"London calling to the zombies of death."

Last week's episode of Elementary provoked the strangest reaction in this corresponent, and that reaction was this: no reaction at all.

I've become somewhat numb to the "Really, you're calling that 'Sherlock Holmes?'" aspects of Mr. Elementary, and without that stimulus, the return of Elementary's version of Sebastian Moran and hints of Moriarty on the horizon were actually just . . . well, too dull for comment. But the monotonous drumbeat of CBS's programming thuds on, and we find ourselves faced with yet another Thursday night, as well as the news (caught by the ever-alert Ketelsen) that Mr. Elementary, like Batman and the Beverly Hillbillies before him, will be going to London for an episode next year.

The very idea of Mr. Elementary in the hometown of Holmes is a curious thing. Will it make him more Holmes-like or less, as we see him in a setting that brings out the contrasts of his character all the more? Joan Watson, unlike homey British Johnnies of yore, is apt to stand out like a sore American thumb. The idea of a Watson buying postcards in London just doesn't seem right at all, yet it could happen. And a better question still: If Mr. Elementary goes into Speedy's Cafe, will the universe explode as is always predicted when matter and anti-matter collide?

But if Mr. Elementary does wander through some London locale that already has the visual imprint of Cumberbatch Holmes upon it, it could well be one more step to exposing that truth I've long suspected: Mr. Elementary is a deranged irregular from the Sherlock universe. Sure, it won't make Elementary a better show, but at least then it can have spin-off cred, and no one expects a spin-off to be as good as the original.

Excuse me now, I have to start the next blog entry. This week's Elementary just crossed new lines of awful.