23rd March 2015

Examining The Women of Elementary

I think we can all agree on this one thing: Women on television are getting better. Some shows are making crazy brilliant strides towards progress: see Orphan Black, Agent Carter, Orange is the New Black - name your favorite here. Sure, there are plenty of others that are just stuck in the past, but the fact is that there has never really been a better time to be a woman in television.

So colored me surprised that I’m saying this: It’s time for more women on Elementary. The foundational change of John to Joan Watson was a brilliant start that firmly cemented the show as a forerunner in challenging gender and relationships between men and women. It’s still doing that too, by the way.

The truth is that Elementary’s real value in the canonical adaption sphere is that it has systematically challenged the role of women in Sherlock Holmes’s world. Women largely don’t factor as anything other than victims or daughters or wives in the original stories, with rare exception. But on this show, we get a veritable sampler platter of good women, bad women and somewhere in the middle women all solving crimes, committing them, being central to them and occasionally, yes, as victims. The writers have never been afraid to talk about the gender of their characters and what that means for virtually every part of their lives. Whether that is their work, their relationships, their sex lives, their hobbies or even their approaches to solving a problem. This honesty means we don’t get women who are stereotypes, we as viewers are treated to women who represent real people, which is all we can truly ask for in storytelling. MORE. REAL. WOMEN. PLEASE.

This observation is both self-serving and built out of a real desire to see a show that is usually pretty great and occasionally mind-blowingly good to serve the things that make it the latter. As we slide out of season 3, I’ve noticed something incredibly important: when the women of Elementary serve more prominently to the story, the stories are better.

Season 1 we spent so much time getting to know Joan as Joan that it was impossible not to fall in love with her. She was a thought out, deep, and meaningful character, so adjusting to her point of view from time to time felt natural. I should say, not just for women, either. So many people will argue pointlessly that men don’t want to see a women’s perspective on screen. I’d point to Joan Watson for proof that this argument is void.

Just as we started to get used to her dynamic with Sherlock, we were introduced to Natalie Dormer’s take on Irene Adler. This ending arc was powerful, beautiful and emotional and it was largely because of Dormer’s deft and smart handling of her double agent status. The emotional resonance comes from Sherlock’s reaction to her and discovering new things about their relationship. When “the woman” is “the one” - in all its possible Holmesian iterations, it’s a lot of fun for viewers. Also, Natalie Dormer is just a genius, so there’s that going for you.

Arguably, season 2 was weak. As much as I loved Rhys Ifans as Sherlock’s brother, his in and out relationship with Joan just felt like an unbelievable distraction. And it didn’t serve the Joan we got to know in Season 1. Beyond that, it didn’t create many opportunities for Holmes to be more than an awkward bystander in a relationship that he wasn’t all that excited about. I’m just going to say it: Season 2 was weaker than Seasons 1 and 3.

What made Season 3 excitingly unmissable? Miss Kitty Winter, that’s what. Her story, again, brings out a new dimension in Holmes and draws us closer to him as a man. Add in Joan’s personal struggles to work in a new system and suddenly this is a story about power, weakness, growth and demons. That mix is undeniable, especially as we get closer to understanding Kitty’s past and her quest to find the man who harmed her. Her storyline did feel like it came to a natural close at the mid-point of season 3, but her departure has left me wanting ever since. Not necessarily for Kitty’s return, but for this sense of progress, growth and challenge.

Which brings me to the point, it’s time for another amazing woman to get a chance to tell her story. Mrs. Hudson is the obvious choice. After all, we already know that she is transgender, which seems full of potential and beauty and awesomeness. But just in case, here are a few more suggestions.

Characters Elementary Should Consider Bringing to the Show:

- Mrs. Neville St. Clair: Don’t mistake this woman as just some dude’s wife. She is the instigator of basically all the madness in The Man With the Twisted Lip.

- Beryl Stapleton: The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the most adapted stories from the Holmes Canon, which is why Beryl is one of the most common characters we see in screen adaptations. She’s played differently nearly every time, sometimes helping Holmes, sometimes deliberately getting in the way. Either way, she’s got plenty of potential.

- Sergeant Sally Donovan: Fans of BBC’s Sherlock will recognize this name. It’s the Scotland Yard cop who often distrusts everything Sherlock has to say, in large part because of how he handles himself, not necessarily because of his lack of insight. On Elementary, we rarely see cops challenging Holmes. It might be a nice time to bring a new character like Sally to the plot.

- Baker Street Irregulars: In Elementary, they regularly use Irregulars to solve cases, but surprisingly not often in their most common form: as street children. In the original stories, these homeless kids often served as Holmes’s eyes and ears in dark alleys, so why not bring a few female youths to the show?

For those that aren’t aware, I’ve been reviewing Elementary for years for the Baker Street Babes, a fantastic organization for all the ladies of the Holmesian fandom. You can read those reviews here.

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23rd March 2015

Examining The Women of Elementary

The End