A murder scene with no body, baffled cops milling about. An eccentric British consulting detective picks up a marble, places it gingerly on the floorboards and watches it roll swiftly down a corridor. Panic rooms, the detective explains to the officers trailing behind him, are heavy. And the weight of one can give the floor of an apartment an imperceptible tilt. The marble comes to a halt against a wall. The British man presses a hidden switch and, with a swoosh, a secret door opens. A gasp, a flourish and the thrum of a violin. Cut to an ad break.
This is Elementary, the single-best modern depiction of Sherlock Holmes ever committed to screen. A bold claim? Not really. Arriving four months after the end of House, in which Hugh Laurie played Holmes as a doctor, and in the wake of the almost fetishistically self-aware Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman playing the leads, Elementary had its work cut out for it. For one thing, this seminal British story was airing on US network television. For another, the core premise seemed nothing but a novelty. John Watson, Holmes’ longtime companion, gender-flipped to become Joan. New York swapped for London. Gauche, cried the purists. A cheap trick that was bound to fail.
