Elementary Review 03 x 12 – The One that Got Away
Reviewed by Liz Giorgi
Being Geek Chic For The Baker Street Babes
Every young aspiring television writer (and adaptation interpreter) should be required to sit down and study seasons 1 and 3 of Elementary. Why? Because they are master classes in character development, drama and timing. In season 1, we were treated to Sherlock and Joan’s relationship development juxtaposed against Sherlock’s personal quest for sobriety and in Joan’s newfound career as a detective. The season navigated their mutual roads to a fork we call friendship. In season 3, we see Sherlock take on another protege in Kitty, and indeed for another meaningful and profound friendship.
This episode wastes no time getting into the investigation of Gruner after last week’s reveal. Sherlock tells Joan that she suspects her new employer hired her to get closer to Kitty, because he was her captor all those years ago in London. And while skeptical at first, Joan’s immediate firing makes her suspicious of his intentions. The only way to move forward in the case is to look backwards, as is often the case with Holmes. He begins the arduous process of researching all the cold cases of women in New York City who had been tortured and murdered in the last 5 years and turns up only 3 possible cases.
It’s really not the cold cases that are evading Sherlock though, it’s Kitty. She informs Holmes that she is going to go back to London, because, well, she can’t handle it. Holmes, surprisingly, accepts it and even spreads the news to others on her behalf. Meanwhile, Kitty truly begins seeking her revenge in other ways. The clever inclusion of the nutmeg concoction experimentation wasn’t just a smart call back to a previous episode in the seasons, but it showed just how much Kitty had been absorbing for her own purposes, not just for the sake of solving cases.
Flashbacks can be tricky business for any television show, but The One That Got Away manages to create a story arc that mirrors itself, so instead of feeling forced or pointless, it makes you long for more information about the past, which is rare. We not only get to see when Kitty and Sherlock meet, but we start to get a glimpse into why Holmes saw so much potential in her in the first place. And of course, we get to see how their coming together at the right time changed the course of both their lives.
Jonny Lee Miller is so beyond excellent in this mid-season finale, but it’s worth noting a few particularly powerful scenes:
- When he invites Kitty back to Scotland Yard to see how he used the information she gathered on the missing little boy to solve the case. He was genuinely insightful in this scene – showing a side of himself that we rarely get to see – the subtle genius.
- When he teaches Kitty how to open the chain lock with a rubber band.
- When he sits at home in London, contemplating using again, only to be interrupted by Kitty.
- When he knocks on the warehouse where Kitty has captured Gruner and doesn’t interfere, but just imparts kindness, understanding and wisdom.
Both seasons 1 and 3 expertly show off how friendships, and indeed a specific kind of love, can heal people and save them from themselves. Kitty captures Gruner and of course, Sherlock knows it, but instead he continues to seek a way to bring him to true justice by investigating a possible child he may have born with one of his victims. S0 when he shows up to the warehouse to talk to Kitty, you know that he isn’t there to interfere. He doesn’t judge her. Or claim to understand her choice. Instead, he tells her that no matter what she does to Gruner, he will be her friend, and we believe him. In part, because Sherlock doesn’t claim to have friends. But also largely because we have witnessed his arc in season 1, where he was in a very similar position to Kitty. He could truly understand the difficulty of choosing between executing revenge or seeking proper justice.
Ultimately, Kitty goes for the canonical. She uses some kind of concoction (perhaps the nutmeg?) to burn Gruner’s face and then lets him go. In the original stories, she uses a sulfur concoction to burn the Baron, but in this case, it has more meaning. We don’t get the sense that she will sit in jail, as she did in the books, because she appears to be escaping to London. Either way, Sherlock, Joan and me, as a viewer, all hope it’s not the last we see of Kitty.
NOTE FROM LIZ: This review has been edited to reflect a note from readers. We have removed a term that could potentially be seen as offensive. Thanks for reading.
Liz Giorgi is the Baker Street Babes’ Elementary Guru and runs the fantastic nerdy blog Being Geek Chic. You can find her former reviews of Elementary here on her site.
She’s the founder and director at Mighteor, a video production company that focuses on creating beautiful and meaningful videos for the web. She’s also a contributor for Apartment Therapy and The Mary Sue.
You can contact her at elizabeth@beinggeekchic.com and follow her on Twitter @lizgiorgi.