What I'm Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 1, Episode 22 "Risk Management" (B+)

I didn't enjoy this episode quite as much as the one before it mainly because there was less happening and fewer consequential characters were involved. The deduction that it was the wife who actually witnessed the sister's murder and therefore framed an innocent man to allow her husband some murderous piece of mind was interesting, but it seems like too much of a game from Moriarty rather than something truly significant. I strongly suspected that Irene would be revealed to be alive by episode's end because I remembered reading that "Game of Thrones" actress Natalie Dormer was slated to appear in three episodes this season and the clock was ticking, but it was still startling to see Sherlock incapacitated by shock upon seeing her alive in front of him. That changes things in a big way, and it makes the two-hour season finale an intriguing event which will likely set things right for the disturbed police consultant but also may signal major transformations for the show's current format. It’s clear that Watson isn’t going anywhere, and Gregson’s efforts to get her to go to Florida just serve to fortify her commitment to sticking around. Even if she does decide to depart in the finale to help Gregson’s friend, she’ll be back soon enough, and Sherlock will feel her absence while she’s gone. I’m hopeful that the eventual appearance of Moriarty, or the continuation of his shadowy storyline, won’t disappoint, and that he’ll prove a fitting nemesis for Sherlock who isn’t the cause of his undoing.