12.05.2014

Television: Elementary, "Terra Pericolosa"

Which means, if you're wondering, "dangerous land" (or territory, perhaps).

To be honest, it wasn't a very interesting episode. There was a map stolen, but then it wasn't the real map, oh but yes it was . . . I knew the moment I saw Mamie Gummer that she'd done it, so the rest was more or less a wash for me. I just couldn't care. Casino this, river that. Whatever.

And the subplot involving Holmes keeping Kitty too busy to go out with her friends bordered on bad sitcom. While it was lovely to hear him articulate the sentiment behind his reasoning, the whole Holmes and Watson functioning as pseudo parents is something that has to be done a tad more subtly if it's going to work for any length of time.

But it was nice to see that Watson had jumped to a conclusion—that Holmes was being selfish in not wanting to share Kitty—and have that turned around on her. Watson is so often given the high ground that having her find herself on (ahem) terra pericolosa in this instance was refreshing. (Okay, so it wasn't dangerous so much as unstable, but it did give way beneath her when Holmes told her why he was curbing Kitty's social life.)

Then again, whether his reasons were good or not, it's still clear he wasn't 100% in the right. The episode ends with Holmes inviting Kitty and her would-be beau to a museum. Yay, a date with dad as chaperone! You see what I mean? Kind of ridiculous. Like, just barely squeaking by here.

The past couple episodes had gotten a bit stronger, but this was a slump. Very uneven season thus far. We'll see if they can even the keel.

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