Elementary Season 7 Episode 10 Recap and Review: The Latest Model

A spoiler-filled recap and review of The Latest Model, episode 10 of the seventh and final season of Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu
Elementary Season 7 Episode 10 Recap and Review: The Latest Model

(Spoilers ahead for Elementary S7E10, and episodes prior to it)  

Another doozy of an episode this week. Things are quickly coming to a head as we head towards the end of the show, as expected, but they took quite an unexpected turn with The Latest Model, Elementary Season 7 Epsiode 10. Unexpected and most intriguing. Don't want to jump the gun or anything, but I think we just may be in for a satisfying finale worthy of this show. With that vague gushing out of the way, let's get down to business. 

Elementary S7E10 begins with the now mandatory reference to one of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories. This time it's The Adventure of the Three Students from The Return of Sherlock Holmes collection, with the athletic student, Gilchrist, who manages to get a look through the window at exam papers, which he then copies. The story then quickly jumps to a visit to Sherlock and Joan's brownstone from none other than Odin Reichenbach. If you remember, at the end of last week's episode, he told his assistant that he would take care of the situation with Joan (vis-a-vis her looking into one of their preventative executions) himself. He brings that up, but instead of wasting time on accusations or threats, offers our consulting detectives what he calls a 'last chance' to see if they can work together. Not before revealing that he knows Sherlock reached out to the SIS, and assuring them that none of the "global law enforcement or intelligence agencies" they might draw upon will be of any help to them (Still leaves Moriarty/Morland's criminal organisation in the game, you'll note). 

Odin tells Sherlock and Joan that he has shortlisted a potential shooter but is only 80 per cent sure and so wants them to look into him, in keeping with a deal he made with Sherlock during their meeting back in Elementary Season 7 Episode 6. Joan feels they will likely confirm his suspicion and end up being complicit, but Odin has no compunction to openly admit that should they turn down the case, he will take it to someone who will "see things his way." It essentially amounts to moral blackmail, but Odin believes they will agree and attempt to use this opportunity to try and prove him wrong. They have no choice but to look into the case, which is this: a podcaster named Wesley Conrad claims a filmmaker has stolen one of his theories to make a documentary, which is now about to have a public screening. Odin's dossier shows that Conrad has unsuccessfully sued the filmmaker and then made threats on social media, and that he has also researched the layout of the screening theatre as well as looked into and possibly bought firearms. Everything seems to point to Odin being correct, but Sherlock believes even if Conrad is a potential shooter, executing him isn't the only way. He wants to try something different. 

Meanwhile, we are introduced to the week's case (yes, we're back to the two-case model though this episode managed to hold our interest with both). A Jane Doe is found murdered and left in an alleyway, where 18 years previously the body of another woman, similarly murdered by asphyxiation, was discovered. The old murder is still unsolved and Marcus Bell hopes to close both cases in one swoop. The case takes some interesting turns (including a hidden elevator!) and manages to more or less stay engaging throughout. It helps that Sherlock and Joan are both working on the week's mystery and the Odin case simultaneously, so the two don't feel like they belong to different episodes. 

Going back to that Odin case, Sherlock's plan to tackle it amounts to reaching out to Conrad and offering sympathy as well as a practical means to assert his claim to the theory — Sherlock puts him in touch with a legal firm that will work on commission. He also takes the additional measures of going to Conrad's parents' home (and we get Jonny Lee Miller putting on a ridiculous American accent), where the podcaster lives, and removing the firearms he has bought, as well as putting a tail on Conrad to make sure he doesn't come near the screening veneue. Sherlock feels this will be adequate to take care of the situation as the documentary maker is scheduled to return to England soon after and there should be no danger post that. Odin however isn't so sure and wants to handle it his usual way. Sherlock tells him he will keep an eye on Conrad, and will show that that's the way to proceed in these cases. He wants Odin to consider putting his resources to use thus instead of taking the easy way out and killing these people. Sherlock is clearly on a moral high horse at this point, especially when he answers Odin's query about whether he and Joan would help, if Odin agrees to change his ways. 

This scene nicely sets up the sucker punch at the end. Odin calls Sherlock and Joan back in to tell them that Conrad has in fact committed murder, despite all Sherlock's measures. It turns out he has murdered his parents and then killed himself. Sherlock is stunned. Odin ends their meeting by telling them to "Get out." Quite a shift in their relative positions. Odin is no longer trying to get them on his side. He has rejected them. How this will impact things going forward is anyone's guess, but I must say I do love that Sherlock (and Joan to a lesser degree) are shown to have been wrong in this instance. It's nice to see Elementary adding that touch of grey so Odin isn't fully evil and our detectives completely in the right. Now, how about bringing back Moriarty, eh?

(Elementary Season 7 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and will soon premiere on Indian television on AXN)  

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