulty. :)



Holmes, "one who defecates" in German is a "Scheisser". Without a t. Thus not sounding like "Shyster". Tsk.

On to actual content: that was lovely, again. Of course I was delighted Alfredo was back (and we got references to him continuing to see Holmes in his capacity as sponsor). But I was also, again, happy with the emotional reality of the character development: Joan's friends being worried about her switch of profession and moving in with a recovering drug addict were how friends would react (especially since none of them, as opposed to Joan's mother, has heard about Joan's detective apprenticeship before, nor have they watched this show and thus seen her with Sherlock :). Joan making a mistake with her methods while being right in her overall assessment during her first serious solo outing and then having a crisis of confidence also felt all too plausible, and of course the show none too subtly lets Holmes & Watson solve their case(s) once they've joined investigations, thus pointing out yet again teamwork is best. And Holmes was just the right kind of supportive, giving her the same kind of back and to she gives him when they talked about their theories. Also, bonus points for keeping the focus on the validity of her case and not making her crisis of confidence about himself or saying any variation of "don't leave me" though we all know that's what he was afraid of. :) Holmes being a jackass to Dad's pal with imperfect German was practically the only sign of immaturity in the episode. And he wouldn't be Holmes without the occasional moment of that, though how far they've come since that moment in the pilot to which we get a callback when he picks up Watson at the police station.

Guest stars: no opinion on anyone save the actor who used to play Bubbles on The Wire, whom it was nice to see again even though he only had one scene. And Alfredo, of course! If the show has the 22 episodes usual for American tv per season, we only have four more to go before the next hiatus, and I'm going to miss it dreadfully, which I hadn't suspect I would when I tuned in for the pilot.

Comments

[musesfool]

There were two Wire alumni in this episode. In addition to Andre Royo, Jim True-Frost, who was Prez on The Wire, played the subway lady's stalker.

[selenak]

That was Prez? ZOMG! I didn't recognize him.

[lonelywalker]

The next episode doesn't seem to be until April 4th, actually, so there's another hiatus to suffer through...

[selenak]

Why do they torture us thus?

[lilacsigil]

Alfredo! I was so delighted to see him! I really enjoyed this episode on so many levels and I hope we get to see Joan's journalist friend again - that's a good connection for a consulting detective.

[selenak]

Indeed it is, and I hope so, too. Also, I really liked that Em and Joan's other friends weren't vilified - in this particular case, their concern was misguided, but it was shown as reasonable that they had it in the first place, given the information they had.

[rembrandtswife]

I just looked up "shyster" online and the derivation from "scheisser" seems to be the most generally accepted one. I was tickled to learn that it replaced the older word "pettifogger", of which I am rather fond.

I would have guessed "shyster" was Yiddish and thus probably German-derived, but no one mentions that as a possibility.

[king_touchy]

I'm relieved Alfredo is back because, well, he's just cool and awesome, but also because I don't want the show to forget that Sherlock Holmes is an addict. Sherlock has to live with the struggle, and I don't want to see that struggle abandoned for the sake of cases only.