S03.E07: The Adventure Of The Nutmeg Concoction

[Athena]

A bored Sherlock forces his investigative services onto Joan, who is trying to locate a woman who has been missing for five years, and the only clue is the smell of nutmeg at the site of her disappearance. Meanwhile, Joan’s bond with her long-distance boyfriend, Andrew, is tested when a man from her past reappears and asks for her help.

 

[Zahdii]

I thought it was hilarious when Sherlock correctly deduced that the FBI agent was so disliked by his colleagues that one of them would surely pass on the information that the agent in charge wouldn't share.  Then he instantly gets multiple people emailing him the file.  Mr. FBI bigshot was really not well liked...

 

Hey, it's Ms. Hudson!

 

Sherlock:  "I take it that you have engaged in horizontal refreshment?"

 

Kitty's father sounds like a real jerk.  No wonder she left the country with Sherlock and so far hasn't looked back.  Doesn't sound like she has many good memories of merry old England.

 

Of course Sherlock has an irregular he knows only as "The Nose".  I quite liked the dapper old guy, and he had a most amusing way of speaking.

 

Is the Dark Internet a real thing?  Kitty, stop talking, you need to let the pigs blood coagulate.

 

Watson, when someone compares you to a female baboon advertising her mating readiness with swollen genitalia and then calls you a romantic terrorist, it's completely acceptable to get offended.  When she finally tells Sherlock that he was rude, she does it so tonelessly that I wonder what it would take to get her to lose her cool and scream bloody murder at someone.

 

I kept thinking that the cleaner faked his death and left town.  Guess I was wrong.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Zahdii

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, I thought for sure that it was going to end with the cleaner faking his own death, so I ended up calling that wrong as well.  A rare occurrence for me when it comes to this show, so good one, I guess.

 

Mrs. Hudson!  Not enough, but I'll take what I can get.  "The Nose" was a fun character too.

 

Come on, Sherlock.  I know that you aren't the best with social skills, but I would think even you by now know that phrases like "romantic terrorist" and comparing her to a baboon with swollen genitalia, is not the way to compliment Joan or really, any normal person.  You are lucky Joan is Joan, and she didn't start burying you in all those flies.

 

Probably could have had a nice drinking game over how many times they said the word "nutmeg."

 

When she isn't getting distracted, Kitty is actually pretty good at playing a corpse.

 

Already don't trust this Chris character, because Christian Camargo will always be Brian Moser from Dexter to me, and I automatically assume the worst of him. 

Edited December 12, 2014 by thuganomics85

[GaT]

Mrs Hudson!!!! She needs to be on more often. Other than that, I didn't find the case that interesting.

[Eneya]

OK, Joan being insto standard vanilla mono relationships kind of comes out of nowhere for me.

On the other hand, it will be awesome to see some non-standard arrangement in which we are not intended to feel sorry for them or see them as damaged but just as a part of them. "You don't want a classical monogamous relationship but a poly or an open relationship? That's great, find a partner/partners who see it the same way and enjoy your life!" I have much faith in this show and the fact that they can pull that off.

 

To be honest, I rarely if ever have seen a show where a menage-a-troi or any kind of non-standard relationship has been presented in positive light with partners who like and respect each other and I have always wondered why. So many people have lives that don't fit in that box, why do we only see it presented as sleazy emotional abusers with their long-suffering female partners who are not ok with it but can't break from it?

Hm.

[johntfs]

I get the feeling that Sherlock just wants Joan to be extraordinary in all ways.  Joan has to be a woman secretly into polyamorous relationships instead of one dealing with the suck of a long distance relationship who ran into an old flame and found that there were still a few sparks there.

 

Sherlock has a towering ego.  The person who helped him to put his life back together and became his first apprentice cannot simply be a caring, capable, but basically normal woman willing and able to learn new skills.  She has to be extraordinary and unconventional in all ways because Sherlock surely coould not have been helped by anything less.

[fauntleroy]

It's almost always disappointing when they fiddle with a premise that is already working. In this case getting Joan out of the brownstone and giving her just enough of a boyfriend to distract her. Seems unnecessary to me. Maybe her own apartment is okay, but her personal stuff--some combination of not needed, I don't care, irrelevant. I don't want to hear Sherlock analyzing her romantic situation. Not just rude, but uninteresting. Shut up man!

 

Focus on the cases please! Many shows demote the cases in favor of heaping melodrama onto the main characters (Suits, what the Good Wife has put Cary through as recent examples), there must be a reason. Fear of stasis? Or, the cases themselves are difficult to write--it's much easier to write relationship porridge as it's all been done a million times before..

 

I think they're using the standard soap-ish sideshows like Joan's romantic whatever to distract from the plots not being as strong as before. It must be hard to come up with enough crimes so complex that regular police can't solve them. The one with the fake/not fake map last week was so convoluted I didn't even try to follow. So let's write about boyfriends, and bring in a new character whose emotional state we can examine. Having said that I think they've done well by Kitty so far, having her being straightforwardly competent, but the character still seems redundant. Another Joan, basically.

 

Jon Michael Hill and Aidan Quinn are certainly underused.

 

I liked the nose guy!

[beadgirl]

The Nose was awesome.  Especially how he dodged Watson's attempt to get his name.  But my absolute favorite part was finding out Sherlock got accidentally arrested because of his elaborate plan to find the cleaner.  Sherlock's intellect is both brilliant and fallible, and it makes this version my favorite modern depiction of the character.  "One can't judge the quality of an idea by it's execution."*HA!

 

*Or words to that effect.

 

 

I get the feeling that Sherlock just wants Joan to be extraordinary in all ways.  Joan has to be a woman secretly into polyamorous relationships instead of one dealing with the suck of a long distance relationship who ran into an old flame and found that there were still a few sparks there.

 

Sherlock has a towering ego.  The person who helped him to put his life back together and became his first apprentice cannot simply be a caring, capable, but basically normal woman willing and able to learn new skills.  She has to be extraordinary and unconventional in all ways because Sherlock surely coould not have been helped by anything less.

That's what bugged me.  I'm sick of tortured, complicated characters with tortured, complicated lovelifes.  I want to see Watson find a smart, decent guy, have a real, meaningful relationship with him, and eventually get married.  BUT all this happens in the background -- no jealousy over her relationship with Sherlock, no putting him in peril where Sherlock and Watson have to rescue him, no "it's me or the job!" nonsense.  Just a scene here and there showing she has a happy, low-key personal life.  Sherlock's lovelife is tortured and complicated enough; add Gregson's divorce and I think we have enough relationship drama.

[sinkwriter]

I'd like a return to a more interesting Watson, actually. I don't want them to make her ordinary. In fact, during these past few episodes I've been more intrigued by Kitty and her story than anything going on with Joan. So if Sherlock saying some of the things he did in this episode means that they'll bring back the Joan that was intrigued and revitalized by knowing and working with Sherlock and in turn finding something about herself she didn't know she was capable of, if they bring back the Joan that seemed like she'd spent her life trying to please others and fit a specific role (one her family expected of her, or that she thought her family expected of her) and found that working with Sherlock helped her to realize that she wants a different life for herself, one filled with passion and purpose... I'm all for it. I miss the Joan that was excited by the mysteries and intrigued by the possibility of opening up her life to something bigger, something she'd perhaps been yearning for but was afraid to admit.

[sinkwriter]

 

Probably could have had a nice drinking game over how many times they said the word "nutmeg."

 

Heeeee. Who would have thought a common kitchen spice could be used for something so nasty? Don't destroy my love of pumpkin pie, Elementary!

 

One phrase I must learn to incorporate into my life: Horizontal Refreshment. "Would you care for some... horizontal refreshment?" LOL. I love it, though I'm not sure I could say it with a straight face.

 

Also something I loved in this ep: seeing Miss Hudson! Hooray! May she return many more times.

 

Seeing Kitty playing a corpse for Sherlock was pretty funny as well. I liked how he kept admonishing her for moving and ruining the 'effect' he was trying to create, and how she just went along with it, obviously trying not to eyeroll at him. It's also funny how nothing really fazes Joan anymore about the insane things Sherlock tries to do. She just walks in and starts talking, like seeing a person all bloodied up on his floor is an every day occurrence. (Which, considering it's Sherlock, could very well be a thing. I do miss how he used to create little scenes for Joan to figure out.)

 

And I second the amusement over Sherlock getting arrested for his attempts to "hire" a cleaner. I think that's the most life we've seen in Joan in a while, seeing her face light up and start laughing at the realization that Sherlock had been in jail because of his "clever" plan. More of that too, please. She's been so severe lately, I want to see her lively again. Besides, the idea of Sherlock getting arrested (and protesting all the way that his plan is a perfectly sound and brilliant way to catch a cleaner) is really funny. I'm a little sorry we didn't get to see it, but at the same time the mental picture of it is probably even funnier than the actual scene could have been. And the way Sherlock simply tossed it out there like "oh yeah, I guess that didn't quite work the way I planned it to but that doesn't mean it wasn't still brilliant" cracked me up.

[Maelstrom]

OK, this is so unfair - this ep was preempted for stinkin' football last night for me! Any other Arizonans have this problem? Hopefully this will re-air sometime soon, or else I'll have to brave the many bugs and glitches of CBS' website. Hmph.

 

Agreeing with everyone who's said that Kitty has been far more interesting of late than Joan. It may be more emotionally healthy for Joan to have her own place and her own life - but emotionally healthy characters do not often make for good tv!

[Primetimer]

Last night's Elementary featured a string of crimes sharing a piece of seasonal evidence: nutmeg. Julian made a list (and checked it twice) of other murderous ways to celebrate the season.

Read the story

[Actionmage]

 Obviously someone is killed with an icicle. #DisappearingMurderWeapon

 

I loved this one best. I can't remember if any other crime show has actually used it, though. I remember a show using/ trying to use a "meat bullet" though.

 

On topic: I enjoyed how they sort of lazily zigged and zagged last night.

 

I loved seeing Ms. Hudson; it's true- she needs to be on more! She could be as awesome as the current British Mrs. H at minimum, imo.

 

As for Joan, I just wish Sherlock would let her personal life be. I don't expect Sherlock to not fully vet the person Joan decides to date, but to potentially throw a job opportunity in another country? Seems like a new level in boundary-crossing. Then he's all in her business about whether she's sleeping around on the guy! I am mostly convinced Sherlock maneuvered the old flame into contact just to see how Joan would react. Not to intentionally be mean or vicious, but because this Sherlock just doesn't "get" boundaries that other people put up around themselves. He's a total hypocrite that way, but he's human, so I understand, roll my eyes hard, and wish Joan would tell him to get stuffed a bit more. (See?! Even when I am wishing nice things for Joan, Sherlock has to steal the spotlight. Cheeky bugger. *g*) 

 

I enjoy Kitty still and like that she brings things to Sherlock's attention. It's not so much some brilliant deduction, but a second look or forest-for-the-trees kind of observation that helps. I like how she and Joan are finding a rhythm.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Actionmage

[theatremouse]

I know this is totally stupid of me, but it was a wee bit distracting watching this episode with the zillion references to nutmeg because last season we had episode with Nutmeg, the horse, and now it's actually nutmeg, and somehow the word has lost all meaning when I hear it come out of JLM's mouth.

[torqy]

OK, this is so unfair - this ep was preempted for stinkin' football last night for me! Any other Arizonans have this problem? Hopefully this will re-air sometime soon, or else I'll have to brave the many bugs and glitches of CBS' website. Hmph.

I'm in Arizona too. I found out too late that all CBS shows were shunted off to KTVK 3 on Thursday night. We usually DVR and watch later, and saw a crawl at the bottom during Criminal Minds to that effect. For some reason DTV's box didn't catch and record that showing. I'm not finding any upcoming re-airing of this ep; guess those of us in cactusland are screwed.

Ya might keep this in mind for future reference.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks for letting me know, Torqy! I'll definitely keep a closer eye on this in the future. *grumbles*

[DeLurker]

I found this ep lacking. I tried to watch it 2x but fell asleep in the middle each time. Seemed as if Holmes was more abrasive than usual but lacking any of the charm JLM usually manages to infer to make Holmes palatable.

I did like The Nose and was overjoyed to see Ms. Hudson.

[Mama No Life]

I enjoyed the zing to Joan about how she left her training before he could teach her to speed read.

 

I know they have always been very blunt with each other but there seems to be more venom in it this year, esp from Joan. I don't like it.

 

The case was meh. I enjoy Kitty and I miss seeing Sherlock mentoring Joan.   She still needs it, clearly.

[johntfs]

I kind of liked the Blake Tanner character, or at least the idea of him.  Holmes needs an enemy/foil in law enforcement and one of his stated objectives during this episode was to humiliate Blake Tanner.  Humiliating a Special Agent in Charge of the FBI seems like an excellent way to acquire a powerful enemy.

[Texasmom1970]

I love this show but was not crazy about thus episode. The case of the week was kind of meh. Kitty is still really neither here nor there for me, and if don't care about Joan's boyfriend. I think there needs to be more of Sherlock and Joan working cases with Bell and Gregson. Right now the dynamic of the show feels off to me.

[SunDevil28]

I'm in Arizona too (hence my username) and only found out because one of my Facebook friends liked 3TV's status detailing the change. Mr. SunDevil and I are regular football watchers, and were still surprised that the Cardinals game was being shown on local TV in addition to the NFL network. Sorry you two missed it, and I agree we will need to keep it in mind for the rest of football season, or as long as the Cardinals are in the playoffs.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

Is the Dark Internet a real thing?

Yes. My local news station did a big report on it a few months ago.

 

I enjoyed this episode. Kitty and the Kitty/ Sherlock dynamic has really grown on me.

[kieyra]

Random, but: somehow I missed until this episode that Candis Cayne has a recurring role as Ms Hudson in this show. She just had a short scene in this one and I was thinking about how nice it was that gender was never even mentioned (she's a trans actress). I didn't realize she's been in a few other episodes, though. Can anyone tell me if the character is canonically trans in the show (a la Laverne Cox in OITNB)? Just curious.

[MaryHedwig]

Random, but: somehow I missed until this episode that Candis Cayne has a recurring role as Ms Hudson in this show. She just had a short scene in this one and I was thinking about how nice it was that gender was never even mentioned (she's a trans actress). I didn't realize she's been in a few other episodes, though. Can anyone tell me if the character is canonically trans in the show (a la Laverne Cox in OITNB)? Just curious.

Ms. Hudson first appears in Season 1: Episode 19: Snow Angels.  Sherlock acknowledges to Watson that Ms. Hudson has an "Adam's apple" and therefore subtly implies that she is trans-gender.  I can't believe I used the words "Sherlock" and "subtle" in the same sentence.

Edited December 15, 2014 by MaryHedwig

[Boton]

 

I loved this one best. I can't remember if any other crime show has actually used it, though. I remember a show using/ trying to use a "meat bullet" though.

 

Sherlock had Tom referring to a blade of frozen, compacted blood and bone that was a "meat dagger."

[kitmerlot1213]

It's taken the last three episodes, but I now absolutely adore Kitty and I want the best for her.  I like the working relationship between all three of them and that she can work just as well with Sherlock as she can with Joan and the writers have really made her progress as a detective believable.  She's balancing Sherlock's razor sharp deductions with empathy for the victims and I hope she stays for the season.

 

I also liked Sherlock's encouraging Joan that it's "okay" to be unconventional in your relationships.  In many ways, I think Joan is holding onto Andrew as some form of normalcy--I  think Sherlock just wants her to know that it's also okay for her to want the thrill of adventure and solving cases.

 

I realize that as intricate as the cases are, I find myself squeeing over every little bit of character details that are revealed week by week.  We now know that both Sherlock and Kitty play a musical instrument--very nice :)

 

We also need more Ms. Hudson and is it me or has the show completely stepped away from Sherlock and his drug rehab?  Is he considered to be in recovery and no longer needing his sponsor?

Edited December 16, 2014 by kitmerlot1213

[NewGranny]

I find Joan incredibly boring and would love for her and the same two pairs of ugly booties that she wears to go away and leave Kitty there with Sherlock. Kitty is a much more interesting character than Joan is this season, not to mention can actually show emotion.

Again, can the wardrobe people PLEASE dress Watson in something other than short skirts with ugly booties????

[andromeda331]

Just watched the rerun of this episode on WGN I so wish we got to see scene Sherlock describes to Watson about his attempts lure out the crime scene cleaner but putting up pictures of a dead Kitty and ended up getting a call from someone who ended up being an undercover police officer. That sounds like such an awesome scene it would have been hilarious to see. Sherlock's reaction to realizing the guy was an undercover cop and the cops reaction to seeing Kitty was still alive.