Lockdown, Lowdown… Ringside Report Looks Back at the TV Show Elementary

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

A contemporary Sherlock Holmes mystery series? Elementary my dear reader…

And so, it was. Shift the premise from London and pea soupers to New York and crime of distinction, take Holmes’ cocaine habit and turn it into a heroin addiction, and bring it all bang up to date with a Watson who is female and ethnically diverse.

What could possibly go wrong?

The casting?

Jonny Lee Miller was perfect as Holmes and such a consummate actor that the part could quite literally be written for him. As Dr. Joan Watson, Lucy Liu, begins as Holmes’ sober companion and then becomes a trainee detective, a fully-fledged consulting detective and the baseline of the characterization is utterly set in the right direction for the 21st Century.

The police who have to suffer the brilliance of Holmes become part of the team rather than a constant thorn in the side of the genius that is Holmes as we see the building of their relationship clearly within the context of the crimes but also in terms of the development of Holmes as more than an iconic figure; here he becomes human, flawed and vulnerable.

Aidan Quinn played Captain Gregson who knew Holmes from time he spent in London so could ensure an insider gave a genuine respect and affection for his methods and especially his results. Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell not only manages to form a bond with both Holmes and Watson but acts as their sounding board and warning bell at various times – by the end of the run, Gregson has retired, and Bell has taken the mantle of being the Captain, of the famed 11th precinct.

We are as always, looking for the familiar – Moriarty, here played by Natalie Dormer, who also becomes a love interest, Mycroft Holmes, here played by Rhys Ifans who rather than being a shadowy figure of the British Establishment is now a restaurateur of renown with the shadow now occupied by Sherlock’s father Morland, played beautifully by John Noble. There is also a Lestrade of the Yard – who pops up, played by Sean Pertwee, and rather than being a bumbling fool, is actually as detective of skill who may not be Holmes’ equal but is certainly not the idiot often portrayed, Mary Watson, originally John Watson’s wife but here, played by Freda Foh Shen, is Joan’s mother, and finally, Ms Hudson, played by Candis Cayne, who pops up, is referred to a great deal but is a casualty of the stories as she does not make the impression or the have the same presence as her original.

Running for 7 series over 154 episodes, this was a treat for those of us who have been Holmes aficionados, albeit in an amateur sense, since our early years. Such a corruption of the original storylines was more than forgivable as it took a new direction and provided us with a real sense of adventure. Much like the British version with Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch, it pushed the format, the formula and the relationships to an extent which came close to equaling the originality of Conan Doyle, himself.

Elementary was a CBS drama, created by Robert Doherty, which finished in 2019, so not that long ago, and it gathered awards like a kid selecting sweets in a shop, showing it was a hit with more than just those of us able to understand the show title’s connection to its source.

The premise was as simple as it was effective. Holmes has moved to New York after having been a consulting detective in London and falling out of favor. His move prompts the need for a sober companion, paid for by his rich father, to aid his rehabilitation and so a disgraced surgeon, Joan Watson is hired. The relationship begins shakily but builds especially as Holmes recognizes that Watson possesses skill in detection; a mutual respect begins. Given that they have to undertake Holmes’ relapse, Watson’s cancer treatment, the murder of Holmes’ father by Odin Reichenbach – a neat nod to the Falls – and Holmes having to disappear and reappear infrequently before he reveals a medical condition which has very serious implications, the sound foundation of respect is tested but never broken.

Originally there had been a bit of friction between the BBC’s Sherlock and Elementary – they were both going out at roughly the same time – but Elementary was so far away from the BBC’s take on the legendary stories that there was no comeback and no friction once both saw what the other was up to.

As a fan of the original stories, I would not claim to be an expert, I loved this show. The meandering stories in New York that meandered through the many and varied twists and turns was exquisite. Its originality which took the late 19th Century milieu and brought it up to date was expertly handled. If there were kinks and complaints to be made, it was perhaps that with the latter series, we got Holmes’ disappearance, Watson’s talking over and doing the more mundane cases, Holmes’ disappearance, Gregson’s struggle with the multiple sclerosis of his new wife and the rise of Bell, almost all offstage, rather than finding out how they came about first-hand as an audience. But these are minor gripes, unless of course CBS want to go back and fill them in…

British television is a curious affair. Begun through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) it is funded through the universal license fee. In essence, if you wanted to watch the television , you had to pay the license fee. The BBC got it all and is state run, albeit at arms-length. Then came along commercial television in the form of the Independent Television (ITV) in 1955. Designed to bring a bit of competition to the BBC, it was paid for through advertising but still free to air… well they didn’t add another license fee to it. By the time that I was born, 1965, there was BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. And that was it. It was still years before Bruce Springsteen would moan that there were 55 channels and nothing on but here in the UK, we kept this going until in 1982, we added a fourth channel and in 1997, a fifth. With sparkling imagination, they were called Channel Four and ehm Channel Five… In between came Sky and we understood what Springsteen meant. And so, my childhood and leading up to early adulthood we had three options… But the programs made were exceptionally good. And so, here is some critical nostalgia as the lockdown has brought a plethora of reruns, new formats and platforms and old classics trying to make their way back into our consciousness as broadcasters flood their schedules with classics… or are they classics at all? Let me take you through an armchair critics’ view of what we have to see, to find out… Welcome to the Lockdown Lowdown…

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