Elementary, one of our favorite detective drama/comedies returns to CBS tonight with with an all new Thursday December 11, season 3 episode 7 called, “The Adventure of the Nutmeg Concoction,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, a bored Holmes forces his investigative services onto Watson when she tries to locate a woman who has been missing for five years. The only clue is the smell of nutmeg at the site of her disappearance. Meanwhile, Joan’s bond with her long-distance boyfriend is tested when a man from her past reappears and asks for her help.
On the last episode, Holmes and Watson searched for a thief who committed murder to steal a rare map. Meanwhile, Watson became concerned with Sherlock’s escalating interference into Kitty’s burgeoning personal life. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed the episode we have you covered with a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “a bored Sherlock forces his investigative services onto Joan, who is trying to locate a woman who has been missing for five years, and the only clue is the smell of nutmeg at the site of her disappearance. Meanwhile, Joan’s bond with her long-distance boyfriend, Andrew, is tested when a man from her past reappears and asks for her help.”
Are you looking forward to the season 3 episode 7 tonight? Be sure to come back here later tonight at 10 PM EST for our live recap of this episode, which is sure to be an awesome one. In the meantime, hit up the comments below and let us know how excited you are for season 3.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
It’s time for #Elementary. Joan meets Kim Holder about a case. She says her sister Jessica is missing and Joan says she’s sorry and asks to hear more. Kim says she’s been gone five years and says she feels like no one is looking for her. She says the last time anyone saw her was inside her apartment and pulls out a file. She says the police and FBI have theories. She tells her FBI agent Blake Tanner thinks Jess was kidnapped by a serial criminal.
She says there was a smell in the apartment, like nutmeg and this has happened to five other women with the same scent left behind. She says Tanner calls the guy Pumpkin and says he thinks the same guy took all six. Kim says she’s a lawyer and knows the odds aren’t great. She says even if Jess is gone, she just wants to know. Kitty finds Joan at a coffee shop and says Sherlock wants to know what she’s working on. He’s bored.
Joan says she just took on a missing persons case. Kitty snaps a pic of an article and texts it to Sherlock who texts right back saying he’ll help. He says he wants to go to the FBI field office to get the profiler report. Joan says she doesn’t need his help. Before either can say anything, he texts Joan and says he can go alone to the FBI if she doesn’t want his help.
Sherlock waits at the FBI with Joan and Kitty and complains about profilers. He says he can’t believe he’s subjecting himself to them and Joan says he forced his way there. He asks why she’s checking her phone and she says she and Andrew got cut off. He talks about the woes of long-distance love and Joan gets annoyed at him. Tanner is there and calls them back.
He asks about their interest in the case. Sherlock interrupts and takes some of his stationery. He tears it up and then starts to write on it. Joan says it can help to have a set of fresh eyes. He says Pumpkin is big game and says the olfactory signature is unique. Tanner says their policy is to not share info with outsiders. Sherlock tells her that they don’t need him.
Outside, Joan says he was about to give them the file but Sherlock says he wasn’t. Sherlock says he wrote notes to a few of his colleagues that were glaring at him. His phone pings and he says the people all sent him copies. He flips through it and Joan says he’s going too fast. He tells Joan she left him before they got to that skill.
Sherlock says there is no such person as Pumpkin and the crimes aren’t connected. He says he doesn’t know yet about the nutmeg but says they’re going to find out what happened to Jess and expose Tanner as a fool for pursuing made up theories all these years. At the PD, Sherlock asks Joan if she’s considered exchanging handwritten letters with Andrew to alleviate her frustrations.
She says she’s not frustrated. Sherlock is looking through the box of Jessica’s stuff and says she’s very meticulous. He finds three identical keys and says one is labeled A, FD and then one with no label. He tosses them the keys and says they need to try them all at her apartment building and says that task is beyond his spirit of volunteerism. Kitty and Joan go door to door, Kitty humming.
She says she’s humming Beethoven’s sixth, the clarinet part. She says her dad made her practice four eyes a day. Kitty finds the door the key fits. It’s another apartment. They knock and then head inside calling out hello. They see photos of a middle aged couple and one of them is a lawyer. A man comes home and finds them waiting on him.
They tell him they’re looking into Jessica’s disappearance and ask why she had a key to their apartment. He says he’s calling the police and they advise him not to since they found some shady lawyer dealings he was doing. Joan asks again about Jessica. He says he never wanted to have an affair again. He says Jessica was right downstairs and was a sweet kid. He says he was out of state in Oregon when she went missing.
He says he would like to know what happened to her and says he misses her. Joan finds Ms Hudson at Sherlock’s. She says he asked her to listen to the police scanner to listen for the word nutmeg. Sherlock says pumpkin pie or backing scents will also do. Joan asks if he expects that to turn up something. He says he expects nothing and that’s why he’s such an exceptional detective.
He says he doesn’t know why that scent was present but doesn’t buy Tanner’s theory although he’s curious. Joan asks about Jessica’s disappearance and he says her next step should be Jess’s belongings and says to check her laptop. She says she doesn’t like his volunteer attitude and says he’s either on the case or not. She tells him to take half and call if he finds anything.
Outside, she runs into Chris and hugs him. She asks if he’s still at White Peaks and he says he heard she was a detective and says he had a problem. He says someone stole his medical ID and wants her to figure out what happened. She says she can have someone else start researching since she’s busy then will help.
Joan meets Sherlock at Sing Sing and he asks about her assigning Kitty to check into Chris. She has to admit that she used to be engaged to Chris. He tells her he found a file on Jess’s laptop. He says her lawyer lover Noah Kramer told her about a drug trafficker – Raymond Carpenter – he represented who was guilty of murders. She was going to tell the police.
He says Carpenter is in jail there and they wonder if he killed Jessica. Sherlock says he’s serving life with no parole, so he’s risking nothing by talking to them and says they could make life easier on him there. Carpenter says he wants to work on the landscape crew so he can have more time outside. Sherlock says they can make it happen.
He says Kramer tipped him off that Jess was going to rat him out. He says he outsourced having her taken care of but doesn’t know what happened. He says he used Danny Tacelli and the last thing he heard, he was dead himself. Joan asks if he told Kramer what he was going to do and Carpenter says not in so many words, but he knew what would happen to her when he told him about her.
Sherlock says they likely have no case against Kramer but could ruin his life with tabloid tales of him betraying his mistress. Sherlock tells Joan that Hudson found a case with a nutmeg smell. They go to a drug den where there are bullet holes all over and the distinct smell of nutmeg. Sherlock says they have to call in “the noise.” The guy shows up – he’s an old gentleman. He has a bag of coffee beans he uses to keep street smells away.
He goes and sniffs around literally and says the nutmeg is dominant but says there is more and it’s just a distraction. He says chemicals and bleach with something metallic. He says he also smells sodium hydroxide. Sherlock says it’s caustic soda like you would use to melt a body. Sherlock says the killings are related not by the killer but by a common cleaner who takes care of things after murders.
Sherlock and Joan go see Gregson and tell him about this. Sherlock says it makes sense that there is a professional crime scene cleaner that criminals use. Sherlock says organized crime is probably his most lucrative client and the nutmeg smell is from his signature cleaning concoction. Sherlock says the FBI profiler linked the cleaner to six murders but it could be much wider.
Sherlock says he would have info on tons of other crimes. Joan lists her plan but Sherlock says it sounds dull. We see Kitty lying on the floor looking very dead. Sherlock snaps photos of her. Joan comes in and Kitty tells her she found who stole Chris’ ID. Sherlock tells her to stop moving. He’s making an ad to try and hire the cleaner to clean up his murder scene.
He says he’s going to post photos of Kitty and ask for help cleaning up his crime of passion. Joan takes the file and goes. Joan shows Chris the guy who stole his ID – Ermil Janic. She says he can take the file to the police to try and get things straightened out. He tells Joan she was efficient as a doctor, but has found another gear her. He tells her he was immature when they were together.
He says he’s trying to be husband material now that he’s older. He thanks Joan, says it was great seeing her and leaves. Joan is at the PD when Sherlock comes in. She has files and is looking through crime scene cleaning technician certificates. She asks why he’s there on her boring activity. He says he and Kitty got a promising response but it was an undercover cop.
She asks if he got arrested then laughs at him. She gets a text and curses. He asks what it is and she says she met with Chris who has asked her out. Sherlock asks if she told him that she was seeing someone. He tells her she’s acting like a female baboon with inflated genitals luring men in. He calls her a romantic terrorist and says she’s making herself available because things with Andrew are messy.
He tells her that her upbringing has taught her to want a conventional relationship but her eccentric nature is repulsed by this so she’s attracted to unsuitable partners like his brother. He says it’s the conflict at her core. She tells him to go so she can work. He says Kitty can come help her and he says he’s going to go find out about the ugly mural at the trade school she visited.
Sherlock comes back and says the mural was the key. He says it was painted by a former student and it refers to the Myristica Tree which produces nutmeg. The former student is Conrad Woodbine and he’s painted a whole series about the spice. Kitty asks if you can get high off nutmeg. Sherlock says you can but it’s not great. Sherlock says Woodbine was a crime scene cleaner for the cops until five years ago.
Then he quit and bought a large building full of art studios. They go to see Woodbine. He asks if they’re cops and Sherlock says – to varying degrees. He says he wants to talk about him dissolving corpses for money. Woodbine says he’s calling his lawyer. He walks off. Joan asks why he did that and he says he wants to know what’s in his one cabinet that’s locked. Kitty picks the lock and finds bottles.
Kitty sniffs it and says it smells like pumpkin pie. Woodbine comes back and says his lawyer says they have to leave. Sherlock says to tell his lawyer to meet them at the police station since that’s where he’s going. At the PD, Woodbine sits in interrogation but says the cabinet was locked and Gregson says the consultant said it wasn’t.
Gregson runs through his career as an official crime scene cleaner. Marcus says he was doing well and was liked and asks why he quit at his pinnacle. Woodbine says it’s a stressful job. Gregson says they know he just switched jobs. Marcus says he gets that the bad guys pay more. They tell him they’ll cut a deal if he gives information on the deaths he cleaned up.
Woodbine is being stubborn and Sherlock says there are other ways to nail him. He tells Kitty and Joan that they can nail him by his customers. Sherlock says while Woodbine was being interrogated, he started researching. He says when he retired, a group of Armenian criminals came over and started a war with some Costa Ricans. He says he thinks that was his first crime scene.
Artem Didikian was the leader of the Armenian group and say they need to talk to him. Joan gets a text and Sherlock is annoyed. She tells Sherlock she has to take care of something and leaves. Next day, they have Artem at the PD. Joan comes in and he says Gregson is wrapping something up and then they’ll being. Joan says she’s not a terrorist and shut Chris down and is seeing Andrew tomorrow.
Sherlock says he wasn’t criticizing her and she reminds him he called her a baboon and a terrorist. He says her romantic characteristics are traits to be accepted. He says it pains him to see her try to fit a mold to fit polite society. He asks if she’d be more comfortable with Andrew as a casual sex partner, one of several or not at all. He tells her she needs to find her true nature.
He tells her she’s a far more interesting person than she gives herself credit for. Gregson calls them in. They go to talk to Artem. He says he doesn’t know who Carmine Woodbine is and Joan says he helped him turns some Costa Ricans into soup. He denies all knowledge. Sherlock says they have a deal for him. They’re offering him immunity for Woodbine. Sherlock says they want Woodbine, not him.
He says Woodbine can give them lots more killers. Joan says someone will talk and it may as well be him. The cops bust into Woodbine’s place and he’s not there. Sherlock smells nutmeg. Sherlock wonders why the room smells this way. He goes to the sink and sniffs. He grabs a wire and snakes the drain. He asks if she noticed Conrad Woodbine’s limp.
He says he just found his artificial patella in the sink trap. He says their cleaner has been cleaned. Marcus says they got confirmation on the knee piece and says the killer cleaned up almost as well as Woodbine himself. They wonder who cleaned him as well as he cleans. Sherlock says he would have kept his methods confidential.
Kitty tells Sherlock it could have been Artem but Sherlock says he didn’t have enough time to set it up. Sherlock says without the living cleaner they need to reset. He tells Kitty to clean the crime board. She does and then looks at a photo. She takes it to Sherlock and says it’s Raymond Carpenter the day he was convicted and points out the guy who was the superintendent at Woodbine’s building.
He tells her to send it to Joan. He and Joan go back to Sing Sing. They tell Carpenter about Woodbine and ask about his sons. They tell him they know two of his sons are criminals like him and doing well except his youngest Jeremy who seems to be a loser. Sherlock says he sent him to trade school with Woodbine. Joan says they know Jeremy told him they were there and he was afraid he’d blab on his family.
She says he has Jeremy kill him and clean up after him. He asks why they’re there and says he’s done. Sherlock says Jeremy must know some bad secrets about bad people. Joan says they will spread the word to those bad people that Jeremy is talking to the cops. Sherlock says they’ll get him to a white collar prison rather than him being killed by those afraid he’ll talk.
Kitty listens to her punk rock while lying in bed. Sherlock comes in and turns it down. He shows her a news story about Jeremy confessing to killing Woodbine. He tells her she made that arrest possible and says she’s progressing. He says he normally likes her to keep her music down during her reading hours but as a reward tonight she can turn it up as she likes.
She turns it up then takes out the CD and pops in another. It’s Beethoven and she turns it up then goes back to lie down on her bed. Joan makes dinner for Andrew who’s expected home tonight. She lights candles and lays out a romantic meal. She looks at the table then out the window. She seems very thoughtful. Wonder if what Sherlock said made a dent.
THE END!
