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Holmes is finally on the track of Moriarty! Except really what's going on is that Moriarty is making Holmes jump through hoops, so this is mostly just another complicated case for Holmes to solve. But it's broken up by taunting phone calls from Moriarty, so it feels special. And there's a subplot about Gregson trying to get Watson out of harm's way, but she treats this as the gender-based insult it clearly is. She's an adult who has chosen this line of work.
Wallace Rourke is a mechanic who was killed in a mugging. But Moriarty says he was murdered, and Holmes has to find out who did it. They go to his widow and get permission to go through all of his old junk. That's a natural first step in any investigation, you know. They establish that he'd recently changed phones, and his new phone came from a security company owned by Darren Sutter. Sutter says they only followed him for a couple of days, so that's that.
Except that Holmes has read Sutter's book, the magnificent bastard! He decides that he killed Rourke because Rourke killed his sister twenty years earlier. And the guy confesses, so everything's fine! Except that Moriarty says that he has to keep digging, so Holmes then realizes Rourke didn't really do it. So what's the deal?
Watson finds the answer, which is that Sutter's wife convinced him to kill Rourke so he'd get that sweet, sweet hit of revenge. So she's dragged off to jail as well. It's not a terribly satisfying ending, so it's a good thing we've still got Moriarty around. He promises to give Holmes all the answers he seeks. So Holmes and Watson go to a great big white house. And inside, they find...Irene Adler! She's alive or something!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Moriarty contacted Holmes. Finally! Holmes is willing to chat with him and asks if he has a first name. Moriarty ignores this (because if he's suddenly named "Steve Moriarty," it takes away some of the mystique) and expects Holmes to be angry that he got manipulated so easily. Moriarty explains that manipulating people is his business. Well, that and murder. He's at the center of a metaphorical web, and his agents are "numerous and splendidly organized." He just does the planning, you see. Holmes says he's a pimp, and assassins are his girls. I would watch that television show. Then he asks if Moriarty had Irene Adler killed. "That is the question" is not a useful answer, in my opinion. He won't answer questions until Holmes works for him.
So Moriarty has a challenge for Homes: Wallace Rourke was murdered in Brooklyn. And Moriarty says, "Bring his killer to justice, and I promise I'll give you all the answers you can handle." Holmes's expression is a combination of anger and determination. We're off!
Holmes looks up the case online, which is a logical place to start. Rourke was a 43-year-old mechanic. When his body was found, he was missing a wallet and a watch, so the police assumed it was a mugger. But that seems unlikely, since Moriarty's interested in the case. Watson protests the way Holmes is throwing himself headlong into doing Moriarty's bidding, so Holmes shows off what he's already learned about Moriarty from one short conversation: He's a male aged 40-45, he's from Sussex, and he has some connection to Wallace Rourke. Holmes figures there will be more interactions with Moriarty, and every one of them will be a chance to learn more about him. And even if the man he's talking to turns out to not be Moriarty, he'll be learning about a minion who's close to him. And it's not really that dangerous, in his opinion. Moriarty probably doesn't want him dead because he's passed up the opportunity twice.
Police station. Holmes is doing some research in the conference room. So far, he's learned that Rourke was married. Gregson wants to talk to Watson in his office. Alone. This is unusual, but Holmes doesn't mind being left alone. Gregson says he has a friend named Eddie who invented a widget that saved passwords. Well, that's neat. Then Eddie moved to Boca Raton and his daughter Kelly got all drugged up. So would Watson be interested in sober-companioning her? Watson declines, but she offers to give him some names of people who are actually sober companions because she's an investigator now. I like how she shut this down immediately.
Holmes and Watson interview Mrs. Rourke, who says her husband knew no one named Moriarty. Wallace was a common mechanic, and "a couple Dominican guys" is as close as he got to knowing anyone British. He'd thought he was being followed a few weeks before he was killed, but the police dismissed it. She has some of her husband's stuff in the room, explaining that Wallace was a pack rat.
She asks if there's a new lead that brings them here, and Holmes says that new eyes can be just as useful as new information. I guess that's true. Hasn't she ever seen Cold Case Files? I mean, not there's anything wrong with her if she hasn't. I certainly haven't. Mrs. Rourke doesn't think they'll get anywhere, but it's okay with her if they take his stuff. Watson finds Rourke's old phone. The wife says that a few weeks before he died, someone bumped into him on the street and spilled coffee all over it, so he had to get a new one. Then, as required by law, she says, "Please find whoever did this."
Holmes says Rourke was poor, but the two assassins they know about were paid very well. Watson puts stuff on a chalkboard. I think it's funny that they always put clippings up on a vertical surface, but it's rarely the same thing twice. It's an interesting mix between having a routine and mixing it up. Watson says the autopsy report shows two smooth wounds under the ribs in front. And they're so smooth that he must have been motionless when he was stabbed. Or frozen in fear. But Holmes says he was a former Army ranger. He points to a bruise under his left ear, which immobilized him. Then one stab to each lung. Not a street thug, then. So Moriarty was right. Holmes changes tacks: "And now, I require sustenance!"
Holmes looks through the cupboard for food. Watson almost asks him a question, then he makes her commit. She wants to know what Irene was like. Holmes is thrown. He says she was American. But, "I held it against her only briefly." She was a painter who restored Renaissance paintings for a living. And she was optimistic about the human condition. Holmes says, "With Irene, it seemed almost convincing." Then he quotes from the Arthur Conon Doyle stories: "She was, to me, The Woman. To me, she eclipsed and predominated the whole of her gender. The only one I ever, um..." He trails off. Then he says, in a loud voice, "And the sex!" Watson cuts him off. Holmes finds an envelope with a shipping label for Rourke's new phone. His phone was shipped from Lexington Avenue, while a proper phone would have been shipped from upstate. So someone was using that phone to track him.
Holmes and Watson are in a lobby. Holmes reads Friend or Foe: Assessing the risks of everyday life by Darren Sutter. That's just The Gift of Fear, right? Holmes is not impressed, since the book appears to just say that if your gut says you're in trouble, you're probably in trouble. Take that, Gavin de Becker! Watson says Darren Sutter runs one of the biggest security firms around. And that's where they are now. Darren comes up with his wife Kate. Holmes observes that Darren is a third-degree black belt in a particular martial arts discipline. Then he asks why his firm was tracking Wallace Rourke. Holmes's theory is that Rourke's old phone was ruined by an operative, and when he ordered a new one, his actual phone was intercepted. Then Sutter sent him a similar one. Watson explains that the phone was sent from a place around the corner. Sutter gives it right up and says they surveilled Rourke for a couple of days. They were investigating him based on claims of threats by a client. Watson asks who the client was, but that's confidential.
Walking out, Holmes says he doesn't buy it. He thinks Sutter is the murderer. Twist!
Back at the brownstone, Holmes explains that Sutter's book is "a virtual confession," although it was written five years before the murder. He directs Watson to page 13. Sutter's older sister Leah was murdered when he was 23 in 1991. The police believed it was a home invasion, and Sutter got home just when the man left. He saw the man's face and gave them a detailed sketch, and it looks just like Wallace Rourke. And after Leah died, he became obsessed with security and that particular type of karate, which incidentally uses mastoid strikes that cause a bruise under the left ear and causes momentary paralysis. So did Rourke kill Leah twenty years ago? Watson starts by wonders if Rourke had a police record. Well, he was convicted for breaking and entering, then entered the army instead of going to jail. He got out of the army in 1990 and moved to Stamford Connecticut, 30 minutes from Leah. Watson wonders why Moriarty cares about this whole deal, and Holmes thinks Moriarty might want Sutter's company to take a PR hit to get it out of the way for one of his schemes. Watson wrings her hands about how they could hurt someone by cooperating with Moriarty. Holmes thinks he can deal with Moriarty before Sutter gets in trouble.
Watson gets another text from Gregson encouraging her to go to Boca. Weird.
Holmes meets Sutter in a park. He sweeps Sutter for bugs and offers his bug-sweeping device to Sutter. Sutter does a perfunctory job. He's not as detail-oriented as someone in his profession ought to be. Holmes opens the conversation: "Now, then. I'm curious. How do you feel since you killed Wallace Rourke?" Sutter starts to leave, and Holmes says Sutter's depression (which he diagnosed from some pictures from a few years ago) has lifted since Rourke was killed. Holmes tells Sutter he's a terrible liar. Sutter claims to be excellent so Holmes can irritably correct him: "Excellent and 'better than most' are two different things." Holmes asks if the name Moriarty means anything to him, and Sutter says he's never heard it before. Holmes says he'll need all of Sutter's client files, but Sutter isn't willing to do that. There's no proof of his guilt anywhere. Holmes says Moriarty probably has a listening device in Sutter's home or office. And when Sutter says they sweep both regularly, Holmes pounces. If the sweeps are regular, then it's not that hard to remove and replace the bugs to avoid them. Holmes says to sweep for bug today, ahead of schedule, then contact him. He wants to track Moriarty before turning Sutter in.
Gregson's office. Watson asks if he's trying to get rid of her. She feels he's pushing her toward Boca because he doesn't like having her around. He says she's turning into a pretty damn good investigator in her own right. However, "In case you haven't noticed, a lot of bodies dropping around our boy of late." Watson points out that Gregson's also in danger. He says he carries a gun. She mutters, "And a penis." I think she's got a point. She says Holmes needs her. Gregson feels that Holmes will always need someone, since he's the most self-absorbed person in the world. He thinks Holmes probably doesn't even recognize the danger Watson is in. Then Bell comes in and says Darren Sutter is here to confess to murder.
In the interrogation chamber, Sutter says he recognized Rourke immediately. Holmes tells Watson that Sutter probably found the bugs, so now Sutter knows someone can prove murder and wants to get out ahead of it. Holmes figures Moriarty will be contacting them soon, since he did what he was supposed to.
Brownstone. Holmes kicks a soccer ball against the wall impatiently. If he were in England, it would be a football, but here it's a soccer ball. Watson thinks Moriarty isn't necessarily going to call. Holmes asks if her mysterious conversation with Gregson was a continuation of her one. Then the phone rings.
Moriarty congratulates Holmes. Holmes explains the plot as he understands it: Wallace Rourke killed Leah Sutter in 1991, and Darren Sutter killed Rourke in 2013. Or whatever year the show is set in. But he's wrong: Moriarty says Wallace Rourke had an alibi. His mail went to Connecticut, but he was in Saudi Arabia doing off-the-books work for an American oil company. He came back in March 1991, after Leah's death. Sutter, says Moriarty, killed the wrong man. "And your work is far from done. Finish it." In a regular episode, Holmes would have to find out for himself that he did something wrong. But this time, Moriarty can just announce that he still has work to do.
Watson tries to sleep on the couch, and Holmes wakes her up by flicking the light on and off. He says he gave her 107 minutes of sleep, which is just enough for one cycle. Now I hate him. Holmes says has been unable to prove that Rourke was not in Saudi Arabia. He had no financial activity in that period. But there are medical records showing that he got malaria and typhoid medicine, and he got a vaccination suggesting he was preparing to go to Saudi Arabia. And there was a $30,000 payment from a shell company in April 1991, which could well be payment. Watson complains that their assignment was to find Rourke's killer, not Leah's. Fair point! I think they've done what Moriarty asked.
But back to Leah: there were unidentified partial fingerprints on her door. They could belong to anyone, but could also be her killer's. And they were not a match for Rourke. So Moriarty might be right. Watson suggests that Moriarty set Sutter up to kill the wrong person. But Holmes insists that the face is etched on Sutter's brain, since he said in the book that he saw the murderer's face. Watson thinks his memory could have been influenced, and Holmes gets very insistent that this is something you never forget. He means Irene. That's too bad because I like the idea of someone spending twenty years slowly influencing Sutter's memory using Darren Brown-style tricks. Like you'd talk about pointy chins a lot, and then Sutter would remember a pointy chin.
Suddenly, Holmes announces that the taste in his mouth is horrid, so he goes up and brushes his teeth. Watson comes into the bathroom and Holmes checks to see if she had asparagus. She didn't, but she's still not going to pee in front of him. She wonders why Moriarty is making Holmes jump through all these hoops. If he got in the way, why not kill him? Or just work your schemes so they don't touch him? And why kill Irene? She asks Holmes if he's afraid of Moriarty. He overthinks it: "I find fear to be an unproductive filter with which to view the world. It dampens my powers of observation." Watson tells him to answer like a normal human being. She reminds him, "There are ways to hurt you that do not involve hurting... you."
Holmes tells Watson she has to undergo risks in this job, but he will never allow any harm to come to you. "Not ever." She says, "You can't promise that." Holmes answers, "And yet I have."
Holmes says they'll split up to do more damage. He'll go talk to Darren Sutter, while Watson gets the wife so she can press for the firm's client list.
Prison. Sutter insists that Rourke killed his sister. He's absolutely certain it's the same man, so Holmes must be wrong. Holmes admits that the evidence that Rourke was out of the country isn't ironclad. Sutter says Holmes is being played, and Holmes acknowledges the possibility. Sutter says he's not lying.
Watson plays Kate Sutter recording of Moriarty's voice, and Kate doesn't recognize it. And their clients need to trust their discretion, so she's not handing over the list under any circumstances. Yeah, privacy is kind of their main selling point. She insists that Darren saw Wallace Rourke's face that night: "There's no way he would make a mistake like that." His life changed when Leah was murdered. Watson asks when she first met Darren, and Kate says it was at a candlelight vigil for Leah. Watson says that sounds complicated. Kate is sad that Darren's in jail, but she's happy he found some peace at last.
Brownstone. Watson comes home and calls for Holmes. He's sitting on the desk, staring at the chalkboard. Neither of them got anywhere, so Holmes got a list of threats to Darren Sutter that Bell had lying around. And everyone knew about his obsession with his sister's killer because it was in his book. Holmes looks bad, and he claims he's been sitting for too long. Then he springs up and knocks the board down. He's very twitchy and is hyperventilating. He insists, "I cannot come up empty-handed." Watson gently suggests that he eat something while she cleans up.
And while she does so, her eyes fall upon. Before I finish that sentence, I'd like to point out that I wrote the first part before Holmes even left the room. This show is very fond of having Watson pick up the evidence and accidentally notice something important. This time, what she notices is a picture of Darren and Kate smiling.
Holmes eats cereal while staring into the distance. Watson says she knows this is very hard for him. She points out that Darren Sutter is like Holmes (in that he's obsessed with a murdered lady), but he's at peace now. What if he was tricked into doing it by someone who wanted to lift him up, rather than frame him? Holmes considers this.
The police (Gregson, Bell, Watson, Holmes and a uniformed officer) come to Sutter Security (or whatever it's called) to talk to Kate. She'd like an attorney if this is about Darren. But it's not, so she answers all questions. She reiterates that she met Darren in 1991 after the murder. Holmes says the partial fingerprints on Leah's door match Kate's prints from Watson's phone. Kate was married to another man before Leah died, but Holmes has deduced that she was having an affair with Darren. And she was the witness: she saw the killer's face, not Darren. And she told Darren what he looked like. So she eventually found someone who looked like the sketch, and she insisted that it was the man. She continues to insist that Rourke was the man. But Gregson says they've confirmed that Rourke was out of the country. Darren's going to find out this whole thing, so Gregson tells her to tell the whole story.
Kate says she loved Leah, but not like Darren did. Leah's death changed Darren, which I think has been adequately established. He started to get better after getting into personal security, but the twentieth anniversary of the murder sent him back down. A few months ago, she found Darren with a gun and a suicide note. She talked him out of it, but she knew she had to do something. Kate feels that sending Darren at Wallace Rourke it was the only way to save him. Bell says Rourke was an innocent man. Kate says, "Between him and Darren, it wasn't a hard choice." She's under arrest.
Holmes tells Watson he thinks this was supposed to be a stupid lesson from Moriarty about how the need for vengeance destroys people. He's going to go tell Darren the news.
At the prison, Darren wonders why Holmes is telling him. He couldn't wait for one more night? Holmes offers to find Leah's killer, but Darren says it won't be justice unless he gets to strangle the guy himself.
As Holmes walks out of the jail, he talks to Moriarty on the phone. He offers to let Moriarty give the answers in person. Moriarty would rather not meet him. Moriarty offers a choice: He could promise never to get involved in Holmes's life again (which I think would be difficult, with Holmes investigating weird murders all the time), or he could give Holmes the answers he seeks. So he sends a text with this address: 56 Poplar St. Douglaston, NY. And the message "Choose wisely." Holmes's other phone rings. He tells Watson it went as well as could be expected. And he claims he did not hear from Moriarty, so he's coming straight home. Liar!
Holmes's taxi pulls up at a huge white house surrounded by lush grounds and a fence. And presto! Watson is behind Holmes! She reminds him, "In this day and age, the simplest way to track someone is via their cellphone." Holmes realizes she cloned the phone that Moriarty's been using to contact him. Is that something you can do at home? I hope she used one of the burners that Holmes keeps in a box in the closet. She says that as soon as he said he wouldn't let her be hurt, she knew he'd pull something like this. She does not want to be protected, which is awesome. She tells him point-blank: "You asked me to be your partner!" He says that his vision is blurred by being in the middle of the puzzle. He says, "The reasons I'm here are personal." Watson isn't letting him get away with that: "I could say the same thing. I have been with you every step of the way these past couple of weeks. We have worked hard on this case. Whatever answers he's got in there for you, I deserve them too." Holmes looks at her. Then he walks to the gate. He walks in and holds it for her.
They walk up the driveway and up a staircase. I think they're on a veranda. There's a key in the door. Holmes opens it. Inside, they split up and start looking through the rooms. There's a mattress on the floor of one room, which I find incongruous with the fancy architecture. Holmes wordlessly stops Watson from going up the stairs, and then leads her to some French doors. He opens them and there's a room full of paintings. Mostly city skylines. The artist is very fond of roofs. There's a blonde lady painting. Holmes starts to break down. He reaches out and says, "Irene. Irene! Irene." She looks around. It's Margaery Tyrell! Wait. No. It's Natalie Dormer, who is playing a completely different character here.
week: the answers to everything! And also a two-hour season finale.
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.