S06.E14: Through the Fog

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Holmes and Watson race to help Detective Bell when he becomes a victim of a bio-terrorism attack at the precinct and the station is quarantined. During the lockdown, Captain Gregson and Detective Bell begin to suspect they are trapped inside with the perpetrator. Watson faces the difficult task of helping her mother, Mary, accept that her advancing Alzheimer's disease requires her to receive more medical care.

Original airdate: 8/6/18

Promo:

Edited August 9, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Driad]

Hi, Clyde!  Is that really how to file a tortoise's nails?  I had a lizard whose nails needed occasional trimming.  If we held him and tried to do it, he would struggle, but if we put him on a table and picked up one of his feet, he did not object.

Sherlock's sun calculations: (1) I doubt he could be positive that it was July 2, rather than July 1 or 3.  (2) If the sun was in a certain position in early July, 2-3 weeks after the solstice, wouldn't it be in the same position in early June, 2-3 weeks before the solstice?

Was there really a NYC restaurant called Fratello's?

[fauntleroy]

38 minutes ago, Driad said:

(2) If the sun was in a certain position in early July, 2-3 weeks after the solstice, wouldn't it be in the same position in early June, 2-3 weeks before the solstice?

 

I think the answer to this is no, because though the er, declination might be the same, the position is different.. Those aren't the proper terms but that's the idea. Google analemma it's fascinating. The idea that he could pin a precise date based on the shadows in photos seems pretty implausible.

Edited August 7, 2018 by fauntleroy

[Twilight Man]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

Hi, Clyde!  Is that really how to file a tortoise's nails?

"This music isn't helping him to calm down."

"The music isn't for him; it's for you.   Turtles can't hear very well."

"Wait, what about that list of music you said that he likes and dislikes??"

"Oh, that was pure rubbish."

"You mean we've been listening to Goatwhore once a week for no reason!!  I practically have all those songs stuck in my head forever now!!"

"And thus the reason.  Opening your mind to different genres of music can be quite enlightening."

"And you didn't do this to annoy me??"

"That was purely secondary; I can assure you."

Edited August 7, 2018 by Twilight Man

[AnimeMania]

I am guessing anybody dressed like a CDC worker can enter and leave a quarantined area without any problems. I will have to remember that the next time I am trapped in a building cordoned off due to a contagious disease.

[elle]

Twilight Man, thank you for posting this!  I came here to ask what I had missed during that scene.  I had to take a phone call and muted the TV, looked up to see Sherlock holding Clyde.  

Can someone tell me what was going on with Marcus in the beginning with all the fish themed wall paper photos.

[AnimeMania]

31 minutes ago, elle said:

Twilight Man, thank you for posting this!  I came here to ask what I had missed during that scene.  I had to take a phone call and muted the TV, looked up to see Sherlock holding Clyde.  

Can someone tell me what was going on with Marcus in the beginning with all the fish themed wall paper photos.

Lets see, Elementary was capitalizing of the popularity of the TV show "Claws" by opening a nail salon for Tortoises. I was surprised that Lucy Liu wasn't wearing an outfit similar to what Niecy Nash wears on the show.

The man was being interrogated about a married woman from his gym that he was having an affair with, but refused to leave her husband for him. He murdered her in his apartment and concealed the blood splatter by covering over the area with new wallpaper he purchased. Unfortunately the man was color blind and the new wallpaper that he chose, the fish were green but in the original the fish were orange.

[johntfs]

7 hours ago, Driad said:

Sherlock's sun calculations: (1) I doubt he could be positive that it was July 2, rather than July 1 or 3.  (2) If the sun was in a certain position in early July, 2-3 weeks after the solstice, wouldn't it be in the same position in early June, 2-3 weeks before the solstice?

The Earth moves through space around the Sun at 67,000 MPH.  It definitely wouldn't be in the same position on the days before and after July 2.

Joan and her mom kind of broke my heart.

[woodstock]

1 hour ago, johntfs said:

Joan and her mom kind of broke my heart.

My maternal grandparents passed late last year; they both had Alzheimer's. Watching those scenes with Joan and her mom were heartbreaking; I kept thinking about my grandparents. It's difficult and emotional watching people you love slowly slip away from you. Sadly, when Sherlock told Joan she had to stop asking her mom to get help, make changes, etc. and just do those things for her he was speaking truth. I remember the day we had to take the car and car keys from my grandad. It was brutal but we had to do it. Grandad was getting lost, running stop signs, and drove the wrong way down a one way street (family members had taken turns riding with him to assess whether or not it was safe for him to drive). Usually at some point Alzheimer's patients can become a danger to him/her self and others and not be aware of it. Daily assistance and supervision are needed. I am glad that Joan's mom realized on her own that she needs help.

Clyde!!!!

Is this show trying to prepare us for Marcus' departure??? Last week he's recruited for the U.S. Marshals and this week a faux bio weapon tries to take him out.

[dargosmydaddy]

So... NYPD precincts don't have any kind of security cameras that might have been helpful at various points during the investigation?

I am beginning to be bothered by the disjointedness of this season. I know it must have been a curveball to get the additional episodes thrown in, and I get waiting to resolve the serial killer plot till the end of the season. But couldn't we get a throwaway line about Michael now and then? Like a, "Hey, that missing woman in Texas turned out to be a false lead" or something? Not to mention Sherlock's post-concussion syndrome... I get that the month in Vermont sent him into remission, so to speak, but I would think he would still be careful not to have a relapse. But we have no questions from Joan about how he's feeling, no mention of wanting to rest his eyes during computer work, etc. He was massaging his temple at one point during this episode (and it was after the cartel member handled him roughly, which had me mentally screaming, "Watch your head!"), but considering there was no accompanying dialogue, I kind of wondered if JLM just kind of did that and it wasn't written/ directed specifically.

[Trey]

Right away I suspected the two men who got sick.  Marcus was exposed much more than they were and he had no symptoms so it just seemed odd.

Clyde gets a pedicure! Thanks, Twilight Man, for posting that conversation - I didn't catch much of it.

That was such a random scene with Marcus and Gregson telling the murderer how they could prove he killed his girlfriend with the fish wallpaper but I really liked it.  And it was really just setting up the scene for Marcus to find the bag. Very well done.

Also loved Sherlock and Joan going to confront the cartel boss after Gregson told Sherlock not to do it.  Because Sherlock cares about Gregson and Bell.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this episode.

[johntfs]

16 minutes ago, Trey said:

That was such a random scene with Marcus and Gregson telling the murderer how they could prove he killed his girlfriend with the fish wallpaper but I really liked it.  And it was really just setting up the scene for Marcus to find the bag. Very well done.

I floved that bit.  I love that this show goes out of its way to remind us that Bell are Gregson are highly capable, highly intelligent police officers who will call upon Sherlock and Joan when they need to but that they really don't need to all that often.

[basiltherat]

I was scared for Bell's life, but I was glad it was just a red herring.  I just love the way our team works together!  Bell's exposition about the fish wallpaper shows the influence of Sherlock on him, how the most minute details lead down the path to a solution.

[Athena]

I liked how no one died this episode or that it didn't start with a murder victim. They solved a murder in the first five minutes, but the A plot didn't feature it. One of the things I liked about the Holmes canon is that they have non-murder mysteries. It's a good change on this show and most procedurals. Someone doesn't have to die for it to be interesting.

[Gregg247]

I like a good heist story, but many times, at the end, the original "plan" that the criminals started out with doesn't make sense.  I enjoyed this episode, but had a few questions afterward:

1. What was the plan for getting the 2 criminal "helpers" who pretended to be sick out for the building?  Once the servers were stolen, and no one else was getting sick, those 2 guys were going to look more and more suspicious.  Surely they wouldn't have agreed to participate in the crime unless they had an escape plan for themselves.

2. The caught the criminal mastermind really quickly (and off-camera).  Didn't he have a plan for a quick sale/disposal of the servers set up in advance?  They found him at home with all the evidence!

3.  Don't the police have all that valuable information better secured than in some random closet off a random, seldom-used hallway?

I'm sorry for Joan and her mother.  The conversation they had in the end was nice, but that conversation goes quite differently in real life 99% of the time (i.e. not so pleasantly).  When her mom said she'd like to try a new restaurant, I thought Joan would recommend the gangster's restaurant she and Sherlock had visited earlier.  It looked very nice!

[Loandbehold]

9 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The man was being interrogated about a married woman from his gym that he was having an affair with, but refused to leave her husband for him. He murdered her in his apartment and concealed the blood splatter by covering over the area with new wallpaper he purchased. Unfortunately the man was color blind and the new wallpaper that he chose, the fish were green but in the original the fish were orange.

Gregson and Bell will be disappointed to hear that you wanted the murderer to get away with the crime.

Clyde! Although, I admit that it bothers me that Clyde doesn't really like Goatwhore. It's not nice of him to play along w/ Sherlock's pranking Joan.

[iMonrey]

I really liked this episode. Too often, Aiden Quinn is underserved on this show, so it was nice to see him play a more prominent role than the usual, obligatory end-cap scenes. I also found the story easy to follow. I've been having trouble with that increasingly of late. It's not that I want the show to be simpler, necessarily, it's just that it's often so convoluted I lose track of what the hell is going on. I did, however, suspect early on that the bio weapon was just a red herring because Marcus had the most exposure to it and wasn't getting sick.

I also enjoyed the way they worked the personal angle in with Joan's mother, although it got wrapped up with a nice little bow in a way that seemed too pat, but I'm not going to complain too much because I know the show was aiming for closure on a lot of these loose threads.

/off-topic: "God Friended Me" looks really, really stupid. And if they couldn't make the concept work with Jason Ritter, it ain't gonna work with some rando I never heard of before.

[illdoc]

14 hours ago, Driad said:

Sherlock's sun calculations: (1) I doubt he could be positive that it was July 2, rather than July 1 or 3.  (2) If the sun was in a certain position in early July, 2-3 weeks after the solstice, wouldn't it be in the same position in early June, 2-3 weeks before the solstice?

It also depended on the clock in the photo being accurate! He based calculations on the sun's position at 6:58. What if the clock was off by a minute or 2? What if it was a.m. and not p.m.???

[dargosmydaddy]

11 minutes ago, illdoc said:

It also depended on the clock in the photo being accurate! He based calculations on the sun's position at 6:58. What if the clock was off by a minute or 2? What if it was a.m. and not p.m.???

I thought of that, too, but considering Sherlock is familiar with the room (and he's Sherlock), I assumed he knows whether the clock is accurate. And I think the shadows would be different if the sun was rising (am) as opposed to setting (pm).

[TigerLynx]

I liked the scene with Clyde.  The you aren't smart enough to play dumb with me, and I stole your car so you will tell your uncle to meet with us scene was hilarious.  Especially when they called Gregson afterwards.  It was nice seeing both Gregson and Bell so competent.  They are good at their jobs.  Sherlock admitting he cares about Gregson and Bell was also nice.

Edited August 7, 2018 by TigerLynx

[tennisgurl]

The bad guy is...Hans Gruber! Its not a terrorist attack, its a heist! I liked the whole CDC plot, I enjoy those kinds of mysteries where you have to find the bad guy in a group of random people stuck together. Very Murder on the Orient Express. 

Loved the opening scene with Bell and Gregson and the trainer killer. Its always nice to be reminded that, while we mostly see them calling Sherlock and Joan in for help, that they are very accomplished detectives as well, and most of their cases they can handle on their own just fine. 

Joan and her mom broke my heart. So sad, but really well acted and written. Although, this season has so many different running subplots, they tend to just kind of pop in and out depending on the episode. Like, no adoption today, its time to work on the other plots!

Its like the writers were thinking "you want Clyde? Here is a close up right at the start of the episode!!!!" Any episode is immediately improved by a Clyde sighting!

"Not too short, they're his natural defenses."

"Against what?"

"Tomorrow never knows." 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Loandbehold said:

Gregson and Bell will be disappointed to hear that you wanted the murderer to get away with the crime.

Clyde! Although, I admit that it bothers me that Clyde doesn't really like Goatwhore. It's not nice of him to play along w/ Sherlock's pranking Joan.

Not that per se, I just don't like when they find or eliminate suspects based on some 1 in million ailment/disease. Not that color blindness is that rare, but still. The guy couldn't have created the stab wounds because he tore his rotor cuff 5 years ago and can't lift his arm higher than his shoulder. No sir, I don't like it! Some guy has a one in a million resistance to bird flu and he happens to date the only person in America who has contracted bird flu. Sheesh!

34 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I thought of that, too, but considering Sherlock is familiar with the room (and he's Sherlock), I assumed he knows whether the clock is accurate. And I think the shadows would be different if the sun was rising (am) as opposed to setting (pm).

I don't have a problem with the sun angle stuff since Sherlock had multiple pictures from a lot of different rooms. I am sure Sherlock recreated the sun angle in each picture in each room to authenticate his findings. 

[roseha]

6 hours ago, Gregg247 said:

I like a good heist story, but many times, at the end, the original "plan" that the criminals started out with doesn't make sense.  I enjoyed this episode, but had a few questions afterward:

......

3.  Don't the police have all that valuable information better secured than in some random closet off a random, seldom-used hallway?

I'm sorry for Joan and her mother.  The conversation they had in the end was nice, but that conversation goes quite differently in real life 99% of the time (i.e. not so pleasantly).  When her mom said she'd like to try a new restaurant, I thought Joan would recommend the gangster's restaurant she and Sherlock had visited earlier.  It looked very nice!

My last job before I retired was with a major law firm that lost all their hard copy records after Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy because they were ... stowed in the basement.  I can definitely believe that the local precinct that Gregson and Bell work for would not have the budget to create a more secure, un-hackable, storage for the data...they should have a backup but that wouldn't help the fact that the original data was stolen.  Just speculation on my part.

This episode made me think of Leverage, only in reverse (since the Leverage characters would do something like this for a good reason), because clearly everyone was being conned into missing the real aim of the attack was the data breach.  

I liked the main story a lot, especially the way it showed Bell's bravery in handling the situation alone when he thought he had been contaminated, and Sherlock's skills with the light in the room.  It's true that the end of the story with Joan and her mother was, on the face of it...maybe overly optimistic, however it may be that this will be revisited...they certainly didn't sugarcoat her condition, which would not be realistic, sadly.

Clyde!  Thank you writers.

[CaptainCranky]

Excellent episode. The above comments have pretty much covered this show so I'll just be thankful this show is still on the air.

[MisterGlass]

I enjoyed this one too.  It was a puzzling but engaging story on all sides.  The opening was really strong.

I think they threw in an extra red herring early on in the ep.  There was a black female officer I didn't recognize who was at the forefront in two short scenes, first when she insisted that no one had left the floor because she was watching, and in an additional scene when she responded to Gregson.  To me they highlighted her as a likely suspected, but then subverted it by introducing the other cop later.

"Don't play dumb with me, you're not smart enough," is now my favorite Sherlock put down.

[thuganomics85]

A Clyde appearance always makes an episode of Elementary better!  Although Sherlock's claim that he can't actually hear the Enya song very well and that was more for Joan does kind of go against the episode where he was testing different songs to see how Clyde reacts to them.  I'm choosing to believe he was just messing with Joan!

Liked how the case ended up being more of a heist, and it featured plenty of Gregson and Bell.  I figured Michael Rispoli was somehow going to be involved, but I didn't predict the other aspects of it.  Also loved the earlier scene where we see Bell and Gregson solving a case on their own.  I do like how the show acknowledges that the two of them are good at their jobs, and that they don't always need Sherlock (and Joan) to save them.

The story with Joan and her mother was nice.  And I like how Sherlock is way more behaved whenever it pertains to that, because he respects and likes Joan, and knows how hard it is for her.

I do wonder if we'll be seeing the Cartel again, since they know Sherlock has information on their rivals.  I don't see them letting that go by without a follow-up.

Edited August 10, 2018 by thuganomics85

[aemom]

15 hours ago, woodstock said:

My maternal grandparents passed late last year; they both had Alzheimer's. Watching those scenes with Joan and her mom were heartbreaking; I kept thinking about my grandparents. It's difficult and emotional watching people you love slowly slip away from you. Sadly, when Sherlock told Joan she had to stop asking her mom to get help, make changes, etc. and just do those things for her he was speaking truth. I remember the day we had to take the car and car keys from my grandad. It was brutal but we had to do it. Grandad was getting lost, running stop signs, and drove the wrong way down a one way street (family members had taken turns riding with him to assess whether or not it was safe for him to drive). Usually at some point Alzheimer's patients can become a danger to him/her self and others and not be aware of it. Daily assistance and supervision are needed. I am glad that Joan's mom realized on her own that she needs help.

I feel your pain Woodstock.  I watched my father-in-law deteriorate and die from Alzheimers and now I get to live it all over again with my mother-in-law. It is the absolute worst having to take away their car, amongst other things and then finally put them in a care facility when you run out of options. Not a day goes by that I'm not terrified that I will have to go down the same road with my husband.  It was hard watching that scene with Joan and her mom but in real life, I really doubt it ever goes as smoothly as they depicted.

It was great seeing Clyde again and laughed at how Sherlock was making sure he did not escape. 

I will miss this show terribly when it's no longer on the air.

[paigow]

So it is OK for anyone in the US Navy [except SEALs] to be colour blind?

[Interior: Bridge of USS Missouri]

Captain: Which of you idiots launched a cruise missile? All warning lights were green...

Edited August 8, 2018 by paigow

[CaptainCranky]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

So it is OK for anyone in the US Navy [except SEALs] to be colour blind?

[Interior: Bridge of USS Missouri]

Captain: Which of you idiots launched a cruise missile? All warning lights were green...

Not a Navy vet but wouldn't green mean OK or go.

[shapeshifter]

22 hours ago, Trey said:

Right away I suspected the two men who got sick.  Marcus was exposed much more than they were and he had no symptoms so it just seemed odd.

Even I got that one.

 

20 hours ago, iMonrey said:

also enjoyed the way they worked the personal angle in with Joan's mother, although it got wrapped up with a nice little bow in a way that seemed too pat, but I'm not going to complain too much because I know the show was aiming for closure on a lot of these loose threads.

I had a whole rant about the not-mentioned enormous financial expense of the 24-hour health care Joan's mother will need, but evidently I forgot to hit Send.

[Trey]

10 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I do wonder if we'll be seeing the Cartel again, since they know Sherlock has information on their rivals.  I don't see them letting that go by without a follow-up.

I wondered about that too.   This was another case of the writers making minor characters so interesting that we would like to see them again.

[woodstock]

10 hours ago, AEMom said:

I feel your pain Woodstock.  I watched my father-in-law deteriorate and die from Alzheimers and now I get to live it all over again with my mother-in-law. It is the absolute worst having to take away their car, amongst other things and then finally put them in a care facility when you run out of options. Not a day goes by that I'm not terrified that I will have to go down the same road with my husband.  It was hard watching that scene with Joan and her mom but in real life, I really doubt it ever goes as smoothly as they depicted.

My thoughts are with you AEMom. Alzheimer's can join cancer in the 'F--- you' line.

Elementary is one of my favorite shows mainly because of Sherlock/Joan/Gregson/Bell and yes I too will miss it when it ends.

[Magnumfangirl]

I got a kick out Sherlock wearing thick protective gloves in case Clyde got feisty, but Joan has nothing to protect her from Clyde's potential wrath.  The case was good just because it was something besides a murder, it wasn't too complicated to follow, and we got more of Gregson.  The scene with Joan and her mom at the end was a little too after-school-special for me.  Why is this show so obsessed with disease and illness?  It's not a hospital drama.  Why can't Joan's family be happy and healthy to contrast with Sherlock's lack of family since Morland's the only one alive?

[driver18]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Even I got that one.

 

I had a whole rant about the not-mentioned enormous financial expense of the 24-hour health care Joan's mother will need, but evidently I forgot to hit Send.

Unless, I'm mistaken, Joan's stepfather is a successful published author. He wrote those books that were loosely based on Joan and Sherlock's cases. They have the money and likely pretty good insurance to help to boot. (I could be misremembering though. I've only watched each episode only once.)

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, driver18 said:

Unless, I'm mistaken, Joan's stepfather is a successful published author. He wrote those books that were loosely based on Joan and Sherlock's cases. They have the money and likely pretty good insurance to help to boot. (I could be misremembering though. I've only watched each episode only once.)

Okay. But then I would have liked a line about how not everyone can afford to pay for one or two full time professional care givers' salaries.

Likely in Elementary world, if Joan does adopt a baby, she won't have to pay for full time child care either, since on TV daycare is on-demand.

[lb60]

17 hours ago, AEMom said:

.....laughed at how Sherlock was making sure he did not escape. 

I loved that part.

Clyde, sweetie, enjoy the pampering.  :-)

This was another enjoyable episode.  As I have said, I'm in it for the relationships and this week had plenty.

I laughed at JLM's delivery when Sherlock was telling Bell he was sure about the date when the pictures of the precinct were taken.

Also the meeting with the cartel guy and his less smart nephew.

I really like this summer scheduling.  One season, I had 11 episodes on my DVR to get through.  With that one exception, it's been nice to get an episode every week, with no long breaks.  I wonder what the scheduling plan is for Season 7.  

[LisaM]

Can someone please remind me if -- and how -- the Police retrieved their stolen servers?

[Kathira]

12 hours ago, paigow said:

So it is OK for anyone in the US Navy [except SEALs] to be colour blind?

[Interior: Bridge of USS Missouri]

Captain: Which of you idiots launched a cruise missile? All warning lights were green...

In WWII, my father was rejected by the Navy for red-green color blindness. The reason was that at that time anyway, the Navy still used signal flags that could be misinterpreted. He had no idea he even had a problem until he tried to sign up for the Navy, as it wasn't tested for in schools back in those days. The Army had no problem with it, however, and signed him right up.

I looked it up and although you can join the modern US Navy with color blindness, there are a lot of areas that are restricted in addition to the SEALS, for example, all submarine duties.

Interestingly, my father was a pharmacist, a field where you would think color blindness would be an issue but it was never a problem. As I understand it, he could still tell red and green when they were separate, but they looked muted to him, especially when they were blended together. It's a sex linked characteristic and my son is also red-green color blind.

[grawlix]

2 hours ago, LisaM said:

Can someone please remind me if -- and how -- the Police retrieved their stolen servers?

Once they identified the guy who dressed up as a CDC person, they went to his home and arrested the suspect.  The suspect stored the missing servers in his home and the police recovered them when he was arrested.

[Vermicious Knid]

This went in a unexpected direction but was pretty straightforward once we knew what was going on. I liked it. Every now and then Forensic Files would also feature a mystery that wasn't a murder too.

They had the time the pictures were taken from the clock on the wall, I wanted to say to Sherlock, "So, are there any calendars visible?" Of course, then he wouldn't be able to show off his diorama-building skills.

[Nessie]

16 hours ago, Kathira said:

In WWII, my father was rejected by the Navy for red-green color blindness. The reason was that at that time anyway, the Navy still used signal flags that could be misinterpreted. He had no idea he even had a problem until he tried to sign up for the Navy, as it wasn't tested for in schools back in those days. The Army had no problem with it, however, and signed him right up.

I looked it up and although you can join the modern US Navy with color blindness, there are a lot of areas that are restricted in addition to the SEALS, for example, all submarine duties.

Interestingly, my father was a pharmacist, a field where you would think color blindness would be an issue but it was never a problem. As I understand it, he could still tell red and green when they were separate, but they looked muted to him, especially when they were blended together. It's a sex linked characteristic and my son is also red-green color blind.

That's interesting, because my red-green color blind father was allowed to join the Navy in the early 60's, and he stayed in for 34 years.  I wonder when they changed the rules, but I'm too lazy to look it up...LOL

On 8/8/2018 at 10:13 AM, woodstock said:

My thoughts are with you AEMom. Alzheimer's can join cancer in the 'F--- you' line.

Elementary is one of my favorite shows mainly because of Sherlock/Joan/Gregson/Bell and yes I too will miss it when it ends.

My thoughts are with you @AEMom, and you @woodstock, and all of you who have lost loved ones to that horrible disease, or are watching them go through it now.  I lost my father to it 18 months ago, and it was devastating watching that capable, in-charge, always-knew-what-to-do career Navy officer man turn into someone else...someone who didn't even know who I was in the end.  My greatest fear is that the same thing may happen to me someday.  

[MissLucas]

On 8.8.2018 at 12:58 AM, roseha said:

This episode made me think of Leverage, only in reverse (since the Leverage characters would do something like this for a good reason), because clearly everyone was being conned into missing the real aim of the attack was the data breach.  

 

Ah, Leverage - how much do I miss thee! Actually there was an episode where the team used hazmat suits as a disguise - the one with Parker trapped in a building being secured by the Starenko super-computer (and Richard Chamberlain showed up too).

That was probably my favorite episode this season. No grizzly murders (well apart from one taking place off-scene); competent Bell and  Gregson AND a heist! I was okay with Sherlock's astronomical calculations - my disbelief was more stretched by the idea that he could build such a neat and correct model of the precinct in such a short time-span. And aren't there computer programs for that sort of thing? I know, I know - watching Sherlock do elaborate craft work  makes for better tv. 

Aidan Quinn and Jon Michael Hill were great in this. You could see Gregson's concern and worry and Bell trying to focus on work in order to keep the panic under control.

(I knew they were on the right track with O'Grady - he looked so familiar. Took me quite a while to remember - he was in 'While You Were Sleeping.)

Edited August 10, 2018 by MissLucas

[theatremouse]

No one but necessary IT staff should've even had a key to that server closet. Was it unlocked because the real CDC people were about to decontaminate it and left it open and ignored the fake dude as that one lady who admitted seeing him did? Cuz otherwise this whole plan depended on some realllllllllllllly shit security policies that they even had easy opportunity to get into that damn door in the first place. Let alone someone not insisting on remaining in eyeline of the servers from the moment they unlocked the door. 

[andromeda331]

I liked this episode. It was a little different but good. A hazmat situation that was really a cover for a heist. It did remind me of that Leverage episode. I liked seeing Gregson and Bell working things on their end. They don't always get utilized. 

I'm glad Joan's meeting with her mother went well but yeah it rarely goes that well. I remember when my dad and his siblings had to put Grandpa into a nursing home after they realized he had Alzheimers and he could no longer take care of himself. A horrible disease every bit as bad as cancer. I'm glad it went easy for Joan. I agree with what Sherlock said early he was right you usually can't ask. You have to make it happen. Its really hard to do.

I loved Sherlock with the cartel. Him offering up information on their rivals because of course he did.

[MissLucas]

16 hours ago, theatremouse said:

No one but necessary IT staff should've even had a key to that server closet. Was it unlocked because the real CDC people were about to decontaminate it and left it open and ignored the fake dude as that one lady who admitted seeing him did? Cuz otherwise this whole plan depended on some realllllllllllllly shit security policies that they even had easy opportunity to get into that damn door in the first place. Let alone someone not insisting on remaining in eyeline of the servers from the moment they unlocked the door. 

O'Grady had plenty of time to get his hands on that key to make a copy (assuming that the room was locked - which sounds sensible). So either it wasn't locked or they had a key. The rest was easy - nobody questions the dudes in the hazmat suits, everybody's focused on something else.

Edited August 10, 2018 by MissLucas

[shapeshifter]

Right now on H&I the Numb3rs episode "Dirty Bomb" is airing, in which thieves fake a heist of radioactive materials to get an area evacuated so they can steal priceless art. I'm pretty sure other shows have done this too.

[Charlesman]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Right now on H&I the Numb3rs episode "Dirty Bomb" is airing, in which thieves fake a heist of radioactive materials to get an area evacuated so they can steal priceless art. I'm pretty sure other shows have done this too.

It's Die-Harding: faking an emergency of one kind to commit a crime of another kind :)

[paigow]

Are interrogation rooms called "The Box" because they have no ventilation besides the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor????? 

19 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I agree with what Sherlock said early he was right you usually can't ask. You have to make it happen. Its really hard to do.

How would Sherlock deal with Morland in a similar situation????

[Cotypubby]

On 8/7/2018 at 10:54 PM, MisterGlass said:

I enjoyed this one too.  It was a puzzling but engaging story on all sides.  The opening was really strong.

I think they threw in an extra red herring early on in the ep.  There was a black female officer I didn't recognize who was at the forefront in two short scenes, first when she insisted that no one had left the floor because she was watching, and in an additional scene when she responded to Gregson.  To me they highlighted her as a likely suspected, but then subverted it by introducing the other cop later.

"Don't play dumb with me, you're not smart enough," is now my favorite Sherlock put down.

Yes!! I thought the exact same thing! I noticed she had prominent lines in two scenes and because she gave the info about the Asian man, I thought she was behind it and had given that man something to make him ill. I never suspected the others! That was actually a good bit of subterfuge by the writers, usually I can spot the perp immediately.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, Charlesman said:

It's Die-Harding: faking an emergency of one kind to commit a crime of another kind :)

So there's a word for it. Cool! I'm guessing "Die-Harding" originated with Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) in which "McClane learns revenge is a cover story for robbing the New York Federal Reserve" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_(film_series)#Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance_(1995) ), right? Or are they all like that? I can't recall, and the linked article doesn't really elaborate.