Tremors.

“The danger with rule books, Watson, is that they offer the illusion that leading a moral life is a simple undertaking, that the world exists in black and white! Welcome to the grays!”

Sherlock acted like an arrogant jerk and it came back to bite him in the tushy. That's the short summary of tonight's episode. The long summary involves Medieval knights, Yorkshire pudding, an obliterated heart, and perhaps the biggest deal of all, an injured Detective Bell.

Sherlock and Joan have been getting away with everything short of murder in their quests for truths and now they're finally paying for it, and it hurts. It hurt Detective Bell the most, one imagines (although he's surely getting painkillers to help with that), but the pain was also etched on Sherlock's face as he was sent away by Bell and left to think about the full consequence of his actions.

Sherlock

CI'm torn. I don't know if I should treat Sherlock as a real person (in which case he would get a failing grade for all his law-breaking but then get bumped up a letter grade for his attempts at helping Bell), or if I should treat him as the fictional character that he is and give him a high grade for being interesting and emotional and thoughtful, as well as growing as a character; also his insistence that this whole administrative hearing was a little much considering all TV cops break the rules -- it's one of the advantages of being a TV cop. Law breaking without consequence (except for viewer enjoyment) is what being fictional is all about. That and being able to disappear and reappear according to the interestingness of your life. Therefore I'm splitting the difference.

In the end, Sherlock is forced to consider the many ways his actions can change people's lives -- for better but also for worse -- and realize that sometimes the consequences are most costly than what he might be willing to pay.

I don't know that Sherlock will change from any of this; I don't know if I want him to change, but one imagines he will at least be a little more thoughtful, and that's something, right?

Joan

A-

"We've encountered an unusual occurrence of open doors."

It bothers me the issue of breaking and entering and low-level thievery wasn't hinted at much before, and I feel like Joan would have been the one to comment on it. She would make a bigger deal about things saying stuff like, "you can't break in" or "Sherlock, can you wait five minutes while we get a warrant?" etc. She would have been more hesitant about lying about yelping puppies in a court (of sorts). It somewhat disappoints me that she was so blase about it

But I have to give her props, because she was incredibly useful this week, at least in the backstory murder plot. Her medical knowledge, once again, helped Sherlock get to the bottom of a murder and free an innocent man. Next step is for her to prove useful outside of medical knowledge. She's been studying under Sherlock for a while now, I'd really prefer we start seeing her kick ass in aspects of detectivery that have no relation to ziploc bags full of organs or knowledge of decomposing bodies.

Captain Thomas Gregson

B+

"Be nice. It's the smart play."

Daddy Gregson was back in a small dose this week, reminding Sherlock to act human so as not to get himself even further up that gloopy brown river without an instrument of propulsion. He clearly is not happy Sherlock has found himself in this situation (likely because he's afraid of losing Bell, a strong and loved member of his team). If only there was just a little more of him.

Detective Bell

B+

"Detective Bell is several deviations above the norm." - Sherlock

The last scene with Bell was fantastic. Heart-breaking and frustrating, certainly, but also good television. His last line to Sherlock, "I'd rather not see you around here" (much more chilling in context than it looks on paper) was a great closer for the story. 

But considering the story was largely about Bell's injury, there wasn't enough of him. There hasn't been enough of him all season, and there definitely wasn't enough of him tonight. And the suggestion that Bell made "a substantial contribution" to the murder case seemed a little overblown considering he read an address written on a stack of magazines. If that's a barometer for awesomeness than I've been greatly underestimating Joan these last few weeks.

"Tremors"

B-While the writers deserve props for trying something new (it's a nice break from the monotony), I don't know that the structure of this episode was the most effective way to tell this story. Perhaps showing us the end first would have been more effective? Or allowing it to unfold in real time? I almost think that murder and the crime-solving should have been expanded and turned into one whole episode ending with Bell getting shot (cliffhanger!), followed by a second episode where we're all left wondering what will happen, medically, to Bell while watching Sherlock and Joan get interrogated at the hearing. The structure, as is, promised too much. It said, "there's something really big coming up. We're withholding information because it's going to blow your mind, and it's so big that showing it to you in real time would ruin it." Only what happened wasn't big enough for that. Bell wasn't big enough for that. After a whole episode of build up, some loose cannon weirdo showed up and blamed Sherlock for some stuff and then got trigger happy. It was too sudden, too tangential to everything (this felon's troubles would have been unearthed sooner or later), and affected too minor of a character -- at least for people who haven't seen every episode of the show.

I'm speaking of myself here. I admit to seeing only a handful of episodes from season one. I'm sure there are a million big moments with Detective Bell; moments that make him an integral part of the show -- clearly defined and beloved by all, at least beloved to the extent that watching him get shot by a belligerent felon would rip your heart out. But I've seen every episode of Season Two and Bell's presence has been, negligible. He hasn't demanded much thought and attention this season, from me at least, so the whole climax fell flat. And because the premise and emotionality and plot progression of the episode promised so much, it's falling short seems all the more disappointing.

Extra Credit

• "Real judge, while not technically inaccurate, seems like an overstatement."
• Sherlock in an apron!
• Joan called Sherlock a 'nimrod.'
• "What's the opposite of ice to eskimos?"

Demerits

• Not enough Clyde. Luckily the writers are aware of that and have made up for it by posting some magical pics on their twitter. Thank you, writers.
• Next week, Elementary lightens up a bit for the holidays, and we see just how lasting the effects of "Tremors" really are.

In the meantime, drop a line in the comments. Were you more psyched about this episode than I was? Do you have a great Bell moment to share? Let me know what I'm missing in the comments.