Elementary: Rekt in Real Life

February 23, 2017 1:33 PM - Season 5, Episode 14

Holmes and Watson investigate the murder of a former professional eSports video game player who died after being assaulted in front of his fans during a live video stream.

AV Club smells blood in the water with a C-

posted by CMcG (6 comments total)

Meh, it passed the time. Not a great episode but not a bad one either. I'd give it a B. But it probably says something that, only a few days after viewing, I remember ALL the details of Shinwell's sub-plot, and not even who the murderer was in the main story.
posted by ubiquity at 8:37 AM on February 24, 2017

Another case of Narrowed It Down to the Actor I Recognize (TV Tropes). "Hey, what's Christine Taylor doing as a pro bono lawyer for the most quickly disqualified suspect? Oh..."

I'll say it was "cute" for the reverse Butterfly Effect of climate change opening up the Northwest Passage - interesting feature, but it was only used as a factoid to justify the connection between a lawyer and an Inuit gamer. Also, sealfies are so 2014 ;).

Last thought - I felt that someone didn't put much thought into the Captain's niece wanting to play O.G. Pwnzr:

- "He's been playing forever, so he knows all the tricks. He's gonna be at the VGU Open this weekend. I'm gonna play him. I'm gonna kick his ass."
Later ...
- "You know, their reflexes slow down, they get this thing with their thumbs where it locks from doing the same motion over and over and over... That's what O.G. got, so he switched from playing tournaments to streaming."

So she's excited to beat an older guy who has problems with his thumbs?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:22 AM on February 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Kinda with the AV Club on this episode: it felt like there was just too much stuff crammed into the A-plot. E-sports and sex trafficking and Inuit culture and...

Another case of Narrowed It Down to the Actor I Recognize

Ah, but the sleazy team manager was played by James Kyson, who's very recognizable as Ando from Heroes.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:36 AM on February 24, 2017

Whereas I had my money on Kathy Najimi from the moment her name appeared in the opening credits. So they had some red herrings this time.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 8:41 AM on February 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

I do agree that there were enough recognizable actors cast as suspects to keep the murderer's identity from being completely obvious from her first appearance. But, yeah, just a time-passer of an episode, nothing particularly interesting character-wise.

I think the thing that really annoys me about this being such a weak season is that it's airing at a time when a lot of people got fed up with how bonkers bad BBC Sherlock ended; I saw a lot of "Come to Elementary for some good Holmes/Elementary is the real Sherlock" kind of posts floating after that finale, but anyone who tunes in at random this season was likely tune right off. Or just assume that the Elementary fandom is bitter or deluded or something.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:07 AM on February 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm at the point with this series that I can't even finish an episode. I still record them and watch the first 20 minutes but I think I'm officially over it. Actually, lately I can't even make 20 minutes.
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 7:33 PM on February 25, 2017