Beech Tree News Network

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the creator of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most famous detective in all of literary fiction.  Sherlock Holmes was originally Sherrinford.  The name was altered to Sherlock, possibly because of a cricket player who bore the name.  Sir Doyle was a cricket fan, and the name “Sherlock” appears to have struck his memory.  

On September 27, 2012, a show called Elementary had its series premiere.  The show cast Jonny Lee Miller(from Eli Stone-remember that show?) and Lucy Liu(Charlie’s Angels movie franchise) as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson, respectively.  For die-hard fans of the show(like me) and of the original series of books, you know the story.  Sherlock, the recovering heroine addict turned consultant for the NYPD and former doctor Joan Watson(who is John Watson in the classic story), brother Mycroft Holmes, criminal mastermind Moriarity ( male in the books, female in the show), his father Morland Holmes(only present-day tv character-well, until his character died two weeks ago.  

In the span of these 7 years, Sherlock has fallen off the wagon, gotten back on the wagon, lost his friend Shinwell(a fellow recovering addict) and FBI informant,  who was stabbed in the back by a member of SBK, the crime syndicate they were trying to take down that season.  Shinwell Johnson is based on a character from the Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.  

Jamie Moriarity first made Sherlock fall in love with her.  They soon would have a love-hate thing that continues all the way to, I’m guessing, the series finale Thursday night.  The villain for this final season is tech billionaire Odin Reichenbach.  Played by James Frain,   Odin has been a creepy addition.  Almost as creepy as Sherlock’s foe from last season, Michael Rowan (played by Desmond Harrington) in 7 episodes.  Rowan was a serial killer who posed as a recovering addict to befriend Sherlock.  He eventually showed up at Shelock’s Brownstone apartment for help solving a murder(that he committed, by the way).  Rowan was eventually killed.  Sherlock and Watson were prime suspects, hence why they fled to his home countr6y of England to consult there.  They only returned when they received word that the Captain, Tommy Gregson, played by Aiden Quinn, had been shot.  They returned to New York and the Odin story arch began.  

I’ve followed this show from its moves to Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and back to Thursday night.  I don’t think I’ve missed an episode in its 7 year run.  That’s a credit to the writers, cast and crew.  They might’ve had their lulls. In the end, Elementary was quite a show.  I guess the next show to leave the air will be Modern Family.  I’ll talk about that in a few months.