Elementary Season 3 Episode 20 Review: A Stitch in Time
Tanya Moat
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A Scientology-like Church, ghosts and a professional doubter led to a potential terrorist threat on Elementary Season 3 Episode 20 while Joan also worked a separate case with Hannah, Captain Gregson's daughter.
Sherlock wasn't very enthused about Joan working with Hannah, which surprised me at first. I didn't know if it was jealousy or his typical pigheadedness (which I say with love) but it turned out it was something different all together.
Mr. Holmes just saw something most of us did not; Hannah was bit of a user.
She was smart to seek Joan's assistance because it was unlikely Sherlock would have helped her, Captain's daughter or not. Joan did help her solve a string of robberies, and Hannah chose to not pass along the information but to "solve" the crime herself.
She even played the "girl" card when she got called out by Joan on her actions. Sexism absolutely still exists in the workplace today but that wasn't why she did it. She just wanted to look good.
Hannah: I did help them. I got some bad guys off the street.
Joan: Just not as many as you could have..\
Surprisingly Captain Gregson figured it out too, which had to be rough. We are often most blind to the worst attributes of our loved ones, but he saw Hannah for who she was.
I don't think you should help her again. She is what she is. She wants what she wants. I love her but I love this job, too. The people who do it. She's got to do better.
Gregson
Like Joan, I initially thought Sherlock was harsh when he called Hannah "middling" but he wasn't wrong. She was good at playing people, which could be even more dangerous. It will be interesting to see what she is like when she pops up again.
The main case involved the death of a professional doubter. I'm not exactly sure how one becomes a professional doubter, but it sounds like an interesting job, up until it gets you murdered, of course.
Sherlock, to absolutely no one's surprise, was a big fan of the deceased, Garrison Boyd. The first stop in his investigation was the Church of Atomicism, a Scientology-like Church or cult, that Boyd regularly attacked.
Finn: At one time almost every great religion has been attacked as a cult.
Sherlock: So have most cults.
The good news about a cult that harassed those who create problems for them was that they had great surveillance photos which helped identify a potential suspect, Collin Eisley.
Eisley dangled another fantastical clue when he said Boyd accused him of making a woman believe her house was haunted by her late husband.
Sherlock quickly disapproved her belief that her late husband was angry over her cheating on him during the non-open times in their marriage. Instead of an angry husband rattling the walls, it was a plain, old human being who was digging a tunnel to expose Ruby, a transatlantic data cable.
The full spectrum of commerce and communication flows through her optic fibers as well as the requisite glut of pornography and cat videos.
Sherlock
The team worried that terrorists were plotting to simultaneously cut data cables, but it was something less nefarious but definitely more devious planned.
Eisley wasn't a terrorist but he wasn't a good man either. He was trying to slow down the servers used by the large brokerage firms on Wall Street. They received information at a slightly faster speed, which helped them earn millions more. Brilliant in how it would help him without being obvious.
I'm not 100% convinced that someone who concocted such a plan would readily confess since the evidence against him was fairly circumstantial at this point. Was it likely that Nadim would get arrested and confess? Sure. But someone with Eisley's means would likely try to sneak off to one of those non-extradition countries first.
What did you think about tonight's episode? Were you surprised by Sherlock's assessment of Hannah? Do you think Hannah is "middling"? Share in the comments below. Don't forget you can watch Elementary online via TV Fanatic at your convenience.
Please note: Elementary Season 3 Episode 21 will air on April 23.
