- Title: Elementary – Deja Vu All Over Again
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Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) finds himself forced into taking a case involving the assistant (Geneva Carr) of one of his father’s lawyers who fears that her missing sister (Victoria Cartagena) may have been killed. Showing no interest in the case, Holmes hands it off to Watson (Lucy Liu) to solve on her own. Meanwhile, Holmes begins his own investigation into the murder of a young woman (Roxanna Hope) pushed in front of a subway train around the same time six months ago.
Working the subway case, Holmes (Jim True-Frost) interrogates a custodian with a previous stalking charge who worked in the victim’s office building and whom Holmes discovers had followed her to the same subway platform where the victim died several times before her death. Although not their killer, the janitor was in the habit of recording the woman when she wasn’t looking including the night she was pushed in front of the subway. The killer’s face is not visible in his footage, but the recording does give Holmes a new lead in a possible witness, a street musician (Andre Royo) on the platform that may have recognized the pusher.
After going through the notes of the firm’s detectives, Watson interviews the missing woman’s husband (Josh Hamilton) who their client, and now Watson, believe killed his wife. In order to prove or disprove her theory Holmes suggest Watson try to gaslight her suspect into tipping his hand and leading Watson to the wife’s remains.
Following the husband to a storage locker Watson and Alfredo (Ato Essandoh) watch their suspect come out with the missing woman’s trunk, large enough to contain a body, and which is the same trunk he told Watson and the police his wife took with her when she disappeared. When the trunk doesn’t contain the body of the man’s wife Watson finds herself arrested for breaking into his car. However, despite her mistake, Holmes supports her decision to act and proposes they team up and work both cases together from this point on.
Given her mistake, and the concerns of Emily (Susan Pourfar) and her other old friends (Timothy Sekk, Caroline Strong) who go so far as to throw Watson an intervention at what they see as her life slowly spiraling out of control, Watson begins to doubt herself and even tries to quit the case before finding a clue of her own that links both Holmes’ case and her own and points the finger squarely at Watson’s suspect and explains both murders and the missing woman’s mention of the subway death in a video farewell to her husband/
Of all the mysteries the show has given us over the course of it’s first season “Deja Vu All Over Again” (which is an inside joke at Holmes having to bail Watson out of prison) is the best so far. Not only does it have a terrific final reveal of a puzzle that even confused Holmes, but it allows Watson to make a crucial discovery that helps solve both crimes. Regardless of what her friends may think, Joan Watson has left her old world of medicine behind and, as Holmes himself points out, can now oficially refer to herself as a consulting detective.
It is good how the writers showed her aptitude early on and now we are finally seeing Holmes influence rub off on Watson. More insights by her would be good.