- When Holmes and Watson join forces on a double homicide, Sherlock's new apprentice, Kitty, threatens the investigation when she allows her jealousy of Sherlock and Joan's work rapport to override her better judgment.
- "Elementary" - "The Five Orange Pipz" - Nov. 6, 2014
At the precinct house, Gregson is talking to Kitty as Sherlock watches outside. Bell is,in turn, watching Sherlock. He can't believe he's really back. Sherlock explains Gregson is vetting Kitty before she becomes Sherlock's assistant on NYPD cases. As they wait, Sherlock notes that he solved one of Bell's cold cases for him-- which was in a file in a drawer.
We cut to a man coming home to his kitchen. In his mail is an envelope that when opened out falls five little orange caplets. He makes a panicked phone to tell someone that he has been "found" but Gregson answers the man's phone, because that man is dead and he is standing in his crime scene. As Gregson talks to the first man, on speaker, he and everyone in the room hear him being shot. We see that on the desk where the dead man is slumped over another little pile of those orange thingies.
It turns out the orange thingies were part of a cheapo kids toy called Pipz. (Note: Gladys Knight not included.) The problem with the Pipz was that those little orange things were made improperly, with a chemical agent that managed to turn the little pieces into what amounted to GHB. Since they were tiny parts of a kids toy of course kids ate them and then, as happens when kids eat poison, kids got sick and four even died. The first man, who had been "found" was the inventor, the second man, Fordham, was his lawyer. The inventor of Pipz had skipped bail after being charged with murder and was in hiding and the lawyer was helping him hide.
Because Joan was working with Gregson when he was at the second crime scene the case brings her and Sherlock, and Kitty, together. They work with the bodies while Kitty goes over the crime scene with Bell. He tries to talk to her but she is rudely silent to him. And at one point when she about to step into a pool of blood he grabs her arm and she angrily shakes him off in a way that would no doubt make Taylor Swift proud.
In a conversation with an FBI agent who was working the case, Bowdoin, he can't think of anyone beyond the parents of the dead kids who would have had a motive to kill them.
At the crime scene Kitty notices the zip code on the package that held the orange thingies came from the town where one of the parents lived.
They go to speak to him and he seems legit shocked the men were murdered but also has a terrible alibi as he was alone. We learn he lost not only his child but his wife and job in the crushing aftermath. He is mad the police think he is a suspect.
Back at the brownstone Kitty listens to loud music and paints furniture in the living room without opening a window. Sherlock is not amused and says Watson was more attuned to his sensitivities. She points out that she is not Watson and is miffed she wasn't asked to take part in the questioning of the dad who was "her" suspect. Sherlock tells her he thinks the man is innocent and the packages being sent from his zip code smell like a frame job.
The father comes in the next day and confesses. Except no one believes he did it since they're now going with the frame-up theory. Sherlock goes to see him in lock up and questions his confession. The man says he doesn't have to tell Sherlock anything about the murders. Sherlock thinks this is because he doesn't actually know anything about them and the murder weapon was planted in his house. The man says even if he was being framed he'd take it because at least in his ex-wife's eyes this would have the appearance of him doing something to avenge their child's death.
Watson goes to Bell to ask him to investigate traffic accidents since the dead man had old bruises consistent with getting hit by a car. Bell asks what she thinks of Kitty. Watson says she's still getting to know her. Bell says she's intense. He notes that Watson kept Sherlock stable which is not a word he'd associate with Kitty.
Kitty, Watson and Sherlock go to meet the U.S. Attorney, Angela White, who was investigating the Pipz case. Kitty is mad Watson is there. White says she has no other leads. Sherlock wants to see the FBI surveillance footage and she declines over matters of confidentiality. Kitty butts in and says they'll find find things her office can't and basically accuses he her of being the murderer and they are they are tossed out. She immediately apologizes kinda to Sherlock outside who reads her the riot act and essentially calls her stupid. He reminds her that it's not a competition with Watson. Kitty is mad since Sherlock gave her real work in London and now she's on the sidelines watching the Holmes and Watson show. He says it's for her benefit to observe them work together. She also is confused as to why they're bothering since the two guys who got killed were "scumbags" and the father wants to confess. Sherlock is frustrated that he needs to make a case both for solving the riddle and also, you know, serving justice to a killer still on the loose.
Bell goes to Watson about a traffic accident and they discover the van driver hit the lawyer a few weeks previously but the lawyer ran away. He also tells them he saw the US attorney was with the dead lawyer.
They go back to White and she denies it saying the driver was confused since she's on the news a lot. They also note, however, that her political star was on the rise and she was a shoo in to run for Congress and this case was an embarrassment to her reputation with the Pipz dude on the lam. They basically accuse her of the murders and again she kicks them out.
While working on the case at the precinct Watson tells Sherlock she ran a background check on Kitty who seems to have records going back only 5 years. She figures Sherlock knew this. He did. She asks if she is a criminal. He says she is not and changes the subject back to the case. They decide to go back to the original FBI guy, Bowdoin, who, after asking for immunity admits that Angela was meeting with the lawyer. It turns out her case against the Pipz guy fell apart when a file box with all the crucial evidence mysteriously disappeared. When the lawyer realized this through discovery, he started blackmailing White. But he figured it would be better to have a future congresswoman in his pocket so they cooked up the disappearance.
They go back to White who admits she was being blackmailed but had nothing to do with murders and flips back on Bowdoin. They go back to his place and, of course, he's gone.
Sherlock and Joan work the case and Kitty literally has to squeeze between them to look at the evidence wall. She asks some good questions but eventually gives up and leaves saying she wants to give them their space.
Sherlock hands Joan a file about Kitty's past. It turns out she was the victim of a violent crime and didn't want Joan to know and be defined by her victimhood. Gregson had to know to sign off on her. Watson says she is sorry for whatever happened to her but doesn't open the file. Sherlock says he wants to mentor her by helping her channel her residual anger into a productive skill.
They track down Bowdoin after they figure out why he wanted the case to be over with already: Once it was, the surplus Pipz would be released by the Feds and he promptly scooped them up to distribute on the black market since the pieces are technically drugs. They bust him with a truck full of the discarded toys.
When it's over Sherlock tells Kitty she asked good questions and is sorry she didn't stick around to see him and Watson hit upon the solution and says she needs to be more patient.
Later, in a conference room at the precinct she is nice to Joan. Joan tells her Sherlock gave her the file but she didn't look at it. Kitty tells her just to read it, that she actually wants her too and that it will give Joan a better sense of her. Joan goes home and reads it. (We don't see what is in it.)
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