Wait, what happened in Season 2?

[frayadjacent]

I've been enjoying Elementary, especially the last few episodes, which gave more attention to Joan and a likeable one-off character.  But is anybody else realizing we're damn near the S2 finale and it kind of feels like the season never picked up?  I mean, there have been a lot of fun character interactions this season, a few moments of important growth for Joan and Sherlock, and a few interesting plot threads that have been mostly left to dangle.  But it doesn't feel like a coherent season.  Like, if someone were to ask me what this season was about, I don't know what I'd say.

And it was an easy question to answer for S1.  Character-wise, S1 was about Joan and Sherlock meeting and developing trust and friendship.  It was about Sherlock's recovery and Joan's career change.  It was about both of them connecting with each other and, through their relationship, to other people as well (Marcus, Alfredo, Ms. Hudson, etc).  Plot wise, it was mostly one-offs, but the Moriarty plot was in the background for over half the season, and when you consider how it connects to Sherlock's recovery, it was there all along.

This season, I don't know.  I keep waiting for it to really pick up, and a couple of weeks ago I was a little surprised to realize that we're closing in on the season finale and it hasn't.  Not that I haven't liked watching it, not that Joan and Sherlock don't charm me every episode, but it's starting to wear a bit thin.  I want my slow burn just a little less slow, please.

Maybe this is normal for this kind of show?  I never really watched ER or Law and Order or other shows that seem close in genre to Elementary. 

Comments

[amindamazed]

I agree - s2 seems at a loss to know what to do with itself. There are scattered episodes and scenes dealing with Sherlock making amends, overlapping with a set of him invested in not being 'nice', and a third group of season-hijacking blips with Mycroft, Lestrade, and Moriarty.

Watson doesn't seem to have an arc at all. Two separate episodes months apart about guilt, one with a subplot about having a life outside of the brownstone, and one with her staking claim to building her expertise, none of which had any connection with the others.

I wonder if there's network pressure to be episodic rather than serial. (it seems clear that the CBS promotion department wants the show to be The Wacky Adventures of That Crazy Sherlock when they can't play up some dark romance angle.) I much prefer serial and have been almost as disappointed by the lack of season-long narrative structure as I am by their squandering Watson as a fully developed lead. The slow, deep build of character and context was what I fell in love with originally, and I've missed that in the confusion of s2.

[frayadjacent]

Sorry for the slow response! I don't have much to say besides YEP -- I agree.

I suspect network pressure as well, though sometimes I wonder if I am too apt to let writers off the hook by chalking problems up to The Suits.