Elementary 3x24

[killerweasel.livejournal.com]

Discussion post for Elementary 3x24 'A Controlled Descent', season finale.

Spoilers in the comments.

What did you think?

Comments

TL;DR

[starswan.livejournal.com]

It was utterly underwhelming. It lost steam in a big way once Kitty left. Why dangle the possibility of Moriarty early on and then completely fail to develop it?

How is Joan coping with Andrew's murder? What on earth happened there? It felt like we were going to be watching her going into a downward spiral while Sherlock looked on, feeling guilty like he was somehow enabling her. But one encouraging speech from him about how she should not ignore her social needs and turn into him and *boom* she's magically all better?
And how about boundary issues, of the sort that made her want to move out in the first place, of feeling too reliant? How about how she set up an office downstairs that he felt he could invade whenever he liked? Why did Joan never call him out on that more than once or twice, and never seriously? What exactly is going on between them anyway? none of these things are explored. Instead we get a second half of the season with rather grey, spartan backdrops, increasingly grisly and convoluted cases with the occasional bit of character development (Marcus, Alfredo, Harlan name drops, Everyone, a little bit of Gregson) to keep us hanging on.

And Sherlock has been the strongest, the most confident in his abilities this season without the introduction of artificial stimulants in awhile. I felt like his sudden apparent redescent into junkiedom a bolt out of the blue. So he is beside himself last season when Joan leaves, so much so that he runs off to London where he is living in some sort of pared down industrial looking flat, weeping alone and feeling guilty about everything but that isn't enough to push him over the edge??

Oscar is supposed to be this great big influence, purportedly, I mean what else can you possibly conclude, and yet I see little outward (or extrapolated inward) evidence of it. We're told loads , but not actually shown proof of his influence. We are or were shown how deeply Joan has affected him. Again, her leaving was not enough to drive him back to narcotics but this was??? And again ??????? Loads of ????

It's simply not believable to me.

And I second one of the comments about Joan's reaction or rather her lack there of.
Just, what on earth are they doing with her character?

I was excited when it was returning in the new year to see them back in the brownstone together working on cases together but it fizzled. They seemed to spend more time wandering about or down at the station that in their home. Sort of made me wonder why she bothered moving back in. And for christ's sake, decorate your room already, Joan! It's been bare, save the bed, since Season 1. Is she living there or not?:P

or how about the ep where it seemed that even the occasional sexual daliance is no longer satisfying to Sherlock? We get no development of that except that now, oh, we're supposed to backtrack and equate with him needing a fix? We as viewers are not obtuse but there ought to be more for us to go on.

The show has definitely lost a bit of the spark that it had. It feels more grim but in a rather non-committal way.

And I know this is a bit silly, but I was also getting a little tired of the rather formulaic wrap ups where everyone stands in a square around the accused and takes turns explaining why they know that they did it no matter how much that they deny it! Queue Gregson stepping in and arresting them. The End.

Re: TL;DR

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything here.

[gaedhal.livejournal.com]

Thinking about Joan's descent after the boyfriend was murdered --
as a writer I think it would have been much MORE interesting if
JOAN had started using drugs. The cycle would have come around
fully and now Sherlock has to be HER "sober companion." And we
all know that doctors are especially at risk for drug abuse. It would
have made sense dramatically AND given Sherlock and Joan a
stronger connection and reason for working together.

But, alas…

[starswan.livejournal.com]

THIS.

Once Joan announced that she was moving back in and looked a bit bright-eyed and somewhat "off" with Sherlock looking concerned/tender/frightened/guilty, I thought that they were going to start developing her fall in the aftermath of everything that had happened to her. It was the natural next step.

Alas, indeed. :/