Elementary - Episode 2.21 - The Man with the Twisted Lip - Review

Oh, my goodness, everyone.  I have to be honest and say that as much as I enjoy Elementary when it's on its murder-of-the-week formula, it is so vastly superior when it amps the stakes and goes into a more serialized mode.  As much as my heart broke at the double-punch of this week's cliffhanger ending, I applaud the writers and actors for bringing this level of dramatic intensity and suspense to a show whose comfort zone is more commonly leaned upon.  Just as Moriarty's appearances always bring Elementary a breath of fresh air, the dark and indeed twisted developments of "The Man with the Twisted Lip" are setting up quite an epic last few episodes of season 2 with ramifications that may well carry over to next season as well.

"The Man with the Twisted Lip," while named after a classic Doyle adventure, had nothing notable in common with that wonderful original story, but the murder mystery involving a covered-up CIA operation and tiny insect drones was sufficient enough to form the basic premise of an hour that packed much more interesting content into the relationship drama and seemingly secondary plotline that simmered beneath all along until they boiled over at the end.  With Mycroft's return came new tensions between Holmes, his brother, and Watson.  And a criminal conspiracy occurring right under Mycroft's nose at his New York restaurant led Watson down a dangerous path.

I must say that I never have, and still do not like this version of the Mycroft character.  However, I believe that is a direct result of his not being particularly likable.  Far from the portly, jolly, lazy character of Doyle's creation, Rhys Ifan's incarnation is a rather oily chap, a manipulator hiding behind a smarmy veneer of good intentions.  We already know that Mycroft is involved in some sort of plot to get Holmes back to London.  His attempts to coerce Sherlock back to England earlier this season failed, and we knew he was going to come back to try again from another angle.  Was the new idea to drive a wedge between Holmes and Watson?  It certainly seems so.  The more important question is who is he conspiring with about Holmes' destiny, and why?  The extent to which Mycroft is frustrating and even quietly obnoxious makes him quite an effective semi-villain, if not an all-out baddie.  

It would be easy to criticize Watson for being so easily drawn into Mycroft's web, but I'm not sure she really was, entirely.  Joan was smart enough to proceed cautiously with regards to Sherlock's brother's overtures, and to my mind for more reason than simply dreading her partner's overreacting meddling.  After all, any talented investigator would hear a few warning bells go off around anyone as inherently sketchy as Mycroft.  I'm very interested to see to what extent Mycroft is involved, if at all, with the French criminals in his establishment.  Frankly, my own theory is that he's completely in league with them, but we shall see.

The other complication is that I'm inclined to suspect a large part of Watson's insistence on considering a relationship with Mycroft is to prove to Sherlock that he cannot tell her how to live her life.  Her independence is important to her, and because of her closeness to Holmes, she feels it threatened at every turn by his attempts to micromanage her life.  One  subtext has to do with the possibility that Sherlock and Joan may also harbor romantic feelings for one another, and while that's one that I personally enjoy including in my theoretical observations, I know it isn't for every viewer.   On that count, though, I do feel that the tension between Holmes and Watson was especially acute this week and beautifully played by Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as always.

Whether or not we trust Mycroft (I laugh at the mere idea) or see a more fraught level of chemistry brewing between Holmes and Watson, the biggest sadness I felt in this episode came from Holmes' fear of losing Watson.  She's thinking of getting her own place, even though she hasn't told him that yet.  But he feels her starting to pull away from the life they have established together that has, in turn, held together his day-to-day recovery.  Just as Holmes lamented Watson getting married in the original stories, wanting to maintain the bond of comfortable live-in bachelors, this Holmes also doesn't really want things to change between himself and Watson.  Why would he?  He has every advantage in the current status of their relationship and it works to maintain his grip on sobriety to perfection.  In the last conversation between the two in this episode, it was somewhat melancholy to see that Joan could both accept that Holmes truly does value her as a person, but also flinch at the way he manages to get what he wants from her despite her own inclinations.

I was very moved by Holmes' speech at AA early in the episode, indicating that he has no peer and that is his most treacherous stumbling block in staying sober.  It may seem egotistical, but Holmes' genius does isolate him painfully, as we have seen in his attempts to continue reaching back out to Moriarty because at least she can understand the immensity of what he goes through due to the burden of his abilities.  If Holmes is unable to properly communicate with those who do not share his exact wavelength, how long can he keep striving to do so in vain?  If Watson continues to draw back from their current amount of closeness, the loss of that connection may cause Holmes to lose the thread of his reformed lifestyle a bit more...or quite a bit more.

The scene in which Holmes retrieved the sample of heroin he found on the case earlier in the episode and placed it in the hollowed out book, snugly hidden away in his bookcase, was rather crushing.  Again, what a stunning performance from Miller.  Holmes' quiet resignation here seemed to blend with a natural anger at himself and the entire situation that was incredibly intense.  In any other episode, this scene would have been enough to leave off on a shocking cliffhanger beyond what Elementary typically goes for in terms of seriousness, but we weren't done yet.

No, because Watson went over to Diogenes (nicely named for the original Mycroft's gentlemen's club, itself a reference to Diogenes the Cynic, a Greek philosopher whose nickname carries intriguing implications about this version of Mycroft) to let Mycroft know about the criminal shenanigans that have been occurring there.  Now of course, if we are to grant this Mycroft an intelligence level anywhere near that of Doyle's Mycroft, I'm quick to assume that there is no possible way these activities could have been going on at Diogenes without his knowing it.  But at any rate, Watson got onto the trail of one of the criminals, found out that he'd been stalking and photographing her, and was summarily drugged and kidnapped!  A frightening note to end on, one that built powerfully on the sense of anxiety we already felt due to Holmes perhaps pondering a relapse.  

What did you think of this episode?  Do you find Mycroft as suspicious as I do, or do you think he may be at least partially on the up-and-up?  And was it nice to see Ms. Hudson again?  I thought so!  Share your thoughts in the comments!

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Nashville, Beauty and the Beast, Elementary, Witches of East End, Covert Affairs, and Continuum for Spoiler TV. She is a college English instructor and enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog