Not Short Review of Elementary 4x07 Miss Taken: Grade C-
The good: The acting, the fashion. A couple of really funny lines: poop for lunch, porn name.
The bad: The plot was actually promising this time, in that at least it wasn’t some corporate bigwig murder. Then they had to go and f-ck it up in the final act, with a nonsensical explanation in which tons of investigation was done offscreen and revealed in a long and confusing expo dump. Then again, this story has been done before. A lot. On SVU and everywhere else.
And the back and forth about why the DNA didn’t, then did, then didn’t match. WTF? Just when you think, okay, great, here’s a story that has the potential for all kinds of emotional stakes (the father being a possible abuser), it’s just jettisoned for more plot gymnastics.
The ugly: Jesus, the B-story. First of all, John Heard was totally miscast. Their whole relationship was weird -- who doesn’t at least give a half-hug, kiss to their father when you’re greeting them? Secondly, as has been noted, you’ve got the creepiness of his writing about her sexually/racially (kung fu).
Then you’ve got Sherlock back to being his asshole self, knowing about the book, not telling her, gloating that he’s caught her in a lie about where’s she’s been, not realizing that she might rightfully be upset about the whole book situation, and just when we get to the nitty gritty -- the f-ing phone rings.
Then, SH/JW have their next important, personally revealing convo literally tossed over the trash as they’re searching the garage. Which is the perfect metaphor for this show’s utter disregard for LL and her character.
There’s no attempt to delve into the timeline either. How old was JW when this affair happened? How long has it been? How long had bio dad been gone when Henry showed up? And obv, JW and her mother are close, so what does she think about all this? Why isn’t she there when she shows up to the house? And Henry is even more manipulative when he shows up at the brownstone, whining re: “being friends again.”
That all leads, inexplicably, to JW seeing the missing girl embrace her mother, supposedly sending her back into the stiff, unloving, creepy arms of Dad.
Just a total fail. Even the wake-up trope or Clyde would’ve been welcome instead.
Here’s how it should’ve played out: Cassie’s right. The Dad was abusing the daughter. But he didn’t kill her, she ran away. Cassie befriends the girl, who’s now on the streets. In fact, she and the girl are lovers and they concocted this plan so that Cassie could claim the inheritance and then they’d run away together. The FBI agent came sniffing around, and actually wanted a cut of the dough, but instead they killed him and framed the dad, cause he’s a perv. But dad feels guilty and confesses, and the girls won’t turn on each other, and the cops/Sherly don’t have enough evidence, so they get away with it. That would be a refreshing change.
Meanwhile, Joan is rightly very creeped out about her dad writing her and SH in sex scenes and confronts him about it (echoing the A-story abuse). And yeah, she never has forgiven him for hurting her mom, and just when she was beginning to trust him, he goes and pulls this shit, and no, he can’t use her life for his financial gain. Her mom is actually part of the story, and maybe guilts her into letting Henry release the sequel, because yeah, she should probably kick him to the curb, but realistically she’s too old to start over. (Abused women echo). But the real issue is that Sherlock is pulling his shit again, and like Cassie/Mina, JW won’t be manipulated and lied to by men and lays down the f-cking law with Sherlock. She has been letting him off the hook far too much lately and that stops now. Or else. The last scene is her storming out -- ending up at a bar where she has a drink with a seemingly nice guy who turns out to be a shill for Morland. The end.
