S03.E24: A Controlled Descent

[caseylane]

Mothers give their children to their drug dealers to be raped, I don't have a problem with Oscar leaving his sister to stew in the heat to take down Sherlock.

[Trey]

caseylane, I was going to Like your post but thought that might make me look bad.  Maybe we need an "Agree" button as well as "Like":-)

 

Drug users really can be that depraved.  I thought leaving his sister there was totally in keeping with Oscar's personality and frame of mind.

[fastiller]

Oscar's a lowly, unappealing person. 

 

I've decide that Oscar WAS a lowly, unappealing person with the way Sherlock beat him up!

 

I wonder what Oscar would have done had someone else discovered her body in the two days.

[KAOS Agent]

I completely buy Oscar's motive and even using his sister in the manner in which he did. What I don't buy is that a strung out heroin junkie finds his sister dead and through his distress and anger is in less than two days' time able to come up with and execute this elaborate plan to get Sherlock to use again. How did he know about Alfredo? How did he overpower Alfredo? How did he know he'd be able to use a car? Alfredo was doing something with the car's transmission, so it wasn't like it could be assured that it would be driveable anyway. How was he clearheaded enough to remember that his uncle had worked at a place with appropriate storage for a kidnap victim? I seem to remember his uncle had lost that job months and months ago and yet, this junkie not only remembered the details of his workplace, but also knew that the site remained unused. This was just way too much for someone who was emotionally and mentally compromised to plan and carry out in such a short period of time.

[tennisgurl]

I think either interpretation works pretty well. Oscar being paid off or something works, to explain how Oscar could have done all this, while be addled and a mess after his sisters death. But, I could buy him doing it on his own. His plan was not that super complicated. All he had to do was follow Sherlock around, and see who he was tight with. He could have even asked around, considering people in the drug world probably know Alfredo and Sherlock. Its a bit of a stretch, but I really liked this episode, so I`ll just buy into it. If they later reveal that Oscar had help, I`ll buy that too.

 

That final scene just made my heart hurt. I always figured they would have Sherlock relapse at some point, but this was a particularly sad way. Especially considering how many times he`s been close to a relapse, and gotten past it. Its sad, but realistic for an addict. Even the scene with Alfredo`s mom seemed to support how hard it is to be an addict, and how easy it can be to slip and fall back into old habits. She totally expected them to tell her Alfredo had relapsed, just because it has happened before. And Alfredo has always seemed to have his shit together pretty well, as far as we`ve seen. Sherlock has been through a ton lately, and as clearly been tempted. I guess it was inevitable he would stumble, but its going to be hard to watch next season. But I`m looking forward to seeing the actors knock it out of the park, as usual.  

[johntfs]

I completely buy Oscar's motive and even using his sister in the manner in which he did. What I don't buy is that a strung out heroin junkie finds his sister dead and through his distress and anger is in less than two days' time able to come up with and execute this elaborate plan to get Sherlock to use again. How did he know about Alfredo? How did he overpower Alfredo? How did he know he'd be able to use a car? Alfredo was doing something with the car's transmission, so it wasn't like it could be assured that it would be driveable anyway. How was he clearheaded enough to remember that his uncle had worked at a place with appropriate storage for a kidnap victim? I seem to remember his uncle had lost that job months and months ago and yet, this junkie not only remembered the details of his workplace, but also knew that the site remained unused. This was just way too much for someone who was emotionally and mentally compromised to plan and carry out in such a short period of time.

There's a middle ground between "blissed out high" and "withdrawal" where addicts are functional.  Oscar has been shown earlier as able to feed, clothe and shelter himself along with gaining the money he needs to support his habit.  How did he remember his uncle's former workplace?  He probably remembers most places that he knows are safe to use or sleep in.  Oscar knows where Sherlock lives.  He could easily have followed Alfredo out of curiosity.  He also didn't need to "overpower" Alfredo - he had the empty gun to compel Alfredo's cooperation.  If the car Alfredo was working on was driveable, great, otherwise he could easily have learned about Alfredo's past as a car thief from other addicts and forced him to steal a getaway car off the street.  Oscar isn't (wasn't) a criminal genius, but he didn't have to be to formulate and execute his plan.

[theatremouse]

True, but I do think he probably needed more time to think up a plan with that many moving parts. I think I'm leaning towards: either someone put him up to it (ie in advance; he still came up with the plan and just had to decide when to execute it) or he's been simmering since his last encounter with Sherlock, thinking of a way to get his revenge. I don't think he came up with all of this in the day between finding his sister and when it went down. I think he must have been plotting to do something like this for longer, and the sister angle only came into play when she died and set him over the edge to really do it.

[paramitch]

I thought this was a grim finale, but a moving and incredibly poignant one. It brilliantly spotlighted the increased friendships and connections Sherlock has made in his self-made family with Watson, Gregson, Bell and even Kitty, as well as the risks (for Sherlock) of that increased connection, and the selfish and believable nadir of the addict's life in Oscar.

I'm a case of the week fan and wish they'd keep the personal drama to a minimum, used as 'seasoning' if you will, but it rarely works that way.

I'm the exact opposite. "Case of the week" stories don't interest me at all, and there are dozens of shows that do just that all over television. For me, they're empty calories, like soda-pop. The reason I keep coming back to "Elementary" is the unexpectedly rich characters and relationships.

 

I haven't seen much with Michael Weston (Oscar) in it, but I probably will forever hold this role against him.

I've really loved Weston on many other shows -- House, Psych, etc., where he was adorable and charming, but his performances here have been really riveting, upsetting and real. Kudos to him for making Oscar so loathsome.

 

I'm not sure I bought Oscar's motivation here. He apparently loved his sister, and in a way Sherlock helped her unwittingly by setting up the rehab stint for Oscar. Yet he was willing to leave her body under a bridge just to get Sherlock to use again? I guess it is possible, but it felt a little off to me.

Not to overshare, but I have a close family member who's an addict, and whom I dearly love to this day (and whom I attempt to help without enabling), and who in the past 5 years spiraled all the way down to homelessness, theft, and more. And after 10 years I can absolutely say that there is no depth the addict won't potentially stoop to in order to justify themselves, and that they are especially geniuses at the art of using guilt, lies, blame, and more as weapons against those who won't give them what they want. Most of all, they are experts at lying to themselves, at justifying their actions by blaming others: Oscar saw his dead sister and his instant reaction was to blame the man who had made him feel worthless (regardless that this man had actually tried to help him). In that moment his sister's body was just a prop in his personal drama. He had tried to save her but the moment she died, his focus shifted back where it always does for the addict at the very bottom of the barrel: To himself.

 

Actually, in a twisted way, Sherlock may be the only one he has left -- if his sister's dead, then he needs a new drug buddy, and since Sherlock's not going to be that willingly, Oscar may have decided he needed to force it to happen. Especially because he kept talking in this episode and in one of the previous episodes about how he'd "held" Sherlock, like he had done this amazing thing for Sherlock, like he loves him (in a very warped way). He seemed to take such pride in that, how he'd "helped" him (by helping him numb all that pain leftover from Irene?), and he seemed very angry that Sherlock wasn't more thankful about that. Oscar seems very stalkery to me.

 

One thing I really liked was how pissed off the Captain and Marcus were that Sherlock went to meet Oscar all by himself. "We're his friends! Who's going to have HIS back?" That was wonderful.

I actually found that aspect of Oscar to be incredibly true to life when it comes to an addict's perspective. I have no doubt that despite how twisted he has become that Oscar truly loves and cares for Sherlock and that he loved and cared for his sister. But Sherlock -- probably one of Oscar's few remaining connections on the planet -- held up a mirror to Oscar's face and showed him the loathing he feels for him, for who he is, for what he has become. Probably some part of Oscar really worships and looks up to Sherlock -- so what better thing than to bring him down into the mud with him, where they were equals? Where Sherlock needed him, even loved him?

I found it real, grim, heartbreaking and utterly believable.

 

Alfredo:  I liked watching Sherlock and Alfredo hanging out and trying to do “guy talk” and Joan was encouraging their bonding by making popcorn.  I also like that Sherlock knows Alfredo’s mother and that she’s just as concerned for his sobriety as for her own son’s.

 

Gregson:  At the beginning of this season, Gregson made sure to draw a line with Sherlock by emphatically stating that “he wanted good things for Sherlock, but they weren’t friends.”  Then we had the lovely moment of Gregson’s protectiveness in “For All You Know” when the detectives from another precinct wanted to question Sherlock and they were treating him like a suspect.  “You wanted five minutes with him; you got your five minutes.”  And that protectiveness came out again in last night’s episode when Gregson learned that Sherlock went off unarmed with Oscar:  “We’re his friends; we would have helped him find Alfredo.”  I love this!  Gregson and Bell are like Joan in that they are completely in Sherlock’s corner and will help him in a minute.

 

Joan:  The best friend and partner Sherlock could have asked for.  She helped find Alfredo and offered unwavering support—yes, she asked questions but she was never not going to help and she always has his best interests in mind.

 

Sherlock.  JLM hit it out of the ball park in last night’s episode.  His simmering rage at Oscar’s callousness regarding Alfredo’s life but also of Sherlock’s was gorgeous to see.  We could see how Sherlock was barely holding it together in that drug den—not just because he was in the presence of his drug of choice, but also because that he wanted to find Alfredo alive and well and he knew they were wasting time.  And when Sherlock figured out that not only had Olivia been dead for two days but that Oscar knew it and kidnapped Alfredo to simply hurt Sherlock and you could pinpoint exactly when Sherlock lost his grip on his self-control.

 

Oscar.  He is the most evil character this show has ever created.  He sees that Sherlock has gone through rehab and is rebuilding his life as a sober person bit by bit and he decides that he wants to destroy that.  Instead of trying to get clean himself, he sought to ruin Sherlock’s own sobriety simply because he couldn’t stand to see Sherlock doing well.  He still wants Sherlock to the addict crying on the floor, begging for the drugs.

 

I think Season 4 is going to be brilliant in that we will see Sherlock rebuilding his sober life once more but this time he won’t be so complacent.

Beautiful post, and I agreed about all the little moments and character notes you mention here. I loved Joan and Gregson's palpable worry for their friend, their panic and fear on his behalf.

I also agree about Oscar, and I loved the rich complexity that his very humanity and twisted love for Sherlock (and his own self-loathing) are also what cause him to want to destroy him. And how that shared addiction gave him a window into Sherlock's soul that other criminals lacked.

 

This may just have been a function of the cliffhanger, but I'm not sure Sherlock was high at the end (though I definitely think he relapsed in the tunnel). I have to think Watson would have noticed and I have to think she wouldn't have been nearly so zen about it. Leaving a high addict unattended on a rooftop? No way would Joan do that.

 

I'm nervous about Papa Holmes coming. Mycroft ruined S2, hoping the father doesn't ruin S4 after the show did really well this season recovering from the debacle of S2.

I think you make a great point here -- the appearance, to echo your thought, is that Holmes relapsed almost immediately, reunited with Watson, and that, a few days later, he is still coming to terms with it (and in a very dark place) on the roof when she says his father's coming.

 

But I have to disagree on Mycroft. I adore him, loved Rhys Ifans in the role, and find him a much more interesting and complex characterization than the stereotypical cold older brother we've seen so many times. And I even liked his relationship with Joan. But I know I'm sitting at a tiny table on this (hee).

 

I don't think anyone paid Oscar to kidnap Alfredo and try to get Sherlock back on drugs.  Sherlock was just so contemptuous of  him that I think it really, really stung Oscar to the point that he obsessed about it - I don't think his mind/emotions are on an even keel.  I really can see someone like Oscar hating Sherlock that much.

 

I think Oscar wanted Sherlock to "choose to use" because it would justify in Oscar's mind, that his own choices were best, and that he wasn't really a destructive force in the lives of his sister and his "friend."

Great points in both posts. Sherlock got out. Oscar didn't. Oscar has no reason to blame Sherlock, none in the world, except for the powerful emotions of envy and twisted love. Sherlock's contempt at their last meeting was the last straw for Oscar. I totally believed it, found it repellent and grotesque, but also utterly believable. All Oscar needed was to see Sherlock back down next to him in the slime and he'd even feel better about his sister's dead body in a tunnel. Or so he would tell himself.

 

I think a relapse was always on the books for this show, or at least since the second season.  I don't think it means that Sherlock will continue using.  I do think that this will make him questions his purpose and whether it is worth living his life from here.  He commented once on the tedium of life in the effort to maintain his sobriety.  If he can't even manage to maintain it, and his credibility, and self respect, then why bother with any of it?

I agree. I loved the finale and think next season promises a lot of dramatic potential in the quiet, understated way "Elementary" has proven to be so good at achieving.

 

Couldn't agree more that what we’ve been seeing throughout Season 2-3 has been A) boring, esoteric and worse, convoluted crime plots with lack of stakes, too little action and way, way too much statically shot exposition B) Watson continually shortchanged in terms of character / emotional development C) promising backstory threads introduced and immediately dropped (Joan's family, Gregson's wife/daughter, etc.) D) huge chunks of key emotional stories happening off screen and E) the absence of worthy adversaries (I know Moriarty/Natalie Dormer is busy, but doesn't she have any minions available to do her dirty work?).

 

I don't agree. I liked season 2 but have loved 3 -- which it's worth noting has featured a much richer reconnection between Joan and Holmes. I think the season has deftly interwoven those threads -- from Joan's heartbreaking loss (of a man she had just realized she didn't love, adding guilt to the mix), to the wonderfulness and tragedy of Kitty (who formed a family with Sherlock for a little while), to his acceptance of real friendship from Bell, Alfredo, and even Gregson -- and of the plot threads in which the consistent throughline has been a theme of criminals who in many many cases this season were attempting to control their own realities -- through brutality, through dreams/neuro-enhancement, through drugs, through power. 

I even like the careful and brief use of Moriarty, who I adore, but who also could get tiresome through overexposure. I like that she's just kind of out there, ever-present, as the crack in Sherlock's armor.

I liked this season a lot, and as a finale I found this upsetting, suspenseful, and riveting. I have grown to love all of these characters. And what's best of all is that, yes, I now these are dark times for Sherlock. But he will have people who love him to get him through it. He will have friends and family with him (whether or not his father shows up or shows any compassion). He won't be alone.

Edited May 23, 2015 by paramitch

[Trey]

paramitch, I also loved Mycroft/Rhys Ifans so, it may still be a small table, but there's more than just you:)

 

I dislike them making Irene Adler into Moriarity but otherwise I really like what they've done with the whole Sherlock Holmes mystique..

[paramitch]

PS:

1. I forgot to add that definitely agree with those who found many of the mysteries on this show (and this season) needlessly complex. It just didn't bother me. For me, the mysteries were just the window-dressing for the characters and for the latest illuminations from Sherlock.

Yes, I hope they dial back a bit on the overworked mysteries next season (the bee plot for instance I never really quite wrapped my brain around), but as a whole, this season still worked for me simply because of the richness and moments it gave us with the characters -- with Sherlock, with Watson, Kitty, Bell, Gregson, Alfredo, Clyde and more.
 

2. Also, kudos to the wonderful PTV recaps this season and especially that of the finale -- they were warm, funny and always affectionate toward the characters.

Edited May 23, 2015 by paramitch

[fauntleroy]

Phryne Fisher Mysteries is an example of a nice balance. Everybody's having a good time being and especially looking fabulous, and by the way they solve a murder each week too. It's light and fun. The mysteries are usually way too complex and explained in the last five minutes.

 

For Elementary I don't want more complexity, god knows I can't follow the plots as they are, and am happy to spend time with the characters. My reluctance is that typically the writers run out of character-based lines and resort to melodrama--so-and-so's long lost brother shows up, or an ex-wife, or a daughter invariably is kidnapped. Or in this case Sherlock relapses thanks to coercion. There's often a tendency to go overboard with personal drrrrrama.

 

Bell's date with the woman worked in IA was nicely done. It wasn't excessive, lives didn't depend on it.

[Clanstarling]

Phryne Fisher Mysteries is an example of a nice balance. Everybody's having a good time being and especially looking fabulous, and by the way they solve a murder each week too. It's light and fun. The mysteries are usually way too complex and explained in the last five minutes.

 

For Elementary I don't want more complexity, god knows I can't follow the plots as they are, and am happy to spend time with the characters. My reluctance is that typically the writers run out of character-based lines and resort to melodrama--so-and-so's long lost brother shows up, or an ex-wife, or a daughter invariably is kidnapped. Or in this case Sherlock relapses thanks to coercion. There's often a tendency to go overboard with personal drrrrrama.

 

Bell's date with the woman worked in IA was nicely done. It wasn't excessive, lives didn't depend on it.

Personally, I never thought of Elementary as being a light and fun show. It began with the lead coming out of rehab for drug addiction, and his minder (Joan) doing the work of companion because of her enormous guilt regarding the death of a patient. I do not compare it to the other "popcorn" shows I watch, because, in my mind, it's a different beast.

 

I do agree that some of the plots have been needlessly complicated (especially the bees episode).

 

I can't claim to know a lot about addicts, only what I've read (and Paramitch's very thoughtful post upthread), but the relapse (if it was) didn't seem melodramatic, despite the circumstances. It seemed to me well supported by the development of the characters.

 

But there is a thin line between drama and melodrama - and I think that line shifts with each viewer's perspective.

[basil]

...I was very afraid that Oscar was going to force the heroin on him, by stabbing him [sherlock] with a needle...

 

 

I'm still worried that Oscar did that to Alfredo

 

 

 

Someone who has two years of sobriety being stabbed once against their will - intramuscularly, no less - isn't necessarily or even likely to have a relapse. Addicts will sometimes have to take painkillers, after a bad accident or perhaps an operation. They proceed afterwards with caution, but it's done all the time.

 

One stab does not "hey, presto!" make you an addict again.

 

There's a middle ground between "blissed out high" and "withdrawal" where addicts are functional.  Oscar has been shown earlier as able to feed, clothe and shelter himself along with gaining the money he needs to support his habit.

And then there are addicts who stay on an even keel and hold high functioning jobs for decades. Not all addicts are bottom of the barrel lowlives, nor are they all selfish and childish or thieves. Some of them are quite rich and can maintain this balance because of their constant and safe supplies of high grade heroin and otherwise healthy lifestyles.

 

Addicts are not all the same, and the reasons for their addictions aren't the same either.

Edited May 26, 2015 by basil

[sinkwriter]

 

One stab does not "hey, presto!" make you an addict again.

 

I didn't think it was going to be a one-time thing. I was worried that if it happened at all, I thought Oscar might kidnap Sherlock (rendering him unconscious with the first stab of the needle), and then just... keep giving him some over an extended period of time, against Sherlock's will. It was a paranoid worry, I'll admit, but I just didn't want to see Sherlock go through it at all. So I'm glad the writers didn't do something melodramatically soap opera-ish like that.

[Trey]

 

I didn't think it was going to be a one-time thing. I was worried that if it happened at all, I thought Oscar might kidnap Sherlock (rendering him unconscious with the first stab of the needle), and then just... keep giving him some over an extended period of time, against Sherlock's will.

It happened to Detective Steve Carella in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series of books, forget which particular book.  I was thinking of that book while I was watching this episode and I also worried Oscar might do that to Sherlock.

[basil]

I didn't think it was going to be a one-time thing. I was worried that if it happened at all, I thought Oscar might kidnap Sherlock (rendering him unconscious with the first stab of the needle), and then just... keep giving him some over an extended period of time, against Sherlock's will.

 

It happened to Detective Steve Carella in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series of books, forget which particular book.  I was thinking of that book while I was watching this episode and I also worried Oscar might do that to Sherlock.

 

 

It's a pretty common and tired trope. Glad they didn't go there.

[Wynterwolf]

It's a pretty common and tired trope. Glad they didn't go there.

 

I even remember a Very Special Episode of Starsky & Hutch (the original TV series, not the lame-ass movie), back in the day... **totally, seriously dating myself**.  I'm glad they didn't go there too.  There was enough realistic trauma/drama going on in this ep, I thought they handled it really well.  

[Brattinella]

I LOVE Ed McBain books!

[miles2go]

IIRC, the "forcibly turned into an addict" trope was also used in the first season of Graceland.

[Brattinella]

Did anyone mention French Connection 2 yet?

[basil]

I am going on the record and saying that I don’t care if Oscar is dead and that Sherlock may have killed him.  I would prefer that Oscar face the kidnapping charges and that he gets put away and suffers in jail but if it turns out that he died after Sherlock beat him, I can’t get too upset about it.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if Sherlock has killed before. He was willing to torture and kill Moran, and even after discovering Moran was innocent of killing Irene (never mind all the others) stabbed him anyway "for presuming to know him". He was willing to let Kitty torture and murder her attacker. He did let her disfigure him and escape.

 

He has often been quite violent when the urge strikes him, and I don't think he'd be as upset on the roof as we saw him at the end merely over Oscar's death. Nothing about Oscar's story makes sense to me. Hell, I'm not even sure that woman was his sister.

 

Speaking of...the first and third seasons ended on the roof. Did the second?

Edited June 3, 2015 by basil

[DeLurker]

Speaking of...the first and third seasons ended on the roof. Did the second?

I believe it ended with them faking Mycroft's death, Joan saying she was finding her own place and Sherlock approaching the MI 6 guy about working with them.  If I recall correctly, that was the last scene.

 

A roof theme would have been nice.

[Tarasme]

But then, John Noble isn't doing much so far next season. 

 

Tra lala. 

[johntfs]

On 5/15/2015 at 3:01 PM, sinkwriter said:

 

Sadly, Bob Hoskins died last year.  :(

Hoskins would have made a truly badass Papa Holmes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7zRGmSHL9U