- Holmes reconnects with Irene, his one true love that he thought had been taken from him by Moriarity. He tries to protect her as she recovers from her trauma but he soon learns that it isn't she that needs protection.
- "Elementary" - "The Woman" - May 16, 2013
Irene Adler is alive!
He grabs her, she resists and then they embrace.
We flash back to London, two years ago.
He met her while working on an art forgery case. She confirms they're fakes. Upon meeting him she calls him beautiful, noting the symmetry of his face. She is doing restoration in her apartment when they meet and he admires her work on the paintings. He notes that she has an original painting on her wall, which means she returned to the museum a forgery she had made, as she had with the other paintings on her wall. He strikes a bargain: if he can spot which ones are real and which ones are fake she will go on a date with him. She accepts but wonders why they would need to leave the apartment to enjoy each other's company.
We then sprint to the present, Irene is in the hospital, disoriented, apparently unaware that it's 2013. Holmes waits outside and Watson offers to talk if need be. Gregson arrives with no info from investigating the house. The doctor tells them that she's fine physically and is suffering PTSD. She was abducted and moved from place to place and then subjected to deep psychological torture, destroying her personality and making her dependent. The abductor calls himself Stapleton and wears a clown mask. Sherlock blames himself for this happening. Moriarty wanted him to think her dead, mourn her, get addicted to drugs, come back to life and then send her back to him a completely different person. He wonders aloud where all the blood from the scene came from and how he couldn't know she was still alive. Watson tells Holmes that they can help Irene. Holmes doesn't want to consult on the case. He wants to look after her and says he wouldn't be of much use since Moriarty is so much smarter than him.
They bring Irene home three days later. She has no family to speak of so Holmes doesn't expect to hear from anyone. Watson wants to help Holmes but doesn't want to be in the way and offers to leave. He says this is her home and they can work it out as they go but mostly he wants her to work on Irene's case. She's nervous to do it alone but Holmes has confidence in her.
Watson goes with Gregson to the scene. She finds a clue in some rare paint and Bell and Gregson say it's just like having Holmes there.
We flashback to London and Holmes asking Irene why she's been rebuffing him since their first, marathon-of-sex date. She says it was too unique and memorable to try and repeat. She says people don't treasure things anymore and he should try it. He offers to give her another totally unique experience. He takes her to tunnels underneath Camden Market. They skedaddle into an undocumented portion of the tunnels and check out an ancient canal. He says they are the only two people who know about it.
Back in the present, Irene is freaking out in her bed that Stapleton "changed the rules" without telling her. She asks him to sit with her and catch her up and tell the story of the last year and a half and his move to New York. Watson returns just then and Gregson calls with a tip on the rare paint, only one person bought some recently: a known felon named Duane Proctor. They go to see him, but his brother Isaac tells them he isn't there. When Duane returns home, he tells the police that he bought the paint for his brother. Gunshots ring out from inside. Isaac has shot one of the detectives and escaped.
Later, as he cuts his hair and shaves his beard to change his appearance, Isaac gets a call from a Moriarty minion saying he needs to do them a favor involving Sherlock Holmes.
We flashback to London and Holmes and Irene post-coital, with Holmes working the case that was related to Sebastian Moran with the tripod and the blood-draining. Romantic. He then compliments her on enigmatic nature. They then talk about her current restoration work and he asks after her original work. He wants to see it. She says he'll see it when it's ready.
Back in the present she watches TV. She says it must be difficult having her there and can only imagine what he's picking up from her right now, clues, pain. He catches her up on his life. He comes clean about becoming an addict in the wake of her death because he was broken. His dismissal by Scotland Yard. His dad forcing him into rehab. He apologizes that what happened to her was his fault. She says he fixed himself and that gives her hope. She then goes to her room and shrieks. She sees a white flower on her bed and says this means Stapleton was there.
Back in the past in London, Irene leaves a message to tell Sherlock it's time to see her original work. He enters her apartment to see a pool of blood and a note from Moriarty.
In the present he takes Irene to a safe house he has. He explains the flower was a message from Moriarty to him, that as long as Irene is in his life he will be in danger. So he says he has to let her go, send her far away and when he is "finished" with Moriarty he will find her. He doesn't know how else to protect her. She says she has an idea.
Gregson, Bell, and Watson find the footage of Isaac infiltrating Holmes's house. Watson meets with Holmes in secret at the precinct and catches him up. He catches her up: he's leaving with Irene, this was her idea. Holmes hopes that Watson can figure it out in his absence but he feels he owes Irene this. Watson thinks this is what Moriarty wants and therefore is wrong.
Isaac meets up with another of Moriarty's minions. One tries to double cross the other and that the "hands off" policy on Sherlock is now over and he plans to kill him, no matter what Moriarty wants.
Irene and Sherlock plan to hit the road. But, when she disrobes to change her clothes Sherlock notices that a tell-tale birthmark on her back is not there any more. He realizes that she had it removed. And then deduces that she is working for Moriarty. He wants to know when she started, if their whole relationship was a lie. She says for him not to overthink it and that he's inventing a reason not to go away with her. She says when he realizes the mistake he's made to not seek her out because she never wants to see him again.
Sherlock goes home and is confronted by Isaac, who shoots him. Sherlock manages to get the gun away from him. Isaac says that he and Sherlock have met once before, he was looking at him through the sniper scope in when John Douglas was killed. They fight, Sherlock runs upstairs, barricades the room and attempts to escape. He asks Isaac why he didn't kill him before with the sniper rifle. Isaac tells him that he used to be under orders not to kill Sherlock, but now that "she" had tried to have him killed, he was going to kill him. When Sherlock asks "She?", Isaac is shot from behind, and Irene walks in, gun drawn. Now speaking with an English accent, she says, "I bet you wish you'd run away with me when you had the chance." Lightbulb. Irene is Moriarty.
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