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F. Murray Abraham kills someone by hacking his pacemaker to simulate a heart attack. Everyone would think it would be an accident, but Sebastian Moran (Vinnie Jones, playing one of Moriarty's henchmen) happens to notice the story and he alerts Holmes. It seems that the dead man was once on Moran's list of people Moriarty wanted killed.
Holmes deduces that the victim was murdered after being forced to vote to remove the landmark status on a speakeasy museum. The most obvious person to benefit from that gets squashed by an extremely convenient air conditioner, which makes Holmes conclude that they're on the trail of a killer who makes things look like an accident. So now all they need to do is figure out who the person is that would need to be killed, and that leads them to a lawyer than spends her time doing charity work and jogging. She's allergic to bees, which explains the convenient Africanized honeybees that Holmes has noticed in the area.
Holmes and Watson stake out the hive and eventually capture F. Murray Abraham. He says he's not Moriarty; he's just another of his many serial killers. Holmes sets up a phony meeting with F. Murray's boss, and he's able to use the power of high-speed photography to see him. Then he tracks the boss to a hotel room. The boss isn't Moriarty, of course, but he's willing to tell Holmes why Irene had to die. But before he can say anything, he gets killed by a sniper. Oops!
So Holmes and Watson hand F. Murray Abraham over to the police, where he's happy to confess to lots of murders. And then Holmes gets a call from the actual Moriarty, offering to meet him face-to-face. It looks like we're approaching the end of the season over here!
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Elementary: Vinnie Jones was Sebastian Moran, an serial killer with elaborate tactics, but he was not Moriarty. And Holmes tortured him instead of turning him over to the police.
Someone takes notes in a dark room. Someone else walks in talking about the endowment committee. The guy taking notes (it's F. Murray Abraham!) takes his laptop and plays a high-pitched noise that brings the other man to his knees. I did not care for that noise, because I've got just enough tinnitus to dislike it when movies or television shows replicate it on purpose. F. Murray tells the man he hasn't had a heart attack: "I'm doing that to you. Watch." He plays the noise again, and it appears to hurt the man. Apparently if you know a pacemaker's ID number, you can control it externally. With sounds? Isn't a pacemaker buried pretty deep in your chest? F. Murray's point is that he's threatening to program the pacemaker to electrocute this man, and it will look like just a random heart attack. He points to the room and says, "Vote to revoke and I'll be on my way." So the man opens his laptop and goes to the New York City Historical Registry, where there's a ballot. It would be pretty funny if this were just a really elaborate attempt to rig an online poll. The man votes, and then F. Murray electrocutes him. It would probably look even more like an accident if he just switched the pacemaker off, rather than sending thousands of volts through his heart.
Sebastian Moran -- still in prison -- is led into the television room, where he has to stay in chains and has his own bench. This is to convey the idea that he's feared by one and all, but I don't think they need to go to that much effort. He's still Vinnie Jones! He orders someone to change the television from college basketball to soccer. And "not that match. The Arsenal game." As the prisoner switches channels, he passes breaking news: "Philanthropist Van Der Hoff dead of heart attack." Moran has him stay on the news now. The rest of the room is getting impatient, but Moran intimidates them into shutting up.
Brownstone. Holmes wails as he tries to get out of a straitjacket. He has dislocated his own shoulder, which is, in fact, how you do it. And according to Holmes, it hurts. He answers his phone as Watson pops the shoulder back in. She goes to get ice and Holmes talks to Gregson. Moran has suddenly made a new confession, in which he says there are victims he was supposed to kill but never got to. And he wants to give details, but he'll only talk to Holmes. The NYPD put up with sort of thing an awful lot on this show.
Moran gets handcuffed to a table so he can talk to Holmes. He's pretty friendly: "How are you, Sherlock? How are ya?" He warns Holmes that Moriarty has eyes and ears everywhere, and he looks significantly at Will, the guard. He reminds us that he wants revenge because Moriarty set him up to be caught by Holmes. And also because Moriarty sent two goons to shiv him. It'll take more than two goons to take out Vinnie Jones! He has a story about Father Christmas, and Holmes gets impatient. Moran has Will show him a newspaper clipping, which is all about Phillip G. Van Der Hoff. Moran says it was no accident, which doesn't come as a surprise to me because I was paying attention to the opening scene of the episode. It was ordered by "him." Holmes sits down and asks what makes Moran thinks it wasn't an accident. The answer is that Van Der Hoff was supposed to be Moran's target. So finding whoever did it will get Holmes a step closer to Moriarty. Moran adds, "Oh, one more thing. When they ask you what happened here today, keep it quiet." Then, just as Holmes realizes what's happening, Moran kills Will the Guard because he was a witness to the discussion. Will had no idea it was coming because Moran was acting so friendly and normal. Moran sings "My Bonnie" as they take him away.
Back at the police station, Gregson observes that Moran made a "Shh" gesture to Holmes, but Holmes claims that Moran didn't tell him anything. Holmes and Watson leave, but Watson pulls him into the conference room. She has employed her new deductive skills to learn that Holmes was lying. He claims it was a feint to sharpen her deductive skills. Then he shows her Moran's clipping, although he points out that the police station isn't the place to be talking about his lies to the police. He claims he just wants to make sure these are not Moran's paranoid ravings before telling the police. There was no autopsy on Van Der Hoff, since he had a heart condition and had a heart attack. His body was released by the police to the funeral home already. And Holmes knows where the funeral is being held.
So they break into the funeral home, although Holmes thinks the security is so lax, it doesn't even count as breaking in. Watson asks if he's done this before, and he answers, "Well, there was a certain problem of Thor Bridge." This is a reference to the Arthur Conan Doyle story "The Problem of Thor Bridge," but I don't think Holmes actually broke into a funeral home in that story. If I have time, I'll read the story before sending in this recap.
F. Murray adjusts an air conditioner on a windowsill. Then he opens the other window and gets out a stopwatch. He sees Robert Bauman shouting about his company is called "Bauman and Associates," which makes whoever he's shouting at a mere Associate. A pink-haired lady bumps into Bauman, and the air conditioner plummets onto his head. She screams.
Holmes and Watson arrive on the scene. Holmes doesn't think it's a coincidence. Watson thinks it was a stroke of bad luck, which is silly. She can't imagine someone being able to drop something accurately? I admit that I'm impressed that the air conditioner still hit Bauman even though the pink-haired lady changed his path, though.
Brownstone. Watson folds clothes and an air conditioner goes past her window. She's outraged that Holmes was throwing air conditioners off the roof. Holmes points out that he made sure the courtyard was clear, and he hit the X, so it's not that unsafe after all. I don't know why he needed to throw an actual air conditioner. Everything falls at the same rate, so he just needed something about the same size. He figures Bauman was not in charge of the murderous scheming, but he probably facilitated the introductions and got removed before he had to be paid. So there's an untraceable shell corporation behind the plan to develop the speakeasy. Holmes is convinced he's on the track of one of Moriarty's agents, like Moran. But instead of being a weird serial killer, this one specializes in murders that do not appear to be murders. He seems more useful. I'd go with him all the time. I mean, given the choice between "idiosyncratic weirdo who always does the same extremely obvious thing and also has quirks like watching Arsenal games and being Vinnie Jones" and "innocuous guy who makes murders look like accidents so the police don't even look twice at them," I know which one helps my organization work in secret.
Holmes plans to clean up the wreckage of the air conditioning unit, then plan a murder.
Hillary Taggart is the last living relative of Al "The Prawn" Taggart, who ran the Taggart speakeasy. She's also the only one who wants to keep the museum as it stands, so Holmes thinks she's the logical target. She always makes a fuss when the landmark status comes up, so she'll probably get quietly accident-murdered before she does that. See how much easier this is with the accident-murderer? Imagine trying to keep this secret with Moran's ridiculous blood-draining nonsense. Holmes does not want to warn Taggart. He wants to study her in her natural habitat and figure out how to kill her on the theory that then he'll be in the right place to see someone else doing the same thing.
Taggart is jogging. Holmes has done some research, so he knows that Taggart is a lawyer who works at various volunteer efforts. Holmes breaks off and notices something. Then he describes her main hobby as "running laps at the pace of a third-grader with a sprained ankle." Hey, third-graders have a lot of energy. They can cover ground pretty quickly. Watson notes that she has a medical alert bracelet. She speculates that it could be hemophilia (it's rare in females, but it apparently happens) or a nasty allergy. Holmes goes up the stairs and has Watson speculate on what could cause anaphylactic shock. He says he saw an Africanized honey bee. Watson asks, "How do you Africanize something?" In my youth, Africanized honey bees were more commonly known by the much catchier name "killer bees." They're dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as certain movies made it sound. Watson is incredulous that someone would try, as she calls it, "Murder by bee." Holmes finds a newly formed hive in a nearby tree. And there's a convenient box of sugar water to feed the bees. Watson objects that this is a baroque way to kill someone. Well, yeah. Holmes suggests that Taggart could get swiped by lemongrass oil to attract the bees. And even if she has an EpiPen, she'd get overwhelmed by "an army of bee assassins." The box of sugar water is almost empty, suggesting that the person who set the hive up will be back shortly for maintenance. It's time for stakeout!
The stakeout is on a park bench. Watson brings Piroshkies. Yum! She wants to know what the plan is. Holmes admits that he doesn't intend to turn this man over to the police right away. He wants to find out who murdered Irene. But he says he won't use the same tactics as with Moran. What's different now is that before he had made only one significant connection in his life, and that was Irene. But now he's in a partnership. He tells her, "You are an interesting project. And I enjoy watching your progress." The thing that's different about Holmes "is you." Watson gets all soppy about how it's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about her. Holmes can't promise what he'll do when he finds Moriarty, just as he can't promise what he'd do if he found a syringe full of heroin. "In the meantime," he says, "you'll just have to trust my intent." A man shows up to deal with the bees. Holmes promises not to torture him, but he's got a taser to deal with him quickly.
F. Murray is looking at a notebook, which Holmes snatches out of his hands. He says he's with the NYPD and observes that there are notes here about falling air conditioners. F. Murray protests, "You can't arrest me for doing physics!" Holmes ignores this and tells him, "You're gonna help us find your employer." Then: taser!
F. Murray returns to consciousness in Holmes's straitjacket. Also in the Brownstone, but that's not as dramatic. Holmes says F. Murray's name is Daniel Gottlieb, and he's a retired engineer. And he's carried out a number of murders for someone that Holmes is willing to call "Moriarty." Watson says there's information that ties Gottlieb to those last two murders (the pacemaker and the air conditioner). Gottlieb's phone shows that he's received a number of encrypted texts, and Holmes offers to make a bargain. He'll take the phone into the room and send a text to Gottlieb's boss saying there's been a problem and a meeting will be necessary. And then Gottlieb has until they receive a response to tell them everything. They give him a bell to ring when he's ready to talk and go into the room.
Watson is worried about getting Moriarty's attention. And she's so worried that she says she doesn't want tea; she wants a drink. Inappropriate! I realize she's no longer a sober companion, but she still shouldn't be talking wistfully about alcohol in front of Holmes.
Ding. Ding. Gottlieb's ready to talk. But he says, "You're going to be disappointed. I don't know who he is." He says he's killed 31 people, because Moriarty has been active in New York the last few years. Holmes asks how he was recruited? Well, eight years ago, he was doing an environmental survey in the UK. A tall, striking, British person wanted to take him to dinner, because he'd found out Gottlieb was a serial killer. He claimed to be experienced in spotting psychopaths. The man said he spent time in a reform school. And then Gottlieb says, "One more thing. I know you. Your face." He got a text with Holmes's face. He had an accidental overdose all planned, but the job was cancelled. The answering text comes in. It's in code, but Holmes can read it. It arranges a meeting at the Parthenon. Not the one in Greece. And probably not the BDSM house that was the first result in my Google search.
This Parthenon appears to be a diner and one in which all the booths are visible from a car across the street, which is pretty convenient for our heroes. Watson warns that Moriarty must be both brilliant and observant. Not one of Watson's most useful observations. There's a guy with a turban who have food, but Holmes says his wife is pregnant. The guy in the booth is rich, but pretending to be poor. He's got a new manicure and a limited edition watch. He takes off a wig as he gets into his convertible sports car. Watson follows in her less-flashy car.
Their quarry waits at a railroad crossing, then crosses just as the train comes, so they can't follow. But he stops right away and meets with someone on the other side of the train. Holmes uses a fancy camera and takes high-speed pictures through the train cars.
Back at the brownstone, Holmes has printed out all the pictures. He explains that modern cameras are better than the human eye, so some of the pictures have a sliver of the other side of the track visible between the cars. And by cutting out the vertical slivers, he's able to compile them together into a picture of the man their quarry was talking to. He probably could have done that on the computer, right? Anyway, this guy is black. And Gottlieb confirms that's the man he met with.
Holmes wakes up Watson at the computer on the grounds that it's the middle of the workday in Britain. Holmes has a list of all the reform schools in Britain, and he's used his contacts to get some leads. Their new target is John Douglas, who was at the Bodwin Reform School for Boys. His roommate, Randall Breen, was beaten to death by a group of older boys and three of the assailants mysteriously died before John was moved to a different school. He doesn't have an adult record; in fact, since he turned 18, he's not shown up anywhere. Holmes thinks he has a new identity. And probably not "Moriarty" as his only alias.
Watson wakes up in bed with a note from Holmes. It says, "I was closer to the truth than I let on. Off to see what I'd do when presented with a loaded syringe. My apologies for abandoning you as our drama approaches its climax."
The man that Holmes identified as John Douglas is surprised to find Holmes waiting for him. Holmes issues a chipper, "Good morning, John Douglas." He answers, "Holmes!" He sounds pleased to see Holmes. Holmes disassembled his pistol while waiting, because that's more fun than just unloading it. Holmes explains that he has Gottlieb. He found John because he was registered under the name Randall Breen, his old reform school roommate. Holmes asks if Douglas perhaps does business under the name... Moriarty? He denies it. But then he gets helpful: "You want to know about Irene. I didn't kill her. But I know what happened. I could tell you why she had to die." It was because of Holmes. Then Douglas gets shot through the window, so no further information is forthcoming.
Later, the police are swarming the scene. There's a length of red yarn stretching from the hole in the window to the spot where John Douglas was sitting when he got shot. Gregson verifies with Holmes that he was in the room when it happened but had no idea why Douglas got shot. Holmes guesses that someone wanted to interrupt their conversation. Holmes tells Gregson he's going to give the police another Sebastian Moran, and there's someone above him in the organization. Watson comes in and Holmes assures everyone that he's a changed man. Watson looks in the old medical bag that Holmes brought. There's a moment where it seems like the bag might be full of torture devices, but it's really just full of legos. Holmes explains that it needed heft.
Interrogation room. Gottlieb explains, "I just bred an antibiotic-resistant strain of rubella." Well, that sounds perfectly simple. Gregson says he's given up 18 murders so far and doesn't want an attorney. Holmes thinks he's probably just happy to have an audience, since he's been anonymous this whole time. Gottlieb's phone (in Gregson's hand) gets an encoded text, so Holmes goes in to talk to him. Gottlieb says he can't read it because, "That's not the code we used." He thinks Holmes will have to translate it himself.
Holmes goes to Newgate Prison to talk to Moran again. Holmes says John Douglas in the morgue. Moran seems to think Holmes has done good work. Holmes asks for a translation of the text, and Moran mocks him for not doing it himself. He directs Holmes to the incoming text log. Now back to the message. Long, long pause. He says it's not the code they used to use and Holmes says he's lying. As Moran is being led away, Holmes pleads, "Tell me what it says." Moran tells him, "Leave it."
Holmes works on the code. Watson comes in and observes that he hasn't been sleeping. Holmes says he's figured out the theoretical underpinnings of the code, so now he just needs a three-digit sequence. Watson says its 10:17, so he has until 11:00, and if he doesn't have it by then, he'll have to go to sleep. Holmes gets Epiphany Face: "Watson, you know, some people without possessing genius have a remarkable knack for stimulating it." Watson is impressed: "An insult and a boast." Holmes says Moran wanted to look at the list of incoming texts because he was looking at the time the text was sent: 4:32. And then he deciphered the message in his head? Neat.
In his cell, Moran sings My Bonnie again. Except it has Arsenal lyrics, like "Bring back the champions to me" and "Bring back the Arsenal to me." He gets up. Now he starts another Arsenal song, which I take to be the standard Arsenal fight song. Holmes translates the code back at the Brownstone: "Moran, you never told me you had a sister. She dies or you do. Your choice. M." Hmm. Holmes grabs the phone as Moran headbutts the mirror in his cell. Holmes tells Gregson that Moran is going to commit suicide. Too late. He was still alive five minutes ago, but his brain is swelling and he won't last the night.
Watson observes that Moriarty had Holmes bring the message to Moran, and that's twice Moriarty has outsmarted him. She observes, "It seems like maybe you're the game." I'm certain he has figured that out on his own, Watson. You're kind of piling on. Gottlieb's phone rings. Holmes answers while Watson records on her own phone. It's Moriarty, and he believes he and Holmes are overdue for a chat. Here comes the end of the season!
I still don't know what Holmes was doing with that Ken doll in the fireplace. He said it was something about Galileo, then dropped the issue entirely
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.
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