Friday, March 14, 2014

"Hound of the Cancer Cell" - Season 2, episode #18 (42) - walking a fine line and a little "Gran Torino"

A locked room murder.
A reluctant witness.
Bell is back.
And the plot seems the same.



Okay, "Elementary" is still trying to find it's way, but it is at least going in the right direction.

For the last three episode's the show has lost a lot of it's over use of fetishes and un-Holmes like habits and is settling into a more comfortable, shall we say, police procedural.
After all, until it can find a balance of good Sherlockian connections and good story lines, that is where it is going to set for a while.

On a positive note along those same lines, it is at least not just throwing out Sherlockianisms for the sake of it, just to get some in.

Millers Holmes is becoming more likable and less quirky. His roll in the show no longer seems to be to offend Joan or the viewers. His character is becoming more of a thinking mans detective. Is he Holmes?
Not yet, but he is getting closer.

Lucy Liu as Watson is starting to find a good balance between side-kick and equally smart woman.
No longer upstaging Holmes during investigations, she is proving to be a very valuable assistant while going out on her own, with her own cases.

There were a few good twists in the plot, but other than that it seemed to follow the over used trend in the series; Introduce the bad guy, let him convince us he is not, then prove again he is.
The plot once again got a little to convoluted for me. Two weeks in a row of killing off people who really did not need to be killed off to help the story.

I think the den of hidden Mossad agents would make a good story line, but was unnecessary in this case.
Although providing a good chance for some observation work, it did not help the plot line.

I didn't pick up any Canonical references that had not been used already. I am hoping James or Buddy2blogger did.

Watson's case was stolen right out of the Eastwood movie "Gran Torino" (and several other such themed movies and shows).

It was a good show, not up to the last couple of weeks, but still one of the better ones.

So out of recognition of it's trying to improve, consciously or not, I give it. . .


Let me know what you think.

3 comments:

  1. I have given up on Elementary.

    I will be looking to YOU for catching the references going forward.

    B2B.

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  2. I have to say that I didn't notice any Canonical references on a first viewing of "The Hound of the Cancer Cell", I agree with your review. The episode was a solid police procedural but not very Sherlockian. Ditto on your assessment of Miller and Liu's performance. I thought the opening scene of the murder by helium was well done, as well as the closing scene with Bell and Sherlock. Sorry, but not surprised, to see that B2B has given up on "Elementary". With 22 to 24 episodes to fill out a season we have to expect the usual "murder-of-the-week" as filler between more Sherlockian episodes. I wish the showrunners would let up on focusing on murder as the crime Sherlock and Joan have to investigate. Mycroft will return at the end of the season, so I hope we will get something more Holmes-like to sink our teeth into.

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  3. Buddy2blogger, I can understand your not wishing to follow it any more. From a Sherlockian perspective it can be disappointing.
    But I still enjoy 'The Game' with it and will miss your references.

    James, keep me on my toes with my reviews okay?

    ReplyDelete