What I’m Watching: Elementary (Season Finale)

Elementary: Season 2, Episode 24 “The Grand Experiment” (B)

Like the episode in which Watson was held hostage, this installment didn’t quite wow me. I’ve always argued in favor of this show being an above-average procedural, and corrected those who thought I was talking about “Sherlock” (which I’ve never seen – one day). I still believe that to be true, but some recent episodes involving Mycroft have not been the best. I had to look up whether Mycroft was a major character in the original books, since I know that this show tends to take some liberties that make the effectiveness of its material wholly traceable back to its interpretation of those characters. The fact that Watson desperately wants to move out, for instance, makes sense, much more so than her sleeping with Mycroft. Being physically apart for some portion of the day and night should do interesting things for their partnership, hopefully more good than bad. Sherlock, however, is going to be entering a whole new arena, now that he has accepted the job of working for MI-6 following his brother’s departure from the agency. I don’t know where that leaves Detective Bell and Captain Gregson, but it’s not much of a concern since they were never the show’s strongest or most memorable characters anyway. Where it leaves Watson is more of a question mark since he didn’t consult her before taking the job, and she might not be as excited by the notion of working for a foreign government agency as he is. It should make for a reenergized season three, which I hope proves quite enjoyable and newly fresh. While this year wasn’t as good as year one, it was still good, and my current plan is to keep watching this show when it returns to CBS this fall.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Jonny Lee Miller