Elementary 5.15
As you can imagine, I was, for the most part, a happy camper due to this episode's guest star, even more so when discovering it was apparantly part 1 of a two parter.
I say "for the most part" because of two issues, one of whom may never come to pass, and the other could resolve itself in the next episode. Best to get it out of the way first so I can rejoice for the rest of the review.
1.) All the praise is taken back if Kitty either dies at the end of this two parter or is revealed as a villain. I don't really think either will happen - Moriarty's season 2 appearance was a good precedence for the show bringing an important recurring character back without invalidating the previous powerful arc this person had been a key component of -, but there's always the faint possibility, and so I shan't cease to slightly fret until it is settled. Which unfortunately for me will be in a month, because I'm off to New Zealand on the 13th, and won't be able to catch up on Elementary there until I'm back in the second week of April.
2.) I do not like Kitty telling Joan once this case is over, she intends to retire from detecting, except for her work for the women-against-human-trafficing organization (btw, the later is a great idea for what Kitty was doing in the intervening years since last we saw her, I approve, show!). Now I can see the Watsonian (ha!) rationale - being responsible for a child means putting yourself in great danger on a regular basis isn't just a risk you take for yourself anymore -, but I fear the Doylist one might be so that there are no other detectives practicing Sherlock's methods other than Holmes & Watson. And I dislike this idea immensely, because I appreciated the key difference between Elementary and other versions of the Holmes & Watson tale: that Holmes' methods of deduction are presented as teachable, not unique to him. Also that while the bond between him and his Watson is strong and powerful, it is inclusionary, not exclusionary, as proved by the way it grew to include Kitty in s3, which btw helped their own relationship (stressed due to s2 events) to no end.
Which is why I'm hoping that at the end of the two parter, Kitty won't say goodbye to detecting but will have changed her mind. If she doesn't, my objection to this one element of her return stands.
Now on to the good stuff, which is: everything else. I loved, loved, loved the episode. The different ways Sherlock and Joan respond to Kitty's return, which is very them, and feels right to the different type of relationship they've had with her. Joan hasn't forgotten Kitty lied to them (btw: I don't think the show ever clarified whether or not Sherlock had ever told Joan he'd found Kitty and spoken to her before she took her revenge, leaving the decision up to her?), and she's cautious enough to investigate just what Kitty is up to when not being with them, but she also has no problem showing her emotions to Kitty and rejoicing for her when she finds out just what Kitty is hiding. (BTW, considering how often Sherlock and Joan are breaking and entering, it was just a matter of time before someone honestly mistook them for a criminal and acted accordingly, so I got a little kick out of this happening.) Meanwhile, Sherlock treats Kitty's return seemingly matter of factly and normal and determinedly does not try to show emotions or to find out what she's done since she left but is increasingly chocked up when talking to her or about her, until he can't get out anything at all when she presents him with the baby. (A grandkid, your reviewer exclaimed flippantly.) She means a lot to him, and while she could verbalize it during their last phonecall in s3, he couldn't.
Meanwhile, Kitty first tries to get around the awkwardness of mutually repressing emotions by teasing him, and the three ways detecting goes swimmingly, but when it comes to talking about herself she's still extremely skittish (ditto with physically expressed affection), and the guilt she feels isn't related to what she did to her rapist (which she doesn't feel guilty for) but to the fear of letting Sherlock down. She was and is my favourite non H & W character on this show, and I shall miss her dreadfully once she's gone again. (Though again: working against human trafficing using her detecting skills is a GREAT professional choice.) I'm not sure I buy Gregson being so immediately fine with her return, but then again, if he took her to task for what she did, he'd have had to own up to the part where he'd been okay with her having used physical force to help his daughter some months earlier. Also, handwavium,since if Kitty couldn't enter the preccint it would have made for an awkward subplot of how she could investigate together with the others.
In conclusion: it's going to be a long four weeks...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1219538.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
I say "for the most part" because of two issues, one of whom may never come to pass, and the other could resolve itself in the next episode. Best to get it out of the way first so I can rejoice for the rest of the review.
1.) All the praise is taken back if Kitty either dies at the end of this two parter or is revealed as a villain. I don't really think either will happen - Moriarty's season 2 appearance was a good precedence for the show bringing an important recurring character back without invalidating the previous powerful arc this person had been a key component of -, but there's always the faint possibility, and so I shan't cease to slightly fret until it is settled. Which unfortunately for me will be in a month, because I'm off to New Zealand on the 13th, and won't be able to catch up on Elementary there until I'm back in the second week of April.
2.) I do not like Kitty telling Joan once this case is over, she intends to retire from detecting, except for her work for the women-against-human-trafficing organization (btw, the later is a great idea for what Kitty was doing in the intervening years since last we saw her, I approve, show!). Now I can see the Watsonian (ha!) rationale - being responsible for a child means putting yourself in great danger on a regular basis isn't just a risk you take for yourself anymore -, but I fear the Doylist one might be so that there are no other detectives practicing Sherlock's methods other than Holmes & Watson. And I dislike this idea immensely, because I appreciated the key difference between Elementary and other versions of the Holmes & Watson tale: that Holmes' methods of deduction are presented as teachable, not unique to him. Also that while the bond between him and his Watson is strong and powerful, it is inclusionary, not exclusionary, as proved by the way it grew to include Kitty in s3, which btw helped their own relationship (stressed due to s2 events) to no end.
Which is why I'm hoping that at the end of the two parter, Kitty won't say goodbye to detecting but will have changed her mind. If she doesn't, my objection to this one element of her return stands.
Now on to the good stuff, which is: everything else. I loved, loved, loved the episode. The different ways Sherlock and Joan respond to Kitty's return, which is very them, and feels right to the different type of relationship they've had with her. Joan hasn't forgotten Kitty lied to them (btw: I don't think the show ever clarified whether or not Sherlock had ever told Joan he'd found Kitty and spoken to her before she took her revenge, leaving the decision up to her?), and she's cautious enough to investigate just what Kitty is up to when not being with them, but she also has no problem showing her emotions to Kitty and rejoicing for her when she finds out just what Kitty is hiding. (BTW, considering how often Sherlock and Joan are breaking and entering, it was just a matter of time before someone honestly mistook them for a criminal and acted accordingly, so I got a little kick out of this happening.) Meanwhile, Sherlock treats Kitty's return seemingly matter of factly and normal and determinedly does not try to show emotions or to find out what she's done since she left but is increasingly chocked up when talking to her or about her, until he can't get out anything at all when she presents him with the baby. (A grandkid, your reviewer exclaimed flippantly.) She means a lot to him, and while she could verbalize it during their last phonecall in s3, he couldn't.
Meanwhile, Kitty first tries to get around the awkwardness of mutually repressing emotions by teasing him, and the three ways detecting goes swimmingly, but when it comes to talking about herself she's still extremely skittish (ditto with physically expressed affection), and the guilt she feels isn't related to what she did to her rapist (which she doesn't feel guilty for) but to the fear of letting Sherlock down. She was and is my favourite non H & W character on this show, and I shall miss her dreadfully once she's gone again. (Though again: working against human trafficing using her detecting skills is a GREAT professional choice.) I'm not sure I buy Gregson being so immediately fine with her return, but then again, if he took her to task for what she did, he'd have had to own up to the part where he'd been okay with her having used physical force to help his daughter some months earlier. Also, handwavium,since if Kitty couldn't enter the preccint it would have made for an awkward subplot of how she could investigate together with the others.
In conclusion: it's going to be a long four weeks...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1219538.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.