"Ears To You," Elementary!

Oh . . . my . . . god . . .

Yes, this week's cynical recap of our American Sherlock show begins with stunned amazement.

Lestrade and the chickens are still there. It's actual continuity on a non-continued plot. Elementary is scoring points straight out of the gate this week. Still making rooster/sex organ jokes, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Different writer, different director, but same Lestrade.

And a cardboard box with severed ears. Two points scored before the opening credits. If they'd have left out the cock joke, I might have forgotten I was watching Elementary.

It's Sarah Cushing who seems to be missing the ears this time, a nice twist on the original tale of Sarah Cushing and the ears. Only it's a kidnapping this time . . . so far.

On the "writing fan fiction into your show" side of things that Sherlock has gotten known for this season, we get a lovely scene between Joan Watson and a drunken Gareth Lestrade about how she's the special one Holmes's life now, Lestrade sounding like a jealous ex-lover. Sean Pertwee is still a treat this week and that little scene was like a fanfic come to life. It's interesting how the relationship between Jamie Moriarty and Joan Watson has that in common with Gareth Lestrade and Joan Watson. Both Lestrade and Moriarty seem to prefer they were with Holmes instead of Watson. Odd, but fanfic point.

A triangle within a circle tattoo? Wow, another point. Staying on point with an actual sobriety symbol that's also a Canonical reference . . . that might even be a two-pointer.

Lestrade gets to wander off and work a second case this week, which works better than Watson always having to split off for the secondary story. Only Lestrade gets to punch people. And he also gets to have his own little victory moment. And is that a second detail purloined from The Valley of Fear? Points all 'round.

There are a couple of right silly bits this week, one outrageous visual, and, of course, Gareth Lestrade can't stay around forever. Still, I think this is my favorite episode of Elementary to date.