Top 35 Shows of 2013: No 26 Elementary

I thrive in New York not because of who I am but because of who I know

I watched S1 of Elementary over the course of a couple of weeks consuming all things Sherlock and Joan. Watching a procedural crime show that way means you end up guessing the majority of twists and turns in the case of the week and on that level Elementary can be pretty predictable but it also allows the characters to develop over a small period of time and it was the friendship of Joan and Sherlock that kept drawing me in with every new episode.

Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller are both fantastic actors I mean that seems obvious to say but in lesser hands Elementary would be the boring by the book procedural CBS regularly churn out. With these performances though there is a huge emotional centre to the show.

Holmes and Watson are a duo that has been with us for over 120 years and yet still even with a current movie franchise and the BBC series both on air Elementary manages to offer something new. Its cases may not always work but watching the characters learn to trust one and other and become friends and working partners is so enjoyable and having as many episodes as the show has means we get a bit of that friendship every week rather than having to wait for a new film or 3 long episodes every few years.

As the show has progressed the stories have become more interesting, whether its tackling classic Holmes villains like Moriarty or mixing up the storytelling in the episode Tremors.

Sometimes Elementary’s case of the week is merely in the background as we spend time with the characters and frankly that is a delight, even if I can spot the killer 5 minutes into an episode I will always come back to the show because I want to see where Joan and Sherlock are heading.

Favourite Episodes: Heroine / Step Nine