Elementary returned last night with "Enough Nemesis to Go Around."
Eight months after Holmes left New York to work for MI-6, Watson has a really swank apartment, a detective agency, and consults with the NYPD. The case that is truly vexing her is that of Elena March, a widowed socialite who may also be the capo of a drug cartel. When the star witness against March and her police escort are shot dead in a moving elevator that didn't stop and had no other passengers, Watson is faced with a locked room mystery. But that's not the only mystery -- she's being trailed by a young woman with bangs, and Holmes has moved back into his brownstone...
In this episode, Elementary heads into uncharted waters. This one is basically "The Watson Show," as Holmes, though an important presence, is a secondary character. He's not working the case, and his involvement, such as it is, is unwelcomed by Watson. That makes for an interesting dynamic in the episode -- Watson is really good at this locked room case, but she's not Holmes-good, and while he gives her the important clue (how it was done), he's also mature enough to let her finish the case.
The interpersonals in this were interesting. I've long likened Jonny Lee Miller's Holmes to the post-Reichenbach Holmes (a little more human, a little less manic), but being human doesn't mean he doesn't act like an asshole at times. He has a wonderfully human speech about midway through the episode about his selfishness and his failures, and a scene with Gregson shows that the two men may respect one another and need one another but they don't necessarily like one another.
And then we have Kitty Winter, Holmes' new protege (though she would say "partner"). We don't know a lot about her -- she tailed Watson for a month (but was only noticed in the last week), she knows how to singlestick fight. The final scene indicates that she's searching for something, and I imagine we'll discover that as the season progresses. My one fervent hope is that Kitty isn't there to be fridged and, thus, bring Holmes and Watson back together.
It occurs to me that the episode is about people running from bad situations. Holmes ran from New York City eight months earlier to escape a situation that he couldn't emotionally handle. Watson ran from Holmes because she wanted to establish herself and her independence. And Kitty is running from something and now she's running to something.
I don't know what the dynamic for the series going forward will be. Holmes and Watson as rivals? As wary allies? I could envision a series where we don't need one of the two leads in every episode.