The first part of Elementary's two-part finale. Sherlock Holmes recently discovered that his Love Interest Irene Adler is in fact alive. She was held captive in a manor house, and is now fragile and traumatized. Irene is taken to the hospital, and she describes a man known as "Mr. Stapleton" who terrorized her during her captivity. Sherlock is busy taking care of her, leaving Watson to solve the case.
At the room where Adler was held, Watson discovers a rare yellow paint. It is traced to a man named Duane Proctor. When they go to his brother Isaac's house, Isaac vouches for his brother that he was nothing to do with the abduction. Duane arrives, and the go outside to question him, who also insists he is innocent.
Suddenly the police hear a gunshot from the house and rush in. One of the police has been shot and only survives due to a bulletproof vest. When they search Isaac's garage they find a cache of weapons and false passports. When interrogated Duane Proctor still insists he and his brother are innocent and 'one of the good ones'. This is supported by the fact that Irene does not recognize either of the brothers.
With his description in the news, Isaac Proctor cuts his hair and shaves his beard. He receives a call, telling him to run an 'errand' for an untraceable way to leave the country.
Sherlock admits to Irene that he had gone through a period of drug addiction, when he thought she was dead. This encourages her, because she feels if he can recover, so can she. When she goes to the bedroom she screams in terror. On the bed is a white rose, a message from her captor.
Isaac is betrayed, but figures it out, and guns down the men sent to kill. He tells one of them that he intends to kill Sherlock, knowing that Moriarty is obsessed with him.
Sherlock takes Irene to a safe house, but there sees that a birthmark on Irene's back has been removed. He accuses her of working with Moriarty, and she tells him he is paranoid and just like Moriarty.
Back at the brownstone, Sherlock is assaulted by Isaac Proctor. He is shot in the shoulder, and a struggle ensues. Sherlock runs up the stairs and into a room. Isaac fires some shot into the room, then enters. Before he can kill Sherlock, he is shot in the back by Moriarty, who turns out to be Irene Adler.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Caretaker: Sherlock for Irene, leaving Joan to do the main deducting.
- Chekhov's Skill: Sherlock uses the reflection from a lamp to avoid being shot In the Back, a technique he described in "A Giant Gun Filled With Drugs".
- Dark Action Girl: Jamie Moriarty, naturally.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The fragile and traumatized Irene Adler was actually the Big Bad Moriarty.
- Important Haircut: Isaac Proctor shaves off his long hair and beard when on the run.
- In the Back:
- Isaac tries to do this to Sherlock, but he sees his reflection on a lamp and turns enough to get shot in the shoulder.
- Isaac is killed like this by Moriarty.
- Mouth of Sauron: Moriarty reveals that the person who claimed to be her was actually her lieutenant acting as this.
- Mythology Gag: Irene Adler mentions that she was watched over in her captivity by a man named Stapleton, a reference to The Hound of the Baskervilles.
- "Not So Different" Remark: 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 fell in love with each other.
- Professional Killer: Isaac Proctor is an assassin who works for Moriarty.
- Wham Line:
- Isaac Proctor drops one, revealing that Moriarty is a woman. This is confirmed right after he says it:Then a few hours ago, she tried to have me killed.
- Moran's line in "M." gains new meaning in this episode. While Moran was trying to say that Irene Adler was killed by Moriarty, it turns out Irene Adler is Moriarty.
- Isaac Proctor drops one, revealing that Moriarty is a woman. This is confirmed right after he says it:
