Elementary, one of our favorite detective drama/comedies returns to CBS tonight with an all new Thursday May 7, season 3 episode 23 called,“Absconded,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Holmes and Watson investigate the death of a member of Sherlock’s [Jonny Lee Miller] online beekeeping community who was researching a deadly Northeast honey bee outbreak. Meanwhile, Gregson gets Joan to conduct an off-book probe that helps him make a life-changing decision.
On the last episode, when a judge was murdered, Holmes and Watson became involved in the interstate search to find the prime suspect, an escaped convict from a privatized prison. Also, when Holmes applied his deductive reasoning to Detective Bell’s new relationship, the romance hit a rough patch. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed the episode we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “Holmes and Watson look into the death of a member of Holmes’ online beekeeping community who was a researcher looking into a deadly Northeast honey bee outbreak. During the investigation, they meet Tara Parker, a brilliant entomologist, academic and the leader of New York’s beekeeping society. Also, Captain Gregson enlists Watson’s services in an off-book investigation that helps him make a life-changing decision.”
Are you looking forward to the season 3 episode 23tonight? Be sure to come back here later tonight at 10 PM EST for our awesome recap of this episode. In the meantime, hit up the comments below and let us know how excited you are for season 3.
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#Elementary begins with Gregson asking Hugo to read an online ad. Joan says it says he sent Raggedy Andy masks to the people who were participating in what they thought was a flash mob while he stabbed his boss. Gregson says the masks are impressive and Hugo says he can’t sew. Sherlock says he used an antique machine and they have a tape of him buying bobbins. Sherlock says they also have a K-bar military knife from his mother’s furnace that matches the victim’s ribs.
Gregson says now is the time to confess for a deal. Pat shows up to see Gregson and asks him to close the door. He gives him some Scotch then says he’s a fairy godmother. He says he wants to talk about the future of his unit. A USDA inspector, Everett, goes to an apiary (bee farm) to inspect. He says he found mites and is seeing terrible Colony Collapse. She says she heard bad news form people in California and asks what it is. He says he doesn’t know but they’ll get to the bottom of it.
The woman comes out later and sees his lab equipment running and calls out for him. Her bees are all dead and so is he. She calls the cops. Joan and Sherlock are there and Sherlock was cuffed. The cop uncuffs him and apologizes. Sherlock says he was just trying to save his life. Joan says if he didn’t yank the egg carton out of his hand, he’d be dead – it was soaked in cyanide. Everett breathed in cyanide and it killed him and the bees. Sherlock says the bee keeper is not a suspect. The cop isn’t sure.
Sherlock says the likely killer is a corporation AgriNext. Joan says they found a killer there months ago. Sherlock says Everett’s notes clearly indicate he thinks AgriNext’s pesticides are causing Colony Collapse and one hundred million bees are dead. Gregson asks Joan to come by without Sherlock. She does and he says this is delicate. He says he was offered a promotion to Deputy Chief. She congratulates him but he says it’s not a done deal.
He says if he can’t leave his people in good hands, he can’t leave. He says Anne Vessey is his likely successor but he’s worried about her home base and says her unit had a property room scandal. He wants Joan to check them out and says some of the guys there were skimming coke. He says Major Crimes has a huge budget and he can’t hand it over to someone with sticky fingers. She says she gets that Sherlock can’t be delicate. Sherlock goes to AgriNext to talk to those in charge.
He says their company is an evil hellmouth and says their pesticides are causing hellmouth. He says Everett Keck found that link and says he doesn’t think one of them committed the actual crime and says he’s going to put them on notice that anyone with information that comes forward may be spared. They admit they knew about Keck and his report. He says no one there needed to hurt him and says there were prepared to counter the claims. He says Keck was under-qualified for his job.
He ways a drug abuser and a seminary dropout with problems at work. He says the USDA even suspended him at once. They tell Sherlock to leave. He does. Joan comes home and finds him. He asks if Gregson is leaving and says the spring before an election is house cleaning time and says their case clearance rate helped him. He says he saw the file on Vessey but hasn’t met him. She says she’s looking into her for Gregson. Joan asks why he’s not reacting.
Sherlock says they exist outside the department by design and says cops get promoted and demoted all the time. Joan asks what if Vessey doesn’t want them to consult. He says that would make Vessey an idiot and says they would find another perch. He says he found the Keck killer. He says AgriNext was preparing a smear campaign against Keck. He says Darryl Jarvis, is a beekeeper who thought Everett killed his bees with mites. The guy lives across the street from the last place Everett inspected.
He could have tampered with the smoker then. Sherlock says they found the egg carton and apple seeds to make cyanide. He says he couldn’t sleep and that’s why he answered the door so fast. He says he was lying in bed thinking about turning himself in – he says when he heard it worked, he immediately wished he hadn’t done it. He says even after what Keck did to his hives. Jarvis admits he’s a schizophrenic but says he’s been on his meds for years.
He says he was in his right mind when he put the carton in his smoker and when he saw Keck put mites in his smoker. Sherlock asks why Keck would have done that. Jarvis says he doesn’t know – he just knows what he saw. They take him away to jail. Sherlock is messing with bees while he talks on the phone to someone about obstruction. He lets a bee out of the jar and tells Joan he thinks Jarvis was right about Keck. He says bee stings look like hypodermic marks. He shows her a bee sting next to a needle mark.
Joan says she doesn’t have enough caffeine to understand why he’s stinging himself with a bee. Sherlock says Calvin Barnes, the guy investigating Keck, suffered a heart attack after some bee stings on the job. Sherlock says he’s trying to get Barnes’ treatment records and thinks they’ll find potassium and chlorine to bring on the attack and that the injection marks were covered by bee stings. Sherlock says he thinks Keck was causing the Colony Collapse.
He tells her he was concerned about his own hives and shows her something on a bee chat board. He says there’s been a lot of talk about mites and says the parasites were appearing where Keck went. He found many more mites than other researchers and it’s outside statistical probability. He says without Keck, there would be no Colony Collapse and says now they have to solve Barnes’ assault and the death of the bees since Keck was elsewhere when it happened.
Sherlock and Joan go see Barnes’ wife. Sherlock says he thinks that her husband was tracking an attack on bee colonies and asks if she know who Keck is. Sherlock says he thinks Keck had a partner they haven’t identified. She says that makes sense because that’s what she thought too. She says a mirror was smashed, there was a bump on his head and it looked like signs of a struggle but the paramedics told her sometimes people flail around. Sherlock asks where she found him.
She tells him and he asks about a door and a gash in the molding. She says that’s new and they had it repainted recently. Barnes coughs and she goes to check on him. Sherlock says there was a struggle that started by the closet and he was injected. Marcus comes to see Joan and Sherlock and he says CSU went to Barnes’ place and didn’t find a lot of evidence. Marcus asks who would want to kill bees and Sherlock says it could be an attempt to rig the commodities market but says that isn’t solid.
Joan has a theory too and says researchers have an interest in Colony Collapse because it drives funding. They head to the USDA to talk to a woman there. She calls down her husband Griffin and says they think that someone was causing Colony Collapse. Joan says she thinks Everett had a partner and asks about grant proposals to study the epidemic. Griffin says the funds are drying up and Sherlock says it would help if they could get a guest list for their symposium.
The wife says these people are scientists, not murderers and Sherlock says there’s still overlap. Sheikh Al-Fayed from the UAE is coming and Griffin says they’re surprised he’s coming to the symposium since he’s a wealthy recluse who has 1000 species of bees. Sherlock asks where he’s staying and they tell him. Joan says she has to meet someone to see if Vessey forged the property logs. Sherlock offers a second opinion.
Joan says Al-Fayed has tons of money. Sherlock says his family has some business ties that could benefit from the Collapse. The handwriting expert gives surprising results to Joan. Then she gets a call from Sherlock who says the Sheikh is missing. He says he came to look around his suite and is sure the man has been kidnapped.
They call in Al Shamsi, from the UAE, about the Sheikh’s and Sherlock says they think he may be kidnapped. Sherlock says Rasheed is of particular interest. Joan says people saw Rasheed outside his door and he’s missing as well. Sherlock says there was no sign of a struggle or blood. He says Rasheed could have taken him to another hotel but Sherlock says the Sheikh left an epi-pen that he would not have left behind. The guy asks why he wanted to see the Sheikh and Sherlock says it’s about bees.
Al Shamsi asks if they’re accusing the Sheikh of killing American bees. The guy scoffs then walks out on them. Gregson comes back and tells Sherlock he’s not much of a statesman. Sherlock thinks that they’re already negotiating the ransom since the diplomat didn’t blink. Gregson asks what this has to do with Keck and bees. Sherlock says it’s all a knot of unrelated threads. Gregson says let’s focus on Rasheed. Joan speaks to Gregson alone for a moment.
She tells him Vessey is a great replacement. She says the property room scandal is the work of a female undercover who went into forced retirement. Gregson sits and seems disappointed. Joan sits and tells him she knows about big career changes and may be able to help. Gregson says he loves what they do together for the city. He says they help a lot of people. Joan says she’s sure he’ll make the right decision. Marcus calls currency exchanges looking for Rasheed.
He ends the call and tells Sherlock no luck. Joan ends a call and says she has something at Atlas Exchange and says someone came last night. Sherlock says he and Marcus will go look. She asks why him and he says because he stood up first. They head to the place but the surveillance system was supposedly broken. Sherlock says the man is fleecing his customers and broke the system when he heard the cops were coming.
Sherlock spots a pawn shop across the street and ask the guy if he saw Rasheed. He says he gave him $6k for the watch. The guy says he has security tapes. Sherlock says they have anti-theft tracking software on the laptop the guy took as part of the deal. We see Rasheed watching soccer on a laptop when the cops bust in to his cheap hotel room. Marcus says there’s no sign of the Sheikh. Rasheed says he didn’t take the Sheikh. Sherlock asks about bees.
He asks about Keck and Barnes. Rasheed says he knows two nights ago the Sheikh was alone with a tall, blonde prostitute with a beauty mark above her lip and says they were both gone and he never saw them leave. He says he ran because he knew the UAE would kill him. Sherlock says he believes what Rasheed said and says he knows where the Sheikh and his lady friend went. They bring in the scientist Tara – Griffin’s wife. Sherlock says he knows she kidnapped the Sheikh.
She was chatting on the bee board with the Sheikh and they found deleted private messages including naughty photos. Her hubby Griffin says he was aware of this but hadn’t seen this. He says their husband got past this. Sherlock says they know that she and her hubby did this together and Keck was part of the plot. She tried to seduce him online then Keck engineered the Colony Collapse to entice the Sheikh to come to the US. Sherlock says it’s a deranged plot but true.
The only obstacle was Barnes investigating Keck so they killed him. Marcus says they know she and her husband were staying in the room above the Sheikh where they used a winch to pull him out of the hotel room. Tara says to call the Sheikh. Gregson says the UAE diplomat said that the Sheikh is on the plane on the way home resting. Sherlock says their government wants to cover this up so it doesn’t set a precedent for kidnapping their citizens for cash.
Gregson says he needs more proof on the Parkers or he has to cut them loose. Joan says the lab found one stray hair at Barnes’ place. Sherlock says the Parkers have a knack for committing crimes that don’t look like crimes. Joan says they’re lucky. Sherlock is looking at the naughty photos of Tara. He says Keck took Viagra the night before and was wearing a Buddhist shirt. Joan, Marcus and Sherlock go to see Tara and they tell her that Griffin gave her up.
Sherlock shows a photo of her where she’s in a cap and gown and Sherlock says it was Keck’s since he had a drape that only theology majors get. Once they told her hubby that she was cheating on him with Keck, he rolled over on her. Gregson turns down the promotion and Pat says he shouldn’t miss out. Gregson says he wants to be at the 11th. Pat asks what he’s missing and why no ambition. Gregson says his ambition is being met here.
Pat says he tried the carrot and now Gregson may get the stick. He says someone on high wants Gregson off that desk. He says maybe Vessey has more friends or someone is upset at Gregson. He says he doesn’t know why and tells him to be happy but to not get comfortable.
THE END!
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