Elementary Season 2 – Episode 22 Review

There’s classic television on offer this week, with the increasing threat promised in the previous episode ramping up. Sherlock is on the warpath, literally in the case of a choice of video game, and he’s dragging Mycroft behind him in his bid to save Watson from her kidnappers. There are more TV tropes to be had, with a cliffhanger ending and twists and turns that lead to more questions than answers.With Lucy Liu directing, was there going to be a new style? Apart from stand out shows, there seems to be a lack of individual style, let alone anything to back up the auteur theory. When the design seems to be reliant more on performances from actors who’ve played their characters many times before and the classic structure of the show’s scripts, is the director as important as the role suggests? The common preconception attached to directors is that they’re the beginning and the end, but is that as true in television despite the title being the same?Despite her role as director, Lucy Liu doesn’t take time off screen. Watson has to save the life of one of her kidnappers, showing once again her back story as a surgeon. It’s a story that runs alongside the main investigation and doesn’t slack. It has as much importance, despite the lesser tension, and means the script itself has something to bounce off of Sherlock’s rising temper.

There are amusing moments between the two brothers still as well, which helps lighten the tone a little while at the same time letting us in on what their relationship is truly like. Though Watson is treated as an object, in the end almost filling the role of a MacGuffin device to prove what the truth really is between Sherlock and Mycroft.

Overall, this week’s episode could’ve had tension building to the rafters but instead felt a little routine. It was classic TV, in that you knew what you were getting, which is a shame considering the potential. It feels a little like a cheat, as it built up to this as an event but in the end this episode itself ended up being a build up to something else entirely. For once, Sherlock’s been truly duped, and we the audience are left to feel the same way.

Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.