"Ears to You' - Elementary Review - Season 2, Episode 17 (41) - I'm listening.

A man who the police suspect has murdered his missing wife receives two severed ears from the missing woman. A DNA match verifies that they are indeed her ears. A ransom demand is made to give her back.
The second one in four years.
If he didn't kill her, where has she been for four years, and who has been holding her?

The episode opens at Elementary's version of Bakers St. with Miller's Holmes try to defuse a bomb sent to him by a 'friend' to hone Holmes' skills at dismantling bombs.

We learn Lestrade is still living with Holmes and Watson, as are the chickens.

Holmes and Watson are asked to help investigate the case of two severed ears.
Lestrade is still living with Holmes and Watson while overcoming his doubts about his abilities as a cop.
I really like the range of emotion and temperament Pertwee's Lestrade goes through in each episode. To me it is very Letrade like.
While returning from a self pitying drinking party he is mugged.
While Holmes and Watson investigate the case of the missing woman, Watson gets Lestrade to look into the case of the mugger and other muggings with similar MO's.

I need to go back and see how many of the stories in Elementary are actually introduced in the digs of Holmes and Watson. Starting in 221b is something we expect in the Canon, and is a polite nod to the books if many of the episodes are introduce there.

It is another good episode with all the characters taking more Canonical rolls with Holmes leading the investigation. The episode has some good acting and some good twists.

I liked the part in the morgue where Holmes is explaining his findings over the corpse of the bag man from the money pick up. Very Canonical.

Holmes also gives us some insight into the forensics's of identifying ears and the history of those findings.

Again Miller's Holmes has become a more sympathetic Holmes to those around him, and the quirkiness was once again down played.

The problem with me in this episode, and several others, is the motives for the crimes.
The missing woman had already taken her revenge on her 'ex' by disappearing and leaving him a suspect in that disappearance. She was already married to a probably well off doctor. So why the need to bring it all back up again?
In several episodes the motives for the stories end up like a weak closing chapter to an otherwise good book.
The accidental discovery of the missing woman at the AA meeting was a weak plot line, which once again shows the many of the episodes are not plot driven.

References I found;

- being able to come up with clues from the dead mans body
- CARD
- not eating while on a case
- working on criminal skills to understand the criminal

And I once again leave it to Buddy2blogger to come up with more.

Although I once again found the motive a little weak, I though the episode was much better than what we have come to expect this season. Until the end the plot was very interesting.
I think Miller's Holmes is striving to be more Holmes like, as are the stories. So for that reason I give this episode;