TV Show of the Week: Elementary (Why Do I Like It?)

My favourite TV show is Monk. It’s about a brilliant detective in San Francisco who was forced to become a consultant to the Police Force after the murder of his wife, Trudy, caused his O.C.D. and his many phobias to increase tenfold. The series centred around him searching for his wife’s killer, whilst also dealing with his own problems. At the beginning of the series, he had a nurse, Sharona Fleming, but half way through series 3, Natalie Teeger became his full time companion and friend. Each episode sees him tackling a tough murder case along with Captain Leland Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Randy Disher. The show ran for eight seasons, from 2002, to 2009, and was an instant hit and has become a cult classic among fans all over the world.

Monk became my favourite TV show because of the character Adrian Monk and the way he solves each case. The mysteries were intelligent, but Monk, being himself, saw right through them. Seeing him out of his comfort zone kept your gripped because you wondered if he would find that one clue which would help solve the entire case. It ran for 125 episodes, and whilst I have picked out my favourites, each episode holds its own. It doesn’t dip in quality, but continues to develop as more of the Trudy’s murder comes to light. As Monk grows, the world around him does also, respecting him more, building up more of a friendship. The final two episodes were some of the most nail-biting scenes I’ve ever watched as I just didn’t want the main character to be defeated. It just couldn’t be possible.

After all these years, no TV show has come close to beating Monk. It was the perfect balance of comedy, mystery, and thriller. Whereas one show focuses mainly on one element, or two, no show I’ve come across yet has compacted all three elements into one, and used them to their full strength.

It was only after I had watched all the episodes, when I went to Monk’s IMDB page and looked at the trivia page did I discover that the show was inspired by that of Sherlock Holmes, and I struggled to believe that I hadn’t noticed that before. Adrian Monk plays the part of Sherlock Holmes, an eccentric character that sees so much more than everybody else; Natalie Teeger plays the part of John Watson; Capt. Stollemeyer plays the part of Inspector Lestrade, and Monk’s brother, Ambrose plays the part of Mycroft Holmes, someone who’s of equal, if not, possesses far stronger intelligence than even Adrian. It didn’t change the way I saw Monk, but it did allow me to see it in a new light. After discovering this, I watched a couple of episodes, and it did make sense – I was able to see the inspiration. The reason why I hadn’t beforehand had been because Monk was a unique enough show, it differed from Sherlock more than running alongside.

In 2010, the BBC aired the first season of Sherlock. A modern take on the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. Each episode is based on one of his pieces of works, just updated to the modern day. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman plays Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, and from the first episode it was an instant hit. It exploded with success and continued growing. With each long break between seasons, the anticipation was high and when a new season was finally announced, the hype across the internet became almost unbearable. I made sure to catch each episode, and I have watched a couple multiple times since. At the end of season 4, it had that strong hint of being the finale, but there haven’t been any definitive answers regarding that particular question. During its run, a new show based on the characters popped up in America, called Elementary, and was met with some controversy.

Some were saying that it was trying to cash in on BBC’s Sherlock, but many more were not happy with all the changes the show made, the biggest change of them all was making Dr. John Watson a female, called Joan Watson. That stirred the internet forums for a while, but I was elbow deep in my college work at the time so I stayed away from all the debates.

I didn’t give it a chance, unfortunately. It became a success because it’s now in its 5 season and the popularity remains strong, but I stayed away because I was part of the group that thought Elementary was just hanging on Sherlock’s fame. I thought that it was, in a way, cashing in on the characters. I stuck to that view for some time, until after the end of Sherlock season 4, when I gave Elementary another thought. I realised that I had been a bit unfair, if I were honest. Just because there’s one modern take on Sherlock Holmes, doesn’t mean there can’t be two.

Recently, I started watching Elementary season 1. The changes to the characters are as follows. Sherlock is living in New York in an attempt to get his life back on track after being forced by his father to enter rehabilitation from abusing drugs. Dr. Joan Watson is assigned by Sherlock’s father to be his sober-companion for a period of time to make sure he doesn’t relapse. Inspector Lestrade doesn’t appear until season 2, but only for an episode so far, because Sherlock is living in New York. His colleagues during cases are Captain Thomas Gregson and Detective Marcus Bell. Over the course of season 1, Dr. Watson and Sherlock’s friendship grew and near the end of season 1, when Joan’s time as being a sober-companion is up, she becomes a full-time consultant with him. Season 2 picks up from there, and I’ve only gotten as far as episode 5 on the second season. But I am hooked and do want to watch more.

I had to ask why, though. I gave it a second chance. I had some strong, albeit unfair views, regarding the show before I had even watched the first episode, but I was intrigued and now I would like to know what happens next.

The first thing I did was look at the show itself. The murder mystery in each episode was clever and kept you guessing. Plenty of twists and turns – proving that the writers knew what they were talking about; they’ve done their research, and are passionate about what the show. Even with the changes, it is a faithful adaptation, and a logical one at that. It’s common knowledge that Sherlock takes drugs in the books, but in the show he overdosed enough to be put in rehab, and it does make sense that he would like to break away from his life in London and begin anew. He’s still Sherlock Holmes. Johnny Lee Miller does a fantastic job portraying the character as he is in the books. Intelligent, disconnected with the world, perfect memory. He sees so much more than any other person can at any one time. And Dr. Joan Watson is still Dr. John Watson… in a way. Lucy Liu plays Sherlock’s friend and companion, and does a brilliant job portraying the character of John that we all know from the books – his views, his opinions, his down-to-Earth attitude towards Sherlock sometimes, Lucy Liu does just that. I for one have enjoyed abandoning the controversy of making John Watson a female.

I do like a murder mystery series that does think outside the box, that does keep you guessing, but that wasn’t the reason why I enjoyed it. I wasn’t enjoying it solely because of the changes, either. There was still something that I hadn’t quite put my finger on.

Then, it hit me. It suddenly clicked into place. Elementary is Monk, but without Monk.

Monk was inspired by Sherlock, and created a show around that. Elementary is a show about Sherlock, but it’s because the show is based in New York, with a Captain and his second in command. If you were to take out Adrian Monk and replaced him with Sherlock, and Natalie with Dr. Joan Watson, you would get Elementary. That’s why I found myself liking it.

I’m not saying Elementary is ripping off Monk, I’m not saying Monk is ripping off Sherlock, they both have enough differences to be a unique show and therefore a unique experience. The same goes for Elementary and Sherlock. If you were to strip both Monk and Elementary down to the very basics, you would get the same inner-core, and in a way, that’s why I like Monk as well. Its inner-core connects with me more than any other show, and now Elementary is doing the same thing.

And you know what, I’m OK with that. Completely. Actually, I would go so far to say that Elementary is on par with the quality of Monk. It has a wonderful blend of comedy, mystery, and thriller, keeping me engaged. The show that I first thought would be terrible as actually become one of my favourite shows on TV. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)