What I’m Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 2, Episode 12 “The Diabolical Kind” (B+)

Had it not been for the “previously on” segment, I would have not thought to expect a return of one of this show’s best characters, Moriarty. I was already so impressed with the fact that this show had opted to rewrite Sherlock Holmes history and have Moriarty and Irene Adler revealed to be one and the same, and I’m more than pleased to see Moriarty return so soon after she first appeared. It’s a good thing she survived too, since this show should feature her every once in a while to reference and recall one of its strongest plotlines to date. Leave it to Irene to communicate with her associates by weaving code into her sketches and artwork, and to taunt her supervising officer with the fact that she devised thirty ways to escape from her confinement. Having her around does strange things to Sherlock, making him even more prickly than usual, but what’s more interesting is the effect she has on Watson. It’s actually more the effect Watson has on her, since she’s not threatened by her but also recognizes that she has the potential to do enormous damage to Sherlock’s emotional state. It seems as if his relationship with Moriarty was in a pretty good place by episode’s end, and that’s a good thing since he could use a win after the miserable nature of his relationship with Bell, who was seen only for a moment trying to fire his gun while Sherlock narrated the episode with a reading of one of his letters.