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Recap / Elementary S 02 E 16 The One Percent Solution

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There is a large corporate meeting going on, when a cell phone rings. Everyone checks their phones, when a bomb goes off. When Sherlock goes to investigate, he finds out when of the CEOs has a consultant of his own working on it. It is someone who Sherlock is familiar with, Gareth Lestrade. They decide to speak to two survivors of the blast, an undersecretary and the hotel manager. Neither have much information but the manager states the a waiter took a sick leave twenty minutes before the blast

Gregson calls Sherlock, telling him that he received a text from an Occupier-type who calls himself Aurelius claiming responsibility for the bombing. The note contains the same stoicism philosophy as Aurelius used. Sherlock is not so sure as it seems like someone who had only had a quick look at the philosophy, and it quotes the book which Aurelius never did.

Sherlock checks the seating chart of the table and notes the one of the people closest to the blast was an aspiring CEO. He suspected that the CEO had eliminated such competition. He also notes a strange guest as the hotel, Jacques St. Teton, who he believes is an alias. He investigates this CEO, Richard Balsille, who happens to be Lestrade's boss. While talking to him, he notices a book called Teton. Sherlock checks the security footage and to find out who this person is. He is shocked when he discovers that it is Lestrade, who turns off the camera. Lestrade goes to the brownstone and apologizes for his behavior, and admits that his boss has cheated on his wife. Sherlock does not tell him about the footage.

Gregson catches the waiter who was hiding out in his grandmother's house. He admits that he had contact online with a someone named Cassius, who Sherlock notes was one of Aurelius's generals. The waiter thought he was organizing a protest, and panicked when the bomb went off. Sherlock goes to Lestrade's house and confronts him about the footage. Lestrade confesses that his boss did more than just cheat. He would use call girls, and even went on to offer financial and social incentives to employees for sexual favours. Since Basile couldn't be seen doing this, Lestrade would arrange these meetings instead.

Turning his attention back to Aurelius, Sherlock has his friend from NASA show him infra-red charts of the state over the past few years. In one place, he notices a spike in heat happening before each explosion. Gregson takes a SWAT team and they raid his home, only to find the terrorist Aurelius dead. Sherlock deduces that he was killed by one of his bombs, and was dead before the bombing.

After returing to the brownstone Lestrade shows up telling him that his boss received a blackmail notice. He accuses Sherlock and Watson of revealing the details, but they both claim they told no one.

Tropes:

  • Artistic License – Animal Care: Holmes describes the gamecocks as being manipulated into fighting by their handlers. While this has some (but not total) validity re: dog fighting, it is far less applicable to fighting lines of chickens. They're chickens. They barely have enough functioning intelligence to come in out of the rain, much less be conditioned into anything 'abnormal'. Fighting birds are bred for aggression, and while the process Holmes uses (positive re-enforcement/desensitization via food) makes sense, it would take a great deal longer than the few days shown. As a metaphor for Holmes & Lestrade, though, it's awesome.
  • Blackmail: One of the bombing survivors had been doing this to her CEO with information of his affairs, and set off a bomb to eliminate an aspiring CEO to maintain her control.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Richard Balsille who offered favors to his employees in exchange for sex, and was willing to let the bomber go free to keep his secret safe.
  • Heh Heh, You Said "X": Sherlock's side plot of trying to rehabilitate a pair of fighting cocks is a combination of Pet the Dog and a childish attempt to invoke this trope with Watson. She resists for most of the episode, but ends up with the line:
    "I don't care which cock I'm holding. I just want to know how it got there." (Beat) "Okay, great, you got me to say 'cock'."
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Bomber Aurelius was killed by a chemical reaction from one of his bombs.
  • Line-of-Sight Alias: Richard Balsille came up with the name Jacques St. Teton, the cover identity for his affairs, from a book off his shelf.
  • Mythology Gag: The title is a reference to The Seven Per Cent Solution.
  • Self-Serving Memory: The promo 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 to (except for the one in "Step Nine").
  • Theme Park Version: Sherlock does not believe that Aurelius was responsible for the bombing, because the philosophy the bomber used was this compared to the philosophy of Aurelius.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: One of the bombing survivors was actually the bomber. She made sure she was there at the time, knowing that she would be injured but not killed.

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