We’ve all probably watched too many Sherlock Holmes-based movies and TV shows to count – I know I have – but this one caught my attention when it was recommended to me. If you were a fan of the BBC series, Sherlock, there is a chance you might like this iteration of the great detective from the mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Elementary sets Sherlock Holmes in modern-day New York City, fresh out of rehab, living with his new sober companion, former doctor Joan Watson (yes, it’s Joan Watson, not John Watson, played by the incredible Lucy Liu). Sherlock continues his old job of assisting the NYPD while learning to stay clean from drugs, attending Drug Addicts Anonymous, and dealing with Joan, who follows him everywhere he goes. He decides to teach Joan his trade and starts a strong partnership and friendship that is further cemented by each season. Even when they hit bumps and have major disagreements, they end up finding that working together has been one of the best things that has happened in their lives. Sherlock makes Joan a better detective, opening her mind to the improbable, and Joan teaches Sherlock how to be an empathetic person, a person capable of admitting his own faults. Sherlock learns to stop completely relying on himself and opens himself up to a few close friendships, in and outside of his work. As much as it is about solving cases, this show is about friendships, and how important and meaningful they can be.
One of my favorite parts of this series is the enduring platonic love that Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes have. You can see as the show progresses that they learn to rely on and trust each other’s judgments. In Elementary, Sherlock acknowledges that Joan is quite a brilliant detective on her own, unlike other versions of Watson, shown as being the less intelligent sounding board to Holmes’s genius. During the third season, she opens her own successful private investigator practice while assisting the police. They live together for much of the time on the series, making it easier to solve cases when both of them are talking it through and piecing the evidence together. I love the special ways Sherlock creates to wake Joan up, such as using the pet turtle, Clyde, dressed in a shark costume sitting on top of her, or using the phrase “Wake up, Watson” in Morse code. The biggest show of affection to Watson was naming a new species of bee he discovered after her, euglassia watsonia. Their love and trust for each other is something that is so inspirational. Lovers come and go, but friendships stand the test of time.
All seven seasons are available to stream on Hulu. The game is afoot.
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