TV REVIEW: Elementary “The One That Got Away”

By Cindy Jackson

Well, I have to be honest. This episode of Elementary did not live up to expectations. It exceeded them. This was the most emotional, edge of your seat hour of this show since Natalie Dormer graced it with her presence.

Let’s talk about it, shall we? Because frankly I need to talk to someone about this. I’m not okay. A LOT happened in this episode, and most of it is making my stomach hurt. So let’s hold hands, take a deep breath, and begin.

At first, Joan finds it hard to believe that her new boss, Del Gruner, is really the man who abducted and raped Kitty, but some Sher-logic and a phone call from Gruner inexplicably terminating her employment convinces her otherwise. Gregson and Bell bring in Gruner for questioning. He admits nothing, but looks guilty as sin. His lawyer tries to say that they brought him in in retaliation for Joan being fired, and threatens to sue the police department. She offers to take a leave of absence, to which Gregson replies “Screw that,” and reminds Joan about teamwork. How can you not love this guy?

Joan apologizes for being blind to Gruner’s lies, to which Sherlock replies, “You were manipulated by a brilliant psychopath….join the club.” A brilliant, heartwrenching reference to Irene Adler?? Come on, writers!! There’s still forty minutes left in the episode and I’d like to live to see it, if you don’t mind.

Pictured: Ophelia Lovibond as Kitty Winter. Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes. Image © CBS

Our twosome begin to look for a way to tie Gruner to what happened to Kitty, searching cold cases of women matching her description. Sherlock has narrowed down the pool to three names he feels are their best leads. Meanwhile, Detective Bell tells them he has a lead of his own, a woman named Tabitha Laird. She said she had a misunderstanding with Gruner when they first met but that he’s been very good to her and her young son ever since.

Watson goes to an event being held by an organization to which Gruner donates a lot of money. She wants to ask him a few questions, or more accurately, she wants to mention the names of the three women Sherlock is looking at to see if there is a reaction. The plan works, with Joan then telling Holmes the only time he had a reaction was when he realized Joan had spoken to Tabitha. In fact, Gruner even goes so far as to follow Joan outside and threaten her. Hilariously, Joan basically dares him to try anything with her and he storms off like she took away his x-box for missing curfew.

Sherlock deduces that one of the women he had originally removed from his radar could hold a vital key to unlocking why Gruner was so upset. It seems that this woman, Francine Bianco, was kept months longer than any of the other women. Perhaps it was because she became pregnant. It is Sherlock’s theory that he then gave the baby up anonymously, and the child was adopted by Tabitha, a theory that proves to be correct.

So, why all the tears and hyperventilation? Two words: Kitty Winter. She comes to Sherlock early on in the episode (while he is adorably making her scrambled eggs and saying things like “my place is here with you,”) to tearfully tell him she is not ready for this confrontation with her attacker and is taking Sherlock’s advice and returning to London. He takes it surprisingly well, simply stating he will arrange for a police escort to the airport.

Pictured (L-R) Aidan Quinn as Captain Gregson, Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock holmes. Image © CBS

We find out very quickly, however, that Kitty does not return to England. Instead, she has managed to abduct Gruner, who sits bound in a chair in an empty warehouse while Kitty heats up a branding iron and mixes up a little concoction made with…NUTMEG. If you’ve been watching this season, you know that means she is NOT messing around.

Sherlock shows up just in time to tell her they have enough evidence to arrest Gruner (No, Kitty, he never believed for one second you were going back to England…and also he can track the GPS on your phone). Sherlock also tells her, as any true friend would, that if she still wants to murder Gruner and dissolve his body into nothingness, he’s cool with that, too. He just thought she should have options. He then tells her a bunch of really emotional stuff that made me want to punch the writers in the gut, (“You saved me.” Seriously??) and walks away.

Kitty makes her decision. She tells Gruner that she was tired of hiding behind a mask and he can’t hide behind his any more, either.

Next time we see Gruner, he is in the hospital, with his face burned off by nutmeg acid. Captain Gregson subtly lets Sherlock and Joan know that when Gruner wakes up, if he tells him the name of the person responsible (“maybe it’s a name I know, maybe it isn’t”) he will have to go after the person. Kitty calls Sherlock’s phone like her ears were ringing. She tells him (like he doesn’t already know) that she really is going back to London this time.

Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes. Image © CBS

Throughout this episode, we saw flashbacks of how Sherlock and Kitty met, how he sought to help her find her rapist, how he saw the ability within her, and how he helped her, both emotionally and in honing her detective skills. He also showed millions of viewers how to pick a chain lock on a door, so I’ll be going to Home Depot this morning, but I digress.

All of these flashbacks and Sherlock’s admission of his feelings toward Kitty lead us back to her, at the airport, on the phone with him. “You gave me everything,” she says, before telling him she is going to use what he taught her to help people. She ends the call with telling him, in a semi-direct way, that she loves him.

The final scene of the episode is a flashback to Sherlock in London six months ago, crying. He and Kitty had gotten into an argument the week before, leaving Sherlock feeling like he had nothing left. She shows up at the door and apologizes, asking him to finish what he started with her. He tells her to come back the next day, closes the door, and immediately burns the stash of drugs he had been carrying around with him for months.

She really did save him.