Elementary Season 4 Episode 18 Review: Ready or Not
Kathleen Wiedel
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A doctor got in over his head selling pills to drug-dealers on the side and was murdered by the helpful guy who appeared ever-so-briefly early in Elementary Season 4 Episode 18. The guy who provided the weirdly-specific alibi.
Always beware a character who gives unnecessary details in a procedural, and doubly so for a helpful person who appears in the first act.
I suspected Dr. Wallace rather immediately for the reason that he gave curiously specific details in his alibi; it would seem odd to name the particular place he was with his girlfriend and her family unless that detail was somehow important to the plot.
They did provide a red herring in Frederick Weller, who played the conman Ronnie Wright. I do have to question the effectiveness of his scam, which could only target wealthy doomsday preppers and would have had a not-insignificant cost to refurbish the bunker.
I mean, even setting aside the cracked concrete and non-awesome ventilation, there were big-screen TVs, marble floors, a pool table, a kitchen... Just the superficial appearance of the place must have been a whale of an investment. And he certainly didn't do the renovations himself, given his shoulder injury.
So did he pay out potentially hundreds of thousands in renovation costs to some contractor to set up the scam?
Plot hole? I'll let you decide on that count.
This case also took a few pot-shots at survivalists with some of Sherlock's rather cutting remarks about them being paranoid about "socialist zombies coming to take their guns." Plus this:
Wouldn't want to separate the guns from the wine.
Sherlock
Very subtle there, Elementary.
This episode was actually quite well-stocked with funny quotes and zingers, mostly courtesy of the B-plot involving Sherlock and his relationship with Fiona, who last appeared in Elementary Season 4 Episode 12, "A View with a Room."
Sherlock's confession to Fiona about his lack of experience with relationships brought to mind a line from the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories: "Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department." In the stories, Sherlock is best described as singularly unconcerned with romance, leaving that to Watson. Fiona, despite her even greater apparent awkwardness than Sherlock, had him beat in the serious relationship department!
Here, there was both a clear distinction and connection between a relationship and sex. Sherlock was previously extremely cavalier about sex, but decided to remain monogamous with Fiona while they were in a relationship, even if that meant he didn't have any sex for more than a month into the relationship!
It's a bit unclear whether or not the neighbor actually was having extra-enthusiastic sex next door or whether Sherlock's mind, having sex on the brain, was playing tricks on him. Regardless, it provided us with some downright hilarious remarks.
Perhaps it entered your mind subconsciously. Were your dreams filled with two flounders slapping together? A ketchup bottle being squeezed repeatedly whilst a nearby walrus issues a death rattle?
Sherlock [to Joan, on the neighbor's noisy sex]
Be sure to check out our Elementary quotes page for some of the choice quips from this episode.
Overall, I'm still not sure how I feel about this relationship. On the one hand, there are aspects that are clearly being played for laughs:
Maybe we should have sex now.
Fiona
On the other, there was Sherlock's aforementioned confession of his lack of experience with relationships, which was completely serious. I just don't know where this relationship will lead. I'm just hoping it's not a reveal that Fiona's an evil criminal mastermind. Or even a pawn of an evil criminal mastermind.
And, is it just me, or were they having a really bad time at identifying characters? I felt like I was having to guess at who some of these people were, particularly their names. Eh. Maybe I just need to pay closer attention?
A final oddity: the beginning of the episode featured Sherlock and Joan being hired by Lloyd Springer, who Sherlock heavily implied was physically abusing his son Brian. Yet after that initial appearance, neither Springer played any significant role in the rest of the episode, and really only mentioned as Joan remarked on Sherlock's punching Springer in the face as an example of his odd behavior.
Some final notes and thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- You may remember Frederick Weller as Marshal Marshall Mann on In Plain Sight. I really liked that show!
- One clear clue that Weller's character was a fraud? He didn't seem to know that Sherlock was a consulting detective, which he would have almost certainly be able to learn through a simple Google search.
- Cracked walls or not, I'm hard-pressed to believe that Sherlock managed to get a cell phone signal inside that bunker. Maybe Wright had installed cellular repeaters throughout the bunker?
- Sherlock and Joan's noisy next-door neighbor Trent, played by Richard Kind, appeared in Elementary Season 4 Episode 13, "A Study in Charlotte.")
- There was no movement or mention of the "Who tried to kill Morland Holmes" arc.
So, what did you think of "Ready or Not"? Did you peg Dr. Wallace as the killer? What did you think of the doomsday preppers? Are you glad to see Sherlock and Fiona move forward in their relationship? Let us know in the comments section below!
If you missed this episode, or maybe just want to relive the relationship drama, you can watch Elementary online. After taking next Sunday off, the show is slated to return on Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 10/9c on CBS with Elementary Season 4 Episode 19, "All In."
