#elementary 1x16

[kajaono]

How to flirt with Marcus Bell: A guide by Sherlock Holmes

1. Compliment his work by telling him it is good sign that many people want him dead

2. Pander his intellect by telling him that he isn’t an idiot

Quick, Marcus, act cute!

Nailed it!

[kajaono]

Was there a plot in ‘Details’? I suddently forgot about it

[amindamazed]

1x16/4x12

This is the face Sherlock makes when someone he wants to spend time with surprises him by saying they want to spend time with him, too.

I see Sherlock’s connection with Fiona as part of the general exploration of Holmes’ relationships that began in s3: with Watson; with Kitty; with Harlan, Marcus, and Alfredo; with his past (Oscar); with family (which includes the prospect of fathering a child, adopting himself as part of Watson’s family, and of course his father). With most of these, in the end the focus is always on Holmes, not the other person, and I expect the same to be the case with Fiona. Based on his conversation with Watson when he admitted to like-liking her, I’d say the show is using Fiona as the next step in processing Sherlock’s feelings for Irene-who-wasn’t/Moriarty.

My own prediction is that we’ll find out Fiona broke it off amicably after a few months — probably off-screen, though maybe she’ll appear in another episode — and Sherlock will have learned that romance doesn’t always lead him to despair and ruin, and that will be that. Alternatively, Sherlock will break it off after learning that Fiona is in danger due to their association. I’m hoping for the former, though, because we already have enough manpain plot in this show.

[amindamazed]

some thoughts on "The One That Got Away":

Joan and Kitty had no scenes together in this episode.

As is the show's deplorable habit for anything related to Joan, much of Joan and Kitty's relationship has been told to us, not shown. Sherlock repeatedly gave Watson credit for aspects of Kitty's success, but without seeing more than a few scenes of that mentoring on screen or even having any clear sense of how much time has passed over the course of these 12 episodes — how long have Joan and Kitty known each other? Can't be much more than 3 months — I find it difficult to assume real closeness between Joan and Kitty or to imagine the three of them as a unit, familial or otherwise. Instead, I tend to see them as three pairs: Sherlock and Watson; Sherlock and Kitty; Joan and Kitty. 

In 3x12, it became clearer to me how Sherlock and Kitty became "family", to use Joan's term. But the only way I can understand Joan's plea to Gruner in 3x11 that she was asking for help because it concerned someone she considers family is by extension. It would seem that for Joan, the family of her family is her [extended] family. That is, because Kitty is family to Sherlock, and Sherlock is family to Joan, then Kitty is part of Joan's family. It's not because of the strength of any direct tie between the two women. What we saw underscored in 3x12 was the strength of the tie between Kitty and Sherlock, over and over. This is not a complaint; I don't need Joan and Kitty to be close, and I like the prickly caring bond between Sherlock and Kitty. I just want the show to stop telling us one thing (Joan's done so much for Kitty!) when it so strongly commits to showing something else entirely.

[on the other hand, Joan had known Marcus less than 3 months when she called him family in "Details." So perhaps "family" is less an indication of closeness and more one of loyalty and shared responsibility for Joan. Depending on how disruptive her biological father's illness and her adoptive father's infidelity were, she might have learned to distrust any traditional association with the concept and forged her own meaning of the word.]

[amindamazed]

I did not hate it! There were things I liked! It was a little boring, but that's much better than I feared. I'm not particularly worried about the uncertainty in the ending, and I think Sherlock's actions were much more about Mycroft than Watson. 

It was clear from the end that Sherlock's trash-talk is his way of covering up strong feelings for someone, and that's how I interpreted his comments about Watson to MI6 early in the episode, partly his cover and partly venting surreptitiously that he cares for her.

I'm intrigued by the parallels between the Holmes brothers and the Bell brothers: one of them being framed, resentment and judgment of the older by the younger, the older one acting to protect the younger, and the younger one surprised that the older didn't hold a grudge.

And I wonder why they didn't link Mycroft's planted fingerprints here with the fake/planted fingerprints that played a key role in the case that brought Mycroft to NYC in The Marchioness. Not that the cases were related, but a mention of that would have made more sense than Mycroft being incredulous that his fingerprints were found where he hadn't put them. (ok, no, I don't wonder; narrative continuity is so s1.)

[bluebatwingstheog]

"I am better with you, Watson." 

WOW THIS SCENE

[bluebatwingstheog]

"Stay on permanently, not as my sober companion, but as my companion."

[amindamazed]

"When I learned of the lie, however, I, I deliberately adopted a more sanguine mood. I wanted you to see that I was well again, so you could...move on." (Holmes, "Details," 1x16)

After Watson tells Sherlock she's going to try the dating site, he apparently deduces that the needs that aren't being addressed for her in the life-worth-living-in they're creating must be somatic ones. He wants her to see that she can be physically satisfied without "unnecessary social entanglements." So he resolves to stop waking her at dawn without reason, offers her an elaborate meal, relaxes their schedule for a day, and makes a valiant attempt to pat her on the back.