Elementary Season 4 Episode 12 Review: A View with a Room
Kathleen Wiedel
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If you came into this episode expecting a heist, you were probably very disappointed. I know I was.
While bait and switch isn't exactly uncommon, I was actually rather looking forward to the heist.
The description for Elementary Season 4 Episode 12 runs like this: "Captain Gregson's colleague from Narcotics wants Holmes to plan the perfect heist a drug-dealing biker gang's compound."
Sounds exciting, right? Only... it turned out to be a plain old murder case.
I figured out the mystery behind the murder almost instantly; the trick of duplicating rooms was not exactly unheard of on the original Mission: Impossible television series, which I absolutely love. That, and I did theater in high school. And I remember the Sherlock Holmes mantra.
Say it with me: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Detective Dunning could not have been shot in the inner office without the incident being heard by the large number of violent, drug-dealing bikers, nor could he sneak in Detective Hagen without anyone noticing. Since Hagen was the accomplice in the video, this could only mean that the video was not shot in the inner office.
Thus, a doppelganger office.
I'm admittedly rather curious as to how many other viewers figured it out as quickly as I did.
Despite the tricky way Hagen went about disposing of her co-conspirator, the motive was pretty mundane. Simple greed. I have to wonder, though – surely there were easier targets than this particular heavily-armed biker gang? Dunning apparently tried for months to get a raid, with no dice.
Honestly, I really wished Sherlock had to go through with the heist. It's not that the case was terrible (it really wasn't), but it didn't really feel exciting, either, after I had figured out that twist, especially since Hagen was identified as Dunning's co-conspirator almost right off the bat.
It was entertaining how Joan teased Sherlock when she found his mock-up with all the girly toys:
You're finally making up for that childhood you never had... as a three-year-old girl.
Joan
Though, for me, the best line of the episode came courtesy of Sherlock, when asked to mastermind the heist at the start of the episode:
You want to steal something from a heavily-armed, meth-dealing band of bike-riding Satanists.
Sherlock
Alas, it was not to be.
The B-story featured a return appearance by Betty Gilpin as Fiona Helbron, the coder who appeared in Elementary Season 4 Episode 9, "Murder Ex Machina." And apparently Sherlock liked (or, as Joan put it, "likes likes") her enough to buy her a first edition of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot!
I'm a bit ambivalent towards this potential relationship. On the one hand, it would be nice for Sherlock to have a love interest (or even just an intellectual interest) in a woman who was not an evil criminal mastermind. (Cue the reveal that Fiona is an evil criminal mastermind!)
On the other, I'm not a huge fan of the romantic plot lines on Elementary.
It was pretty funny when Joan teased him about the relationship, but that scene was also weirdly guilt-inducing. Sherlock has a terrible time forming even friendships with people, and the one woman he loved was, as mentioned a moment ago, an evil criminal mastermind.
And Fiona would have an even more difficult time on a personal level! And we're laughing about it?
I did enjoy the blank look on Sherlock's face when Fiona asked if they could talk more, though.
A few final notes before I turn the discussion over to you:
- Sherlock is on the case of the attempted assassination of his father, but has not yet made much headway.
- Captain Lombardi better check his house after not one but two of his detectives were revealed to be dirty. And at least one not just dirty, but a cold-blooded murderer. The good captain will probably have some tough questions to answer as to how he let this happen under his watch.
- The criminal conspiracy in question probably never would have been revealed if Dunning and Hagen had just been more patient. Eventually, Lombardi would have ordered the raid, and they would have gotten their hands on that computer. Key word: eventually.
So, what did you think of "A View with a Room"? Did you enjoy the twist, or did you totally see it coming? Would you have preferred a heist episode? Are you for or against Sherlock getting together with Fiona? Let us know in the comments section below!
Did you miss this episode? No worries! You can watch Elementary online to catch up! Meanwhile, Elementary Season 4 Episode 13, "A Study in Charlotte," is scheduled to air on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 10/9c on CBS.
