What I’m Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 2, Episode 6 “An Unnatural Arrangement” (B+)

It’s always interesting to see a snapshot of the home life of a character we’ve only previously seen in a work setting. Finding out that the mystery woman who managed to protect herself from what surely would have been a deadly home invasion was married to none other than Captain Gregson was a great reveal, and things only got more interesting from there when he admitted that they were in the midst of a trial separation. There were some familiar faces in this episode, starting with Mrs. Gregson herself, played by Talia Balsam, who was Mona Sterling on “Mad Men” and Cynthia Walden on “Homeland.” Kathleen Chalfant from “The Last New Yorker” and “House of Cards,” among others, was a mourning mother, and Sarah Wynter, who was Kate Warner on “24” and Natalie Fetch on “Californication,” as the ultimate archeologist culprit. There were a lot of puzzle pieces to be put together in the aim of determining exactly who was responsible for the several murders that were happening over the course of this episode, but, as usual, it was the way in which Sherlock and Watson both contributed that made solving the greater mystery most enticing. Sherlock using the case given specifically to Watson by Detective Basken as a palette cleanser wasn’t particularly nice, but his apology was well worth it. I don’t expect that Watson will soon be able to crack something open that Sherlock couldn’t, but it’s always great to see her try, and to see that Sherlock is moving towards considering them equal.