What I’m Watching: Elementary

Elementary: Season 2, Episode 22 “Paint It Black” (B-)

I was very much looking forward to this episode after last week’s cliffhanger ending featuring Watson being abducted by the man she was surveilling. This installment reframed things in a crucial way before turning it all on its head with a surprising final scene. It’s weird that, when the loyal Watson is taken hostage and Sherlock needs someone to help, he wouldn’t turn to the show’s other two regular players, Captain Gregson and Detective Bell. Instead, he worked only with recurring guest character Mycroft, who had to take his share of insults from a spiteful and rather mean-spirited Sherlock before finally seizing the opportune moment to taze his brother and take the upper hand. Sherlock is awfully productive when he’s angry, and so he made some important discoveries in a short span of time which proved useful, especially since their initial suspicions were not accurate. Watson’s captivity left something to be desired because it put her in the familiar situation of having to say “I’m a doctor!” so that it really wasn’t all that miserable. I would have liked to see Henri Lubatti, who played Marchef, used better, and Michael Gaston’s accent left something to be desired. The revelation that Mycroft is working with an agency - a British agency - is big news, and is sure to have catastrophic consequences considering Sherlock just reported him to the NSA. Watson may be able to forgive Mycroft, but I sincerely doubt that Sherlock will have the inclination to do so.