Why Elementary is an Awesome Show

*I’ve been watching this show since freshman year, so I’m warning you that this post will be long. Like, ridiculously long. If you just want to get your comments done, it might be best to go to another blog.* Note: I finished editing this blog post on Saturday, so if you saw this blog post earlier than that, you might've noticed that it's missing some videos/photos. Sorry about that.

I’m going to be honest here and say that this blog post will mainly be me ranting about Elementary, “an American crime drama (...) loosely based on Sherlock Holmes and other characters appearing in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you haven’t watched Elementary, want to watch it, and hate spoilers, don’t read this. If you haven’t watched it, want to watch it, and don’t care about spoilers, go ahead and read this. Hopefully it will encourage you to watch it, and then find me so we can both discuss how great it is. Now, if you haven’t watched it because you pledge loyalty to the British Sherlock series, get off my blog (I’m joking, stay, and be converted to an Elementary fan).

Ok, now that that’s out the way, I will commence this rant by giving a short description of where the show starts, and how it differs from the classic Sherlock Holmes books. In the first episode, Sherlock Holmes, a recovering drug addict, moves to today’s NYC and meets his sobriety partner/babysitter, Watson, who is a former surgeon. Watson’s character is played by the amazing Lucy Liu, a refreshing change to the usual white male actor assigned the role of Sherlock’s partner. The show, in the words of its producers, is designed with the intent to explore the idea of a world where someone like Sherlock, who is usually a step ahead, is in put in a situation (i.e. his drug use) that forces him to start a step behind everyone else.

This is one of the show’s most attractive strengths: it takes Sherlock’s character, and uses him to address and subvert the “TV Genius” trope. In the pilot episode, Sherlock constantly deduces details of a murder as soon as he lays eyes on a crime scene, to the shock of the characters around him. He seems to know an enormous amount of information off the top of his head, and beats everyone at games of logic. Sherlock’s intelligence, topped off with his blunt cold attitude, make him seem untouchable. He could be, in almost every way, exactly like the other Sherlock characters in Sherlock Holmes spin-offs (obviously), House in House, the nerds on Big Bang Theory, and Brennan in Bones.

However, Elementary doesn’t focus on and indulge Sherlock’s genius: it is clear from the start that he is being accompanied by Watson because of his addiction, and that he is still very much reliant on his family to survive. He tries to pretend that he is a lone wolf without any need for human connection, as his trope would suggest, telling a creeped out Watson when he first meets her that, “I actually find sex repellent. All those fluids and all those sounds. But my brain and body require it to function at optimum levels” (great thing to say someone you just met, btw). After their first case though, Watson calls him out on his farce, saying that there is nothing in his makeup that actually makes him unable to become close to other people, rather, he is afraid to take the chance.

Further, once Watson becomes Sherlock’s unofficial mentee in the arts of detection, the audience gains a glimpse into how Sherlock deduces case details so quickly/randomly. We get to see Sherlock forcing himself to stay up all night so that he can watch a security tape over and over again, or troll a hacker collective that could give him valuable files from a suspect company. Sherlock’s expertise may come from a seed of natural talent, but it is just as much because of his genuine passion for the work he does (and the fact that it provides him a valuable crutch for beating his past drug addiction, as he declares in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in Season 6). As the seasons go on, Watson is forced to repeat the training Sherlock forced himself to do, so she has to spend hours learning how to pick locks, analyze blood splatters, and conjugate Spanish verbs. After three seasons of training, she develops into an excellent detective in her own right, solving her own cases and discovering important facts in their shared cases.

This is part of the beauty of Elementary - Sherlock isn’t circumscribed in a bubble of intelligence and wittiness. He doesn’t swoop in an immediately solve cases, nor is he always the one to figure out who was the murderer; other characters are given equal value when it comes to solving homicides. The NYPD has highly capable detectives such as Bell, who contribute just as much to finding murderers, and help reign Sherlock in when he wants to bend the law to get evidence. Watson uses her former medical expertise to spot case details much faster than Sherlock ever could. And, of course, there is the constant array of experts Sherlock brings in for help, including, but not limited to, a scholar of New York City architecture, a “supersniffer,” and an 18-year old hacker. The series demonstrates that the Sherlock character can be written to be a very human individual, who is able to do great work because of his team and passion, not solely his abilities.

Sherlock (left), Detective Bell (center), and Watson (right), working together and kicking ass at solving crime

However, Elementary would not be Elementary if it weren’t for its decision to turn a traditionally male character into a badass woman who dominates the series.

Joan Watson enters the show as a former surgeon turned sober companion, but she gradually develops into his professional partner. She combats Moriarty's chaotic influence by becoming a force of good throughout the show, keeping a steady hand over Sherlock’s emotions and their relationship with the NYPD. Where Sherlock breaks down and throws a tantrum, she is calm and stable, able to communicate and get information from people in ways that Sherlock can’t. Of course, while she doesn’t admire Sherlock as strongly as Watson did in the original books and Sherlock, she still remains relatable to the audience, commenting on Sherlock’s peculiarities but not letting him get too cocky:

But Joan Watson's character development is not limited to her partnership with Sherlock. Her life has a fascinating trajectory on its own, and the show doesn't hesitate to explore how she has to find her own path in the face of her friend's and family's judgement. When Watson is first introduced to the audience as a former surgeon turned sobriety companion, her family and close friends constantly second-guess her decision. In episode ten of season six, "The Leviathan," she has to endure an awkward family visit, where her mother interrogates her decision to leave the medical field. During a dinner she has with her ex-boyfriend, she is asked why she chose to abandon her former life, as valedictorian of her medical school, a superstar surgeon, to babysit drug addicts. Watson refuses to change her lifestyle to appease the sentiments of those around her, and instead begins to train to become a detective under Sherlock. Of course, this eventually leads to her friends creating an "intervention" for her, which she promptly leaves.

Watson is representative of a larger theme within Elementary: she doesn't abandon what is right or what makes her happy to adhere to more conventional ideas. Sherlock is the most obvious personification of this theme - he embraces strange hobbies (i.e. beekeeping, single stick, sending Watson photos of fifty year old crime scenes) and has no problem doing whatever it takes to solve a case. However, Watson embodies this love for the unconventional in a less flamboyant way, inspiring characters around her to do the same. She is in her 30s, lives in a brownstone with her work partner, makes her money as a police consultant, and has switched between three careers - one of which required an immense amount of training and adhering to a traditional system. But she makes it work, building meaningful connections and a stellar reputation as a detective. Her strength and independence throughout the series is best summarized by a college student who meets her in episode 8, Season 6, who says:

"I've never met anyone like you. Like, it's inspiring. Until I got pregnant, I could've told you exactly what the next twenty years of my life looked like. You know, like, I was on a track. (…) I spent a couple days here with you, and, I don't know, it got me thinking, "Why can't I do everything I ever wanted, and be a mom?" (…) Sherlock came to talk to me last night, and he told me that you can do anything. And I believe him. I don't know, I guess I just want people to say the same thing about me."

Of course, I don't want to give the impression that Elementary is an extremely serious philosophical show that focuses solely on character development. It has fascinating cases (which I won't describe, because then you really won't have any reason to watch the show), and all sorts of fun details. Like Sherlock and Joan's pet turtle, Clyde, who regularly serves as a paperweight when sifting through papers relating to a case:

Or the hacker collective called Everyone, which requires Sherlock do embarrassing things (including singing Frozen in a prom dress) in return for information on suspects.

And, if nothing else, there’s always Watson’s excellent sense of style (I may or may not have spent way too much time making this collage):