Well folks, another week another mystery to solve in this episode of Elementary. Ready?
“Red Light, Green Light” began with a quick run down of events that have happened. (I like these because it sets a theme for the episode.) The rundown mentioned that since Captain Gregson was shot, Captain Dwyer stepped in to watch over the 11th, and his own, until Gregson recovers. Funny enough, they also mentioned Halcon, a gang mob that was introduced in season 5. Then, the show a quick recap of last week’s episode with Patrick Mees and Tim Bledsoe.
We begin episode 4 with Sherlock standing in front of a casket. Captain Dwyer approaches Sherlock and says nice things about “Tommy.” Immediately, my heart drops. I question if I’ve missed an episode because HOW DID GREGSON DIE? But of course, Sherlock begins his monologue and talks his way out of this recurring bad dream.
Gregson is awake, and Sherlock finds himself in the hospital. Gregson had asked for both Sherlock and Joan, so I guess it was time for these two to have their ‘talk.’ It was hard seeing Gregson on the hospital bed, filled with wires and cords, weak and vulnerable. I’m sure the intensity of his injuries added to the emotional factor of this scene. Gregson thanked him for not “pulling the plug” and Sherlock stumbled along. They put it all in the past, and the gang is finally back together again!
We began tonight’s mystery with a big rig and three women walking down the street. A white transport van crashes into the big rig, blowing the light, and one of the women, a nurse, tries to help them. The driver is unconscious, the passenger escapes, and BOOM. What a smashing entrance, right?
*cue theme song* Bum bum, ba da bum, bum BUM.
What an explosive night
The van was used to be a VBED – vehicle born explosive device fueled by gasoline. The driver was killed, along with the woman who tried to help the driver. The passenger ran, and the explosion happened. Detective Bell mentions Patrick Meers, and Joan questions if it’s connected. Meanwhile, Sherlock observes the victim, confirms that the dark marks on the person was tattoos. He confirms that this is the work of Mara Tres, and not one of a terrorist group. To confirm, Sherlock means to ask Halcon.
Joan and Gregson then speak about Meers, walking through Gregson abotu the events after he was shot. Gregson tells Joan that he wasn’t shot until 24 hours later, different than the story Meers confessed with. It doesn’t make sense to Joan, and she plans to retrace some steps to find out why.
Overlord
Sherlock meets with Halcon, now known as Danny. After Danny’s sister passed in Season 5, he went through the right channels and bought his way out. He looks different, tattoo free, and is now a coach. Sherlock relays the bombing incident, asking for details from Danny, but Danny refuses. He doesn’t want to get involved, and I wouldn’t blame him. After some coercing, Danny finds out that the van was skimming fuel to sell later on.
Sherlock and Joan bring the Terror Task Force aprise of the recent events. They lay out the different facts, and drop the bomb (pun intended) and accuse them to be behind the bombing. And as the acting captain is questioning Sherlock and Joan’s sanity, Detective Bell says that one of the task team, FBI Agent Dia stayed and says that she agrees with their thoughts. She tells them that the lights were rigged for a getaway, and Sherlock deducts that it wasn’t the van that they should be looking at, but the big rig instead. Agent Dia offers them a hacker that hacked the traffic lights before, “Overlord.”
Sherlock tracks down Overlord, and contacts his handler. Together, they look through the various Department of Traffic camera files to trail through the day. Sherlock interviews the driver of the truck, to try to find out what he was hauling, but he didn’t know. Sherlock and Detective Bell then goes backwards, to the construction company. It turned out that the cargo was elevators, for a current project. Bell realizes that the driver’s son in law is involved with Mara Tres.
Bell calls Sherlock to let him know of the Mara Tres involvement, but that is a dead end because Sherlock is in the morgue with the gunned down Mara Tres member. Halcon calls Sherlock with some information. The Mara Tres member was gunned down because of the crash. But Sherlock doesn’t believe that it’s just as simple as that. He believes that there is someone more powerful calling the shots.
Game Over
Bell and Sherlock meet with the victim’s father in law. They accuse him of having an inside man at the company that manufactures the elevators. They also accuse him of setting the whole operation up. He tries to dodge their accusations, but all it took was a simple phone call to the burner phone, which happened to be in his drawer. Convenient, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, Joan follows the clues on Meers. She visits Meers in lock up. He doesn’t stray from his initial confession. He denies protecting anyone. When that doesn’t lead to anything, Joan visits Meers’ wife. Joan talks to her about what he does, his behaviors, when she mentions a video game. Joan turns on the game and notices that he only has one friend. Joan tries to connect with the friend, but is then blocked.
Meers’ wife pays hi a visit in jail, and tells him of Joan’s visit. She confesses that she showed Joan his video games and asks if that’s how he communicates with “them.” He does and tells her that she now has to be brave.
Side Note
I enjoyed this episode. It had a good problem to solve that brought back so many previous’ seasons’ components. It’s awesome that this was the episode that Jonny Lee Miller directed. If anyone has a good grasp of how episodes should go, it would be him.
What did you think, fellow sober companions? Tell us in the comments below!
Elementary airs Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS.
