Elementary Recap: “A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs”

Elementary Recap: “A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs”
Original Air Date (CBS): Sunday, February 7, 2013
Season 1 Episode 15

by Solomon J. Inkwell:

The latest installment of CBS’ Elementary permits us to dive a bit deeper in the sordid past of Sherlock Holmes. EMILY HUGHES arrives home after an evening jog. After she stops to get a glass of water, her doorbell rings. Pulling back the curtain of her front door window, Emily sees a suspicious looking character standing on her front porch. He claims he is a delivery man whose van has broken down. He wishes to enter the house long enough to charge up his cell phone and contact his supervisor. Of course, Emily doesn’t want to allow a stranger into her house, so she offers to make the call for him. But, since he is new to the job, the delivery man can’t recall the phone numbers from memory. He insists that Emily allow him inside to avoid losing his job. Emily continues to refuse and threatens to call the police if he will not leave. Disappointed, the man gives up and walks away. She checks the locks on her front door one last time and begins to walk away when suddenly she is attacked for behind. A mysterious stranger holds Emily against the doorframe of the adjacent room and uses a rag soaked with chloroform to render her unconscious. After dragging her limp body further into the hallway, the man presents a suitcase. Outside, the delivery man has stopped a taxi whose driver has been kind enough to allow him to charge his phone. While he makes arrangements for another delivery van to be provided, the mysterious stranger walks down the sidewalk, wheeling a suitcase behind him with Emily inside.

Miles away at a sobriety group meeting, Holmes is boring everyone with stories of how a mongoose once helped him solve a case. Instead of presenting a tiresome story, Watson had hoped Holmes would have given a meaningful testament of how he deals with a life without narcotics. After they arrive home, upstairs Watson is greeted by a nude man exiting their bathroom. Reese Kindlin has just finished taking a shower. Alarmed, Watson calls for Holmes. Kindlin, who is obviously an acquaintance of Holmes, still has a key to the apartment from when they used to associate on a more regular basis. He has come to the apartment to see if Holmes could possibly assist in locating Emily, who happens to be Kindlin’s daughter. After Kindlin excuses himself to get dressed, Holmes tells Watson that he and Kindlin know one another…as Kindlin used to be Holmes’ drug dealer.

Watson is less than enthused about Kindlin’s presence. She feels that he could possibly derail Holmes’ recovery. They watch the ransom video that the kidnapper has created for Kindlin. They see Emily strapped to a radiator in an old building, her mouth gagged. The perpetrator demands $2.2 million dollars from Kindlin or Emily will die. Watson asks Kindlin if he even has that kind of money. Surprisingly enough, Holmes states Kindlin should since he stole precisely $2.2 million dollars from Dominican drug lords 18 months prior. Unfortunately, despite the short timeframe, Kindlin hardly has any of the money left.

They travel to Emily’s apartment where Kindlin tells Watson that he had met Emily’s recently deceased mother while she was on holiday in London. She had gotten pregnant with Emily during her visit. While Holmes searches the area, Kindlin admits he has always been in awe of Holmes’ abilities of deduction, even going so far to tell Watson that he believes in Sherlock Holmes.  Holmes interrupts them with his latest deduction. He dictates precisely what occurred the night before and tells Kindlin that he believes his Dominican adversaries have kidnapped Emily. In the scuffle, the perpetrator’s hand had gotten wet from Emily’s water glass. The moisture left an impression of an ink stamp on the door facing, which Holmes assumes is from the back the kidnapper’s hand. It is a stamp from a local Dominican nightclub called the Hurrikane.

The three visit the club in hopes that Kindlin may be able to identify possible suspects. Naturally, Watson is concerned that they are at a nightclub surrounded by drugs and alcohol. Kindlin manages to recognize one of the club-goers and returns to point him out to Holmes and Watson. Holmes sees a member of the man’s table go to the bathroom and opts to join him. After an uncomfortable comment about the man’s tattoos at the urinal, Holmes wastes no time in telling the man that he is with the NYPD and is looking for Emily. Holmes goes on to explain he knows the man is an undercover DEA agent who is obviously trying to bust the Dominican drug gangs. The agent continues to pretend Holmes is wrong, but Holmes threatens to expose the man to his Dominican friends should he not assist. After leaving the restroom, the agent assaults Holmes. While he punches Holmes in the gut, the agent says he can confirm the gangs aren’t involve in Emily’s kidnapping and that Holmes may be looking at the only crime in the city the Dominican’s were not behind.

When they return home, Holmes continues to search for clues. He goes through Emily’s phone hoping to find something that will offer a lead. Watson catches Kindlin smoking marijuana in their bathroom and threatens that should she ever find him doing anything to threaten Holmes’ sobriety, she will turn him into the police as a drug dealer and a thief. Kindlin concedes and allows Watson to flush the remainder of his stash. Soon, Holmes calls for them. He has found a clue in Emily’s phone, a rather curious hastag on Twitter called #thatawkwardmoment. In the post she mentions her stepfather, Derrick Hughes, who has apparently asked her for a loan.

Holmes reaches to Detective Bell, who confirms that Hughes is completely broke, thereby adding weight to his motive for kidnapping his daughter. Holmes, Watson and Kindlin track Hughes to see if he could be involved in Emily’s kidnapping. They wait for him at a café outside of his work. Watson goes in for a moment to warm up. Kindlin starts a conversation with Holmes where he states he is shocked that Holmes can still solve crimes without drugs. Kindlin goes on to say that he had always believed Holmes had depended on drugs for solving impossible crimes, just as some artists claim they owe their creativity to stimulants,. Holmes appears to take exception to Kindlin’s insinuation. Hughes leaves his job and they follow him to an abandoned building, one of Hughes’ failed investments. They assume that Hughes is holding Emily at the location. When they confront him, however, the find he is merely a squatter in the building who needs somewhere to stay. He has had nothing to do with Emily’s disappearance.

They arrive at the apartment where they are greeted by a phone call from the kidnapper asking for the identity of Holmes. The kidnapper reiterates the warning that no authorities were to be involved. Even though they clarify that Holmes is not a policeman, as punishment the kidnapper takes away time, demanding that the money now be ready by 6 PM the following day. The kidnapper has also left a present for them in a box outside of the kitchen door: Emily’s severed finger.

Kindlin is distraught. Holmes examines the finger closely noting a burn which has left a very distinctive marking, like the pattern from an old radiator used in pre-war buildings. Additionally, by “tasting” what appeared to be food under the fingernail (yeah…gross!), Holmes has further surmised that the building must be close to a restaurant that serves Ethiopian cuisine. Holmes surmises that Emily is being held at a pre-war building in the city that is close to an Ethiopian restaurant. He asks Watson to locate Kindlin, who has been quiet for quite some time. Watson takes tea to Kindlin and tells him that Holmes may have found a clue. Kindlin, who doesn’t seem to be impressed, leaves the apartment. He returns later to find Holmes watching the kidnapper’s video hoping to find something they may have overlooked. Kindlin offers Holmes cocaine in hopes of rekindling his creative fires. Furious, Holmes attacks Kindlin telling him he doesn’t require drugs to do his job. Kindlin tells Holmes that Holmes is merely a former shadow of himself with the drugs to give him his creative edge. Watson interrupts the exchange, and Holmes leaves immediately. Watson demands to know what the fight was about and Kindlin advises it was because he had told Holmes “the truth.”

As the sun rises over the city, we find Holmes sitting alone on a bench in the middle of town. He pulls his cell phone from his pocket and calls his father (I know! I was shocked, too). Watson and Kindlin are in the kitchen when Holmes arrives home. He tells Kindlin that Emily will be returned within the hour, although Holmes hasn’t managed to actually locate her. Conversely, Holmes has secured a $2.2 million dollar loan from his father, which he will use to get Emily back. Holmes asks Watson if she could fetch his tablet so they can make the wire transfer, and after Watson leaves the room Holmes states that if he would have had more time he would have undoubtedly located Emily. However, providing the money would not only secure her release now, it would allow Holmes to get away from Kindlin. He concludes by telling Kindlin that once the ordeal is over, Kindlin should never darken his doorstep again.

At the drop off location, Holmes awaits the arrival of a blue van. Soon, it makes its way down the street. As Holmes approaches it, he notices a group of three men dressed in painter’s uniforms. Suspicious, Holmes walks away. The men immediately begin to follow him. At the apartment, Watson answers the door to the man from the nightclub who identifies himself as DEA Agent Diaz. Diaz says he needs to speak with Holmes about Emily’s kidnapping, so Watson allows him inside. Having pieced the final clues together, Holmes calls Watson to tell her that he believes he has been set up by the DEA Agent they had met at the club, but it is too late.

Diaz ties Watson and Kindlin to the banister of the steps and talks with Holmes. Diaz had learned of the money that Kindlin owed the Dominicans and had planned to get the money for himself. As they talk, Kindlin manages to reach a small knife in his back pocket. Kindlin frees himself and Watson, but as he struggles with Diaz, he is shot. Watson uses Angus, Holmes’ phrenology statue, to bash Diaz over the head. Later at the station, Diaz tries to convince Gregson and Bell of his innocence. However, they do not buying into his lie. After they use the details of the pre-war building and Ethiopian restaurant provided by Holmes to back Diaz into a corner, he concedes.

Holmes goes to visit Kindlin in the hospital and gives him a sum of money from the funds Holmes’ father had provided. Holmes tells Kindlin that he is just one in daily challenges to his recovery. Emily enters the room and is reunited with Kindlin. Later, Watson walks in to find Holmes piecing poor Angus back together. Holmes admits that Kindlin offered him drugs, drugs that Holmes did not take. Unexpectedly, Holmes says he doesn’t want to tell Watson about his ability to refuse the narcotics, but rather he wants to go to group and tell them about his accomplishment.

Watson readily agrees.

Curiously enough, Holmes never mentions that Watson is working without payment. Hmmm… ?

I am SUPER EXICTED about this week’s episode. If you’ve seen the previews, it looks as if Holmes may kill Watson while trying to train her on how to protect herself. Maybe I can get some ideas on how I can protect myself from my cats, who are definitely plotting my demise. If they can figure out how to use the can opener, I fear I may be history.

You can view the episode, via CBS, here.

DarkMedia contributor Solomon J. Inkwell (James Grea) is a screenwriter and author of juvenile horror. He is the author of Vickie Van Helsing and Haunting Thelma Thimblewhistle from the Dead Anna series.  His forthcoming works include The Frighteneers and the screenplay The Winter Files. You can find out more about Solomon and his not-so-dead friends here.