S05.E22: Moving Targets

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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When a reality show contestant is murdered, Holmes and Watson zero in on another competitor as a suspect, a former war criminal who may be the most skilled killer they've ever pursued. Also, for the first time since he attacked Sherlock, Shinwell reaches out to Joan to ask for a favor.

Promo:

[johntfs]

Bleh, the Shinhell returns to torture us...

[basiltherat]

Perhaps Shinwell, too, needs a whack on the leg.

[morriss]

Shitwell has a lot of nerve.......

[basil]

You never know. Maybe he's been forced to ask for help on behalf of his daughter. There may be something about Shinwell we don't know.

[johntfs]

There's plenty about Shinwell that we don't know.  It's just that we also don't care, either.

[Morrigan2575]

I don't the Shinwell but, I really haven't missed him. 

[johntfs]

Shinwell aside, this should be good.  The idea of Sherlock dealing with a reality TV show seems like potential comedy gold.  I can hear JLM sneering from here.

[shapeshifter]

If this was a PSA, the lesson would be: If you've managed to get away with illegal kickbacks (or other illgotten gains), using the money to launch a high profile career that is likely to get paparazzi, fans, the Twitterverse, and all social media stalkers (as well as Sherlock) peering into your background is probably not a good idea. 

[paigow]

Shinwell cannot be the cliffhanger...finally dead...and he signed a confession...no more loose ends. Is the erstwhile Texas Ranger also Montana Senator Bowman on Designated Survivor?

[thuganomics85]

Whelp, unlike Chantel (glad to hear she's doing OK!), I don't see Shinwell making through this!  Blood everywhere, eyes open, but blank... yeah, he's dead.  The question is going to be who, I guess.  I know Watson will likely suspect it was SBK, but I'm going to go with his victim's brother making another attempt, and succeeding this time.  Or if the show really wants to go off the rails (which I doubt), it will be Sherlock himself!

Sherlock's distain for reality shows was fun, but I called the host as the killer as soon as I saw him, because the actor is currently playing Senator Bowman on Designated Survivor, and he is totally a bad guy!  Although, I did enjoy seeing Inspector Riley from Luke Cage as the other producer.  But, in typical Elementary fashion, this case somehow went through everything from child soldiers, the New Jersey mafia, and finally weapons merchants.  Classic Elementary!

Like the beginning case with the couple, and how quickly the woman flipped.  I was like seeing the easy cases, that probably only took them a few hours to solve.

[GaT]

Well, at least Shinwell is finally gone.

[Kathira]

While I liked Sherlock telling Watson how important she is to him, the rest of the episode was kind of meh somehow. Actually, this whole season has been kind of meh. I don't know whether it's Shinwell sucking the energy out, but this has definitely been a relatively low-key season. Neither Sherlock nor Watson seem that engaged. Last season with Papa Holmes at least had some tension and energy around that mystery.

[tennisgurl]

Wow, so I guess that's the end of Shinwell. I didn't like him or his plot, but I didn't want him to get shot gunned to death. His plot was not exactly interesting and he rather dragged the plot down though, so I cant say I'm super sad about his demise, even though I like the actor.

Sherlock's utter disdain of reality TV was hilarious, and I liked the CoTW just fine, even if it did pull the classic Elementary move of going from one plot point to another to another to another, until it turns out it was the guy from the beginning who seemingly had no motive, but is played by a somewhat known TV actor.

I liked the beginning where they were wrapping up another case and the wife flipped on her husband instantly. I like to think that those are the cases that Sherlock and Joan spend most of their time solving, pretty simple cases that are tricky, but basically straightforward, just we always see the super dramatic cases filled with former Ugandan child soldiers, police corruption, and the Jersey Mob.

[dargosmydaddy]

Well that was... anticlimactic.

I'm trying to understand the writing/ character choices here (in terms of Shinwell), and I've got nothing. His blandness may have been non-intentional, but his beat-down of Sherlock was definitely intentional and all but ensures that hardly anyone in the audience is really going to care that he died. (Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of us were turned off by the character before that, but we would have been at least sympathetic to his death even if we were glad to be rid of him.) As it stands now... I have no idea what magical tricks the writers might pull out of their hats in the last two episodes, and kudos to them if it suddenly all makes brilliant sense, but it just seems like this story might have worked better if we actually somewhat cared about Shinwell. 

[iMonrey]

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Actually, this whole season has been kind of meh. I don't know whether it's Shinwell sucking the energy out, 

I blame Shinwell. The episodes where he was absent were really quite good. And I agree with dargosmydaddy's post above: why on earth is anyone in the audience supposed to give a red rat's ass about Shinwell after he smashed a bottle over Sherlock's head and beat the living crap out of him? I don't care what kind of "sympathetic" narrative they try to fit around this guy, there's just no excuse for that. He's a violent asshole when he's not a boring drag on the show. 

I knew the weekly murder mystery was going to circle back the reality show producer. It's a classic case of the show hiring a too-recognizable actor, which tips you off that he must have an important role in the story.

[Ceindreadh]

Heh, we used to play that assassination type game in college during Rag Week. No body cams or paintball, and the prize was usually a bottle of whiskey!

[CaptainCranky]

IMHO this was another stellar show in what is probably the final season. As far as Shinwell for me it didn't add to or distract from most of the story lines this year.

[mandigirl]

On 5/7/2017 at 10:04 PM, thuganomics85 said:

I know Watson will likely suspect it was SBK, but I'm going to go with his victim's brother making another attempt, and succeeding this time.  Or if the show really wants to go off the rails (which I doubt), it will be Sherlock himself!

I truly adore the actor who plays Shinwell and I'm disappointed his storyline kinda stalled. The writers have made characters with far less going for them far more interesting. I know this is a weird theory, but I suspect Shinwell himself may behind this.  I believed him when he said he wasn't doing any of this to get away with anything. Maybe he set himself up intentionally with trail that would lead back to SBK if he got murdered. 

On 5/8/2017 at 0:38 PM, tennisgurl said:

the classic Elementary move of going from one plot point to another to another to another, until it turns out it was the guy from the beginning who seemingly had no motive, but is played by a somewhat known TV actor.

The CotW was even more convoluted than usual. I was weirdly relieved the child soldier wasn't the killer. But seriously, the producer was an idiot. What are the chances that TWO people associated with a tv show would be part of the same random gun buying/bribe scheme? I can't believe he bought that story. 

[mandigirl]

27 minutes ago, SweetTooth said:

It wasn't. The victim got on the show specifically to do research about the gun scheme. 

No, I meant Sherlock and Joan told the producer that the victim was on the show to track the Child Soldier who was part of an illegal gun scheme. But the producer knew that he himself was a part of that gun scheme. So he apparently believed that both he and the Child Soldier were a part of the same random gun scheme, and they both just happened to be associated with the same reality tv show. Those are long odds.

[ZoqFotPik]

The issue is how unlikely it would be for two people, out of 7.5 billion people on the planet, involved with the same illegal weapons scheme would just happen to cross paths during the production of a reality show. A veteran law enforcement officer, like the producer, should have seen through Sherlock's plan.

[jelaine]

^I think that's Z's point.  Producer guy knew he was involved in the weapons scheme.  As soon as Gregson, Bell,  and Sherlock told him they were looking to arrest the child soldier, producer guy should have known that was bs because having two people on the same show involved in the same scheme beggars belief.  Yes, Sherlock, Bell,  and Gregson were looking for him to plant evidence on child soldier because they made him a reasonable scapegoat, but if producer guy had thought about it for two seconds, he should have realized the lie because again - not knowing they were lying, he still should have questioned it because two people from such completely different backgrounds involved in the same illegal weapons deal  and the same TV show is extremely unlikely.

Not that that is generally an issue on this show. 

[johntfs]

2 hours ago, ZoqFotPik said:

The issue is how unlikely it would be for two people, out of 7.5 billion people on the planet, involved with the same illegal weapons scheme would just happen to cross paths during the production of a reality show

But according the Holmes/etc they weren't part of the same weapons scheme.  The H/W/Greg story was that the Child Soldier was part of a scheme by the gun company to sell weapons to his old militia in Africa.  So the produce hoped to plant the murder weapon with the Child Soldier and end the investigation before it led to him.

[theatremouse]

I think the believability of the bait lie to the host was dependent on two things:

1) the  host guy being a little bit panicky an overeager to get the cops the hell away from him (probably every time they showed up in the office, even though they never directly indicated they suspected him, their presence probably spooked him all the more)

2) if gun company is unscrupulous enough to do shady deals with LE are they unscrupulous enough to also supply to child soldiers in Africa

That said, if I were a paranoid criminal, I would've thought it might be a setup just listening to Sherlock since he was way too splainey. Even if they did need the producer's buy in to help with the operation, any person who watches crime dramas would be thinking "gee why are they telling me all of this, this is more info than they should be willing to tell me". But if the dude were overconfident from the get-go (and I have no problem believing a TV host might be), then he could've easily seen 2 as a gorgeous opportunity and not been at all discerning enough.

[johntfs]

15 hours ago, SweetTooth said:

I don't believe host guy thought child soldier guy was ACTUALLY part of the gun thingy. I think that he figured THEY thought child soldier guy was the guilty party, because it made sense, and so he figured he would take advantage of this opportunity.

The host probably thought the Child Soldier was part of the African gun thing, though he knew the guy hadn't killed the chief.  Still, he saw an excellent way to get away with murder and close the investigation by retrieving the shotgun and framing the Child Soldier.

It's kind of human nature to want to believe things that are good for you.  It's why the Nigerian e-mail scams work.  People want to believe they're going to be rich, etc.

Edited May 11, 2017 by johntfs

[Abra]

Damn, I'm guessing Shinwell is dead. I'm one of the apparently very few people who liked his inclusion in the show this season. I do feel that if the writers had let the audience in and let us see more of what was driving him all along to take down SBK, there might have been more sympathy for him and the position he put himself in to get revenge. Alas.

I admit to being duped and disappointed for a few minutes into thinking Akello really had killed Nanette, so I'm glad it was just a ploy to flush out Vaguely Recognizable Producer Actor Guy.