Elementary, one of our favorite detective drama/comedies continues on CBS tonight with an all new Thursday November 12, season 4 episode 2 called, “Evidence of Things Not Seen,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Morland (John Noble) offers to use his influence to have Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan (Lucy Liu) reinstated as consultants to the NYPD, but Sherlock questions his father’s motive.
On the last episode, season 4 began with Holmes facing criminal charges in the aftermath of his recent violent behavior and relapse, and his father arriving in New York to fix his estranged son’s troubles by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Sherlock and Watson investigated a case in which a woman went missing and may have been killed by her husband. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed the episode we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “Morland offers to use his influence to have Sherlock and Joan reinstated as consultants to the NYPD, but Sherlock questions his father’s motive. Meanwhile, Watson helps the FBI investigate a triple homicide at a top secret research lab.”
Are you looking forward to the season 4 episode 2 tonight? Be sure to come back here later tonight at 10 PM EST for our awesome recap of this episode. In the meantime, hit up the comments below and let us know how excited you are for season 4.
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#Elementary begins at the brownstone and Morland is there. Sherlock apologizes for not stocking his favorite tea. Sherlock says his father is too busy with patience but his father says he’s there to help. Sherlock says they must define help differently but his dad says he put him in rehab and sent Watson to him. He says he will restore him to the NYPD. He says he sent him to New York to get rid of him but then he grew strong and healthy in this remote corner of the garden.
He says he respects what Sherlock has built there and says he’s proud of him and never thought he would be. He says he and Watson used to email him about the support system he was building and says he knows the NYPD is important to that system. Morland says he won’t be in town long but the offers stands to reverse his status with the police if that’s what he and Watson want. Morland asks to meet Watson to thank her for saving his son’s life. He leaves.
We see a brain scan going on and the man tells Dr Sarkisian he needs a break. Loud music is playing while the scan is going on. Looks like a test at a college. The guy pulls off the head set. He looks around and sees no one. He freaks when he sees the scientists are dead. Then he’s shot as well. Sherlock sits brooding when Watson comes in. She asks if he was sitting there all night thinking. She says they need to go to the scene of a triple homicide and says they have an audition with the FBI.
She says there are three dead at a neuro-economics lab. He asks if she’s an expert in that and she says more than the FBI and says they can bone up on the way. Agent Gary Burke introduces himself to Sherlock. He tells them stick close to him. He says seven hard drives were stolen, two scientists and one test subject. Watson asks if the surveillance footage was taken and he confirms. Sherlock asks why the FBI and not the NYPD. He says DARPA can explain more. Samuel and Alta Von See from DARPA are there.
They tell them this work was big. Sherlock asks for more details. He tells them Dr Sarkisian and Weller were tracking parts of the brain that light up when opinions change. Sherlock says they’re perfecting brainwashing. Samuel says it’s a soft weapon. Gail Sarkisian was killed first at close range. Frank Weller was next and was double tapped. The grad student is Ollie Tate and he died last. Agent Burke says it’s a pro. Sherlock notices the rat is dead recently too.
Watson asks how the killer got inside and Sherlock says he thinks Sarkisian let the killer in who then shot her since her access badge is gone. Burke says there’s a team already at their homes. Watson says they want to be helpful and he says they’ll call if they need a hand. They dismiss them. Sherlock says the FBI’s team approach is off-putting. She reminds him they’re a team. She says if they prove themselves on this one, they may get another one.
He tells her that his dad offered to get them back in with the NYPD. She asks if he’s okay. He says he is and she says it’s nice he wants to help but says they were kicked out of the NYPD. He asks what she knows about his father. He says his father is more than she thinks. Sherlock says his father is a power peddler and can get them back in if they want it. He says he’s not sure it’s worth the cost. She asks if he asked for something but Sherlock says there’s always a cost.
He says it’s their decision, not his. He says she needs to meet him and consider if Morland Holmes is someone she wants to be indebted to. She shows her a note with a Chinese character on it and she says it means beautiful. The guy was wooing her and Sherlock says a guy named Diplomat Dan was on her social media and he says Dan Zheng works at the Chinese embassy. They wonder if he killed them and says spies kill. Watson asks why they would want the research.
Sherlock says the Communist party loves propaganda and Sarkisian and Wells were perfecting it. Sherlock and Watson come to see Burke at Zheng’s apartment. He’s ghosted and has been gone at least a month. Watson finds an old noise complaint. Sherlock says he riled his neighbors in an already loud neighborhood. He says the guy should leave a trail a mile wide. They ping his devices. The tech tries to ping the DARPA computers that were used for the research.
Gary tells them they need to talk and says the diplomat is a good lead but this is the end of the line for them. He says cases like this will likely get whisked out of his hands and says they won’t want to get in a slap fight with China and says this will be sorted out a high level. Watson says it will be loud then shows them a news story on the Times Square billboard about a spy manhunt. They go back to the FBI with Gary and the news mentions DARPA and the Chinese.
Watson tells Sherlock she was cleared as the leak and so was Sherlock. Gary says he’s sorry for the exercise. Gary thanks them and says they’re in crisis mode and are circling the wagons. Sherlock says he thinks that he can tell them where the spy is. He asks for a look at the tips. There was a tip at the World Trade Center but Sherlock says he thinks that’s a drummers bag and says there was drum marks on the carpet and he had a noise warning.
Watson says he’s been playing somewhere else since the noise complaint. Sherlock tells them that he was likely going to a music conservatory to lie low. Watson says they should tell Morland they should cancel but he says she should go since it takes years to get an appointment. He says he looks forward to hearing what she thinks. Watson heads over to see Morland. He says he’s glad she came alone so they can get to know each other. She remarks it’s a nice office to not use.
He says he’s sure Sherlock has told her a lot about him. He says that Sherlock sees him as an enemy but she says no, just a terrible father. He mentions the NYPD offer and she asks what he wants in return. He says nothing. She says charity didn’t bring him to where he is now. He says no but solving problems did and she asks if they’re problems to him. He says heroin is a problem and when he hired her he didn’t know he was teeing off a partnership.
Morland says it all worked out well and he wants it to work again. Gary tells the agents they got a bounce on the computers where Sherlock led them. Gary gets a call and Sherlock says he’s at loose ends and will hit the local coffee shop. He walks off. He sees a guy come out with a hat and a guitar on his back. Sherlock goes down into the open cellar of the shop and looks around. He kicks trash cans then opens a lid. He comes out with a laptop and tells Gary that he didn’t assign anyone to the basement.
He says Zheng probably copied the research. He says the rest are in the trash too but he couldn’t reach them. Gary gets a call and hears the Dan Z turned himself in. Sherlock says he has a relationship with Sarkisian. Dan’s lawyer says they have made him a pariah. The lawyer says the culprit dumped the CPUs close to his rehearsal space to frame him. Watson finds Sherlock down in her office working and she says she met with his dad and says he seemed pretty sincere.
She says they don’t need to rush into any decision. She asks how the case is going and he says he sent himself copies of the data. She says that was illegal and he says it was prudent. He says China is owed an apology. She asks what he means and he shows her the two brain scans. She says they look alike. He shows her two Scantron forms. She says those are alike too. He says they are before and after the experiments. He says none of their techniques worked.
He says DARPA’s algorithm failed. Sherlock says she emailed her partner about withdrawing a grant proposal and Weller concurred. Sherlock says he thinks Sarkisian told Dan the program failed and the spy dumped her. Sherlock says three people died for nothing. Watson and Sherlock wonder what if anything to tell the FBI. She says Maurice Antonov has a good motive. It’s Sarkisian’s ex. She says stealing the computers threw off the crime to kill his ex.
Sherlock says he wants to question Antonov himself. He says the guy blogs as Henry the IX and Sherlock says maybe he killed her because he was in love with her work. He says the early research pushed people towards neo-fascists belief and may have had a vested interest in her research. They show up to see Antonov and he says they are the first to follow the clues to find him. Sherlock asks why he wants to be king and he says not him, but someone.
Sherlock asks why he’s so optimistic. He says the two of them and says the truth draws talented people then calls them kindred spirits. Sherlock says they’re detectives and says he agrees with Churchhill that democracy is the worst except all other governments. Antonov says he was there hosting a seminar from 7 to 10 and has a dozen witnesses. Sherlock says he thinks he knows something and threatens to let his followers know he suckled at the government teat.
Antonov says his ex’s algorithm didn’t work. He says she never changed her passwords and he snooped sometimes to check on her. He says she was nervous about how her patron would take the news that she failed. He says it was Samuel Maher from DARPA and says he was intense and talked to her unkindly in emails. He says he would never have hurt her. Sherlock says good luck overthrowing the government and they go. They wonder if Maher is viable.
Watson goes to the FBI and Gary asks if she’s looking into Maher. He asks what’s up and she says he ran the research then Gary shows her some stuff about robotic dogs and sonic pressure shields. She says those were other projects Weller was working on. She has a mansion on a screen and he says consultants don’t make enough to afford that. The mansion has a sold banner on him. Watson says Maher does not look likely as a suspect.
Sherlock says the crime makes Maher look bad. Watson says everyone thinks the Chinese has the program and calls it a PR nightmare. He makes his dad’s favorite tea and says he will take his father up on the offer. He says there are other considerations and says he thinks it would make him happy. Watson agrees that matters then asks about the cost. He says that was paid long ago. He says making amends is important and you should accept when others make them. Watson says she needs more time.
She sees two op eds calling for Maher’s dismissal. Watson wonders about a scandal swaying public opinion and who could benefit from this. They go see Alta Von See and speculate that she’s the heir apparent and says it’s motive. She plays dumb and they tell her the New Jersey Dispatch broke the Dan Zheng story and the editor is someone she went to college with. Watson says she dumped the stolen computers and leaked it.
Sherlock says her assistant is her accomplice. Alta says they are welcome to check her phone records or anything they like. Back at the brownstone, Sherlock has a board up to check through Alta’s records and says he can find nothing. He’s eating fermented shark meat which Watson complains smells. She then complains he stained an FBI paper. She says she’s just upset that Gary chewed them out for talking to Alta without them. Sherlock gets an idea.
He says he found the accomplice. Then they bring Alta in to the FBI and her lawyer asks what the hell this is. Gary says listen. Sherlock says she created a bloodbath that looked like the work of a pro. Alta says that’s insane. Watson says she was bold to volunteer all her records. Watson says it was a device, not a person. Sherlock wheels something in and says it’s a sonic pressure shield and calls it fascist technology. He says it’s used for crowd control.
He says they vibrate lung tissue to disrupt breathing. Sherlock says they were impaired when she came in and she could shoot them at her leisure. Watson says there was a fourth victim – Weller’s lab rat. The poor rat died of asphyxiation. The lawyer says Alta didn’t do this. Gary says they found some black rubber where the shield is stored then says she has to hand over her crutch for testing. Sherlock says it could be worse if it came out during the confirmation hearing.
Watson shows up without an appointment to see Morland. She talks about his illegal activities. Watson says she looked into him then shows him the mansion she was looking at. He says he used to own it and she says the price was $3 million below market. She says the lucky home buyer did him a big favor that took care of the DA for the Rankin charge. Morland offers her a drink and she says no. He says some things money can buy, but fewer than you might think.
Morland asks why kick over rocks if you don’t want to know what’s beneath them. He says Sherlock was born with a malignant sense of self-righteousness. He says if she tells Sherlock, he will fight the favor and get himself locked up. Watson says he took a risk and Morland says he takes risks to protect his son. She says she does too. She says Sherlock will call to accept her NYPD offer. He asks why the threat and she says she won’t let him hurt Sherlock. She walks out.
THE END!