- Title: Elementary – The Rat Race
- tv.com: link
“It has its costs. Learning to see the puzzle in everything. They’re everywhere; once you start looking it’s impossible to stop.”
When Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) goes missing while consulting on a case involving the disappearance of a Wall Street executive, Watson (Lucy Liu) fears the worst. To convince Detective Gregson (Aidan Quinn) to look in to the matter she’s forced break client confidentiality and come clean about the true nature of their relationship.
Most of the episode takes place in an extended flashback involving Sherlock turning the case of missing person into an investigation into the apparent accidental death of a Wall Street executive due to a drug overdose. The investigation begins with discovery that their missing executive was a connoisseur of high-priced call girls, even going so far as to hire a private accountant (Stephen Plunkett) to write off the cost of his ladies of the night and his second apartment (where he was found dead) as legitimate business expenses.
Sherlock discovers this is the second COO of the company to die from, what he considers questionable circumstances, over the past year. A little more investigation while Watson takes a couple of hours for a date (Luke Kirby), and Holmes is convinced at least four previous high-ranking members of the company have been killed in recent years by someone inside the company. The person who best fits the profile is the man (Craig Bierko) next in line for the position and the one who hired Holmes to find their missing COO. However, the actual killer (Molly Price) turns out to be right under Holmes’ nose the entire time.
The mystery of the week is nothing special, but surrounding it with Holmes disappearance works well. In terms of continuing arcs “The Rat Race” showcases Holmes’ influence on Watson who is able to deduce her blind date isn’t telling the whole truth about never being married and make a split second decision that ends up saving Holmes’ life. The episode also gives us our first look at a truly humble Sherlock who sits down with a frank nature of the consultant detective’s troubled past.
The last scene with Holmes and Gergory was so good.
I like this Holmes’s lack of self-awareness, eg, not realizing that Gregory would have looked him up (or even just sensed that Holmes was a junkie in recovery, since Gregory must have dealt with plenty of those).
Meanwhile, one line becomes funny in the visual context. Holmes says “[The puzzles] are everywhere. Once you start looking, it’s impossible to stop.” Immediately, we cut to Lucy Liu standing up, and a loving shot of her behind. Impossible to stop looking, indeed….