What a fascinating long con.

A prodigious feat of prognostication was proven to be so much less on Elementary Season 6 Episode 18.

An old client even popped up as well.

Eccentric millionaire Henry Baskerville was back and at the heart of this episode.

Baskerville was first introduced on Elementary Season 4 Episode 16, an enjoyable modern twist on the classic Holmes tale "The Hounds of the Baskervilles."

Sherlock and Joan seemed to view Baskerville as a well-funded crackpot. Still, they found themselves in need of his services as a sort of consultant.

Related: Elementary Season 6 Episode 17 Review: The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl Out

The case of the week had an intriguing set-up. A deceased, mentally ill obituary writer had produced a series of obituaries outlining the deaths of ordinary New Yorkers, Sherlock included.

That's one sure way to capture Sherlock's attention: put him in the middle of something that he would normally dismiss as pure hoohah.

I really wanted to see more of the case that had Sherlock conducting, Joan pretending to play the tuba, and something about keeping a rare, stolen flute from being smuggled to Slovenia. But, alas, that was not to be.

Still, what followed more than made up for that, even though it featured one of those head-scratching solutions that came together way too quickly.

It was good seeing Christian Borle (Smash) back on TV, even though he was saddled with the vanilla role of the psychic's brother David. 

And who knew early on that his exotic wife would turn out to be a crucial plot point?

Related: Watch Elementary Online: Season 6 Episode 17

This case was genuinely bugging Joan and Sherlock, both believers in science who had determined that the late Norman had an accomplice who was making his predictions coming true with murder. But they couldn't find one.

That was the only explanation that made sense. Much more so than the simulation theory in which Norman and others and the others believed.

As best I understood it, simulation theory postulates that we're all characters stuck inside God's video game. So it's kinda a cosmic Clash of Clans.

So Norman believed in this (remember he was certifiable) and contacted a bunch of other simulation-theory acolytes.

Among those was Baskerville, who appeared to have more dollars than sense. Yet Joan and Sherlock still went to him in search of a suspect list. 

I would have liked to have seen more of Baskerville. But no, he popped up about every 20 minutes, to help keep the narrative chugging along, But he ended up largely in the background.

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Everyone had no choice but to treat Sherlock's predicted demise seriously, which was driving him crazy. Good thing there were other matters to distract him.

First, there was his 3-inch thick last will and testament, in which he left everything to Joan, both good and bad. Fortunately, he took a more responsible approach by episode's end.

Joan's poking around uncovered the embezzling that was happening from Sherlock's investments, which led to the amusing image of chests of gold piling up in their foyer. 

It was never clear to me how Sherlock decided which of his father's shady lawyers were stealing from him, but he did take care of it quickly. I just chalked it up to Sherlock being Sherlock.

Still, it was a pleasant diversion from the main case.

Apparently, it came down to Baskerville. David and Liz compiled a judiciously edited version of Norman's ramblings and sold it to him for $4 million, then attempted to skip town.

That is where the well-constructed narrative kind of fell apart. From one discarded photo, Sherlock tied up the whole case.

Related: Get CBS All Access via Amazon Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV! 

He identified a plant which produces a drug which makes people very suggestive, to the point they would be willing to kill themselves. Since Liz is Columbian, and her brother is an importer, she and David are of course escaping on his ship.

It was a too-neat resolution for a well-designed case.

All told, a self-contained episode with zero references for the season's ongoing storylines, Expect one more episode like this before the two-part Elementary Season 6 finale featuring a battle of wits with Michael. The season has just kind of flown along, as one of the few scripted network series this spring and summer.

I guess the networks have gone back to conceding the summer to scripted cable and streaming shows while just airing mindless reality programming (if that's not redundant) and game shows. Too bad.

To review before the finale, watch Elementary online.

Did you enjoy Baskerville's visit? Did you suspect the nice, boring couple? Did Sherlock learn anything about estate planning? Comment below.

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