It took almost a year, but Sherlock is back, as cantankerous as ever.

He's also facing a new challenge which promises to be a burden for everyone around him on Elementary Season 6 Episode 1.

From what I can see already, neither Sherlock nor Joan are going to let post-concussion syndrome keep him down for long.

At the tail end of Elementary Season 5, when Sherlock was being haunted by the ghost of his mother, it was obvious that something was amiss with the brilliant detective.

I'd forgotten how much Sherlock had pissed off Joan with his behavior through that period. That especially made no sense considering that, I don't know, she was a doctor.

For that matter, he could have talked with ME Hawes. The opening scene between them was funny and kind of sweet, you know, for Sherlock and anybody.

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Still, since he didn't know exactly what was wrong with him, everyone could chalk up anything unusual he did to his eccentricity. "That's just Sherlock being Sherlock."

Sherlock was protecting Joan while he underwent every appropriate medical test. There was no sense putting her in a position where she would have to lie to Gregson and Marcus for him until he knew what his situation was. 

Shinwell's hitting him with a bottle during the beatdown he gave Sherlock on Elementary Season 5 Episode 18 may have brought on this condition. But it's ironic that every bad habit he has made the situation worse.

Now that Joan knows, at least as much if not more than Sherlock does, she will discover the best protocol necessary for him to recover as quickly as possible. It's a chance to use her medical knowledge to save her best friend from himself.

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She already got him to open up about the feelings that he had kept bottled up inside him. It will be important for him to have somebody to talk to as he heals. It's got to be difficult having his prodigious brain malfunctioning.

I still don't see him meditating or running on a treadmill in their new exercise room, however. His mind races too fast for either of those activities to be beneficial.

Other than having a couple of symptoms, Sherlock wasn't slowed down much by his condition this episode.

Fortunately, this wasn't the most challenging of cases so that he could ease his way back in.

Quelle surprise! The husband, who stood to gain the most from the two murders, did it. The fact that Ryan was played by Brett Dalton, the treacherous Ward from the early seasons of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, made it a no-brainer.

In this era of absolutely everything private ending up online, a leaked sex tape-related storyline was inevitable.

But leaking the sex tape to activate a morals buyout clause was an unusual twist. So was timing a divorce so that would happen after the buyout.

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The way you could tell this was fiction was because an ultra-rich person was getting penalized, not rewarded, financially for bad behavior.

Sammy got killed for pressing to find out how the video got uploaded. Why did such a fan of sex tapes care if one of his performances went viral? Because his current girlfriend went psycho, I guess.

How deaf did Sammy have to be to allow Ryan to break in and plastic-sheet off his entire apartment so that he could kill Sammy and leave no forensic clues? Great idea in theory, damn near impossible in practice.

And yet Sammy was smart enough to install a hidden-video system which turned on with the snap of a deadbolt. Yeah, that makes sense.

So all it took for Sherlock to solve this one was a drop of blood, an understanding of the 1% and a sex tape filmed in the living room. 

Hopefully, this kind of case of the week will be the exception and not the rule this season.

The case was secondary this episode or even tertiary.

In addition to his condition being the major storyline, Sherlock also made a new acquaintance at his AA meeting.

Michael explained to Sherlock that Sherlock's share four years earlier had helped him to kick his addiction. He also offered to help Sherlock any way he can.

How nice! Sherlock, who is without a sponsor, meets someone in recovery who has offered his services to Sherlock.

Too bad Michael appeared to be a killer. Since Michael is part of the season's regular cast of characters, expect this to be a thing all season.

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To see Sherlock's condition worsen, watch Elementary online.

How long before Sherlock shakes his concussion? How much did it slow him down? What did you think of Michael? Comment below.

Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.