Season 2 of Elementary comes along at a nice time for me, even though I am picking it up a bit later than some. When it started it was very much referred to in the shadow of the BBC's Sherlock, as if it was naturally a lesser copy of some sort. However as the third of the very short seasons of Sherlock appeared overly pleased with itself, Elementary returns with a second season of 20+ hours which mostly gets the entertainment value right, builds good characters, mixes in some darker aspects well, and bows out with a season finale that has a narrative arch longer and more consistent than the entire third season of Sherlock.
I don't mean to pick on the BBC show, because I do enjoy it too, but I was pleasantly taken by surprise by this second season of Elementary. The first season stayed in my mind as an above average police procedural, one that does the well-worn routine of having a charismatic but difficult individual in the lead role – so yes a strong example of the genre, but still of the genre itself. The second season does rather continue this trend because most of the episodes are of the case-per- week variety where an odd crime is sown up nicely within the required 42 minutes. In doing this it must be said that some of the starting points of these crimes are a bit weak whether it be coincidence, friend of a friend or some other device that suggested that the writers got the whole episode in the bag apart from how to get Sherlock and Holmes into the picture. It is to the credit of the show then that even these episode end up mostly working well. Even in the most base episode works because it is well played by the cast who make the most of witty and fast moving dialogue and consistent and engaging characters.
On top of this the season seems more comfortable to push the edges of Sherlock's flaws and their consequences; personally I would have liked some things to have gone longer (Bell's story for example) or cut harder, but it was all engaging nonetheless. This more probing sense of character really builds strength into the season as a whole, in particular adding to the dynamics between the main characters. Another way it benefits the show is that it does rather give it license to push the oat out for a longer run of episodes which essentially make up a 5 hour long season finale. At times I thought that they went a little "big" with it and got too far from the weekly structure that they came from and will, of course, have to return to, but mostly they managed this transition by virtue of it not being a huge jump into something new, but also because again the writing, acting and professional production values all combine to make it engaging and entertaining while also having a darker edge.
Perhaps day he will become a caricature of himself, but thus far Miller is very enjoyable with his mannerisms and performance, selling the quirky detective network character as well as he does something darker and more hurt. Liu does tend to be a bit weaker and when pushed she doesn't always deliver, but she does work well with Miller and this is where most of her time is. The reoccurring characters from Ifans and Pertwee work better than I thought they would, but the real step-up for me was from Hill as Bell. He has some weaker moments (the episode where he is around the old 'hood gives him lines that don't work) but when he is knocking heads with Miller both men are very strong, with Hill in particular standing out much more than he did in the first season.
Ultimately it is still a genre show for the most part, but while the first season was already standing above the pack, this season cements that and improves upon it. If the current contrasting trajectories of this show and Sherlock continue, it will soon be very much be a case of the BBC's effort looking like a lot of fuss about nothing.
