‘Elementary’ season 2, episode 13 review: Jonny Lee Miller and a new side to Sherlock

Here is the thing when it comes to “mob episodes” of procedural shows: We typically hate them. The reason for that is typically that in order for these characters in organized crime to be interesting, you really need time to build up these characters and make them interesting. That cannot really happen over the course of the one-hour run time.

Luckily, the thing about Thursday’s “Elementary” is that they did something very smart; rather than just focus exclusively on the case of the week and this rogues’ gallery of folks in the mob, they made the move to pair this with something that was deeper and more meaningful to the characters long-term: Holmes’ relationship with Marcus Bell. These are two men that have rarely been on the same page, but they had a unique common ground this week: Trauma, how to suffer through it, and how to move forward from it.

Holmes has made a living off of solving crimes, but during this episode, he learned to an extent how to solve people by understanding them. Rather than simply serving his own needs, he reached out to help someone else despite what that someone may think of him. Jonny Lee Miller continues to find new wrinkles in this character, and there were some that were exposed through this. Also, hats off to Jon Michael Hill for bringing so much to this role the past few episodes. This is a character that is starting to blossom this season, and we say that after there was not much movement when it came to the story with him in the early going.

The important thing at the end here was that everyone was able to move forward, and reestablish the sort of normalcy that can at least be defined as such within the NYPD. Bell is now back at his old desk, and the acknowledgment of thanks to Holmes was perfect. It was just a nod; nothing more, and there was nothing else Sherlock would have wanted. Grade: B+.

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