Saturday, October 12, 2013

CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode # 3 "We Are Everyone" - Review

Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson in CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 3 We are Everyone


Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) gets some unsolicited help from her friend Emily Hankins (Susan Pourfar), who sets up Joan's profile on an online dating site calledTrueRomantix”. This constitutes the mandatory secondary plot for this episode.

One Mr Mueller (Ronald Guttman) wants Holmes to track down Ezra Kleinfelter (Christian Campbell), a contractor who leaked highly confidential secrets to the media. Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) discovers that Ezra is using Celia Caroll (Laura Osnes) of the Dispatch to publish the secrets.

Sherlock takes the help of his associate, Milton Van Kirk (Peter McRobbie) in the investigation. Holmes suspects that Ezra has killed a known acquaintance.

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Ezra has the support of an anonymous hacker group called “We are Everyone” and the group targets both Holmes and Joan. Soon, power is down at the brownstone and Joan's profile on the dating site is also hacked into.

Holmes and Joan race against time to catch Ezra, before he can leave the US to relocate to an unknown destination. 

The plot has a marked resemblance to the real life incidents involving Edward Snowden. Further, the group “We are Everyone” reminded me of the Anonymous hacker group.

Still, this was one of the most boring episodes of Elementary. After a couple of better-than-usual episodes, the show is back to its usual level of (low) standards.

The references by Miller's Holmes to his former love, Irene Adler/Moriarty (Natalie Dormer) did not help either.

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson in CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 3 We are Everyone

The acting by the leads as well as the plot was subpar compared to the previous episodes.

Perhaps, the next episode will be better.


Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson face a power cut in CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 3 We are Everyone


Canonical References

1. Mr Mueller states that Miller's Holmes comes highly recommended from a certain corporation - In the Canon, Sherlock Holmes often received cases through recommendations from previous clients. 

2. Joan Watson is seen typing The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes” on her laptop - Direct reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories of the same name, that were published between 1921 - 1927.
 
Trivia 

The song The Load” by Barbarossa is played in the final scenes, when Miller's Holmes is reading the letter from Jamie Moriarty. 

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Solve for X
Step Nine

Friday, October 4, 2013

Elementary "Solve for X" Episode - Review


Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson in Solve For X CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 2


A man gets mugged and is attacked. The mugger hears a shooting in progress and soon becomes the next victim.

Joan Watson (Lucy Liu) visits the grave to pay her respects to Gerald Castoro, the patient mistakenly killed by her in a surgical operation. She runs into his son, Joey Castoro (Jeremy Jordan), who tries to get some funds from Joan to help his plans of buying a bar.

Felix Soto, a math tutor is found shot. He was working on the P vs NP problem and was probably only weeks from solving this classical mathematical problem. Holmes' investigation leads to a Tanya Barrett (Lynn Collins). Holmes deduces that Cyril Nauer is the working partner of Felix.. He too has been killed within an hour of Felix's murder.

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All clues point to a certain suspect. But is everything what it seems or is there more than what meets the eye?

Check out the episode for the solution.

Canonical References

1. Miller's Holmes asking Detective Bell if he learnt his observation skills from him - John Watson makes this statement in The Sign of the Four: “More than once during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a small vanity underlay my companion's quiet and didactic manner.”

2. Miller's Holmes using his sense of smell to deduce that Cam phosphor is present on the walls and about Joan's meetings with Joey Castoro - The Canonical Holmes has an acute sense of smell.


Lucy Liu and Jeremy Jordan as Joan Watson and Joey Castoro in CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 2 Solve For X

3. Miller's Holmes showing knowledge of the chemicals used to write the mathematical equation on the walls - In A Study in Scarlet, Dr Watson states that Holmes has “Profound” knowledge in Chemistry. Stamford also describes Sherlock Holmes as a “first-class chemist”.

4. Joan finding a bare chested stranger solving mathematical equations in their apartment and Miller's Holmes is seen doing push-ups at 2 am - John Watson mentions about Holmes in The Adventure of the Dying Detective: “His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.”

5. Miller's Holmes comments that Joan has quite a "Victorian" attitude about having partly naked men in their apartment - A reference to the values and mores of the era during which the original stories were written.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in Solve For X CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 2


6. Miller's Holmes using handwriting analysis to determine that there were 2 men who wrote the equation - Sherlock Holmes uses handwriting analysis to deduce that 2 men wrote the message in The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle. Holmes uses handwriting analysis in other cases too.

7. Miller's Holmes deducing that the dog is a Boston Terrier - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes deduces that Dr James Mortimer is “the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff.”

8. Miller's Holmes states: “I am an expert on poisons, Watson” - Dr Watson documents Holmes' knowledge in A Study in Scarlet: “Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally.”

Lucy Liu as Joan Watson in Solve For X CBS Elementary Season 2 Episode 2


The mystery component was good. Miller gave a much better performance in this episode.

Lucy Liu, as always, is good as Joan.

Lynn Collins makes an attractive mathematician, a throwback to the female characters in Bond movies.

A good episode. Hoping that the show maintains the quality.

Trivia

The song "Sea of Air" by Portugal. The Man is played in the episode.

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