What I’m Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 2, Episode 9 “On the Line” (B+)

This episode was structured in a much different way than most of its predecessors, showing certain aspects of the crime, namely the faked suicide, to us before Sherlock, Watson, and the rest of the NYPD had the chance to figure them out. I liked that device, and I hope that it’s used in the future, though not all cases will be nearly as dramatic as this one. It was great to see two familiar TV faces in very different roles in this episode. Troy Garity, who was a rabble-rousing newspaperman on “Boss,” was the established serial killer who Sherlock figured out was lying right away and never did much to try to hide his creepiness, and Chris Bauer, who plays zany Southern cop Andy Bellefleur on “True Blood,” was a far more put-together but equal irritable detective here, who wasn’t subtle about his distaste for Sherlock. A criminal stopping by Sherlock and Watson’s residence is certainly something we don’t see on a regular basis, and this episode was full of moments like that, particularly the prank he pulled that involved Sherlock and Watson showing up to find that the woman they thought they had spoken to didn’t actually have a daughter and was never in any danger. Ending the episode with one husband being unexpectedly reunited with his presumed-dead wife, who had been held captive for two years, was moving, and a testament to the damage caused by this episode’s bad guy. Gregson affirming his support for Sherlock and Watson was great, and it was also good to see Sherlock emphasizing his inability to be changed while at the same time complimenting Watson for working well with him.