I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: CBS Elementary

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Elementary — His Last Bow

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<b>“this seven years and never a word of complaint” [HOUN]</b></h4>
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[<i><b>Editor's note</b>: When the author refers to Sherlock he means Jonny Lee Miller's (or occasionally another actor's portrayal) of Doyle's original; when he refers to Joan he means Lucy Liu's (or John meaning another actor's portrayal) of Doyle's original doctor. When the author writes Holmes or Watson he refers to the actual personages.</i>]<br />
The seventh and final season of <i>Elementary </i>will premiere on Thursday, May 23, 2019 for a 13-episode season, taking its run to the end of August barring any interruptions. <br />
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In <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, John Clayton lamented,"seven years and never a word of complaint." This could just as easly be an ironic counterpoint to <i>Elementary</i>’s final season. <br />
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When CBS first announced the show in the shadow of BBC <i>Sherlock</i>’s worldwide fame seven years ago, the hue and cry was largely negative from the fandom: crass corporate exploitation for money not love was the prejudgement. (I will not point out that the BBC is a corporation which also does nothing for love and that the lucre raked in from Benedict Cumberbatch’s curly locks puts CBS to shame. [<i>Insert wink here.</i>]) <br />
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But instead of being the pale rip-off of its British cousin that some proclaimed it would be, creator Robert Doherty and company have given us a mostly fresh re-imagining of both the pop culture Holmes and Watson and the Doylean canon. So much so that the same critics who were afraid of a Sherlock-copy now decried <i>Elementary </i>as not being Sherlock Holmes at all. (Of course, now that BBC <i>Sherlock</i> has shot itself in the foot and limped off screen, HBO Asia’s carbon copy <i>Miss Sherlock</i> is beloved exactly for its crass corporate exploitation of the BBC series. Go figure. <i>Wink wink</i>.)<br />
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From the beginning Doherty has stated he wanted to tell his own Sherlock Holmes stories, not to rewrite Doyle. At the TCA press tour in the summer of 2012, he said:<br />
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"I think that’s actually one of the upsides to the character. If so many people couldn’t put their own spins on it, I don’t know that he would exist in the popular culture, in the way he does. So, I was intrigued, but also wanted to make sure that, if we were going do this, I could have my own take on it. It took a little time. For me, it was absolutely about his drug use, which I know has been mentioned and acknowledged, once or twice, outside of the books. One of the things that jumped out at me from the books was that it never really dictated plot. It never really informed or altered the course of the story. Some of them are just throwaway lines. And his relationship with women was not great. It was very complicated. Understandably, he’s a very complicated guy. The more handholds I could find, the more excited I got about our take. Everything came together quite nicely."</blockquote>
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What if Holmes did not have the stabilizing influence of Watson at the beginning of his career? “The original Sherlock dabbled with cocaine and opiates.  Our Sherlock had those same problems, but one of the big differences is that our Sherlock hit a serious wall,” said Doherty in 2012. “Something terrible happened to him in London, and he spiraled out of control.” <br />
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Sent to rehab in New York City, Sherlock is paired with former surgeon and present sober companion Joan Watson. This premise—Holmes without the stabilizing influence of Watson—is explored in the second season episode “<a href="https://youtu.be/H87E4KI9DbA?t=78">The Marchioness</a>” with Sherlock addressing a support group (in a sly bit of meta and one of my favorite non-Canonical "canonical" scenes):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Sherlock</b>: I often wonder if I should have been born in another time. Sorry, my name is Sherlock, and I'm an addict.<br />
<b>Group</b>: Hi, Sherlock.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: My-my senses are unusually—well, one could even say unnaturally—keen. And ours is an era of distraction. It's, uh, a punishing drumbeat of constant input. This-this cacophony which follows us into our homes and into our beds and seeps into our—into our souls, for want of a better word. For a long time, uh, there was only one poultice for my raw nerve endings, and that was…copious drug use. So in my less productive moments, I'm given to wonder if I'd just been born when it was a little quieter out there, would I have even become an addict in the first place? Might I have been more focused? A more fully realized person?<br />
<b>Member of Group</b>:  What, like Ancient Greece?<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: You any idea what passed for dental care in the Hellenic era? No, no, I'd, um, I'd want some of the wonders of modernity. Just before everything got amplified. </blockquote>
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Season One saw the evolution of the friendship between Sherlock and Joan, something that’s not present in the Canon and very rarely shown in films and television to the extent that <i>Elementary </i>did it. That of course, is where it stays: as a friendship. <br />
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As Doherty has remarked on more than one occasion, Holmes and Watson never slept together in the books; Sherlock and Joan never will either. While having its ups and downs, theirs is a deep platonic love, with each sacrificing for the other. This wouldn’t work as well if Sherlock were depicted as gay or asexual. <i>Elementary</i>’s Sherlock is actively heterosexual. <br />
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This aspect of the character is handled less successfully, in my opinion, as Sherlock considers sex as exercise, while the Canonical Holmes eschewed exercise for its own sake. Having Sherlock engage in sex for it <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/how-sex-affects-intelligence-and-vice-versa/282889/">scientifically posited</a> <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10508-018-1193-8">cognitive enhancement</a> would have been more in line with the character. Also, Sherlock’s frequenting of prostitutes posed ethical questions the series ignored, especially when the series has been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_(TV_series)#Awards_and_nominations">nominated or won</a> awards for its portrayal of drug addiction or LGBT characters.<br />
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<b>The Returns </b></h3>
Season Five ended with the cliffhanger of Sherlock suffering memory loss and hallucinations and the closing scenes of him on an MRI scanning table without alerting Joan of his condition and her concern for his wellbeing after seeing the delusion-induced destruction wrought in the spare bedroom. This was a bold move of faith on the showrunner’s part as the series had not been renewed for a sixth season. <i>Elementary </i>was not on CBS’ May 2017 lineup of new and returning 2017-18 shows. It wasn’t until late summer when fans found out it was coming back as a 13-episode midseason replacement series. <br />
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At the time, <a href="https://tvline.com/2017/08/23/this-is-us-season-2-spoilers-jack-kid-young-flashback/">Doherty said</a>:<br />
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“There’s always a chance we could [return] earlier. If we were, it stands to reason there might be additional episodes ordered. We are in ‘wait and see’ mode at the moment.” [This] “could be our last season. We’re not sure yet. We want to do everything we can do to keep it from being the last season. But we’ll see where we are in a few months.” </blockquote>
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Season Six aired on April 30, 2018 and the series story arc centered around two plots points. One concerned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-concussion_syndrome">post-concussion syndrome </a>(PSC). At the end of Season Five Shinwell Johnson hit Sherlock over the head with a bottle and gave him a severe beating. <br />
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In "An Infinite Capacity for Taking Pains," the opening episode of Season Six, Sherlock said:<br />
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“But many of my life choices leading up to this moment are likely factors—the boxing, the continually putting myself in harm's way, heroin. All of them have likely contributed to this moment. So, as for what to expect, the doctor is loath to make any promises. Things could get worse before they get better. He's putting together a regimen to aid in my recovery, but, uh whether that recovery takes weeks or months or, uh if I'll even get better at all he couldn't say.” </blockquote>
Usually a blow to the head is little more consequential that a stubbed toe in the TV and literary mystery and private eye world. Take for example the nearly indestructible PI Joe Mannix (Mike Connor) on CBS’s 1967-1975 TV show <i>Mannix</i>.  “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/mike-connors-brawny-star-of-mannix-tv-detective-series-dies-at-91/2017/01/27/50e8feee-e4a2-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.af5086582e94">[A]ccording to one count, he was shot 17 times and sustained 55 concussions during the series’ 194 episodes</a>.” Ironically, Mannix made a TV appearance in a 1997 episode of <i>Diagnosis: Murder</i> (“Hard-Boiled Murder”) suffering from a life-threatening cardiac risk not CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). The seriousness of brain trauma is all-too familiar to the public these days through the stories of athletes in contact sports and military veterans. The showrunners of <i>Elementary</i> again deserve some credit for highlighting a serious ailment with sensitivity and humor rather than just another TV trope.<br />
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The second plot point; serial killer Michael Rowan (Desmond Harrington) encounters Sherlock at support group meetings and has his own twisted ideas for Sherlock’s PSC therapy and unfortunately puts them into action.<br />
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In late November 2017, CBS ordered up eight more episodes of <i>Elementary </i>on the heels of the cancelation of <i>The Wisdom of the Crowd</i> following star Jeremy Piven’s sexual harassment allegations. This was well into the filming of <i>Elementary</i>. In fact, “it became this very unique challenge once we finally did get an additional order to tell stories that could be placed in front of the finale that we had already written and produced,” <a href="https://tvline.com/2018/09/17/elementary-recap-season-6-finale-sherlock-joan-move-to-london/">Doherty said.</a>  <br />
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The finale and the whole of Season Six was produced to be the series’ swan song, bringing the main characters to a satisfying (or not) evolution point. Serial killer Michael is murdered and Joan becomes the prime suspect in FBI Special Agent Malik’s eyes. Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) is ready to move to the U.S. marshals. Sherlock uncovers the fact that Hannah Gregson actually killed Michael in revenge for murdering her roommate and that her father, the once incorruptible Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) manipulated evidence to protect his daughter. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Gregson</b>: And that's when [Hannah] told me everything.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: You have to tell the FBI.<br />
<b>Gregson</b>: I can't. No. Hannah's a cop. She can't go to prison.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>:  And Watson can?<br />
<b>Gregson</b>: You gotta understand—everything I did, I did before I knew that the Feds were trying to pin this on Joan.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: Are you under the impression that that makes it okay?<br />
<b>Gregson</b>: Malik's got nothing. Her whole case is circumstantial. It's going to blow over.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: Let's just imagine for a moment that it does. What about the damage to Watson's reputation? Do you think she'll ever be able to consult for law enforcement ever again? What about the families of the women who Michael murdered and then disposed of? What about the mothers and fathers who are never going to be able to find their daughters, never going to be able to give them proper burials? Is this gonna blow over for them as well? Or do you think perhaps they might start bringing civil lawsuits against Watson? How exactly do you imagine her quality of life moving forward?<br />
<b>Gregson</b>: You're the door that this lunatic walked through, okay? Not me! He cozied up to you. He got to know everything about you, including the fact that I have a daughter. He killed her friend to get your attention.If it weren't for you, Maddie Williams would be alive today and my little girl wouldn't be a killer. [Sherlock gets up and starts to walk out. Gregson pleading.] She's my daughter.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: She's my best friend.<br />
[S6 E21 "Whatever Remains, However Improbable"]</blockquote>
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Sherlock confesses to the murder to protect Joan and through a deal with MI6, who both Mycroft (Rhys Ifans) and Sherlock had worked for in the past, a proxy from the consulate relays Sherlock’s confession. MI6 confirms that Sherlock killed Michael while working for the British government. Sherlock is now in England. <br />
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Joan finds this out when agent Malik calls her to her office: “The Brits won't extradite him. They made that very clear. And he isn't allowed to set foot in the U.S. ever again. Not without being arrested and tried for everything he alleges he did. Your little partnership—it's over. Cheer up, Joan. You just got away with murder.” However, Sherlock is at the brownstone when Joan goes home.<br />
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<b>Joan</b>: Thought you were supposed to be in England.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: I am. Supposed to be, that is. The terms of the deal I agreed to are quite binding. There's a plane waiting for me at Kennedy. But couldn't leave without saying good-bye. You surprised me last night. Your willingness to protect the captain. Then I was surprised that I was surprised. Helping others before yourself is your nature. Always has been. And yet, in this instance, I found the risk to you unacceptable.<br />
<b>Joan</b>: You thought I was throwing my life away, so you decided to throw your life away instead.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: Well, in point of fact, I've sacrificed very little. With respect to my freedom, that is. MI6 owed me. Not you, not the captain, certainly not his daughter. Me. I'm the only one who could confess without going to prison….<br />
<b>Joan</b>: We could have fought this together.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: We could have failed.<br />
<b>Joan</b>: That doesn't sound like us.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: I wanted to thank you.<br />
<b>Joan</b>: —Don't.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: —I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me over the last six years.<br />
<b>Joan</b>: Sherlock—<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: I was dying when we first met. I mean, I looked well enough. Just got out of rehab and all that. Thought that I knew everything, but I didn't. I didn't realize how much how much work I would have to put in and how much time it would take. But most of all, I—I didn't realize that things could get better. And that I could actually be—Yes, I was dying. And no one could see it but you. You saved my life, Joan.<br />
<b>Joan</b>: We’re partners.<br />
<b>Sherlock</b>: No. We're much better than that. We're two people that love each other. We always have been. [S6 E21]</blockquote>
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The show ends with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVMQpIkoiW8">perfect coda</a> for the whole series; Sherlock back at 221B Baker Street in London and Joan next door at 221A. (<i>Note: one of the things I like about Elementary is that they did not give their Sherlock a stated address, just the nickname "the brownstone" for his residence, respecting that Holmes’ address will always be 221B Baker Street, London. There is a shot of a letter from Jamie Moriarty to Sherlock sent to 42 Stamford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11209</i>) <br />
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Doherty says of the finale: <br />
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“I have lifelong friends that I love like family, and yet it’s not so often I put it to them that way. If I thought it was the last time I was going to see someone I cared about, I think I would say that with great ease. It’s why Sherlock was able to say it in that moment. He really thought it was goodbye, and you don’t walk away from even a platonic relationship without telling your partner how you feel. I wish there was an even more appropriate word than ‘platonic.’ It’s fraternal. There’s great love, and there’s great respect, but there’s no romance.”</blockquote>
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<b>"The curtain rings up for the last act"</b></h3>
Two weeks after Season Six premiered and the finale was in the can CBS renewed the series for a seventh season. “A lot of parties came together and talked about their positions on the show — both in terms of business and in terms of creative — and we all decided that this was an opportune time to say goodbye to a show that has been very, very good to us,” CBS Entertainment President <a href="https://deadline.com/2018/12/elementary-to-end-7-seasons-cbs-canceled-1202521292/">Kelly Kahl said</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/sherlock-holmes/273434/elementary-season-7-news-cbs">Den of Geek</a> offered the business reasoning behind the seventh season renewal:<br />
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"Well, for one thing, <i>Elementary</i>'s ratings have never really been up to the level of a lot of the other shows CBS airs. CBS, a network that specializes in middle of the road procedurals and shows that are allegedly comedies and bad spinoffs of those alleged comedies does tremendous numbers. And while <i>Elementary </i>ratings would be considered great by other networks' standards, on CBS, it's perpetually on the bubble, despite being the best thing they air."</blockquote>
But <i>Elementary</i> is a consistent earner for CBS, especially overseas. It's also old-fashioned in that the network owns the series itself, which makes it extra profitable. So its ratings only tell half the story. <br />
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<a href="https://deadline.com/2018/12/elementary-to-end-7-seasons-cbs-canceled-1202521292/">Deadline</a> also mentioned a few pieces of the renewal puzzle:<br />
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"... the series has remained a solid utility player for CBS, airing on Thursdays, Sundays and, most recently Mondays. While the bulk of Season 6 aired over the summer, it still ranked No. 21 in viewers. <i>Elementary </i>also has been a solid gainer in delayed viewing, with the most recent sixth season growing 65% in viewers and 80% in adults 18-49 from Live+same day to Live+7 ratings."</blockquote>
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Of course, <i>Elementary </i>does not make Cumber-bucks for the network. In 2016 former CBS Corporate CEO Les Moonves <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/elementary-gets-picked-season-7-cbs-2680469">told an investor conference</a> that <i>Elementary </i>made $80 million in profit for the corporation in 2015. For “The Abominable Bride” (2016), the limited theatrical release of BBC <i>Sherlock</i>’s Christmas special, international box office alone was<a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Sherlock-The-Abominable-Bride#tab=international"> $39,111,922</a>; just about half CBS’ 2015 profit. <br />
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<i> The Financial Times</i> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3cc9afc4-2d0e-11e4-911b-00144feabdc0">in August 2014 wrote</a> that while the BBC will not break down specific numbers for each series, it did concede that Sherlock made a “huge amount of money.”    <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Nevertheless, Sherlock’s global success has broken many records. The BBC says the third series – where Mr Cumberbatch’s detective miraculously returns to sleuthing after seemingly plunging to his death from the roof of Bart’s Hospital at the end of series two – has received more than 70m hits on the Chinese digital platform Youku. The DVD of the third series received the most pre-orders ever for a BBC series yet to be broadcast – at a time when the format is dying – and the final episode was the most tweeted about television programme when it was first aired on UK screens."</blockquote>
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<a href="https://tvline.com/2018/09/17/elementary-recap-season-6-finale-sherlock-joan-move-to-london/">Doherty talked</a> about the challenges of writing a finale and then having to tell more stories:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"You’re talking about a scene that killed me to write because it was my goodbye, too. I had to assume this was the end for the series. So I thought it was time for Sherlock to stop beating around the bushes and let the subtext be the text for once. When you look at any of our seasons, what you see or feel between them is love. I think that’s the way it is for all Watsons and Holmes, or Holmeses. I don’t know what the plural is… Yes, there’s respect and friendship, but I think a Watson loves his or her Holmes, and vice versa. It’s underneath everything we do, and yet I didn’t want the show to end without somebody making that explicit. The challenge, of course, now that there’s a seventh season, is continuing to explore that and expand upon it. I don’t think it was any great revelation to Joan that Sherlock felt that way, because she feels the same. There’s nothing embarrassing about it. I don’t think it’s anything Sherlock regretted saying. But it’s something that they’ll both compartmentalize, and put away as they continue to move forward together."</blockquote>
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Some of the <a href="https://elementarystan.tumblr.com/season7"><i>Elementary</i> Season 7 episode titles</a> are known and they are:<br />
E1 The Further Adventures<br />
E2 Gutshot <br />
E3 The Price of Admission<br />
E4 Red Light, Green Light — directed by Jonny Lee Miller<br />
E5 Out of The Woods  <br />
E7 From Russia With Drugs<br />
E9 On The Scent — the 150th episode of the series<br />
E11 Unfriended — directed by Lucy Liu<br />
E12 Reichenbach Falls<br />
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Episode Five will introduce the nemesis for this series arc, Odin Reichenbach (James Frain), an evil tech billionaire. A rich corporate baddie on <i>Elementary</i>? Who'd have thunk it? Actually, <i>Elementary</i>, like Doyle's canon, is set in the world's capital (then London, now New York City) and tells stories touching on government, the military, class and finance and uses this setting as a secondary character to explore how the protagonists react to the challenges of ethics and family with society and with each other. The Canon also presented those challenges to Holmes and Watson in a number of cases (CHAS, BRUC, ABBE, SCAN, SIGN and others).<br />
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So how will the show deal with Gregson's descent as the mostly-moral center of the <i>Elementary</i> unit? Joan had forgiven Gregson for protecting his daughter at the cost of Joan's reputation and possible freedom, but will Sherlock? “Sherlock, Joan, Gregson and Bell form this very non-traditional family unit, and as the seventh season begins, there’s going to be a ‘family’ crisis. Events will transpire that will force them to put smaller problems behind them and really come together again as that unit,” <a href="https://tvline.com/2018/09/25/chicago-med-colin-donnell-leaving-connor-rhodes-season-4/">Doherty opined</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Spoilers:</b> <i>The following are from published sources about Season Seven and may contain information you may not want to read if you want to go into the series with a blank slate</i>.</span><br />
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<i>Elementary </i>started filming in New York City-dressed-as-London in July 2018, but do not expect any episode to be entirely set in England as both Sherlock and Joan will be heading back to the Big Apple as one of their "inner circle" is gravely wounded.  Bell, who was set to be a U.S. marshal “will be on a certain path as the seventh season starts, and by the end of the first episode, a lot will change for everybody,” <a href="https://tvline.com/2018/10/02/sarah-drew-greys-anatomy-season-15-april-returning/">according to Doherty</a>.<br />
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Ophelia Lovibond will be making an appearance as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BldWuddD04G/">Kitty Winter</a> with son Archie in tow. <br />
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As with the last episode of Season Six and the first episode this season, the second series finale will also have a time jump. As Doherty said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Something that I knew I wanted to do was move forward in time a bit with the characters by the very end. There was a period [in the Canon] when Sherlock and Watson were not together; they went down very different paths, and their lives were very different from having been apart. We felt that would be appropriate for our show. A lot was Season 7 working towards that: How can we tell a larger story that would allow us to devise a finale that sets in not-so-distant future?” </blockquote>
Which makes the naming of the series seven badman "Reichenbach" appropriate. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MAJOR SPECULATIVE SPOILERS!</b> <i>If you've been with me so far, you may want to reconsider as the spoilers will be huge</i>.</span><br />
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The Liunatic Fringe Tumblr, in a post called "<a href="https://liunaticfringe.tumblr.com/post/181060249245/things-we-knowsuspect-about-elementary-season-7">Things We Know/Suspect About #ElementarySeason 7</a>," posted a screen shot from the scene list of the Lucy Liu directed episode “Unfriended” that states Morland Holmes’s dead body is found at the brownstone. This should not come as too much of a surprise to careful viewers as Morland’s mortality was discussed in various episodes in Season Six. In E6, Sherlock came to cease-fire agreement with Moriarty on her attempts to assassinate Morland that will last, as Sherlock told him, “Until you die of old age. I persuaded her that won’t be long.” However, nature may have had a helping hand.<br />
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This spoiler is speculation on my part. In <a href="https://tvline.com/2019/01/18/sarah-drew-greys-anatomy-season-15-april-returning-2/">TVLine’s Ask Ausiello</a> there was posted this interesting item: “ELEMENTARY: Rumor has it that a pivotal deceased character will loom large-ish in the forthcoming series finale. Guesses?!”<br />
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<a href="https://en.businesstimes.cn/articles/110211/20190404/elementary-season-7-surprisingly-renewed-might-arrive-on-cbs-with-all-new-plot.htm"><i>The Business Times</i></a> made this interesting slip in an April 4, 2019 post: “Also, it has been recently revealed that Rhys Ifans will return as Detective Bell and Aidan Quinn as Captain Gregson.” Of course, Jon Michael Hill is Bell, Ifans is Mycroft. <br />
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And in a since deleted post on the <a href="https://elementarystan.tumblr.com/">Elementary|Natterings</a> Tumblr a picture of an empty brownstone room was captioned by the <i>Elementary </i>writers as “Mycroft—you were at Reichenbach Falls?” It was revealed in S6 E9’s “Nobody Lives Forever” that Mycroft had died at Leffen Trust Hospital, Timaru, New Zealand, ten months previously. “Apparently,” said Sherlock, “an intracranial hemorrhage is not unheard of in leukemia survivors. They say it was instantaneous. One minute he was all right, and the next minute, he wasn't.” <br />
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The next two episodes seemingly confirmed the reality of Mycroft’s death (but only through conversations, not physical evidence). So, is Mycroft dead and only being seen on the show in flashbacks? Or like Holmes after the Canonical Reichenbach Falls, had faked his own death?<br />
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<b>A Terrace View</b></h3>
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The cast of <i>Elementary </i>has moved on. Jonny Lee Miller on stars on Broadway in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/theater/ink-review.html"><i>Ink</i></a>, Lucy Liu continues on with episodic directing, most recently <i>Law and Order: Special Victims Unit</i>, and starring in the upcoming CBS All Access series <i>Why Women Kill</i>. Her recent honor of having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was no doubt given a boost by Joan Watson. Robert Doherty is an executive producer of <i>Alive II</i>, a TV movie in pre-production about a dead San Francisco cop brought back to life. In sum, it's highly improbable that <i>Elementary</i> will be back for an eighth season.<br />
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I suspect that Season Seven will not be <i>Elementary</i>’s <i>The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes</i>, a collection of weaker Holmes stories written in Doyle’s twilight (although I think it’s a much stronger batch of stories than is popularly perceived). </div>
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Rather, Season Seven will be as strong as any of the previous seasons. I look forward to this second Last Bow. </div>
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[<b><i>Editor's Note</i></b><i>: We're aware that "His Last Bow" occurred not in The Case-book, but in <u>His Last Bow</u></i>.]</div>
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Elementary — His Last Bow

“this seven years and never a word of complaint” [HOUN] [ Editor's note : When the author refers to Sherlock he means Jonny Lee Mi...

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by James C. O'Leary

Episode 150: Elementary!

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“"Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he.” [CROO] </h4>
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We'll be honest. The CBS drama series <i>Elementary</i>, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu doesn't get enough attention here on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.<br />
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It's largely because Scott and Burt haven't carved out the time to watch it. As a weekly series, there's much more to absorb than the three-episode series that the BBC produced every few years.<br />
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Fortunately, James O'Leary, a regular contributor on the IHOSE site, has made it his business to watch, follow, and dissect Elementary on behalf of all Sherlockians. And we welcome him to the show to talk about its strengths, its longevity, and how the writers are doing a wonderful job of engaging Sherlock Holmes fans along the way.<br />
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<b>Sponsors</b></h2>
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<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock150.mp3" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 28.5 MB, 1:02:16</h3>
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<b>Links</b></h2>
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<li>This episode: <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose150" target="_blank">ihose.co/ihose150</a></li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary/" target="_blank">Elementary</a></i> on CBS</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2012/12/six-cases-which-i-have-added-to-my.html#.W3SHiygzrb0" target="_blank">A Sherlockian Analyzes Some Early Episodes of <i>Elementary</i></a></li>
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<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/386528922/Transcript-I-Hear-of-Sherlock-Everywhere-Episode-150-Elementary" target="_blank">Transcript: I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 150: Elementary!</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_54149" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/386528922/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-RThksHa9QOQlAFpOgBrD&show_recommendations=true" title="Transcript: I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 150: Elementary! " width="100%"></iframe><br />
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Episode 150: Elementary!

“"Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he.” [CROO] We'll be honest. The CBS drama series Eleme...

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by Scott Monty

Remembering John Heard

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"I had forgotten all about Mawson's” [STOC]</h4>
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Actor John Heard died on July 21, 2017 at 71. Most well-known for his role as the dad who had forgotten his son on the family trips in in the <i>Home Alone</i> movies, he also had a connection to the world of Sherlock Holmes.<br />
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After graduating Clark University in Worcester, MA, he went to Catholic University of America for a master’s in theater but left to work off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in 1973 and film debut in 1977. He was in many well-known films of the 1980s and 90s, including <i>Big</i>, <i>Beaches</i>, <i>Gladiator</i>, <i>The Pelican Brief</i>, <i>In the Line of Fire</i>, <i>The Trip to Bountiful</i> and was nominated for an Emmy in 1999 for his guest role on <i>The Sopranos</i>. According to Heard, he was most proud of his role in 1980’s <i>Cutter’s Way</i>.<br />
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John Heard was known to Sherlock Holmes fans as Joan Watson's (Lucy Liu) stepfather Henry in <i>Elementary</i>. Henry Watson married Joan's mother Mary when Joan and her brother Oren were young, and the children took his last name. Later, Henry and Mary divorced. Henry was a successful writer and in Season 4, Episode 7, "Miss Taken," Joan learns from Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) that her stepdad, in a wonderful bit of meta, wrote a book <i>The Heart Bled Blue</i> under the pen name Grover Ogden, concerning a beautiful Chinese-American woman who lives with a guy from London who both consult for the NYPD.<br />
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Joan confronts her stepdad about the book: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>JOAN</b>: What were you thinking?<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: I was honoring you. The choices you make, the work you do. I think it's wonderful.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Really? So that's why you didn't ask my permission. That's why you used a pseudonym. Because you knew how honored I would be.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: Did you even read the book?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Of course I read the book.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: (like any typical author) And?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: It's ridiculous. Sherlock and I do not run around with guns and we don't get into kung fu fights with criminals and we sure as hell do not sleep together.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: Well, sex sells, Joanie. You know that. So how did you know that that was me?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Grover Ogden? We lived on Ogden Avenue. Grover was our dog. And by the way, that is how you make a porn name, not a pen name!</blockquote>
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In the Canon we know next to nothing about Watson’s family, so the <i>Elementary</i> showrunners have named Joan’s mother Mary after John H. Watson’s wife Mary Morstan Watson and her stepdad after H. Watson, the name engraved on the watch Watson’s older brother inherited from their deceased father, as related to us in <i>The Sign of Four</i>.<br />
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Joan demands that the publisher retract the book and Henry asks what Sherlock thinks about his novel.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>JOAN</b>: Okay, first, you are not friends. You met him once, at Aunt Vivian's funeral. Second, he is never gonna find out about this. He is the most private person that I know. He would freak if he found out. Call your publisher, Dad.</blockquote>
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Later, Joan finds out that Sherlock has known about the book for months and in fact has read it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>JOAN</b>: You're not mad?<br />
<b>SHERLOCK</b>: Should I be?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Of course you should, you're <i>you</i>.<br />
<b>SHERLOCK</b>: It's hardly the first time I've inspired a writer, Watson. I am actually the basis for several fictional characters across various media. It's one of the by-products of my success as a detective. I fascinate; this cannot be helped. You yourself once wrote about me: <i>The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes</i>.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: When did you...?<br />
<b>SHERLOCK</b>: I was displeased because you used my real name and you shared my real history. Your father's magnum opus, on the other hand, is the very opposite of real. Look no further than chapter 32, where we make love beneath a footbridge in Central Park.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Why didn't you tell me about it? The book, not chapter 32.<br />
<b>SHERLOCK</b>: Your stepfather uses pseudonym, and I assumed you were the reason for that.</blockquote>
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Later, Henry comes to the brownstone to apologize and say that the publisher will stop <i>The Heart Bled Blue</i> and to give Joan the manuscript of the sequel.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>HENRY</b>: Wait—before you take my head off, I already told the editor that he can't have it; it's all yours. I was just putting the finishing touches on it when you came by the house the other day.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: I don't understand. Is this for me to burn?<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: That's for you to do with whatever you like. I missed you, Joanie, and that's the real reason I wrote about you. I mean, these last few years, ever since I ... strayed ... You know, I know that I screwed up. I knew it the moment that it happened. But what I didn't know, what I wasn't ready for, was what it would do to us. You used to be my friend. And I ruined that. The book is just my way of dealing with it. It let me be close to you again.</blockquote>
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By the end of episode, Joan visits her stepdad back at his house.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>HENRY</b>: Hi. Joanie, what are you ...?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: I'm sorry I got so angry about the book.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: Oh, you don't have anything to apologize for. Come in.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: Well, I've changed my mind. I'm okay with it being out there, so whatever you told your publishers to do, you can tell them to stop. It's all right.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: You're sure?<br />
<b>JOAN</b>: I read the sequel. (She hands Henry the manuscript.) I actually think it's better than the first.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: Yeah? A-And you ... you made some notes.<br />
<b>JOAN</b>:  Just a few. I thought we could spend some time and talk about them.<br />
<b>HENRY</b>: Well ... it would be an honor.</blockquote>
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Fanfic is not my thing and pastiche reading was a bigger activity in my past than now. I’m sure the authors and artists of Mylock can eloquently explain the difference between fantasy and reality; actors-in-roles and actual beings. Others may find Holmescest beyond the pale. There is a huge world of fandom out there—the niches exist in the electronic reaches and may be explored by the adventurous. The <i>Elementary </i>writers have great fun in subtly inserting the real world and real-world Sherlockiana into the fictional New York of Jonny Lee Miller’s Sherlock and Lucy Liu’s Joan with always interesting results.<br />
<br />
John Heard played Henry Watson with sincere emotions that let you believe he was mostly blind to the creepy aspects of an author writing sex about a fictionalized version of his stepdaughter. Joan is not only okay with it but actively willing to help improve the final product. Heartfelt and skeezy at the same time, like a lot of fan shipping or slashfic, it was a wonderful meta of fandom with the happy ending of the fanfic writer getting approval of the subject.<br />
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[Quotes from <a href="http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=557b72d9da2b796e143ff071eb947102">Elementary Transcripts</a>.]<br />
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<br />

Remembering John Heard

"I had forgotten all about Mawson's” [STOC] Actor John Heard died on July 21, 2017 at 71. Most well-known for his role as the ...

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by James C. O'Leary

Elementary Renewed for a Sixth Season

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"waiting with breathless suspense for the renewal" [REDC] </h4>
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On May 13 <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/elementary-the-amazing-race-renew-cbs-1202426191/" target="_blank">CBS announced that it will be renewing</a> its New York-based modern take on Holmes and Watson, <i><b>Elementary</b></i>, for a sixth season.<br />
<br />
As reported by <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/05/elementary-renewed-season-6-amazing-race-returning-cbs-1202092969/" target="_blank">Deadline's</a> <span class="byline">Nellie Andreeva, "</span><i>Elementary</i> and <i>The Amazing Race </i>[also renewed on May 13] surprisingly did 
not make the list of early CBS renewals for the first time, spending 
their first spring on the bubble. But there never was serious doubt for 
the crime drama, 100% owned by CBS, which had been making writer 
staffing deals for next season, and for the most heralded reality series
 of the past decade. While its linear ratings in the Sunday 10 PM hour are soft (7.4 million viewers, 1.2 in 18-49 Live+7), <i>Elementary</i>
 has off-network and <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/29272/subscription-video-on-demand-svod" target="_blank">SVOD</a> deals with WGN America, Hulu Plus and 
broadcast stations that fetch in as much as $3 million total per 
episode; and it is a nice international seller too. Just last May, CBS 
Corp. CEO Les Moonves used <i>Elementary</i> as an example of a program ownership success story, telling investors that the show had 'made approximately an $80 million profit for the corporation' the previous year."<br />
<br />
In fact, <i>Elementary's</i> ratings make it one of the lowest of scripted TV shows. But, as <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/cbs-renews-elementary-amazing-race-1003594" target="_blank"><i>The Hollywood Reporter</i></a> noted, the ratings are just one and not necessarily the most important factor in deciding the future of the show. <i>Elementary</i> "had been buried on Sunday nights, often airing outside of primetime 
thanks to NFL delays in the fall. But lucrative library deals and 
international appeal have kept the CBS TV Studios production in favor, 
and will continue to do so."<br />
<br />
While the US fan base might be small, it is dedicated and the show does well in overseas markets. As mentioned in a previous IHOSE post ("<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/05/interview-with-nadia-alexander.html#.WRibz8a1uM8">Interview with Nadia Alexander, Elementary's Hope Neligan</a>"), USA Today's Save Our Show Poll had it a very close number two show to be saved; out of over 146,000 votes, it was only 1350 votes behind ABC's <i>Timeless</i>, which did not survive the renewal ax.  TV Series Finale's still <a href="http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/elementary-season-six-cbs-series-cancelled-renewed/" target="_blank">open poll</a> has 88% of voters wanting to keep <i>Elementary</i> on the air.<br />
<br />
As the networks announce their fall schedule line-up, <a href="http://www.spoilertv.com/2017/05/code-black-and-elementary-new-seasons.html" target="_blank"><i>Elementary</i> is slated for midseason</a> with 13 episodes. In the meantime, Lucy Liu will keep busy in the off-season playing Veronica, a highly successful and morally dubious alpha-female book editor on Hulu's 10 episode third season of <i>Difficult People</i>.<br />
<br />
Late addition: NBC changed its mind on <i>Timeless</i> and <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/05/timeless-renewed-season-2-nbc-1202092878/">renewed it for a second season</a>.<br />
-- <br />
<br />

Elementary Renewed for a Sixth Season

"waiting with breathless suspense for the renewal" [REDC] On May 13 CBS announced that it will be renewing its New York...

+ Read more »

by James C. O'Leary

Interview with Nadia Alexander — Elementary's Hope Neligan

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
“When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets…” [TWIS]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirRYn0oTH2HEfchV2nblsx6nOU8mi8YJ1rwf0ncZWEl1SdX14_1eXbDsOVpQ2Rqf1I8-RoUcwVdn12essWpdOhw2Tv41WRYdAkPqv6PWXb4wL77swRqofNxpKDjvzKwNrQ-e8LLGqqNMu/s1600/Elementary+-+Nadia+Alexander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirRYn0oTH2HEfchV2nblsx6nOU8mi8YJ1rwf0ncZWEl1SdX14_1eXbDsOVpQ2Rqf1I8-RoUcwVdn12essWpdOhw2Tv41WRYdAkPqv6PWXb4wL77swRqofNxpKDjvzKwNrQ-e8LLGqqNMu/s640/Elementary+-+Nadia+Alexander.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>
In the March 2017 issue of the electronic newsletter <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.com/">The Sherlockian E-Times</a></i> (Vol 17, No
3), Carolyn and Joel Senter posted this notice:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We recently received this note from that SOB, David Haugen:<br />
"Hey all you SOBs and Friends of the SOBs!!!!!<br />
SOB Charlie Cook of Sumter, SC just sent us <b>this info about his New York-based granddaughter, SOB Nadia Alexander, who is an actress!!!</b><br />
<br />
<b>SOB Member Nadia Alexander will be appearing, as a guest star in the role of Hope Neligan, in the 18th episode of this season of "ELEMENTARY" on CBS, premiering later this month!</b><br />
Checking CBS' viewing schedule today on the web, this Sunday (March 5) they are showing the 15th episode ("Wrong Side of the Road"), so our best-guess-timate is that Episode 18 (no known title yet) will show on March 26 but please, please, please check your local listings!!!<br />
So, set your video recording devises and check your local listings!!!!<br />
<br />
Thanks!<br />
Terri and David"</blockquote>
<div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The episode did air on Sunday, March 26. Called “Dead Man’s
Tale,” it is a satisfyingly twisty story about the mummified remains of a man run
through by a sword found in a self-storage unit. Turns out the man worked for
New York City, stealing items from people who died without heirs. One of the looted items
was a captain’s log from Captain Emerson Barker, who was also the legendary
Colonial-era pirate Black Peter.<br />
<br />
Tracing the path of the stolen logbook,
Sherlock and Joan come across the mysterious Kashgar, middleman in fencing
stolen antiquities on the dark web. Kashgar turns out to be Hope Neligan,
teenage daughter of ex-con John Neligan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
</span>Hope was played by the <a href="http://soundofthebaskervilles.com/">Sound of the Baskervilles’</a> own Nadia Alexander.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Before the show aired, I emailed Joel with additional
information about the episode garnered from the internet and joked with him
about the “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E-Times</i> ratings bump” —  “With
Nadia's relatives, membership of the SOB's and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E-Times</i> subscribers, I have no doubt that the March 26 ratings will
see a significant increase in viewership, to the delight of the CBS brass…”</div>
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<br /></div>
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In fact, according to <a href="http://tvline.com/2017/03/27/ncis-los-angeles-ratings-season-8-episode-19/">TV Line</a>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> “enjoyed bigger audiences while hitting their best ratings
since Dec. 18." Like TV Line, <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/03/north-carolina-kentucky-ncaa-ratings-cbs-little-big-shots-time-after-time-1202052875/">Deadline</a> attributed the bump to the Final
Four:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"North Carolina’s thrilling victory provided the best result of the
tourney so far, and the surge pushed CBS’ subsequent lineup of
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">60 Minutes</i> (2.7/10), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NCIS: Los Angeles</i> (1.6/6), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Madam Secretary</i> (1.0/4) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary </i>(0.8/3, tracked from 10:30-11
PM) up by double digits. Whether those tentative numbers hold is another
matter, but right now almost all of CBS’ Sunday shows are at heights unseen
since the NFL season was raging late last fall." </blockquote>
But what do TV critics
know about the clout of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E-Times</i>
and Sherlockians, anyway?</div>
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<br /></div>
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After “Dead Man’s Tale” broadcast, I reached out to the <a href="http://www.johnhwatsonsociety.com/">John H Watson Society</a>’s Margie Deck, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Watsonian’s</i> Pawky Puzzler and member of the SOBs, to reach out to Charlie
Cook to ask Nadia to see if she would be interested in being interview for this website on her experiences on the show. Margie did, Charlie did, and Nadia
said yes.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, with a heartfelt thanks to Carolyn and Joel Senter, Margie
Deck and Charlie Cook, we hear from the master thespian herself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: Please tell us
a bit about yourself.</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Nadia Alexander:</b> I am a New York City-based actor who has been working in the
film/TV business for about nine years now. My initial love of acting began at
age six, when I started doing theater in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. I
always knew it was what I wanted to do with my life, and now I’m fortunate
enough to make my living—full-time—as an actor (no day job, hooray!). I also
recently graduated s<i>umma cum laude</i> from the Macaulay Honors College (one of the
few tuition-free programs in the country) with two degrees in Physics and
Psychology. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: How did you
first meet Sherlock Holmes?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> My very first introduction to the detective was through my
grandpa, Charlie, who absolutely adores Sherlock Holmes and would always
encourage me to read Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories when I was little (though I
must admit, at that age, I had more interest in his Peanuts comic collection!).
But I would say I was officially roped into the Sherlockian world in 2010, when
a friend introduced me to the first season of the BBC <i>Sherlock </i>series. In my
opinion, the first two seasons of BBC <i>Sherlock </i>are among some of the best and
most brilliant pieces of TV I’ve seen, and the Benedict Cumberbatch-Martin
Freeman-Andrew Scott trifecta as Holmes, Watson and Moriarty is the kind of truly
spot-on, chemistry-filled casting that an actor like myself lives to watch. And
while I do not regularly keep up with <i>Elementary </i>(I’m more of a binge-watcher
than a week-to-week kind of TV consumer), both my grandpa and my mom are huge
fans of the show, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to be a part of
something I knew my whole family would enjoy and play in a world I’ve
discovered more and more of over the past few years!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Tell us how you
were cast for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>? </b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> I got the audition appointment from my agents to meet with
the show’s casting director, Mark Saks. I’ve auditioned for Mark a few times in
the past so we’ve developed a good rapport and relationship. As such, he
brought me straight to a session with the director of the episode, Alex Chapple
(as opposed to bringing me in for a pre-read, where the actor only reads for
the casting director before potentially getting a callback with the director).
I was given the interrogation scene to read for Mark and Alex and, because my
agents had sent me a breakdown of the character, I knew Hope Neligan was
supposed to be very bright and really know her stuff when it comes to the dark
web.<br />
<br />
To help me get into that mindset, I went in with the lines fully memorized
(it’s usually standard to bring a copy of the scene in case you forget your
lines, but I decided to take a risk) and just tried to play the scene as if I
spent my days running business all over the dark web (in reality I wouldn’t
know where to find the dark web, let alone set up shop!). I think my level of
preparation really showed Mark and Alex that I was serious about the role and
my approach to the scene was right for the overall energy of Hope as a character.
So, just a few days after that meeting, I got a call from my agents that I had
booked the role!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: The episode
you were on, “Dead Man’s Tale,” took elements of Doyle’s “The Adventure of
Black Peter.” Black Peter became the sobriquet of a part-time Colonial era
pirate and you became Hope Neligan, daughter of ex-con John Neligan, who sells
the pirate’s stolen logbook on the dark web. How did it feel to be not only on
a Sherlockian TV show but also to play a Canonical-ish character based on John
Hopley Neligan, son of </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"absconding banker" J.H. Neligan?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> I think it’s always a real treat for Sherlock-based shows to
give nods like that to die-hard fans who really know their canon. And as an
actor, it’s fun because you get to see the parallels that the writers used to
form your character. Even a little thing from the original story, like Arthur
Conan Doyle’s Sherlock noting that John Hopley Neligan was too slight to run a
man through with a harpoon, was able to be brought up in our story, with our
Sherlock doubting that I could be capable of such an act with a sword (but my
father could be)! Ultimately, it just adds a really fun layer that you hope
will tickle fans of the original stories. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: How as it
working with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu and the rest of the cast and crew?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> Jonny and Lucy were very welcoming, kind, and professional.
When you come in for just a few days of work on a show that has been going on for
years and you’re working with the leads of said show, it can be a bit
intimidating, even for someone like me who has been doing this for quite a
while now. But the two of them really made me feel like a part of the team and
were very friendly both on and off set. Jon Michael Hill was also incredibly
nice and very easy to work with, which was great since I had both of my scenes
with him! When I wrapped, he even agreed to write and autograph a little note
to my mom (who, as I mentioned, is an avid fan), which I put on my copy of the
episode’s script as a little gift for her!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Did you get to
“talk Sherlock shop” with JLM and Lucy?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> I wish! Sadly, network TV shooting tends to move very
quickly, and so I was only on set with JLM and Lucy for a few hours and for
most of that time, we were pretending to be other people! But you can tell
after five seasons, those two really know what they’re doing and understand the
beloved characters they inhabit week-to-week. It’s clearly second nature for
them, and it was awesome to see them work as Sherlock and Watson! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Did you have
any Sherlockian-based discussions with anyone in production?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to chat with anyone
about Sherlock! I would have loved to sit down with the writers and pick their
brains but sadly the days just move too fast for that! But all in all, I just
had a really wonderful experience both as an actor and as a Sherlock fan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Hope is
arrested in her father’s home and interrogated at the 11<sup>th</sup> Precinct.
Did you get to visit the Brownstone set? What did you think of it?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> Unfortunately, the Brownstone was at a different part of the
stage and I had to get to my other job (more on that in a bit) before I was
able to sneak a peek at it. But the Precinct was really cool. It’s amazing how
much detail goes into making it feel like it’s a real space and not just a
stage. They even had water fountains and payphones (though further inspection
proved neither worked)!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSvwHhyphenhyphentyoF2YkA41AnwtsPs_Ktmdev3hjZPj6z6aUD9VE7bow6sOSaz29JWULph5ubdiUefjervuqmSDaNzVk_jEb8ndzDmBh-IwND28i-GuddLxoC9FvEIXGD-tPC3xtxuAZwHDJpWE/s1600/IMG_0488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSvwHhyphenhyphentyoF2YkA41AnwtsPs_Ktmdev3hjZPj6z6aUD9VE7bow6sOSaz29JWULph5ubdiUefjervuqmSDaNzVk_jEb8ndzDmBh-IwND28i-GuddLxoC9FvEIXGD-tPC3xtxuAZwHDJpWE/s640/IMG_0488.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nadia on set as Hope Neligan.<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> "No, really, the police arrested me on </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">suspicion of murder, questioned 
me about</span><br />
 my dark web business, then let me go! <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Look, I took a selfie at the station to prove it!"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: I liked your
performance as Hope, a brilliant 14-year-old (I’m not asking your age in case
any casting agents are reading this!) who sees nothing wrong with being a
middleman who facilitated the transfer of dubious items on the dark web to save
her proceeds as tuition to attend MIT, because she’s not selling guns or drugs like her dad.
To further the pirate metaphor of the episode, you captured both her certainty
as someone who’s able to navigate dangerous shoals few could handle and her
uncertainty as a kid in over her head in deep adult waters. I also liked Jon
Michael Hill’s “what the heck” look during the arrest scene when you admit
you’re Kashgar.</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> Thanks! Jon and I had a lot of fun playing with our dynamic
both in that scene and in the interrogation (where I got to be particularly
snarky with him as payback for busting in on me and my dad!). There was a very
funny moment when we were rehearsing the raid scene before the cameras started
rolling, where, after I admitted I was Kashgar, there was a long pause, and Jon
suddenly, very comically, turned around and ran out the front door and halfway
down the block! We all laughed so hard!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Any
possibility that Hope could return as one of Sherlock’s Irregulars a la Mason
(Robert Capron), who was also in your episode?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> Sadly, those types of decisions don’t rest with me, but of
course I would say yes if they invited me back. I did think it was interesting
that I (presumably) got to walk free despite committing a felony! But jokes
aside, I’m always happy for whatever work I can get, so I am very grateful for
my one episode!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: What’s next
for you?</b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>NA:</b> I have a couple exciting things in store for 2017. Coming up
soonest is the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Quinn Shephard’s very
impressive directorial debut, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blame</i>,
where I play the lead villain, Melissa. Then, I’ve got two other lead roles in
upcoming films: Phil, in Boaz Yakin’s psychological thriller <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://deadline.com/2016/11/im-global-acquires-maven-pictures-boarding-school-boaz-yakin-1201848303/">Boarding School</a> </i>and Mina in Justin P.
Lange’s monster tale, <a href="http://www.austrianfilms.com/films/film_detail?fid=1481568393612"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dark</i></a>. I am
also currently working on a new Netflix series called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Seconds_(TV_series)"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seven Seconds</i></a>, which, funnily enough, actually shares the same
shooting stage as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>—it made
commuting to work very easy that week! That should be out later this year or
early 2018! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h4>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IHOSE: Thanks so much
for doing this and future success in all you do. </b></h4>
<b><i></i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><b><i><br /></i></b></i></b></div>
<b><i>
Update:</i></b> Since conducting this interview <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/quinn-shephard-blame-tribeca-2017-1201808375/"><i>Blame</i></a> has premiered at the <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2017/04/2017-tribeca-film-festival-awards-keep-the-change-son-of-sofia-1201810168/">Tribeca Film Festival </a>and Nadia was awarded <b>Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film</b>. Jury Comment: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“For her powerful, multilayered and risky portrayal of a troubled teenager in Quinn Shephard’s accomplished directorial debut ‘Blame,’ the award for Best Actress goes to Nadia Alexander.”</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I am especially thankful to our award-winning Sherlockian for graciously taking time
out of her busy schedule to answer my questions. As for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>, its season finale will be May 21. The Sunday night 10:00 pm time-slot is not especially kind and Sunday sports can frequently push the start time close 11:00. The Masters on April 9 pushed Episode 19 back by a week. The future is
uncertain for a sixth season. <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/04/bubble-watch-elementary-2-broke-girls-quantico-exorcist-timeless-oncwe-upon-a-time-blindspotseries-renewal-status-1202068661/">Deadline</a> reported mid-April:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>Elementary</i> surprisingly did not make the list of early
renewals for the first time, spending its first spring on the bubble. But I
hear the crime drama, 100% owned by CBS, looks good to return and is making
writer staffing deals for next season. While its linear ratings in the Sunday
10 PM hour are soft (7.7 million viewers, 1.1 in 18-49 Live+7), the series has
off-network and SVOD deals with WGN America, Hulu Plus and broadcast stations
that fetch in as much as $3 million total per episode; and it is a nice
international seller too. Just last May, CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves used
<i>Elementary</i> as an example of a program ownership success story, telling
investors that the show had “made approximately an $80 million profit for the
corporation” the previous year.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, with 120 episodes in the can, CBS is
all set for a successful syndication. The fans, on the other hand, would like it to return. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/05/05/save-our-shows-2017-timeless-elementary-blindspot-usa-today/101251072/">USA Today</a> published the results for their annual Save Our Shows poll on May 5 and reported:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The viewers have spoken, and they want to make time for NBC's <i>Timeless</i>.The freshman series was the favorite in USA Today's Save Our Shows poll, with 49% of voters saying they'd like the historically minded time-travel drama to stick around for a second season. CBS's <i>Elementary</i>, wrapping its fifth season this month, was a very close second with 48% (a difference of 1,350 votes), with NBC's <i>Blindspot </i>and ABC's <i>Last Man Standing</i> tied for third place with far less support. This year's turnout of 146,603 votes marked a new record for Save Our Shows, now in its 20th year....<i>Timeless </i>was the clear favorite among viewers under 50 (74% of teen voters picked it), while <i>Elementary </i>outshone it among the 50-plus group....Women also picked <i>Timeless </i>as their favorite to return, while men chose <i>Elementary...</i>"</blockquote>
<br />
It would be nice if CBS saw the poll and kept the results in mind when they make their final decision. I hope it returns for a sixth season and
wraps-up the Morland Holmes, Jamie Moriarty and Mycroft Holmes storylines and
give us a bit more of Ms. Hudson. After all, on the
show she is a Greek interpreter.<br />
<br />
-- <br />
<br /></div>
</div>

Interview with Nadia Alexander — Elementary's Hope Neligan

“When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets…” [TWIS] In the March 2017 issue of the electronic newsletter The Sherlocki...

+ Read more »

by James C. O'Leary

Elementary’s Mycroft and Morland Holmes — A Tale of Doyle's Two Mycrofts

<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<h4>
“He was very like the chap that I had seen the night before” [STOC]</h4>
</div>
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Arthur Conan Doyle never set out to make Sherlock Holmes a series character. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Study in Scarlet</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sign of Four</i> did not set the literary world on fire in 1887 and 1890 respectively. Before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Strand Magazine</i> came into being in January 1891, there wasn’t a market for a short story serial character. Such a thing did not yet exist.<br />
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In the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the rise in literacy and more cost-effective printing and distribution, serialize novels in magazines and newspapers were popular. It’s why the novels of those times were so long; they were first serialized by authors who were being paid by the word. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Years-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199537267/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466201654&sr=1-1&keywords=twenty+years+after" target="_blank">Alexandre Dumas wrote 1.25 million words</a> about the Three Musketeers between 1844 and 1850. </div>
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With the acceptance of “A Scandal in Bohemia” in March 1891, Doyle wrote six Holmes stories for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strand</i>, being paid by the word, averaging £35 for each. When the July, August and September issues hit newsstands, sales increased because of the amateur detective and his medical companion and the magazine asked for more. Doyle offered <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Strand</i> £50 per story, regardless of length, hoping the magazine would decline such a ridiculous offer. They did not.<br />
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Doyle planned to kill Holmes in the twelfth tale. After informing his mother of that plan, she begged him not to do it and even supplied Doyle with the kernel for the plot of "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches." When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Strand</i> again asked for another Holmes series, Doyle countered with <b>£1000</b> (approximately $75,000 in US dollars today [Editor's note: calculated by using <a href="http://currency.wiki/1893gbp-usd" target="_blank">Currency.Wiki</a> and Dave Manuel's <a href="http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php" target="_blank">Inflation Calculator</a>) for twelve, again hoping the asking price was too rich for the magazine. It was not and the author stuck to his guns and killed off the detective in the twenty-forth story, “The Final Problem”.</div>
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For nine years, “Final” was the operative word when it came to Holmes, but with the worldwide success of William Gillette’s play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sherlock Holmes</i> and mounting personal expenses, Doyle decided to turn his “creeper” of a ghost story into a reminiscence of the late detective and HOUN was the first bestseller of the twentieth century in the modern sense of the term. Such a chink in Doyle’s armor <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Teller-Tales-Arthur-Conan-Doyle-ebook/dp/B00HY09X16/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466201748&sr=1-2&keywords=teller+of+tales" target="_blank">led Collier’s Weekly to offer</a> <b>$25,000</b> ($715,000 today) for six, <b>$30,000</b> ($860,000 today) for eight or <b>$45,000</b> ($1.3 million today) for 13 revived Sherlock Holmes stories, with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strand</i> throwing in an extra £100 per thousand words. Being human, Doyle accepted.<br />
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But also, being Doyle, he went at the task with the highest professional resolve. “I don’t think you need have any fears about Sherlock. I am not conscious of any failing powers, and my work is not less conscientious of old,” Doyle wrote his mother. Watson made clear throughout <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Return</i> that Holmes had retired and this was to be the final series of adventures.</div>
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The siren call of cash has power over mortals — and in the nineteen years between 1908 and 1927, Doyle would come to terms with his once-hated nemesis and sporadically write 20 more short stories and one novel. The point is not to berate Doyle for a moral weakness, since what he did was to be well-compensated for giving the public more of what they wanted and not rob or kill for filthy lucre, but to point out that the Canon is a series of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stops</i> — and in the fifteen years between Mycroft’s two guest-starring turns, Holmes’s brother had evolved in Doyle’s mind and that the character in "The Greek Interpreter" is subtly different than the one in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"<br />
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It is this difference that Robert Doherty and the writers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> exploited in their Mycroft and Morland Holmes.</div>
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<h3>
Interpreting "The Greek Interpreter"</h3>
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Holmes informing Watson of the existence of a heretofore unknown brother is one of the Canon’s classic scenes; the older sibling with “better powers of observation than I,” but with “no ambition and no energy,” who<br />
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“audits the books in some of the Government departments. Mycroft lodges in Pall Mall, and he walks round the corner into Whitehall every morning and back every evening. From year's end to year's end he takes no other exercise, and is seen nowhere else, except only in the Diogenes Club, which is just opposite his rooms.” </blockquote>
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Holmes describes the Diogenes:<br />
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“There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Strangers' Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, permitted, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere."</blockquote>
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“His body was absolutely corpulent,” Watson describes him on first meeting,<br />
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“but his face, though massive, had preserved something of the sharpness of expression which was so remarkable in that of his brother. His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light watery grey, seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers.” </blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPXBvD8KaCq5X6-AhXg6e2GtqfIfCgY90Laj2w79ZhQzXMM5-zrRnzGToMXYsgUzFn8wB0-4N2nKdAUhN3XyMhitDki3_TrSeRGjvh6sLeU-AausdAyxA_7pziSZjcJQgAveHl3PwXiOa/s1600/GREE-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPXBvD8KaCq5X6-AhXg6e2GtqfIfCgY90Laj2w79ZhQzXMM5-zrRnzGToMXYsgUzFn8wB0-4N2nKdAUhN3XyMhitDki3_TrSeRGjvh6sLeU-AausdAyxA_7pziSZjcJQgAveHl3PwXiOa/s320/GREE-07.jpg" width="281" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Mycroft Holmes in "The Greek Interpreter" - illustration by Sidney Paget</span></td></tr>
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In competing deductions of a stranger on the street we get a hint of sibling rivalry that later pasticheurs and scriptwriters have made much hay over.</div>
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Holmes, Watson and Mycroft (for the second time) listen to Mr. Melas’ story then Holmes queries Mycroft on any action he has taken:</div>
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“Any steps?” he asked.</div>
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Mycroft picked up the <i>Daily News</i>, which was lying on a side-table.</div>
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'"Anybody supplying any information as to the whereabouts of a Greek gentleman named Paul Kratides, from Athens, who is unable to speak English, will be rewarded. A similar reward paid to anyone giving information about a Greek lady whose first name is Sophy. X2473.’ That was in all the dailies. No answer.”</div>
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“How about the Greek Legation?”</div>
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“I have inquired. They know nothing.”</div>
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“A wire to the head of the Athens police, then.”'</div>
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“Sherlock has all the energy of the family,” said Mycroft, turning to me. “Well, you take up the case by all means, and let me know if you do any good.”</div>
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Here is a man to whom writing out two telegraph forms and dispatching a servant to send them puts him on the brink of exhaustion; writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">three</i> would send him over the brink. In fact, this picture of an inert and ambitionless man is reinforced when Holmes and Watson walk home from the interview.</div>
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Holmes ascended the stairs first, and as he opened the door of our room he gave a start of surprise. Looking over his shoulder I was equally astonished. His brother Mycroft was sitting smoking in the armchair.</div>
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"Come in, Sherlock! Come in, sir," said he, blandly, smiling at our surprised faces. "You don't expect such energy from me, do you, Sherlock? But somehow this case attracts me."</div>
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[Holmes is so shocked by this unprecedented event that he elicits history’s first instance of “No s—t, Sherlock” from the reader.]</div>
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"How did you get here?"</div>
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"I passed you in a hansom."</div>
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If the Canon had ended with the stories of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Memoirs </i>or of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Return</i>, this is the only portrait of Mycroft we would be left with: a lazy and unambitious man, perhaps agoraphobic (“From year's end to year's end he takes no other exercise, and is seen nowhere” except work, home and club) and perhaps misanthropic. An intelligent underachiever content to bookkeep in obscurity and live more within the confines of his mind (“His eyes … seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock's when he was exerting his full powers”) than the world and behind the façade of a “social club” of fellow hermits.<br />
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It is only the intellectual excitement of Sherlock’s work that pulls Mycroft from his comfort zone, and yet for all his intellect makes the tyro error of advertising in the papers after Melas has related the dire consequences of doing just that from Latimer and Kemp and then to suggest to interview the ad respondent rather than to rush to the probable location of the kidnapped Melas and Kratides. As we will see, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>’s Mycroft (Rhys Ifans) will draw heavily from this well.</div>
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<b>Planning "The Bruce-Partington Plans"</b></h3>
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Over the fifteen years from GREE to BRUC, Mycroft must have evolved in Doyle’s mind, grown in stature, ability and status from the eccentric recluse to someone more fitting to be the older brother of the world’s first—and best—consulting detective.</div>
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Gone is the man with no energy and no ambition. He is not too lazy to go anywhere save work, club and home, but “Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. His Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes Club, Whitehall - that is his cycle. Once, and only once, he has been here. What upheaval can possibly have derailed him?" And “that Mycroft should break out in this erratic fashion! A planet might as well leave its orbit.”<br />
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Why? Not because he’s an insignificant accountant too sluggish to move, but because he is a governmental entity too important to be derailed by the trivial.</div>
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"You told me that he had some small office under the British Government."</div>
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Holmes chuckled.</div>
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"I did not know you quite so well in those days. One has to be discreet when one talks of high matters of state. You are right in thinking that he is under the British Government. You would also be right in a sense if you said that occasionally he is the British Government."</div>
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"My dear Holmes!"</div>
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"I thought I might surprise you. Mycroft draws four hundred and fifty pounds a year, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">remains a subordinate, has no ambitions of any kind, will receive neither honour nor title, but remains the most indispensable man in the country</i>." </div>
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"But how?"</div>
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"Well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his position is unique. He has made it for himself</i>. There has never been anything like it before, nor will be again. He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living. The same great powers which I have turned to the detection of crime he has used for this particular business. The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearing-house, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience. We will suppose that a Minister needs information as to a point which involves the Navy, India, Canada, and the bimetallic question; he could get his separate advices from various departments upon each, but only Mycroft can focus them all, and say offhand how each factor would affect the other. They began by using him as a short-cut, a convenience; now he has made himself an essential. In that great brain of his everything is pigeonholed, and can be handed out in an instant. Again and again his word has decided the national policy. He lives in it. He thinks of nothing else save when, as an intellectual exercise, he unbends if I call upon him and ask him to advise me on one of my little problems. But Jupiter is descending today.” [Emphasis ours - <i>Ed</i>.]</div>
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Mycroft Holmes is, in fact Her Majesty’s analog to Sherlock Holmes, a consulting intelligence analyst but as superior to the average analyst as Sherlock is to the average Scotland Yarder. He is a department of one, subordinate but independent and like the ship of State itself can only move off-course (or depart Olympus) with great effort and reason. Gone is the lack of energy; the energy is now mental rather than physical. Gone is the lack of ambition for he has created his own, important niche in a realm where only the strong survive; but rather he lacks ambition<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">s</i> — the desire for fame, power or wealth.</div>
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Doyle’s physical description of Mycroft is also subtly different. </div>
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A moment later the tall and portly form of Mycroft Holmes was ushered into the room. Heavily built and massive, there was a suggestion of uncouth physical inertia in the figure, but above this unwieldy frame there was perched a head so masterful in its brow, so alert in its steel-gray, deep-set eyes, so firm in its lips, and so subtle in its play of expression, that after the first glance one forgot the gross body and remembered only the dominant mind.</div>
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The eyes are now alert and steel-gray not introspective and watery gray; the brow so masterful that the seal flipper hand fades from memory. Mycroft has habits, not indolence: “I extremely dislike altering my habits, but the powers that be would take no denial.” Supplicants must come to him prepared: “Give me your details, and from an arm-chair I will return you an excellent expert opinion. But to run here and run there, to cross-question railway guards, and lie on my face with a lens to my eye - it is not my métier.” Doyle paints for us a man worthy of the name Holmes in "The Bruce-Partington Plans" — and that is the one the reader of the Canon remembers the most.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RsCP4DhUvb1kFRzP9mMcLXfiytgi2UmKlOH_paSaq4R7XKBGSgg9PxRBeh6wiYQfIpqHOJx21LZNriAyiVwPsopLa-J91DuLD3JZgngUoTWFJw-0cQ3u3HDuOhpD8_TKCZJx2KYkmlob/s1600/Bruc-01+Twidle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RsCP4DhUvb1kFRzP9mMcLXfiytgi2UmKlOH_paSaq4R7XKBGSgg9PxRBeh6wiYQfIpqHOJx21LZNriAyiVwPsopLa-J91DuLD3JZgngUoTWFJw-0cQ3u3HDuOhpD8_TKCZJx2KYkmlob/s1600/Bruc-01+Twidle.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mycroft Holmes in "The Bruce-Partington Plans" - illustration by Arthur Twidle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Doyle explains this different Mycroft to the reader by having Holmes claim he did not know Watson well enough to let him in on the truth, one unsatisfying within the confines of The Game, as "The Greek Interpreter" would have to take place after the publication of <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> ("I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler.”). That would place GREE in 1888 at the earliest, which would mean that Holmes did not know Watson well after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seven years</i>.<br />
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Remember also that in 1883 Holmes contradictorily told Helen Stoner, “This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself.” A more likely explanation within The Game is that Watson <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> know truth in 1888, but it was the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">public </i>who could not know of Mycroft’s position in the government until 1908, when Mycroft’s role was either generally known or he had retired.</div>
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While Doyle elevated Mycroft to Sherlock’s governmental analog equal, it was Sherlockians who made Mycroft something more. By taking “he is the British Government” out of the context of Mycroft’s recommendations occasionally being implemented as government policy, Mycroft has become an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">éminence grise</i> who has the ear of Queen and ministers and powers over purse-strings (as in Billy Wilder’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Private-Life-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/B00K6D1RVW/ref=tmm_dvd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1466201883&sr=1-3" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes</i></a>) or a James Bondian “M” of a proto-MI6 run under the cover of the Diogenes Club or, as Vincent Starrett might have it, a mole of Moriarty. It is this Parallel Mycroft, <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/01/original-holmes-and-parallel-holmes.html#.V2R5U6KNFZY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">as Mattias Boström would style it</a>, that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> uses as the template for Morland Holmes.</div>
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“Morland is not from [the] Canon,” said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px16uAMW9bE" target="_blank">Robert Doherty at WonderCon 2016</a>, “and in some respects that makes him harder to write. You know if you’re taking something from [the] Canon you’re on some pretty solid footing, but with Morland, he was from whole cloth.” Yes, Holmes <i>père</i> is never mentioned or hinted at in the Canon, but by exploiting the duality of Doyle’s two Mycrofts and the duality of Canonical and popular culture Mycroft, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> has created a family dynamic that is influenced by Doyle and the cultural mythos that has built up around Mycroft but is outside the Canon, one both familiar and unique to Sherlockians, exploring how Sherlock became the show’s version of the icon and how the show’s Mycroft became GREE’s underachiever, by having the father be the pop culture Mycroft puppetmaster. </div>
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<b>Rhys's Piece</b></h3>
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406975/" target="_blank">Rhys Ifans</a>’ Mycroft was introduced in Season 2, where it is clear he and brother Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) aren't on good terms:</div>
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<b>Sherlock Holmes:</b> Fatty, This is Watson. Watson, this is Fatty.</div>
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<b>Mycroft Holmes:</b> Fatty? I’d say I slimmed down quite a bit. Wouldn’t you say?</div>
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<b>Sherlock:</b> Lap-band?</div>
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<b>Mycroft:</b> Exercise.</div>
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<b>Sherlock:</b> Exercise requires energy and ambition. You’ve never had either. (S2 E1)</div>
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This Mycroft is a successful restaurateur who owns several Michelin-starred restaurants named Diogenes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> combines the elements of obesity, work and club [GREE] to give us a Mycroft whose safety zone is food and a self-created environment where he can sate his inner demons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the season we find out that Mycroft was recruited by MI6:</div>
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<b>Mycroft Holmes</b>: It’s true, my business was going through a rough patch. I needed cash to keep my restaurants afloat.</div>
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<b>Sherlock Holmes</b>: So you took money from drug dealers. What could go wrong?</div>
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<b>Mycroft</b>: Le Milieu approached me with what they called a ‘mutually beneficial arraignment’. It was not an offer one could decline and yet that’s precisely what I intended to do. But before I could give my official word, I was visited by a man from MI6. He told me they’d been watching Le Milieu and were aware of the offer; he urged me to accept. Burrow in, keep my eyes and ears open, do some good for Queen and country.</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: And here was me thinking that MI6 was an intelligence organization. But they sought help from you, a virtual cartoon character.</div>
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<b>Mycroft</b>: You’re not listening…. I suppose, at first, it was all very romantic. I was an asset. I was imbedded with Le Milieu. As it turned out, I had something of a knack for spying.</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: What’s your double-o designation? License to kill or just to annoy?</div>
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<b>Mycroft</b>: I never was an operative. Never went on missions. But I did find I had a capacity for storing facts. Quite a remarkable one. And as my work with Le Milieu brought me into contact with other criminal organizations, I began to take on their secrets, too. I became a sort of clearinghouse for MI6. I could often, but not always, predict the effect of certain actions that might be taken to dismantle criminal groups. I know you don’t take me seriously, but the agency does. And they have done for quite some time.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: So you honestly expect me to believe that you are an MI6 asset and you have kept that hidden from me for over a decade?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: [sarcastically] Right. Because we’re so close. (S2 E23)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As with Melas in "The Greek Interpreter," Mycroft’s action led to a kidnapping — Joan Watson’s (Lucy Liu). Throughout the season, Mycroft had shown a fascination with Sherlock and Joan’s work and during the effort to free Joan from Le Milieu we get a flip version of GREE’s deduction competition:</div>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: You have the intellectual tools to make simple deductions. Your failure to apply them in an energetic fashion is a constant source of befuddlement. Look around you. Really look around.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: Excuse me. This cushion’s been disturbed. There’s scratches on the floor. Dry blood? There may have been some kind of scuffle.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: More than a scuffle, I’d say. Those scratches are drag marks. Someone pulled a heavy object to this door. (S2 E22)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
For someone without training, Mycroft acquits himself well, especially, as filmed, the clues are subtle to read. After Joan is rescued, she finds out the depths to which Mycroft would sacrifice for Sherlock. He had quit MI6, to get on with his own life, until:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan Watson</b>: Tell me about Sudomo Han ….</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: Han was an Indonesian businessman who kept an office in London. About three years ago, when Sherlock was at the height of his drug use, or at the bottom, whichever way you look at it, Han approached him to act as a sort of confidential courier. Said he need to transfer a packet of trade secrets to a colleague without his competitors finding out the package had passed hands.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: Sherlock took the job.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: Unfortunately. What Sherlock didn’t realize was that Han was financing a terrorist plot. The trade secrets were instructions for the transfer of funds, and the competitors Sherlock managed to elude were British agents. Luckily, MI6 thwarted the attack, so no one was hurt, but in the process Sherlock’s involvement came to light. He, uh…could’ve been sent to prison for a very long time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: So MI6 offered you a deal.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: By my handler. He said if I came back to work, Sherlock’s problems would disappear.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: In other words, everything that you did for MI6, letting drug traffickers use your restaurants, that wasn’t for money, or to save your business. That was all to protect Sherlock. (S2 E23)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mycroft comes to a harsh judgment of his actions and himself:</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: ‘He has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions. He would rather be considered wrong than go to the trouble of proving himself right.’ Something I overheard Sherlock say to my father once. He was 15.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: I can’t even picture him at 15.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: It hurts. And to be assessed like that.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: He knows a lot. He doesn’t know everything.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: I could have followed father into business. I could have followed Sherlock into his passions. But I wanted… less, I suppose.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: You are a success. You own restaurants all over Europe. And the things you’ve done for your country---</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Mycroft</b>: Folly. Obviously. I should have said no when the agency approached me. But I remembered what Sherlock said. And I remember my father failing to disagree. And I…I thought I could prove, at least to myself, that I was more than what they thought. Idiocy. (S2 E24)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his own variation of "The Final Problem," Mycroft lets the NSA fake his death to fool Le Milieu and disappears on his own hiatus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary </i>takes Mycroft's obesity, his desire for obscurity ("How comes it that he is unknown?" "Oh, he is very well known in his own circle." "Where, then?" "Well, in the Diogenes Club, for example." I had never heard of the institution…"), and need for a comfort zone and recombines them.<br />
<br />
Food, a symbolic substitute for Mycroft, becomes both his work and his social club. The Diogenes restaurants become the place where he shares that most accessible part of himself with a select clientele. His ambitions are small compared to his father’s and to his brother’s, but like GREE Mycroft's unremarkable bookkeeping job within walking distance of home and unsociable social club, he is happy and content in his self-made world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The twist during the course of Season 2 is the blending of this Mycroft with the Canonical Mycroft's government servant and espionage [BRUC]. He is an asset to MI-6, letting his restaurants be used by Le Milieu and being a clearing-house of intel and a strategic analyst. Unlike with Doyle’s Mycroft, the later version does not become the default Mycroft, but Ifans' Greek Interpreter-based Mycroft stays dominant and becomes an uneasy fit to a man trying to prove to himself that he is not the failure his father and brother believe he is. In fact, he did quit only to be lured back in by his handler to prevent Sherlock’s arrest.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately for some, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>’s Mycroft, while hewing close to Doyle, seemed too foreign. They were expecting something more like Parallel or pop culture Mycroft. Indeed, the portrait of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>’s Mycroft was incomplete until John Noble appeared to flesh out the family tree and to give the viewers a pastiche theory of how Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes came to be the men they are; “how far any singular gift in an individual was due to his ancestry, and how far to his own early training.”<br />
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3>
<b>The Not-So-Noble Father</b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Father Holmes has been an unseen presence since the beginning of the series. The brownstone occupied by Sherlock and Joan is his least-valuable holding in New York City. Sherlock’s low opinion of bankers, lawyers and capitalists expressed throughout the series has been colored by the relationship with his father: “My father is a Lovecraftian horror who uses his money to bludgeon his way to ever-more-obscene profits.” (S2 E22) Early in the first season, the viewer is teased by the possibility of meeting the man:</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan Watson</b>: Your father e-mailed me last night before I went to bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>He’s coming into town for business. Wants to have dinner. [Sherlock chuckles] What’s so funny?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock Holmes</b>: Him. Dinner. Us. [Looks at Joan] You. Remind me, Watson. How many times have you met the man?</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: Never.</div>
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: That’s because he’s secured your services as my sober companion electronically. And all of your subsequent correspondences have been via e-mail or through one of his legion of personal assistants.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: So?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: So take it from someone who has spent incrementally more time with him than you, he has zero intentions of meeting us for dinner this evening. (S1 E6)</div>
</blockquote>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
And later:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: One, my father does not care about me. He does what he does out of a sense of familial obligation. Big difference. Two, he does not care about you or what you think. Meeting you would be a formality. Three, as I’ve already told you, your concern is unwarranted because he has absolutely no intention of showing up tonight.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: How could you possible know that?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: Because he is a serial absentee. A pathological maker and breaker of promises. Been that way since I was a boy. Fool me one, shame on you, fool me ad nauseam---(S1 E6)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
That <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incrementally</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">serial absentee</i> are telling. Morland is always away on business; Sherlock and Mycroft were sent to different boarding schools and their mother was an opioid addict who became estranged from Morland and the family, later dying in an apartment fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While the Canonical Watson thought Holmes was an orphan until "The Greek Interpreter," <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>’s Sherlock <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> functionally an orphan.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRkwmCwZeOdA0Zv0YWco4FSk_ftgl1YFlNr2CWmu6C8rp__mHCyzXJDCoIORo8oZXa-rOz-Q99iBQjiPvOdaxgOc9xI50qsFrGZtc4mkyuxcD4wRM8I0BGwzXGdqjyLYgjibnnwJzbX0p/s1600/Morland+Holmes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRkwmCwZeOdA0Zv0YWco4FSk_ftgl1YFlNr2CWmu6C8rp__mHCyzXJDCoIORo8oZXa-rOz-Q99iBQjiPvOdaxgOc9xI50qsFrGZtc4mkyuxcD4wRM8I0BGwzXGdqjyLYgjibnnwJzbX0p/s640/Morland+Holmes.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Season 4, in a scene that plays like a version of the one in BRUC, Sherlock clarifies his father’s position in the world and the ease in which he can make the improbable happen:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan Watson</b>: Look, I think it’s nice that he wants to help, but you know we can’t go back to the department---it’s not possible. </div>
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock Holmes</b>: Neither was war in the Falklands, but the old man tends to get what he wants.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: I can’t tell if you’re serious right now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Sherlock</span>: How much do you really know about my father? You’ve rarely broached the terms of your initial appointment.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: Mostly I dealt with people under him. I know he’s some sort of international consultant.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Sherlock</span>: It is true I am not the first consultant in the family but the title is where the similarities end. Father’s business exists to grease the skids so that politicians and corporations can operate around the globe. Sometimes these are noble ventures, more times they are not. But they happen because Father is an influence peddler par excellence. If he says he can restore us he means it. </div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, Sherlock warns, “With him there is always a cost. The toll always comes due.” (S4 E2) And the Machiavellian nature of Morland comes clearer as the season continues:</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock Holmes</b>: Were you under the impression that we were dealing with a nice man? … Perhaps I underplayed the danger. Perhaps my constantly referring to my father as the devil incarnate wasn’t clear. He has armies on his payroll. He has mercenaries on speed dial. There are countries that you knew the name of as a child that no longer exist because of him. (S4 E22)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
This portrait of an amoral power-broker will be familiar to viewers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sherlock</i>. While the Parallel Mycroft <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> the British Government and a master behind-the-scenes manipulator occasionally at odds with his brother, making Morland Holmes his independent business equivalent paints a complex family portrait, combining Canonical and Parallel-Canonical elements, familiar to the Sherlock Holmes fan, but connected in original ways.<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i>’s Mycroft, unsatisfying to some, becomes more complete when viewed against Morland. Sherlock saw Mycroft cashing in his trust fund as soon as possible to open up Diogenes as lazy and unambitious, but set against a harshly demanding absent but famously successful father and a competitive younger brother...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Sherlock</b>: [to Morland] Well, it happened rather famously on your one and only visit to Baker Street. Or do you not recall excoriating me for not stocking your favorite tea? [S4 E2] </blockquote>
Mycroft’s move can be seen as wisely leaving an unhealthy world and creating a personally satisfying one, as "The Greek Interpreter" Mycroft did in setting up all he would need in England within a block or so in the heart of Whitehall.<br />
<br />
To open a restaurant, have it not only survive but thrive, to be Michelin-starred, and to open others across Europe is not the calling of a lazy, unambitious buffoon.<br />
<br />
Even the addition of elements of "The Bruce-Partington Plans" to Ifans’ Mycroft achieves a deeper meaning. Perhaps Mycroft’s success with Diogenes came relatively easy to him, so he undervalued his efforts and saw himself through his father’s disdain. When MI6 came calling, he saw an opportunity to prove to his father and himself he could be more than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mere restaurateur</i>.<br />
<br />
The head of MI6, Sir James Valentine, confirms Mycroft’s worth to the agency. Assessed dispassionately, Mycroft performed much better than Sherlock’s harsh appraisal at the end of Season 2 before departure on hiatus and his heartfelt hug and genuine sentiment “This last year has been a gift,” not only went steps to answering his query to Joan at the beginning of the season of how one becomes Sherlock Holmes’s friend but, as the look on Sherlock’s face confirms after Mycroft leaves, one-ups the detective in their sibling rivalry.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Morland’s complex relationship with Sherlock is wonderfully conveyed John Noble in voice and expression:</div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Morland Holmes</b>: When you had your troubles in London, I lost faith in you. I provide for you in New York because I wanted you out of sight and mind. Little did I know that the untended corner of the garden would grow so strong and healthy…. I’m not talking about the last few days, I’m talking about the last few years. I respect what you’ve built here, the work you’ve done. I’m proud of you. Didn’t think I would be. (S4 E2)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The anger, disgust and pride are all there. Morland sees their relationships as worthy opponents on par with a wily business competitor. Joan, in their first face-to-face meeting dissuades him of that notion:</div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Morland</b>: If you think Sherlock is the only one who considers me an enemy, you’d be wrong. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: He doesn’t consider you an enemy.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Morland</b>: An antagonist, then.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: [matter-of-factly] No. I think he just…thinks you’re a terrible father. (S4 E2)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
Morland is clearly hurt. Speaking of hurt, Joan notices during her lunch meetings with Morland unusual dining habits and numbers and type of vitamins he’s taking and posits that he’s had chemotherapy treatments. <span style="font-family: "arno pro" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While going over Morland’s internet appearances to see if she can detect signs of illness, </span> she comes across the info that Sabine Raoult, a woman Morland was seeing, was killed in a drive-by shooting. Sherlock deduces that two of the bullets never found at the shooting scene ended up inside his father. Morland confirms this and admits the other reason he’s in New York is to get revenge on Sabine’s killer.<br />
<br />
Sherlock decides to investigate and discovers that Professor Joshua Vikner (Tony Curran), former mentor and father of Jamie Moriarty’s (Natalie Dormer) daughter had taken over the Moriarty organization and tried to assassinate Morland, but killed Sabine instead.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: [to Morland about Vikner] I’m sure you’ve been painting a portrait of evil in your mind’s eye since Sabine’s death, but it’s really not like that. A closer approximate would be Great Uncle Willard as a younger man.” (S4 E24)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We don’t know if Miller’s Sherlock is related to Vernet, however we can say that “Capitalism is the blood is liable to take the strangest forms.” Morland had assumed that he had angered a rival business competitor, but is puzzled as to why Vikner would try to kill him. Sherlock had deduce that there was dissent in the Moriarty organization over Vikner’s leadership, headed by Iranian diplomat Zoya Hashemi (Roma Chugani). Morland, Sherlock and Joan interview Hashemi and get a sense of how large the criminal organization is; they have a presence, large or small, in about half the countries of the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Hashemi</b>: When Moriarty was captured, those with the most influence in the group realized that we couldn’t continue on without a leader. We were, as you said, a snake and we were eating our own tail. Certain candidates emerged---Vikner was one of them. But others, like myself, advocated for an individual outside the group, a man we long admired. A legend. He had spent a lifetime playing dice with the globe and had profited immensely. He still does.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: [to Morland] She’s talking about you. They wanted you to lead them.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Hashemi</b>: Tell me you don’t see art in what we do. Tell me you couldn’t have perfected it. (S4 E24)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morland’s wounding and Sabine’s death accomplished the same result as Morland’s death would have; it gave Vikner enough time to consolidate his leadership over the group. Sherlock asks Hashemi to help “roll up” the group, but she replies it is too big to jail. Later at the brownstone, Joan asks:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Joan</b>: Do you think Morland would have said “yes” to the offer to take over the group?</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: No. There’s no denying over his long and storied career my father has facilitated deals where death was the likely outcome for someone, somewhere. But Vikner and his people persue death as a business deal. It’s a difference of kind, not of degree.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
The offer had come as a bit of a shock to Morland as he no doubt saw himself as one of “the good guys” or the hero of his own life story:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Morland</b>: It’s really something, realizing you are, for all appearances, the kind of man who would accept the leadership position in a group like that. I’ve always blamed myself for what happened to Sabine. I was sure I had done something to upset a competitor or acted too aggressively in a negotiation, angered the wrong dictator or CEO. I’d stay up at night struggling to put a finger on it, to figure out exactly what I had done wrong.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b>Sherlock</b>: Right. ‘Cause it wasn’t one thing, was it? It was everything. Your life’s work. You would have been a spectacular failure, by the way. You don’t have the stuff to be an evil mastermind.(S4 E24)</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parallel Mycroft works in a moral gray area; the needs of the government outweigh the rights of individuals or the niceties of international laws. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes</i>, Queen Victoria, coming to the understanding of the unsportsman-like nature of submarine warfare orders Mycroft to destroy his prototype. Mycroft allows the German agents to steal the sub and rigged it to sink after theft---which also seems a bit unsportsman-like. By making Morland a Parallel Mycroft, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elementary</i> shows us, in the context of the Game, how Sherlock became Holmes, the man who would “rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience” [ABBE] while still having a code of ethics, by contrasting him with a father who is not evil but,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sherlock</b>: <span style="line-height: 107%;">Father’s work is anything but frivolous, I assure you. Thanks to him, this energy firm and other clients like them have literally brought light to lands that were dark and just as often rained darkness where once there was light. Father doesn’t distinguish. Perhaps you need sanctions eased against a rogue nation so you can sell them your tanks, or your factories can only spew toxins if the US doesn’t sign an emissions treaty. Father can make it so, with the moral neutrality of the plague…. Not evil. </span>Neutral. Like a shark, or a tsunami. (S4 E3)</span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The difference between Sherlock’s sense of justice and Morland’s moral relativism is critical, especially as we see throughout Season 4, father and son have similar<i> modus operandi</i> for achieving results, such as threats and bribery. In Sherlock’s case, the threats are exposure of criminal activity or the bribe a <i>quid pro quo</i> to not expose criminal activity in exchange for information to bring a larger crime to justice. Morland uses them as a means to an end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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As the Holmeses work together, Joan, who like the Canonical Watson doesn’t mind breaking the law or facing arrest in service of a good cause, keeps a wary eye on them both to make sure Morland doesn’t corrupt and Sherlock doesn’t become corrupted. He does admit to Joan that he could get used to having a helicopter at his disposal to avoid New York traffic. But as we see, while Sherlock might naturally wish for a rapprochement his father, he has come to reject the moral neutrality that allows Morland—and the Parallel Mycroft of pastiche—of using people, loved ones, corporations and governments as chess pieces to be moved and sacrificed for an end-game. The dominant father-figure of Parallel Mycroft gives the characters of Sherlock and his brother a psychological depth for Canonical traits taken from Doyle and repurposed in both familiar and original configurations in, not a retelling of the Canon, but an exploration of a version of the essence of Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, family and partnership.</div>
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The differences between father and son are displayed on the rooftop of the Brownstone at the end of season four when Morland informs Sherlock he has accepted Hashemi’s offer to head the Moriarty group, which resulted in Professor Vikner’s assassination.</div>
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<b>Morland</b>: I told you, I will not lose my son.</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: So your only recourse is to become the head of an organization which murders for profit?</div>
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<b>Morland</b>: How else would I dismantle it? Ms. Hashemi was right, the group is virtually impervious to threats from the outside, but a threat from the inside on the other hand…</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: What you’re describing would be suicide.</div>
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<b>Morland</b>: I should be returning to London this evening. The group will no longer have a presence in New York. You have my word. What is it about you and I that we do so much harm to the ones we allege we care about? I know about Irene Adler now. Ms. Hashemi explained. For years, you’ve blamed yourself for her death. You never questioned it … and the case could be made that your brother is in banishment because of you.</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: Do you have a point?</div>
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<b>Morland</b>: Being loved by you is a dangerous thing, Sherlock. Probably why I’m still alive. Men like us… we’re not meant to make such connections.</div>
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<b>Sherlock</b>: I disagree.</div>
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<b>Morland</b>: Ask yourself: who do love more than any other in the world? And what do you think will happen if you stay with her?</div>
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As performed by John Noble, the viewer believes Morland is infiltrating the group to destroy it—to save his son in a gambit where the grand master is willing to sacrifice a bishop (Vikner) and his Queen (himself) to save the King (Sherlock). We believe Miller that he’s come to see Morland as human (“You don’t have the stuff to be an evil mastermind.”), although not forgiven for his paternal failings. He was willing to frame the Professor for a murder committed by one of his hired assassins who already languishes in prison, but Vikner’s murder was out of the question for Sherlock. We know what Morland would do for those he loves; Sherlock, like the Doyle’s Holmes, has “a great heart as well as ... a great brain” [3GAR] and a moral compass. Parallel Mycroft-as-father-figure puts those differences in stark relief.</div>
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<h3>
<br />
Stay Tuned</h3>
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<i>Elementary</i>’s Sherlock is capable of growth and the arc of the series has been to follow the great detective from the nadir of addiction, that dulling of distractions in too-sharp of focus, through the redemption of true friendship with Joan, something that didn’t exist in his familial relationships. <i>Elementary</i> does this not by a retelling of Canonical stories, but by using the Canon, and the pop culture canon, in original ways.</div>
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The fourth season of <i>Elementary</i> will be out on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Season-4/dp/B01D4SPZR2/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1466786489&sr=1-1&keywords=elementary+season+4+dvd">DVD</a> August 23, 2016 and the fifth season will premiere on CBS Sunday, October 2, 2016 at 10:00 pm ET.<br />
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I do not know what’s in store. I would love to see a story arc showing Morland dismantling the Moriarty organization from the inside, perhaps with Mycroft's help and Jamie Moriarty emerging from the shadows to protect her empire, but the realities of actor availabilities will no doubt triumph over my personal wishes. However, I am looking forward to what Robert Doherty, Bob Goodman, the writing staff and the cast will have for us.</div>
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<i>Author’s note: My quotes from the TV show are based on the closed captioning and the dialog as I hear it. I’ve done the best I can to be accurate.</i></div>
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