Crime Dynamic Duos: ‘Rizzoli & Isles’ (Rizzoli / Isles) vs. ‘Elementary’ (Holmes / Watson)

We’ve made it to the final edition of our Crime Dynamic Duos series — or at least the first round of it. That’s when we will begin the second heat, and from there we will start to see what the final battles shape up to be.

Before we get around to that, though, we’ve got one more interesting showdown between two popular shows, with one of them in the wake of its series finale. Can Rizzoli & Isles continue to be dominant after the fact? We shall see.

Jane and Maura, “Rizzoli & Isles” (2) – While we’ve tried to make this competition about shows still on the air, it technically was at the time in which we first began it. Not only that, but it would’ve been strange to have this poll series without including the two of them in some way. Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles have to be considered one of the most memorable crime-solving duos ever. They are incredible skilled at what they do, but their friendship proved to be memorable, funny, and heartfelt. They were basically everything you could’ve wanted in a pair of leads, which is probably why there are so many out there who’d love to see the franchise continue in some way, whether it be a TV movie or otherwise.

Holmes and Watson, “Elementary” (7) – Interesting enough, this is the second appearance of these Arthur Conan Doyle characters within this series, but it is the first from the CBS version. What we like about the relationship between the two is just how symbiotic they truly were. Without Watson, it is to be seen if Sherlock would be able to function well enough at all to solve crimes. Meanwhile, without Holmes we’re not sure Watson would have ever found her way to this line of work. Even if they’re not romantic, you get this tremendous sense of how much the two of them need each other.