Review of Elementary Episode 2.23 Art in the Blood: "Under My Skin"

The penultimate episode of season two of Elementary, "Art in the Blood," picks up right after last week and continues on that episode's twisty path. The central question remains: what is Mycroft (Rhys Ifans)? Is he a hero, or villain, or victim (or some combination thereof)? Is he Sherlock Holmes's smarter brother? Much of the pleasure in this episode emerges from how it keeps us guessing on these fronts, up until the final moment. And even then, much remains to be resolved.

We do have confirmed early in the episode that Mycroft is involved with the British Intelligence agency MI6, when he tells Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller), when Sherlock assumes Mycroft is about to be taken into custody by MI6, "I am British Intelligence." This line echoes the canonical assertion that Mycroft "is" the British government, without actually committing to quite the same sense. Mycroft's assertion here is not that he runs British Intelligence but rather that he is an agent, or "asset."

Nevertheless, even if he is not a villain, he is a betrayer. One of the strongest scenes in the episode is one in which Watson (Lucy Liu) thoroughly dresses Mycroft down for his deceptions, which have cut him off from the people who care most about him. Watson's contrasts between Sherlock and Mycroft here are instructive, as she notes that despite Sherlock's various irritating features, the core of their relationship is its honesty: she always knows where she stands with Sherlock, but she cannot have such knowledge with Mycroft. If she knew about Sherlock's secret stash of heroin, which we saw last week, she might not be so sanguine. Nevertheless, the point of her speech--the contrast between the brothers--hits on thematic points that have been resonating all season.

Despite their clear differences, Mycroft and Sherlock are also clearly in other respects

complementary figures, almost mirror images. The show has established this in several ways, notably Rhy Ifans's uncanny way of echoing Jonny Lee Miller's posture, way of walking, and even his gestures and tics; while not as pronounced in Mycroft, for instance, he even occasionally echoes Sherlock's characteristic finger-dance. A scene early in the episode, in which the two face off across a table, especially invites viewers to see them as opposed but also reflections of each other. Their rivalry for Watson's affections surely ties in to this complementarity, as well.

The point is picked up from a different perspective when Sherlock--in a rare gesture of social outreach (though such gestures are becoming more frequent; as he has himself noted, his former misanthropy is on the wane)--invites Watson to talk with him about how Mycroft's betrayal makes her feel, reminding us of his parallel situation with Irene Adler/Moriarty. Both Sherlock and Watson, he tells her, know how it feels to be betrayed by a lover--and both by a lover pretending to be someone she/he is not, though in Mycroft's case, no assumed name is involved. Given Moriarty's own evident fascination with Watson (remember that painting she did of Joan), this reminder can hardly be accidental. The question remains, though, whether Mycroft is an analogue to Moriarty (the fact that both have names beginning with M might invite such a parallel) or ultimately  a contrast.

The episode does keep us guessing about Mycroft even as the plot of the week unfolds, this time with Sherlock and Watson working to determine whether the murder of a former MI6 agent was indeed merely a burglary gone wrong, as it appears, or something more sinister. (What exactly British Intelligence is up to in the USA remains an unanswered question, one that I hope will be resolved next week; maybe it will tie in to whatever Mossad was up to in "Hound of the Cancer Cells" from a few weeks ago).The victim burned out as an agent, and was bipolar, so his suspicions that a mole has infiltrated MI6 may be merely a delusion, but the question needs to be resolved. He tattooed evidence on his arms in ink that could be viewed only in ultraviolet light, and now his arms have been stolen. (Literally. Yes, though he might have been a British spy, he is now "armless.") As the episode unfolds, we learn that earlier in his career, this agent had been assigned to observe Sherlock. Sherlock, therefore, has been on MI6's radar for a long time, so perhaps their attempts to recruit him this episode are not merely a matter of opportunity. We also learn--or Mycroft claims, anyway--that during his drug days, Sherlock ended up involved in a situation that could have had him tried for treason without Mycroft's intervention. Mycroft claims that his continuing involvement with MI6 served to save and protect his brother, a revelation (if revelation it is) that manages to win Watson back into his good graces, not to mention his bed.

While this is happening, however, Holmes discovers that the murder weapon has been found and fingerprints taken, prints he recognizes as Mycroft's due to a characteristic scar. The gimmick of unusual fingerprints (or more precisely, missing fingerprints) was in fact used in an earlier Mycroft episode this season, "The Marchioness" (2.7), where they helped to identify a killer. The question here, however, is whether Mycroft is in fact the mole and the murderer, or whether he is being framed for murder and treason, as Sherlock suggests is the case in the episode's final moments--laying the table for next week's season finale.

Mycroft remains an enigma. Questions remain unresolved. For instance, his involvement with the French gangsters of the last couple of episodes, he has claimed twice now (last week and this) was instigated by them, but those gangsters--who would have no evident reason to lie about it--claimed that the New York Diogenes restaurant was his idea, not theirs. This is a minor point beside the more troubling issue of whether Sherlock did in fact unwittingly engage in treason, from which only his brother's intervention saved him. The other MI6 folk never say anything about this, even when they try to recruit Sherlock. Is Mycroft lying here to ensnare Watson again? I remain unconvinced that the truth about Mycroft and what he is really up to has in fact been revealed, and I expect more revelations next week. I very much look forward to the season finale. What about you? How did you like the episode? Do you think Mycroft still has secrets? Le me know in the comments below.