safno replied to your chat: And This Why You Don’t Fuck With Me
Oh, man, you need to find a way to get revenge on this. I don’t know how. Could you use a vaginal condom as a water balloon, or something? No, that’s expensive.
I think I had my revenge just then! Taught him a thing or two ..
HE: Do you want to keep this?
ME: What?! It's a used condom!
HE: Ha! You should have seen the look on your face.
ME: .. but if I had it, then I could use it for analysis ..
HE: Wow. I say something creepy and you reply with the only thing that could top it.
ME: I couldn't keep it around anyway. Biohazard. I don't have the proper receptacles to store it.
HE: This conversation is OVER.
In the season finale of Elementary, Joan Watson solves a puzzle that Sherlock Holmes could not. Joan Watson solves the puzzle of Irene Alder: The Woman.
The show immediately but very subtly pits Watson and Adler against each other in the two episode titles, “The Woman” and “Heroine”. Those familiar with Sherlock lore can easily guess The Woman but the heroine’s identity is shrouded, until these last few minutes when we all realize that the episode’s eponym is Watson. A woman of color sees what a white man does not and resolves the problem of the season.
Watson and Adler are pitted against each other in other ways as well. This is most obvious when the two women are sitting, literally one across the table from the other, for a tense conversation at the Four Seasons. Adler is unable to decipher the nature of Watson’s relationship with Holmes and can only conclude that Watson is a “mascot”, a very loaded term from a Brit to a POC. Later, as the action unfolds, the audience learns that Adler is primarily a woman of the mind. Watson, in contrast, may also be a sharp thinker, but she is primarily a woman of the heart. Adler has her passions but they are distorted by her need to analyze and control. Though Watson shows deductive strength, she is driven by her instinct to nurture and heal. Holmes, placed in between these two women, is not facing the shallow narrative of a love triangle. No, he is not choosing between two romances. Instead, he is choosing between two different worlds: British vs. American, mind vs. heart, isolation vs. friendship, abuse vs. respect, addiction vs. sobriety, past vs. future. For all, Holmes chooses the latter when he chooses to listen to Watson’s insight on Adler. He chooses to continue forward, and this is why we cheer.
Elementary does a wonderful job reinventing the Sherlock Holmes mythos. Adler is The Woman, not only because of the stellar impression she made upon Holmes but also because she is the Napoleon of Crime. Having Adler also be Moriarty adds dimension to the two’s obsessions with each other. Adler is not only Holmes’ match to wit; she is also his dark mirror. Watson, on the other hand, has always been the heart of the stories. It is through the doctor’s eyes that we experience the detective’s adventures. That the glue of the Holmes-Watson duo is a woman of color, that the humane insightful everyperson is an Asian-American woman, is absolutely amazing. Transforming the mythology of a fictional world is also transforming the perception of ours.
In the very first episode, when Holmes and Watson were discussing changes after he crashed her car, Watson laid out her expectations, that he will tell her what happened in London. When he refused, she smiled. Now I know it was a woman, she said.
This fucking show, man.
HE: I am the most reasonable person you know.
ME: You obviously have not met my mother.
HE: So you should introduce me to your mother.
ME: She would tell me to stop hanging out with riff-raff like you and go study.
HE: Our mothers would get along very well.
In this episode of Elementary, Watson calls out Gregson for sexist motives when he expresses concern about her safety.
This show, man.
HE: I've never been fortunate enough to be compared to a jungle cat. I was, however, once called a cuttlefish and then only because of my mating habits.
ME: You are competitive, highly sexual, and like putting your gametes into the female's mouth?
HE: While I'm not really willing to deny those claims, they were not what I was initially referring to.
Elementary reinvents a well-known recurring character in Sherlock Holmes canon as a transgender woman with a narrative that does not involve victimization or analysis of her gender identity. She is also played by a transgender actress.
This show, man.
HE: I'm usually attracted to submissives. You?
ME: I'm usually attracted to people who are thoughtful, respectful of boundaries, and willing to compromise a little for the well-being and happiness of others, because that's what I bring to the table.
Hey, sister, am I good enough for your heaven? Say will your God accept me in my black and white? Will he approve the way I’m made? Or should I reprogram the programming and get down?
— Janelle Monáe, “Q.U.E.E.N.”
