Elementary 1x22

[killerweasel.livejournal.com]

Discussion post for Elementary 122 - 'Risk Management'

Spoilers in the comments.

What did you think?

Comments

[hufflepuffsneak.livejournal.com]

Modern Irene is a forger! *happy dance*

Joan is a great sober companion. I wonder if she will take the occasional job when Sherlock pisses her off and she needs the break.

I love how Watson is allowed to be clever in this adaptation! Figuring out it was the wife, then tracking Sherlock. And the end!

Love this show. Gah.

[frostbit-sky.livejournal.com]

The performances at the end when Sherlock saw Irene, they should get Emmy's!

Love this line from Sherlock, "For what it's worth, he's not bringing his wife either."

[venusinthenight]

OMG THE END SCENE. Fingers crossed for some Emmy nominations.

[st-ekaterina.livejournal.com]

this ending blowed my heart out... all this situation quite cruel to Sherlock, poor thing, have you seen his tears? No any sympathy to Irene, she obviously never loved Holmes, if she didn't even tried to let him know she is alive! instead she sits there and caring about those paintings - her behavior is unexplainable(
Watson supposed to hate Irene, i think. Not because of any kind of romantic hopes on Sherlock, in my mind the reason is she worry about Sherlock's sobriety and wants to protect Holmes - he obviously seems her very fragile and Irene's appearing is a menace to Sherlock's well-being

[killerweasel.livejournal.com]

random thoughts...

MORIARTY!

If Moriarty wanted Sherlock dead, he'd be dead. Moriarty is just as smart and clever as Sherlock (or more so) and he has someone he can play with.

Moriarty explained exactly what it is he does and what he's responsible for. He didn't lie because there wasn't really any reason for him to do so. He's a spider in the cneter of a web and he knows exactly who makes which stanrd of webbing vibrate and what to do with it.

I love how Joan actually gets to solve cases. She's not just assisting or following Sherlock around. She's going over evidence, interviewing people, using the skills and knowledge passed to her by Sherlock to solve the crimes or at least bring them both oe step closer. She's his partner

While I get what Gregson was trying to do (and I did wonder for a moment if Sherlock had suggested it to him) with the offer of being a sober companion, she's not interested in going back to what she was. This is who she is now and if there are threats and dangers, she will deal with them. She's so much more than she was at the start of the season. She has a better grasp of who she is, what she wants to do, and how to do it.


That final scene HURT, mainly because of Jonny Lee Miller's facial expressions and body language. When Sherlock sees Irene (and I think he knew what he was going to find and part of him wanted to be wrong), Joan puts her hand on his back to steady him because his legs are starting to give. He's overcome with emotion because his Irene is alive and in front of him. She's been so angry, so haunted, and now he's discovered it is all a lie.



gifs from here (http://elementarymydearworld.tumblr.com)


Irene is not dead. I have 2 theories: 1. Irene 'died' in order to prevent Moriarty from harming Sherlock or 2. she 'died' because Moriarty knew tha Sherlock would have a downward spiral and thus no longer be any form of a threat. Either way, it seems to me that she'd been in contact with Moriarty, possibly more than once. If that's the case, is she still working with him?




gifs from here (http://numenorss.tumblr.com)
“She was difficult to explain. And I mean that as a compliment. She was American. I held it against her only briefly. She was an exquisite painter. She made her living restoring Renaissance paintings for art museums. She traveled extensively because of her work. She was highly intelligent, optimistic about the human condition. I usually consider it a sign of stupidity, but with Irene, it seemed…almost convincing. She was, to me, the woman. To me, she eclipsed and predominated the whole of her gender. She’s the only one I ever…”

[justjuly4.livejournal.com]

Episode was pretty good. The case was not stupid, and the murder-revenge plot line was reasonably motivated.

I liked Watson-Holmes and Watson-Gregson interaction when they showed how they cared about her safety.

The ending wasn't surprising because I've heard rumors about Irene's return from the dead.

The first thing I didn't expect about her were blond hair. Yes, minor detail, means nothing, but... I kept thinking that the only reason why CBS made her blond was to make her look as much different as they could from Sherlock BBC Irene... Personally I think that Natalie Dormer looks more beautiful with dark hair.

Elementary's Irene is an artist, she paints and restores old paintings. Secretly I hoped she would be a secret service agent or a spy, but I liked the chosen profession too. Not a call girl, good luck!!! Glad she is smart and talented but I guess she isn't a good person, and we'll see what happens next.

[midori-yee.livejournal.com]

Okay maybe this is bigoted but I was really happy with the characters on the show--Joan hanging tough and holding her own with the male-dominated NYPD crew--and I kind of resent the introduction of another female (Irene). Joan's losing her "only one" 'privilege' (as a woman amongst males) and I'm afraid for how it will play out having another strong female lead that has been hyped and hyped throughout the season (jfc like she actually 'eclipsed and predominated the whole of her gender'). Joan's special and unique and amazing and yet Sherlock for some reason has this huge weak spot for Irene and is so over the moon about her. I hope Irene's arc will only underscore how incredible Joan is. GOD WHY IS JOAN SO LOYAL TO SHERLOCK I DON'T GET IT SHE IS THE NICEST EVER TO HIM i'm starting to doubt him deserving her as a partner and friend ugh

[atheist-cheese.livejournal.com]

hey, you're free to feel as you must about any and all female character, but I'd like to point out -- the bonds of love are quite different from the bonds of friendship. They burn bright, but not necessarily as stable.

You are treading dangerously close to girl hate, the weird idea that for some reason There Can Only Be One ultimate female (character, in this case) thus leading to the toxic environment of perpetual competetiveness/pettiness between women.

But really, that's not the point. This is not real life so it doesn't really matter in any concrete way -- I'm just bringing up the concept to point out it's ludicrousness. Joan and Irene fulfill two completely different roles on the show. It is possible to have more than one female character. Joan's specialuniqueamazingness, as you coined it, has nothing to do/does not encroach with his relationship with Joan.

[midori-yee.livejournal.com]

Yes, I try to be as mindful as possible of internalized sexism within myself, which was why I was trying to figure out why I felt the way that I did about Irene encroaching on Joan's "awesomeness" in Elementary.

I knew the writers were smart enough not to make this a "girl fight" between Irene and Joan over Sherlock's esteem. Like you said, with Irene it was love; with Joan it's platonic.

This is where I think my potential "girl hate" was driven by my concerns about race. Sherlock obviously worshipped Irene for her brilliance, but I didn't want the show to necessarily show Irene as completely "eclipsing" Joan, thus pushing her into the background. The implications of a white female superseding a woman of color were more than I could possibly bear.

However, upon viewing the finale, I was quite pleased on both a gender and race basis on the characterization of both Irene and Joan. I had assumed that Irene was going to be revealed as Moriarty--she's so brilliant, she might as well be running the show. She's a genius, and she gets things done (although the "things" she gets done may be morally ambiguous), much like Alice in the BBC series, Luther. The fact that she was "beaten" in the end by her obsession with (and perchance love of) Sherlock, does not denigrate her due to gender--Sherlock, a male, was also "beaten" and obviously blinded by his love for her, too.

Joan, the "Herione" (I also had hoped that the episode was titled with her in mind), did save the day and managed to outsmart Moriarty--something that Sherlock, a male (blinded by love), could not do. I'm glad they chose this ending, instead of the BBC Sherlock's take wherein Sherlock, a male, outsmarts Irene for falling in love with him (a "weakness" of her gender).

Well played, Elementary writing staff. Well played.

[atheist-cheese.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was pretty impressed with the finale. They took what I thought were two pieces of weak writing (fridging Irene and Moriarty's storyline -- which I had a hard time getting into) and smashed them together into something good.

I was really intruiged with how they handled the Irene/Joan interaction. That's when Joan figured her out, I assume. Joan's complete lack of fear, her jab at Irene's ability to read her. Despite being the one kidnapped and being held against her will, she felt way more in control of that scene.

Although with both Sherlock and Elementary the biggest annoyance in their Irene storylines was the fact that Sherlock wins, in the end. You're right, it was way more offensive with Sherlock (BBC), but the spirit of Irene's story is she is one of the few people (not women) that outsmarts him. That's why she made such an impact on him. I don't even care if they feel they must make her a love interest every single time (although in the original she had a husband and clearly gave no fucks about Sherlock) it just infuriates me that she never gets to win.

Yeah, I suppose you could justify Elementary's decision with the fact that they also brought in Moriarty -- it's just a disappointment. Sherlock-esque characters often begin to suffer from the can-never-be-wrong/defeated syndrome after a few seasons, making storylines hollow and predicable because you know they're always going to be right/figure it out. (See: House). Letting someone win is not only a good writing choice it would be sticking to the intent of the original story. It's kind of sad that something written during a period of patriarchy and in a very sexist society still dares to go farther than modern TV will.