Elementary - Episode 2.22 - Paint it Black - Review

Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes collaborated to whatever extent was possible to deal with the aftermath of Watson's kidnapping in this week's Elementary.  While there were a few aspects of the Mycroft plot that continued to slightly irk me, overall I felt there was some improvement made on the character.  This hour also featured plenty of Sherlock Holmes freaking out under extreme emotional pressure, which is one of my favorite aspects to see Jonny Lee Miller play because he's so brilliant at it.  It was nice to get a bit more of a serialized flavor to the show without having a "case of the week" around to apply a more generic approach.  And even held captive by murderous fiends, Joan Watson stayed cool and classy!  Let's review and discuss "Paint it Black."

Those evil criminals who like to hang out at Diogenes right under Mycroft's nose had nabbed Watson, but Sherlock's brother suggested to them that he could produce a certain much-desired list of names in exchange for Joan's release.  I loved Sherlock's indignant, hilarious voicemail to Watson that really just showed that he was concerned about where she was and if she was alright.  The answer came swiftly with Mycroft showing up at Sherlock's door for a little chat.  Naturally, Sherlock's first response after hearing of the horrible situation Joan had been ensnared in thanks to Mycroft's mischief was to give his brother a good thrashing of the physical and verbal variety.  I found this rather satisfying after seeing Mycroft behave in such an utterly insensitive manner regarding his brother and Watson, or maybe it's just his sleazy-seeming persona buried under an irritating facade of aging hipster platitudes that rubs me the wrong way.  That said, Holmes' remark about wishing his brother had died from leukemia was a terrible thing to say to anyone for any reason, though Mycroft replied that he sometimes wished the same.  This made me finally feel for Mycroft and wonder what his reasons were for that line of thinking.  Clearly, he was hiding some major and potentially destructive secrets.

Even though Mycroft again needled Sherlock about relying on Joan to keep his sobriety and sanity intact, he did admit knowing that she is the person Sherlock loves most in the world.  There was a bit of welcome honesty on Mycroft's part that I appreciated.  So the brothers set off to procure the list and discovered a murder and some shady dealings among Swiss businessmen that did lead them to what they needed.  Throughout the investigation, Mycroft kept seeming suspiciously low on the uptake, to the extent that Sherlock had to comment on it.  I also found Mycroft's ditziness weird, not least of all because the original literary version of Mycroft is actually even more intelligent than Sherlock.  Something was off about the way Mycroft was presenting himself.  In the scene where his phone rang at the brownstone, it was all too obvious that he was lying to Sherlock about the caller's identity, and we were privy to Mycroft's side of a chat with whoever he has been working with to try and get his brother back to London.

While in captivity, Joan naturally still managed to somewhat save a life, despite the cruel lead villain shooting the injured man dead thereafter rather than take him to a hospital.  This was a chilling development that made the depth of the baddies' ruthless stance on violence frighteningly apparent.  Back at the brownstone, Sherlock wanted to bring the NSA in on his and Mycroft's meet with the criminals to trade the list for Watson.  However, Mycroft tazed his brother and went seemingly alone to the meeting.  Once the criminals announced their intention of simply killing Mycroft and Joan on the spot after receiving the list, Mycroft asked in rather a courtly tone if he might have a few last words.  He used the opportunity to utter the line, "Paint it Black," which is not only a Rolling Stones song but also a wonderful way to bring hordes of what looked like government agents out of the woodworks to save the day.

So who is Mycroft working for?  I'm looking forward to finding out some more answers on this and seeing him finally reveal his true nature.  However, it would also be truly pleasant to see him stop manipulating, deceiving, and behaving in a condescending attitude to Sherlock.  I cannot wait to see Joan and Sherlock reunited after her ordeal and how terrified he was for her safety.

It's worth noting one of my favorite things that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes ever said about Mycroft.   Doyle's Sherlock told Watson, "Occasionally he is the British government...the most indispensable man in the country."  The literary Mycroft also hid his full intellectual prowess to some extent, cloaking even the exact position he held with the government and what his duties entailed.  Will Elementary's Mycroft follow suit, or is his position less pivotal and complex within the agency that he works for?  We'll soon learn.

What did you think of this week's episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Nashville, Beauty and the Beast, Elementary, Witches of East End, Covert Affairs, and Continuum for Spoiler TV. She is a college English instructor and enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog