Elementary
Hurt Me, Hurt You
Original Air Date: May 21, 2017
Caitlin – Senior Staff Writer
caitlin@thetwocentscorp.com
The season five finale comes in with both personal and professional drama. We’ve seen, after Sherlock’s interactions with his “friend” last week, that there’s more than we know going on with him outside of Shinwell’s case. Joan, unfortunately, sees her partner’s behavior and wonders if he’s been using again. It creates tension between them and their case at the worst possible time, because this has officially turned into a full-on gang war, complete with lots of gunfire.
SBK’s opposing gang strikes first, killing several members of Shinwell’s former crew. Sherlock takes his own lead, which for him means confronting a priest connected with that group and telling them he and Joan are going to war with SBK instead. He then meets again with May, his apparent beau, who tells him he must tell Joan about her. Finally, he tries to reason with the opposing gang’s head. Considering the man believes he’s retaliating for the murder of his sister, it really doesn’t work. The others are only slightly less intense, talking to a Titus who remains as cool as ever.
For what it’s worth, the gang leader’s sister, Carmen, really was murdered (and forced to talk to her brother on video beforehand). With bodies dropping everywhere, it’s time to turn the heat up on Titus. Finally, he admits that he was working with his brother, first as a consultant, then as a partner. He claims he just wants to stop the war. Hard to believe, yes, but he offers a hint- SBK may be getting set up by a friend. Also, Carmen’s roommate was there when her friend was being kidnapped and saw the culprit, but doesn’t think he was a gangbanger.
Joan brings this news to Sherlock and awkwardly suggest they go to Shinwell’s funeral. Thankfully, Sherlock agrees, though only after being assured they’ll be protected while they’re there. And then things get weird. Titus shows up at the police station to sell out every single member of his gang and every single thing they’ve done, in exchange for immunity for “everything”. Once again, we’re meant to believe it’s for the cause of peace. But this time that’s going to be even harder to accept, because Titus himself was the one who killed Carmen
The first obstacle here is the man who gave Titus his deal and has a political career that will take off upon SBK’s destruction. Joan is outraged, and blames herself for Titus getting away with murder. Gregson consoles her, but soon after she shows up at Shinwell’s service (sans Sherlock), Titus actually calls her. He tries to lay even more guilt on her shoulders, but that only serves to make her angrier. It certainly doesn’t help that Sherlock never arrives at the service at all, instead staying at home doing something that involves predicting the contents of boxes.
That night, as Joan watches the video of Carmen, Sherlock says he forgot to go the memorial. She lashes out in disbelief, saying he saw no difference between Shinwell and Titus. And then things go from weird to downright alarming. Joan goes to the opposing gang leader and offers to help him seek revenge on Titus while Sherlock gets a call from May that’s coming from inside the house. The horror movie reference is appropriate, given that she’s set the place on fire, in a desperate act to make him see some sort of truth.
The good news is that Joan’s plans are legal. She simply found marks on Carmen’s body that, through a loophole, will prevent Titus being given immunity for either her murder or any of his other crimes. He’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison, alongside the others he put away. The bad news is that the truth of Sherlock’s actions doesn’t have a satisfying ending. There wasn’t really a fire, because May isn’t real. She’s a figment he designed to protect him from whatever is slowly going on with his mind. This also explains that whole box memorization thing- but it doesn’t offer anything in the way of true answers. We don’t know what might be wrong with Sherlock, and it’s going to be a long time before we do.
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