Elementary 2.14
Jan. 31st, 2014 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which two lingering plot threads which I hoped we'd see again are indeed picked up, and also, Dinosaurs matter.
Having been to Mongolia last year, I was amused that the smuggling out of a dinosaur skeleton to the US was a plot point because that is indeed a big deal over there. In Ulan Bator, there was a current exhibition of a dino with all the posters titled "I'M BACK!" since the US museum in question had to return it, having purchased it illegally. (Otoh I was also told that some of the locals at the Fiery Cliffs put camel skeletons into the sand and sell them as dinosaur skeletons to gullible tourists.) Anyway, the two plot threads s2 introduced that I hoped would get picked up again were Watson having gotten Holmes' cold cases and Holmes starting to be a sponsor. So I was thrilled when the case of the week was indeed one of those cold cases which Watson decided to pursue but a bit let down when this did not result in a Joan-centric episode. Otoh it introduced her pal Gay the geologist, whom I hope we'll see again. (Since we did see Randy again in this very episode, I'm optimistic.)
The other thread, Holmes struggling with sponsorhood, did live up to my expectations. He wasn't suddenly brilliant at it, but he tried, and combining it with his own struggle not to fall off the wagon was a neat touch. (At first I wasn't clear on why he'd want to puncture the skull, but then I recalled that was where Holmes had stashed the drugs at the end of the Rhys the dealer episode.) The parallels between Randy and Sherlock worked, and I also thought we saw that Holmes has changed - one and a half years ago he would have simply solved his sponsor problem by siccing the cops on the heroin addict girlfriend. I continue to be impressed by the way this show makes it clear that being sober doesn't mean you won't have to fight against temptation for the rest of your life.
Murder among academics for the sake of a theory is utterly believable to me given some of the academics I know.:) Also, if someone hasn't used that idea to write a murder mystery among Shakespeareans, with the killer being a passionate Oxfordian, they should.
Holmes forging a Martin Luther draft manuscript for the 95 Theses of Wittenberg to attract the attention of a suspect cracked me up to no end. That's the kind of amusing detail which I love on this show. It also makes me want to google what Luther manuscripts would be worth (we just had the big anniversary year).
Lastly: C, Holmes' correspondant, was a bit random if she's not there so the character was introduced and could show up again, which I expect to happen. I do like that the show didn't make an ageist joke out of her which I was afraid for a second might happen, but then the scene went swimmingly and the interaction between her and Sherlock was lovely.
Having been to Mongolia last year, I was amused that the smuggling out of a dinosaur skeleton to the US was a plot point because that is indeed a big deal over there. In Ulan Bator, there was a current exhibition of a dino with all the posters titled "I'M BACK!" since the US museum in question had to return it, having purchased it illegally. (Otoh I was also told that some of the locals at the Fiery Cliffs put camel skeletons into the sand and sell them as dinosaur skeletons to gullible tourists.) Anyway, the two plot threads s2 introduced that I hoped would get picked up again were Watson having gotten Holmes' cold cases and Holmes starting to be a sponsor. So I was thrilled when the case of the week was indeed one of those cold cases which Watson decided to pursue but a bit let down when this did not result in a Joan-centric episode. Otoh it introduced her pal Gay the geologist, whom I hope we'll see again. (Since we did see Randy again in this very episode, I'm optimistic.)
The other thread, Holmes struggling with sponsorhood, did live up to my expectations. He wasn't suddenly brilliant at it, but he tried, and combining it with his own struggle not to fall off the wagon was a neat touch. (At first I wasn't clear on why he'd want to puncture the skull, but then I recalled that was where Holmes had stashed the drugs at the end of the Rhys the dealer episode.) The parallels between Randy and Sherlock worked, and I also thought we saw that Holmes has changed - one and a half years ago he would have simply solved his sponsor problem by siccing the cops on the heroin addict girlfriend. I continue to be impressed by the way this show makes it clear that being sober doesn't mean you won't have to fight against temptation for the rest of your life.
Murder among academics for the sake of a theory is utterly believable to me given some of the academics I know.:) Also, if someone hasn't used that idea to write a murder mystery among Shakespeareans, with the killer being a passionate Oxfordian, they should.
Holmes forging a Martin Luther draft manuscript for the 95 Theses of Wittenberg to attract the attention of a suspect cracked me up to no end. That's the kind of amusing detail which I love on this show. It also makes me want to google what Luther manuscripts would be worth (we just had the big anniversary year).
Lastly: C, Holmes' correspondant, was a bit random if she's not there so the character was introduced and could show up again, which I expect to happen. I do like that the show didn't make an ageist joke out of her which I was afraid for a second might happen, but then the scene went swimmingly and the interaction between her and Sherlock was lovely.
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Date: 2014-01-31 04:11 pm (UTC)Found the episode kind of dull though, and I don't know why. Probably just needed more Joan.
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Date: 2014-01-31 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2014-02-04 02:51 pm (UTC)Re: Sherlock, yes, and the show never implies that this is something that needs to be "fixed" about him, or that it's a symptome of his dysfunctions or what not. And the people he knows via said desires aren't presented as negative or in need of fixing, either The domina who called him on the phone when she found a dead body waiting for her in the short time she was on screen came across as sensible, self possessed and practical, and C was sublime.