What I’m Watching: Elementary (Season Premiere)

Elementary: Season 4, Episode 1 “The Past is Parent” (B)

This show waited so long to return that I had almost completely forgotten that it was even ever on, and I wasn’t particularly excited about it returning. I’ve gone back and forth over the past few years about whether to give up on this show, since it sometimes intrigues me but also sometimes loses me almost right away. Perhaps it’s my fault, but I feel that, more with this show than any other, I get distracted for a moment and miss something big that then means that I’m not remotely interested in what’s happening in the episode. Sherlock being confronted by a man who confesses to a few crimes but purports innocence for another before committing suicide was certainly a sensational start, but too much time has passed for the departed character himself to seem important, and the pacing of this episode was far from thrilling. This is the umpteenth time that Sherlock and Watson have faced potential expulsion from their roles as consultants to the police, and just because Watson cleaned out her stuff doesn’t mean that they’re done. Sherlock shopping for other jobs for both of them was a nice touch, but I think all that work is going to have to be put on the back burner since his father, played by none other than John Noble, has officially come to down to put his son’s life back together in whatever way he sees fit. I hope that’s intriguing, since I’d rather see more of Sherlock enlisting female companions to play out murder scenes to help him solve crimes than actually investigate them conventionally at this point.