What I’m Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 1, Episode 7 “One Way to Get Off” (B+)

This episode got off to a creepy start with a captive couple coldly executed by a masked robber, and fortunately the ensuing investigation wasn’t quite as brutal to watch. Sherlock digging into Captain Gregson’s old case definitely pushed Gregson’s buttons, threatening to damage their friendship. It was good to see Callie Thorne as Gregson’s old partner, the one who actually did plant the mug to frame their suspect, but her role was so small that she didn’t get to play the zany, wild character she tends to portray. It’s good to know that Gregson, for all his grumpiness, is a straight and narrow cop. Sherlock really does behave like a child when he’s angry, and ignoring all of Watson’s calls and her “Psycho” ringtone just did what it always does: encourage her to press deeper. Going to rehab to learn more about her irksome client didn’t initially prove too effective, but noticing the gardener was far more productive. Sherlock putting the gardener’s letters in the blender was juvenile, and confessing a bit of personal information to Watson at the end of the episode was a nice moment of peace. This show has done well thus far not to dwell on Sherlock’s addictions but instead to emphasize his eccentricities, since he’s much more interesting as a character when he’s actively working rather than sitting around miserable and held back, dwelling on his failures rather than his successes. I do quite enjoy his tactics, particularly throwing an orange at a suspect in the middle of an interrogation.