ELEMENTARY (2012-present) is back for a fifth season, and it premiered low again. It's been flirting with cancellation for several seasons now, but until now it's managed to avoid the chopping block. The show seems tried; stories just formulaic, and the acting seems dialed in. It's a shame, because both Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller are great actors. The chemistry is still there, sort of, but who cares?
They only spend like five minutes on the personal stuff, anyhow. OK, OK...That's an exaggeration, but most of the show is spent on the case of the week, with the personal stuff as just a minor side note that's often not even mentioned only a few episodes later.
Episode 1, Folie à Deux, is pretty much the same. It's a 'who done it' bomber in Flushing, NY. The characters go through the motions; bomber caught, motive discovered, case closed, and we move on.
I just didn't care. I feel like I've invested all this time, so I'll keep watching. It's not really enough anymore. It's not a bad show, nor is it badly acted, it's just not clever. I'm not even sure it's trying to be at this point. With so many other options, I'm holding on with a thread, which is about to break.
