Elementary S2 Ep24 – The Grand Experiment

The next morning, Sherlock visits Kadem’s murder scene and recreates the blood patterns to study them. Joan arrives, and he comments on how ‘beautifully’ their partnership works [which translates to: “Please don’t leave me Joan, pleeeeeeeeeeease?”]. Joan, for the eighty millionth time, explains that she doesn’t want their partnership to end. She simply feels that since meeting Sherlock, she is just another space object caught in orbit around him and she needs some space [hurr hurr] to find out who she is outside of their work as consulting detectives.

Mycroft confronts Sherrington in an ‘authentic’ English bar, asking why Sherrington is doing what he’s doing. Sherrington shrugs it off, painting as not personal, but business. Sherrington, growing up ‘on the streets’ and with less status and money than people like Mycroft, needs a leg up in order to get a promotion, and Mycroft is just the guy he’s going to step on. Sherrington intimates that if anything happens to him, Joan and Sherlock will become ‘collateral damage’ in the war that follows.

Gregson, Sherlock, and Joan bring Julian Avkami in to the station to question him about Nadir Kadem’s death. Sherlock previously deduced that Kadem was stoned to death, a positively ancient way of killing someone, and a very personal one. Some digging revealed that Kadem was having and affair with Avkami’s wife, and Avkami killed him when he found out about it. A scrap of Avkami’s clothing with Kadem’s blood on it puts the nail in his coffin, and gets him to ‘fess up about him and Sherrington trading international secrets. Bing bang boom! Mycroft’s in the clear! Except (*muted trumped wail*) Sherrington’s body just landed in the morgue, with bullet holes in his face that have Mycroft written all over them.

Joan and Sherlock find Mycroft in the brownstone. He explains to them that when Sherrington threatened the two of them, he went to the NSA and made a deal. In exchange for all Mycroft’s information about Le Millieur, the NSA used their contacts within Le Millieur to cast suspicion on Sherrington for being a spy. Le Millieur made short work of him, and a man they believed was Mycroft. So now, technically speaking, Mycroft is dead, which means he must go into hiding forever. Which means no more romantic rendezvous with Joan or snippy-snappy dialogues with Sherlock. Boo hoo.

Joan continues to make plans to move out, while Sherlock goes to Sherrington’s superior and asks if MI6 is hiring. Oh, and before he does that, he TAKES OUT THE HEROINE HE’D BEEN HIDING. Looks like these two ‘partners’ might be splitting up and Sherlock might be relapsing, which makes viewer-Becca shriek in anxiety, but writer-Becca sees watchu doin’ there, Elementary writers. *Fry meme stare*

Analysis!

A less than stellar end to a less than stellar season. Mayhaps this was because I (and much of the audience, if Tumblr is any indication) was not as enamored with Mycroft as Joan or the writers, or even Sherlock was (as much as he would hate to admit it). Mycroft’s story (falling back in bed with MI6 in order to get the terrorist charges against Sherlock swept under the rug) was supposed to make him seem more noble, and yet I just wasn’t convinced. Maybe I needed more insight into what Mycroft and Sherlock were like when they were young? Maybe I just don’t like people going behind other people’s backs to ‘take care of them,’ and then act like they’re some sort of martyr for doing it? I DON’T KNOW. I just never liked Mycroft. He’s not a terrible character by any means, but the more the writers tried to get me to like him, the more I didn’t.

Speaking of the writers, oh man oh man. I’m sad. My main complaints for the writing for this season were 1) There was no interesting, over-arching plot line, 2) Joan and Sherlock’s partnership took a huge step back in terms of equality, and 3) Joan’s characterization was just all over the place.

Still, I’m a little bit (ever so slightly) hopeful. Joan’s acknowledgement that she deserves more than just being Sherlock’s tag-along could’ve been an acknowledgement by the writers, who have been paying very, very little attention to Joan all season long. (FOR GOD’S SAKE WHY IS SHE NOT TRAUMATIZED BY HER KIDNAPPING????? Seriously.) Can we please have next season be as focused on Joan and her troubles and growth spurts and fall backs as this season was focused on Sherlock? She doesn’t need a love interest. She needs to prove to herself (and to us, the audience) that she is more than just Sherlock’s partner. She’s a goddess. Pretty, pretty please, writers?

I’m all for giving season 3 a shot.

What did you think of the season finale? Leave your comments below!