Where i am CBS showed it on one of its other affiliates. I had hulu set to DVR it and that's the station it recorded it from.
ELEMENTARY - News, Reviews, and Discussion
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
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I'm going to riff on some things I wrote on Facebook. It's easier.
I didn't think I'd cry at the Elementary finale. It's a Sherlock Holmes story! You don't get emotional at Sherlock Holmes stories. (Though I got emotional at Mr. Holmes.) But that stretch of scenes in the fourth act, once the case-of-the-week resolved itself (around the midway point), from Sherlock meeting Arthur to the reunion with Gregson to the conversation in the brownstone, I was in tears. Less at the Gregson scene that the other two. I was surprised how emotional I felt at Sherlock meeting Joan's son, and of course that final scene in that stretch of the episode.
My one complaint is that Joan was shortchanged somewhat by the finale, a catalyst more than a character, but it made sense in retrospect. In the end, we're all stories, as a wise man once said, and in the end, Elementary was the story of how Sherlock Holmes went from being a broken, selfish, misanthropic ass and grew into a human being with genuine feelings and friends that he valued more than himself. That makes Elementary unique among Sherlock Holmes adaptations, with its evolution of the character across the series.
I really wanted to hear "There's an east wind coming, Watson," but the way it ended I was happy with. This telling of the story has ended, but the story itself goes on.
If only there were an active Elementary tie-in fiction line. I'd pitch "The Great Hiatus," a novel about the three year gap, in a heartbeat.
I didn't think I'd cry at the Elementary finale. It's a Sherlock Holmes story! You don't get emotional at Sherlock Holmes stories. (Though I got emotional at Mr. Holmes.) But that stretch of scenes in the fourth act, once the case-of-the-week resolved itself (around the midway point), from Sherlock meeting Arthur to the reunion with Gregson to the conversation in the brownstone, I was in tears. Less at the Gregson scene that the other two. I was surprised how emotional I felt at Sherlock meeting Joan's son, and of course that final scene in that stretch of the episode.
My one complaint is that Joan was shortchanged somewhat by the finale, a catalyst more than a character, but it made sense in retrospect. In the end, we're all stories, as a wise man once said, and in the end, Elementary was the story of how Sherlock Holmes went from being a broken, selfish, misanthropic ass and grew into a human being with genuine feelings and friends that he valued more than himself. That makes Elementary unique among Sherlock Holmes adaptations, with its evolution of the character across the series.
I really wanted to hear "There's an east wind coming, Watson," but the way it ended I was happy with. This telling of the story has ended, but the story itself goes on.
If only there were an active Elementary tie-in fiction line. I'd pitch "The Great Hiatus," a novel about the three year gap, in a heartbeat.
CBS streams Elementary (for free, though with commercials) on the CBS website. A couple of weeks ago I was unable to watch an episode, so I watched it Friday morning. No need to wait until Saturday.
Well, since I avoided this thread for fear of spoilers, I never saw your recommendation. And I'm leery of watching streams from the CBS site, since CBS All Access is one of the streaming sites that sometimes works my laptop too hard and causes it to shut down from overheating unless I put ice packs on it. I don't know if the CBS site proper uses the same streaming software, but I'm just as glad not to take the chance.
Anyway, I watched the episode first thing this morning, over breakfast. I guess I should've anticipated they'd do a 3-year jump, since that's what "The Empty House" did -- and Sherlock quoted that story almost verbatim while describing his exploits in absentia. The finale did a pretty good job of working in elements of the literary canon -- notably, it finally had Watson become an author chronicling Holmes's adventures! (I think that was touched on once years ago, that she was keeping journals on her laptop for possible eventual publication, but it's been ages since it was even hinted at.) But it really is annoying that they never managed to get Natalie Dormer back, that Moriarty had to remain someone talked about rather than seen. I was hoping we'd get a surprise cameo, but no such luck.
It's kind of ironic that the penultimate season ended with what looked like a definitive, permanent end to the status quo ante, but the final season concludes with the open-ended restoration of same, aside from Gregson's retirement. But I guess that's in the spirit of the original.
I loved Lucy Liu as Joan Watson and I loved Joan Watson. That said I am actually a little disappointed they didn’t take the risky route (to me). I was going to be impressed at the sheer moxie.
This is the second show to end (Legion) that I’ve been watching that delivered a pretty satisfactory finale. Now I guess I’ll have to catch up on some books and comics.
This is the second show to end (Legion) that I’ve been watching that delivered a pretty satisfactory finale. Now I guess I’ll have to catch up on some books and comics.
What, you mean actually killing her off? I never believed for a moment that they'd do that; after all, the Sherlock Holmes narrative is usually presented from Watson's point of view, and that's basically been the case with Elementary too.
Yes. We’ve seen Holmes and Watson in dozens of different configurations/situations. This would have been something new.
Rob Doherty, in this interview, says there was some thought about killing either Sherlock or Joan in the finale:
For me, the "moxie" ending would have been...
Cut to five years later. Sussex. A small-ish English house near the coast. Mid-morning, on a bright Sunday in early summer.
The camera zooms in. It's a man, tending to beehives. As we close, we see that it's Sherlock. We see that he's not alone. There's a small child with him, about three years old, holding his hand. We stay with them for a moment, and in the background we see another figure on the house's back porch.
This figure is seated, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and with their back to the camera. The figure appears to be facing an easal. Is the person painting?
The person is painting. Stops. Stands.
"Sherlock, darling, it's time for brunch."
Sherlock gives a tetchy nod. "We'll be along presently."
She smiles. Sherlock and the child walk back to the house.
"And what were you showing our son?"
She kneels down, as parents do, to call their small children to them. The boy's hands slips from Sherlock's and he races across the grass.
"The new queen will be born tomorrow or the day after. Young Mycroft is particularly keen to see it."
She stands. They embrace, and Sherlock Holmes and Jamie Moriarty walk into their Sussex cottage, hand in hand, with their son.
Fade to black.
I would not have hated that ending. Teel the truth, I would have liked it a lot. I don't dislike the ending we got at all, but there's also a part of me that wanted to see Sherlock retired on the Sussex Downs, and even those two crazy kids working it out.
With the time jumps, CBS could make a reunion movie in 2025, and it would only be a year or two after the end of the series.
That might've been nice, although a bit too pat, given all her crimes. Sherlock Holmes isn't the type to let a crime go unpunished unless he believes it was done for the right reasons, which is definitely not the case with Moriarty's many acts of murder and mayhem. I could see him entering into a devil's bargain of sorts to settle down with her if it would prevent her from committing any more crimes, but is Jamie really the kind of old-fashioned woman who'd ever be willing to give up her career for marriage?
From the interview:
That's interesting. The show has been quite true to who Sherlock Holmes is, yet at the same time it's managed to grow him plausibly, to get him to a more social and functional place through the influence of Joan, Marcus, and Gregson. The idea that he could find as much satisfaction in more domestic matters as in his work is a bit of a reach, but the show has earned it. (I imagine that maybe a lot of that satisfaction came from teaching Arthur, so that he could continue to exercise his intellect and problem-solving skills. The lessons he devised for the boy were probably very unconventional and challenging and effective.)
Yes, thank goodness they never went there. It ruined Warehouse 13's final season when they forced a romance on what had previously been unambiguously and emphatically defined as a sibling-like relationship between the leads. It's bad enough when the fans try to twist platonic relationships into romantic ones, but worse when the show itself follows suit.
Granted, both of the other major modern Holmes adaptations -- Sherlock and the Downey/Law films -- have gleefully teased a slashy relationship between Holmes and Watson, but in that case, with a male Watson, it's kind of subversive. Making Watson female and then having a romance with Holmes would've just been conventional.
Hmm, I guess that makes sense as far as the finale goes, but it does make me regret that they never found an opportunity to bring Dormer back earlier.
It was actually a 4 year jump. 3 years at the start, then another year at the end. So that is definitely possible (and depending on their career status in 2025, probable).With the time jumps, CBS could make a reunion movie in 2025, and it would only be a year or two after the end of the series.
Rob Doherty, in this interview, says there was some thought about killing either Sherlock or Joan in the finale:
For me, the "moxie" ending would have been...
Cut to five years later. Sussex. A small-ish English house near the coast. Mid-morning, on a bright Sunday in early summer.
The camera zooms in. It's a man, tending to beehives. As we close, we see that it's Sherlock. We see that he's not alone. There's a small child with him, about three years old, holding his hand. We stay with them for a moment, and in the background we see another figure on the house's back porch.
This figure is seated, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and with their back to the camera. The figure appears to be facing an easal. Is the person painting?
The person is painting. Stops. Stands.
"Sherlock, darling, it's time for brunch."
Sherlock gives a tetchy nod. "We'll be along presently."
She smiles. Sherlock and the child walk back to the house.
"And what were you showing our son?"
She kneels down, as parents do, to call their small children to them. The boy's hands slips from Sherlock's and he races across the grass.
"The new queen will be born tomorrow or the day after. Young Mycroft is particularly keen to see it."
She stands. They embrace, and Sherlock Holmes and Jamie Moriarty walk into their Sussex cottage, hand in hand, with their son.
Fade to black.
I would not have hated that ending. Teel the truth, I would have liked it a lot. I don't dislike the ending we got at all, but there's also a part of me that wanted to see Sherlock retired on the Sussex Downs, and even those two crazy kids working it out.
With the time jumps, CBS could make a reunion movie in 2025, and it would only be a year or two after the end of the series.
My mind did go to Sherlock raising Arthur. I would not demure a happy ending with Jamie Moriarty.
If the true goal of the penal system is to stop more crime then presumably their life together would see a cessation of her criminal activity. Sure people would protest her going free after her crimes, but her agreeing to stop as a condition of her life with Sherlock would require enormous self discipline and constant care. Not unlike Sherlock’s life of sobriety.
I’m also glad they didn’t feel the need for Sherlock and Joan to be romantic partners. It’s part of what made it resonant.
See, that's what I'm skeptical of. Is it really plausible that she wouldn't try to carry on with her crimes behind his back? Sure, he'd be watching her every step of the way, but she's his equal and would have a good chance of outsmarting him.
Excellent point. Sherlock is and always will be an addict. He works every day to be a recovering addict. Perhaps Jamie’s new mission in life is to be a “reformed” criminal mastermind. Maybe the crux of their relationship is keeping each other from relapsing.
I'm just not convinced Jamie would really want to reform. I'd have to rewatch the series to remind myself (something I really should do sometime), but I think she had that chance before, during her incarceration, and she still chose to go back to evil-masterminding. I can see the appeal of it as a happy ending, but it feels like the kind of fannish wish-fulfillment ship that requires ignoring or changing the characters' core natures.
It occurred to me a few days ago that Elementary's penultimate episode takes place before our present global pandemic and its final episode takes place several years after. Then I started thinking about the characters -- Sherlock went to Italy, is he affected? how's Joan coping with the New York lockdown? what about the Precinct? -- and I got kinda sad. I really miss these characters sometimes.
Ooh, that would make for an interesting mystery story -- having to solve a murder when you can't leave the house.
Although really, that's basically Mycroft's whole thing, isn't it?
Although really, that's basically Mycroft's whole thing, isn't it?
