Elementary: Miss Taken

January 8, 2016 5:40 AM - Season 4, Episode 7

Watson is furious when she learns that her stepfather has written a novel based on her work with Holmes; a retired FBI agent is murdered.
posted by oh yeah! (12 comments total)

Call me crazy, but a stepfather writing RP slash-fic of his own daughter is mind-bogglingly creepy, and I'm baffled at the show for having Joan forgive him so rapidly.

The mystery was interesting - though, can you test for DNA on shaved hair? I thought you needed the root follicle for there to be a viable sample, not clippings.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:49 AM on January 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

Seconding creepy. Maybe he did it tastefully? Fade-to-black style? Still creepy.
posted by amtho at 9:29 AM on January 8, 2016

I liked that last confrontation between Sherlock and "Cassie". He seemed genuinely interested in her as an object of study (both for herself and also for casting light on how Moriarty came into being). I took that last abrupt departure as "Well, I'm done here for now, maybe I'll go do some more research." He'll be back.
posted by Mogur at 12:14 PM on January 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

solves 3 cold cases in a matter of a few hours.
Finds a women that has been missing for many years with a single phone call

Sherlock is not to be messed with
posted by 2manyusernames at 1:21 PM on January 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

"It's hardly the first time I've inspired a writer, Watson. I am actually the basis for several fictional characters across various media." Heh.

"You used to be my friend. And I ruined that. The book is just my way of dealing with it. It let me be close to you again. Thinking of you having sex with your partner was just a bonus. I mean, sex sells, Joanie."

Take out the sex scenes and I can give you a pass, but making love beneath a footbridge in Central Park? What are they, horny teenagers?
posted by filthy light thief at 9:32 PM on January 8, 2016

I liked that last confrontation between Sherlock and "Cassie". He seemed genuinely interested in her as an object of study (both for herself and also for casting light on how Moriarty came into being). I took that last abrupt departure as "Well, I'm done here for now, maybe I'll go do some more research." He'll be back.

Yeah! I feel like Elementary is starting to make its villains of the week have a creepy, memorable attribute (the murderer who turned his victim into a teaching skeleton and now an off the charts disturbed liar), which is fantastic in a show that is always in danger of falling into a rut or Cassie is more than a one off, which would be great since I think they did a great job of making her a unique villain and exceedingly dangerous.

Call me crazy, but a stepfather writing RP slash-fic of his own daughter is mind-bogglingly creepy, and I'm baffled at the show for having Joan forgive him so rapidly.

Totally agree, I don't understand what the thinking was unless it is the start of some plot line. Maybe it is suppose to be off putting and just didn't work right? Like to subtly nod towards some aspect of Joan's personality/nature the way Morland speaks to Sherlock's nature? It just seems so totally off from how the show usually is.
posted by humans are superior! at 12:27 AM on January 9, 2016

I wasn't disturbed by the stepfather plotline at all, perhaps I'm imagining a far more conservative depiction of "made love" than the rest of you, and imagining that most of the book was *not* about sex.

Also can someone tell me what "RP" stands for here? I am hesitant to google it and I don't think it's "Received Pronunciation" or "Reverse Polish".

I loved Cassie, she was almost a better Moriarty than Moriarty. I was ready to believe her "They killed their own daughter" story, although it didn't quite hold up.

can you test for DNA on shaved hair? I thought you needed the root follicle for there to be a viable sample, not clippings.

I imagine if one was forcibly attacked and held down while someone shaved their head quickly, they would probably end up with a few follicles here and there.
posted by mmoncur at 1:16 AM on January 11, 2016

RP = Real Person, i.e. someone writing Liu/Miller slash as opposed to Joan/Sherlock fic.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:10 AM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

OMG Cassie was amazing. That was some seriously good acting. I believed every story she told.

And I maintain that Jonny Lee Miller simply kills at being this character in part because of the awesome non-verbal acting he does, especially his facial expressions. That look he gives Cassie at the end.
posted by biscotti at 4:19 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

I liked that last confrontation between Sherlock and "Cassie". He seemed genuinely interested in her as an object of study (both for herself and also for casting light on how Moriarty came into being). I took that last abrupt departure as "Well, I'm done here for now, maybe I'll go do some more research." He'll be back.

Yeah, that last scene gave me the feeling that we will be seeing Cassie again in a future episode.
posted by homunculus at 4:43 PM on January 11, 2016

Apparently this was based on the real case of Frédéric Bourdin, who took the identity of missing San Antonio teen Nicholas Barclay. Although Bourdin had brown eyes and a French accent, he convinced Barclay's family he was their blue-eyed son, and lived with them for almost five months until a local private investigator compared a photo of Bourdin's ears to Barclay's ears, and discovered that they did not match.
posted by ubiquity at 11:44 AM on March 23, 2016

I think The Dollop podcast did an episode about Bourdin - it sounded like it wasn't so much that Bourdin was a brilliant imposter but that the missing boy had been murdered by one of his relatives, so they went along with the sham so as not to admit that they knew he was dead and incriminate themselves. (Similar to one of Cassie's stories)
posted by oh yeah! at 3:58 PM on March 23, 2016