Fridge examples for ''Series/{{Elementary}}''.

!!FridgeBrilliance
* The TitleSequence follows a RubeGoldbergDevice that drops a cage on a figurine. At first I thought it was just cool-looking, but then it occurred to me that it could be a metaphor for how Franchise/SherlockHolmes ties together seemingly meaningless scraps of information.
** Another possible interpretation: A hammer smashes a porcelain head of a woman, and immediately after a cage falls and traps a small toy man. It's pretty striking symbolism once you learn about [[spoiler: Irene]].
** It's also a MythologyGag, as several parts of the Device are also components of Ratigan's overblown death trap from ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''.
** This troper is considering two more interpretations of entire "porcelain shell smashed, man trapped".
*** [[spoiler: The death of Irene broke Sherlock]]
*** [[spoiler: With TheReveal of Irene's true identity as Moriarty, the persona of "Irene Adler" dies.]]
* Rather than have InspectorLestrade, the show uses Thomas Gregson. In the original Holmes stories, Gregson was locked in bitter rivalry with InspectorLestrade ... just as ''Elementary'', being also an updating of the Holmes stories transplanting the characters to a contemporary setting, is a rival to ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''.
* Sherlock completely losing control in the first episode to the point of smashing Watson's car into the killer's out of sheer frustration and winding up in a cell takes on a new light when it's revealed [[spoiler: how he lost Irene Adler. The killer in the pilot arranged for his own wife to be murdered, and Sherlock was the one who discovered her body lying in a pool of her own blood. A giant pool of blood may be ''all'' they ever found of Irene, depending on whether or not she was one of the victims whose body was never recovered.]]
* A FreezeFrameBonus of Holmes' rehab report reveals that he is clinically depressed, does not take medication for it, but did see a therapist. He hasn't seen one since leaving Hemdale. Look at his actions throughout the series and many things make sense.
* [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness There's often a lot of difference between a pilot episode and the rest of the series]], and this show is no exception. The biggest difference is that in the Pilot, Gregson's assistant was a guy named Abreu. Marcus Bell isn't introduced until the second episode where he replaces Abreu. The Pilot gained a lot of criticism because some of Holmes' "brilliant deductions" were things that the police would be normally expected to figure out for themselves, like Holmes finding a stray bit of glass in the corner of a room. The rest of the series has done a good job of avoiding this problem, making a good distinction between what the police could reasonably expected to figure out themselves and the sort of brilliant reasoning that only a genius like Sherlock Holmes can accomplish. Maybe Holmes finding that stray bit of glass in the Pilot was a sign that Abreu wasn't up to the job. Maybe after the Pilot, Gregson fired/transferred Abreu and replaced him with the much more competent Bell.
* The name of the show. ''Elementary''. The [[BeamMeUpScotty noncanonical]], but iconic saying is "Elementary, my dear Watson." The show's title is an emphasis on the importance of Watson in Holmes' life.
* While Holmes is still socially incompetent at best, and is often described as having colleagues or associates rather than friends before Watson came into his life, Creator/JonnyLeeMiller's version of Holmes is essentially more socially capable than most, such as making an effort to maintain good contacts with the Irregulars and colleagues such as Captain Gregson who have earned his respect. The reason for this is suggested by the existence of the Irregulars themselves; most versions of Sherlock Holmes rely on knowing basically ''everything'' they need to know in the event of it being useful for a future case, but with the Irregulars to provide more specialised knowledge in relatively obscure fields such as mathematics or meteorology, Holmes doesn't need to "specialise" and can focus more on personal interaction to a level that some versions can't manage.
* For the first season finale: [[spoiler: In the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes only defeats Moriarty by pulling him over a ledge with him, with both falling to their deaths. This infamous "Fall" has been used in a lot of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, but apparently not in ''Elementary''. Because in ''Elementary'', it's a metaphorical fall. What do you call it when someone goes back to drugs after being sober? ''Falling off the wagon''.]]
** And not only that, [[spoiler: in ''Elementary'' Sherlock's "fall" is part of a BatmanGambit designed to trick Moriarty into defeat. And it works!]]
** [[spoiler:As the season ending reveals, both Sherlock and Moriarty could be considered to have fallen - in love with each other. Another form of metaphorical fall.]]
* Sherlock lives in a brownstone. A popular nickname for heroin is "brownstone". Think Holmes will one day be revealed to be a Music/GunsNRoses fan?
* In "Child Predator", Holmes did a double take at a painting that the kidnapped child's mother was painting. Later on, it was revealed that Irene Adler was a painter.
* During the flashbacks when Holmes interacted with Irene, there is a lack of people in the background, as if the only person worth seeing to Holmes was Irene. It's an interesting contrast to Joan who makes sure that Holmes is surrounded by people.
* Sherlock often makes disparaging comments about obese people in the first season. Then in the second season premiere we meet his formerly fat brother Mycroft, with whom Sherlock often fought. Bad mental associations?
* At the end of "Step Nine," Mycroft [[spoiler: blows up Sherlock's belongings, including an authentic Picasso. Who else had authentic art privately? Irene. A tragic keepsake from when Sherlock thought she was dead?]]
* "M": Moran's WhamLine: "Your girl. That was him. That was Moriarty." What if he's basically telling Sherlock that [[spoiler:Irene is really Moriarty]]?
* Mycroft's restaurant is named Diogenes. This is an obvious nod to the Diogenes Club that he frequents in the source material, but Diogenes was also a Greek philosopher who had a reputation for being lazy and vulgar; Sherlock frequently accuses him of being a flake, and for a man to have sex with his brother's student while visiting said brother is a rather vulgar thing to do.
* The bust that is smashed in the opening sequence is female, [[spoiler: and has a haircut that strongly resembles Moriarty's in "Heroine".]]
* "Solve For X" revolves around "[[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/explainer-pnp.html P versus NP]]," the most notorious unsolved problem in theoretical computer science.
* In "An Unnatural Arrangement," we meet a character with the unfortunate name of "UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe," and British Sherlock Holmes quips "Loved your doctrine." Britain was one of the only European nations to actually be in favor of the Monroe Doctrine.
* Although it's obviously flattering on the surface that Sherlock would name the bee species he discovered after Joan, it became even clearer why Sherlock would do so: It's because the bee's existence, much like his friendship with Watson, was thought to be impossible by him. Between a life of people paid by his father to be around him and people who couldn't "keep up" with him, Sherlock has probably spent years of his life thinking he couldn't make a normal connection with others. [[spoiler:Irene/Moriarity aside]]. Much like how the "bee in the box" was believed to be its own species, Sherlock likely believed he may as well have been his own species. Joan proved to him that even if he was different, he was still capable of building a sincere connection with someone else that wanted to be around him for who he was, and could provide knowledge and other skills he didn't possess.
** It's even more special when you remember the episode when Sherlock first received the "bee in the box" is the first episode where Joan starts as his apprentice. He, though a reasonable decision at the time, rejects the bee before accepting it and placing it with his hive. It reflects the start of Sherlock slowly starting to place himself around Joan as equals and eventually acknowledging that their unique friendship is sincere and precious to him.

!!FridgeHorror
* The plot of "The Long Fuse" has some horrifying implications for one character. [[spoiler:Himali Singh learns of all the following in short order: a. Her husband Pradeep, who has been missing for four years, not only slept with prostitutes before their marriage, but filmed at least one of them. b. The prostitute Pradeep filmed was Heather Van Owen, his future boss. c. Pradeep got multiple promotions at his job by repeatedly {{blackmail}}ing Heather. d. Heather finally got fed up, murdered Pradeep, and stashed his body inside the wall of his house while Himali was out of the country. That's right--while Himali dealt with the disappearance of her husband, ''his corpse was hidden and decomposing inside the wall of their house. For four years.'']] No wonder the story doesn't dwell on it.
* The implications behind the plot of "The Red Team." The war-game scenario that the Red Team came up with was apparently so horrifying that it was immediately classified, and [[spoiler: one member of the team wanted to kill them all off, including himself, out of fear that one of them would crack and reveal it to someone else.]] Sherlock [[spoiler: worked it out all on his own a matter of seconds.]] If he could do that, so could someone else...
** It gets worse: Holmes [[spoiler: was the only one smart enough to do that]], now, ''[[BigBad who]] [[DiabolicalMastermind else]] [[ArchEnemy has such a sharp mind?]]'' [[OhCrap Yeah]].
* Remember that woman Sherlock [[spoiler: saved from Moran? Well, if Moran was merely a hitman doing the job for Moriarty, then it's likely she died anyway considering how many backup plans Moriarty has,]] and depending on how important her death was to whatever plot required her to die in the first place.
** Not likely. It seems that Moriarty sent Moran to that woman for the sole purpose of attracting Holmes to him.
* In "On the Line", how long was [[spoiler: poor Kathy Spaulding locked in that tiny closet and tormented by a psychopath]]? The possibilities are horrifying...
* In "The Five Orange Pipz", [[spoiler: the corrupt FBI agent wanted to get his hands on the confiscated evidence, explicitly toy beads that turn into GHB when swallowed. GHB is often used in date rape attacks - a man in law enforcement, who would know full well what purposes the drugs might be intended for, was happy to sell something that could be used in sexual assault as long as he got his money.]]
* Though it's in the original stories, let's talk about the Diogenes Club. Diogenes the Cynic was a man who made a virtue of poverty - which doesn't in any way describe Mycroft, or for that matter Mycroft in the original stories. While Diogenes criticized the excesses of society, Mycroft exploits them for a living. And Diogenes famously went around with a lantern in daylight looking for an honest man. [[spoiler:That sure ain't Mycroft, who's up to his neck in secrets and lies, much like his literary predecessor. Interesting how his choice of codeword is "Paint it Black".]]
** Speaking of which, watch the climactic scene for that episode again. [[spoiler:Mycroft wasn't begging the Frenchmen for mercy. He was giving them one last chance.]]
* ''Sherlock[='=]''s Sherlock has his Homeless Network, the equivalent of the Baker Street Irregulars? What does this Sherlock have? ''Everyone''.

!!FridgeLogic
* While the "turtle cozy" bit was funny, it wouldn't actually ''work''. Turtles are exotherms and don't benefit from insulation.
** To be fair, Mrs Hudson might not have known that. Sherlock just says he thought they were amusing to look at.
----