Review of Elementary Episode 2.18 "Hound of the Cancer Cells": "Black Dog"

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Audiences hoping that the title of this week's episode of Elementary meant that we'd be getting a rare instance of the show offering a revisionist take on one of the original stories will no doubt be disappointed that "Hound of the Cancer Cells," despite its echo of Hound of the Baskervilles ("cancer cells" and "Baskervilles" are metrically identical and, though they don't actually rhyme, the former term does echo several of the sounds in the latter), has nothing to do with that story. Sherlock, when it revisited that story, similarly moved from a literal to a metaphorical hound. In that series' "The Hounds of Baskerville," "hound" turns out to be an acronym for a group working on a secret military bioweapon. "Hound of the Cancer Cells" is vaguely similar, with the "hound" in this instance being the metaphorical name for a revolutionary new cancer detector, which will "smell" the disease on one's breath--in this instance, a device designed to help people rather than one designed to poison them, but an interesting similarity in that both episodes turn the hound not merely into a metaphor but one with a specifically scientific/medical implication.

Despite the tease of the title and its attendant disappointment, the episode offers up a trademark circuitous narrative in which we get to see Holmes (Johnny Lee Miller) engage in clever deduction--as when he figures out how the first victim was murdered and then staged as a suicide (by helium inhalation, which is certainly novel), or when he figures out how to break the culprit's alibi--and continue to negotiate the minefield of emotional engagement. As a bonus feature, we also get more of Watson (Lucy Liu) developing her own independent investigative skills, as she helps detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill) track down a reluctant murder witness. In fact, Bell gets  a fair bit to do in this episode, with the secondary plot focusing more on him than on Watson, as he climbs back ino the detecting saddle after recovering fully from his wound, though Watson fans may be disappointed that this focus on Bell largely sidelines her for the episode.

Bell's return to active duty informs the secondary plot, as Bell's investigation leads him to retired teacher and local legend Manny Rose (Ron Canada), who is harboring the fugitive witness. We are vouchsafed some Bell back story as he talks to Manny about his teen years and how Manny's reputation as a champion of kids and the neighborhood helped keep Bell on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, the situation ends tragically when Manny attempts to take justice into his own hands and succeeds--albeit at the cost of his own life. This leaves Bell confronted with tragedy on the eve (literally) of his return to duty, tainting the planned celebration. The show uses this situation effectively to restore fully (one hopes) the cameraderie between Bell and Holmes, when Holmes talks with him about how the job sometimes comes with heavy costs (more foreshadowing perhaps), and the two go off for a coffee together rather than to Bell's party (reminding me a bit of Rick and Louie at the end of Casablanca, but maybe that's just me). One hopes that Watson's gift for Bell--his final qualifying shooting practice target, framed--ultimately gets to him, anwyay.

This rapprochement between Holmes and Bell is the emotional core of the episode and serves as another clear indicator of how Holmes has changed. Whereas earlier in the season, he insisted to Watson that he had not changed and would not, the evidence is against him. Indeed, when he finally comes to terms with attending Bell's party--after a series of typically plausible-sounding but in fact deflective rationales for not going (it's a cop celebration, and he's an outsider in that world; it's in a bar, and that's a trigger site for a recovering addict)--he laconically laments that he misses misanthropy. His ongoing interaction with Watson is softening him up, even if he still does bizarre things like come into her room and wake her up to get a jump on investigating. The fact that Holmes and Watson have an intimate relationship, even penetrating into each other's private spaces (though him more into hers), without being sexually involved is one of the show's more effective devices, I think.

The main crime itself, the murder of Barry Granger (Jason Danieley), the researcher working on the hound, is satisfyingly circuitous, if dependent on a whopping coincidence. Granger, it seems, has been the target of a research debunker, who has claimed that Granger's research has been faked; his suicide, supposedly, is a result of the disgrace. However, it happens that Granger  himself is actually the pseudonymous whistle-blower, so clearly he did not expose himself. Something else is going on, of course. A second murder, for which Granger's employer seems to be framed, initially seems to be part of an ongoing attmept to sabotage the company. However, Holmes manages to see through it all and realize that the killer has deliberately set up a bad frame job on himself as a sort of double-bluff (or, perhaps, given the scientific context, double-blind) to get away with murder. This means, of course, that in addition to the unlikely coincidence of the first trick happening to target Granger with his own secret identity, we also have a reiteration of the main gambit from last week's episode, a killer who tries to divert suspicion by making himself seem to be a victim. Well, at least he didn't set off  a bomb under a table at which he was sitting.


Anyway, in the final analysis, this is a solid and entertaining episode, but it creaks a bit, at least in my eyes. But what about you? What's your take? Let me know in the comments below! And, just because I like it, here's a bonus picture of Lucy Liu as Watson: