![A banner of the Elementary television series [Source: CBS Television Studios]](https://thebookofjuan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/elementary_banner.jpg "elementary_banner")
Gosh, where does the time go?!? For the past 16 months, I’ve really been slacking with The Book of Juan…in particular, the Flashback Friday series. That ends with this post, of course. For all of my readers who missed reading about the random memories of my past, I’m sorry I left you out in the cold. I guess it’s like the old heads used to say when I wouldn’t see them for long stretches: “life happened”.
Anyway, back to business. Last night, as the 11pm EDT hour lingered on, I found myself in my feelings. For the entirety of the preceding hour, I was taken on a rollercoaster of deductive reasoning for the 154th and final time. That brings me to this week’s moment in the Flashback Friday series: the Elementary TV series.
How I first came across this moment? I first came across the show when I saw a preview of it while visiting Tokyo on a weekend/haircut trip in August 2012. I was living in the suburbs of Seoul at the time so catching it on premiere night (September 27, 2012) was out of the question. I tuned in 3 days later on the CBS website. I instantly took a liking to it and for the remainder of my time in South Korea, it was my thing to spend 3 hours on Sunday evenings watching Elementary, Hawaii Five-0, and NCIS: Los Angeles on my notebook computer. There was a lot of buffering in those days before CBS All-Access arrived on the scene but it worked for me.
What it meant to me then? It was an immediate hit with me. The theme of the series followed the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle storylines but with a modern touch. I was galvanized by the presentation of that first season. I really liked that the characters were real and representative of the 2010s. Sherlock Holmes was a recovering drug addict while Watson was a female surgeon who doubled up as a sober companion. The auxiliary characters were also impressive. Aidan Quinn’s Thomas Gregson was the epitome of a leader and often went to bat for Holmes & Watson when they colored outside of the lines. And don’t get me started on Detective Marcus Bell. He was as professional as they came and Jon Michael Hill’s performance in the role made him my favorite character in the series. His fashion style over the course of the series was the stuff of legends as far as costume is concerned. Even the villains in Season 1—Vinnie Jones’ Sebastian Moran and Natalie Dormer’s Jamie Moriarty—were impressive. It quickly became my favorite procedural drama and was actually a talking point with The Lovely Liberian during our weekly chats.
What it means to me now? Last night was the series finale. I faithfully watched all 154 episodes of the 7-year run. The show grew to not only be my favorite procedural drama of all-time but my favorite television series ever. I really appreciated the evolution of the lead characters—Holmes, Watson, Gregson, and Bell—as well as getting to know the stories behind the auxiliary characters like Morland and Mycroft Holmes, Kitty Winter, Alfredo Llamosa, and Sherlock’s stable of Irregulars made the last 6 seasons very enjoyable. I really liked that the series wasn’t just a conglomeration of one-off crimes but actually a series of crimes leading to a much bigger arc. Last night was indeed a sad moment for me as there will be no new episodes of Elementary in the future. But I finished the series having known that I was thoroughly entertained. Only one thing was unanswered for me: the fate of Randy from Season 2.
