Elementary, one of our favorite detective drama/comedies continues tonight with an all new episode entitled, “Art in the Blood.” On tonight’s episode, Holmes and Watson investigate what appears to be a routine murder but soon discover that it has international and political implications, which then brings them into contact with MI-6. Meanwhile, in the wake of a crisis, Joan re-evaluates her relationships with Sherlock and Mycroft.
On last week’s episode the line between business and personal got blurred when Sherlock was forced to partner with his brother, Mycroft, to solve a life-or-death case. Did you watch last week’s episode? If you missed it we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode Holmes and Watson come into contact with MI-6, the British intelligence agency, when a standard murder investigation turns out to have international and political implications. Meanwhile, in the wake of a crisis, Watson re-evaluates her relationships with Sherlock and his brother, Mycroft.
Are you looking forward to Elementary season 2 episode 23 “Art in the Blood.” 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 what you think has been the best part of this wonderful season!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
At the police station, Sherlock comes in fuming. Marcus asks if he’s okay and he says he needs the captain’s help but then Joan calls to tell him she’s okay. He asks where she is and she says home and Mycroft is with her. As Sherlock comes in, a doctor is checking Joan out. She tells him it’s all right. He comes to her panicky and she insists she’s okay. He asks about Mycroft who says he’s there. The doctor offers Joan a sedative to help her sleep and she declines.
Sherlock asks why he shouldn’t thrash Mycroft but he insists he can explain. Joan says she’s already heard it and is going to bed. She heads upstairs and Sherlock tells Mycroft he noticed the expat doctor and guards with Kevlar carrying M17s. He asks if it’s MI6 and asks if he copped a deal to rescue Joan. He tells the g-men he hopes that Mycroft’s deal involved jail time.
Mycroft asks if he’s done then tells Sherlock that British Intelligence isn’t there to arrest him – he says that he is British intelligence. Mycroft tells him that his business was going through a rough patch and that he was going to turn down the French syndicate’s offer. He said that a man from MI6 asked for him to accept their offer and burrow in with the French group.
Mycroft wanders the kitchen as he talks and picks up a jar. Sherlock tells him it’s a toxic mold and it can kill him. He sets it down and washes his hands. Sherlock asks if he has a license to kill or just annoy. Mycroft says he found out that he has a great capacity to store facts and operates as a clearinghouse for MI6 and advises them on how to dismantle criminal groups.
Sherlock asks how he can believe that he’s kept that hidden from him for a decade. Mycroft reminds him that they aren’t close. Sherlock asks if their father really wanted him back to London and Mycroft admits it was his handler’s idea. He’s still mad about Joan being in danger and Mycroft reminds Sherlock that he was the one that alerted Joan to the criminal presence at his restaurant.
Sherlock says he needs time to process this and Myroft says the two of them have to meet with his handler tomorrow. Sherlock agrees. Next day they come to a club and meet the handler. Sherlock shakes Sherrington’s hand and asks if he’s overthrown any governments lately. Sherlock tells him to cut to the chase and tell him what lies he and Joan need to tell if they’re asked about the cock up last night.
Sherrington tells him they cleaned the scene and nabbed De Soto with the banking list. He says that it’s all clear and his involvement won’t come to light. Sherlock is satisfied and stands to leave but Sherrington says he has a case for him. He reminds Sherlock he saved his partner’s life and Sherlock tells him he’s grateful. Then the handler tells him he also saved Mycroft’s life and Sherlock quips that he’ll let that slide.
Sherrington asks for 10 minutes. He shows him a file on Arthur West – a murdered MI6 analyst. The police thinks it’s a robbery gone bad but the handler isn’t sure. Mycroft isn’t happy that the handler is consulting Sherlock and tells him that Joan won’t like it. Sherlock says he won’t lie to her while taking her into his bed so he doesn’t think she’ll be mad at him.
Sherrington says that West was a good analyst but then had periods of problems. He was diagnosed as bi-polar then came to American after he washed out. He says as a civilian he still contacted the occasionally with information but most of it was crazy. He says he called two weeks ago and said he had something bug but needed to talk in person and then he died. Sherrington says the NYPD is investigating and he just wants Sherlock to find out if there is more to it.
Sherlock asks if that’s it and Sherrington drily remarks that he was also hoping he would assassinate the premier of China. Mycroft tells Sherrington that he can’t expect his brother to abide by MI6 rules but Sherlock says he will and the handler says if he alerts them to any issues, they’ll take it from there. Sherlock agrees and leaves.
Joan is reading the news online when Sherlock comes in and she says there’s nothing in the news about last night’s events. He tells her he’s sorry about what happened to her and any part he may have played in it. She asks about the meeting and he tells her he is investigating something for MI6. She asks what they want him to do and he says if she needs to recuperate she doesn’t have to help but she wants to.
They go see the coroner who tells them West took two to the chest. He tells them what drawer to find him in. Joan says the report says he walked in on a burglary. Sherlock asks if the body was intact when the body was brought in and the coroner comes over and sees his arms and legs are gone. Sherlock tells him it looks like the morgue has been broken into.
–
Gregson and Marcus meet them at the morgue. The captain asks why they were looking at him and Sherlock says they were bored. Marcus says three nights ago there’s an hour gap in the security tape and says they knew exactly when to do it. Sherlock says he has nothing but doesn’t think it was someone on staff there.
Joan asks why he can’t tell Gregson the truth and he says he can’t blow Mycroft’s cover as an idiot. Sherlock says this is a clear indication that he was the victim of an operative. Sherlock says the limbs were taken as evidence or to clear away evidence. They don’t see anything obvious in the notes and Sherlock tells Joan to check out the crime scene while he goes to see the ex-wife.
There were bags on his counter from a store near the ex-wife’s house. Sherlock and Marcus talk to the ex Mrs. West and ask why she lied to the staff. They tell her that they know she gets medicine and food for her ex hubby. She says that they tried to make their marriage work but couldn’t. She says she has a boyfriend who can be jealous but doesn’t know she takes care of her ex. She says he was there when the police came by so she lied since she didn’t know anything. She shows them receipts from where she and her BF were out of town when Arthur died.
She’s a tattoo artist and he tells her that he has a few tats himself. He flips a black light off an on and asks if Arthur didn’t like ink. She says nothing. Sherlock calls Joan and tells her to look for moisturizer, medical tape or antibacterial soap. She says she sees them all. He says he thinks that his ex tattooed him with UV sensitive ink. Sherlock tells her they are quite popular in some subcultures.
She asks if Marion West admitted to it but he says she didn’t and he didn’t press. He says he thinks West had secrets tattooed on his limbs – the limbs that were stolen. He tells her he’s off to see the handler. Joan comes home and finds Mycroft waiting. He says he’s there to see her and she says no – no he can’t come in, no there’s no future for them, just no to everything.
Mycroft says he came to apologize for her going through an ordeal no one should have to go through. He says if she never wants to see him again he understands. She says she never wants to see him again because she can’t believe a word out of his mouth. She says someone who can maintain deception of that level for years can never be trusted. She says Sherlock may be insensitive and too honest, but you know where you stand with him. She says that Sherlock deserves better than Mycroft and so does she.
He says he understands.
Sherlock finds Sherrington at the club and he says the host didn’t tell him he was there. Sherlock says he decided to see if he could come through a less orthodox entrance and he could so he did. Sir James Walter is there and isn’t happy that he broke into their club. Sherlock tells them that they need to speak privately. He tells them about the arm theft and they ask if he got all this from an address on a shopping bag.
The handler says they should have taken him more seriously and Walter says that the man cried wolf too many times and tattooing secrets on your arms is a sign of him being unwell. Sherlock tells them he’ll keep investigating because it’s interesting and he’s quite pregnant with him.
Joan called the coroner who says the dried skin on West’s arms did look like a pattern but he couldn’t tell what it was. Sherlock tells Joan he know what it’s like to be deceived by a lover – Irene/Moriarty – and says they can talk about it if she wants. She says there is something she’d like to talk about but then the doorbell rings and it’s Marion West. She asks for Sherlock.
They invite her in and she says she couldn’t talk in front of the police. She says she’s been under surveillance. She says she made sure she wasn’t followed there. He asks how she found him and Marion tells him that Arthur told her if she was ever in trouble that Sherlock was the one man in New York she could trust. Sherlock says he didn’t know him and Marion says Arthur knew him.
Marion says she’s there because she knows why his arms were taken because of the UV tattoos. They ask what they were and she pulls out a blacklight photo of her ex and his tattoos and they can see what was on his arms clearly. Marion says about six years ago when Sherlock was at Scotland Yard, Arthur was assigned to keep an eye on him.
Marion says it was complicated. She says people didn’t know what to make of Sherlock but Arthur analyzed him and convinced them that he was a good guy. Joan asks why Arthur told her about his work. She says he told her things to process them because of his struggle with his bipolar disorder.
Sherlock asks about Mycroft and she says Arthur told him he was an operative. Sherlock says that MI6 should be ashamed of Arthur being a gossip and she says he just needed someone to help him process. Marion looks at Joan then tells Sherlock he should know what that’s like.
They ask her about the numbers on his arms. Marion says he was convinced there was a mole in MI6 selling secrets to someone in New York. She can’t explain the numbers because he wasn’t lucid the day he came for the tattoos. Arthur told her that if she didn’t do it he would do it himself. She says Arthur told her the tats were his backup copy and he had the evidence stored somewhere else.
Sherlock asks who the buyer in New York is and she says it’s a local bookshop owner named Julian. Marion thinks that the people that came after Arthur are now after her. She asks for help. Sherlock works at his desk while Joan gets Marion settled upstairs. Sherlock says Marion is telling the truth or thinks she is.
Sherlock looks at Azatan Books online – which Julian the possible spy owns. Sherlock wonders if the numbers are a simple data set. Some are only numbers and some are letters and numbers and then repeat in another spot. He says he thinks they are dates and times. He’s narrowed it down to a list of records but can’t tell what the other part of the data sets are.
Sherlock asks Joan what she wanted to talk about and she says she needs to move out and get her own place. He says it’s codswallop and she’s reacting to what happened to her. She says it’s none of that and says not to reduce her emotions to a cliché. He says with some distance from Mycroft her urge to move will pass. Joan says it’s a decision she made a while ago and was waiting for the right time. Sherlock asks if it’s a good time when he almost lost her and found out his brother betrayed her.
Joan insists she wants to work with him but that they don’t need to live together. He says their cohabitation is key to their success. She says she needs more of a life outside the work while she knows he doesn’t. He takes his coat and leaves. He sits in the park when Sherrington finds him. Sherlock asks why he never told him Arthur had been watching him in London. The handler tells him he’s special and that special people draw attention.
Sherlock tells him that Arthur thinks there is a mole in MI6 and he thinks they’re right. He shows him the images of the tattoos and says he has no idea what they mean. Sherrington says he saw a mole hunt after the end of the Cold War and it was a grisly business. He asks Sherlock if he’s still pregnant with the case and he asks him to work for them. He asks Sherlock to work for them officially and permanently.
Sherrington says Arthur was his friend and he knew what he saw in Sherlock. He asks him to imagine what good he could do with their resources but Sherlock says they and Mycroft have upturned his life quite enough. He wishes him luck.
Marion comes down and Joan offers her breakfast. She tells her they have an ID, car and place for her to stay until this blows over. Joan says she’s sorry about Arthur and Marion says he was a good man. Joan asks her about Mycroft and Marion says she knew. She says that Mycroft must have known that Arthur was watching Sherlock. She says he found out when he came back to MI6. Marion says Mycroft got out of MI6 but then something happened and he had to come back.
Gregson finds Sherlock in a stack of cold cases looking for something to do. Gregson says they found a gun on the tracks near Arthur’s and that matched the slugs. They got clean prints but no match in the system. There are scars across the fingers. Sherlock says he just remembered somewhere he needs to be.
Joan comes to see Mycroft. She asks about Sidoma Han. Mycroft lets her in. He says that Han was an Indonesian businessman who kept an office in London. He says when Sherlock was at the height of his drug abuse, Han asked Sherlock to act as a courier for him confidentially. He says Han was financing a terrorist plot and the package was instructions and the people he eluded were British intelligence agents. Mycroft says Sherlock could have been sent to prison for a long time.
MI6 thwarted the attack and Sherlock never knew. He says MI6 told him if he came back the handler would make Sherlock’s trouble disappear. Joan asks why he never told his brother or her. Mycroft says telling her was a gamble. He says telling Sherlock could have sent him off the rails. He says Sherlock is more fragile than he admits. He says he and Joan share the burden of taking care of Sherlock whether the realizes it or not. Joan pulls Mycroft into a kiss.
Sherlock comes home and thinks about Mycroft touching the mold. He brushes the jar with fingerprint dust and pulls the prints. Sure enough they look the ones from the ten card. Sherlock says simply – Mycroft. They lie in bed kissing, post-coital and he says this is the last place he expected to be at the beginning of the day.
He sighs and she tells him to just say it. He says it will put an irreparable damper on the mood. Joan says she told Sherlock she was moving out and he asks how he took it. She says terribly but that’s his problem, not hers or theirs. They kiss again.
Sherlock calls Sherrington and tells him he knows who the mole is and where to find him. There’s a noise at Mycroft’s and Sherlock barges in. Myroft pulls a gun. Sherlock tells him the gun showed up from Arthur’s murder and it was Mycroft’s prints. He tells his brother he’s being framed for murder and treason and needs to pack and go now.
The End!
