User Reviews

The writers went too far with Oscar's stupidity. I don't buy for a second that a guy like that would not acknowledge and respect Sherlock's remarkable turnaround and his current job working with the NYPD. Maybe Oscar is jealous, but the writers have Oscar believing Sherlock is a loser just like him. I don't buy it. Sure, Sherlock has a relapse, who can blame him? Why not have Oscar tell Sherlock that the reason he kidnapped Alfredo is so Sherlock wouldn't have access to his sponsor? That is because Oscar is an idiot! As were the writers with this episode. It is too much of a stretch just to create conflict/drama. Maybe the writers wanted Sherlock to beat Oscar nearly to death and then relapse - and they didn't care enough about how they got to it. Did they feel they had to do it for a season finale? I cannot believe there isn't oversight in the writers rooms at CBS. It's bad enough that they have taken so many liberties with the original Sherlock Holmes character. We accept that but it boils down to this: everything in a crime drama must be believable to the viewer. E V E R Y T H I N G

My rating is for a superb performance by the cast and the fact that Oscar deserved everything he got.

*Possible spoilers*

Season three finale shocked me. Very emotional episodes with great twists and a good, not overly theatrical cliffhanger.

I hoped that there would be more deductive reasoning to the investigation and that that Oscar had made more effort to conceal Olivia's body to make sure nobody will discover it until he leads Sherlock to the location. But overall a very exciting and emotional episode. Not as good as season one finale but definitely better than the season two finale. I have my own idea for the premiere. It turns out that Sherlock didn't relapse, despite getting very close to, but he actually ended up murdering Oscar in self defense. There was no evidence to prove that the murder wasn't self defense, but the police had their suspicions, causing him to be put under suspension and possibly face drug possession charge at least, since he had disposed of the narcotics that he had stolen before calling the police but it was later recovered with his fingerprints on it. He was not only facing legal charges, but was upset greatly over what had happened. Joan was the one to contact Sherlock's father, causing him to go back to New York and try to help Sherlock. Due to an investigation and helped by his father's influence, Sherlock ended up getting cleared of all charges and being free to get back to work, but still decided-and was advised- to "take a break" from his work as a consultant and a detective, and started taking some psychiatric sessions. The premiere episode opens in September, with Sherlock resuming his work, to an apparent dislike from his father, who, apparently, sees this situation as an opportunity to get Sherlock move back to London (and yes, I know that the talk about that in season two was a ploy from Mycroft). Sherlock takes over the case that detective Bell and captain Gregson had been working on in the past, but have never solved: a young, healthy woman was found dead in her house; the cause of death hasn't been determined, and in weeks prior to the murder she had reported a suspicious man moving around her house at night, as well as hearing weird, whistle like noises under her bedroom window. Police had investigated those claims, but hadn't gotten very far. Shortly before her death, she had sent a text message to her sister, reading simply "A Speckled Band". That happened late in 2011, when Sherlock was at the height of his addiction and wasn't working for NYPD yet, neither was that keen on studying the cases happening throughout the city. Now, almost four years later and with the anniversary of the victim's death approaching, the victim's sister, living in a completely different neighborhood,  also reports seeing a strange man moving around her house at night and hearing whistle like noises. The suspects include their abusive stepfather, the victim's possessive ex boyfriend and a registered female sex offender who lived close to the victim in 2011 and is now living close to the victim's sister. Obviously, that would be an adaption of "The Adventure Of The Speckled Band". But whatever happens, I am sure that you will provide us with a great season premiere!

I very much enjoyed the second season of Elementary because it did a very good job of keeping its base of case-per-week mysteries well serviced, but also expanded the characters and had enjoyable threads running the season as a whole. It is disappointing then to contrast season 3 and see it fall down so heavily when it comes to the latter. To start however with the former aspect, the show remains a satisfyingly enjoyable crime procedural weekly, with well structured crimes which are delivered with a brisk energy so that you are carried along with the sweep of it, and do not worry too much about the leaps in logical or some very unlikely aspects of it. These are additionally helped by character arcs and links that keep us involved outside of the specific episode – which works even though it is not as good as it was in the previous season.

The issues I had with the material above the specific week, was that too much of it lacked a base beyond just making something else happening; of course this could be said of everything, but it works when it feels more organic and manages to conceal this fact. In the third season though, things like this clunk flat from the get go. One could be forgiven for hoping that the MI6 plot from the very end of the previous season would be carried on in some way, but instead it is merely used as a placeholder (we start this season after that spell is ended and Holmes is back in NY). The only thing it seems to bring to the show other than the passage of time and the reframing of the season, is that it introduces Kitty as a character. This is not without merit, but mostly it does feel like she exists to fill half the season with an arc and a sense of the new. This is reinforced by her story being neatly tied up and then her clearing off. The same could be said of Joan's new boyfriend – a character so lacking that it is only ever a question as to how and when he will serve as a direct plot-device, not "if" he will. Add to this Bell's sudden girlfriend, the captain's daughter, and several other examples and it starts to feel a bit obvious and there are just too many characters introduced into the main character's lives that are really only done for the sake of giving some stories a starting point. This gives a lot of the character-driven material a much more superficial feel; a feeling which is accepted as part of the weekly cases, but hurts the bigger material.

Holmes and Watson mostly avoid this, and remain engaging in their consistency and in their delivery. Although a lot of their developments feel plot-orientated, there is more of a root to them so it tends to work better. It also helps that Miller continues to be engaging in the lead role, with mannerisms that lend to the quirk but do not let it take over. Liu continues to be a good mix with him, even if she is not the most expressive of performers – great when required to deadpan or look out of sorts, but not a lot more. Hill has good material again, but Quinn feels a little like he is on the edge of the production but still getting paid so fine with it. Lovibond is good with what she is asked to do, but Jaffrey really has nothing to work with. Gershon was enjoyable for her moments, but generally the season used too many bits of "oh look its him" casting, with the appearance of a familiar face usually meaning they did it.

The third season of Elementary delivers more than enough to satisfy those looking for what the show has done well since the start, however the engaging bigger picture threads, and linking narratives do not work so well here, with too much that is wholly superficial and lacking any form of root – which is fine for the victims in the opening moments of an episode, but for nearest and dearest (or not) it doesn't work as well, limiting the season as a whole.

Review By Kamal K

New mysteries are afoot in the third season of Elementary. Picking up several months after the Season 2 finale, Holmes returns from London with a new protégée, Kitty Winter, after a failed stint with MI6. Ophelia Lovibond is especially good as Kitty, and brings a fun new energy to the show. And, Gina Gershon guest stars in an interesting multi-episode arc as a nemesis for Watson. Some of the cases-of-the-week are a little stale, but the character development for Holmes and Watson is incredibly compelling; as Holmes begins to truly care about his colleagues and Watson becomes more independent and self-reliant. While Season 3 of Elementary spicens up the show's formula a bit, it still remains as entertaining and full of intrigue as ever.