Elementary – One Perspective
By Marie Parsons
Now that the first season of Elementary has ended-and
viewers can excitedly anticipate a second season-it is time to reflect and take
stock.
Elementary includes the familiar character of Sherlock
Holmes. While Holmes is properly
British, the series is set in the familiar streets of current-day New York
City. Holmes works as a consulting detective, often helping his long-time
friend, NYPD Captain Gregson, whom he met in London while Gregson was helping
at Scotland Yard.
Holmes is a recovering drug user. He meets Joan Watson, a
former surgeon, who has been hired by Holmes unseen father, to serve as Holmes’
“sober companion.” As time goes by, Watson finds herself intrigued by the art
of detection-she even exhibits her own spark of deductive talent, and so Holmes
begins to treat her as an apprentice detective. Eventually he bestows on her a
heartfelt compliment, when explaining to Moriarty that now there are two
people, himself and Watson, who are as clever, if not more so, than his long
time archenemy.
