Elementary 1.23 (and 1.24, technically, but it's one big finale)

[selenak]

What I foresee is controversy around one particular plot point. Me, as opposed to it seems many a watcher who saw both Sherlock and Elementary, I actually liked A Scandal in Belgravia (more than the first three episodes Sherlock put together, as it happens), see my my review at the time, but the reason why I'm okay with the one particular trait the otherwise very different versions of Irene Adler share is that a) it's impossible to make sense of Moriarty going through some effort in this show to keep Holmes alive otherwise, when it really would be far, far easier to either order his death or let him be killed by third parties, and b) I don't think I read complaints about Moriarty's emotions re: Holmes before when Moriarty was male.

But then of course I'm biased because, see last week's review, Irene-as-Moriarty was the twist I'd been hoping for, and as both our heroes and our villain could testify, being able to say smugly "hah! I was right!" is a pleasure not to be underestimated. And it really fits well with this particular show and its genderbending take. I was not pleased when it seemed we'd get Irene-as-victim instead though still hoping and then increasingly certain it was a red herring/trick. If I wanted to complain, than that we got the birthmark thing as a trigger of revelation instead of the already established (but only mentioned in one sentence in this episode) circumstance that would be impossible to explain if Irene had NOT been planning to fake her own death a long time ahead: the blood. You can store that amount of blood over weeks and weeks, a little at a time, but you can't take it from a person in one go without killing him/her, which, if Irene had truly been kidnapped, would have had to happen, and really, not just Holmes but Watson, Gregson and Bell should have seen that. (It wouldn't necessarily have implied Irene was in cahoots with Moriarty, let alone that she was Moriarty, because she could have faked her death for her own, Moriarty-unrelated reasons, but it would certainly have made nonsense out of the kidnapping and brainwashing story.)

However, I'm too happy about most of everything else in the episode to mind. Incidentally, it occurs to me that as a foreigner, I have no way of telling how good or bad Natalie Dormer's American accent was, but given that "Irene Adler" was a persona Moriarty invented specifically for Holmes' benefit, it doesn't matter. (It also explains why they cast a British actress for the part while keeping Irene American.) Speaking of Natalie Dormer, I thought she was good, both in the flashbacks and in present day, charming and steely enough to sell both the woman-Sherlock-fell-in-love-with and the Evil Overlady. As for her having developed some genuine emotion in return, aka the point which is bound to produce controversy? As I said: no matter how much into mindgames she is, it would be impossible to explain why she went through all the bother of not killing him and actively keeping him alive otherwise, especially since she'd already beaten him, so finding out whether she could wasn't even a question anymore. Since I like my supervillains to have a motivation other than "I need someone to give my gloating speech to" for keeping the hero alive, I'm good with it. As it was Joan who figured out a way to trap Irene/Moriarty via combination of her need (that she shares with Sherlock) to be the smartest person in the room, err, world and some genuine if twisted attachment, I'm better. It made Moriarty's defeat not the result of having been beaten by Holmes, but by Watson, whom she fatally underestimated. (BTW: btw, remember ye early days of the show when Holmes tried to take credit for the entire solving of the case and only remembered to admit he had help when Watson was havling none of it? How far we've come. Here, in the final showdown, he's not even tempted to ambiguous phrasing. "She solved you." )

Holmes' lowest point in the finale: lashing out at Watson and trying to pull the "I'm dissappointed in you, and this after I remained clean!" card. Psychologically plausible for him to do in this particular state, but low. Holmes' best moment: consistently remembering and mentioning the three innocent people who died in the course of the finale. See, this is one of the reasons why he's my current (as far as post-Jeremy Brett incarnations go) favourite Holmes, and it's one of the reasons why Moriarty/Irene is wrong when she says they see the same things, and that the puzzle/game perspective is the only difference between them. She may see it as a game, and everyone else only as pawns. But to Holmes, no matter how obsessed or raging he is, they are people.

My favourite Watson moment in the finale: her conversation with Gregson ending with her saying to Gregson that if she believed Holmes was a danger to himself or others in the investigation, she'd tell him. And Gregson trusts her to do that. I believed both Joan and Gregson, and it hit my soft spot for "relationships that are great not because the people in question would put each other above ethics but because they'd put ethics first and that's why they respect each other".

Favourite Holmes-and-Watson scene: the ending, of course. I love and adore we're ending the season on the rooftop with the bees (insert usual glee about Elementary using Holmes' bee expertise through the season), with Holmes revealing he named the new species after Watson, and in a mirror to their mid-season turning point where Holmes remained with a waiting (for, as it happens, the untrustworthy ex, but not really) Watson in the tag scene, here Watson remains with a waiting Holmes. Only this time they're not waiting for a reminder of the past but for something new being born. Which they do in the same companiable silence, just sitting next to each other under the sky instead of some waiting room, enjoying the day. It's the perfect way to wrap the season up.

Trivia: Moriarty's supervillain scheme involving the Greece versus Macedonia issue and the Dinar versus Euro currency question made me grin in approval, simply because it proves the scriptwriting team actually reads news unrelated to the US. Also, it's sufficiently Napoleon-of-Crime-like.

Comments

[lonelywalker]

Oh, excellent point there about the blood!

[lilacsigil]

I loved Moriarty's actual Evil Plan! It really showed how little she cared about her pawns in that there was nothing in the slightest bit personal (or even aesthetic) in the crime. Holmes is not (any longer, at least) just there to be the smartest: he wants to save innocent people. I loved that Moriarty can't figure out Watson and that Watson worked the damn case AND finished it off.

I also thought Irene might be Moriarty because of the blood. I doubted myself when Irene's phone message to Sherlock said she'd been away for a while, but no! It was! I was so happy. I was utterly fooled by the fake overdose though.

And now we have to wait SO LONG for new episodes!

[kernezelda]

I thoroughly enjoyed the finale. I very much liked that both Holmes and Moriarty made the same mistake, as he pointed out - falling in love. They both succumbed to the same allure of someone who is their match (even if either would still prefer to be the smarter of the pair).

Were roles reversed, Holmes would be 'the man' to Moriarty in her memoir.

It was gratifying to see that the friendship and trust built up over the season was the major factor in trapping Moriarty. Holmes on his own was flailing emotionally, and Joan on her own saw that Irene did love him. As an aside, I loved her using her study of painting to figure out the gamboge as a clue. Watson made Holmes stop and think, and as a team, they succeeded.

[saturnofthemoon]

I called Irene as Moriarty before Natalie Dormer was even cast, so I'm really, really happy that they went with this twist.
I didn't find Irene's weakness for Sherlock to be particularly anti-feminist because falling in love broke both of them. He fell into depression and drug addiction, she got caught. I hope Natalie Dormer isn't too busy with Game of Thrones to come back next year, because I don't want this to be the end of Moriarty.

[selenak]

Same here, and I think considering they kept her alive and not even wounded, simply arrested, the writers obviously mean her to return at some point.

He fell into depression and drug addiction, she got caught.

Yes, and it also wasn't about emotion being vilified and he being presented as the one who who can put intellect first. Joan "solved" Moriarty because she used both emotion and the deductive skills her life with Holmes had trained her to; Sherlock's trust in Joan, which was built up throughout the season, allowed him to go with her solution.

[selenak]

It was gratifying to see that the friendship and trust built up over the season was the major factor in trapping Moriarty.

Yes, and I think this is really where the 22, or rather in this case 24 episodes format paid off. Because the series had the time to build up the friendship and partnership slowly, instead of having to rush us to it, I really could believe in it; ditto for Joan's growth as a detective, and Sherlock learning the importance of letting others help (not "just" Joan but also Gregson, Bell, Alfredo). This is something he hadn't been able to when losing "Irene" originally broke him, and what changed since then.

[liviapenn]

Yeah, if anything they presented Irene/Moriarty's lack of empathy and understanding of real emotion as her great weakness. She can't understand what Joan and Sherlock are to each other, but Joan can see right through Irene. Irene can't predict what Joan will do. She completely misjudges her if she thinks Joan will be affected by calling her a "mascot," for instance. But Joan can predict Moriarty's response to Sherlock being weakened, because she understands emotions.

[selenak]

It really showed how little she cared about her pawns in that there was nothing in the slightest bit personal (or even aesthetic) in the crime.

Yes, and it's sort of refreshing because as supervillains go, I think I've reached the point where I'm somewhat weary of the elaborate serial killer psychopath model. Moriarty loves being the smartest, but mainly she's in it for the business.

Fake overdose: I was torn, because on the one hand, I thought, no way they're going to do that and essentially be stuck with showing Sherlock re-starting his addiction recovery from scratch next season, but on the other, I was caught up enough in the moment and JLM's acting that I thought, they just might! But when Moriarty was in the hospital room, I thought, no, this has to be a trick, because no way would Sherlock wake up alone for Moriarty to waltz in if this had been a real overdose instead of a trap.

[lakrids404]

The euro scheme, did not make sense at all. Not that you could not get rich by knowing when, that a currency will drop, by shortening a attacked currency.

At the av-club the Elementary writer Craig Sweeny sometimes comments on the reviews and board posts.

In his latest post there, he said "On resolution, not stringing things along, etc. We enjoy shows that conceive of their seasons as a story that begins and ends over the course of the year. I like that you can look back on S3 of Buffy and remember that was the Mayor/Faith season, and that it addressed themes that were distinct from the Angelus/Spike year or the Glory year. Can't make absolute promises about what we'll do in the future... but that is a powerful, resilient model. Trying to sustain one mystery too long leads to flop sweat."
:)

[rembrandtswife]

I see a parallel between BBC Moriarty underestimating Molly and Elementary Moriarty underestimating Watson. I don't think that's deliberate; I think it's just fortuitous, and it tastes so much better on Elementary because it's a female Moriarty underestimating not just another woman, but a female Watson.

This season finale has really been the highlight of my weekend. Which is sad, but at least it's something. I'm satisfied.