Elementary truly grows on you

I gave CBS’s Elementary a pretty savage review over the summer. Actually, it wasn’t all that savage. I pointed out the good points and the bad points. Unfortunately, the uneven pacing, Jonny Lee Miller’s hyperactive Sherlock and the cartoonishly inadequate detectives outnumbered Lucy Liu’s understated Joan Watson and the excellent set/costume design. I’ve continued to watch the show in the ensuing weeks to see if it improved. It has. The writers no longer unnecessarily cram every single catch phrase and crazy Sherlockian habit into every odd minute in the show. The music no longer swells at inappropriate moments and they’re learning to let Sherlock breathe. Yes, sometimes the cops are still inexplicably stupid. If a high-profile Wall Street executive is found dead in his obsessive compulsive secret love den, wouldn’t you test the ONE thing found out of place in his apartment — the inexplicably unfinished salad? And, wouldn’t you ask his clearly cuckolded wife for her whereabouts at the time of his murder? Yes, you would. So, I didn’t understand why Detective Bell ridiculed Sherlock for making clear, logical suggestions.

But, outside of that, the show has improved and aligns with the original stories. Sherlock was obsessed with Chinese tattoos. So, having Sherlock speak Mandarin to a chef and letting Miller keep his personal tattoos makes sense. Sherlock frequently annoyed the hell out of Watson. When irritated, Watson typically challenged all of Sherlock’s assertions. But, Sherlock also loved “mentoring” Watson’s deductive skills. All those relationship aspects remain. Re-reading the stories as an adult, I get a strong homoerotic vibe between the two. There’s one story that stood out in my mind where Sherlock promises Watson that he reserved two double beds, but when they arrive there’s only one. Guess who wasn’t angry? It wasn’t Watson. If Watson were a woman back in the day, they totally would’ve gotten it on Victorian style.

However, this week’s episode showed the old school Sherlock by focusing on his addiction and his pride. Elementary’s premise surrounding Sherlock’s drug habits with Watson as his sober companion initially attracted me to the show. It was fresh and picked at a trait very few pre-1990s shows/films addressed. I read somewhere that Doyle introduced Sherlock’s cocaine/heroin habit to make the character less appealing. However, the drugs make him accessible to our contemporary society. Although the pilot glossed over Sherlock’s addiction, “Rat Race” let glints of reality shine through. Rather than write Sherlock as a totally cool, hyper crazy child, we see more humanity. We see more humility. And, we see more honesty. Sherlock’s one line about forgetting the smell of cooked heroin explained it all and I loved his final moments with both Watson and “Lestrade.”

CBS finally hit on Sherlock’s core. It isn’t his external skills or his frantic energy, but his internal failings and isolation. As a child reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries I only noticed Holmes’ kickbutt observational abilities. But, as an adult, I observed how Sir Conan Arthur Doyle quietly addressed his lead’s failings and separation from others. In the Elementary pilot, I assumed the producers focused on the flashier external shell because it looked cooler. It wasn’t. It just turned Sherlock into a two-dimensional cartoon. Luckily, they’ve realized their mistake. Like the original Sherlock Holmes, Elementary‘s Sherlock now incorporates more highs and lows with actual human foibles.

The more recent episodes delve into Holmes’ pride as a his Achilles heel. Allowing the child serial killer and murdering secretary to play on his weakest character traits, reminded me of Sir Conan Arthur Doyle’s writing style. He frequently commented on incredibly obvious cases, pointing out that if you read one mystery story you’ve already read his. I loved that cheeky self-awareness. Having the recent serial killers observe Sherlock observing them is smart. Plus, it harkens back to Doyle’s writing style.

The show can still improve how Sherlock interacts with other characters. Gregson’s sidekick should challenge Sherlock, but he shouldn’t dismiss blatantly obvious theories. In the novels, a lot of the inspectors attempted to “outsmart” Sherlock by pointing out bizarre clues that went nowhere. Not making Marcus a buffoon is smart. However, the novels highlighted the difference between police work and Sherlock’s work. While the police required tangibles before following leads, Sherlock could follow deductive theories. That hasn’t changed. Having Gregson, a cop whose training dictates he can’t look beyond hard evidence, use Sherlock — who can — makes sense. Letting us know that Gregson isn’t a complete idiot, who checked up on Sherlock, helps make the police characters look less one-dimensional. Although Marcus highlights the old school tension between Sherlock and cops, but I’d still like to see him not dismiss obvious clues either.

Overall, Elementary has grown on me. The cases are frequently becoming more complex. Admittedly, not all of old school Sherlock’s cases were that intricate. However, I greatly enjoyed the last two episodes. Elementary is improving and thank goodness for that.