In a television landscape where the Procedural genre (be it Traditional or Serialized) has become a bit staid and cliched, it takes a lot of effort to stand out, and Elementary does just that, not only because of its connections to "the World's Greatest Detective", but also because of the ways in which it makes use of those connections.
Even with people having prejudged it because of the existence of the BBC's Sherlock and the decision to make Watson a woman and an American, Elementary made it obvious very early on that the preconceptions people had about it were wrong by simultaneously tapping into the essence of the Sherlock Holmes Canon and forging its own unique path forward, and by assembling a top-notch cast both regular and recurring.
It's easy to look at the series' early episodes and only see 'yet another Procedural', but what the show did well right from the beginning was weaving seemingly standalone stories into a grander, season-long narrative tapestry that was capped off by a sensationally-written 2-hour finale that was more than worthy of not only the series' titular character, but his most profligate ally. Watson can easily be seen as just being Sherlock's 'sidekick', the character who is there largely to 'ground' Holmes and make him relatable, but what Elementary did differently was to make the character Holmes' equal in narrative importance.
This is not only abundantly clear in the finale, but also manifests itself throughout the season, particularly in the Pilot, The Rat Race, M, The Deductionist, A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs, and Deja vu all over Again.
Elementary transcended the preconceptions and negative comparisons to the BBC's Sherlock by simultaneously tapping into the essence of the character's Canon and forging its own unique path forward, and the most significant - and brilliant - way it does so is in its approach of taking familiar Holmesian characters and twisting them around.
I don't know how the producers came upon the idea of making their interpretation of Mrs. Hudson a male-to-female Transsexual, but it was, quite frankly, a stroke of brilliance. Ms. Hudson may have only showed up late in the season, but her appearance was the perfect way to further and highlight the changing relationship dynamic between Sherlock and Joan and to give Joan a chance to bond with someone other than Sherlock on a deeply emotional level, even in a very short period of time.
Ms. Hudson's introduction also came at the perfect moment for seeding the culmination of the season's primary narrative arc and what is, IMO, one of the most ingenious character decisions ever made: taking Irene Adler and James Moriarty - the two characters most associated with Holmes aside from Watson - and combining them into one.
By giving us a Sherlock Holmes who was brilliantly human and brilliantly damaged, the writers had set a high bar for themselves to clear when it came to introducing his mirror image/greatest opponent, but by turning that opponent into the woman responsible for him being so brilliantly human and damaged, they not only cleared that bar, but smashed it to pieces, and then found the perfect individual to serve as Sherlock's 'perfect foil' in Natalie Dormer. Making Irene and Moriarty one and the same - and giving the role to Dormer - also perfectly tied in to the series' Serialized Procedural format by allowing/affording the writers opportunities to seed important narrative ideas through largely standalone plot points (such as the story told in Child Predator).
Elementary may have had a lot stacked against it, but if its first season proves anything, it's that you shouldn't bet against Sherlock Holmes or the viability of the Serialized Procedural genre.
