History Series / Elementary

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In "The Latest Model", Sherlock and Joan try to peacefully neutralize Wesley Conrad, a potential killer whom Odin has targeted. It doesn't go as well as they'd hoped. [[spoiler:While Conrad leaves the film director he'd been stalking alone, he (apparently) kills his parents and himself instead. Odin angrily tells Sherlock and Joan to GetOut and doubles down on his efforts to assassinate potential murderers.]][[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] after TheReveal that [[spoiler:Odin actually had the Conrads murdered]].

* ILoveNuclearPower: Mocked in "You've Got Me, Who's Got You" when Watson lists the origin of several superheroes involving radiation and Sherlock wonders how they're not all dead of cancer. He also notes it's a shame the bullets used to kill the real-life superhero victim of the week weren't radioactive, and later snarks that he got his deductive abilities from being bitten by a radioactive detective.

* TurtlePower: Clyde the tortoise is taken in by Sherlock after his owner is murdered. Sherlock thinks he makes a good paperweight and alarm clock. (The show alternately uses "turtle" and "tortoise" to describe him.)

* PositiveDiscrimination: In contrast to the first season, when Joan made mistakes while going out on her own as a detective, the second season saw Joan smoothly running through cases, matching and sometimes even surpassing Sherlock, and continuously calling out Sherlock while rarely making mistakes herself. This seems to be a combination of both pandering (for a fandom that idolizes Joan) and ConflictBall (since the plot demanded Joan and Sherlock have conflict incongruous with their behavior in the first season). No one's denying that Joan is extremely intelligent, but it's tedious to see such a well-developed character be reduced to "badass who takes no shit and never makes a mistake, ever" by fandom and writers alike. Thankfully, the third season dialed back down on this and Joan and her relationship with Sherlock returned to form.

** In "No Lack of Void"[[spoiler:Sherlock learns that his good friend Alistair has died of an overdose after relapsing. He spends the rest of the episode conversing with a vision of Alistair while trying to process the loss, and what it might mean for his own sobriety.]]

* LastNameBasis: Sherlock with everyone, but not the other way around. Taken UpToEleven when he remarks that he thinks of most of the other detectives in the Precinct as being "Not-Bell".

* LastNameBasis: Sherlock with everyone, but not the other way around.

** In "Flight Risk" Sherlock deduces that one of the plane crash victims was dead before the plane crashed. [[spoiler:It turns out that he stumbled upon the plane being sabotaged, was killed, and stowed away on the it]].

* NiceHat: Alfredo has a collection of them.

** In "Flight Risk" Sherlock deduces that one of the the plane crash victims was dead before the plane crashed. [[spoiler:It turns out that he stumbled upon the plane being sabotaged, was killed, and stowed away on the it]].

* SelfServingMemory: The promo for "The One Percent Solution" shows Sherlock and Joan having this, when they realize they have to work with Lestrade, again. Yes Lestrade took credit for Sherlock's cases because Sherlock allowed him too (except for the one in "Step Nine").

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elementary_cbs_cast.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Bell, Watson, Holmes and Gregson at the scene of a crime.]]

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Sherlock digs an old telephone set out of the closet and connects it to the landline, just so he can hang up on people ''"with more emphasis"''.

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Sherlock digs an old telephone set out of the closet and connects it to the landline, just so he can hang up on people ''"with more emphasis''.

* AdultFear:
** In "Child Predator", children are mysteriously kidnapped and their bodies are later found. The latest victim was taken from her very bedroom. [[spoiler:The first kidnapped child is later found and appears to be suffering from a case of severe StockholmSyndrome, but is in fact the one responsible for planning the kidnapping and murders of the other children. All while he was between the ages of 10-17.]]
** In "Heroine", a criminal mastermind being able to track down your family and use their cellphones to contact you.
** In "We Are Everyone", having all your accounts and social networks hacked.
** In "Tremors", getting yourself and your partner/best friend fired (and one of your other friends seriously injured) thanks to your ego.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In "Paint It Black" [[spoiler:after Joan tried her best, under her condition of being kidnapped and working in a backroom, to save a man in her kidnapper's employ (and the man's cousin no less). But because he was bleeding internally and this wasn't caught in the first surgery or some other complication developed, Joan pleads with her kidnapper to take him to a hospital. The man just shoots his cousin on the table]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler:Mycroft ]] is trying to convince the BiggerBad that he still of great utility for the Milieu and that it would be a mistake to kill him and his friends but the mob boss orders all the witnesses killed anyway. This then turns into a inversion when it is revealed that [[spoiler:Mycroft was actually working for British Intelligence and was asking the mob boss to reconsider because he did not want to have to have to kill his very useful Milieu contacts in self-defense]].

** The "ghost of Brooklyn" debacle in the episode "On the Scent" is inspired by the real-world German case of the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn Phantom of Heilbronn]]".

** He is also seen crying in "The One That Got Away" (s3e12) [[spoiler:after he’d been fired by MI6 and abandoned by Kitty, thus finding himself in much the same situation that had originally compelled him to start taking drugs.]]

* MenDontCry: Averted with Sherlock, hoo boy. He nearly cries by the end of "While You Were Sleeping", then again in "M." and falls apart in "Risk Management" [[spoiler:when he discovers that Irene Adler is actually alive.]] He is also seen crying in "The One That Got Away" (s3e12) [[spoiler:after he’d been fired by MI6 and abandoned by Kitty, thus finding himself in much the same situation that had originally compelled him to start taking drugs.]]

* MenDontCry: Averted with Sherlock, hoo boy. He nearly cries by the end of "While You Were Sleeping", then again in "M." and falls apart in "Risk Management" [[spoiler:when he discovers that Irene Adler is actually alive.]]

[[folder: #-E]]

* AmnesiacLover: [[spoiler: Irene Adler]] in "The Woman". And then subverted.

** "M" serves this role in the first season, representing the forces in Sherlock's life that still control him despite his best efforts: [[DaddyIssues M. Holmes]], [[RedHerring Serial Killer "M"]] [[spoiler: AKA [[TheDragon Sebastian Moran]]]], and [[BigBad James Moriarty]].

-->'''Holmes:''' There were two pretermitted heirs, Ms. Ellison. Yvette killed the second one yesterday, so tell me: why was she still in a coma today? Why didn't she "miraculously" wake up this morning? Who did she have left to kill? Do you think perhaps it was someone who stood between her and the ''entirety'' of the family fortune?

-->'''Sherlock:''' Is that all you think she is? A counterbalance?\\

-->-- ''Paint it Black''

*** [[spoiler: The plan Joan uses to capture Moriarty. Joan knows that Moriarty will go after Sherlock if anything happens to him and crafts the overdose story, deducing all of Moriarty's moves without her noticing. It works.]]

** Mycroft pulls a much better one on everyone in "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and "Paint it Black": [[spoiler: cultivating an UpperClassTwit persona and allowing Le Milieu to use Diogenes as a base in the States, utilizing Joan as a hostage and Sherlock's deductive powers to find a highly-sought after list of Swiss bank customers, double-crossing Sherlock before he can bring the NYPD in and going alone to make the exchange for Joan, and finally, when Le Milieu is ready to kill him and Joan, calling in an [=MI6=] sniper team to take out Le Milieu.]]
** In "Bella", Sherlock decides to blackmail Isaac Pike by threatening to send his brother to jail for life if he doesn't turn himself in. Said brother is a drug addict. [[spoiler: Isaac reasons that Sherlock would not want to deny another addict a chance at redemption, and will not go through with the threat. He does not turn himself in. Whether the gambit worked is never shown.]]

* BigBrotherInstinct: Graham Delancey from "Poison Pen" [[spoiler: killed his sexually abusive father in part because his little brother was getting to the age where their dad would start to be interested in him.]]
** We find in the Season 2 finale [[spoiler: Mycroft has a ''major'' case of this, so much so that he was willing to be drawn back into the espionage game to keep Sherlock from being charged with treason.]]

** In "[[BigStormEpisode Snow Angels]]", Sherlock suspected that [[spoiler: the emergency response administrator]] was in on the robbery but had no solid evidence. So the police staged a fake riot to see if the suspects would use this opportunity to help get one of the imprisoned thieves out. [[spoiler:They did.]]

* BookEnds: At the start of "Pilot", Holmes and Watson are on the brownstone rooftop at night, and Holmes tells Watson to take a six-week holiday because he doesn't need her and because she obviously hates her job. [[spoiler: In the last scene of the season one finale "Heroine", after Joan defeated Moriarty by herself, Sherlock and Joan are witnessing the birth of a new species of bee, which Sherlock names ''Euglassia Watsonia''.]]

-->'''Sherlock:''' ''(to Joan)'' Without you, the airline might seat me next to a morbidly obese person. Or a child. Or a morbidly obese child.

** In "Lesser Evils", it was [[spoiler: the AlmightyJanitor]].

** The [[spoiler: bag of rice]] in "Pilot".

** Not exactly an object, but [[spoiler: Irene's birthmarks]] in "The Woman".

** The [[spoiler: dog]] in "An Unnatural Arrangement".

** The [[spoiler: doctor of the woman in coma]] in "While You Were Sleeping".
** The [[spoiler: AlmightyJanitor]] in "Lesser Evils".

** The[[spoiler: pickpocketing]] in "We Are Everyone".

* CollateralAngst: Played with. [[spoiler: Sherlock takes a very damaged and PTSD-laden Irene into the Brownstone after finding her alive, and Irene mentions how hard it must be for ''Sherlock'' to cope with seeing her like this. Of course, this was just another ruse of Moriarty's.]]

* CompanionCube: Sherlock's phrenology bust is apparently named Angus. [[spoiler: When Joan and Rhys are held hostage at gunpoint, she smashes Angus against the gunman's head, incapacitating him until the police arrive. At the end of the episode, Holmes is seen carefully putting Angus back together.]]
* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler: Jamie Moriarty combines Irene Adler, the EnsembleDarkhorse of the original stories and supervillain BigBad Professor Moriarty.]]

* ConsummateLiar: Cassie from "Miss Taken". [[spoiler: She pretends to be a couple's long lost daughter.]] So good that only Sherlock is able to unravel the lies. Even then people have a hard time disbelieving her. When confronted with these lies [[spoiler:she hardly breaks a sweat and creates a new story that explains why she lied in the first place while taking the blame off herself.]]

* ConvenientComa: Invoked InUniverse in "While You Were Sleeping". [[spoiler: The killer was slipping in and out of a medically-induced coma with the help of her doctor boyfriend, in order to have the perfect alibi.]]

-->'''Jim Fowkes:''' There's a sociopath working for us? Let me let you in on a little secret, Mr. Holmes. We're ''all'' sociopaths.

* CouldntFindAPen: In "Details", Bell's brother uses his own blood to [[spoiler: write that Bell didn't shoot him to protect him from the frame-up. He didn't see who had shot him but trusted that Bell wouldn't do such a thing despite their rocky relationship.]] Other characters point out that given that he took the time to write in his blood, the message is genuine.

** In "Hounded", the titular [[Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles hound]] is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler: a Boston Dynamics-esque robot dog on a remote-controlled killing spree.]]

** In "No Lack of Void"[[spoiler: Sherlock learns that his good friend Alistair has died of an overdose after relapsing. He spends the rest of the episode conversing with a vision of Alistair while trying to process the loss, and what it might mean for his own sobriety.]]
** [[spoiler: Towards the end of season 5 we see him having several conversations with a woman he tries to keep away from everyone else. In the season finale we learn that the woman is actually a hallucination of his late mother brought on by his Post Concussion Syndrome.]]

** Sherlock unearths a Russian [=SVR=] spy ring in "Dirty Laundry". [[spoiler: The victim and her husband have been long time sleeper agents from Russia with their own American-born daughter, and they're not the only ones.]]

* DestructiveRomance: [[spoiler: Sherlock and Moriarty's relationship.]]

** In "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs", [[spoiler: the DEA agent]] is the bad guy.
** In "Details", [[spoiler: Bell had blown the whistle on one such DirtyCop who had been planting evidence and committed other transgressions while working on a major drug case together.]]

** In "One Way To Get Off", the copycat is [[spoiler: the son of the original serial killer]] and spends most of the episode completely off Sherlock's radar. The only reason Sherlock is able to identify him at all is because he happens to run into him while pursuing a completely different lead.
** [[spoiler: In "The Woman", the fragile and traumatized Irene Adler was actually the BigBad Moriarty.]]

** [[spoiler: Sebastian Moran]] in "A Landmark Story" in exchange for [[spoiler:Moriarty not killing his sister]].

* EnemyMine: Sherlock briefly gets help from Moran in tracking down Moriarty. [[spoiler: Moran doesn't survive the episode]].

** In "The Deductionist", imprisoned serial killer Martin Ennis breaks loose to wreak havoc and get revenge against TheProfiler, Katherine Drummond, [[spoiler: because her book destroyed his family. She falsely alleged that he was a sexually abused by his father, who later hanged himself and his mother died shortly after; his sister helps him break out of jail by deliberately inducing kidney disease. While Holmes openly speculates that Martin manipulated his sister to help his plan, Martin still takes time during his escape to call Drummond and declare to her that his parents were good people who had nothing to do with what he has become]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The hedge-fund manager in "Internal Audit". He has no problem with stealing from his clients. But [[spoiler: stealing millions from Holocaust survivors under the guise of a charity]] goes too far.
* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler: Used against Moriarty in "Heroine".]]
* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler: "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs" is a kidnapping case with surprisingly no casualties.]]

[[folder: F-K]]

** [[spoiler: Irene Adler put on an American accent so well that she fooled Sherlock]].
* FakinMacGuffin: "M" has a mysterious serial killer, who Holmes has a history and obsession with but who has never been caught, known only by that initial. Any viewer who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes would naturally assume that the "M" stands for "Moriarty". [[spoiler: It's actually for Moran TheDragon of Moriarty. And then subverted because Moran's murders were contracted kills on Moriarty's orders, while Moriarty himself is apparently the one who killed Irene Adler, meaning that, in a sense, Moriarty really ''is'' M. And then comes TheReveal in "Heroine" when we learn that Irene Adler is alive and is Moriarty.]]

** [[spoiler: Irene Adler faked her own murder...[[ObfuscatingInsanity among a few other things.]]]]

** Moriarty uses it against Sherlock [[spoiler: when she faked her own death, knowing that Sherlock would be devastated.]]
** Then, in "Heroine", [[spoiler: Joan uses Moriarty's obsession with Sherlock against her. It works.]]

** In "Pilot", Joan deduces that Sherlock hit bottom because of a woman. We discover that [[spoiler: Irene Adler's murder (through Moriarty's orders) led him to addiction. Then, in "The Woman" we discover that Irene ''is'' Moriarty and, literally, she was the ''woman'' responsible for everything that happened to him.]]
** In "The Leviathan", the mysterious and omniscient Le Chevalier stole one of the most expensive paintings in the world and used it in his living room. In "The Woman", [[spoiler: Irene Adler does the same with ''several'' paintings. This works as a MythologyGag for fans who realized that she was Moriarty 40 minutes before the reveal and to foreshadow her true nature as a mysterious criminal who lives in the shadows.]]
** In "M.", [[spoiler: Sebastian Moran tells Holmes that Moriarty killed Irene Adler with the sentence "''Your Girl. That was him. That was Moriarty.''". In "The Woman" this sentence comes to life in the most literal sense possible.]]
** In "The Red Team", [[spoiler: Joan's shrink asks her if she is aware that she can be the catalyst for a Sherlock's relapse. In "Heroine", guess what happens. At first the audience think the relapse and the overdose is real due to Holmes and Watson's fight earlier in the episode, but turns out that Joan is the one who suggested the fake overdose to Sherlock. In both cases, she was the catalyst of a relapse -- even though it was a fake one.]]
** Throughout the series, we see that Moriarty has ample opportunity to let the assassins kill Holmes, but they never do. In "Risk Management", its flat-out stated and recognized in universe that Moriarty wants Holmes alive. [[spoiler: It hints on how Moriarty is obsessed with Holmes, and can't bear to kill him.]]

** In "Risk Management," Gregson warns Joan about Sherlock, telling her that he "walks between the raindrops." Meaning that while he manages to safely maneuver through a dangerous world, the people around him aren't always so lucky. Sooner or later, someone in Sherlock's circle is going to get seriously hurt, or worse. [[spoiler: In "Tremors," it finally happens--but to Bell, not Joan.]]

** [[spoiler: Detective D'Amico did this to Wade Crewes prior to "One Way To Get Off", sending him to prison for 13 years]].

-->'''Joan:''' No. I am dissecting a body in the middle of the night. We are not having a moment.

-->'''Sherlock:''' The thing that's different about me, empirically speaking...is you.\\

* FreezeFrameBonus: In "Déjà Vu All Over Again", Joan looks at Sherlock's rehab report from Hemdale and the audience can see for the first time his complete medical diagnostic. [[spoiler: Sherlock was mainly addicted to heroin, but also took other drugs. He's also clinically depressed and refused medication.]]

-->'''Holmes''': You were right, Watson, I felt like Music/JimiHendrix there for a moment.

** [[spoiler: The British man Professor James Moriarty is now a "she". Irene Adler's true identity is Moriarty. "We Are Everyone" reveals her true name to be ''Jamie'' Moriarty.]]

* {{Hallucinations}}: [[spoiler: Sherlock]] turns out to have developed them in late Season 5. Specifically, [[spoiler: he sees and has conversations with his long-dead mother, who is trying to get him to seek medical help for this and other symptoms he's experiences, such as memory loss. She claims that she represents "the part of you that wants to get well."]]

-->''"Are governments capable of evil? Yes, of course they are, all institutions are. But they're more capable of incompetence."''

* HowWeGotHere: "The Rat Race" begins with Joan arriving at the police station [[spoiler: alone because Holmes has gone missing and she cannot get a hold of him]]. The episode then tracks back to two days prior and the events that lead to Joan going to the police.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: In "A Landmark Story", after Sherlock [[spoiler: has captured this week's murderer and has him tied up in their house to interrogate him about his connection to Moriarty]], he asks a frantic Joan if she wants tea. She responds with this. The teetotaling addict in recovery gives her ''the'' face.

* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler: In "Possibility Two" a geneticist is murdered by her fiancé in a jealous rage after he suspects that she might be leaving him]].

-->'''Watson:''' "Lots of nerve endings there."

-->'''Watson:''' "Could have been a knife."

-->'''Watson:''' "But don't take my word for it. I'm just a woman with a crazy story."
** In "Risk Management", Sherlock says that the easiest way to track someone is through their phone. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode, Sherlock goes to an address Moriarty sent him, while lying to Joan about his intents. He gets out of the taxi and finds her waiting for him.]]
-->'''Watson:''' In this day and age, the simplest way to track someone is via their cell phone.

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler: In "Heroine", Joan suggests this to Sherlock as a part of her BatmanGambit to capture Moriarty.]]

** Moriarty. [[spoiler: After seducing Sherlock, faking her own death, destroying his life and sanity, leading him to drug addiction, going back to his life pretending to be mentally ill and filling his heart with guilt, she tried to set him apart from Watson, made threats to his emotional health, and in the end, after ''thinking he had overdosed'' tried to manipulate him into her ''again''.]]
** Gareth Lestrade. [[spoiler: Took credit for Sherlock's work for years, then ignored all Sherlock's attempts to help him and in the end of "Step Nine" took advantage of Sherlock's wit again.]]

[[folder: L-P]]

** The culprit of "Details" is [[spoiler: an ex-girlfriend of Detective Bell's, who was also a beat cop. She had been trying to get promoted into Vice, but after learning that Bell went to Internal Affairs with evidence that her late superior was a DirtyCop on a major drug case they were all working on, her chances were next to nothing so she took it out on Bell.]]

** In "Details" Joan says "I'd like to be paid on Thursdays" [[spoiler: to indicate that she's staying on.]] The series aired on Thursdays when the episode was made,

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: [[spoiler: Watson is light, Moriarty is dark.]]
** Appearance-flipped in that Joan is brunette while [[spoiler: Moriarty is blonde]].

** In "The Rat Race", [[spoiler: Donna Kaplan the secretary]] arranged four accidents and other inconspicuous deaths to climb the corporate ladder.
** In "Flight Risk" Sherlock deduces that one of the the plane crash victims was dead before the plane crashed. [[spoiler: It turns out that he stumbled upon the plane being sabotaged, was killed, and stowed away on the it]].

-->'''Holmes''': I assure you, there's no such thing as a master of disguise. If there was, I'd be one myself.

* MenDontCry: Averted with Sherlock, hoo boy. He nearly cries by the end of "While You Were Sleeping", then again in "M." and falls apart in "Risk Management" [[spoiler: when he discovers that Irene Adler is actually alive.]]
* MercyKill: "Lesser Evils" features a serial killer who was euthanizing terminally ill patients in a hospital. [[spoiler: One patient actually wasn't terminally ill, but her surgeon tricked the killer into believing she was in order to cover up a post-operative mistake that could have ended his career.]]

** In "The Woman" [[spoiler: Irene Adler says exactly this to Sherlock about Moriarty and him. In the end, when we see that ''she was Moriarty'', her theory is proved real, since both of them felt in love with each other.]]
** In "Step Nine", Joan comes to this conclusion about Mycroft and Sherlock after Sherlock tells her that [[spoiler: Mycroft exploded what was left of Sherlock's possessions and considers it a clean slate.]]
** In "Art in the Blood", it's revealed that while Holmes is a brilliant detective who uses his formidable mental skills consulting for law enforcement, [[spoiler: Mycroft turns out to be a brilliant intelligence asset who uses his formidable mental skills consulting for UsefulNotes/MI6.]]

-->'''Holmes:''' Website/{{Google}}. ''({{beat}})'' Well, not everything is deducible.

** The killer in "Lesser Evils" when he finds out that a woman he [[MercyKill killed]] because he thought she was terminally ill and was facing a slow and agonizing death, [[spoiler: had actually just had surgery and was recovering; he was tricked into killing her to hide the truth about a botched surgery]].

* TheNotLoveInterest: Neither Sherlock nor Joan is attracted to the other at all. Not that people don't keep mistaking them for it. [[spoiler: In fact, this is actually a subplot of "Déjà Vu All Over Again", when Joan's friends think she's being emotionally manipulated by Sherlock and stage a misinformed intervention.]]

** [[spoiler: Irene Adler was faking her amnesia and her PSTD symptoms. Amongst other things.]]

** [[spoiler: Mycroft's career for the previous decade: chef, restauranteur, long-suffering victim of his brother's insults, ''highly valued UsefulNotes/MI6 asset''...]]

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: [[spoiler: Jamie Moriarty]] gets ''extremely'' annoyed when Joan's life is threatened by Elana March. The two of them have unfinished business, and Elana is getting in the way.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: In "The Rat Race", Joan figures out Sherlock is in trouble [[spoiler: when the text the secretary sends doesn't contain indecipherable abbreviations.]]

** Though she still has important roles in both seasons, getting [[spoiler: kidnapped]] in the end of season 2, being involved with Mycroft, & deducing Mycroft's real reason for getting involved with [=MI6=]. And in season 3 she has an important plot about her involving the [[spoiler: death of Andrew]], she acts as a second mentor for Kitty (Sherlock refers to each of them as Kitty's mother and father), and she ends up [[spoiler: moving back in]]. She also continues to solve her own cases and helps Sherlock solve his.

-->'''Shinwell''': I'm Chivonne's father. Given the way you've been treating my baby girl, stalking her, and making her life hell, by rights, you should be lying in a pool of your own blood right now.

* PhantomThief: Played with in "The Leviathan". A criminal who Holmes and Watson question about the break-in of a unbeatable safe clue them in of a legendary thief who's pulled impossible heists. [[spoiler: Turns out to be a fluke, and the crime in question was done by a SimilarSquad of the jury who banded together]].

* PosthumousCharacter: Irene Adler was treated as one for most of the season, her death having caused Sherlock's spiral into drugs. [[spoiler: Turns out, she was FakingTheDead.]]

* TheProfiler: One appears in the "The Deductionist", as a former partner ([[WorkingWithTheEx in more ways than one]]) of Holmes. It's also something of a DiscussedTrope, as the episode analyzes whether a profiler can be a legitimate detective or if they're just "snake oil science". [[spoiler: It ends on a ambiguous note about their effectiveness.]] This is a TruthInTelevision. Real-life studies have indicated that trained profilers have no better statistical averages than amateurs making educated guesses.

** British Intelligence had an analyst investigate Sherlock back in London when he began consulting with the police as they were concerned someone with his skill set could be a threat. [[spoiler: They're proven right. Just before he went into rehab, he unwittingly acted as a courier for a terrorist group. Later, he's responsible for nearly blowing the cover of Mycroft's operation.]]

[[folder: Q-S]]

** Captain Gregson in "The Red Team". He finalizes it by [[spoiler: punching Sherlock in the stomach.]]

** Moriarty also delivers one in the "The Woman/Heroine" [[spoiler: and concludes by saying that she is superior to Sherlock and he is a game she will win everytime. And then she loses.]]

** In "The Woman", [[spoiler: we are introduced to Irene Adler and her private collection of art masterpieces stolen from several museums and exposed beautifully in her ''living room''.]]

* RichBitch: [[spoiler: Yvette Ellison]] from "While You Were Sleeping", who not only murdered [[spoiler: her newly discovered half-siblings]], but also [[spoiler: faked a coma]] and plotted to kill [[spoiler: her own twin sister]], solely because she did not want to share the family inheritance.
* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: Sherlock Holmes' description of [[spoiler: Moriarty]] from the episode "The Diabolical Kind".
--> '''Sherlock:''' The woman is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma I've had sex with. I would be lying if I said I was the strongest assessor of her motives at this point.

** This is also SerialKiller Howard Ennis' motivation in "The Deductionist". [[spoiler: Ennis wants revenge on FBI profiler Kathryn Drummond because she falsely accused Ennis' father of sexually abusing him, which led to the death of both Ennis' parents. His sister is in on it too.]]

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: Moriarty is a woman.]]

--> '''Randy''': You're Sherlock, right?\\
'''Sherlock''': And you are?\\
'''Randy''': Randy.\\
'''Sherlock''': Name or adjective?\\
'''Randy''': What?\\
'''Sherlock''': Short for "Randall" or state of sexual arousal?\\
'''Randy''': Are you asking me if I'm horny?

--> "When we find this man, he should stand trial for murder, and crimes against the English language."

** In "The Rat Race", [[spoiler: Donna Kaplan the secretary]] arranged four accidents and other inconspicuous deaths to climb the corporate ladder, and tries to kill Sherlock [[spoiler:to frame her boss Jim Fowkes]].

* ShipTease: ...Not as much as [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 some]] [[Series/{{Sherlock}} installments]], but this is still Holmes and Watson we're talking about. The first line he says to her is "Do you believe in love at first sight?". [[spoiler: He was actually reciting lines from the soap opera on TV.]] [[http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s205/elementary/interviews/a395316/elementary-execs-qa-dont-want-sherlock-watson-in-bed-together.html Though the creators stated that they intended too keep the characters' relationship platonic, and did so throughout the series.]]

** In "The Deductionist" [[spoiler: Patricia Ennis was in on her brother Martin's plan to get back at Kathryn Drummond. She poisoned her liver so Martin could escape when donating his, and then tried to kill Drummond with a pair of scissors]].

* SiblingTriangle: In "The Marchioness", we see two. One from the past, involving Sherlock, Mycroft and Nigella (Mycroft's former fiancée). The other one, [[spoiler: involving of all people ''Watson'', Sherlock and Mycroft. Sherlock finds out that Watson slept with Mycroft in London and is not happy at all about it.]]

--> '''Sherlock''': If I were you, I wouldn't be upset that a dirty film was produced in your home. I would be upset that it was produced so poorly.

* SpringtimeForHitler: "Dead Man's Tale" features an example which is so clearly inspired by the TropeNamer, the episode actually includes a brief clip from ''Series/TheProducers''. A man stages an expedition to search for a sunken ship, promising his investors a massive share of the treasure supposedly buried on board. [[spoiler: The idea was that when he failed to find any treasure, they would get nothing and he would pocket the unused money they had given him. Unfortunately for him, evidence quickly surfaced that there really was gold on the ship, so he had to stage an elaborate plot--including murder--to make it disappear.]]

** How does Alistair describe Sherlock's brain when he was mourning [[spoiler: Irene? ''Addled''.]]

** The episode "Tremors" illustrates the consequences of Sherlock's antics finally catching up to him: [[spoiler: A suspect pushed too far by Sherlock's antagonism tries to kill him. Bell suffers a career-threatening injury as a result and [temporarily] ends his friendship with Sherlock, and Holmes are Watson are dragged before a committee to answer for their less-than-legal methods that led to said injury.]]

[[folder: T-Z]]

** "One Way To Get Off" has [[spoiler: Sean Figueroa, illegitimate son of SerialKiller Wade Crewes, who's father convinced him to commit murders to make himself look innocent]]. He killed two couples, and a bystander who happened to be present.

** [[spoiler: Turns out to be the cause of the plot in "You Do It To Yourself".]]
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Moriarty and the death of Irene Adler. See FakingTheDead.]]

* ThickerThanWater: In "Blood is Thicker", [[spoiler: this trope is played with. Sherlock needs to decide if he stays with Watson in New York (even though without money) or if he goes back to London to please his father. He decides to stay. Then, the trope turns around 180º and assumes its original meaning when we learn that Mycroft was actually trying to separate Sherlock from Watson with the help of ''someone''.]]

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: In "Ears to You", [[spoiler: Lestrade]] becomes this to Sherlock and Joan.

* TookALevelInBadass: Joan's been growing steadily as a investigator over the course of the season, but it comes to a high point in "The Woman", when she takes over the investigation single-handedly [[spoiler: when Sherlock's taking care of Irene]]. She traces a rare colour of paint to a handful of shops, giving the cops a lead.
** And better: In "Heroine", [[spoiler: she is the one who ''alone'' deduces Moriarty and creates the plan to her capture.]]

** In "We Are Everyone", [[spoiler: she learns pickpocketing by herself, impressing Sherlock and collecting evidence to capture the killer of the week.]]

** [[spoiler: Irene Adler in "The Woman", leading Sherlock to deduce that she's not all she says she is because a few birthmarks are missing.]]
** A woman in "Ears to You" during an ImagineSpot, [[spoiler: to show the [[FanDisservice human ears]] growing out of her back.]]
* TortureTechnician: Moran, although [[spoiler: he's just doing exactly what his boss tells him]].
* TraumaCongaLine: Sherlock goes through a huge one before the "Pilot", which brings him to New York and sets up the whole Season 1 arc. [[spoiler: It only gets worse in the Season 1 Finale, courtesy of Jamie Moriarty.]]

** [[spoiler: Lucas Bundsch]] plays an elaborate hoax on Sherlock and Joan for no apparent reason other than to mess with them.

* WasItAllALie: [[spoiler: Sherlock to Irene Adler in "The Woman/Heroine". [[ItMeantSomethingToMe It wasn't]].]]

** In "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs", this is Holmes' reaction when [[spoiler: his former drug dealer Rhys offers him some cocaine, believing that it'll help Holmes find Rhys' kidnapped daughter]].

** "Risk Management": [[spoiler: The ending reveals that Irene Adler is still alive, apparently being kept in a GildedCage by Moriarty.]]
** "The Woman/Heroine": [[spoiler: Irene Adler is in fact an identity assumed by Moriarty. Moriarty is revealed to be have become careless, since she has also fallen in love with Holmes. Joan becomes the heroine of the show being the only one who was able to deduce Moriarty and capture her.]]
** "We Are Everyone": [[spoiler: Joan Watson starts writing the Sherlock Holmes chronicles and Sherlock reads a love letter from Moriarty.]]
** "Blood is Thicker": [[spoiler: We discover that Mycroft is working with someone to separate Sherlock from Watson.]]
** "The Man With the Twisted Lip": [[spoiler: Sherlock has a packet of stolen heroin in his possession and Mycroft may or may not have arranged for Joan to be drugged and kidnapped.]]
** "Paint it Black": [[spoiler: Mycroft didn't arrange Joan's abduction, but he is in fact, as an [=MI6=] agent.]]
** "The Grand Experiment": [[spoiler: In case of his death, the victim was going to burn Mycroft. Mycroft is forced to fake his death, sever his ties to Joan and Sherlock, and goes into hiding. Joan decides to move out of the brownstone and Sherlock takes a job offer from [=MI6=] with Lord Walter.]]
** "Unfriended": [[spoiler: Sherlock goes after Odin by having Morland damage his company. Odin retaliates by having Morland killed.]]

** From "The Woman": ''Then a few hours ago, [[spoiler: [[SamusIsAGirl she]] tried to have me killed.'']]

--> [[spoiler:''Mycroft'': "British intelligence is not here to arrest me, I '''am''' British intelligence."]]

-->'''Joan:''' ''(to the client of the week)'' Why didn't you just tell me [[spoiler: you're my half-sister?]]

--> '''Sherlock''': Why do you look like [[spoiler:my mother?]]
--> [[spoiler: [[ImaginaryFriend His hallucination]]: I'm the part of you that wants to get better.]]

*** Watson [[spoiler: starts writing the chronicles of Sherlock Holmes and the camera is focused on her computer screen.]]

*** [[spoiler: Sherlock hides a pack of stolen heroin in a hollowed-out book. Joan is drugged at Diogenes and kidnapped.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: After giving Holmes the cold shoulder throughout "The Red Team" for his actions in "M.", Gregson finally sits down with him and rips into him, calling him out on the fact that he acts like a child half the time, is completely self-centered, and doesn't seem to have any regret for trying to [[spoiler: murder a suspect]] on Gregson's watch. Gregson ends the speech by saying he'll let Holmes keep consulting, but that he'll never fully trust him again. And then he punches Holmes in the gut for good measure before leaving.

** In "On the Line" and "Tremors", Watson and Gregson frequently talk to Sherlock about his bad behavior and his ego. In "Tremors", his attitude is catastrophic, probably causing permanent damage in Bell's arm thanks to a bullet and getting himself and Watson fired from the NYPD [[spoiler: until Bell himself decides to make an intervention. However, Holmes' relationship with Bell also took a hit...]]

* WorkingTheSameCase: "Déjà Vu All Other Again", [[spoiler: a man's wife disappearance (Joan's) and a woman getting pushed into the subway (Sherlock's) turns out to be linked.]]

-->'''Sherlock''': The world is balanced on a knife edge of destruction every single day. You accept that, and you can just get on with things.

** Moriarty qualifies as one. Even Holmes [[spoiler: calls her ''a nemesis''.]]

** "Possibility Two" features a geneticist discovering the "warrior gene" in people, causing sociopathy and violence. [[spoiler: She is later murdered by her fiancé, who possesses this gene and stabs her because she was becoming distant and he suspected she was about to leave him.]]
** In "Heroine" we see that [[spoiler: Moriarty is definitely one for Sherlock.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In "Paint It Black" [[spoiler:after Joan tried her best, under her condition of being kidnapped and working in a backroom, to save a man in her kidnapper's employ (and the man's cousin no less). But because he was bleeding internally and this wasn't caught in the first surgery or some other complication developed, Joan pleads with her kidnapper to take him to a hospital. The man just shoots his cousin on the table]]. Later in the episode, [[spoiler: Mycroft ]] is trying to convince the BiggerBad that he still of great utility for the Milieu and that it would be a mistake to kill him and his friends but the mob boss orders all the witnesses killed anyway. This then turns into a inversion when it is revealed that [[spoiler: Mycroft was actually working for British Intelligence and was asking the mob boss to reconsider because he did not want to have to have to kill his very useful Milieu contacts in self-defense]].

** "The Marchioness" has Sherlock working for an ex-lover, who also happens to be Mycroft's ex-fiance.