Elementary 2.12.
Jan. 3rd, 2014 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd mini winter holidays break is over, giving us bees, clues and the return of an iconic character.
Right now, my most prominent reaction is: Good episode, set up could go wrong in so many ways, but for now, good episode!
I think Natalie Dormer might be my favourite Moriarty of them all, and the show continues to surprise me with what they do with her. By "could go wrong in so many ways" I mean: redemption inspired by maternal and/or romantic love, if that's where they're going, is a tricky, tricky thing to pull off without handwaving away the victims or getting it dreadfully wrong. I'm not saying it can't be done - over at OuaT, Regina is currently on what certainly looks like a road to redemption and it's certainly inspired by maternal love, and my favourite vampire of them all, Darla, killed herself for her son, though whether or not that also means redemption the show never told, and speaking of the Jossverse, I'm not even touching the eternal hot iron that is Spike - but it is tricky. Now what this particular episode did was clever. Both the audience and Holmes expected Moriarty to have ordered the kidnapping in order to stage her escape from prison; there was no suspense to be had if he and we were proven right. Otoh Moriarty suddenly seeing the error of her ways would have been wildly ooc. However, Moriarty infuriated by being blackmailed by a former minion who knows she has a biological daughter she gave up for adoption and dealing with the consequences herself while also continuing to be bothered by the fact she can't get a handle on Joan (loved Moriarty having painted Joan's portrait!) and by the fact she might care what Sherlock thinks of her, that is believable. And I didn't figure the twist with the daughter out until Sherlock did and told Joan, though there was a clue - the kidnapper, Devon, had been shown considerate to the girl (as far as kidnappers go), not gratitiously cruel, so making her cry for her mother when on the phone to the police would have been bewildering - if not for the fact Devon knew Moriarty was listening in (and the whole thing was staged for her benefit, not for the adoptive mother who wasn't at the station at that moment).
(BTW, I liked that the show DIDN'T let Moriarty attempt to see the girl once she'd dealt with the minions. Nor did it suggest the adopted mother was not the "real" mother. )
Similarly, Sherlock's conversation with Joan where he says that he'd changed, from "a junkie misanthrope" to someone who was sober and not one but several important relationships (yay, show, thanks for pointing that out!), and because Moriarty had always been obsessed with the parallels between them, he'd hoped she, too, was capable of change: in hindsight, preparation for the ending and Moriarty's question to Sherlock, whether caring what one particular person thinks of your actions makes one "one of them", whereupon he, not completely cured from special snowflake-itis, says he's not sure that he is. But both conversations were unexpected and interesting to me. I mean, of course we all knew that Holmes' first excuse for continuing to correspond with Moriarty - for science! - was rubbish. But that he actually thought/thinks that she can change because he could/can did surprise me....especially because Elementary is the only Holmes adaption where that MIGHT, just MIGHT be possible, given the show's premise and the importance it places on human connections and the ability to work on yourself and change.
Then again, it also emphasizes of how this is achieved not by one sole person but several - which not only Holmes' summing up of his season 1 arc points out, but the opening montage where "people I respect" is matched with an image of Gregson, and "so many of my actions that I regret" with an image of Bell, plus of course there is Alfredo, the importance of whom as Holmes' sponsor only the previous episode underlined again. And this is precisely what eludes Moriarty so far in her insistence that she and Holmes are the only people capable of getting each other, and her struggling with the reality of Joan and Sherlock's capacity to be close and/or respect more than one person. And as long as Moriarty doesn't get that, I doubt redemption is on the cards. However, a move for Moriarty from supervillain to wild card, showing up in the narrative with unpredictable purpose, might be, which could be the best choice. (After all, how often could our heroes defeat her before her "smartest villain of them all" cred becomes unbelievable?)
Also: loved that Joan refused to be goaded into jealousy or a boast about either her victory the last time or her closeness to Sherlock in her conversation with Moriarty, instead remaining her calm, observant self, which of course needled Moriarty far more than a provoked Joan could have done.
Right now, my most prominent reaction is: Good episode, set up could go wrong in so many ways, but for now, good episode!
I think Natalie Dormer might be my favourite Moriarty of them all, and the show continues to surprise me with what they do with her. By "could go wrong in so many ways" I mean: redemption inspired by maternal and/or romantic love, if that's where they're going, is a tricky, tricky thing to pull off without handwaving away the victims or getting it dreadfully wrong. I'm not saying it can't be done - over at OuaT, Regina is currently on what certainly looks like a road to redemption and it's certainly inspired by maternal love, and my favourite vampire of them all, Darla, killed herself for her son, though whether or not that also means redemption the show never told, and speaking of the Jossverse, I'm not even touching the eternal hot iron that is Spike - but it is tricky. Now what this particular episode did was clever. Both the audience and Holmes expected Moriarty to have ordered the kidnapping in order to stage her escape from prison; there was no suspense to be had if he and we were proven right. Otoh Moriarty suddenly seeing the error of her ways would have been wildly ooc. However, Moriarty infuriated by being blackmailed by a former minion who knows she has a biological daughter she gave up for adoption and dealing with the consequences herself while also continuing to be bothered by the fact she can't get a handle on Joan (loved Moriarty having painted Joan's portrait!) and by the fact she might care what Sherlock thinks of her, that is believable. And I didn't figure the twist with the daughter out until Sherlock did and told Joan, though there was a clue - the kidnapper, Devon, had been shown considerate to the girl (as far as kidnappers go), not gratitiously cruel, so making her cry for her mother when on the phone to the police would have been bewildering - if not for the fact Devon knew Moriarty was listening in (and the whole thing was staged for her benefit, not for the adoptive mother who wasn't at the station at that moment).
(BTW, I liked that the show DIDN'T let Moriarty attempt to see the girl once she'd dealt with the minions. Nor did it suggest the adopted mother was not the "real" mother. )
Similarly, Sherlock's conversation with Joan where he says that he'd changed, from "a junkie misanthrope" to someone who was sober and not one but several important relationships (yay, show, thanks for pointing that out!), and because Moriarty had always been obsessed with the parallels between them, he'd hoped she, too, was capable of change: in hindsight, preparation for the ending and Moriarty's question to Sherlock, whether caring what one particular person thinks of your actions makes one "one of them", whereupon he, not completely cured from special snowflake-itis, says he's not sure that he is. But both conversations were unexpected and interesting to me. I mean, of course we all knew that Holmes' first excuse for continuing to correspond with Moriarty - for science! - was rubbish. But that he actually thought/thinks that she can change because he could/can did surprise me....especially because Elementary is the only Holmes adaption where that MIGHT, just MIGHT be possible, given the show's premise and the importance it places on human connections and the ability to work on yourself and change.
Then again, it also emphasizes of how this is achieved not by one sole person but several - which not only Holmes' summing up of his season 1 arc points out, but the opening montage where "people I respect" is matched with an image of Gregson, and "so many of my actions that I regret" with an image of Bell, plus of course there is Alfredo, the importance of whom as Holmes' sponsor only the previous episode underlined again. And this is precisely what eludes Moriarty so far in her insistence that she and Holmes are the only people capable of getting each other, and her struggling with the reality of Joan and Sherlock's capacity to be close and/or respect more than one person. And as long as Moriarty doesn't get that, I doubt redemption is on the cards. However, a move for Moriarty from supervillain to wild card, showing up in the narrative with unpredictable purpose, might be, which could be the best choice. (After all, how often could our heroes defeat her before her "smartest villain of them all" cred becomes unbelievable?)
Also: loved that Joan refused to be goaded into jealousy or a boast about either her victory the last time or her closeness to Sherlock in her conversation with Moriarty, instead remaining her calm, observant self, which of course needled Moriarty far more than a provoked Joan could have done.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 08:28 am (UTC)Indeed!
Riffing off your essential realization that Sherlock's sobriety and growth rests on several people he shares connections with: If and when Moriarty finds herself in a…dynamic, shall we say, with Joan that is honestly about only the two women, not Sherlock, and if we take into account her daughter, then there would be three points of contact possibly, maybe allowing change.
Not change into a sweet-hearted philanthropist, of course. But change into a sociopath able to easily choose altruistic routes, perhaps?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-14 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-15 07:27 pm (UTC)Anyway, you're right re: Twelve and Missy and the parallels.